Gas Prices Getting You Down?

On a trip to Amish country, I spotted this old gas pump in a display. You may not be able to read the price per gallon, but it was 19 cents!






I wonder if the folks who paid that, way-back-when, complained about the outrageous price of gas?

The Things You'll See @ LOLmart

I stopped at Largest-retailer-in-the-world-mart today to pick up some mouthwash for my MIL. While perusing the selections, I came across this beauty:

Yes, You are seeing correctly. That is liquid Dial soap sitting among the mouth rinses. The first thing I thought was "Is this for kids who need their mouths washed out?" It obviously is an item that someone no longer wanted in their cart, but I laughed at the irony of it's placement.

Next, Over at electronics, was this great pic:

I always glance through the $5 movies in the bin. While I was there, two teen age Amish girls start rummaging through the bin, picking out certain movies. I could have gotten a MUCH better shot, but I was considerate toward their dislike of having their faces photographed. As I stepped away, they moved to where I was, and I snapped this shot from behind.

You see many funny things at this store. Someone should create a website to catalog all the...What's that?...Someone already has? Oh, Okay.

Flashback Friday # 125

Grandma's Curio Cabinet

A cheery hello on this dreary Winter's day. Welcome back to another edition of Flashback Friday. Today we visit a place that provided me many hours of entertainment, Grandma's curio cabinet.

My paternal grandmother (the one that lived in Westerville) had a penchant for collecting small figurines, miniature spoon & cocktail forks and salt & pepper shakers. All of her pretties were displayed in and old secretary/curio cabinet that looked much like the one below that I saw in Amish country.

The only difference between this and the one she had is hers had a large crack in the glass of the door. It ran from near the lock all the way across to just below the bottom shelf. This crack was covered over by masking tape that had grown yellow & brittle. Touch that tape and you would get cracked.

The neat thing about this cabinet is that grandma let the grand kids play with the contents inside. We were allowed to play with anything in there, as long as we put them back after we had finished playing with it. You would not believe the adventures we had with salt & pepper shakers. Look at the pictures below and tell me that you couldn't have fun with these:

Sir Gattabout & I would have epic battles with giant chickens, flying swordfish, skunks, and funny looking people. One of my favorite sets was two older men. The salt wore a white shirt, was bald, had his hands in his side pockets and was smoking a cigar. The pepper wore a red shirt, had a fringe of gray hair, wore a derby, had his hands in his back packets and also smoked a cigar. Another favorite set consisted of a longhorn that had purple, yellow, pink & green hues. That was the sugar bowl. From the horns hung two smaller longhorns who's horns came together to make a loop. These were the salt & pepper. They were similarly colored.

Also in the cabinet was a small box containing marbles. I had fun looking at them and rolling them down some Hot Wheels track that was there. My Great-Uncle Charles (he of Flashback Friday #113) taught me how to shoot & play marbles. He wasn't too keen about kneeling on the sidewalk, but there was a spot indoors where he could kneel on the carpet and shoot onto a spot on the wood floor. We couldn't draw a chalk circle on the wood floor, so he took some white thread and made a circle to place the marbles in. He always beat me.

There were some old books in there too. The one I remember most was titled "Behind the Red Curtain". The cover of the book said it was shocking and risque. When you opened the book, there was a red piece of cloth. When you lifted it up, there was a bias relief picture (that's raised, for those who didn't know) of a little boy sitting on a chamber pot.

Alas, when Grandma passed, in order to quickly settle her estate, the contents of the house was sold to an antique deal at a ridiculously low price.

My Past...With a Price Tag

Lady Nottaguy-TYG and I ran off to Amish country for our anniversary. While there, we wandered through a very large antique store. Looking through the stuff there kindled some smoldering memories of thing that I had or loved ones had (and no, I am not an antique person, thankyouverymuch.)

The first thing I saw that sparked a memory was a hoppity hop. I never owned one of these, but the neighbors did. For those of you who don't know what those were, they were a large rubber ball with a handle on top. You sit on it and bounce across the yard. The powers that be must have deemed them unsafe because I haven't seen one in years. I took a picture of it, but probably hit erase instead of save.

