# Country images you don't see much anymore



## NancyNGA

Haystacks



Got any others?


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## Pappy

When I use to help on the farm, I operated one of these.


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## Pappy

Tada. And now the picture.


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## NancyNGA

Mail Pouch barn ads.

This is probably regional to Ohio and WV.   But they were everywhere at one time.  Actually even wood barns are hard to find now.


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## Pappy

They sure are, Nancy. When we tore down our old barn, to make room for my grandparents house, it was put together with wood pegs, instead of nails. We almost had to blast it down. It just wouldn't come apart.


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## NancyNGA

Corn shocks:



When we were little kids the neighbor boy's grandfather would put these up in their corn field in the fall.  We used to hollow them out and pretend they were teepees.


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## Agman

*These modern "red iron" barns are made of high grade steel pipe and perlins with 28 gauge barn metal.  Insurance carriers say that they are 5 times more resistant to high winds and tornadoes than lumber.  A week after we closed on our ranch a tornado passed through and our 5,000 square foot wooden barn appeared to have been nuked and we found barn material in the far ends of all of our pastures.  Luckily, we salvaged at least half of the 100 year old lumber and it was so hard that we had to drill pilot holes in order to pound nails in it.  I love these new barns but they have none of the nostalgia and charisma of the ones with which I grew up.  *


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## fureverywhere

When we lived in PA there were barns in such dis-repair they looked like a slight breeze would topple them...but still they stood. When you consider how old some of them were, they definitely built them to last in those days.


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## NancyNGA

Ohio Amish Barn Raising - May 13th, 2014


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## fureverywhere

Even falling apart still beautiful, my relatives lived in Pennsylvania, so especially at this time of the year old barns and cornfields bring back lovely memories.


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## jujube

NancyNGA said:


> Mail Pouch barn ads.
> 
> View attachment 25007



...and SEE ROCK CITY....


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## NancyNGA

jujube said:


> ...and SEE ROCK CITY....



Yes, jujube.  I remember those. Maybe a little farther south, KY, TN


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## imp

*100 Year-Old Farmhouse*

Situated on private land within Mark Twain National Forest, the few farms all clustered there were "grandfathered" after M. T. became National Forest in 1939.








Above, we are standing exactly where the critter below "snaked" it's way towards our feet as we returned from an evening walk:    (Copperhead)


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## NancyNGA

Go Imp!  Ha!
-----------------------

Hand-operated Water Pumps---Indoor and Outdoor 

 My grandmother had both.  You got a stern reprimand if you forgot to save a can of water to prime the pump for next time. :whome:





They still make a lot of these, but I haven't seen many in actual use lately.


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## NancyNGA

Y'all thought I was going to quit, didn't you?

Wood tobacco barns (a regional thing)





Tobacco curing inside.



This one in North Carolina, with Pilot Mountain in the background. I've been up there.  (Reason for the town named Mount Pilot of the Andy Griffith show)


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## Jackie22

Nice thread, Nancy, thanks.


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## Pappy

I can remember seeing these as a child.


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## Waterlilly

Nancy, I can smell that tobacco when I look at those barns. My Dad's family lived in North Central Florida (almost Georgia) and I went to HS up there, worked in that dreaded stuff in the summer. I thought I was in high cotton making 8.00 a day as a stringer!  Worked watermelons too. Not much agriculture up there now, mainly peanuts, some watermelon and corn for feed. Yet many of those old barns still stand.


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## SeaBreeze




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## NancyNGA

I was waiting for one of those SeaBreeze. :hatlaugh1:


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## SeaBreeze

Seed planter


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## Pappy

This is the way my neighbor loaded hay powered by a huge team of horses.


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## SeaBreeze

Great thread Nancy, enjoying it very much....thanks!


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## NancyNGA

Traveling side shows.    

*Not* my cup of tea, after going to one once.


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## NancyNGA

Waterlilly said:


> Nancy, I can smell that tobacco when I look at those barns. My Dad's family lived in North Central Florida (almost Georgia) and I went to HS up there, worked in that dreaded stuff in the summer. I thought I was in high cotton making 8.00 a day as a stringer! ....



Waterlilly, is this what you mean by stringing?


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## SeaBreeze




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## SeaBreeze

Root cellar


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## NancyNGA

SeaBreeze said:


> Root cellar



:goodone:   

Yes, yes!!!  I forgot about those.   My grandmother in WV had one built into the side of a hill.  They kept bushels of potatoes in there, plus canned goods.


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## Linda

My husband calls the root cellars "fraidy holes" because they'd run into them when they were afraid of a tornado.   Nancy I love your thread and I need to find some of my old photos to post on here.  They aren't digital.


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## NancyNGA

Linda said:


> My husband calls the root cellars "fraidy holes" because they'd run into them when they were afraid of a tornado.   Nancy I love your thread and I need to find some of my old photos to post on here.  They aren't digital.



I might be afraid to run *into* some of them.:eewwk:     Please do post your pics, Linda.  I love old photos.


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## Linda

Nancy, most of them aren't old they are just photos I've taken of old things.  I love old buildings that are falling down.  I have one taken up by the national park above my house of an old out house that deteriorated and then just fell over in pieces.  I'd have to go through boxes of photos though and I can't right now.  I might go out in my front yard and take a photo of my brother's "yard art".  It's an old grape wagon which is probably 100 years old and then he's put all sorts of antiques on it and let the weather ruin them.    There was an old bee smoker (to smoke the bees out of their hives) and after a year out there it's completed ruined. We just don't agree about this but I let it go.  It makes him happy and they aren't "my" antiques out there.


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## Pappy

I have always kept this photo of me, the older boy and my cousins, of my uncles cleaning the area around our outhouse. When my folks bought the house, it only had a hand pump to the kitchen sink. The house was built in 1900 buy my great grandfather and was in the family until the 80s. It is now slowly falling down.


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## NancyNGA

Linda said:


> Nancy, most of them aren't old they are just photos I've taken of old things.  I love old buildings that are falling down. ...(clip) ...  It's an old grape wagon which is probably 100 years old .



Linda, I didn't say it right.  I meant to say pictures of old things.  (Well I like old pictures, too. )  What is a grape wagon?  I'll have to Google that.


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## NancyNGA

Pappy said:


> I have always kept this photo of me, the older boy and my cousins, of my uncles cleaning the area around our outhouse. When my folks bought the house, it only had a hand pump to the kitchen sink. The house was built in 1900 buy my great grandfather and was in the family until the 80s. It is now slowly falling down.



That picture is a gem!


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## NancyNGA

What you used to see retired men in the country do.



What they do now



Women didn't get to retire back then.


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## oldman

NancyNGA said:


> Yes, jujube.  I remember those. Maybe a little farther south, KY, TN
> 
> View attachment 25019



Add PA to the list.


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## oldman

NancyNGA said:


> Waterlilly, is this what you mean by stringing?



When I did this job, we called it 'spearing' due to the arrowhead (or spearhead) the person doing the spearing puts on the front and then runs the stem through it onto the wooden slat. Of course, we also had to go through the crop while it was growing and pick off the tobacco worms. The farmer that I worked for did not believe in using pesticides on the tobacco or tomatoes. In the tobacco field, we could catch the many, many grasshoppers and use them to go fishing.


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## SeaBreeze

Makeshift rain barrel and nearby watering cans


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## Waterlilly

NancyNGA said:


> Waterlilly, is this what you mean by stringing?




Yes.  We worked on a combine though, croppers on bottom and the tobacco leaves would run up on clasp like things to the stringers on top. Nasty work, tar in your hair, bleeding fingers and the boys who cropped would send little surprises up with the leaves. Tobacco worms are gross!


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## RadishRose

There are still plenty of old country barns in CT, but the stone barns are rare;


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## RadishRose

Stereo view of the round stone barn at Shaker Village in MA. It's amazing.



http://hancockshakervillage.org/museum/historic-architecture/1826-stone-barn/


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## NancyNGA

Thank you, RadishRose.  Those are beautiful barns.  At first glance I assumed that was a silo on the side of the first one, but it looks like a chimney instead. Old English style maybe?  
I looked at the link.  Would love to see more of the inside of the second one.  

There is an old wooden round barn about 30 miles from where I live.  It has been turned into a mattress store.  Maybe I can find  picture of it.  Pretty crude in comparison, though.

_ETA_:  Never mind, it really is tacky.


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## NancyNGA

Waterlilly said:


> ...and the boys who cropped would send little surprises up with the leaves. Tobacco worms are gross!



I remember going through the garden with my grandmother while she pinched off the potato bugs.  She even pinched off huge tomato worms.:eeew:  
I would carefully put them down on the ground, cover with a rock and stomp.


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## Pappy

This barn is about 20 miles from my old hometown.


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## NancyNGA

That barn look huge, Pappy!   Oh I so would like to go inside and look around these barns.  They fascinate me even more than old houses.  Thanks!


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## NancyNGA

Another barn paint advertisement, in Morpeth, New South Wales, Australia. (This one's kinda pretty.)

Dr. Morse's Indian Root Pills have their genesis with Edwin Perkins Comstock — who founded a drug company in New York City sometime before 1833. The Comstock patent medicine business was involved in the sale of a number of successful drugs, including Carlton's Pile Liniment, Oldridge's Balm of Columbia, Kline's Tooth Ache Drops and Judson's Worm Tea.

 Dr. Morse's pills, and Comstock's Worm Tablets, were manufactured and sold, at least until 1992, by the W.H. Comstock Company Pty. Ltd., in Australia. No information after that.


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## Ina

Nancy, I  always looked for the old barns when I was a child.  They helped me learn to read, and it was a great game if there was another child to see who could read the sign first.


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## NancyNGA

Ina, that reminds me, my cousin and I would count cows on the way to my grandfather's cabin when we were kids.  Helped me learn how to count _FAST_!   

Did anyone else ever play that game?


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## NancyNGA

Family blacksmith shops

The original owner of my property out in the country had a blacksmith shop, according to the neighbors.  You can see remnants of an old drainage ditch running from where the building stood, elevated above a head (beginning of a small creek) toward the pond. 





Master blacksmith Francis Whitaker (1906-1999).  Aspen, CO



 "The first time I took a piece of hot iron out of the fire and started to beat it with a hammer, I was hooked," he said.

https://www.arts.gov/honors/heritage/fellows/francis-whitaker


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## applecruncher

NancyNGA said:


> Mail Pouch barn ads.
> 
> This is probably regional to Ohio and WV. But they were everywhere at one time. Actually even wood barns are hard to find now.
> 
> View attachment 25007



I used to see a lot of the Mail Pouch barn ads in rural areas throughout Ohio.


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## applecruncher

It's been many years, but it was common to see these signs in certain rural Ohio areas where there are Amish people:


. 
In the 80s I had a job that required travel/driving thru these areas. When possible I used to stop and buy Amish bread, baked goods, cheese....yum.


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## NancyNGA

applecruncher said:


> It's been many years, but it was common to see these signs in certain rural Ohio areas where there are Amish people



Yes some beautiful farms in that area, around Holmes County.


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## applecruncher

Correct Nancy.  Holmes and also Hardin counties. Very beautiful areas.


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## NancyNGA

High-wheel hand cultivators

Actually these are becoming popular again.  You can order them from a lot of places. It was the only thing we had for the vegetable garden at home for years, until we finally got a used tractor.


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## Pappy

This is what my grandpa use to cut enough hay for his goats.


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## NancyNGA

:goodone:  Yes, Pappy, that's called a scythe, isn't it?   We had one of those, too!   Just to cut the field behind our house.  I tried it a couple of times.  Couldn't do it.


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## Waterlilly

Now Nancy, after reading your diary I find that hard to believe!


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## NancyNGA

Waterlilly said:


> Now Nancy, after reading your diary I find that hard to believe!



Ha! Ha! It's not as easy as it looks.  That's my excuse, and I'm sticking to it.   Here is a how to video---3.5 minutes over and over!  I find watching this relaxing for some reason.:shrug:


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## imp

*Scythes I Knew*



Pappy said:


> This is what my grandpa use to cut enough hay for his goats.









There were two of them left behind when my own grandpa died, so they wound up in our garage, I was 10. My Dad bought a little place in Michigan, at his Mother's request, and she lived there alone until she died. The scythes were tried out there. Above, it is lying upside down, as the handles and curvature show they are positioned such that it is swept from right to left, to cut the hay. As pictured, it could not be held and swept left to right at all. 

The blades on ours were about twice the width shown. Using the things was back-breaking work, and one "dig-in" of the point into the earth wrenched yer back pretty good! We even had a smaller one, held with one hand, which I believe I have seen still for sale at places like Tractor Supply Co.     imp


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## applecruncher

Don't see many of these clotheslines anymore.


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## SeaBreeze

Roadside farm stands


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## NancyNGA

applecruncher said:


> Don't see many of these clotheslines anymore.



I don't believe I've *EVER* seen any clotheslines like that, AC!:thankyou1:


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## applecruncher

Yeah, Nancy....I tried to post some 'simpler' clothes lines but had trouble. 

But point is they are a rarity now.


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## NancyNGA

That's a great picture, SeaBreeze.  Thanks.

There was a cider mill right near my house where I grew up.  Every fall they would press apples and line up glass jugs of cider all along the loading dock for sale.  I wish I had a picture of that.  It was good cider, worms and all, and it had varying degrees of kick as it got older. Most of the cider sold at the stores now has preservatives in it.  I don't understand how that would work.  But I've never tried it.


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## NancyNGA

applecruncher said:


> Yeah, Nancy....I tried to post some 'simpler' clothes lines but had trouble.
> 
> But point is they are a rarity now.



Yes they are.

And most clotheslines needed props everywhere.  I believe this woman's prop is too heavy.  Ha!


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## Pappy

When I was a youngin, we had a shed where we could boil down maple syrup each new season. Took a lot of work for a small yield. I haven't seen this done in years, but I guess it's still made.


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## NancyNGA

Pappy, I *promise* I won't include a video of boiling down sap. (Would that be like watching paint dry?)

But here is a video about maple syrup production in the 1920's I thought was interesting.


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## NancyNGA

Tire swings

I never had one but my cousins did.



It needs a longer rope, like this:


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## NancyNGA

Railroad water towers


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## applecruncher

I remember Tire Swings. They were fun!


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## NancyNGA

Maypole festivities

This is not unique to country life, but I don't think you see this anymore here.  We had May day celebrations a couple of years into elementary school (early 50's) and then they stopped abruptly.  I think it had to do with the cold war mentality, but can't find anything on official guidelines.


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## Karen99

I remember my elementary school had a Maypole dance at a nearby park..the year was 1959.  I also remember the tire swing. My Auntie had one in her backyard.  Great fun!


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## NancyNGA

Advertising thermometers






It seemed like every country store or gas station had at least one of these on the front porch. Collecting originals has become a big hobby.  Reproductions are now being manufactured.


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## Pappy

My grandfather had one of these saws. I think he called it a buck saw.


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## hossthehermit

Pappy said:


> My grandfather had one of these saws. I think he called it a buck saw.



Yep, that's what we called 'em .............
Growing up on a farm that had been in the family for 3 generations, we still used a lot of the old tools .....................
Certainly different times than now .........
Cats were always around at milking times ..................

.


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## NancyNGA

Hoss, speaking of cows, these were even before our time.



They even had a two cow model.



