Five years later

Posted on January 16, 2012 by daclaren

Five years ago today, my little brother and only sibling, Duane, passed away. He was 28 years old and died suddenly from a pulmonary embolism…or technically, “pulmonary saddle thrombotic emboli.”

As I suppose is common, I sometimes wonder what he would have been doing nowadays had he not died. Duane was someone who liked living life his own way. He would get a job and keep it for awhile, saving all of the money he earned and building up his bank balance. Then, when he had enough money saved and/or got sick of the job, he would just quit. It seemed to work for him; his vehicle was paid off, and he’d amassed quite a large collection of books, video games, etc. (It admittedly helped that he didn’t have to pay much in the way of rent or utilities.) Though independent, he lived with my parents for most of his life. I never talked to him about it, but I think he probably figured he’d live with them until they passed away, and then he’d take over their home, vehicles, etc.

I also think of the things he’s missed…not political or religious things, but the things that would have actually mattered to him. If I could somehow talk to him, I’d probably tell him about some of the following things. I’m not going to do it in “letter” form, as I think I may have done that before (years ago). ;)

- First, I’d let him know about Starview Homestead. We bought it about nine months after Duane died, and I think he would have really loved the place. As kids growing up in a small rural town, we spent our summers exploring the woods and creek behind our house. I’d imagine the woods and creek we have at Starview would have thrilled him, and I’m sure he would have gone wading there with us! He really loved wading as a kid, and he even went wading with us in the same creek where we’d spent our childhoods. (“Us” being Dave and I, plus my stepsons and Snoopy.) We had a lot of very fond memories of creek exploration. I also think he’d be interested in helping to rebuild the place. Dad tries to help, but at 75 years old and with one lung, he does more watching than helping – a fact he readily admits. If we had Duane’s help, we may have gotten more done over the years.

- I’d also tell him about Nintendo Wii. Duane was a very avid gamer, and the Wii came out just two months before his death. He knew about it but didn’t get the chance to play one. We ended up getting one, and once my parents saw how much fun it was, they got one for themselves. At the time, I was the electronics team lead for Target, so I had all of the “inside info” on when we got the Wii in stock and how many. No, I never held any behind the counter for family to buy – contrary to popular belief, employees were decidedly not allowed to do that and could be fired for it! We also couldn’t buy them on our 15-minute breaks, though we could buy them on our unpaid lunch break.

Anyway, Duane was more into role-playing games (particularly “City of Heroes”), but I still think he would have enjoyed the Wii, and it may have even helped him health-wise. I know for sure he would have done the bowling, as we both bowled in a league as kids and both enjoyed it. He also loved archery, so I think he would’ve done that one as well. I’m not sure what other games might have caught his fancy, but I think he would have been amused by the Wii and probably would have used it as a break for when nothing was going on in the world of CoH.

- We got “smart” phones! I already blogged about this, but I think it would have intrigued him. I don’t know if he would’ve gotten one for himself, as he rarely left the house and wouldn’t have a need for something other than a very basic cell phone. He probably would have checked ours out, though…the idea of having an internet-capable computer in your pocket is initially fascinating to almost everyone who is a techie or gamer.

- The passing of our beloved pup, Snoopy…and the arrival of our sweet Penny! Duane loved Snoopy (and animals in general), and that feeling was mutual. One of Snoopy’s favorite phrases was, “Wanna go see Duane?” I’m sure he would’ve loved Penny, too! She’s such a sweetheart, and I have to wonder if she would have ended up sleeping with Duane in the mornings when I leave for work and she goes next door to be with her grandparents.

We also went through the death of our cat, Sassay, and found a new one with Lucy, the tiny kitten that Dave found at Starview. Lucy is now 2 years old and is a big and beautiful cat. She tends to be friendlier than Sassay was, which is something that Duane probably would have liked, as he enjoyed cats, too.

