WAY BACK WHEN - - - -

[Gray Mule]

My pastor, who is younger than I, likes to say, "When dinasores roamed the earth."  Not that far back but when I was a young lad, what life was like here in the mountains.  Questions are invited.

Covid-19 shots reminds me.  When I was in school, the county health department nurse came.  Teacher would lead us to her.  We were given a shot.  No questions asked.  We just got the shot.  I remember smallpox.  We had a sore about the size of your little finger nail.  It left a scar, proving you had taken the shot.

 

[sturt]

I'll start.

What was it like growing up in your parents' home? Was it the stereotypical demanding dad, nurturing mom thing? What were your siblings like, if any? How different were you from them? What was a day-in-the-life like at the earliest age you remember? How did that routine change over time?

[Gray Mule]

My father raised four children, three boys and an older girl.  His first wife died and he married my mom.  My sister had a daughter 1 year older than me.  I was born an uncle.  My youngest brother, 18 years older than I, was killed in WW2 in the invasion of North Africa.  Foot soldier under Patton.

I really grew up as an only child.  Mom only had me and all the rest of the kids had moved away.  

I began school and WW2 had already begun.  We were 3 miles from school.  Sometimes the old bus made it and sometimes it didn't.  Where ever it quit, we walked from there to school or to home, depending on whether it was morning or afternoon.  After the war, county purchased used busses from somewhere out in the state where that school system got the new busses.  The old, pre WW2 busses had no heater at all and they sure were cold in winter when the temp. was in single numbers!  Bus made three trips.  I rode the first trip in the morning and third trip in the afternoon.

Classrooms had a pot belly coal stove.  We only had a wood burning fire place at home.  Sometimes, in the middle of winter, we arrived at school and had to wait outside until the school custodian came and opened the classroom and started the fire.

Those were the good old days !!

[macdaddy]

Wow!  That's great stuff.   Born an uncle is pretty great.  

Yes i have a lot of questions.   You are a bit younger than my dad who passed last year at 91 and you came up in similar times but he grew up in the city of Atlanta so it was a different upbringing.  

But before i ask more old time questions I am curious how you became interested in the NBA.   My parents were huge sports fans but wouldn't watch an NBA game.  They'd watch pretty much everything else. 

[Gray Mule]

Family got our first TV in 1952. A 17" Black & White Crosley.  Big outside antenna.  Being a big sports fan, no other sport available when basketball was being played, watch basketball or do without, so I watched.  

[Jdawgflow]

How old were you when you had your first job?  My Papaw was one of eleven and got his first job running a paper route when under 10yo (can’t remember the exact age).

[Gray Mule]

Being raised on a farm my first job was assisting with whatever I was old enough to do.  No, I didn't get paid for what I was doing.  Helping the family to make a living was pay enough.

Feed and water the chickens.  Gather the eggs.  Help haul in the loose hay by packing it on the wagon when it was thrown up.  Picking ripe corn to feed the cattle and poultry.  Always something to do.  Both hay and corn hauled in a wagon pulled by two mules.  So was fire wood, both for heat and the cook stove.

[sturt]

Given what you've seen and what you see now, and the comparison/contrasts between how you've seen your community, this country, and the world evolve over the decades... what makes you excited/optimistic about what life may be like for the babies being born in 2021, and what makes you concerned/pessimistic?

[Gray Mule]

I have 3 small great grand children.  Children learn so much now.  Pre K, Kindergarten and then 1st grade.  When I started school it was 1st grade.  I had no idea what was going on.  

Grandson in 1st grade.  He can read.  He plays T ball and pee wee football.  His little sister, in pre K is already learning to read and spell.  And both know how to operate today's cell phones.

I'm excited about their future.  I worry too.  So much unrest in all the world.  Hatred of other races is one of the biggest issues.  Atlanta just had 8 murdered, mostly Asian.  Blacks hating white.  White hating blacks.  

Drugs - A major problem everywhere.  Seems that some think that they are good enough to die for and they do.  When I was growing up, pot was what mamma cooked the beans in.  White Lightning was the only thing available then.  Pure, liquid corn squeezen's.  No, I didn't drink then or now.

As the world population grows bigger and bigger, church life and the worship of God grows less and less.  This is my greatest worry about the future.

[sturt]

What advancement(s) do you think we most take for granted that we most shouldn't take for granted?

[HawkItus]

How have your views/political leanings changed(if they have) over your lifetime?

[JayBirdHawk]

What was your first job off the farm?

How did you end up a mail carrier?

[Gray Mule]

51 minutes ago, sturt said:

What advancement(s) do you think we most take for granted that we most shouldn't take for granted?

Electronics.  We all depend on them working all the time.  Remember, when the date rolled over to 2000 and so many believed that we would not be able to buy groceries because the scanners in the check out line would not work.  

The latest one:  Toilet paper sold out, over and over, because of covid-19.  I still don't understand that one.

[Gray Mule]

52 minutes ago, HawkItus said:

How have your views/political leanings changed(if they have) over your lifetime?

Not changed a lot.  

[Gray Mule]

46 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

What was your first job off the farm?

How did you end up a mail carrier?

Bought a grocery store.  Big mistake.  Lost money.  While I was doing that, became an insurance agent for 18years.  Took Postal exam while an insurance agent.  Sub rural carrier for 16 years before I got a regular route.  Broke my right hip 2 days before I was supposed to retire.  Stayed on 4 more months until I healed.  Stayed out one year, then went back to post  office for 7 more years as Postmaster relief in a small office, retired finally at age 70.

[sturt]

12 minutes ago, Gray Mule said:

Electronics.  We all depend on them working all the time.  Remember, when the date rolled over to 2000 and so many believed that we would not be able to buy groceries because the scanners in the check out line would not work.  

The latest one:  Toilet paper sold out, over and over, because of covid-19.  I still don't understand that one.

And... I have to ask this follow-up, sorry... hehe.... at what age or in what year do you think you remember seeing a roll of toilet paper for the first time... and what had been the previously preferred option before that... ?

 

 

[Spud2nique]

Just now, Gray Mule said:

post  office for 7 more years as Postmaster

Who was your favorite fictional mail carrier, Cliff from Cheers or Newman from Seinfeld?

 

[Gray Mule]

1 minute ago, sturt said:

And... I have to ask this follow-up, sorry... hehe.... at what age or in what year do you think you remember seeing a roll of toilet paper for the first time... and what had been the previously preferred option before that... ?

 

 

Growing up, we had an outhouse.  Usually had toilet paper.  If not, an old newspaper or Sears Roebuck catalog would do.

[JayBirdHawk]

Did you enjoy your high school years? What was your favorite subject?  

What was the make, model and year of your first car and did you buy it yourself?

[Gray Mule]

2 minutes ago, Spud2nique said:

Who was your favorite fictional mail carrier, Cliff from Cheers or Newman from Seinfeld?

 

Neither one.  I didn't watch their shows.