And a bicycle pump model.


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## Josiah

There are probably 15 of these signs within a 15 mile radius of my house right now.


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## Shalimar

Really Josiah, that is so cool. I wish we had them here. By the way, it is wonderful to hear from you again! How are you?


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## RadishRose




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## NancyNGA

Josiah said:
			
		

> There are probably 15 of these signs within a 15 mile radius of my house right now.





Shalimar said:


> Really Josiah, that is so cool. I wish we had them here....



Which signs???


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## NancyNGA

RadishRose, that barn has a lot of character.

:newyearseve:


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## Pappy

Love this thread. It brings back memories of so many things that my grandpa used on his little farm. He used one on these grinding wheels, operated with a treadle, so many times. My job was to keep the wheel wet.
Not grandpa in the picture.


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## NancyNGA

Pappy, my grandfather had a hand crank one that clamped to his work bench very much like this one.  We cousins used to sneak in the garage and take turns cranking it.  It didn't take much to excite us.


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## Linda

Pappy said:


> I have always kept this photo of me, the older boy and my cousins, of my uncles cleaning the area around our outhouse. When my folks bought the house, it only had a hand pump to the kitchen sink. The house was built in 1900 buy my great grandfather and was in the family until the 80s. It is now slowly falling down.


 Pappy I love this photo and you and your cousins just make it a real human interest story.


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## SeaBreeze

Corn sheller


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## Linda

I can't get my photos to upload, I'll have to try again later.


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## NancyNGA

Linda said:


> I can't get my photos to upload, I'll have to try again later.


Linda, are you trying to load them as attachments?  It took me several tries to figure out how to do that.  I also think there is an individual photo size limit.  Maybe if you let us know where you're getting stuck someone could help.


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## NancyNGA

Freezer chest style soft drink "vending machines."  Not sure what you call them.  Little country stores and gas stations often had one.


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## Pappy

Yes, very familiar with that soda machine. The drink sat in cold water and you raised the top, slide the soda over to the opening, and pulled out your drink. After paying your dime, of course.


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## Pappy

I understand many a finger was lost due to these scissor cutters. Tough on the wild life also.


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## Capt Lightning

Just across the street from me is an old corrugated steel building that is now the workshop of a one-man car repair business.  This used to be the village "Womens' Rural Institute" hall, but before that, it was a workshop at RNAS Longside (about 20 miles from here) which was an Airship base during WW1. If the weather wasn't so bad, I'd take a picture of it.
 Nothing remains of the base, but I expect that other buildings have been recycled and still exist.  
(Using 'Goodle Earth', I can see the ghostly remains of several WW1 & WW2 airfields along the coast here)


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## NancyNGA

Steam powered tractors

Before this pull, sawdust was added to the firebox to enhance the night "spark show."


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## NancyNGA

Coal home furnaces

We had one like this, but with only one duct up to the whole house. (certainly not exclusive to the country)





　
Dedicating an entire room in your basement just to store coal.





　
Deliveries from the coal truck


Having to get up in a cold house on winter mornings and shovel.


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## jnos

*Hand Crank Corn Cutter*






This is the kind of Corn Cutter I used (played with) as a kid on my grandpa's farm. I've never seen the one with the wooden shute.

Great thread, everyone. It's fun to see all the oldies but goodies.


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## NancyNGA

jnos said:


> This is the kind of Corn Cutter I used (played with) as a kid on my grandpa's farm. I've never seen the one with the wooden shute.


Hi jnos.  Thanks for posting that. Never saw one before and I had to see for myself how it worked, so I'm posting the video I found.


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## jnos

Thanks, Nancy. As a kid I remember it being a lot slower. Guess my arm strength was lacking.


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## imp

Our basement "coal bin" was filled through a window, as shown above, except that the big old Mack Trucks dump truck dumped the pile in the street in front of the house. A black man was left behind with a huge wheelbarrow and gigantic scoop shovel, which he used to haul the 12 tons or so to the window and dump it out into the basement. He accomplished this starting at perhaps 10AM, and was finished by 2PM! My Mother always offered him fresh water to drink. The coal was hard coal, sized just like in the pic above, about 1-inch chunks. 

My Dad stoked up the fire in the morning before leaving for work, then again in the evening, when I was quite small. When I was about 5 or so, he installed an electric stoker which fed the coal into the boiler as needed. Here's a kick on this:






The label on our coal stoker was quite colorful, red lettering on green background. By the time the stoker was replaced by natural gas, I was a pretty avid reader. That label said, "Buffalo Springfield Company, Springfield, Illinois!"

Ever wonder how the group got it's name? 1950 vs. 1967.    imp


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## NancyNGA

imp said:


> The label on our coal stoker was quite colorful, red lettering on green background. By the time the stoker was replaced by natural gas, I was a pretty avid reader. That label said, "Buffalo Springfield Company, Springfield, Illinois!"
> 
> Ever wonder how the group got it's name? 1950 vs. 1967.    imp



Well Imp, according to Wikipedia (so it must be true)....The group's name was taken from the side of a steamroller made by the Springfield, Ohio-based Buffalo-Springfield Roller Company.  Could it be they made furnaces, too???


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## NancyNGA

Apple peeler

This is the Reading model 78 Apple Peeler, pat. 1872.  There appear to be at least a dozen apple peeler designs from that era. 






Lehman's, Kidron, OH, now offers new reproductions for only $199. :eewwk:

Demonstration:


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## SeaBreeze

Washing laundry outdoors.


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## fureverywhere

Nancy I remember my grandfather getting regular coal delivery and the coal room in his basement...forgot all about that.







See, even before texting kids didn't drive safe!


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## applecruncher

I can barely remember but I do recall my grandma using a washboard outside. I definitely remember my mom using a wringer washer. I used to help guide the clothes from the other side.


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## RadishRose

NancyNGA said:


> Freezer chest style soft drink "vending machines."  Not sure what you call them.  Little country stores and gas stations often had one.



I remember seeing these a time or two!


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## Pappy

fureverywhere said:


> Nancy I remember my grandfather getting regular coal delivery and the coal room in his basement...forgot all about that.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> See, even before texting kids didn't drive safe!



Grandpa would wet down the coal as it came down the chute to keep the coal dust down. I can remember him complaining when coal went to $20 a ton.


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## jujube

An old homestead in the Cataloochee Valley, NC, a part of the Great Smokey Mountains National Park.  Note remnants of the Sears catalog pages that were used as wallpaper.


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## jujube

An old homestead in the Cataloochee Valley, NC, a part of the Great Smokey Mountains National Park.  Note remnants of the newspapers and Sears catalog pages that were used as wallpaper. View attachment 25548View attachment 25549


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## jujube

RadishRose said:


> I remember seeing these a time or two!



Yep, fishing around in the ice and water, trying to find the last bottle of Grape Nehi.


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## NancyNGA

OK guys, time to get educational. 

*Tent Chautauquas*
Chautauqua was  an adult education movement in the United States, highly popular in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. A Chautauqua assembly brought entertainment and culture for the whole community, with speakers, teachers, musicians, entertainers, preachers and specialists of the day. 

Tent Chautauquas were traveling versions of the Chautauqua movement, often held in rural locations. The program would be presented, and after several days the Chautauqua would fold its tents and move on. 











A notable participant was Eleanor Roosevelt, in Miamisburg, OH, 1940.  






The other participants on the program look thrilling, especially ...

*"Bubbles Concerto - A Soap Film Fantasy "
*_An entertainment feature consisting of hundreds of demonstrations in soap film, blowing bubbles, with an attempt by the producer to present the various effects in logical and rhythmic order....music accompanies the exhibition of soap bubbles... While the spectators view the performance, their minds drift dream-life (sic) with the beautiful bubbles that form rise, float and vanish!

_In the 1969 Elvis Presley movie, _The Trouble with Girls_, Presley's role was the manager of a tent Chautauqua.


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## Stamper

NancyNGA, Our home in Ft Wayne IN was built by Amish from Grabill, IN.  Amish from Arcola, IL built my brothers barn in IL. I loved there work.  Also When we moved to Wisconsin in 1990 I saw barns with hanging tobacco too. Couldn't believe it especially this late in time, but was told they grow it for cigars.


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## NancyNGA

Corn cribs





One from the inside



This is supposed to be a very old corn crib in Spain.  A _very_ interesting building in any case.


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## SeaBreeze

Butter churn


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## NancyNGA

Good one SB.  I actually saw my aunt's husband's mother churning butter on the porch  with one of those in WV when I was a child.  I can just barely remember it.


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## NancyNGA

Home canning, anyone?

Near the end of every summer the long canning process would begin.  Hot pack, cold pack, whatever. The kitchen was a steam bath through mid August, no AC back then.  It took days because you could only do a few qt jars in the pressure cooker at a time.








We had a pear tree, 3 peach trees, and grew lots of  tomatoes and  green beans.And you had to peel and snap all of these things.


















Blackberry and raspberry jelly, sealed with wax.







Then carry them all to shelves in the basement.



Whew! I'm tired just thinking about it.


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## Pappy

The old farms always had an old vehicle sitting around somewhere on the property.


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## NancyNGA

One room schoolhouses.   

This picture is of Oakdale School in Loyston, Tennessee, 1933.



Loyston was a community in TN that was completely inundated by the waters of Norris Lake after the completion of Norris Dam in 1936.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loyston,_Tennessee


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## NancyNGA

Quilting Bees.   I remember quilting frames like these set up in my grandmother's dining room in the winter:







Quilting frames hung from the ceiling:


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## Pappy

I like this one. Look at the old gas pump.


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## NancyNGA

Great picture Pappy.  Wonder what's the pump on the right?  Kerosene, maybe?


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## Pappy

Probably, Nancy. I didn't see that until you mentioned it.


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## NancyNGA

Two horse power threshing machine.


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## Linda

Old cream separator my brother put by my little barn (pump house).


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## NancyNGA

What beautiful property and cute barn, Linda.  Thanks for the cream separator picture.  I've never seen one of those before.   And a windmill...


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## Linda

Thanks Nancy.


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## NancyNGA

Farmer reading _The Progressive Farmer_, Coryell County, Texas, September 1931. (Photo by George W. Ackerman)


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## Shalimar

Love the lace up boots!


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## Ina

I found one of these caps in my  paternal grandmother's keepsakes.  I'm glad these are not required anymore, but they do bring the past to mind.
This is an example of Irish lace. The one my grandmother showed me was made of cotten calico material.


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## NancyNGA

That is pretty, Ina.  Maybe they will come back in style.


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## Pappy

Nancy....


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## NancyNGA

Aww... isn't he/she sweet.  No teeth yet either.


----------



## Anglophile

Nice interesting thread folks, love old junk.   England is full of old bygones , may add when I find out how to put pics on.


----------



## NancyNGA

Anglophile said:


> ... love old junk.



So do I, Anglophile.  Looking forward to some of your pictures.


----------



## NancyNGA

Local feed mills (plus other things):


----------



## Guitarist

Anglophile,

I found this about how to post pics.



> *How do I use albums?*
> As a member, you can create Albums of images that are linked to your public profile. Albums can be created by visiting the User Control Panel, and clicking on the 'Photos & Albums' link, and then clicking on 'Add Album'.
> Each album can have a title ('Joe's Holiday to Nepal'), a description ('A bunch of photos from my recent adventure') and can be of three different types: Public, Private or Profile.
> 
> 
> *Public albums* can be viewed by anyone
> *Private albums* can only be viewed by site staff (moderators, administrators) and your Friends and Contacts (info)
> *Profile albums* are viewable only by you. However, you can use the images to customize your public profile (info)
> *How do I upload photos?*
> Once you've created an album you can upload images to it. Simply view the album and click on 'Upload Photos'.
> You'll have the option to give each photo a caption, and to set one image as the Album cover, which will be displayed on the public profile. To delete an album or edit the title, description or album type, click on 'Edit Album'. To delete an image, or to edit a caption or change the album cover, click on 'Edit Photos'.
> All members who have access to your album images can comment on them, in a similar way to Visitor Messages (more info). You can delete any image comments from your albums, and report inappropriate messages to moderators.
> When you have uploaded a photo, you can place it in your posts by using the BB code text that is displayed below the image when you view it at full size.



I guess I'll be able to figure it out if I give a whole afternoon to trying!  Still trying to interpret the "how to embed a YouTube video" instructions!  lol


----------



## Guitarist

Anglophile said:


> Nice interesting thread folks, love old junk.   England is full of old bygones , may add when I find out how to put pics on.



Anglophile, I found this on how to post pics:



> *How do I use albums?*
> As a member, you can create Albums of images that are linked to your public profile. Albums can be created by visiting the User Control Panel, and clicking on the 'Photos & Albums' link, and then clicking on 'Add Album'.
> Each album can have a title ('Joe's Holiday to Nepal'), a description ('A bunch of photos from my recent adventure') and can be of three different types: Public, Private or Profile.
> 
> 
> *Public albums* can be viewed by anyone
> *Private albums* can only be viewed by site staff (moderators, administrators) and your Friends and Contacts (info)
> *Profile albums* are viewable only by you. However, you can use the images to customize your public profile (info)
> *How do I upload photos?*
> Once you've created an album you can upload images to it. Simply view the album and click on 'Upload Photos'.
> You'll have the option to give each photo a caption, and to set one image as the Album cover, which will be displayed on the public profile. To delete an album or edit the title, description or album type, click on 'Edit Album'. To delete an image, or to edit a caption or change the album cover, click on 'Edit Photos'.
> All members who have access to your album images can comment on them, in a similar way to Visitor Messages (more info). You can delete any image comments from your albums, and report inappropriate messages to moderators.
> When you have uploaded a photo, you can place it in your posts by using the BB code text that is displayed below the image when you view it at full size.



I guess I'll be able to figure it out if I ever have a whole afternoon to spend trying!  Then I'll have to figure out how to interpret the instructions for embedding a YouTube video, since I've asked and no one has told me. There don't seem to be any Mods here to ask!


----------



## SeaBreeze

Guitarist said:


> I guess I'll be able to figure it out if I ever have a whole afternoon to spend trying!  Then I'll have to figure out how to interpret the instructions for embedding a YouTube video, since I've asked and no one has told me. There don't seem to be any Mods here to ask!



If you have any questions or need tips on forum features, there's a separate section you can go to "Forum Support and Suggestions", lots of info there to browse when you have time.  



> *
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Adding a video to your post*
> 
> If you'd like to add a video to your post it's easy! Click on the wishbone shaped icon on the upper-right corner of the video, when you see the video URL, right click it and click on "Copy Video URL". Then, click on the "Insert Video" icon above your post
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> , right click the box and paste in your URL. Then, click OK. When you're finished and click on "Submit Reply", you'll see your video in your new post.
> 
> Update: You may need to delete the "s" from "https" when adding a youtube video.​


----------



## SeaBreeze

Porch swing up for winter in Kansas.


----------



## NancyNGA




----------



## NancyNGA

Moonshine stills


----------



## NancyNGA

Newton Hylton who played _clawhammer_ style banjo. "A ground-hog's hide provided the drumtight head for this banjo." Virginia. (photo by Earl Palmer) 

I have no idea who Newton was, but his face has a lot of character.   Just thought it was a neat picture.


----------



## SeaBreeze

Don't know if this really fits in with your thread Nancy, but I'll throw it out there.


