Anybody Remember Back When?

[oosik]

Ha - I remember back when Moses brought around the tablet from God - it was a request for formulas for making DIRT. As I remember - some hydroponic gardener came up the formula that is still in use.

I remember, also, in the more rural areas of the county. Non-motorized graders being pulled by tracked dozers to grade the county roads.

Service station in small remote towns and even our more urban town had gas pumps where you wobble-pumped gas up into the big glass container and it then fed down into your vehicle by gravity.

Our house - and everybody else - had the old wooden box phone on the wall with the two big dry cell batteries. Spin the crank to get the operator and tell her the number you wanted. Listen for "your" ring from the phone - ours was three long - two short.

My dad alway hated taking the Chevy in for service - he would have to sit around and wait. Oil changes were EVERY 1000 miles and no longer.

There was no such thing as studded tires - my dad put a pair of walnut shell or sawdust tires on the rear for winter use. He always carried a set of chains for use if thing got really bad.

In the summer there was always the icky old canvas water bag hanging on the front bumper - fill the radiator or fill the kids - same water for all.

Technology has certainly brought us a long way - - I STILL think many of the old ways were much better.

 

[Looking4new]

Service station in small remote towns and even our more urban town had gas pumps where you wobble-pumped gas up into the big glass container and it then fed down into your vehicle by gravity.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In 1979 the County I worked for in Alberta, Canada had one of those pumps for fueling.

The company I work for has one of those older horse drawn graders in front of the 'head office'.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

Ha - I remember back when Moses brought around the tablet from God - it was a request for formulas for making DIRT. As I remember - some hydroponic gardener came up the formula that is still in use.

I remember, also, in the more rural areas of the county. Non-motorized graders being pulled by tracked dozers to grade the county roads.

Service station in small remote towns and even our more urban town had gas pumps where you wobble-pumped gas up into the big glass container and it then fed down into your vehicle by gravity.

Our house - and everybody else - had the old wooden box phone on the wall with the two big dry cell batteries. Spin the crank to get the operator and tell her the number you wanted. Listen for "your" ring from the phone - ours was three long - two short.

My dad alway hated taking the Chevy in for service - he would have to sit around and wait. Oil changes were EVERY 1000 miles and no longer.

There was no such thing as studded tires - my dad put a pair of walnut shell or sawdust tires on the rear for winter use. He always carried a set of chains for use if thing got really bad.

In the summer there was always the icky old canvas water bag hanging on the front bumper - fill the radiator or fill the kids - same water for all.

Technology has certainly brought us a long way - - I STILL think many of the old ways were much better.

I still remember our telephone number...5-5 F 2-3....meaning two longs (5-5) on line F 2-3.

 

[oosik]

Lookin4new - a hilarious similar situation - about 40 miles SW of me is an old homestead. Right, dead smack, in the center of the Palouse wheat country. Parked right in front of their "head" is a horse drawn grader also. I'm sure for the homestead family that lived here ages ago - this "head" or better know as "the outhouse" could have also been known as - corporate headquarter or head office also.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

Lookin4new - a hilarious similar situation - about 40 miles SW of me is an old homestead. Right, dead smack, in the center of the Palouse wheat country. Parked right in front of their "head" is a horse drawn grader also. I'm sure for the homestead family that lived here ages ago - this "head" or better know as "the outhouse" could have also been known as - corporate headquarter or head office also.

Our names were a bit more down to earth. We just called it the **** house; or if it was brick, then it was a brick **** house. My Grand dad had one that was right uptown. Not brick, but the throne was poured concrete with a hand crafted lid made of wood, that could be lifted up. I never will forget, etched in it was a shield with the following script: "WPA 1938".

 

[TotalNoob]

Back in the late 70's through the late 80's I would visit my grandparents and great-grandparents in central Texas for the summer. We weren't exactly considered up-town but my Texas family was down right camping style in my book. I loved it. I have heard stories that leaves me thinking "People were tougher back then". My grandfather did dirt work for ranchers building roads, lakes ("tanks" in his lingo), or pushing mesquite. He had dozers, graders, loaders, dump trucks and all sorts of tractors. I would spend the whole day with him sitting on the fuel tank next to the operators seat of the dozer. I thought I had it figured out. He let me operate the dozer one day at his house. I nearly took out a row of power lines because I could do clutch or brake, never seemed to do both at the same time to turn. It took him a while to catch up and save the day because I doubt I would have missed the next power pole. Chewed my *** pretty good. But now I know how to operate that D6.

Later, I was with him as he was unloading the grader from the lowboy trailer. I guess he didn't set the brake because as he's rolling off the trailer, the truck and trailer start rolling. I thought I was the hero for catching the truck on the passenger side, climbing up into the cab and hitting the brake with my hand. He just asked why I didn't hit the parking brake lever near the steering wheel? We were even after that. I loved those times.

 

[ultrarunner]

When Mom was a child they still had the outhouse on the rural farm...

Most labor was by hand... except for the single cylinder Diesel Tractor that did everything... it pulled the wagons, mowed the fields, powered the buzz saw and hay blower.

Old hand crank diesel tractor and when it was cold a glowing bunt plus was screwed into the cylinder head to assist...

Amazing what 15 hp could do!

There one luxury item was a radio...

 

[Looking4new]

Our family farm still has the outhouse and a chamber pot in the bedrooms for when you got caught short during the night. Up until 10 years ago they still had gas lights and a gas stove. A private natural gas well on the property made for free gas. The property is a Crown land grant so they had the mineral rights too. They farmed with horses and raised sheep and pigs. They showed sheep at the Royal Winter Fair in Toronto and had their own stall for many years.

 

[ultrarunner]

Fascinating.... like going back hundreds of years.

Don't know anyone with a private Natural Gas Well... with a compressor you could power a car too.

 

[turnkey4099]

Ha - I remember back when

(edit)
Service station in small remote towns and even our more urban town had gas pumps where you wobble-pumped gas up into the big glass container and it then fed down into your vehicle by gravity.

Odd things one runs into on the 'net.

I ran into more than one occasion where a "know it all" said that system was so the customer could see what grade of fuel he was getting. LOL. It was so the attendant could pump up the amount of gas you wanted. Want 3 gallongs, pump it up to the 3 gal mark.

Another fairly well known thing was that some cars 'back when' had to back up steep hills to have enough power to climb it. NOPE: It was due to gas tanks under the seat and no fuel pumps. Tank low on fuel and try going up that hill forwards would drop the fuel below the carb level, e.g., out of gas.