TOPIC: Things I miss:

Things I miss:

Drive-in movies, garter belts and nylons with seams, soda fountains, phone booths, party lines, ladies wearing hats, U.S. Keds, TWA Constellations, bias-ply redline tires, wooden boats with flathead engines...and not having to pump my own gas that was priced at $.28/9 !

Gotta agree with you on that one. Skip.

Face to face conversations that are not inturrupted by a cell phone.
Common courtesy.
Leaded gasoline.
Counter checks.(Remember those?)
T.V. programs that are not full of bleeped out words.
Schwanns ice cream in a BIG tin.
The Pledge of Allegiance at sport events.
Math without a calculator.
40 hour work weeks.
Station wagons.
Fold up road maps.
A back that doesn't ache!

A back that doesn't ache!

Amen to that Neil!
Great lists guys.

I'll trade most of it for common sense in high places , and people teaching their kids what is right and wrong, and schools teaching our kids instead of telling them what to think. Children should know what commitment means. I've had the same wife all my life and still like her to dress like the young lady above. We been together since 78 and still turns me on.

to all.

beautiful peignoir sets, in silk & lace!!!!

XKE drophead roadsters.

HONORABLE Presidents.

yours, satx

Math without a calculator. My GrandPap was a carpenter and a result of Catholic Schools. He was amazing at math. He used to watch me and Dad figuring out how much cement we needed and it could be a complicated pour also with varying thickness and curbs. He'd wait until we had it about figured out and write down what the answer was way before we came up with it. When I built my garage he asked what size and other how do you want it info and then tell me what to buy. How many 2x4's, six's , how many bundles of shingles, nails, and what kind. All in his head. He died 20 years ago and do i ever miss him and my Dad. Dad has been gone now over 4 years.

Local children's TV programs.
Analog antenna Television.
Corner, not so super, markets.
Every car offered as coupe, sedan, wagon and convertible.
Car options not "packaged".
Non-Amtrak passenger trains. (I barely remember, but still...it was a great ride)
Moderates in politics.
Personal responsibility vs safety regulations
Dark skies at night.
milk in glass bottles
winter....like snow and ice skating for Thanksgiving.


"Made in USA" on 90% of the stuff I buy.

However, I think the thing I miss most of all is an attitude more than a thing. Somewhere along the line people lost sight that not everything was "the best" or needs to be. I miss the moderates in the world who could still find joy in imperfection.

jpstr67,

Trains like THE GREAT NORTHERN EMPIRE BUILDER. - We rode that train over a a HALF CENTURY ago & I still remember how beautiful the view out of the observation car was and how much fun that our family had onthe trip!

yours, satx

I honestly remember my mother cleaning house wearing a dress and people dressing-up for train and airline travel. We had exactly three channels on our TV and one of them was fuzzy when it rained. We had a milkman, a breadman and a Charles Chips guy. Doctors made house calls when you were sick and you paid the bill as soon as you could afford to. You went into the doctor's office to pay it...and didn't have to be reminded or threatened to do so. Also, the bill was affordable. Wives borrowed cups of sugar and jars of milk...and repaid them! People hitch-hiked and were picked-up! People had savings accounts that paid higher interest than they do today. Gas stations cleaned your windshield and checked you oil while they pumped your gas. They even gave away sets of dishes to induce you to buy their gas at $.28/9! Dirigibles flew overhead. Airplanes had propellers.

My original list was right off the top of my head so I managed to omit the Santa Fe Super Chief, emergency brakes, not parking brakes, headlight dimmers on the floor and ignitions in the dash and Erector sets and Lincoln logs, not video games.

But you guys are right...there is a lot to be missed besides the tangible things:

I miss people taking responsibility for their actions and
parents who made sure that their children learned how to do it. When I was a kid, I didn't give a damn what my punishment was going to be, just don't tell my father! I was raised, not simply allowed to grow up. I learned by (good) example.

I've been married for 42 years, we have two "kids," both well-educated, successful and happily married...once. We have 6 grandchildren, all healthy and happy. Why is our family a member of such a small minority? It never used to be that way.

It difficult being perfect in today's world!

By the way the voice of Elmo on Sesame Street is under investigation for liking the children too much. I think I seen where he quit today. How about laying down in the grass after dark and wondering and talking to you best pal about "What is out there?" Star Trek was big back then. No not Picard but William Shatner, and he looked young and was not trying to sell me a hotel room. We could have one bottle of pop a day if we had it. If it was a big bottle (16 oz.) we had to share. Potato chips, pop corn or Ice cream was a big treat. Mom made donuts on the stove every now and then. Getting your pants caught in your bike sprocket. Making a swing from a vine. Playing baseball or kickball until we could not see anymore. Getting into fights and it was considered normal kid stuff. Every kid had a knife and never thought about stabbing anything other than mice with it. We had a tree house in seven trees with two fireman's poles, two potbellied stoves that we slept in almost every night. Yes it had a porch too. I made my bike into a chopper with two extra sets of forks. My Dad and I. His finger got cut off and was sewn back on in this pic. He lost it because it would not heal. Mom, Dad, Me and my sister. It was a big deal having a picture taken.Lady,our beagle.

Way cool guys. Yes to all the above. Love the "chopper" with the sissy bar and banana seat. My brother and I both had one and my dad helped us out by getting steering wheels instead of handle bars. I had a White Olds and my Brother had a Dark green Ford one.

Bob

John Glenn orbited when I was 12. Suddenly, "up" was cool. We used to launch "frogonauts" tied to helium balloons...the first known attempt to send amphibians into the stratosphere. 12 helium ballons actually allowed a Mexican chihuahua named "GiGi" to ascend to a height of about 5 feet.

Here's me on the left, circa 1959, with my two best friends. Today, I'm the last man standing.

My best friend and I built the tree house. We called it a tree cabin cause it was so big. He died about 1 1/2 years ago or should I say suicide. He got depressed and quit eating. He lasted around six weeks. I seen him about 8 hours before he died. he was weak and could not talk.

Built a "chopper" just like it.
With a youngsters welding skills, broken welds, forks digging into pavement, I recieved by first broken bone!! The good stuff.

Some of you guys are really hitn a nerve, so much so, gona have to post mine tom buf I will say this now.... I miss getting up off the couch w/out making noises!

Our big thing back when we were 10-12 years old was making grass forts. We waited until "somebody" cut the back field where whatever it was grew to a height of about 3'. After it had dried out, we gathered it up in sheaves and piled it onto the teepee affair we built out of tree limbs, recycled tree house wood and "borrowed" clothesline. Eventually, the dried grass completely covered the whole structure and was about 18" thick. It was dark as a tomb in there. We used to seal outselves in with flashlights, the neighborhood dog and a jug of Kool Aid...looking at "titty books" from the secret "library" up in the girders of the PRR bridge. Cool beans!

Our favorite movie star.....

Man, you guys are much better at this than I, but I'm having a blast reading and reminiscing! How about cars (and trucks of course) that had "wing vents" so you didn't have to open the whole window to let a little air in? My Dad drove a "tank wagon" (which was really a delivery truck by then) for Standard Oil Co. I think one of their biggest competitors was DX brand, neither one still around today? I remember 103 octane "Ethyl" gas at the pump. And "gas wars", where they actually lowered the price to sell more gas! (Still have that rocking chair up in my attic somewhere). Ahh, the simpler times.

satx78247 wrote:

jpstr67,

Trains like THE GREAT NORTHERN EMPIRE BUILDER. - We rode that train over a a HALF CENTURY ago & I still remember how beautiful the view out of the observation car was and how much fun that our family had onthe trip!

yours, satx

In 1968 we took the Northern Pacific, North Coast Limited to Yellowstone Park. To this day, one of the greatest highlights of my life. I was 5. Amtrak is fun to ride and thank god it still exists, but private sector passenger service was really something special.

Nautilus wrote:

Our big thing back when we were 10-12 years old was making grass forts. We waited until "somebody" cut the back field where whatever it was grew to a height of about 3'. After it had dried out, we gathered it up in sheaves and piled it onto the teepee affair we built out of tree limbs, recycled tree house wood and "borrowed" clothesline. Eventually, the dried grass completely covered the whole structure and was about 18" thick. It was dark as a tomb in there. We used to seal outselves in with flashlights, the neighborhood dog and a jug of Kool Aid...looking at "titty books" from the secret "library" up in the girders of the PRR bridge. Cool beans!

Our favorite movie star.....

:
weren't those secret library's the top's. we use to find them at the dump. ron

I won't be redundant about the above mentioned common sense, kids etc. issues but there are a couple things I had to mention that echo others comments. So here it goes, I truly miss....
-An America w/ signs in English only
-Having no fear
-Hauling butt home to ride go-karts w/my friends on our dirt track
-Wiping out on dirt bikes w/ no pain (not for long)
-Halloween trick or tresting w/ friends and w/out escorts until 9:30-10pm
-Smelt fishing (Belmont Harbor Chicago) until 5am w/buckets of smelt
-Taking Penthoose, Cheri, Oui, Playboy, out of the steel mesh can @ the train station and taking tehem back to our fort (on the lot w/go kart track)
-Laying ont he ground w/my best friend contemplating how many stars, who was on them, and watching satellites pass over
-The Apollo space program
-The Saturn Five Rocket, never one bigger, and never will be!
-Making a snowball w/out my hands hurting
-"family classics" and "Walt Disney" himself on Sundays
-Saturday morning cartoons
-Charlie Chan
-Cars you could ID @ night by their lights
-The sound of Briggs and Tecumesh mini bikes
-Riding w/ my Uncle Wayne on his gulf propane truck in Iowa
-Summers that seemed to last for a year
-When telling people we're from Chicago, first thing mentioned from them was Al Capone not political b.s.
-Watching the planes at Migs Field (Thanks "Dick" Daley)
-Sleeping out for concert tickets
-Buying booze for the whole party w/out a fake ID
-Being able to carry a kegger on my shoulder
-Driving to get burritos @ 3AM and not being a "target"
-Cops that dump your booze (or other) and tell you "go home!"
-Drinking @ parks before slobs ruined it for everyone
-A time when most people had dogs bigger than my foot!
-A time when people (w/dogs larger than my foot) considered coyotes "cat control"
-Not being called sir
-Cashiers counting change
-My dog Buttons, my friend for 17 years!
-Pheasants in Illinois
-Dobermans w/ attitude
-Irish Setters that could hunt (and walk)
-Golden Retrievers that weren't in a coma
-Moseguard German Shorthairs
-My friends that have passed
-My best friend since Kindergarten
-And my brother Bruce

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

...and let's not forget Soupy, White Fang, Black Tooth, Pookie and Hippie!

....any space program.

that to!

I try to explain to my sons that we used to be able to I.D. a cars year, make and model at 100 yards. Now days you have to be right next to them and search all over just to find the make!!!
Bill

Having some place to go dancing with my wife on a Friday night. Real dancing not just wiggling around on a bar floor.

Remember when you would get a dressed up and have some place to go, like a fine restruant or a ballroom.

Oh -Yea!! My wife when she was all dressed up.

"Thanks for the memories"

P.S. Our special books were hidden in an old Cedar tree down by the river.

captain video, howdy doody, cars with air vents that opened on the front cowel, cruise control that was a pull cable to the carb, Nash bathtubs you could camp in. Slipping off the bicycle pedals...need I say more, three speed English racer. Job in the navy was to track Allan Shepard's radio sigs. Wedding in '63, same wife (sometimes). on and on and on......

Time. Just a time when things were alot slower paced. No annoying phones and wierd noises coming out of peoples clothes.The thing I really miss the most is a real clock.The type that you had to wind up. Not the types that are out now. There are 8 electronic clocks in my kitchen on every device. Not one of them tell the same time. This is my fathers clock. His family brought it over from england in 1912. My mother gave it to my nephew afew years ago and he just threw it in a closet and never used it.My mother gave it to me a couple of years ago and I have finnaly got it to run. This is the real stuff I really miss.

Very nice! 100years this year!.....did ya throw it a party? Cuz sometimes...any excuse is a good excuse to "pop a cork". Oh yeah, nice digital thermostat. LoL

Yea and the times don't match.

How about missing those old kerosene fired smudge pot road markers used back in the 50's during road construction.

I have 4 of them. Skip.