Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Small Towns in the 50's

 
Small Towns in the 50's

Me- Age 4 Christmas 1958


Those who grew up in small towns in the 50's will laugh when they read this. 
                    Those who didn't, will be in disbelief and won't understand how true it is

1) You can name almost everyone you graduated with.

2) You know what 4-H/FFA means.

3) You went to parties at a pasture, barn, back yard, river bank or in the middle of a dirt road.

4) You used to 'drag/cruise' Main St .

5) You whispered any dirty word and your parents knew within the hour.

6) Parties were scheduled by your local church for teen agers.

7) You could never buy cigarettes/beer because all the store clerks knew how old you were (and if you were old enough, they'd tell your parents anyhow.) Besides, where would you get the money?

8) When you did find somebody old enough and brave enough to buy cigarettes, you still had to go out into the country and drive on back roads to smoke them.

9) You heard stories about a beer joint in a town 40 miles away, but never dared go there for fear of being “ousted” by the community.

10) It was cool to date somebody from the neighboring town.

11) The whole school went to the same party after graduation.

12) You didn't give directions by street names but rather by references. Turn by Nelson's house, go 2 blocks to Anderson 's, and it's four houses left of the track field.

13) The golf course had only 9 holes.

14) You probably  dated a friend's ex-boyfriend/girlfriend because the young crowd was so small.

15) Your car stayed dirty because of the dirt roads, and you did not want to own a dark vehicle for this reason.

16) The town next to you was considered 'trashy' or 'snooty,' but was actually just like your town.

17) You referred to anyone with a house newer than 1950 as  'rich' people.

18) The people in the 'big city' dressed funny, and then you picked up the trend 2 years later.

19) Anyone you wanted could be found at the local gas station, the dairy bar,  burger joint or pool hall.

20) You saw at least one friend a week driving a tractor through town or one of your friends driving a grain truck to school occasionally.

21) The coach suggested you haul hay for the summer to get stronger.

22) Directions were given using THE stop light as a reference.

23) When you decided to walk somewhere, 5 people would pull over and ask if you wanted a ride.

24) Your teachers called you by your older siblings' names.

25) Your teachers remembered when they taught your brothers or sisters.

26) You could charge at any local store or write checks without any ID.

27) There were no McDonalds or Burger Kings.

28) The closest city was over an hour away.

29) Most people used reel type/push lawn mowers.

30) You've kissed your sweetheart in wheat field/cornfield/hayfield/barn lot.

31) You probably started driving a tractor to plow/disc/etc. by the time you were 14 years old.

32) Most people went by a nickname.

33) You kept your guns or fishing tackle in the car/truck so you could go hunting/fishing after school.

34) You had been hunting with a gun since you were 12 years old.

35) The car/truck you drove belonged to dad and was probably the only family vehicle.

36) Eight out of ten high school boys could tune a car's engine; four out of ten could rebuild that engine.

37) There was a huge crowd in town on Saturday afternoon.

38) Farmers could actually "trade" their eggs/milk/cream/chickens for groceries and other goods at some of the local stores.

39) You had heard of but not yet seen a TV program.

40) You laughed while reading this because you know it is true. And, you forward it to everyone you know who may have lived in a small town so they can laugh ,too.

I would not have wanted to have been raised any other way!!!


 Pollen puddle after hard rain!



SPRING COLOR

SPRING COLOR 2



MAN I HAVE A SORE THROAT AFTER ALL THAT POLLEN


WHAT IS THIS? ANSWER BELOW*


A PEKKERWOOD!


*THE WEIRD ONE IS A TADPOLE IN THE POND ON HIS WAY UP FOR AIR!


YES FOLKS--I'M BACK! SO GET READY FOR SOME BAD PUNS AND LIZARD JOKES!


THANKS FOR COMING TO DINNER!
ACTUALLY- A DRAGONFLY JUST HATCHING!


JMc

LOVE YOU ALL!