Another thing I saw, but can't find a picture of either, is the Radio Flyer spring horse. You could keep a child entertained for hours with one of these. It was a large plastic horse suspended from a base by four springs. It must have been deemed unsafe too. Why is it that everything that is fun is also unsafe?

Next, we have the gun that I whacked Sir Gattabout upside the head with in Flashback Friday #1. This may or may not be the actual weapon, but it is exactly like the one I used.

A little further on, I spotted some glass flower frogs. There were used to support flowers at the bottom of a vase. I never saw them used for that purpose. Grandma & Grandpa used them as paperweights & pen holders on their desk. they also used an eight cylinder distributor cap as a pen/pencil holder.
A ways further down, I came across some metal lunchboxes. I never had any of these particular boxes, but I got a new one every year throughout elementary school.

Next we have marbles. Who didn't have marbles? More on marbles in tomorrow's Flashback Friday post. There were two quart jars of marbles in this particular booth. I bought one of them. I told the cashier that I had lost my marbles and my wife was buying replacements.
Finally, we have Frostie Root Beer. That was huge when I was but a tot. My kin liked for me to sing the Frostie Root Beer jingle when I was four or five. I don't even remember how it went. I thought they had stopped making it a long time ago. Apparently not.

Winter... GO AWAY!!!!!

What's up with this? Friday it was in the 50's and sunshiney. Today we get sleet/freezing rain/snow (lots of it). I'll tell you what, I'm getting tired of shovelling all this global warming.

Flashback Friday # 124

Goodbye Stereo

A warm welcome to all who have stumbled upon my ramblings.

Did you ever have something that you assumed would be yours, only to have it taken away? In this post we will examine the heartbreak of a teenager without a stereo. That's like a teen today without a cell phone.

When Sir Gattabout enrolled in the US Army, He left many of his possessions behind. Through basic training at Fort Leonard Wood, MO. and Jump School at Fort Benning,GA., I took possession of his belongings that he didn't take with him. I figured "If he wanted them, he would have taken them with him." Sounded logical to me. Then we got "the letter".

He wrote us saying that he was heading to his permanent base at Fort Bragg, NC. He wanted us to come and visit him there, and bring some of his stuff. His stuff??? Possession is 9/10th of the law. That was my stuff now. Or so I thought.

He wanted some of his civilian clothes (which I didn't care about, since it didn't fit me) and his stereo and records. Noooo!!!! If we took his stereo to him, I would have to use the behemoth console record player downstairs. No more isolating myself in my room to listen to tunes.If he took his records, it would leave me with only a handful that I could legitimately call my own.

I tried to reason with Mom, but she wasn't buying it. So I had to pack up Gattabout's record albums so we could take them down to him. Goodbye Deep Purple. Goodbye Pink Floyd. Goodbye Steve Miller. Goodbye Three Dog Night. I even packed up the 45's that were his.

The stereo was a classic from the 70's. It had an avocado green plastic base that folded up to look similar to a suitcase. It had a record player and an 8-track deck. (yes I packed up all his 8-tracks too).

We loaded up the car and made the long trek from central Ohio to Fayettville, NC. According to Yahoo Maps, it is a trip of over 550 miles taking 9 1/2 hours. When we got there, we were glad to see him & he was glad to see us. I helped take his stuff into his barracks.

A few weeks after we got home, he gave us a call, just to talk. When it was my turn to talk to him, I asked if he was enjoying listening to his records again. He said he loved playing the albums, but didn't care for the 45's. In fact he gave them away! I knew I shouldn't have packed them. Oh well.

Woo Hoo! Two Days In a Row

This picture, that I captioned, made Front page today on I Has A Hotdog.

This is the 8th picture that I've submitted that made the front page on a Cheezburger Network site. (2 on I Has A Hotdog, 1 on Historic LOLs, 2 on Tots & Giggles, and 3 on Pundit Kitchen.) I get pumped every time it happens. I have my fingers crossed for a couple of others.



This just in. 9 pictures. Make that 4 times on Pundit Kitchen. This picture of mine made front page today.