----------



## NancyNGA

SeaBreeze, that is an interesting video and it fits here just fine.  Wouldn't matter even if it didn't.  

You do realize that 66 years ago is not all that long anymore, don't you?  At least not for me.  Ha!


----------



## NancyNGA

Pitching horseshoes:


----------



## Pappy

Loved to do this, every Saturday night, at Loomis hayloft.


----------



## NancyNGA

More country stores  (Two different ones)

 

The one on the right above looks like the one at my grandmother's house only with ceiling fan instead of fluorescent light. Candy was always behind a glass display case.  It was dual purpose---store and town post office.


----------



## Pappy

A very old threshing machine.


----------



## Ken N Tx




----------



## NancyNGA

Gathering and washing eggs


----------



## Carla

Just spent over an hour on this thread! Watched several videos, especially liked the old movie of the maple sugar collection and production. Loved the old shed and all the pictures of all that contributed here. Something also came to mind--if any of you recall the advertising along the roadsides, those little signs in succession like for Brylcreem. Probably before billboards, still using the barns for advertising but these little signs with one word, you'de have to read them all. I guess there were distractions before cellphones!


----------



## NancyNGA

Carla said:


> .... Something also came to mind--if any of you recall the advertising along the roadsides, those little signs in succession like for Brylcreem. Probably before billboards, still using the barns for advertising but these little signs with one word, you'de have to read them all. I guess there were distractions before cellphones!



Carla, do you mean Burma-Shave signs? That's a good one. I think those have become collectors items now. 






A simulation


----------



## SeaBreeze

Moving day.


----------



## Butterfly

Really fun thread.  It brings back a lot of memories.  

Carla, I really got sucked into this thread, too and spent a lot of time on it.  I remember many of these things from my childhood.


----------



## Meanderer




----------



## Pappy

Outhouses? Not many left. When we moved to the house my great grandfather built, we had one, and for water, a pump in the kitchen sink. The little guy, looking back, is me with my cousins. My uncles are clearing a path to the newly remodeled outhouse.


----------



## Aunt Bea

Pappy said:


> Outhouses? Not many left. When we moved to the house my great grandfather built, we had one, and for water, a pump in the kitchen sink. The little guy, looking back, is me with my cousins. My uncles are clearing a path to the newly remodeled outhouse.



Great picture!!!

We had an old three holer on my grandmother's farm until about 1956.


----------



## Pappy

It was also my hideout when the mean Billy goat got loose. If I couldn't get to the house, I would go into the outhouse.


----------



## Aunt Bea

Pappy said:


> It was also my hideout when the mean Billy goat got loose. If I couldn't get to the house, I would go into the outhouse.



My nemesis was an old rooster, he used to come after me when I went into my grandmother's chicken coop and I was scared to death of him!!!  My brothers told me to swing the feed pail at him or kick at him to chase him away, it never seemed to work.  Finally my grandmother got sick of all the commotion and he ended his days in the soup pot!  Then there was this pair of geese...

I have great memories of living in the country but at this point in my life the city and its conveniences are perfect for me.


----------



## Jackie22

My granddad repaired radios in his work shed, I bet there were a thousand radio tubes in that little shed.


----------



## Meanderer




----------



## DaveA

Aunt Bea said:


> Great picture!!!
> 
> We had an old three holer on my grandmother's farm until about 1956.



Took this photo last year of a 2 holer  beside the road to our cottage in Maine.  The door's open so I guess all are welcome.


----------



## Carla

NancyNGA said:


> Carla, do you mean Burma-Shave signs? That's a good one. I think those have become collectors items now.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> A simulation



Yes, my mistake! BurmaShave.


----------



## Carla

Pappy said:


> Outhouses? Not many left. When we moved to the house my great grandfather built, we had one, and for water, a pump in the kitchen sink. The little guy, looking back, is me with my cousins. My uncles are clearing a path to the newly remodeled outhouse.



My grandparents had a bungalow in the woods that had an outhouse. I refused to go in there alone, scared I would fall through! I was quite young at the time.


----------



## Meanderer

[h=3]the Outhouse Festival in Elk Falls[/h]


----------



## Pappy

That worked well.....


----------



## NancyNGA

Bushel baskets.  We had dozens of these sitting around at home.  Used to get apples in them every fall.  Do they still make them, I wonder?


----------



## Meanderer

Some mornings, I will serenade  my Wife with a song, when we wake up.  This is one of them.


----------



## NancyNGA

Sounds sweet, Meanderer. :rose:

I forgot about *peck* baskets, and half-peck baskets, and quarts, and, and, ....   We saved *all* sturdy containers with handles.






And lots that weren't so sturdy.


----------



## Carla

A bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck...My MIL used to sing that to her boys when they were growing up.

Doris Day was such a talented lady, I enjoyed her movies.


----------



## Meanderer

Wagon wheels


----------



## Aunt Bea

At the flea market this summer they had a stack of bushel basket tops for sale and the lady selling them had no idea what they were!






We also had a few of these wooden tubs that held chocolate drops.  Each layer of candy was separated in the tub by a piece of wax paper, you put what you wanted in a paper bag,  weighed them, and paid by the pound






Not much ever got thrown away at our house.  When I was a kid my favorite day was Saturday when we went to the dump, we usually brought home more than we left, furniture, bicycles, dishes, etc...


----------



## Pappy

These old crocks. My grandpa had a few in the old house. I think he kept pickles, or home brew, in them.


----------



## NancyNGA

Now that you bring it up, Pappy, I have a stoneware crock too.  A small one.

Label reads: A.P.Donaghho, Parkersburg, WV






Not sure where my parents got it, maybe a farmhouse in Marietta, OH. Very heavy glazing.   I think it was for canning and used a wax seal.


----------



## Pappy

Potter and businessman Alexander Polk Donaghho was born in Washington County, Pennsylvania, July 2, 1829, and he died in Parkersburg in 1899. It is thought that he learned his trade in the Monongahela Valley in Pennsylvania, at a pottery owned by an uncle. He came to Parkersburg in 1870 and began a pottery operation there in 1874. Donaghho crocks and other items of pottery are avidly collected today.
Probably working with a few employees, Donaghho made pottery by hand, ‘‘throwing’’ it on a potter’s wheel just as it had been for hundreds of years. The majority of his ware had a generally cylindrical shape with slightly bulging sides. Virtually all of the crocks or wide-mouth pots featured a bold top molding and two ear handles on the shoulder below the rim. Jugs had a small top opening for a plug and a one-ring handle. Pottery canning jars usually had no handles but had a deep groove in the rim for the wax seal.
The ware was dried in a steam-heated room, after which it was stenciled with cobalt oxide. The pots were marked ‘‘A. P. Donaghho,’’ or ‘‘Excelsior Pottery’’ on big pieces, and ‘‘Parkersburg.’’ Many were decorated with advertisements for retail establishments. When thoroughly dry, the ware was placed in a bottle kiln to be fired.


----------



## Pappy

PS, Nancy. If yours is a one gallon jug, it's listed on Esty for $135.00. These crocks can demand some good prices. I've seen them on Antiques Roadshow for hundreds of dollars.


----------



## Ken N Tx




----------



## Meanderer

Pappy said:


> PS, Nancy. If yours is a one gallon jug, it's listed on Esty for $135.00. These crocks can demand some good prices. I've seen them on Antiques Roadshow for hundreds of dollars.







A.P.Donaghho


----------



## Pappy

Ken N Tx said:


> View attachment 33925



ME, ME, ME. A one holder complete with a corn cob hanging on the wall.


----------



## Aunt Bea

Pappy said:


> ME, ME, ME. A one holder complete with a corn cob hanging on the wall.



I remember we had a small bucket of ashes or quicklime with a little scoop, a sprinkle every now and then helped to keep the odor down.


----------



## NancyNGA

Pappy said:


> PS, Nancy. If yours is a one gallon jug, it's listed on Esty for $135.00. These crocks can demand some good prices. I've seen them on Antiques Roadshow for hundreds of dollars.



Thanks for all the information, Pappy.  That was interesting.   The crock looks to be about a half gallon at most.  But perfect condition.  I don't think it was ever used.


----------



## Seeker

New to this site trying to figure out how everything works..So I'm jumpin' in with both feet...This is a picture I found when my Daddy passed, I still don't know the connection to our family but I love it. I Call it  Back in the Holler.


----------



## NancyNGA

Seeker, welcome, and jump right in.  Thanks for the picture.  I like it too.  Another old one where no one is smiling.  Don't you wish folks would have written on the backs of pictures.


----------



## Seeker

Yes I so wish I knew...


----------



## Meanderer

Welcome, Seeker!


----------



## Seeker

Meanderer said:


> Welcome, Seeker!




So sweet Meanderer....Bringin' tears to my eyes.


----------



## Pappy

Hundreds of years ago, many farmers would seal their *barns* with linseed oil, which is an orange-colored oil derived from the seeds of the flax plant. To this oil, they would add a variety of things, most often milk and lime, but also ferrous oxide, or rust. ... It turned the mixture *red* in color.[COLOR=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.541176)]Sep 16, 2008[/COLOR]


----------



## GDAD

Sydney Harbour Bridge (Australia) being built in the 1920s






Photo taken in 1933


----------



## Shalimar

Ken N Tx said:


> View attachment 33925


I have in my hippie youth.


----------



## Carla

Pappy said:


> Hundreds of years ago, many farmers would seal their *barns* with linseed oil, which is an orange-colored oil derived from the seeds of the flax plant. To this oil, they would add a variety of things, most often milk and lime, but also ferrous oxide, or rust. ... It turned the mixture *red* in color.[COLOR=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.541176)]Sep 16, 2008[/COLOR]



I love old barns.


----------



## Butterfly

My grandpa's farm in Arkansas had an outhouse, as did my other grandpa in Oklahoma.  I was always afraid there were snakes in there when I was a little kid.  They didn't have indoor plumbing at all, so when we took a bath it was in a large tub out on the back porch.  I was quite horrified.  I always wondered if the grownups did the same thing, but never knew.

I was always glad to go back home from a trip to see them.  Even though we were poor, at least we had indoor plumbing.


----------



## Meanderer




----------



## NancyNGA

Swinging on grapevines in the woods


----------



## NancyNGA

Grapevine swinging Low Country style.


----------



## Meanderer




----------



## Carla

Meanderer said:


>



Always liked that group, they had a distinctive sound!


----------



## NancyNGA

Milk Cans - Still life in pencil.  Artist unknown (blame Pinterest )


----------



## Meanderer

Windmillsnthego:


----------



## Aunt Bea

We live in a world that has a nice little museum for everything!

http://www.shattuckwindmillmuseum.org/


----------



## Meanderer

Very nice museum, Aunt Bea!  Great link, thanks!


----------



## NancyNGA

Brings back a memory.  When I was a teenager, my father bought an old windmill.  We lived in the suburbs, but had some land in the country at that time. I guess he was planning on putting it up out there.  He laid the top part out on the lawn and it took up half the yard. Don't know what ever happened to it.  He was always planning something, always enthusiastic about some future project.


----------



## Meanderer

Scarecrows!


----------



## NancyNGA

Christmas scarecrows!    Do those bags say British Sprouts?   Would that be like Brussels Sprouts?   Looks like cabbage to me????


----------



## Meanderer

Santa is just trying to get ahead!


----------



## NancyNGA




----------



## Meanderer




----------



## Meanderer




----------



## NancyNGA

Nice!  My grandmother in WV had a phone like that, but not as fancy as that one.  It really worked.  You cranked the crank to dial out.  I think the number of complete rotations determined who you were calling.  I was too little to use it, just listened.   

Whoops!  We posted at the same time.  I was referring to the first video.


----------



## Meanderer

I think you rang the Operator, and they connected you.


----------



## NancyNGA

Meanderer said:


> I think you rang the Operator, and they connected you.


 I didn't know that! Thought it was more primitive.   Now I'm wondering who the operator was, and where they were located, and how far away could they be in miles. Every answer seems to always generate more questions.


----------



## Ken N Tx

NancyNGA said:


>


----------



## Meanderer

NancyNGA said:


> I didn't know that! Thought it was more primitive.   Now I'm wondering who the operator was, and where they were located, and how far away could they be in miles. Every answer seems to always generate more questions.


Why it was the lady who knew everybody's business, of course!


----------



## NancyNGA

Whittling with Grandpa (or, why only men knew how to sharpen pencils? )


----------



## Meanderer




----------



## NancyNGA

Water wheel powered mills

If a country road passes over a small stream here in north Georgia, you are likely to find remnants of an old abandoned grist mill nearby, if you look hard enough.  Most of them were not this large though.


----------



## Pappy

Checkers anyone?


----------



## Meanderer

...a new crop!


----------



## Meanderer

Wood Pile


----------



## NancyNGA

Burn Barrels.  An old 55 gallon drum, set up in the back yard to burn household trash.


----------



## NancyNGA

Metal Porch Gliders


----------



## Ken N Tx

NancyNGA said:


> Burn Barrels.  An old 55 gallon drum, set up in the back yard to burn household trash.
> 
> View attachment 34587



I have one...


----------



## Pappy

Use to have one up north. Fire dept. said no can do.


----------



## Aunt Bea

Ken N Tx said:


> I have one...



We had a burn barrel when I was a kid, it was a real right of passage moment when the grownups decided you were old enough and responsible enough to go burn the trash!


----------



## NancyNGA

Aunt Bea said:


> ...it was a real right of passage moment when the grownups decided you were old enough and responsible enough to go burn the trash!



Yes!

We always had one too.  Probably having 50 million of them all burning at the same time now wouldn't be a good thing.


----------



## Meanderer

We used one for many years, but they are frowned upon now.  I have a smaller, 30 gallon one that I use occasionally in place of a shredder.


----------



## NancyNGA

Anyone still have one of those big heavy reel type lawn mowers?


----------



## Butterfly

Meanderer said:


> Wood Pile



Lots of wood piles around here.  Many wood stoves and fireplaces in use.


----------



## Carla

Aunt Bea said:


> We had a burn barrel when I was a kid, it was a real right of passage moment when the grownups decided you were old enough and responsible enough to go burn the trash!



Yes, we had them too. One big no-no was to burn when the neighbor had wash on the line. That was one of those unwritten courtesies.


----------



## Stormy

Thanks for starting this thread Nancy, such interesting picture here from everyone.


----------



## Pappy

A couple more.


----------



## NancyNGA

Restored steam powered estate lawn mower


----------



## Aunt Bea

NancyNGA said:


> Restored steam powered estate lawn mower



I love those old machines and the folks that keep them going!!!


----------



## Ken N Tx

Carla said:


> Yes, we had them too. One big no-no was to burn when the neighbor had wash on the line. That was one of those unwritten courtesies.


We only use it for paper products...Burn permit required due to drought conditions...Wife requires me to check wind direction s before burning!!


----------



## Aunt Bea

This is a picture of a sign near where I grew up, it was made out of boards laid directly on the ground and advertised a local commercial bakery.  The sign was enormous, the D alone was said to be approx. 350'.  I remember as a kid we hiked up to see the sign up close and personal, it didn't take much to amuse us, LOL!


----------



## Meanderer

Da Boy's Bread (for schools) Run

The 1935 BLIZZARD stirred imaginations — all main roads were snowed in.
Albert and Big Mike send bread to Binghamton by plane!


----------



## Pappy

Very interesting article. Being in the bread business for over 30 years, I do remember Durkees bread very well. Also, living 30 north of Binghamton, up route 12, in Norwich, NY, I had never heard this story before. Good story, M.


----------



## NancyNGA

Wood silos and grain elevators


----------



## Meanderer

Hand pumps for water


----------



## NancyNGA

Just a recent picture from Meadville, WV. In fact, this country store is all there is in Meadville.  I was there 65 years ago. Little has changed.  Same building. 
 The current owners have a sense of humor.


----------



## Carla

NancyNGA said:


> Just a recent picture from Meadville, WV. In fact, this country store is all there is in Meadville.  I was there 65 years ago. Little has changed.  Same building.
> The current owners have a sense of humor.
> 
> View attachment 34863



You gotta love it!


----------



## Seeker

Milk Man.... who remembers fresh milk on your porch?


----------



## Seeker

I have no idea why it posted twice I'm having so much trouble figuring this all out. I tried to resize so it wouldn't be so big....Ugh!


----------



## Aunt Bea

Seeker said:


> View attachment 34874
> 
> 
> Milk Man.... who remembers fresh milk on your porch?



Great photo!

Our milkman was Elmer Pitts and he was built just like the fellas in the picture, must be all that running around kept them lean.

One of our local dairies used horses until the last one, Molly, retired in 1952.  It was actually quite efficient, the horse learned the route so the milkman could concentrate on filling the orders while the horse went from house to house.






http://www.byrnedairy.com/our-company/our-history/


----------



## Seeker

Aunt Bea said:


> Great photo!
> 
> Our milkman was Elmer Pitts and he was built just like the fellas in the picture, must be all that running around kept them lean.




My Daddy is fourth from the right..Billy Ray Lemmons.


----------



## Seeker

Just some old cars.


----------



## Pappy

Friehofers Bakery. I worked for them 26 years. We had vans, thank heavens.


----------



## Meanderer

Seeker said:


> My Daddy is fourth from the right..Billy Ray Lemmons.



Nice picture!


----------



## Falcon

I can remember horse drawn milk wagons  in the morning when it was still dark out.

One day the route was cut short because the mare pulling the wagon thought it would be cute to foal
at that particular time.  We all stood around watching.  One little 6 year old exclaimed,  "It came

right out of her fanny !!"


----------



## Falcon

MALL..............Love it !   LOL


----------



## Pappy

Before Nintendos.


----------



## Aunt Bea

Not exactly a country image but it made me smile!


----------



## exwisehe

This was exciting to us!  My brothers and I on the way to see the Great Smokies .  What a good trip in our old '49 Chevy.  This was in 1950 or '51 when I was about 12 years old.


----------



## NancyNGA

Nice picture, exwisehe.   

Thanks for the video, Bea.  Love that "enhanced" player piano.   What is that song?  I've heard it before, but can't place it.


----------



## Carla

Bea, very amusing! That guy was having a good old time, whatever that was. Early version of a synthesizer. Love the piano, my neighbor had a player piano with loads of those reels or whatever they used to call them. We would play them for hours pumping those pedals.


----------



## Aunt Bea

Carla said:


> Bea, very amusing! That guy was having a good old time, whatever that was. Early version of a synthesizer. Love the piano, my neighbor had a player piano with loads of those reels or whatever they used to call them. We would play them for hours pumping those pedals.



It is supposed to be a machine that was built specifically to add a soundtrack to early cartoons and silent movies, not sure what the actual tune is that the man is playing.


----------



## NancyNGA

Got it! 

_12th Street Rag_, by E. L. Bowman, 1914

Bea's version is on steroids, as they say.   (Intro until 0:25)


----------



## RadishRose

That thing is amazing!


----------



## Carla

Love the ragtime! What an era.


----------



## RadishRose

I saw this thing years ago while being entertained by a band at a bar/restaurant on the CT shoreline. The youngest band member was 80 years old. They were so much fun. The internet says it's a stomp-stick. The one I saw was be-decked with colorful feathers and when he stomped it on the floor all kinds of sounds happened.


----------



## NancyNGA

_Turkey in the Straw _- Stumpf Fiddle, Tom Lenny


----------



## RadishRose

Oh yes Nancy! Isn't it amazing? Thanks for posting that!


----------



## NancyNGA

Collecting potatoes, after the field has been plowed up.  I remember doing this once at my grandmother's place.  Not such a big field, though.


----------



## Aunt Bea

NancyNGA said:


> Collecting potatoes, after the field has been plowed up.  I remember doing this once at my grandmother's place.  Not such a big field, though.



Great photo!

My family were commercial potato growers when I was little and I heard this more than once when I was a kid, LOL! _

"If you're old enough to sit up to the table and eat potatoes, you're old enough to pick potatoes!"_


----------



## NancyNGA

Aunt Bea said:


> ...
> My family were commercial potato growers when I was little and I heard this more than once when I was a kid, LOL! _
> 
> "If you're old enough to sit up to the table and eat potatoes, you're old enough to pick potatoes!"_



Yep.  I was only about 4 years old at the time, and not a country girl, but I showed 'em I could do it!  Ha!


----------



## tortiecat

My job was to knock the potato bugs off the plants into a can and my mother would
pour gasoline or kerosene into the can to kill them!


----------



## Meanderer

This spud's for you!


----------



## NancyNGA

OK, then let's pick apples instead.   A family affair.


----------



## NancyNGA

Just thought this was cute.


----------



## Meanderer




----------



## Pappy

The old red barn.....


----------



## Meanderer




----------



## Aunt Bea

Gettin' the ice in, Raquette Lake NY.


----------



## Pappy

Unused old barn.....


----------



## Meanderer

Barn Dance Tonight


----------



## NancyNGA

_Hansel's Barn Dance _- by Hammertowne, 2015


----------



## Pappy

Use to go here every Saturday night back in the fifties.


----------



## Meanderer




----------



## Meanderer

Whiskey Barrels


----------



## Pappy




----------



## Meanderer

Cows


----------



## Aunt Bea

Meanderer said:


> Cows
> 
> View attachment 35383


Cow trivia.  

*Cows* sense the Earth's magnetic field and align themselves to *face* either *north* or south when grazing or resting. Studies show that most *cows face* a *north*-south direction, regardless of other factors like the wind or the position of the sun. This ability is called magnetoreception.


----------



## NancyNGA

Aunt Bea said:


> Cow trivia.
> 
> *Cows* sense the Earth's magnetic field and align themselves to *face* either *north* or south when grazing or resting. Studies show that most *cows face* a *north*-south direction, regardless of other factors like the wind or the position of the sun. This ability is called magnetoreception.


Are you sure they just don't want the sun in their eyes?  Or on their rear ends? After all, they *are* all females. 

I love cows.  They don't seem as smart as goats.  A good thing most of the time.


----------



## Meanderer

The cows in the picture are facing West, a little after Noon.  I think they were just grazing up the hill.


----------



## NancyNGA

Meanderer said:


> The cows in the picture are facing West, a little after Noon. ...



Meanderer, how do you know this?   Is this a picture you took?  Or are you just  spoofing us?


----------



## Meanderer

NancyNGA said:


> Meanderer, how do you know this?   Is this a picture you took?  Or are you just  spoofing us?



Yeah,this is a picture that I took.


----------



## NancyNGA

It's a great picture.  I like it.


----------



## Ken N Tx




----------



## Pappy

Grandpa always told me that cows that stand on the side of the hill have two legs shorter so they can stand even. Grandpa was never wrong. :wink:


----------



## NancyNGA

Pappy said:


> Grandpa always told me that cows that stand on the side of the hill have two legs shorter so they can stand even. Grandpa was never wrong. :wink:



My dad told me that *all* West Virginia cows have two legs shorter on one side.


----------



## Pappy

The New York cows must have inherited it from your W. Virginia cows. Moooing right along. Dear old grandpa was a trickster and always doing something to confuse me and my cousins. RIP.


----------



## Meanderer

Pappy said:


> The New York cows must have inherited it from your W. Virginia cows. Moooing right along. Dear old grandpa was a trickster and always doing something to confuse me and my cousins. RIP.


He was only pulling your leg!


----------



## Ken N Tx

I have heard that if the cows are laying down, bad fishing..(??)


----------



## Pappy




----------



## Pappy




----------



## Meanderer

Here's a story from Aunt Dinah's Duct Tape Diner, about how Duct tape saved a cow's life.  It's called "Bovine Duct Tape".  There are other stories as well.


"A few years ago while working on Herm Pein's dairy in Addy, Washington, I encountered a cow in trouble shortly after arriving for the evening milking. She had torn a hole in one of those big milk veins that run along the stomach from the front to rear. I first saw and followed the trail of several gallons of blood. When I got to the cow she was bleeding heavily and weak. I called for Herm and he wanted to try to get her to walk to a place where we could haul her out with a tractor when she died. I thought the old "direct pressure" approach to bleeding could help so I put my hand flat against the open vein. The bleeding completely stopped. I asked Herm for a washcloth and duct tape. When he got those, we managed to persuade the now collapsed cow to stand up. As soon as she was up. I pressed the folded washcloth over the wound and ran duct tape clear around her body, over her back, around her stomach, across the cloth and around and around. It really only took a good drink of water and a few hours and she seemed back to normal. By the time the vet got there, she didn't even bleed when the my "patch" was removed. He put in a few stitches just to be sure it wouldn't open up again. Sooooooooo, this whole story is to remind you to keep your mind open to the possibilities you could run into with cows, and possible solutions with duct tape". --- Fawn Creek


----------



## Meanderer

Plywood Cow


----------



## Meanderer




----------



## Aunt Bea

No shoes, no shirt, no helmet, only the family dog to watch over you.


----------



## Vega_Lyra




----------



## NancyNGA

Bea and Vega_Lyra, those are great pictures.  Thanks!


----------



## Vega_Lyra




----------



## Meanderer

Florida Memory - Man collecting eggs - Gadsden County, Florida


----------



## Pappy




----------



## Meanderer

Living high on the hog!


----------



## NancyNGA

Sausage delivery truck.  







1950's Tennessee Pride commercial


----------



## Meanderer

Rural Free Dee-livery


----------



## Meanderer




----------



## Pappy




----------



## Meanderer




----------



## Aunt Bea




----------



## Pappy




----------



## Meanderer

"Smith and Taber Maple Syrup was created when the Taber boys were getting on in years and needed help during sap  season.   They asked me to help with the heavy lifting.   While there, I was able to observe the process and I was hooked.   They taught me all the facets of  the art of making maple syrup".


----------



## Pappy




----------



## Aunt Bea




----------



## Meanderer

Bea, your Gospel Wagon picture is a "time-capsule" treasure for sure!


----------



## Aunt Bea

Meanderer said:


> Bea, your Gospel Wagon picture is a "time-capsule" treasure for sure!



This one is along the same lines.  The Rescue Life Boat Good News an Erie Canal barge devoted to spreading the word, pictured in the turning basin behind the city hall in Syracuse NY.


----------



## Pappy




----------



## Meanderer

Decorating a car for the Fourth of July parade. Vale, Oregon, 1941


----------



## NancyNGA

Meanderer said:


> ...Decorating a car ...


Thanks for bringing back another lost memory...  When my parents agreed to sacrifice our '55 Buick, so I could decorate it for a homecoming parade contest in high school ('64). My girlfriend and I, and a couple other girls, painted it like a football field with goal posts on front and back and football on top. It forever after had faint poster paint yard line marks down the side.   It won 2nd place for decoration, though. Prize was $1.  Wish I had a picture.


----------



## Meanderer

That's a neat memory, Nancy...maybe you could try painting that picture?


----------



## Aunt Bea

This picture reminded me of the old wall hung sink we had in our kitchen when I was growing up.   It survived until my parents did an avocado green remodel in the early 70's, what a mistake!

Notice the three taps on the sink, Hot, Cold, and rainwater from a copper lined cistern in the attic.  I'm surprised that the cistern in the attic hasn't made a comeback with all of the folks interested in the environment, green living, etc...


----------



## NancyNGA

Great picture, Bea.  I never saw a sink with a third faucet like that. (Notice the newspaper inserts in the cabinet.)

Ice Boxes

Years ago I picked up an old ice box someone left by a dumpster.  It would look similar to this one if someone did a little work on it.  There is something peculiar about the bottom of mine.  Maybe someone tried to repair some damage.  One of my long ago planned projects was to repair and refinish it.  I never got to it. Probably never will.  It weighs a ton.  Stone lined.


----------



## Aunt Bea

NancyNGA said:


> Great picture, Bea.  I never saw a sink with a third faucet like that. (Notice the newspaper inserts in the cabinet.)
> 
> Ice Boxes
> 
> Years ago I picked up an old ice box someone left by a dumpster.  It would look similar to this one if someone did a little work on it.  There is something peculiar about the bottom of mine.  Maybe someone tried to repair some damage.  One of my long ago planned projects was to repair and refinish it.  I never got to it. Probably never will.  It weighs a ton.  Stone lined.
> 
> View attachment 35919



The one pictured looks normal to me, the bottom board should swing up to reveal a galvanized metal pan that caught the melting ice, most of the pans were missing from the ones that survived.  The one that had been in our old kitchen had a drain spout in the bottom of the pan and a hose ran to a small hole in the kitchen floor so the water could drip into the basement.  When they removed the old icebox they filled the small hole by driving a cork into it and trimming it off flush with the floor.


----------



## Meanderer

NancyNGA said:


> Great picture, Bea.  I never saw a sink with a third faucet like that. (Notice the newspaper inserts in the cabinet.)


The newspaper probably covered clear glass.


----------



## Kadee

I live in a country area in South Australia ,here is a photo of an original school room, this school was built in 1878 ,closed in 1968 ,Reopened as a national trust museum in 1969 .

Every second year this school room is used for two,weeks by local school children who dress in old traditional  Cornish costume,for the 
huge Cornish festival held here ,people travel from all over the world to attend the festivities and the town swells from approx 4000 to 20000


----------



## Ken N Tx




----------



## Ken N Tx




----------



## Meanderer

....watching the stars!


----------



## Aunt Bea

Don't forget to grab a Yoo-hoo, the show starts in 5 minutes!


----------



## NancyNGA

Ken N Tx said:


> View attachment 35939



Good one, Ken.  Been there, done that, many times in the past.


----------



## Pappy




----------



## grahamg

*Hobbled hay*

An old fashioned way of making hay (taken by an old fashioned farmer a couple of years ago ).




		Code:


----------



## Meanderer

grahamg said:


> An old fashioned way of making hay (taken by an old fashioned farmer a couple of years ago ).
> 
> View attachment 35950


Interesting, grahamg, heard of teddying....what is hobbled hay?


----------



## grahamg

*Loose hay days*



Meanderer said:


> Interesting, grahamg, heard of teddying....what is hobbled hay?



Really "hobbled hay" is forming the loose hay into smallish piles which are naturally thatched against the weather and is a throw back to the days before hay was baled up, and tightly tied with strings. Obviously if the hay was already in piles, the correct size to readily pitchfork onto the load it might save time, and assist in the process of stacking on the load, or trailer, and do so in a way that made it simple to off load again in the haystack.

There is the technical answer for you, and you dont know how nice it is to have some information to impart  .

