Changes

Tonight at bed I told Relia a story.  She always wants to hear stories from when I was young.  That's tricky, because the stuff I remember most is when I was getting into trouble and . . . I don't really want to share that with her.  Tonight I told her about how my house was different when I was her age. 
  • We only had five channels.  She doesn't really understand numbers so she doesn't know quite how much of a difference this is.
  • We had encyclopedias but no computers.  (She said "oh no!" when I told her this.)
  • Our cameras had rolls of film.  You could only take that many and then you had to take that into a store and have them develop the film.  I forgot to tell her that we couldn't even see the picture until we got it back. 
  • Calling someone on the phone long distance was expensive.  Now it's no big deal.  We would write letters to other people.
  • In order to change the channel we would actually get up and walk over to the TV.  (She laughed at this.)
  • Then she asked if we even had Tivo.  I told her no, we had to watch commercials.  We couldn't fast forward or rewind.  We couldn't pause it.  If a show was on and we weren't home we missed it entirely.
  • The only way we could watch a movie on the TV is if it happened to be shown on one of the five channels that we got.  We had no DVD or VCR.  Certainly no Apple TV.  (This seemed to rock her world a bit.)
  • Finally, I told her that we didn't have a microwave.  To heat something up we had to use the oven or the stove.  She told me that sounded awful.
After this conversation, I resolved that we would read through some of the 'Little House' books at some point.  It's easy to forget just how much things have changed and how quickly those changes have taken place.  

Comments

DD4 said…
This was fun to read, Peder. As you know, my childhood was a lot different than yours. I'm glad you have opened this topic up to Aurelia. Yes, she may very well enjoy the "Little House Books."
9:06 PM
Micah said…
OK, yes, do read her the "Little House" books, especially given where you live. But, also you don't want to miss Ralph Moody's books, the first of which is "Little Britches" about growing up in Colorado turn of the century. I only just recently hear of them and just finished "Little Britches" and loved it. I can't wait to read it to our guys this summer as we drive across Colorado.
1:20 AM
carrster said…
oh boy - our lives sound old-fashioned, huh? (it's all relative, right, Donna?)...I remember when we got our microwave, we (my Dad) melted an entire stick of butter, just to see how fast we could do it! And we RENTED a VCR along with a couple Grizzly Adams movies once. Wow, that was a treat! Oh and we also have 5 channels - CBS, ABC, NBC and PBS from Austin & Mason City - how lucky we were!!
12:49 PM
Kate said…
I know I'm late to the party here, but this is awesome! And Little House is right on track.
10:02 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

2024 Olympics?

Next week the US Olympic Committee will decide if they'll bid on the 2024 Olympics (I'm betting they will) and may decide on which city they'll put forth to host.  There are four cities on the host list: Boston Los Angeles San Francisco Washington DC I've long believed that if the US bids on 2024, they will win.  The US hasn't hosted an Olympics since Salt Lake City in 2002 and no summer games since Atlanta in 1996.  Given the importance that the US has, particularly in funding, a 28 year gap is a huge one. So who gets the nod?  I have absolutely no insider knowledge but I'd like to make some guesses.  Pure speculation to follow. San Francisco is an interesting choice.  The Bay Area is certainly beautiful.  I'm guessing (I haven't checked into it) that there are enough venues in NoCal to satisfy the sporting requirements.  Between the professional teams (six?) and the number of big time colleges, there must be.  Throw in the big mo...
Read more

Box Elder Bugs

Yesterday morning's breakfast started badly. I'd split my bagel in half and was ready to toast it when I noticed a BOX ELDER BUG sitting on the toaster. The FP Gal tried to help remove him but it looked like he went into one of the slots. Not cool. She then shook out the toaster over the garbarge while I helpfully supervised from the other side of the kitchen. After that we couldn't see it in the toaster. So...we did a test run to smoke it out. Nothing. After careful inspection I finally toasted my bagel. Carefully checked it for embedded insect. Found it clean and ate it. Whew! This morning I sliced my bagel. And found another Box Elder bug on the toaster. The FP Gal was still asleep so I had to take care of it myself. Kleenex over mouth, eyes barely open and a quick paper towel latter it was gone. Seriously, if I find another one tomorrow we have to sell the house.
Read more

The ugliest state

The FP Gal and I are starting to plan us a little road trip. Well, not sure how little it'll end up being. We're both hoping to add a state or two to our personal travel history. Anyway, it made me think of a curious discussion item I ran across a few years back. What's the ugliest state you've been to? Mine is a two way tie between Kansas and North Dakota. Therefore I'm taking them out of contention. Pick a different one Jodi. UPDATE: I must have gotten it from here . Note the times, mine was posted first today!
Read more