You Know You Are Old When

[JethroB]

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I had some city friends visit me here on the farm recently. We were out enjoying the outdoors and their ten year old grandson asked permission to go inside to use my bathroom. huh? ”Son they are all over, just pick a spot or tree.”

 

[jjeff]

.

 

[Oaktree]

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Try that with a smart phone and you're out a grand.

 

[jjeff]

Try that with a smart phone and you're out a grand.

Not if it's a KYOCERA dura force lol

 

[masseyrider]

I had some city friends visit me here on the farm recently. We were out enjoying the outdoors and their ten year old grandson asked permission to go inside to use my bathroom. huh? ”Son they are all over, just pick a spot or tree.”

We were going out to pick some veggies for my sister to take home one Sunday afternoon.
Just getting to the edge of the farm yard my nephew said he had to go back to the house. He was about 5-6 years old.
Why?
He had to pee.
Pick a tree, bush, or just turn your back.
Growing up in the city it just blew his mind you could pee in the great outdoors.
Next week in school they did a little project of what they did that weekend.
He did a picture of us standing looking the other way and him by a bush taking a pee.
The other kids supposedly couldn't believe it.
I still have it framed in my office.

 

[DarkBlack]

We used to have a “party line “ telephone service. 4 of us. 3 on our dirt road, and one house on a nearby paved street. We all had different sounding rings
When you really needed to make a call and you picked up the phone ready to dial, for the third time,and heard one of your neighbors still flapping with someone….
Those were the days

 

[masseyrider]

We used to have a “party line “ telephone service. 4 of us. 3 on our dirt road, and one house on a nearby paved street. We all had different sounding rings
When you really needed to make a call and you picked up the phone ready to dial, for the third time,and heard one of your neighbors still flapping with someone….
Those were the days

Or you were on the line and a nosey neighbor tried to listen in.
The background always gave them away.
My friend and I would go into a Cheech and Chong drug deal mode if we heard Mrs. D---- listening in.
The old gossip would tell everyone in church what a pair of druggies we were.
Ironically... her son was busted for pushing.

 

[Sigarms]

.

When you're talking to someone, tell them you need to transfer them to Mr. Click.

When they ask you "who?", hang up on them.

Almost as satisfying

 

[not2old]

Dam you're old. I started at $1.50 55 yrs ago

I remember working for less than minimum wage which was $1.00. I was getting 75 cents for sterilizing potting soil and quit when I got enough to go to an upcoming dance.

 

[BravoXray]

Or you were on the line and a nosey neighbor tried to listen in.
The background always gave them away.

She mustn't have known you could unscrew the mouthpiece and take the microphone element out, so there would be no background noise to give her away.
Don't ask how I came to know this little party line secret.

 

[Williy]

Had used these on the farm back in the 50's powered by a car battery

willy

 

[masseyrider]

She mustn't have known you could unscrew the mouthpiece and take the microphone element out, so there would be no background noise to give her away.
Don't ask how I came to know this little party line secret.

We would have missed out on a lot of fun messing with her.
Old biddy also had a good time talking about the neighborhood scurge with her church group and anybody that would listen.

 

[Fuddyduddy1952]

Growing up we were on a party line, in-laws on a party line until the early 80s. Wife & I would hear someone pick up and I'd say something like "I sure hope no one finds the body we put in the 7-11 dumpster Maple St.
Their old heavy bakelite (?) phone they were still paying rent on. I called the phone company and they said just keep it. Rent was 90c s month...but they paid about $700 for it since early 30s.

 

[Fuddyduddy1952]

Years ago rotary phones worked by simple switch contacts, so dialing a 3 contacts open & close 3 times. A business close to home had an outdoor phone with no dial. As a kid I could call friends by tapping it 8-5-1...etc.
Most places later even today have an outdoor service box with a test jumper inside where you can plug in a phone.

 

[masscity]

When I was a kid most farmers and others would cut and peel Poplar trees in the spring to make extra money for the family. We used to do 3 or 4 carloads each spring. Train car load is 40'x8'x8'. One stick was 8' long, most Poplar trees up here are 4 or 5 sticks long.

The bark had to be peeled off, much later they used high pressure water and now, I'm not sure, but I think they grind it up and maybe with chemicals get the bark away.

Of course at the stump it could be 1' to 2' and at the tip 4". As a peeler I got .03 cents per stick, but some years later got a raise to .05 cent per stick. I don't know how old I was when I started, maybe 9-10 years old and the last time I was 17.

When I was 16-17 years old I could peel 200 sticks a day in 7.5 hours, which is $10.00 a day. The bad part of this job was the mosquitoes and no-see-ums. They would eat you alive, there was nothing you could do, except work like crazy and do your best to ignore them.

 

[ultrarunner]

Years ago rotary phones worked by simple switch contacts, so dialing a 3 contacts open & close 3 times. A business close to home had an outdoor phone with no dial. As a kid I could call friends by tapping it 8-5-1...etc.
Most places later even today have an outdoor service box with a test jumper inside where you can plug in a phone.

I still use a rotary phone but it's hard to press 1 for English!

 

[scootr]

I remember the first speed dialing... we forced the rotary dial back after each number to hurry up the dialing process. lol

 

[stuckmotor]

You remember the phrase, "Don't trust anyone over 30", and realize the person credited with coining it is now 84 years old.

 

[MoKelly]

You remember the phrase, "Don't trust anyone over 30", and realize the person credited with coining it is now 84 years old.

That is an interesting piece of info.

 

[garry1p]

During WWII we used to go around hunting up scrap iron and selling it to the local junk man, 1 cent per pound. You would be surprised what all you could buy for a few pennies back then.