Things we don't have anymore 050726

 

Things we don’t have anymore…

May 7, 2026

My bias is that I grew up in the 50’s and 60’s.   As I watch the grandkids grow up these days, I remember things we had back then and no longer have.

First, my parents had one telephone for the whole house and it was located in the kitchen and was a rotary phone.   I remember my mother running from the bedroom to the kitchen to answer it.   My aunt & uncle had one that was on the wall.   Ours was on a cabinet.   I was always envious of that wall phone.   Remember when you could slam down the phone?   What a joy!   NO MORE!

Second, remember ice cube trays?   I sure do because I was STUPID, STUPID, STUPID one time and licked it and yup, I got my tongue STUCK on it.   Next…

No, we never had our milk delivered.   But, I go remember the egg ranch store down the street from my grandparents and my grandfather would walk down there and talk to the guy who sold the eggs.  

Third…NEWSPAPERS.   Who even gets a newspaper these days?   I NEVER see one in any of the driveways around us.   One neighbor used to get The Desert Sun (i.e. The Desert RAG) every day, but no more.   My parents used to subscribe to the Los Angeles Times, which these days is a complete JOKE and WASTE OF TIME.   I grew up reading the front page and the racing results in the Times while munching on my morning cereal.   These days I barely even glance at it, it’s THAT POORLY WRITTEN.   I remember the days when it had an entire page devoted to recipes.   HA!

FOURTH…street lights.   Now, I know some streets have street lights, but ours doesn’t.   My parents’ house had one by the mailbox and I remember the fall nights when it came on about 4:45 p.m.  I miss streetlights.  We, and all our neighbors, now either have the stick-in-the-ground Dollar Tree lights (which we have) or they have their lights attached to electricity.   But, no street lights in our neighborhood.

FIFTH:   pay phones…The last time I used a pay phone was about 10 years ago up near Lake Hemet.  For some reason my cell phone died and I had no reception.   I was fortunate to find one at one of the private campgrounds up there and I did have enough change to phone home to my husband.   Nowadays I don’t see any along the state highway.   Are they even around anymore?

SIXTH:   Television sets with “rabbit ears”.   Yes, we had one.   I seem to recall our tv was in black and white before the color ones came out.  Oh, and going along with that were the big stereos of the 60’s.   My father had one and he used to listen to Oklahoma and South Pacific over and over and over to the point that I can’t even listen to either of those soundtracks ever again! But, he dearly loved his stereo setup and would retreat to his man cave to escape my mother’s cooking.

THOSE WERE THE DAYS!

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]May 7, 2026

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