planet WV

Bird · Oct 27, 2001

One of the best things about WV was taking a bath

That #2 galvanized wash tub in the middle of the kitchen floor is another thing I don't miss a bit./w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif But at least from the time I was big enough to remember, we had electric lights in the house and a butane cookstove.

But building a bathroom and putting a water heater in the house was cause for a big celebration.

Bird

jdkid · Oct 27, 2001

Hi ya
well i just got to ask bird and DrDan when ya see people today with money and big houses do ya think they realy live??and are they better people cos of haveing things on a plate?...don't take this next bit the wrong way but which one of ya's shot the hole in the ground and found the oil????
catch ya
JD Kid

scruffy · Oct 27, 2001

Bird, you were lucky! My Dad never put a bathroom in the house until a year after all of us boys left home! Hated that ol' galvanized tub, AND the middle of the night trips to the out house...in the rain! Weren't WV, but Oregon! Milkin' was done before dark, as we had no electricity in the barn either, and my Dad would whoop butt if he ever caught any type of flame, kerosene or not in the barn! Flashlight, ok, but then, we never had any batteries for that extravaganza! Rather save them for that late night trip to the outhouse.

DrDan · Oct 27, 2001

JDKID

No I am not jealous or envious whatsoever of those with the big houses and three cars and all. I feel a tear well up everytime I see an old barn caving in out in the midwest and I have this feeling in my heart that no matter what happens, I could lose it all (except my pocket knife) and start over again on some scrub land that nobody else wanted. There's plenty of it you know - just can't get a car to it. I'll always keep my Winchester 94 to keep them poachers back if ever need be.

One of the nicest things about living way back in the hollers was never seeing a paper or any other media hype. If I still lived there, the anthrax scare wouldn't exist. Heck we wouldn't know till it got us...

Oh yes the outsider... What apleasure on a spring day to kick open the door and see the garden growing or the birds flying around. Plenty of room to. We had a two holer. And yes plenty of magazines and a pot of lime. Of course there were those cold nights but that was only a problem for the gals. The rest of us just went out back for a few seconds and marked a favorite tree. Saved the other till daylight!

Aah this thread could go on forever. Maybe we should start another one entitled "The Good Old Days".

If they took everything ya had but your pocket knife ya figure you could make it Bird? Be tough but I bet you'd eat good.

Ever mow hay with mule? Now there's pleasure. Never tip over and soooo quiet. Could hear the blades of grass being sliced off. LOL Got my mule, mower, trip rake and harness for $50 and I was in the hay business just like that.

Bet we could "jaw" forever about this kinda stuff. I have to find some pictures...

Dr Dan

Bird · Oct 27, 2001

JD, it sure wasn't me that found that oil. Sure would have been nice, though./w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif That was West Virginia where the Beverly Hillbillys struck oil./w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

Bird

Bird · Oct 27, 2001

Scruffy, we milked the cow at 5:45 a.m. and p.m., so sometimes it was dark, and we always used a kerosene lantern in the stall where we milked and in the feed room, but never in the hayloft. As the kids nowadays would say, Dad went ballistic when he found the matches in the hayloft that my little brothers (5 & 7 years old) had hid there. Best I can remember we only owned one flashlight and it was strictly for trips to the outhouse.

Bird

Bird · Oct 27, 2001

Yeah, DrDan, I wouldn't want to live without hot and cold running water, air-conditioning, indoor bathrooms, and gosh, every appliance known to man I guess, but like you, I don't think I'd have any real problem with it. In fact, I wanted to buy a piece of land and settle down near Big Bend National Park, but my wife wouldn't even discuss living 80 miles from town.

Pocket knife, huh? I've wondered if I'll get in trouble somewhere nowadays 'cause I ain't left the house without a pocket knife in my pocket since I was 6 years old. My best friend accidentally stuck me in the wrist with his in the second grade; still got a tiny scar. Of course, we'd have never told anyone if a teacher hadn't followed the trail of blood down the hall to the restroom./w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif So they declared a new rule; no knives in school, and we never quit carrying them even for one day; just didn't take them out on the school grounds and no one ever asked if we had one./w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif And no one ever thought of using one in the fights we occasionally had.

Of course, I've also had a .22 rifle and 12 gauge shotgun since I was 10, and a pistol since I was 18.

And like you said, we didn't have much money, but we sure ate well and never went hungry.

I've watched Dad plow with a team of mules, but all I ever did with a mule was drive a wagon, and very little of that.

Bird

Hillbilly · Oct 27, 2001

I always thought that Beverly Hills seen was in the Ozarks or the Smokeys.I dunno someone set me straight........

DrDan · Oct 27, 2001

Nothing beats crude oil to paint tool handles with. It was the universal rust preventative, fence board protector, etc., etc. Nope I'd never waste a round shooting the ground. Heck a box of 20 30-30's last me a couple years. We made every shot count - too dang expensive buying shells, plus it took a long time to get to town to get more.

In the gas pipes from the wells we always had a tee with about a 4' pipe hooked to it. Had a little valve on the end. Every couple weeks we could go tap off what they called "drip gas". It would run an engine but boy did they knock. Good for the Maytag though. That's all that washer ever had. Good for cleaning paint brushes and stuff like that too.

Thing that made us the maddest was them city people coming to the country auctions. One time I got outbid on a whole set of blacksmith tongs by a lady all dressed up in a fancy car. After the sale I followed her to her car and said I need them tongs. She told me she wanted them to hang on her fireplace. I was devestated to see such fine tools leaving the population that needed them.

Still got my seamless stainless steel milking bucket though Bird. Figure I may need it one of these days. LOL God what a sale they'll have when I croak. My neighbor is just as bad. What I don't have he's got stuffed back in a shed someplace. LOL

I'm building a new 30' X 80' building right now so I got enough space to keep going a few more years. Neighbor and I talk every spring about a boys yard sale but we never do it. My gal friend says I'll never get rid of anything. Probably she's right.

Dr Dan