Ramble Lane

<> Subject: How old is Grandpa?      Stay with this -- the answer is at the end.    One evening a grandson was talking to his grandfather about current events.  The grandson asked his grandfather what he thought about the shootings  at schools, the computer age, and just things in general.    The Grandfather replied, 'Well, let me think a minute, I was born before:      Television  We had television... well... we didn't have one... but my grandparents did... and I remember  watching Lawrence Welk, Red Skelton and the news... Oh and Roy and Dale Rogers... Happy Trails To You...        Penicillin  <>A fairly recent medication and not well known but it was available when I was a kid... it was considered a "wonder" drug...      In 1945, Alexander Fleming, Ernst Boris Chain, and Howard Walter Florey jointly received the Nobel Prize for the discovery of penicillin and its curative effect in various infectious diseases.      Polio shots  My husband was born in 1950 and he remembers getting a polio shot... I think I may have gotten a polio shot as a part of standard immunizations given to babies... I think my kids got them  too... I remember later we would all get a polio booster which was a sugar cube with a drop of red medicine on it...  I only remember doing this about once when I was 5 and what I remember most was that my mom and dad went with us... I was so pleased to be there with my parents...  By the time my children was born the sugar cube boosters were no longer necessary as polio was pretty much unheard of in America... <>I hadn't thought of that in many years... my parents were divorced shortly after... Oh that was so painful.  The ever increasing divorce rate is also part of modern day life... and not a good part in my opinion...  <>  Frozen Foods  Nope... we didn't have TV dinners... and the only ready made ceral I remember was  Corn Flakes... and I don't remember that till I was like 5 or 6...  But I remember homemade innamon toast and oatmeal... and sometimes mama would throw in some raisins and cinnamon...   ooooh that was so good...  and she'd put bricks in the bottom of the stove to heat all day... then at night she'd wrap them in towels and put them under the covers at the foot of the bed for us to warm our feet by...  Xerox     No Xerox and no electric typewriters... I leaned to type on a manual typewriter when I was in  the 8th grade... I did get to start learning to use an electric typewriter in 10th grade...    Contact Lenses  Frisbees      There were no:     Credit Cards Even when my kids were young we didn't have credit cards... some people did... now everyone seems to have them... and many of us wish we didn't... Once Cara tried to explain to T'Ben that they didn't have the money for something he wanted right then... He told her rather impatiently... "yes you do... you just use this thing..." pulling a credit card from her purse...    Laser Beams   Ballpoint Pens   They came along when I was fairly young... I can't remember her name... I   think it may have been Peggy Fleming used to do an advertisement for Bic pens...   Man had not invented:     Pantyhose     Do people wear panty hose much anymore...   Air Conditioners We had water coolers and when it was really hot you'd run outside and soak the water cooler real good to get it to blow cooler air...  Kids nowdays wouldn't have a clue...   Dishwashers My mom had two dishwashers... One named Elissa... the other one David... Mama... I got a bone to pick with you... why didn't Johnny ever have to do dishes...  (Johnny was mama's change of life baby... born when I was 14... she spoiled him rotten... LOL)      Hey she had running water too... Elissa/David... run fetch me a pail of water... LOL    Clothes Dryers   We had an old wringer washer... The clothes were hung out to dry in the fresh air... I  remember hanging the clothes out when it was so cold my fingers hurt and the clothes were turning stiff with ice as they froze before I could get a clothes pin on both sides...     Man hadn't yet walked on the moon I remember all the news coverage of trips to the moon...  My husband Richard talks about how enthralled he and his friends were about these events...   The Apollo 11 mission was the first manned mission to land on the Moon. It was the fifth human spaceflight of the Apollo program and the third human voyage to the moon. Launched on July 16, 1969, it carried Commander Neil Alden Armstrong, Command Module Pilot Michael Collins and Lunar Module Pilot Edwin Eugene 'Buzz' Aldrin, Jr. On July 20, Armstrong and Aldrin became the first humans to land on the Moon, while Collins orbited above.      Your Grand mother and I got married first, . and then lived together.     Every family had a father and a mother.      Until I was 25, I called every man older than me, 'Sir'. And after I turned 25, I still called    policemen and every man with a title, 'Sir.' I know my husband told our kids that manners are sometimes so very important... that people  will remember long after they've forgotten most everything about you how well mannered you were or you weren't...   We were before gay-rights, computer-dating, dual careers, daycare centers, and group   <>  therapy.   Our lives were governed by the Ten Commandments, good judgment, and common sense.   We were taught to know the difference between right and wrong and to stand up and take    responsibility for our actions.   Serving your country was a privilege; living in this country was a bigger privilege.   We thought fast food was what people ate during Lent.     Having a meaningful relationship meant getting along with your cousins.     Draft dodgers were people who closed their front doors when the evening breeze started.   Time-sharing meant time the family spent together in the evenings and weekends-not <><><>  purchasing condominiums.   We never heard of FM radios, tape decks, CDs, yogurt, or guys wearing earrings.     We listened to the Big Bands, Jack Benny, and the President's speeches on our radios.   And I don't ever remember any kid blowing his brains out listening to Tommy Dorsey.   If you saw anything with 'Made in Japan ' on it, it was junk     The term 'making out' referred to how you did on your school exam.     Pizza Hut, McDonald's, and instant coffee were unheard of.     We had 5&10 cent stores where you could actually buy things for 5 and 10 cents.   Ice-cream cones, phone calls, rides on a streetcar, and a Pepsi were all a nickel.   And if you didn't want to splurge, you could spend your nickel on enough stamps to mail 1   letter and 2 postcards.     You could buy a new Chevy Coupe for $600, . . but who could afford one?   Too bad, because gas was 11 cents a gallon.     In my day:     'grass' was mowed,   'coke' was a cold drink,   'pot' was something your mother cooked in and   'rock music' was your grandmother's lullaby.   'Aids' were helpers in the Principal's office,   'chip' meant a piece of wood,   'hardware' was found in a hardware store and  'software' wasn't even a word.     And we were the last generation to actually believe that a lady needed a husband to have a    baby. No wonder people call us 'old and confused'   so they say there is a generation gap... and how old do you think I am?   I bet you have this old man in mind...you are in for a shock!     Read on to see -- pretty scary if you think about it and pretty sad at   the same time.     Are you ready ?????     This man would be only 59 years old<><><><>