16 comments:

  1. Great photos, John, especially the one of you in 1958... Doesn't look like you did much growing up in the 50s (I don't even remember the 50s, but I would have turned 3 in 1960).

    ReplyDelete
  2. In the cities it was much the same at that time...only more people watching you and hanging out with. Not now so much but back in the 50's-60's. And we had five lanes to profile our cars on not one in each direction, but the cruisin' was the same everywhere.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I grew up in the 60s / 70s, so can relate to some of that. But it still relates to my nieces in the Florida wilderness, so graduated with less than 20 kids and are still friends with all of them.

    Love those shots - you have an abundance of beautiful photos. You must live in a beautiful area.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I lived in the country so some of that stuff made sense but we were strangers in town.

    Your photos today are truly gorgeous John. OMG

    ReplyDelete
  5. Like Lynne I'm a child of the late 60's/early 70's but I can associate with so many of these, especially parents with super hearing. So funny, I loved this post.

    ReplyDelete
  6. i grew up in the 60s in a very small wis. town. we didn't have a stoplight or a stop sign thru town. but so much of the other stuff was true! altho i did manage to buy alcohol for those backroads parties. not sure how i did it...

    ReplyDelete
  7. 1958 was my first Christmas. :) I can relate to so many of the things in that list!

    Great photos! The pollen photo is beautiful (I can't believe I'm describing pollen as beautiful - achoo!!)

    ReplyDelete
  8. love sage's comment!

    this is a brilliant post, john, and
    i can relate to some of these, as a child of the early 70's.

    gorgeous shots and views!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Jeff- true--born in 54 I only had 6 years in the 50's..but the carry over to the 60's was still pure and innocent!

    Thanks Buddy!

    J


    Mark--- I hear ya Bro!!!

    BBB,

    J


    Tracy--super parent hearing will NEVER go away! LOL

    Glad ya smiled!


    J



    TexWisGirl--we had a local Wino--I know that's not PC-- but we bought him a dollar bottle of wine- and he would buy all our Beer/Liquor!

    J



    Kelly-- It did make kinda of a weirdly abstract Achoo pic didn't it? Thanks so much!

    It is clear and beautiful and 71 right now with NO pollen coming back until tomorrow!


    J



    Betty-- Thanks so much! I really appreciate your visits! In the 70's--72 to be exact I was getting in trouble at the Univ of SC my Freshman year!!

    I think all of us can relate to most any years/decade we grew up in as THE BEST- it's all we knew!!!

    John

    ReplyDelete
  10. I could relate to so many of those points. Growing up on Long Island in the 50's was not that different, it was just surrounded by water. This was a fun post!

    ReplyDelete
  11. We could stand outside a liquor store and give someone our cash and they would buy us a bottle! Today we'd be arrested and they would slip out the back with our cash! LOL! Times have changed!
    I went to Catholic school and I hated when the nuns always said "Why aren't you smart in Math like your brother Ed?" He was the smart one! Ugh!
    No one I know died from alcohol poisoning or attempted to murder their schoolmates or family! Times are crazy today!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Thanks for the visit, visiting you back!
    Maybe you could come and join me http://crazybeautifullifeofkaren.blogspot.com/2012/03/scarlet-wednesday-1.html. Scarlet Wednesday is now up... see you there!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Great photos! That one with the country road in it is amazing!
    Oh yeah, I remember that used to go crazy wondering how my mom found out things I did. Even when I was far from home! Spy network...

    ReplyDelete
  14. So true! I grew up in a town of 1,400. A few differences...
    No hauling hay, I was in the bean fields pulling weeds in the summers. We had great tans! :)
    Didn't get to drive a tractor.
    No hunting...but had fun target shooting in the back yard.
    TV shows...yes I did. I so remember Lawrence Welk on Sunday nights. I wasn't a fan but indured it. I was waiting for the Disney move to come on.
    You need to frame your 1st spring photo. Gorgeous!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Thanks my friends!

    Joan I sure appreciate that! Thanks Pat!

    John

    ReplyDelete

Incredibly smart relies: