The Goood Ole Days

[Tradititonal Farmer]

I hear antique tractor and equipment collectors
pineing for the 'good old day' sometimes at shows and on lists such as this so fellas and gals you might just be getting your wish the way things are headed.It was a simpler time because it was a time when we all had a lot less money to burn.In 1960 for instance we had 1 TV that worked about half the time 1 1950 Ford car,1 1949 Ford pick up, we rarely went to the nearest town about 15 miles away,we worked a 2 acre garden with a horse,we milked by hand 10 to 15 cows,we fed out around 200 to 300 hogs,with a neighbor used to pick up hog feed off a rail car,no health insurance,we put in 12 to 15 hr days depending on the time of year,also cut wood with a buck saw and axe loaded it on a wagon and used a cut off saw to cut it up.And we were better off than most folks in our community.So if energy prices are getting to you dump the gas guzzling SUV and 4WD,turn off the cable/dish network,sell the computer,plant a garden and work it with a small tiller,can your food,stay home except when you're at work,quit eating out,going to ballgames,concerts and the like.Enjoy the "Good Ole Days".

 

[kyplowboy]

Well said.

With the things going the way they are now, I hate to say it but the ones of us who have been the have not's the last several years will be the have's before too long. The people who have all thier toys will be hungry. The ones with a small tv that gets 5 channels, well we won't have much to watch on tv still but we will eat.

Dave

 

[Gun guru]

I agree.
You see a lot of people getting gym memberships, cant they just do outside chores for the exercise instead they pay money to get in shape when they could come to my house and log up trees, do landscape work, and of course shovel snow.

 

[Fawteen]

You, Sir, have said a mouthful.

My daughter is going through a divorce (mutually agreed upon) and the loss of that second income is going to HURT. If she can sell the house, she'll survive, if not, things are gonna get ugly.

I mentioned dumping the cell phones, the satellite TV and the internet, getting rid of my grandson's car (he's 16) and cancelling her CD-of-the-month club membership. I said "All of these things are luxuries you can no longer afford".

You'd have thought I'd advised her to pick out a street corner...

 

[jose bagge]

HAHAHA! I was just thinking the same thing-looking out across the parking lot of one of my stores at the Gld's Gym starting to load up with the soccer moms for the morning workout. My wife is as buff as any of 'em- all from mucking stalls every day. BUT I guess the gym membership is cheaper than the livestock- at least until I sell 'em!
Even the worst slum in america has TV, DVD, cell, and running water...

 

[onefarmer]

I worked with a guy who was always going to the gym. I offered to give him a workout on the farm for free. He'd save $ and I'd get some good out of it. He always sneered at me.

 

[S.Crum]

I started out with nothing, and still have most of it left.

 

[steveormary]

Hang in there folks. I was 68 and retired when my long term investments started paying off. It was a struggle sometimes before retirement. Yes,I grew up on a farm. The first 8-9 yars without electricity or running water. Dad worked his way into taking over the farm from his FIL. He had a team of horses and when I was 4 or 5 bought a used F12 Faarmal.

Go back to them days now? Dont know, might be all right for a week or twh ya,wife grew up in the city.

steveormary

 

[rrlund]

Dad always said "the only thing good about the good ole days was that we were younger". As for energy costs,I lived through the 70s. When gas went from 30 cents to 60 in a short time,THAT was a crisis. It doubled. All we have to do this time is wait for inflation to catch up,just like we did then.

 

[Anonymous-0]

That was only doubling in the 70s, not so bad. In 10 years since 1998, diesel at the pump around here has gone from below a dollar to almost 3.50. That is 350 percent in 10 years.
Tom

 

[RobMD]

Don't get your hopes up anytime soon.

 

[rrlund]

That's in 10 years. When the Arab oil embargo was slapped on us,it was almost immediate.Imagine next Friday,you wake up and that $3.50 fuel is $7. You have to remember that we had near 20% interest and 12 percent inflation on consumer goods at that time too. For my parents generation,the depression was what defined them and made them who they were. For some of us,it was the 70s that we'll never forget and will define how we handle money for the rest of our lives. For those of you who didn't live it,it wasn't like "That 70s Show" on TV! I just remember the whole decade being cold and dark.

 

[buickanddeere]

I agree

 

[Spook]

I was sick when I was young. Without modern medicine, I would not be here. These are the "good old days".

 

[dave guest]

Good old days was 1969. Married 3 years. Two bouncing baby boys. Hired with GM as electrician apprentice. Made $3.77 hour on midnights. Drove a 1964 Cadillac convertible, bought for $700. Rent was $65 from a friend of family who had a gas station and let me use his garage. We went to state parks and beaches, fished every day, got 2 or 4 hours sleep and worked at night. Plant was 5 miles from house and gas was maybe 35 cents. GI bill paid more than rent and utilities. I wanna go back!!! Everybody was happy, fat, and healthy. Lord really blessed us financially but I retired and most of my friends have died and I sure miss them. Born in 1943 in Detroit.

 

[Chris in MO]

Well, I don't think the have nots will be the haves, but at least we're used to it and so it won't be shocking.

Oh, yeah. If you have figured out how to live on nothing, then nothing times nothing is still nothing. Nothing changes in that, I guess.

Christopher

 

[kyplowboy]

It's like my grandmother said about the depression, she was poor as a church mouse and did not know it. They did not have money for anything, but they had a few sows, a few shorthorn milk cows bred to a herford bull, over an acre of garden just for a family of 5, so on and so on. She tells about going shop'n for new dresses, she would ride with her dad to the mill with a load of corn in the fall. She would pick out the cotton sacks to put the feed and meal in. When they used what was in the sack she made her dresses out of them. They made do just like she does now, the people who buy things just based on the monthly payment, they could loose everything. Hope this is not where we are headed but I am not going to start live'n on a credit card and hope some one bales me out.

Good luck.

Dave

 

[Texasmark]

My good old days are right now. Been retired 3 years, kids are all grown and finally out of the nest, health is great, and not broke like I had been all my life.

Mark

 

[CLW]

I understand what you are saying. We had enough money to get by then and it is the same today. Not much, if any, left over, but we got use to it. Everyone else was in the same boat. However when I hear someone talk about "the good old days" my thoughts go to the good things about those days. Mine were late 40's to early 60's.
We had two used tractors. One about 8 years old and one about 12. The most common problem was trash in the fuel. Cost about $0.00 to fix. We had one milk cow and maybe 20 chickens for eggs. Had a hog or two some of the time. Houses were built so the breeze would blow through them. Maybe two heaters in the house. One for the living room and a small one in the bath. We used one or two extra blankets on bed. You don't miss things that are not yet invented such as CH/A. When we did get a TV it had only 3 channels and only came on in the evening, and signed off around 11 PM. You have missed something if you never listened to "The Lone Ranger"or "The Swinging Door" or some other radio program that let you use your imagination to paint the picture of what is going on. We had one old Chevy pickup and one old four door car of some kind. Dad had what we called a "mud car". It was a old Ford with the fenders cut back and it was only used to take us kids to the highway to catch the school bus in bad weather. I remember it caught on fire and burnt the inside up. Dad got it running again and set on a wooden stool to drive it. We kids sat on the floor.
We could leave the tractors in the field and the tools in the toolbox, and everything would be in its place the next morning. There were no permits required if we wanted to add a shed or dig a drainage ditch. The word "lawsuit" was yet to be in the dictionary. Never heard of a child rapist, and if there was one I dought he ever made it to the courthouse alive.
I remember holding hands with my first girlfriend. Playing all the sports in school and the best cheesburger in the world for $.10. A 16 oz. RC for a nickle.
I tell my grandkids to enjoy school and life now because some day they will look back on this as there "good old days". I hope there are as happy as mine were.