Candy cigarettes-I remember pretending to smoke with these red tipped candies and that no adult around me was bothered by that. They still sell these at Dollar General, but they’re called candy sticks now. Teen Angel bought some yesterday. So did I.
Coke machines with bottles-I used to get bottled drinks at a little BBQ joint in town and at the gas station we stopped at all the time. It was called Bud’s Sunoco, and I got strawberry sodas out of his machine with the admonition from Baby Ruth “do not spill that all over the back seat”.
Party Line-When I was really young we lived in an old farm house with a party line. I used to listen in on the neighbors’ conversations. That was during my “Harriet The Spy” phase. Our neighbors weren't very interesting, but hey, when you live in the country, you take what you can get.
Wash tub wringer-We had one of these for a brief time when we first moved into that old farm house. Man, it was a bee-atch to use that thing. Besides, you could lose an arm if you weren’t careful. I’m guessing that’s why it didn’t take long for mom to get a new washer and dryer.
Metal ice cube trays-The refrigerator we had at that old farmhouse was older than Jack Lalane. It didn’t have an ice maker, and we had these old metal ice trays. I never could empty those things without flinging cubes onto the floor.
Timmy and Lassie-I remember these two. I loved Lassie but thought Timmy was a big fat whiner. So was that little boy from “Shane”. Don't you know Lassie got tired of dragging Timmy’s dumb butt out of the well. I watched part of an old Lassie rerun last week, and caught myself yelling to Timmy, "Suck it up. Put on your big boy pants and deal with it."
Chatty Cathy-I didn’t have one of these but Sissy did. No wait. She had a Tippy Toes. Oh well, this is still a good story. Hubby and his baby brother got in trouble for pulling the head off of Sissy’ s Tippy Toes. She’s still bitter about it. Ridden with Tippy Toes guilt Hubby bought her another one for Christmas a couple of years ago. She was pleased, but still bitter.
45 RPM records-My first 45 was Puff The Magic Dragon. I was too little to know what the lyrics meant. We were still using 45’s and turntables when I first started working in radio in 1982.
Lincoln Logs-These were the coolest. Way better than Tinker Toys. I always took the round blue lid off the canister, filled it with water and pretended it was a swimming pool for my ranch family.
Jiffy Pop-Loved it. Wanted it. Begged for it. Mama wouldn’t buy it because she preferred to pop her own. She just didn’t understand that all the popular kids got Jiffy Pop and that she was holding me back in my quest for popularity...again.
15 cent McDonald’s hamburgers-I don’t remember the 15 cent part. I remember when they were pretty new, though. In fact, my Brownie troop took a field trip to the local McDonalds. We all got hamburgers afterward, except for Elizabeth. She got a fish sandwich. She was always trying to be different. We toured the button factory too, but McDonald's was way better.
Gum wrapper chains-Are you kidding? I still make these things. I made one about a month ago. Juicy Fruit, baby.
And the bestest, most fabulosest, glorious one of all...the alumunum Christmas tree. My great aunt had one with the color wheel, and I thought she was rich, rich, rich. I loved that tree. I could stare at it for hours. I promised myself that when I grew up and had my own money and was rich, rich, rich, I would own one of these. Well, I'm not rich, these things are back and I don't want one of them anymore. Well, maybe just a little.
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