It’s hard to say what else I’d tell him about…lots of other things have happened in the last five years. Oh – one other thing I’d definitely mention is that we recently took his beloved computer back over and set it back up in his bedroom where it had been before. (We’d been using it as a server but got a new one.) Mom says she’s going to learn to use it, but I think she just likes the comfort of it being back where it “belongs.” We haven’t gotten rid of many of his things; we’ve meant to, but I think there’s just something very final about it. We’ll get there eventually. In the meantime, the books and things aren’t hurting anything by being where they’re at, so it’s not a big deal.

In any case, Duane is definitely missed, and we think and talk of him often. It’s hard to believe it’s been five years already.

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So this is the year…

Posted on January 7, 2012 by daclaren

…in which the world is supposed to end? Really? Seems to be off to a pretty mundane start so far. ;)

We really enjoyed our time off during the holidays – I actually got time off this year, now that I’m no longer working a retail job. (Well, it’s technically retail-oriented, but we don’t have to work holidays.) It was nice to just be able to stay home and relax a bit. January is considered peak time at work, though, so I’ve been working a lot more this week. It’s interesting to note that I’m getting almost the same number of hours at my supposed “part-time” job as I was getting at my full-time job. It’s also nice to be working for a place that appreciates a good, old-school work ethic. Since I’ve been doing well, I’m being cross-trained in other areas so that when it’s slow in my area, they don’t have to cut my hours!

Christmas was nice…just the usual dinner with Dave, my parents, and my aunt. Oh, and Penny, of course! She loved the dinner and her present – a toy with lot of squeakers and no stuffing – and we play with it daily. Admittedly, we didn’t realize when we bought it that if someone is tugging on each end, all of the squeakers squeak at once. So with Penny at one end and me pulling on the other, it makes quite a racket!

I’ll put some of Faye’s photos from the annual Christmas Eve gathering with the in-laws at the end of this entry. It was an interesting time…highlights included delicious deer bologna, talking about the 12/21/2012 theories (and survival/self-sufficiency topics in general) with Dave and two of his brothers, getting to see two of our three granddaughters, and Steve’s leg lamp (replica of the one from A Christmas Story).

We made a few visits to Starview over the holidays, but the best recent visit was probably today’s visit. The weather was absolutely gorgeous for the beginning of January – temps in the upper 50s/low 60s, sunshine, and just a gentle (most of the time) breeze. While Dave chipped the last of the brush in the yard – this time, a pile by the burn barrels – I went down to the woods and explored. It was still a little muddy, but not too bad overall. During a recent rainy spell, the area down by the creek flooded as usual…and we ended up with a new piece of scenery:

This giant root apparently decided that our embankment would be a good resting spot for a while, so it settled there. It may be hard to tell from the photo, but this thing is huge!

Also, thanks to the recent flooding (and possibly also due to the strong winds we’d had recently), I’ve found that two of our neighbor’s “no trespassing” signs have found their way onto our property. One had been there for probably a year and has changed positions several times thanks to repeated flooding, but the other is a new arrival. In any case, I’m finding it humorously ironic that two of her “no trespassing” signs are now trespassing on our posted land! ;)

Here are a few of Faye’s Christmas Eve photos. First, two of us…the traditional pose, and a candid one where Dave is wearing the hat he got at the beach this year.

Dave with our granddaughter, Shelby:

Dave and two of his brothers, Steve and Tom, discussing the end of the world theories, survival and self-sufficiency, and such.

Hope your holidays were wonderful, and that 2012 is off to a good start for all of you!

Posted in General, Homestead, Photos | 2 Comments

In defense of ‘Happy Holidays’

Posted on December 21, 2011 by daclaren

‘Tis the season for holiday-themed posts, I suppose. With that in mind, I decided to post about this particular subject, seeing as how it’s been on my mind in recent weeks…and seemingly every year, around Christmas, for the past decade or more.

Can someone please tell me exactly when and why it became so offensive to say ‘Happy Holidays’ instead of ‘Merry Christmas?’ Seriously, when did people’s religious beliefs start clouding their worldview to the point that they stopped seeing ‘Happy Holidays’ as a nice sentiment and started seeing it as an attack on Christ? Am I the only one who thinks this is absolutely nuts?