BTW I think you meant "tedding" rather than "teddying" (tedding is a method of shaking the hay around the field a while after mowing (say a day or so), in order to expose more of it to the sun. I wont say too much more here or you'll be thinking its more complicated than brain surgery .


----------



## Meanderer

grahamg said:


> Really "hobbled hay" is forming the loose hay into smallish piles which are naturally thatched against the weather and is a throw back to the days before hay was baled up, and tightly tied with strings. Obviously if the hay was already in piles, the correct size to readily pitchfork onto the load it might save time, and assist in the process of stacking on the load, or trailer, and do so in a way that made it simple to off load again in the haystack.
> 
> There is the technical answer for you, and you dont know how nice it is to have some information to impart  .
> 
> BTW I think you meant "tedding" rather than "teddying" (tedding is a method of shaking the hay around the field a while after mowing (say a day or so), in order to expose more of it to the sun. I wont say too much more here or you'll be thinking its more complicated than brain surgery .



I watch the neighboring dairy farmers cut, rake and toss it around with spinners to dry, before square bailing.  I just never heard the technical term "Tedding" before (beside Google).  Is cobbled hay worked by hand, or machine?


----------



## Meanderer

Sorry, grahamg, you seem to imply that it was done by hand. That would be time consuming,  and labor intensive. (which would describe old-fashioned methods)


----------



## grahamg

*100%*



Meanderer said:


> Sorry, grahamg, you seem to imply that it was done by hand. That would be time consuming,  and labor intensive. (which would describe old-fashioned methods)





100% handwork to make "Hobbles" (not Cobbles, over here in the UK cobbles made up road surfaces in victorian times, round stones set in the ground).


You can knock the hobbles over by machine or "spinners", but it doesn't work so well, so usually you'd "ted them out" by hand, before baling, (when going to the trouble, or have gone to the trouble to make them in really dodgy hay making weather, as we often get here 15 miles south of Manchester, UK).


One last point on hobbles is that I've seen farmers over in Switzerland set up the piles on small wooden structures so that the hay is off the ground and can dry more easily. Then when they wish to harvest the crop, they lift the piles manually on to their backs, somehow using the wooden structures to help lift them, and walk off across these steep fields to the haysheds. So a strange and fascinating sight to witness as these "moving piles of hay" progress across the field, with myself watching in awe across the other side of the valley.


----------



## Meanderer

Thanks for the clarification, grahamg, We have some old cobblestone streets in Pittsburgh but my brain is"hobbled" at times.  ...I saw the tractor in your picture, that's why I asked about hand work.  I have been an observer for 40 years, and I appreciate you sharing your knowledge and experience on the subject.  Thanks for bearing with me.


----------



## Pappy




----------



## Meanderer




----------



## NancyNGA

Meanderer, do you know what this machine might be, in your picture?  Very fancy scrollwork.  Anyone?  Just curious.


----------



## Aunt Bea

NancyNGA said:


> Meanderer, do you know what this machine might be, in your picture?  Very fancy scrollwork.  Anyone?  Just curious.
> 
> View attachment 35981



It is a double wheel coffee grinder for a general store, it's missing the top that covers the hopper.

Here is one that has had a better life.


----------



## NancyNGA

Bea, you are the go-to woman!     Have you seen one in real life?     So much ironwork to do so little (at a time anyway).    Thanks.


----------



## Aunt Bea

NancyNGA said:


> Bea, you are the go-to woman!     Have you seen one in real life?     So much ironwork to do so little (at a time anyway).    Thanks.



My father brought one home from an auction back in the 60's, my mother was not impressed.  That happened quite often, my father was sort of a Jack in the beanstalk type of guy, LOL!


----------



## NancyNGA

Bea, I remember when my father came home one day with 6 used Go-Karts.  He was going to build a go-kart track in the field behind our house and start a business.  That was when karts first became the rage. That plan never happened.  He was a good provider, though. Worked full time in a factory, and took on a part time job installing storm doors most of the time I was living at home, so my mom never minded.


----------



## Aunt Bea

NancyNGA said:


> Bea, I remember when my father came home one day with 6 used Go-Karts.  He was going to build a go-kart track in the field behind our house and start a business.  That was when karts first became the rage. That plan never happened.  He was a good provider, though. Worked full time in a factory, and took on a part time job installing storm doors most of the time I was living at home, so my mom never minded.



Six Go-Karts, you must have been the most popular kid in the neighborhood!

Eventually my parents went their separate ways, my mother remarried, and we started a new adventure.


----------



## NancyNGA

Aunt Bea said:


> Six Go-Karts, you must have been the most popular kid in the neighborhood!



Oh, but only one of them worked, as I recall.  They all needed some repair.  That's why he got them cheap.


----------



## NancyNGA

There are a few nice country images on this video.  Thought it might be worth a look if you have time.

Music:_ Castles in the Air _- Don McLean


----------



## Pappy

Black and white photos


----------



## Aunt Bea

My grandmother used to talk about these window coolers that people used in the winter to keep food cold.  Most were just a wooden crate nailed outside the kitchen window but you could also buy a ready made version.


----------



## NancyNGA

You can come up with the best stuff, Bea!   Never heard of such a thing before.   Thanks.


----------



## NancyNGA

In houses, like my grandmother's, with no indoor plumbing when I was a kid, the bathroom was in the bedroom. Wash basin and chamber pots (for night).  Sure wish we could go back to the good old days.


----------



## Pappy

Not much power but great on gas mileage.


----------



## Lara

NancyNGA said:


> There are a few nice country images on this video.  Thought it might be worth a look if you have time.
> 
> Music:_ Castles in the Air _- Don McLean


Love the song and the images in this video Nancy. I don't remember any songs from Don McLean except "Bye Bye American Pie". Thanks for posting it.


----------



## NancyNGA

Two Man Crosscut Saws

A man I used to work with collected old crosscut saws as a hobby.  He had a whole garage full of them, stacked everywhere.


----------



## Pappy

My grampa was a crosscut saw man. I tried being on the other end one time. Hah, no way I could keep up with him. He had several saws too. He was a whiz on the one man saw.


----------



## Meanderer

Crosscut by Tim Lydon

"I am cutting firewood near my home in northwest Montana when my old chainsaw, plagued by various ailments, finally sputters and dies. In suddenly quiet woods, I inhale its last cough of hydrocarbons and consider the pile of logs at my feet. It’s far short of our winter heating needs. Overhead, golden cottonwoods rattle a warning: I’ll soon run out of time to gather this year’s firewood.


The next day I buy a new saw, which comes complete with a burly plastic carrying case. No doubt it’s sexy, its powerful bar protruding from the engine housing, its plastics gleaming. But there’s more to a chainsaw, nags my conscience. Its carburetor is manufactured in China, then shipped across the ocean. The oil and gas I’ll feed it each year, while trivial in gallons, depend on a web of drills, chemicals, pipelines, and refineries. Across the globe, they fuel war and turn the planet’s carbon cycle inside out, pushing the climate toward chaos. And what of the saw’s future? Ultimately, its plastics are destined for a landfill, where they’ll leach petrochemicals for decades. It all seems an extravagant cost for a little firewood.


Years earlier, as a Forest Service wilderness ranger in Colorado, I learned to use a two-person crosscut saw. I loved the smell of fresh-cut logs unmarred by gassy smoke and the swish of the metal blade through heartwood. The short reach of that unmistakable sound made the woods feel like they went on forever. It was surprisingly efficient, too.  I begin wondering if I can cut our firewood by crosscut".  (Continue)


----------



## Pappy

now thats a saw.


----------



## Aunt Bea

Great photo's!  The old timers were taught how to perform manual labor, keep the saw sharp and set properly, use the whole saw, let the weight of the saw do the work. etc...  The same type of knowledge on how to use a scythe, pick axe, shovel, etc...  These days people tend to pick up a tool then use force and fury to get things done, they ruin the tool and wear themselves out in a very short time.  It was a different time that involved different skills.


----------



## Pappy




----------



## NancyNGA

I like the cat in that photo, Pappy.   Smart cat.  And talk about LONG guns.  Look how long that one is near the door.


----------



## NancyNGA

Old Lightning Rods

On road trips as a kid I used to be impressed by these things on top of barns and old farm houses---and weathervanes. Some were really fancy. Weird kid.


----------



## Aunt Bea

This view of an old harness shop reminds me of the one in our little village.  By the time I came along in the 60's the old fella made his living making some tack for the horsey set, repairing shoes and making belts, he also had a little penny candy display!  He was a gruff old guy that liked to see if he could scare you by rapping his cane on the wooden counter, the sound would echo through the dimly lit store.  He rarely smiled but if you stood your ground and didn't flinch you cold tell it pleased him.  He would do anything for you if he liked you and woe be unto you if he didn't!

Nancy these other black and white pics are for you!

http://www.viewsofthepast.com/topics/occupations/list-occu-stores.htm


----------



## NancyNGA

Great story, Bea.  I always wanted to know my grandfather, who died before I was born.  He had a reputation of being somewhat crotchety in his old age, and didn't care much for children.  I always wondered if I would have been the "woe be it unto you," or the "do anything for you" to him.  Isn't that weird?

Thanks for the pictures.  I've bookmarked them.  I've been looking for a picture of the inside of an old general store like one I remember.


----------



## Pappy




----------



## Meanderer




----------



## NancyNGA

Where I grew up small backyard grape arbors were common.  Both my grandmothers had them, but not even as fancy as these.   

 



Where I saw my first Japanese beetles as a kid. (Aw shucks, I had to go and get negative. Boo!  )


----------



## Aunt Bea

NancyNGA said:


> Where I grew up small backyard grape arbors were common.  Both my grandmothers had them, but not even as fancy as these.
> 
> View attachment 36118 View attachment 36120
> 
> View attachment 36121
> 
> Where I saw my first Japanese beetles as a kid. (Aw shucks, I had to go and get negative. Boo!  )
> 
> View attachment 36122




Nice memory!

We had one that was neglected and overgrown, it made a great place to play and could become most any type of building we needed based on our imagination that day!


----------



## NancyNGA

World's smallest gas station.  I like it better in black and white.


----------



## NancyNGA

Wild Turkeys

_"In the early 1900s, wild turkeys seemed to be on the road toward extinction, as unregulated hunting and widespread logging had wiped them out over much of their range. In the last few decades, however, the birds have made an incredible recovery, reaching levels near those of their pre-colonial days." Live Scence
_
(There were a few at my place back in the 80's, but I haven't seen any for years.)


----------



## Pappy




----------



## NancyNGA

Shuffleton's Barbershop, by Norman Rockwell ​
Appeared on the cover of _The Saturday Evening Post_, April 29, 1950


----------



## Aunt Bea

NancyNGA said:


> Shuffleton's Barbershop, by Norman Rockwell ​
> Appeared on the cover of _The Saturday Evening Post_, April 29, 1950



Great picture!  

The folks at Hallmark liked it too!


----------



## NancyNGA

Stump Fences

Yeah, a little strange, I suppose.   But I've thought some about how difficult it must have been for the first settlers, especially in the Eastern US, to clear forest land for crops, and pasture. How to get the tree stumps out, and what to do with them?  






_"There were two common forms of land clearing that were used during this time.  The "Southern method" involved the deadening and girdling of trees and shrubbery, a method that had traditionally been used by the Indians.  The alternative, known as the "New England method" involved cutting down trees as well as burning them. Either way, most settlers were able to clear only two or three acres per year." 
_
 Illustration:






A stump fence can last up to 150 years.  Remnants of a fence in central Michigan, January, 2017






MORE


----------



## Aunt Bea

It was definitely a lot of work to clear those stumps!  Imagine a lifetime spent clearing a small, by today's standards, hundred acre farm at the rate of 2 to 3 acres per year.

In the early days when they farmed by hand I think they tried to work around them and just let them rot. Then came modern farming and a variety of stump pullers, some of which were more trouble than they were worth.

I'm thankful that most of the hard work was done by the time I came along!!!

.


----------



## Meanderer

I guess you could say...they were stumped!


----------



## NancyNGA




----------



## Pappy

Putting the old manure spreader to good use.


----------



## Ken N Tx

1939;;;
.


----------



## Pappy

Outrageous Ken, simply outrageous. Next thing you know it will be 25 cents a gallon.


----------



## Aunt Bea

_Gimme two dollars worth!_ 

I don't think my grandmother ever bought more than $2.00 worth of gas at a time in her whole life!

When I was a kid I used to get a kick out of the gas pumps with the fancy spinner flow indicators, it didn't take much to amuse me!


----------



## Pappy




----------



## NancyNGA

Aunt Bea said:


> ...When I was a kid I used to get a kick out of the gas pumps with the fancy spinner flow indicators, it didn't take much to amuse me!



Like this one, Bea?  (I don't see any spinners.)

Restored gas pump. Now a working pump on a farm in Utah.


----------



## Aunt Bea

NancyNGA said:


> Like this one, Bea?  (I don't see any spinners.)
> 
> Restored gas pump. Now a working pump on a farm in Utah.



That is a neat gas pump.

The ones that I'm referring to had a small clear glass cup or bubble, about the size of a teacup, with a plastic spinner that would whirl around as the gas was being pumped.  The plastic spinners inside were different colors and shapes, some quite elaborate.


----------



## Sunny

But on the other hand, how much was the average person earning in 1939?


----------



## Pappy

I know the type your are referring to Bea, but I couldn't find a photo of one anywhere. Little glass top and the gas swirled around in it.


----------



## Aunt Bea

Pappy said:


> I know the type your are referring to Bea, but I couldn't find a photo of one anywhere. Little glass top and the gas swirled around in it.



I couldn't find one either, this is the first time the internet has failed me in a long time!!!


----------



## Pappy

You know Bea, maybe it wasn't on the top. Check these out.


----------



## NancyNGA

Is this it, in action?  (Starts at 0:20)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4JvXpyu-lU&t=20s


----------



## Aunt Bea

NancyNGA said:


> Is this it, in action?  (Starts at 0:20)
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4JvXpyu-lU&t=20s



Yup!


----------



## Pappy

Double yup.


----------



## Meanderer

There's no fuel, like an old fuel!


----------



## NancyNGA

Community Cotton Gins

Madison County Alabama







Madison, Georgia


----------



## Pappy

Meanderer said:


> There's no fuel, like an old fuel!


----------



## NancyNGA

Horse drawn hay rides.  This was in Connecticut in 1988. Actually they may be more common now?  Maybe a myth, only in old movies?


----------



## Meanderer

Playing comb, with wax paper.


----------



## NancyNGA

Meanderer said:


> Playing comb, with wax paper.


Yes!  We used to do that!  It tickles your lips.  Guess what I'm going to do after I log off, to try it again.  layful:






_Update_:  Still tickles, but not as much as I thought.


----------



## Pappy




----------



## NancyNGA

Home made slingshots.  



This looks like the one my dad made me, except he used hickory, it was symmetric, bands cut from an old inner tube, and the tongue from an old shoe.


----------



## NancyNGA

How To Make A Whistle Out Of Your Hands

(Great explanation)





 
How to do a Loon Call with it.





 
Just tried it.  As kids, we used to use a piece of grass in between the thumbs, like a reed.  This is much better.


----------



## NancyNGA

Anyone ever spend the night in a barn hayloft? 

 My girlfriend and I tried it one night at her place when we were kids, in the summer.   This is her barn from the back side in the winter. 



The hayloft looked something like this at the time.



We didn't make it through the whole night. As soon as we started hearing the rats scurrying around on the rafters, we headed for the house.  :eewwk:


----------



## Meanderer




----------



## hauntedtexan

*Burma Shave Roadside Signs*


----------



## NancyNGA

Rubber work boots with metal clip closures


----------



## Aunt Bea

NancyNGA said:


> Rubber work boots with metal clip closures



I remember those, didn't they call those buckles railroad tracks?


----------



## NancyNGA

Aunt Bea said:


> I remember those, didn't they call those buckles railroad tracks?


Don't remember what the clips were called, Bea, but they sure look like RR tracks.


----------



## Pappy

We called them galoshes. I use to wear them to school. The 4 buckle type.


----------



## Pappy




----------



## Aunt Bea

Saw one of these in the thrift shop the other day and it was a new one on me.

I did a couple of searches and found that they are fairly common, who knew!


----------



## Falcon

Well, Whadda  you know;  A tandem saddle!  I don't think the horse would approve though.

GIDDYAPPP!!


----------



## NancyNGA




----------



## Aunt Bea

We used to go to this mill in the 70's to buy pancake flour now the pancake flour is made in a nearby factory and the old mill is out of work, very sad.


----------



## Pappy




----------



## NancyNGA

There are some country images I think we are _happy_ not to see much anymore.

The Boll Weevil






Farm boy with sack full of boll weevils which he has picked off of cotton plants. Macon County, Georgia. Dorothea Lange, photographer, July 1937






Dusting calcium arsenate on cotton fields with mules.


----------



## Aunt Bea




----------



## NancyNGA

Workers picking cotton with burlap picker bags.



Migrant workers weighing cotton and recording the figures in a notebook in South Texas, 1936.


----------



## NancyNGA

Roadside pecan sales.  A good friend of mine grew up near Meeks.  I believe he said it was just a crossing, not a town.  What a coincidence to find a picture on the web.


----------



## Meanderer

More pictures of Meeks


----------



## NancyNGA

Thank you for that article, Meanderer!


----------



## Aunt Bea




----------



## Aunt Bea

For over 70 years this was a country image on the shore of Lake Ontario at Sacket's Harbor, New York!






http://www.thousandislandslife.com/...The-Great-Warship-That-Waited-and-Waited.aspx


----------



## Meanderer

Very interesting story and link, Bea!  Thank you!


----------



## NancyNGA

Cheese press and cutter


----------



## NanaSarah

To me...these are country images...My now-gone relatives who had been born in Sweden and moved to the United States gathering together for the day.  Favorite foods filling the table...AND the yucky/smelly foods like lutefisk!  The sounds of their familiar accents. Accordion, guitar, fiddle music played by various relatives. The men in hats and women in dresses even if we met in a park.  The hugs of people who loved me just because I was alive.  All the generations enjoying time together.  Laughter!  Laughter!  Laughter!


----------



## NancyNGA

Great mental images, NanaSarah. Thanks.


----------



## NancyNGA

Tablecloths?  What are those?


----------



## RadishRose

Oh, how I'd love to have my mother's tablecloths, similar to the one here! Starched and ironed.


----------



## NanaSarah

NancyNGA said:


> Tablecloths?  What are those?      QUOTE]
> 
> 
> LOL...too funny Nancy!  My grandma had tablecloths like the  one pictured.   Don't you just love the wallpaper?  I'm trying to figure  out what the design is.


----------



## Aunt Bea

I get a kick out of these tall tale postcards.







http://www.amusingplanet.com/2010/11/tall-tale-postcards-of-twentieth.html


----------



## NancyNGA

Home made toolboxes.   We had several, some custom made for different power tools.  Still got 'em.


----------



## NancyNGA

Got a bad tooth?  Maybe grandma can fix it.


----------



## NancyNGA

_"Short people got no reason to ask for extra-long beds, __but Randy Newman will never write a song__ about that." - 1896 photo_


----------



## Aunt Bea

Special delivery!







http://postalmuseumblog.si.edu/2013/02/very-special-deliveries.html


----------



## Meanderer

Very interesting link, Bea!  Thank you!


----------



## NancyNGA

More dentistry


----------



## NanaSarah

WOW!  I wish we could trade dental work for eggs and cows NOW.  Have you been to the dentist lately?  Zowie!  $$$$$$$$$!


----------



## NancyNGA

Inside a tobacco sharecropper house in Person County, North Carolina, 1939.  






Three things are interesting to me:

Homemade table and bench. Two of my aunts, both with many children, had dining tables made like picnic tables, with benches instead of chairs.

Oilcloth tablecloth. 

Oil lamp. Glass pattern is called _beaded peanut_. One of the larger and more popular oil lamps made.


----------



## Meanderer

"The FSA was doomed to failure, but at the hands of the farmers rather than the Government. The farmers wanted full ownership of their new land – Americans could, after all, still dream. As soon as the Conservative Coalition became the dominant force in Congress in 1937 its days were numbered. Lang’s photographs show that she had a good understanding of irony, such as the1937 shot of a bill board above, advertising the good life in California where life for farmers was anything but. However – and it remains true today – there are always some who benefit from recession. This remains a rather idealized portrait of American family life in the nineteen thirties but still is a poignant reminder of the aspirations of its people".


----------



## Aunt Bea

NancyNGA said:


> Inside a tobacco sharecropper house in Person County, North Carolina, 1939.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Three things are interesting to me:
> 
> Homemade table and bench. Two of my aunts, both with many children, had dining tables made like picnic tables, with benches instead of chairs.
> 
> Oilcloth tablecloth.
> 
> Oil lamp. Glass pattern is called _beaded peanut_. One of the larger and more popular oil lamps made.
> 
> View attachment 37084



I like the glass of spoons on the table!

EAPG spooners were used as a symbol of hospitality years ago and the humble glass of spoons in the picture sends the same message.


----------



## NancyNGA

Aunt Bea said:


> I like the glass of spoons on the table!
> 
> EAPG spooners were used as a symbol of hospitality years ago and the humble glass of spoons in the picture sends the same message.



Bea, I'd never heard of spooners before!  Do you collect EAPG glass? 

 I used to collect oil lamps, until I got too many of them and nowhere to put them. Ha!   Nothing fancy, just simple ones.

EAPG Clear Glass Hobnail Pattern spooner


----------



## Pappy

This was a picture taken during the depression showing the demise of the American farmer.


----------



## Aunt Bea

NancyNGA said:


> Bea, I'd never heard of spooners before!  Do you collect EAPG glass?
> 
> I used to collect oil lamps, until I got too many of them and nowhere to put them. Ha!   Nothing fancy, just simple ones.
> 
> EAPG Clear Glass Hobnail Pattern spooner
> 
> View attachment 37108



When I was little my Grandmother took care of me, while my parents worked, and she used to collect EAPG.  I absorbed quite a bit of information and she used to like to have me explain the different patterns to people with very bored expressions on their faces, LOL!

I pick up odds and ends of EAPG when I see it for a dollar or two.  The spooner in the picture is what I know as moon and star, pieces have different names in different parts of the country or when made by different companies.  When I was younger I used the clear goblets to put homemade jelly in and seal with paraffin, they make nice little gifts.  I use the spooners and celery vases for cut flowers that I snitch from along the side of the road or around the foundations of old houses, they seem to go together.

Truth be told I enjoy the thrill of the hunt for things that have a connection with the past more than I enjoy owning them, it brings back memories and it's cheap entertainment!


----------



## NancyNGA

Aunt Bea said:


> ...Truth be told I enjoy the thrill of the hunt for things that have a connection with the past more than I enjoy owning them, it brings back memories and it's cheap entertainment!


You know what?! Now that you mention it, I think it's the same with me.  The fun part was finding the lamps and "getting to first know them."   Now they are gathering dust, and I'm even afraid to light them when the power goes out, because the glass might crack. 

Maybe we should mention, EAPG = Early American Pressed Glass, or Pattern Glass.


----------



## Aunt Bea

NancyNGA said:


> You know what?! Now that you mention it, I think it's the same with me.  The fun part was finding the lamps and "getting to first know them."   Now they are gathering dust, and I'm even afraid to light them when the power goes out, because the glass might crack.
> 
> Maybe we should mention, EAPG = Early American Pressed Glass, or Pattern Glass.



I think you should dust off a couple of them and use them on a regular basis so it is no big deal to fire them up when the lights go out.

I've read that the old timers believed that if you wrapped your lamp chimneys in a cloth or put them into an old sock, then gently into a pan of cold salt water, brought the water to a gentle simmer for fifteen minutes, allowed the chimneys to cool in the water it would prevent the chimneys from cracking when the lamp was lit.  Some people even suggested letting them simmer on the back of the stove for twenty-four hours.

This is an example of a Hitchcock lamp that was made in Watertown NY.  It has a key wound clock spring in the base that powers a fan to pull more air into the burner.









Later they developed this _sidewinder _that was a little safer to operate.


----------



## NancyNGA

Aunt Bea said:


> This is an example of a Hitchcock lamp that was made in Watertown NY.  It has a key wound clock spring in the base that powers a fan to pull more air into the burner.


I've never heard of a fan in a lamp. That is really cool.  No, better say neat, or hot.   Maybe I'll dust a couple of mine off and post them here.

Btw, I tried lighting two in one room once when the power went off in the winter. The fumes started to get to me after a while.  Lamp oil, not kerosene.  Don't know how folks got along with just those.  Went to bed early in the winter probably.


----------



## Meanderer

The lamps remind me of a Christmas story, by Johnny Cash....how they took a jar of coal oil to a sharecropper's porch on Christmas.


----------



## Meanderer

Sardine Tin Emergency Oil Lamp


----------



## NancyNGA




----------



## NancyNGA

Tending the garden, Vanier College, Quebec - 1950's


----------



## NancyNGA

You don't see many large families anymore.

_Appalachian Baby Boom: LIFE With Kentucky's 'Fruitful Mountaineers' _
(from an article in LIFE Magazine, December, 1949)

_"Waltis Kilburn's family on Trace Branch of Cutshin Creek is one of Leslie County Kentucky's biggest.  All his 14 children, ranging in age from three months to 25 years, were delivered by midwives.  Mrs. Kilburn (left) is satisfied 'with just what come.'."_






More Pictures from Leslie County


----------



## Pappy




----------



## Ruth n Jersey

Pappy, that is a beautiful scene. I've been wanting to change my desktop background and this was perfect. So glad you shared it.


----------



## NancyNGA




----------



## Trade

Me at the Arizona State Line - Circa 1952

It was cold that day. I saw snow for the first time in  my life in the mountains outside of Flagstaff. 

I think this was on the old route 66 west of Gallup, New Mexico.


----------



## NancyNGA

Then and now.  A hardware/grocery store near where I grew up in Ohio.   Can't find a date on the first picture, but the building itself was there before 1900.  Second picture is from Google Streetview (2016).  It was a pretty nice looking building back in the 60's as I recall, and still a hardware store then.


----------



## NancyNGA

Did you ever find one?


----------



## Aunt Bea

Yup, a couple!

The first is for faith, the second is for hope, the third is for love,  and the fourth is for luck.

If you would like to plant a field of them for the goats you can order four leaf clover seed in bulk, this is one of several sources.

Good Luck!

http://www.dhgate.com/product/four-leaf-clover-seeds-grow-your-own-luck/134781278.html?utm_source=pla&utm_medium=GMC&utm_campaign=topelec&utm_term=134781278&f=bm%7c134781278%7c019004-Patio,LawnGarden%7cGMC%7c246818428%7cpla%7ctopelec%7cUS%7c019004012-GardenSupplies%7cc%7c%7c&gclid=CJKjociarNQCFZONswodx-EJYQ


----------



## NancyNGA

Aunt Bea said:


> If you would like to plant a field of them for the goats you can order four leaf clover seed in bulk, this is one of several sources.
> 
> Good Luck!


Aw gee, Bea, that would take all the romance out of it.  Don't cha think? 

Apparently my mother collected them.  I keep finding them pressed in books.


----------



## Aunt Bea

NancyNGA said:


> Aw gee, Bea, that would take all the romance out of it.  Don't cha think?
> 
> Apparently my mother collected them.  I keep finding them pressed in books.



For you or the goats!

I like finding those little items in books, I always leave them for the next person to find in another fifty years or so. 

 I've never found any money tucked in them though, LOL!!!


----------



## NancyNGA

Cow with cowbells! ... This would drive me nuts if I were a cow.


----------



## Aunt Bea

Definitely prefer the sleigh bells!


----------



## Aunt Bea




----------



## Pappy




----------



## HiDesertHal

Yep, Nancy...whenever we took a drive out in the country in the early 1940's from the city of Wheeling, W. Va, where I was born, we would see these Mail Pouch ads on many barns!

Oh, BTW...my Lamb wants to meet your Goat. layful:

HiDesertHal


----------



## RadishRose




----------



## NancyNGA

Unique ways to haul livestock 

The folded cattle panel method






The chain link method


----------



## Shalimar

Aunt Bea said:


> Definitely prefer the sleigh bells!


My mother told me stories of  the winter sleigh rides she enjoyed while growing up in North Battleford, Saskatchewan. She was a stubble jumper! Lol.


----------



## NancyNGA

HiDesertHal said:


> Yep, Nancy...whenever we took a drive out in the country in the early 1940's from the city of Wheeling, W. Va, where I was born, we would see these Mail Pouch ads on many barns!
> 
> Oh, BTW...my Lamb wants to meet your Goat. layful:
> 
> HiDesertHal


In time...


----------



## HiDesertHal

Now, how did you manage that?

Look at their eyes...love for sure!

Hal


----------



## Shalimar

Do you play piano Hal? I play a little jazz and blues. Lovely room.


----------



## NancyNGA




----------



## HiDesertHal

Custom chrome wheels, disc brakes, and a lowered chassis on an old Chevy pickup?

Naaaaw! An old vehicle should look old in every detail, man!

HDH


----------



## NancyNGA

deleted


----------



## HiDesertHal

Hey Shalimar,

_Shalimar...sounds like some exotic Spice from the East..._

Yes, I play piano!  In fact, I just finished practicing Cole Porter's "Begin the Beguine". Has a complex chord progression in the bridge I have to work out. 

I play the Blues using nothing but Seventh chords in the changes, such as: C7...F7...G7.

Jazz combo pianists like to play in Bb Major, so the Horns can play in their natural keys.

Tell me what you like to play...do you have a Piano?

Cheers,
Hal


----------



## Aunt Bea

Living off the grid.


----------



## Shalimar

HiDesertHal said:


> Hey Shalimar,
> 
> _Shalimar...sounds like some exotic Spice from the East..._
> 
> Yes, I play piano!  In fact, I just finished practicing Cole Porter's "Begin the Beguine". Has a complex chord progression in the bridge I have to work out.
> 
> I play the Blues using nothing but Seventh chords in the changes, such as: C7...F7...G7.
> 
> Jazz combo pianists like to play in Bb Major, so the Horns can play in their natural keys.
> 
> Tell me what you like to play...do you have a Piano?
> 
> Cheers,
> Hal


Yes I have my grandmother's piano. Like her, I play by ear. Sing me a song once or twice, I will play it for you! I love old jazz and blues. My grandmother was raised Baptist, so I am able to play all the old hymns. Usually, I only use the bblack keys, as she did. I also  like to play the handsaw. Sounds like a primitive synthesizer. My handle, Shalimar, references my favourite parfum, Shalimar, by Guerlain. I would love to learn to play flamenco guitar and sitar.


----------



## Falcon

I liked to try difficult  things.  I finally mastered  "The Flight of the Bumble bee"  and

of course, the subsequent  "Bumble Boogie.

But I prefer Ferde Grofe's  "On the Trail"  and  The Hall of the Mountain King.

Remember,  "On the Trail" was the theme song for Phillip Morris cigarettes.?


----------



## Pappy




----------



## Meanderer

On the trail....


----------



## HiDesertHal

Stockbrokers after October, 1929.

HDH


----------



## Meanderer




----------



## Aunt Bea




----------



## HiDesertHal

Ah Yes, Falcon!

Rimsky-Korsakov's "Flight of the Bumblebee" is a challenge because of those cascades of 1/32 notes!

"Bumble Boogie" is fun to play, although my left hand isn't perfect in Boogie execution.

"On the Trail" is from Grofe's "Grand Canyon" suite, and has that famously recognizable "clopping" rhythm. 

"The Hall of the Mountain King", is a dramatic piece which suggests the foreboding of a creeping monster.

There are many others I ike that you probably do too!

HDH


----------



## Meanderer

Feed Sack Fashion


----------



## Aunt Bea

Meanderer said:


> Feed Sack Fashion



Great article, thanks!!!

I wonder how many hen pecked husbands got chewed out for buying the chicken feed in the bags with the wrong pattern or not getting an extra bag or two in the same pattern so the bags could be used for a new dress, problems of a different era LOL!!!


----------



## NancyNGA

Yes that is very interesting about the flour sacks.  I never knew they came in pretty designs, like some of those in the link.  Assumed all were tan or off white color.


----------



## HiDesertHal

Yes, and I think they are much more attractive than jeans with threadbare knees.

Hal


----------



## Meanderer




----------



## Pappy




----------



## Meanderer

Snuffy Smith Barn


----------



## NancyNGA




----------



## debodun

Hex signs painted on barns - rare outside of Amish culture areas.


----------



## Aunt Bea

Lets eat!!!

Dinner on the Daigle farm, Fort Kent, Maine, 1942


----------



## NancyNGA

debodun said:


> Hex signs painted on barns - rare outside of Amish culture areas.



That's interesting Deb. I grew up near some Amish farms. I remember seeing a few of those stars, but never knew what they were for.  Thanks.


----------



## Meanderer

I find it interesting to see the teen on the left, eating his pancake rolled up, possible with jelly filling, from the bowl with the spoon....or beans?



Aunt Bea said:


> Lets eat!!!
> 
> Dinner on the Daigle farm, Fort Kent, Maine, 1942


----------



## NancyNGA

Victory Gardens 







_"With loved ones off at war, it greatly improved morale to have an outlet for the patriotism, fear, and anxiety that many Americans felt about the war. In 1942, about 5.5 million gardeners participated in the war garden effort, making seed package sales rise 300%. The USDA estimated over 20 million garden plots were planted with an estimated 9-10 million pounds of fruit and vegetables grown a year, 44 percent of the fresh vegetables in the United States. In 1943, American families bought 315,000 pressure cookers for canning vegetables up from 66,000 in 1942. ... __Once the war ended, there was an overall decline in interest in gardening as life returned to normal in the US and the baby boomer era began. Many victory gardens were grown on loaned property, which needed to be returned in peacetime."
_
Community cannery,  Jeffersontown, Kentucky. The community cannery, started by the WPA (Work Projects Administration). Canning beans and greens raised in a victory garden. It costs three cents each for cans and two cents per can for use of the pressure cooker. June 1943.


----------



## Pappy




----------



## RubyK




----------



## Butterfly

Aunt Bea said:


> Great article, thanks!!!
> 
> I wonder how many hen pecked husbands got chewed out for buying the chicken feed in the bags with the wrong pattern or not getting an extra bag or two in the same pattern so the bags could be used for a new dress, problems of a different era LOL!!!



When I was little, my mother used to make little dresses for me and my sister from chicken feed bags -- not the ones with advertising like above, but ones with pretty patterns.  We would all go to the feed store together and my mom would tell dad which bags to buy so she would have enough material for dresses, and we got to pick out the prints. 

Fond memories I hadn't thought about for years and years.  Mom made very pretty little dresses for us out of those bags, and we loved them.  There's one little dress I remember in detail to this day -- I loved that dress and was sad when I outgrew it and it went to my sister.


----------



## Aunt Bea

Butterfly said:


> When I was little, my mother used to make little dresses for me and my sister from chicken feed bags -- not the ones with advertising like above, but ones with pretty patterns.  We would all go to the feed store together and my mom would tell dad which bags to buy so she would have enough material for dresses, and we got to pick out the prints.
> 
> Fond memories I hadn't thought about for years and years.  Mom made very pretty little dresses for us out of those bags, and we loved them.  There's one little dress I remember in detail to this day -- I loved that dress and was sad when I outgrew it and it went to my sister.



We never had the fancy printed ones but my grandmother used the plain heavy off white ones to make pillow ticks and dish towels.  The old men always had one filled with chaf to make a pillow for the iron machinery seats or in the trucks that had old broken seat cushions.  These days I see them at the antique shows, made into aprons and shopping bags similar to this one.


----------



## Aunt Bea

Country farm auctions!

My father was always dragging home something. 

 Sometimes I think he bought things just to hear my mother sputter, she did a lot of sputtering while they were married!

I still enjoy listening to a good auctioneer and watching them work the crowd.


----------



## NancyNGA




----------



## Aunt Bea

Great photo!

Must not be serious, he is not carrying her books!



			
				NancyNGA;65213
6 said:
			
		

>


----------



## NancyNGA

Bea, I wonder how hard it would be to walk the rails and text on the cell phone at the same time. layful:


----------



## Aunt Bea

NancyNGA said:


> Bea, I wonder how hard it would be to walk the rails and text on the cell phone at the same time.



Sad to say that I don't think they would even hear it when the train hit them.

I used to enjoy walking along the tracks when I was a kid.  I used to find these old Edison railroad battery oil bottles around the signals and switches, not sure exactly what they contained or how they were used.


----------



## Meanderer

She is carrying a stick....to beat off the boys??



Aunt Bea said:


> Great photo!
> 
> Must not be serious, he is not carrying her books!


----------



## Meanderer

"But looking it up 30 or 40 years ago would have been much harder, so it’s a lucky thing that I waited till now when it only took a few minutes on the Internet. Turns out that it wasn’t used in car batteries – I don’t know why I assumed that – but was used in an Edison battery which consisted of a Pyrex jar (so one could see what was going on inside – earlier in a ceramic jar) containing multiple cells. Each cell contained zinc and copper oxide (first link below says zinc and lead) plates and the electrolyte contained sodium hydroxide (caustic soda) dissolved in water with the battery oil floating on top to prevent evaporation or contamination. The main use of this battery was for railroad signals but they were also used for telephones, fan motors, and in mines, lighthouses, etc". 




Aunt Bea said:


> I used to enjoy walking along the tracks when I was a kid.  I used to find these old Edison railroad battery oil bottles around the signals and switches, not sure exactly what they contained or how they were used.


----------



## NancyNGA

Bea, those bottles are nice. I didn't realize Thomas Edison was "Incorporated."    The best we could ever find were old RR spikes.  

 We were fascinated by tadpoles, frogs, and crawdads in the ditches beside the tracks.

(I always have to set the scene with a picture, Ha!) 


Once I caught a few crawdads, and tried to keep them as pets in an old aquarium.  They didn't do so well.


----------



## NancyNGA

Meanderer said:


> She is carrying a stick....to beat off the boys??


The stick is just for balance.  layful:


----------



## Aunt Bea




----------



## Pappy




----------



## NancyNGA

A turnip truck


----------



## Pappy




----------



## Meanderer

Watch out he don't "just fall off"!


NancyNGA said:


> A turnip truck


----------



## Falcon

It's easy to see why some people fall off.


----------



## NancyNGA

The rooster with a June bug.


----------



## Meanderer




----------



## Meanderer




----------



## Pappy




----------



## Jackie22

.....outdoor clothes lines


----------



## Aunt Bea

Crowds gather  for a Fourth of July bucking bronco contest given at Bennetts' Beaver  Ranch, in Conifer, Jefferson County, Colorado 1904.
​


----------



## Meanderer

Bea, that sounds more exciting than fireworks!layful:


----------



## SeaBreeze

Before 1900 in Texas






Utah homesteaders


----------



## HiDesertHal

That Turnip Truck picture reminds me of what some people used to say about a Hillbilly or a Redneck coming to town:

"He looks like he just fell off the Turnip Truck!"

HDH


----------



## Pappy




----------



## NancyNGA




----------



## Aunt Bea

Great photo, so much to see!

The washboard over the hole in the screen door to keep the cat out, the 4H signs, the kite!!!


----------



## SeaBreeze

Making soap in Pennsylvania


----------



## NancyNGA

Aunt Bea said:


> Great photo, so much to see!
> 
> The washboard over the hole in the screen door to keep the cat out, the 4H signs, the kite!!!


Yes, and the clothesline, the washtub probably to catch rain from the roof, fishing rods.  I missed the cat and the washboard.


----------



## Aunt Bea

Nancy, I didn't notice the special little shelf that the washtub sits on right under the valley between the two roofs!

SeaBreeze, great photo of soap making!  Here is a picture of a lye barrel, you fill the barrel with ashes and then pour rain water in to extract the lye for the soap.






I love seeing how folks lived years ago and am so thankful that all I need to do is hop in the car and run to the store when I need a bar of soap or a jug of laundry detergent!


----------



## Aunt Bea

Round barns!

J.H. MANCHESTER, 1908, MAPLE AVENUE FARM, HORACE DUNCAN BUILDER






More recent picture.


----------



## Meanderer

Aunt Bee...


----------



## Shalimar

Meanderer said:


> Aunt Bee...


Is that honeycomb?


----------



## Shalimar

Aunt Bea said:


> Round barns!
> 
> J.H. MANCHESTER, 1908, MAPLE AVENUE FARM, HORACE DUNCAN BUILDER
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> More recent picture.


Beautiful.


----------



## Aunt Bea

Shaker round stone barn.







A more recent picture.







It amazes me how much work went into these old buildings.  I guess in those days people used all 24 hours in the day to good advantage while we tend to squander them watching television and surfing the net.


----------



## Pappy

This barn is not far from my hometown.


----------



## Butterfly

Jackie22 said:


> .....outdoor clothes lines



Gosh, I have, and USE an outdoor clothesline!  I have a dryer, but like the way some things come off the line better.  I guess I am a true relic.


----------



## NancyNGA

Round barn, Jefferson, GA, built in 1913.   Now a mattress store.






As it looked in 1958






An inside view, basement and main floors


----------



## Jackie22

Butterfly said:


> Gosh, I have, and USE an outdoor clothesline!  I have a dryer, but like the way some things come off the line better.  I guess I am a true relic.



Yes, I see them occasionally around here too.

.....love seeing all the old pictures.


----------



## NancyNGA

In #60, Applecruncher posted the above picture.  And there's another one in post #65


----------



## Jackie22

Thanks Nancy....I remember we had one like that when I was growing up.


----------



## Falcon

"Find one at a lower price and your mattress is  FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeee!


----------



## HiDesertHal

Shalimar said:


> Is that honeycomb?



One of them is...the others are fake.

HDH


----------



## Meanderer

Round Barn Layout


----------



## Meanderer

The free ones are in the corner!


Falcon said:


> "Find one at a lower price and your mattress is  FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeee!


----------



## SeaBreeze

1917


----------



## Meanderer

What a sparse and primitive kitchen!  Can you imagine, if she could see the kitchen of today?


----------



## Pappy

Heating water on the stove to do laundry.


----------



## Aunt Bea

Pappy said:


> View attachment 39179  Heating water on the stove to do laundry.



Great photo, I like that barrel churn.

All of those shoes and mittens, must be a big family!!!


----------



## Meanderer




----------



## Pappy




----------



## NancyNGA

Tree pulling fail


----------



## Aunt Bea




----------



## Meanderer

Children reading from a catalog at their farm home's kitchen table.


----------



## Wren

Hop-picking in Kent, I used to go every year with my mother until the sixties when machinery took over.....


----------



## Pappy




----------



## Meanderer

Antique Sawmill Operation


----------



## NancyNGA

Meanderer said:


> Antique Sawmill Operation



Meanderer, my father bought the pine lumber for the siding on our cabin in 1984 from a local man who had a sawmill very much like the one in your video.  Never planed. Talk about splinters. 

 He used a board and batten pattern (wide boards with narrow ones covering the cracks). It turned out real pretty. 

 Here it is after 33 years. We never figured it would last this long. If you look closely you can see the saw marks. My parents stained it long ago with cherry stain.   That is about gone now.  I could make it pretty again with a little work.  On my todo list. [yeah, right]


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## HiDesertHal

Yeah, hooray for those miserable "Good Old Days", when the average lifespan was 59.

HDH


----------



## Shalimar

I think we are very fortunate to live so much longer than our ancestors. Still, many of us enjoy a fond look back at a time gone by.


----------



## IKE

Definitely not a Maytag.


----------



## Falcon

They say, "Womens' work is never done,"   And I believe  it.


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## HiDesertHal

Speaking of Maytags, in areas without Rural Electrification, Maytag used small single-cylinder gasoline engines to run the washing machines.

Boys used to adapt the engines to home-made go carts after Electrification came.

Yes they did!

HDH


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## Meanderer




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## Meanderer

Saw Lady


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## Vega_Lyra

Old kitchen...


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## Pappy




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## Meanderer




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## HiDesertHal

Shalimar said:


> I think we are very fortunate to live so much longer than our ancestors. Still, many of us enjoy a fond look back at a time gone by.



I'll drink to that.

hdh


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## Meanderer

We called ourselves barn massagers, walldogs or barn lizards


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## Pappy




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## NancyNGA




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## Pappy




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## Vega_Lyra

Old crafts.....
:wave:


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## Vega_Lyra

A shoemaker's shop....:wave:


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## Meanderer

Blacksmith shop


----------



## NancyNGA




----------



## CeeCee




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## Meanderer




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## Pappy




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## Meanderer




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## RadishRose

ok 1939


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## NancyNGA

General store and P.O., Nethers, VA, 1935 (photo by Arthur Rothstein)


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## Pappy




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## NancyNGA

_Country Shack_ - photo by Dan Sproul







Zoomable Image (fineartamerica.com)


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## AZ Jim

Churning butter.  We did this when I was a boy.  When the butter began to form it got hard to do.  We had cows so it was all "home product".


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## Aunt Bea




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## Meanderer

Grandmother's Churning Song


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## Meanderer




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## Aunt Bea

Nothing like cider and doughnuts on a crisp fall day!!!


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## Pappy




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## NancyNGA

The family chicken coop


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## Smiling Jane

Aunt Bea said:


> Great picture!!!
> 
> We had an old three holer on my grandmother's farm until about 1956.



Why were there 2 or 3-holers? Do you ever remember a time when people used the outhouse together? That's something I always wondered about.


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## Aunt Bea

Smiling Jane said:


> Why were there 2 or 3-holers? Do you ever remember a time when people used the outhouse together? That's something I always wondered about.



We used the outhouse one at a time but the members of the family had different size butts. 

I suppose they got tired of hearing the kids scream and having to run fish them out of the hole, LOL!


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## Pappy




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## NancyNGA

_"You go first"..."No, you go"..."No, you"..."Not me" ..."No way!"_


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## Meanderer




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## Aunt Bea




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## NancyNGA




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## Pappy




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## Aunt Bea




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## Pappy




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## Meanderer

President Harry Truman's Boyhood home....then and now.


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## Aunt Bea




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## NancyNGA

Traveling photographers 
On wagon: _"C.R. Monroe, Traveling Photographer." _ 
(This explains where a lot of old pictures of my relatives came from. )


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## Meanderer

"Three photographer's wagons, two owned by C.R. Monroe and the other by N.L. Ellis, in front of tents in the countryside. Two men and a woman are posed standing by a chair in which a dog is sitting. On the right is a woman mounted on a horse. The man and the woman by the chair may be C.R. Monroe and his wife, and the woman on the horse may be their daughter. The man on the far left may be N.L. Ellis. Three other horses are tethered on the far right in front of a tent".


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## NancyNGA

Meanderer said:


> ".... The man and the woman by the chair may be C.R. Monroe and his wife, and the woman on the horse may be their daughter. The man on the far left may be N.L. Ellis. ...


If that's true, and Ellis and Monroe are both in the picture, then I wonder who _took_ the picture?  :eewwk:  Another mystery. (Just kidding!  )


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## Pappy




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## Meanderer




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## Aunt Bea

I was thinking about the things that we used to do to get ready for winter when I was a kid.

We always used to bank the side of the house to help insulate it against the winter wind.  When I was real young my father would drive some fence posts and construct a sort of fence about 18 inches from the house and we would pack that space with maple leaves raked from the lawn.  When we got older and were not such enthusiastic leaf collectors he would buy a load of spoiled hay bales and stack them three high along the side of the house with a fence post driven every few feet to hold them in place.  I was surprised that this is the only image I could find of a house that had been banked for the winter.





We also used to put up sections of snow fence, similar to this, in an effort control the blowing and drifting snow.  Some years the discussions over exactly where to put the fence for maximum benefit took longer than erecting the fence.


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## NancyNGA

That's a good one Bea.  It reminds me of our trips out west (in the summer).  First time we had seen snow fences. 

Alaska (not my picture)


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## RadishRose

I've seen snow fences but never heard of "Banking" a house. Learned something new!


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## Meanderer

Din't know where to post....seems to fit in here!?


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## Pappy




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## Meanderer

Early "Tanker" truck


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## Pappy




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## Denise1952

Love the thread Nancy, found this one when I googled.  Also, when my brother and sister were teens, they worked to move irrigation pipes in Lookingglass Oregon.


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## Meanderer

Denise1952 said:


> Love the thread Nancy, found this one when I googled.  Also, when my brother and sister were teens, they worked to move irrigation pipes in Lookingglass Oregon.


Our grandson moved irrigation pipes in Idaho, for a while.


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## Meanderer

NOTHIN' FANCY @ Silver Dollar City "Lord Bless This House"




(Scroll back up to picture while music plays)


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## Rainee

Great lot of pics of times gone by ..


----------



## Rainee




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## Denise1952

Love the black and white, and love to go to small fairs etc., where they have local bands playing good music


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## Meanderer




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## Pappy




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## Denise1952

Pappy said:


> View attachment 44941



Oh boy, now that is a lovely sight!!


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## Denise1952




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## RadishRose

I forgot to add the credit- from Shorpy.com


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## Aunt Bea

I've been reading about covered bridges.

Here is an old timer, long gone, from Jack's Reef New York.







Here is a modern example built in 2005 at Booneville NY.


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## Meanderer




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## Meanderer

Paper bag rack from the Old General Store


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## NancyNGA

Hills Covered Bridge, Route 26, Wayne National Forest, near Marietta, OH



Watson Mill Bridge, near Comer, GA


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## Meanderer

Georgia Gothic: 1937, Dorthea Lange (RadishRose's picture)


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## Denise1952

I used to love the smell of the wood from a "real" fireplace. I realize they were as energy-efficient, and lots of work, but thank goodness for those memories


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## Denise1952

The covered bridge is a great example Bea, and I see Nancy's now too.  We had one in the tiny, town/area where I grew up and it's gone now


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## RadishRose

I was just there a few weeks ago, there was a lot more colored foliage.

*West Cornwall Covered Bridge*

*Description:  *Cornwall,   Connecticut. Litchfield County. Built in 1864. This crosses the   Houstatonic River at the intersection of RT 7 and RT 128.

There was another bridge there in the 1700's.











 There are 13 covered bridges in Connecticut. Many are quite small.
http://www.onlyinyourstate.com/connecticut/covered-bridges-ct/

East Haddam





Somers






​


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## Meanderer




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## Pappy




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## Aunt Bea




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## NancyNGA




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## Ruthanne

Denise1952 said:


> I used to love the smell of the wood from a "real" fireplace. I realize they were as energy-efficient, and lots of work, but thank goodness for those memories


That looks so inviting!


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## Meanderer

Classic Yule Log Fireplace with Crackling Fire Sounds (HD)




Click on "Youtube" in lower right for their version and it will let you view in full screen


----------



## Pappy

Old Florida river crossing raft. Looks like a 50s DeSoto automobile.


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## Meanderer

The Yocona River Bridge, early 1900s


----------



## Pappy




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## Meanderer

Holiday Traditions


----------



## Pappy




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## Meanderer




----------



## Meanderer




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## RadishRose




----------



## Pappy




----------



## Aunt Bea




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## Meanderer

Merry Christmas!


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## Meanderer

Happy New Year!


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## Meanderer




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## Aunt Bea




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## NancyNGA

Country Post Office
_"The letter N was mistakenly painted backwards on the sign, but the post mistress liked the look of it and kept it."_


----------



## Pappy




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## NancyNGA

_"Nellie White milking a cow while her daughter, Flora White, watches. The dairy farm was located east of the Kaw (Kansas) River bridge across from Manhattan, Kansas. 1903." _


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## Aunt Bea

I was looking for more information about Nellie and Flora when I ran across this great picture of an old meat market.  

"Harry F. Davis, in white apron, became sole owner of  the meat market in 1890 and the business lasted over a half a century,  closing its doors in the early 1940s."

I love the internet!!!


----------



## Meanderer




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## Meanderer

6/28/23:  Inspectors Hagan and Nellie Smith (right) inspect the yard outside the home of Mrs. Gaetana Demorri in fight against home sweatshops.


----------



## Pappy




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## NancyNGA

Winter dog house.  Looks like it could accommodate people too.


----------



## Pappy




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## NancyNGA

Pappy, your post elsewhere reminded me of this (1940's).  I can't remember if we did this subject already or not.


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## NancyNGA




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## Meanderer

"Old sheds awry with time, tilt and yield to beauty and charm".


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## Pappy




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## NancyNGA




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## Ken N Tx

NancyNGA said:


>



.
.He is outstanding in his field of work!!


----------



## Pappy




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## fmdog44

One thing among others stands out in my memory as my family traveled in the 50s & 60's is the liter on the roads and polluted streams and rivers. Also, traveling through the south were the "WHITES ONLY" signs on gas station water fountains and restrooms. We lived in Chicago back then and the racial discrimination signs in the south never left my mind even today. To deny a peson a drink of water base on race shocked me as a child.


----------



## RadishRose




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## NancyNGA

_"Three French women tug a plow across a field in the Somme region, 1917. Retreating German soldiers took all the livestock from the area."_


----------



## Meanderer




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## Pappy




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## john19485

My uncle married his wife and they had 17 children, aunt Nancy was 13, when they got married, they lived on 80 acres, in a dirt floor house for many years, the kids all turned out to be a credit to their parents , they were always happy , when my family visited them, uncle John , and Aunt Nancy died close to one another, they were both in their late 80's


----------



## NancyNGA

john19485 said:


> My uncle married his wife and they had 17 children, aunt Nancy was 13, when they got married, they lived on 80 acres, in a dirt floor house for many years, the kids all turned out to be a credit to their parents , they were always happy , when my family visited them, uncle John , and Aunt Nancy died close to one another, they were both in their late 80's


Thanks for that story, John. I can only imagine how much work was involved just to get through every day. A team effort. Maybe that's one of the secrets to happiness. A sense of accomplishment every day.  Suppose?


----------



## CTLady

Here in Connecticut, dairy farmers would milk their herds early in the morning and then place the filled metal milk cans out on the roadside in front of his farm where there would  be a wooden stand, flat surface on top, on which he would leave his filled milk cans to be picked up to be taken to a processing plant.


----------



## NancyNGA

CTLady said:


> Here in Connecticut, dairy farmers would milk their herds early in the morning and then place the filled metal milk cans out on the roadside in front of his farm where there would be a wooden stand, flat surface on top, on which he would leave his filled milk cans to be picked up to be taken to a processing plant.


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## CTLady

That's it!!  That's it!!!  Thank you so much for responding!


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## Aunt Bea

Salem, Ohio


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## Meanderer

"We wrap up chores week with this picture of a little kid milking a cow. The picture was taken in 1915, and the boy was 8 years old".


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## Meanderer

Nellie with Clover the cow, circa 1890


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## CTLady

Great Pictures!! Thank you!!


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## Aunt Bea

So much work for a slice of bread with a little butter!









Not to mention the jam!


----------



## NancyNGA




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## RadishRose

Aunt Bea said:


> So much work for a slice of bread with a little butter!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Not to mention the jam!



Looks like a freshly baked cake to the right of the table, too. She must have been at it all day! Whew


----------



## Pappy




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## Aunt Bea




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## Pappy




----------



## SeaBreeze




----------



## debodun

Only in Amish country


----------



## Aunt Marg




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## Aunt Marg




----------



## RadishRose

New Jersey circa 1900. "View near Basking Ridge


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## Aunt Bea




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## 911

I can relate to about 98% of these pictures. It was an absolute thrill for me to go through the ‘picture book.’ 
Thanks to those people who posted them. Please keep posting. I enjoy looking at the country and farm pictures.


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## tbeltrans

This is a country scene that will always be with us...


----------



## Aunt Marg

911 said:


> I can relate to about 98% of these pictures. It was an absolute thrill for me to go through the ‘picture book.’
> Thanks to those people who posted them. Please keep posting. I enjoy looking at the country and farm pictures.


They warm me inside and out, too, 911. 

With me it's like one big package, where everything goes hand-in-hand with one another. I can smell good old-fashioned cooking wafting from everyone's ovens, there's fresh baking sitting out cooling on the counter, everyone's clotheslines are dressed in freshly laundered washing, birds are singing, the dogs are playing, the tall grass in the fields is moving and swaying to the gentle breeze, and it's as if time stands still.

Even as I write this, I can hear grannies front screen door slapping closed again and again, in and out of the kitchen she goes, preparing a refreshing glass jug of homemade iced tea for everybody, along with a plate of sandwiches. Our feet are up and we're just enjoying a relaxing and stress-free day.

I think why so many of us remember those old days, is because they were less rushed, less hurried. Sure, days were busy, but people and families had time for one another, and there was no sense of competition with anybody. People truly lived their own lives, and they were there for others, unlike today where a sort of dog-eat-dog world exists.


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## Aunt Marg

tbeltrans said:


> This is a country scene that will always be with us...
> 
> View attachment 145065


That's why those tall rubber boots were so popular! LOL!


----------



## 911

There is an Amish sect in NE Ohio that does at least one thing different than the Amish that are near here in my part of PA. When I drive by their homes, I can see that the women all have white curtains, which is not unusual, but they draw them to one side of the window.

On one of my few trips through Ohio, my wife and I had just visited the Football Hall of Fame and were driving east on the turnpike when I decided to jump off and take the back roads for awhile to change the scenery. I came to an Amish farmer leaning on his fence post, which was near the road.

At first, I thought he was ill, so I stopped and asked him if he was OK.  He answered me and said that he suddenly became very dizzy and sick to his stomach. It was an extremely hot summer day, so I thought maybe he had too much sun. I asked him if I could give him a ride back to his house or maybe call an ambulance or if he would like me go to his house and get his wife.

He accepted the ride. I told him that once I got him to the house that I would return and take his team (2 horses) up to the barn. He looked at me kind of puzzled and asked, “You can handle them?” I shook my head and told him yes. He actually gave a little smile. Once I got him to the house and his wife sat him down under this huge maple tree at the side of the house, I went back and brought the team to the barn.

By that time, he had been feeling better. I think he drank a whole quart of lemonade. He asked me how I knew how to handle the horses. I explained to him about my somewhat small experience of working on a farm. Five minutes later, my wife was out of the car talking with his wife and the farmer and I were swapping farm stories. When he learned later that I was a state Trooper from Hershey, he knew we had a rather large community of Amish and that started another conversation. The funniest thing that he told me was, “You know those Pennsylvania Amish have it good.” I asked him “How?” He said, “They own generators.” So, I had to ask him why he didn’t have one to run his milking equipment?” He told me that he didn’t have any milking cows. I never noticed.


----------



## Aunt Bea




----------



## Aunt Marg

When was the last time you seen young children playing in the summer in old galvanized steel/tin/zinc tubs filled with water?


----------



## Aunt Bea




----------



## Lewkat

imp said:


> *Scythes I Knew*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> There were two of them left behind when my own grandpa died, so they wound up in our garage, I was 10. My Dad bought a little place in Michigan, at his Mother's request, and she lived there alone until she died. The scythes were tried out there. Above, it is lying upside down, as the handles and curvature show they are positioned such that it is swept from right to left, to cut the hay. As pictured, it could not be held and swept left to right at all.
> 
> The blades on ours were about twice the width shown. Using the things was back-breaking work, and one "dig-in" of the point into the earth wrenched yer back pretty good! We even had a smaller one, held with one hand, which I believe I have seen still for sale at places like Tractor Supply Co.     imp


We had an old barn on the property we moved to when I was a kid and I found one of these and used it.  Worked.


----------



## Keesha

New order Mennonites .....now 


Old order Mennonites .... from now but they looked they same one hundred years ago


----------



## Pappy




----------



## fmdog44

hamilton pool reserve - Yahoo Search Results
Click on the 9 photos on the right.


----------



## Aunt Marg

Keesha said:


> New order Mennonites .....now
> View attachment 145256
> View attachment 145254
> View attachment 145255Old order Mennonites .... from now but they looked they same one hundred years ago


The first picture is Classic Sherlock Holmes travel at it's best!


----------



## Keesha

Aunt Marg said:


> The first picture is Classic Sherlock Holmes travel at it's best!


These were all  taken two years ago while driving up to my parents house. I find them so nostalgic myself


----------



## Lara

I know, a little creepy, but you gotta' admit
you don't see this in the country much anymore


----------



## Ken N Tx




----------



## Aunt Marg

Lara said:


> I know, a little creepy, but you gotta' admit
> you don't see this in the country much anymore
> View attachment 145334


Ewww! Imagine how dirty that beard is, or what's crawling around in it?


----------



## Aunt Bea




----------

