WASTEFUL OLD FOLKS

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[Arrowhead1952]

Sent with nostalgia...

The Green Thing

In the line at the store, the cashier told an older woman that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment.

The woman apologized to him and explained, "We didn't have the green thing back in my day."

The clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment."

He was right -- our generation didn't have the green thing in its day.

Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled.

But we didn't have the green thing back in our day.

We walked up stairs, because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks.

But she was right. We didn't have the green thing in our day.

Back then, we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the throw-away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts -- wind and solar power really did dry the clothes. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing.

But that old lady is right; we didn't have the green thing back in our day.

Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana .

In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us.

When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used a wadded up old newspaper to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.

Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.

But she's right; we didn't have the green thing back then.

We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water.

We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull.

But we didn't have the green thing back then.

Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service.

We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza joint.

But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the green thing back then?

Please forward this on to another selfish old person who needs a lesson in conservation from a smartass young person.

[rightly_dividing]

So is my wife. She says one of the things that she really likes about me is that I can fix things and build stuff.

[Arrowhead1952]

I had to teach my wife how to sew buttons onto clothes. She never learned how to do that from her mother.

[goat granny]

That's what my mother did also....home made fries taste great and makes fries in restaurants and McDonald's taste like cardboard...She also fried them twice. Once to cook them and the second time to quickly crisp them on the outside. I made my own sometimes but only fry them once. Can have a whole meal of them they taste so good...

I love my blue grocery bags, they hold a lot more than plastic, can put 3 times as much in one as in the plastic bags and have heard a lot about bacteria...I can BS on the so called bacteria in the bags....

When I was in nursing school we read about a study done on the bacteria in public restrooms...the cleanest part with the least bacteria was the water in the toilet...lets all drink that water.....studies find what they want to find...and nurse's learn to wash their hands quite a bit differently than other folks....the more germ ladden thing in the public bathrooms are all the door handles.

Come out of the toilet touch the handles of the door, go to the sink and turn on the water with those same hands...wash hands and turn off the water faucet and get back on your hands all the bacteria you just washed off.

Wash your hands and use a piece of paper towel to turn off the water. Push the door to get out of the restroom with your butt and not your hands if possible.. the simplicity of proper hand washing keeps lots of germs off you...

[Sacajaweau]

Our house was built in 1904. We had a medicine cabinet built into the wall which had a slot in it for used razor blades.

We also had a milk box near the side door. The milkman took our empty bottles and we got fresh milk at least 3 times a week. 100's of houses served by ONE milkman. That was city living....Rochester NY in the 50's.

[DJ MacWoW]

I remember the razor blade slots. And the milk boxes. In the 50’s we also had Nickels bakery (local Ohio) that delivered door to door. Mostly bread.

[American Constitutionalist]

( * Beans are better the next day. * )

" Which end??? "

I plead the 5th and remain silent because the EPA and the envirowackos would want to regulate that to for emissions.

[Mears]

Fantastic !!!

(Appreciative old lady here.)

[American Constitutionalist]

My brothers and I when we were young would take apart things like old vacuum cleaners, fan motors, old TV sets, and yes, a old car.
We just wanted to see how stuff works, that does not guarantee that it will work when we put it all back together with a few extra parts.
If your 25 year old daughter is inclined and wants to learn how to fix things you can show her how to fix things starting off with easy things to fix, it will build her confidence and amaze her friends.

[American Constitutionalist]

" Mom says “Di -Dee” not sure of the spelling, she did think that the trucks were blue and white though. Were you from Philly? "
Nope, not from Philly.
Imagine during a hot summer how those trucks must have smelled.. I pity those who drove those trucks.

[Arrowhead1952]

If your 25 year old daughter is inclined and wants to learn how to fix things you can show her how to fix things starting off with easy things to fix, it will build her confidence and amaze her friends.

Thanks for the replies on the thread. Believe me, my daughter learned how to check out her car before she ever got behind the wheel. She had her hood up at college checking the oil and other fluids, belts when a couple of guys came and asked her if she had problems. She told them that she was doing her preventative maintenance before she hit the road home. They could not believe it, but she told them that "That's what dad told me to do".

I helped her fix a car over the phone later in her college days. She never lets me live that down, but I am glad she can call me and tell the stop and rob repair shops to kiss her - you know what.

I gave her a tool kit and she hangs pictures and does other things around the house from her watching me do it at home when she was a kid. Her BF couldn't believe it when she took out her rechargeable drill and started assembling an end table.

[GOPJ]

And closets? They were the size of postage stamps... but that was find because we didn’t have 800 pieces of clothing and 200 pairs of shoes...

[Logic n' Reason]

I plead the 5th and remain silent because the EPA and the envirowackos would want to regulate that to for emissions.

Since we now are after cows for their gasseous emissions contributing to "global warm and cool and changing"; can we humans be far "behind"!!!!!

LOL!

[Ronin]

I remember those. And the big aluminum foil balls that used to sit on the classroom. Everyone would bring in their used foil and add it to the ball on the teacher’s desk. Some of those balls they had to be rolled because they were too big to carry.