I’ve always said ‘Happy Holidays’ instead of ‘Merry Christmas’ and have preferred it for as long as I can remember. In total honesty, it has absolutely nothing (zero, nada, zilch) to do with my religious beliefs. It never has. Not ever.

It does have something to do with being inclusive – but probably not in the way you’re thinking. No, I’m not talking about being inclusive toward those who choose to celebrate one of the many “Christmas alternatives” (Yule, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Saturnalia, Festivus, etc.), even though that’s a very thoughtful reason to use an all-inclusive phrase.

I use it because it encompasses all of the holidays around this time of year. I start using it around Thanksgiving and continue through the new year. That way, I can include Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s Eve, New Year’s Day, and all of the other holidays I mentioned above. The time between late November and January is considered a ‘holiday season’ to begin with – so why not treat it as such by including the whole holiday season in your greeting?

‘Happy Holidays’ has been an acceptable greeting for decades, and there is even a song called “Happy Holiday” (which I constantly hear at work) that was written back in the 40s. I’m not sure exactly why this phrase has become so offensive in the last decade or two, but I wish people would stop being so offended by it and take it for what it is – a sincere holiday greeting.

Let’s be clear – saying ‘Happy Holidays’ is certainly not about “taking the ‘Christ’ out of Christmas.” I’m guessing this whole idea came about because Christians needed something else to complain about or another reason to hate all of those who are not like them. Though I’ve searched, I’ve really found no other explanation for the invention of what Christians call the “War on Christmas.”

Scary. “War on Christmas.” Shock and Claus! Sorry to break it to you, but there is no war on Christmas. Get over yourselves. If this is the biggest issue in your life, you have it pretty easy. You may want to find a hobby.

I’ll come right out and admit that I am not a Christian. I was raised in a non-religious household (but by parents who considered themselves Christians because they’d gone to church as kids and had been baptized) and permitted to research and find my own way spiritually. I identified as an atheist during my school years, simply because there was no internet, and I honestly had no idea that anything “in-between” existed – in our little part of the world, you were either a Christian or an atheist. Yeah, those in our one-stoplight town didn’t get out very much.

Back in the mid-90s, I started researching online, searching for a spiritual home and a nature-based path, and came across paganism. For many years thereafter, I identified as a pagan, although a “small P” one. In other words, I liked the nature-revering part of paganism and celebrating the solstices/equinoxes, but I wasn’t into things like spells, rituals, gods/goddesses, and much of the supernatural stuff. More recently, I discovered pantheism, and I think that’s a much better fit – like paganism without the magical things! (I did also briefly try a stint as a Christian back in 2009, but it only lasted for two months before I couldn’t take the hypocrisy, double standards, and patriarchy anymore.)

That said, as a non-Christian, I am not offended in the least if someone wishes me a Merry Christmas. To the contrary, I’m happy that they were thoughtful enough to say it, and I usually reply with, “you too, thanks!” (I never freak out at them about how I am not a Christian and am offended by this greeting…because I’m simply not offended by it.)

I am also not offended by the term ‘Christmas tree.’ Yes, we have a Christmas tree…we do not have a ‘holiday tree’ and never have called it anything other than what it is…a Christmas tree. I’m not even offended if you want to have a nativity scene in your yard, in your house, or in front of your church. I don’t have one of those, but I don’t find them offensive. (I actually really like some of the animal-based nativities I’ve seen, including these at Big Sky Carvers.)

Though I certainly can’t speak for all non-Christians, chances are good that the majority of them feel similarly – they’re not particularly offended by “Merry Christmas,” Christmas trees, Christmas lights, nativity scenes, Christmas carols, Christmas sales/events in stores, or even cards with religious messages in them.

Those of us who aren’t obsessed with this so-called “War on Christmas/Christ” have better things to do than to worry about whether or not someone says ‘Merry Christmas’ or ‘Happy Holidays’ – we’re grateful to hear either one of those. After all, it really is the thought that counts! Why can’t we get back to that line of thinking? I remember very clearly that it used to be that way – what on Earth happened?

