Originally Posted by
Der Gebirgsjager
Say, I'm glad that someone appreciates unusual art. I always liked those chianti bottles in the wicker basket that had dozens of different colored candles melted down over the sides.
Like lots of members here, I'm a dinosaur. I mostly grew up in the 1950s on my dad's cattle ranch. It was 1 mile to the nearest neighbor, 5 more to the next one, 9 total to the town of 250 people. 36 miles to the big town of 2,500 people. We went once a month for supplies. We had no electricity, but we did have a WW II surplus generator taken from the deck of an aircraft carrier. My dad would start it up once a week for a couple of hours to allow my mom to run the washing machine. No drier-- clothes were hung on a clothesline. Lighting was by kerosene lamp. One was an Aladdin with a mantle which was bright enough for my brother and I to do our homework on the kitchen table at night. We bought kerosene by the 55 gal. drum, as the refrigerator (Servel) and kitchen stove also ran on kerosene. Heating was entirely by wood. Maybe I never really grew up, because although my home has a central electric furnace I still heat with wood.
I always laugh when you hear someone say that they walked a mile to catch the school bus, a mile home, and it was uphill both ways. We did walk a mile to the school bus, and the first half mile was downhill, and the second uphill, so it was half true. When it snowed too much for the fearless lady who drove the little bus to make it to the one mile rendezvous we were expected to meet it 3 miles away. A couple of winters we walked the 3 miles to and from in the snow, but most winters we home schooled and had no problems at all in keeping up. But the school administration hated it because they got paid per student attendance by the state.
My wife is a stroke victim, and very dependent on the TV for entertainment. When the power goes out, not often, she is completely at a loss. So I sat with her and I have a small CD player that runs on batteries. We listened to some '60s - '80s Country Music, then an album by The Carpenters. Remember them? I don't know what a lot of people seemed to have against them, maybe because they seemed to be decent, straight laced people. Karen Carpenter was quite the singer. When it started getting dark I broke out the kerosene lamps and candles, and started thinking about dinner. I have a good stockpile of groceries here because you never know about the winters, and I opened a large sized can of Chicken & Rice soup. Put it in a pot on the woodstove, and it was bubbling in only about 10 minutes. I dished it up in some nice soup cups we have, and right about then the power came back on. The entire episode sure brought back memories.
Well, the way things are going in this world, our past may well become our future.
DG