I do believe in separation of church and state. Keeping these separate during the holidays is as easy as not using my tax dollars for your nativity scene and not putting it on government land. Doesn’t sound very hard, does it? This is not an exclusively Christian country; neither is it an exclusively atheist country. Saying ‘Happy Holidays’ isn’t any more of a war against Christians than saying ‘Merry Christmas’ is a war against atheists.

In my opinion, this whole “War on Christmas” thing was most likely cooked up by some of the more extreme fundamentalist Christians, who are always looking for ways to be offended by non-Christians. Then those from the opposite end of the belief spectrum, militant atheists, figured that if Christians were offended by ‘Happy Holidays,’ then they should be offended by ‘Merry Christmas.’ Really, it just seems to be the extremists from both ends who are bothered by this whole issue – the rest of us have better things to do with our time and prefer not to go around searching for reasons to be offended by things.

I will admit that I’ve been grumbling about the Christmas music at work this year (you may have seen me mention it on Facebook), but it’s strictly tongue-in-cheek…and it has nothing to do with the fact that they’re playing Christmas hymns in addition to the myriad other songs that pop up every year at this time. I’m not bothered by the subject matter, but by the frequency with which we’re hearing the same songs. Seriously, yesterday we heard two different versions of the same song – “The Little Drummer Boy” – played one right after the other! I realize it’s a Muzak station and is probably running from a computerized playlist. It would really be nice, though, if they expanded their song collection a bit, as well as adding some sort of algorithm that won’t let the system play two songs with the same title consecutively.

Also, if I hear “Marshmallow World” one more time, I may just snap and go burn a Christmas tree in an atheist’s front yard or something. ;)

Seriously, though…can we please make this “War on Christmas” crap stop? If I say ‘Happy Holidays’ to you, it’s not because I want to offend you or “take the ‘Christ’ out of Christmas.” Likewise, if you say ‘Merry Christmas’ to me, I won’t assume that you’re trying to force your religion down my throat. (I’ve never thought that, btw.) We all know by now that Christ was not really born on December 25 anyway; that no one knows when he was born is a fact and not just some non-Christian propaganda. (That date was simply chosen to compete with the pagan winter solstice celebrations; the solstice was on the 25th back then due to chronological issues with the calendar.) Likewise, no one is taking the Christ out of Christmas if they abbreviate it as Xmas. The X refers back to the greek letter chi (looks like an X), which was used to represent Christ anyway. Therefore, saying Xmas is exactly the same thing as saying Christmas; it’s just for people who don’t have enough room on their signs to spell out ‘Christmas’ or for those who don’t feel like constantly writing/typing the whole thing. Christmas trees (even when they weren’t called that), caroling, yule logs, mistletoe, and many other supposed “Christmas traditions” were around long before Christmas even existed. See, even these traditions are all-inclusive!

Ok, enough rambling about this subject. I guess some will see me as naive for thinking people should just be nice to each other and stop looking for reasons to be offended. Others, especially those who remember the days when ‘Merry Christmas’ and ‘Happy Holidays’ were interchangeable, will probably think I’m just old school. Either way, I think it’s time to drop the “War on Christmas” stupidity and just focus on spending this time of the year celebrating – in our own ways – what makes the season/holiday(s) special for us. Whether it means celebrating the birth of Christ or just getting together with family and friends and enjoying a great meal, enjoy it!

Oh, and Happy Holidays (all of them)! :)

Posted in General, Spirit | 2 Comments

Ghosts of Christmas past

Posted on December 17, 2011 by daclaren

Even though the “official” November NaBloPoMo is over, they continue to post prompts every month for those who want to participate as much as possible year-round. I checked out their December prompts, and all of them are centered around Christmas and the ‘gift’ theme. None of the prompts really jumped out at me, but they did take me back to a time when Christmas seemed to matter more than it does now. Several of my more recent entries were nostalgic in nature, so I figured this would fit right in with the others.

Nowadays, we really don’t do much for Christmas. I put up a tree this year; it’s a 3-foot tall artificial fiber-optic one decked out with all of our Keepsake ornaments (we started with an “our first Christmas together” ornament in 1997) and a rustic-looking metal star topper. I have to admit, putting all of the ornaments on was a nice trip back through the years, and Dave said I looked happy while doing it. I’ve always enjoyed decorating the Christmas tree, but we don’t have the need or room for a big one this year, so we went with the small one. It’s better than last year, when we just put up one of those Charlie Brown trees, complete with the lone ornament.

I do have plenty of memories of past Christmas traditions, gifts, and such. My brother Duane and I grew up in a non-religious household, so Christmas for us was all about presents, eating a great meal, spending time with family, and getting to watch Christmas specials on TV…sounds a lot like what I do nowadays, too!

I’ll admit that I stopped believing in Santa Claus at a very young age – probably around 3 or so. I’m not sure exactly why, but I was always extremely skeptical of “fantasy beings” – Santa, the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny, Jesus – I don’t think I ever recall believing in any of them as a young child. I played along for years, chuckling about the fact that Santa’s handwriting was the same as my mother’s, but going to tell “him” my Christmas wish list every year so that I could get the free orange and stocking full of candy that came with our yearly visits to the Jolly One (sponsored by my dad’s employer). Likewise, I put my pulled teeth under my pillow so I could claim my financial reward, and I got up early on Easter morning to see what chocolate goodies were left in my brightly-colored basket, supposedly by a larger version of a reproductively-skilled little mammal.

I played along because I knew it delighted my parents, I didn’t want to spoil it for my little brother, and because it was fun! I think my parents knew that I never believed, but they appreciated that I played along for Duane’s sake. :)

Here I am in front of the tree at around 3 years old with my best friend, my Freddy bear. I don’t really remember anything about that Christmas in particular, but I’m pretty sure the present on the far left is a can of Folgers coffee. For some reason, one of those appeared under the tree every year for several years…I’ll have to see if my parents remember the significance.

Through the years, the trees got larger and more elaborate. We usually had a real tree, and once we actually had a live one – complete with roots – that got planted in the yard and eventually grew to an amazing height. In this photo, taken sometime in the early 80s (most likely 1982), there was even a train around the bottom of the tree. I can remember being absolutely fascinated by this. Any time it would come off of the tracks, I would carefully and patiently crawl under there and put it back on…I loved doing “precision work” like that!

Yes, that is an ornament hanging from a hook on the front of my shirt. The colors on the ornament matched the ones on my shirt, so I decided to wear it! Btw, that is the black-and-white TV on the right side of the pic. We didn’t get color until the mid-80s.

Here we are in 1985, all four of us this time. No, I have no idea what I was thinking with the red pants and pink on the sweater…heh. As you can see, we’d upgraded to the color TV by this time; I can barely make out the antenna rotor box on top. No remote, of course – we still had to get up to change the channel.

As far as Christmas memories from childhood, most of them have blended together in my advancing age. One thing that stands out, though, is that I remember a gift our Aunt Freda got for us every year. (She spent every Christmas with us and still does to this day.) She got each of us a box of Wolfgang chocolate-covered animal crackers in a cardboard pencil box. These things were so delicious, and we only got them at Christmas, so they were a wonderful treat! (They do still sell them, and they’re still amazing.)

As we got older, the number of gifts under the tree decreased. Nowadays, we don’t even exchange gifts. When we had custody of my stepsons, we did buy gifts for them, but still didn’t usually get anything for each other. (We prefer to get things as we need them.) I usually still get a card for my parents and one for Aunt Freda…and I got a funny one for Duane every year before he passed away. Since he died just a couple of weeks after Christmas (going on 5 years ago), it’s quite possible the last one I gave him is still in his room.

Anyway, now that we have grandkids, we get gifts for them as well. We already have some things for them and will probably get a few last-minute gifts tomorrow. Oh, and we got one toy each for Penny and Lucy. The silly cat peeked at hers already, but she didn’t manage to get to the dog’s toy, so Penny is still none the wiser. ;)

Our current Christmas traditions include watching much of the 24 hours of A Christmas Story, which we can probably almost recite by heart, but which still seems to be just as funny the 100th time around! We also do the Christmas dinner with my parents and aunt, as well as Christmas Eve with the in-laws.

Here’s a photo of Dave and me on Christmas Eve 1997, the first time he took me to the annual get-together with my future in-laws. Coordinating flannel for the win!

And this is a group shot from the most recent one (until next week) – 2010. Dave and I are obviously in the middle; Mandy is on the left, holding her daughter Shelby. Justin is next; his daughter Liberty was still half a year from being born. Josh is on the right, holding his daughter Emma.

Soon, we’ll have another photo to add to the memories. Eventually, when we move to Starview full-time, we’ll get to make even more holiday traditions and memories. I plan to get more “into it” once we’re there, including making wreaths with some of the natural materials collected from the woods. Until then, we’ve still got each other and our families and the memories and traditions that we’ve built over the years.

Posted in General, Photos | 2 Comments

Blog tag and more nostalgia

Posted on December 11, 2011 by daclaren

I’m going to play a bit of “post tag” with Country Wife. In her latest entry, she refers back to my last post and adds a lot of her own memories to the list of things that future generations may not experience.

One of the things she mentioned was the mall and whether or not kids still hang out at them. I remember hanging out at our local mall quite a bit when I was a teen (despite the fact that I lived farther away than I do now and it was a longer drive). It was almost like complete freedom for us – once we had our licenses, we could go without our parents, stay for hours, always find a cool place to hangout, and even get some food if we wanted. I could usually be found in the book store, the music (cassette/CD) store, the candy store, or the arcade…of course. :)

Nowadays – at our local mall, anyway – I don’t see nearly as many kids hanging out. I think some of that has to do with the fact that they’d get chased away by “mall security” (read: rent-a-wannabe-cops). The rest probably centers around the fact that they have so many more activities after school, and they can talk with each other on cell phones, online, gaming, etc. Oddly enough, the people I see hanging out at the mall the most these days are…old people. Yep, ’tis true. We were at the mall last weekend, and though I recall seeing some teens with their families, I saw very few in groups. I did, however, see lots of elderly folks sitting on the benches throughout the mall. I’m not sure why, really. Maybe they want to people-watch or just want to be somewhere other than home. Maybe they like to pretend that they’re waiting for friends or family members…when they actually arrived, and will leave, alone. Ok, that’s depressing. On a lighter note, maybe they’re just hanging out there so that they can keep up with the latest trends. Seriously! You never know…

The insert for 45 records was another thing that CW mentioned – I remember these very well! Though the record player of my childhood was a stackable one, we didn’t have a spindle adapter and had to put the yellow plastic adapters in our 45s. They looked like this photo from Wikipedia:

45 record adapter

I remember a cast member of a recent season of Survivor wearing a necklace with one of these on it. This, of course, prompted lots of posts of, “what is this symbol?” and “what does it mean?” You know, like it was some sort of secret Freemason code or something. Damn, did that make me feel old – there were so many people who had no clue what this object was! I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry…or just turn into dust and blow away.

Country Wife then went on to list things that her children have done that other kids will probably never experience. This is what we all need to get back to doing, in my opinion. CW, I think your kids are much better off having learned and/or experienced these things. I’ll admit that I didn’t do many of these when I was little, but much of that had to do with a disconnect with my parents. Both of them worked full-time, and my dad was on third shift. That said, I did learn some of the things on the list, such as how to properly set and tend to a fire (and the related safety lessons), as well as proper care and use of knives and such. In fact, I remember often carrying my pocket knife with me to elementary school simply because it had been left in my coat pocket after my weekend adventures. This, of course, was back when you could still carry a knife to school without getting in trouble. I also loved fishing as a child, although we didn’t go very often…and I knew of a few wild edibles (and more importantly, which ones I was NOT supposed to eat).

All of the other things you mentioned are things I want to learn when we move to Starview full-time. I’ve already gotten a headstart on some of the things – I’ve identified lots of wild edibles growing there (and have harvested, prepared, and eaten some of them), we’ve done the fire thing several times, and I have a selection of knives, machetes, saws, etc. I don’t know that we’ll ever get into tanning leather, but I also want to do all of the other things on your list. We can’t do many of them now (especially things like gardening and raising our own food) since we don’t live there. I’ve been studying for years, however, with Jackie Clay as my primary inspiration.

In any case, I love the fact that there are still folks out there who are holding on to the “old ways” – and teaching them to their children – yet also embracing modern technology and such. That’s the kind of life I want to live at Starview and try to live as much as possible where we are now. I’ve always loved technology and have never looked at it as something to be feared or scorned, yet I’ve also always loved self-sufficiency and “low-tech” ways of doing things. We’d like to be as self-sufficient as possible when we’re living at Starview on a permanent basis, partly because it’s something we’ve wanted/longed to do for years, and partly out of the necessity that comes with living in an area that’s a half-hour drive away from grocery and department stores.

One day, we’ll be living that dream of self-sufficiency and all of its ups and downs. In the meantime, I’ll use modern technology to continue to learn about all of the things I want to put into practice. Sometimes it’s nice to have the best of both worlds. :)

Posted in General, Homestead | 1 Comment

At the sound of the tone, the time will be…

Posted on December 6, 2011 by daclaren

I recently saw a post on one of my favorite sites asking those who grew up during the 80s and 90s to name some things that their children will never experience. I think the 90s is stretching it a little, as kids born during those years are barely out of their “growing up” years yet – some aren’t, depending on the year. I think the question should have been asked of those who grew up in the 70s and 80s instead, as those days are definitely long-gone. I was born in the mid-70s, so I fit right into this demographic. Though I am very much childfree, I do have grown stepkids and young grandkids. Here are some of the things I remember from my childhood that my grandkids will likely never experience.

Black-and-white TV with rabbit ears: We had one of these during my younger years, although when I was in elementary school, we got a regular antenna on a large metal pole attached to our house. We could only get about three or four channels; one for each of the three major networks (ABC, NBC, CBS back then), and maybe one other. Eventually, we went high-tech and got an antenna rotor – a box with a dial that sat on top of the TV set. We could turn said dial, and the outdoor antenna would rotate to get more channels. We were able to get the PBS station this way, and maybe one or two other network channels. (I even remember that my dad made little marks on the rotor box to tell us where to set it for each channel.) I can’t recall when, but sometime during the 80s, the black-and-white TV finally died and we replaced it with a color one! Wow…talk about a step up! Watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade for the first time in color was fascinating. Oh, and we had to get up and turn a knob on the TV to change the channel. Yep…imagine that…we had to stand up and walk over to the TV to find something else to watch. *gasp*

* For whatever it’s worth, my parents didn’t get cable TV until after I’d moved out. I had to get cable in my first apartment at age 19 because the rabbit ears wouldn’t work in town (too much truck traffic to interfere with the signal) and I couldn’t have an outdoor antenna. The first time my dad watched a NASCAR race on my tiny little TV with cable, he was hooked…and that’s when my parents got cable! *

Rotary phones: All of my readers should know about these, but their kids won’t have a clue. We had the standard black rotary phone that hung on the wall, and I think maybe we had one on a table as well. You know the deal – you stuck your finger in the rotary dial, dialed the first number, then had to wait until the dial click-click-clicked itself back the whole way before dialing the second number…and so forth. We thought it was such a major advancement when our area finally switched from pulse dial to tone dial and we were able to get push button phones.

Along with the phones, of course, were the coiled phone cords. I know these still exist, but the number of homes that actually have a corded phone is dwindling every day. Though my social anxiety gets in the way of talking on the phone most times, I did go through a phase in my teen years when I liked talking on the phone. Part of the fun was finding all sorts of things to do with that coiled cord, whether it was wrapping it around your fingers/toes or stretching it out as far as it would go and then letting it snap back.

Audio cassette tapes: These, too, still exist, but just barely. At one time, it was considered pretty high-tech to have a cassette player instead of a turntable. (Speaking of which, I loved our turntable as a kid – I would put the needle on the record and just sit fascinated, watching the record turn as the music played.) Records had their weakness, in that they could be scratched fairly easily. With audio cassettes, you had to worry about the tape player “eating” the tape, which would become entangled in the mechanism. As a major nerd, I was pretty good at getting the tape untangled and winding it back up into the cassette. Then there was the “Walkman,” the portable tape player that you could hook to your belt or waistband and carry with you. Talk about high-tech!

The time and temperature line: Using your rotary or push button phone, you could dial a certain phone number in your town, and a recorded voice would start with the quote I used for the title of this entry. “At the sound of the tone, the time will be…” Of course, since there was no ‘speed dial’ or ‘memory’ on phones yet, you had to memorize the number or write it down somewhere.

Early computing: The first computers I remember working with were Apple IIe computers in late elementary school; I wanted a computer at home, but we couldn’t afford an Apple, so we had to get a Tandy from Radio Shack. It had no hard drive, no modem, just a 5.25″ floppy disk drive. Yep, floppy disk. The first time I tried to make back-up copies of the floppies for MS-DOS and the Tandy front-end software, I made the rookie mistake of confusing the source and destination disks. In other words, I erased that which I was trying to copy. Thankfully, the folks at the Shack took pity on the little nerd-in-training and made me new copies of the disks. I never made that mistake again!

Eventually, we got an external dial-up modem (was it 1200 bps??), and I was able to connect to a sort-of ISP called PC-Link (Tandy’s version of AOL). This was in 1989, and very few people had access to this. There was no world wide web, no Google, no Yahoo, nothing like that. We had message boards, chat rooms, download areas, messaging (almost like email), and…well, that was just about everything. Unfortunately, this “internet” access cost 10 cents per minute in long-distance phone charges, so I wasn’t allowed to be on for very long each time!

Keep in mind, if we were connected to the internet via modem, the telephone line would also be busy. Therefore, if anyone was waiting for an important call, no one could be connected to the internet – or that old-timey version of the internet. If someone picked up the phone while you were connected, it instantly disconnected you. “No carrier.”

Then there was the video game system…the Atari 2600. Square joystick with the little red button in the upper left corner. That thing ruled! I think my parents may still have a working one somewhere in storage.

I’ll admit, when I was growing up, I had a vivid imagination and was absolutely fascinated with the space program and science fiction…but I never imagined that I would have a portable phone that I could use almost anywhere to call almost anywhere. That phone also takes photos and can send them, along with short notes or longer letters, to anyone else with a similarly-equipped phone or a computer. If I get bored, I can play games on my phone, or access basically any information on the internet…on my phone. I can find nearby places, check in when I arrive at those places to let someone know I’ve been there, and post reviews of those places once I’ve experienced them. I can buy things on my phone and have them sent directly to my house without ever setting foot in a store. I can read books and magazines, listen to music (and plug the phone into a jack in my car stereo to listen to that music while I’m on the road), and get the latest news/weather/traffic conditions…on my phone. Seriously?

Oh, and I can give my opinion on just about anything in 140 characters or less – for people worldwide to read and comment – on my phone.

*blink*

Part of me admittedly still longs for some of those things from the “old days,” when time seemed to move more slowly and everyone was more calm and relaxed. When I need to get away from the technology rush, I head to the woods and creek at Starview. Sure, I take my phone along and sometimes even take pictures with it, but it becomes largely forgotten in the wilderness as I slow down, chill out, and take in my surroundings.

Oh, and since my phone has a weather app and an atomic clock, I don’t need to call the time and temperature lady anymore. :)

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