Things Looked Better In Black And White

[Robin1]

Black and White

(Under age 40? You won't understand.)

You could hardly see for all the snow,

Spread the rabbit ears as far as they go.

Pull a chair up to the TV set,

"Good Night, David. Good Night, Chet."

Depending on the channel you tuned,

You got Rob and Laura - or Ward and June.

It felt so good. It felt so right.

Life looked better in black and white.

I Love Lucy, The Real McCoys,

Dennis the Menace, the Cleaver boys,

Rawhide, Gunsmoke, Wagon Train,

Superman, Jimmy and Lois Lane.

Father Knows Best, Patty Duke,

Rin Tin Tin and Lassie too,

Donna Reed on Thursday night! --

Life looked better in black and white.

I wanna go back to black and white.

Everything always turned out right.

Simple people, simple lives...

Good guys always won the fights.

Now nothing is the way it seems,

In living color on the! TV screen.

Too many murders, too many fights,

I wanna go back to black and white.

In God they trusted, alone in bed, they slept,

A promise made was a promise kept.

They never cussed or broke their vows.

They'd never make the network now.

But if I could, I'd rather be

In a TV town in '53.

It felt so good. It felt so right.

Life looked better in black and white.

I'd trade all the channels on the satellite,

If I could just turn back the clock tonight

To when everybody knew wrong from right.

Life was better in black and white!

Another Goody For The Old timers

My Mom used to cut chicken, chop eggs and spread mayo on the same cutting board with the same knife and no bleach, but we didn't seem to

get food poisoning.

My Mom used to defrost hamburger on the counter AND I used to eat it raw sometimes, too. Our school sandwiches were wrapped in wax paper in a brown paper bag, not in ice pack coolers, but I can't remember getting e.coli.

Almost all of us would have rather gone swimming in the lake instead of a pristine pool (talk about boring), no beach closures then.

The term cell phone would have conjured up a phone in a jail cell, and a pager was the school PA system.

We all took gym, not PE... and risked permanent injury with a pair of high top Ked's (only worn in gym)

instead of having cross-training athletic shoes with air cushion soles and built in light reflectors. I can't recall any injuries but they must have happened because they tell us how much safer we are now..

Flunking gym was not an option... even for stupid kids! I guess PE must be much harder than gym.

Speaking of school, we all said prayers and sang the national anthem, and staying in detention after school caught all sorts of negative attention.

We must have had horribly damaged psyches. What an archaic health system we had then. Remember school nurses? Ours wore a hat and everything.

I thought that I was supposed to accomplish something before I was allowed to be proud of myself.

I just can't recall how bored we were without computers, Play Station, Nintendo, X-box or 270 digital TV cable stations.

Oh yeah..! . and where was the Benadryl and sterilization kit when I got that bee sting? I could have been killed!

We played 'king of the hill' on piles of gravel left on vacant construction sites, and when we got hurt, Mom pulled out the 48-cent bottle of Mercurochrome (kids liked it better because it didn't sting like iodine did) and then we got our butt spanked.

Now it's a trip to the emergency room, followed by a 10-day dose of a $49 bottle of antibiotics, and then Mom calls the attorney to sue the contractor for leaving a horribly vicious pile of gravel where it was such a threat.

We didn't act up at the neighbor's house either because if we did, we got our butt spanked there and then we got butt spanked again when we got home.

I recall Donny Reynolds from next door coming over and doing his tricks on the front stoop, just before he fell off. Little did his Mom know that she could have owned our house. Instead, she picked him up and swatted him for being such a goof. It was a neighborhood run amuck.

To top it off, not a single person I knew had ever been told that they were from a dysfunctional family. How could we possibly have known that?

We needed to get into group therapy and anger management classes? We were obviously so duped by so many societal ills, that we didn't even notice that the entire country wasn't taking Prozac! How did we ever survive?

LOVE TO ALL OF US WHO SHARED THIS ERA, AND TO ALL WHO DIDN'T- SORRY FOR WHAT YOU MISSED. I WOULDN'T TRADE IT FOR ANYTHING

 

[sharon]

:aktion033: :aktion033: :aktion033: Bravo!!!!!

I don't think there is one thing mentioned here that I do NOT remember!!! Yes.....life was way simpler back then. I still love to watch the old reruns. but kids in this day and age sure don't get those old show with real values!!!

 

[OhHorsePee]

Honey Ron and I was just talking last night about the differences in kids now and when we were their age. It's a shame that they will never know that innocence and safety that we felt in the day. How rare it was to hear of someone getting shot and now it is at least once a day you hear about it. It's scarey to think of what life will be like in twenty years from now. Will it come to a point where you are sued by your neighbors for putting up a Christmas tree because it offends them? One never knows.

Fran

 

[CKC]

I'm under 40(will be 37 very shortly) and I remember!

I was just saying the other day there will never be another generation like ours and the ones before us. I liked the simple life! I can remember going to my grandparents for the weekends for fun on there working farm. We spent time feeding the animals, gathering eggs, working(and eating) in the 100 row garden, spending time at the river playing and fishing........ Being so excited when my grandad came home from work and being allowed to get one "sweet" from the old freezer. I can still smell that old freezer. They have since passed and so has the farm. A few cows are left that my uncle keeps, but it will never be the same. The land has gone from 100's of acres to 15. Even the old hay barn we would make forts in is no longer the same. Oh my- can you imagine.... we actually milked cows by hand. My son will never get to experience any of that and it makes me sad.

I do remember when Atari first came out when I was a teenager. We played pong(on a 13" black/white TV-my very first TV) for hours and hours and thought that was the greatest invention ever.

Fran made a good point.... safety..... the things we did and got away with and the feeling that no one was going to hurt us. We were alone most of the day and we went every where.I used to live in a small city. We even got on mopeds and would ride all day all over the city when I was 15. I can't even imagine letting my son out of my site.

Now people pull out a gun for anything.... never ever heard of road rage.... oh it just goes on and on.

I am so thankful for the memories.

 

[whiskeyranch]

I'm 38 and remember many of the "old" times. Like playing outside from morning till night, with nothing but trees, a yard a swing and a bike. Never wanting to come in. Going to my uncles and wandering the pastures until dark, playing in the hay barn for hours, and getting chased by the cows.

I also remember the great T.V. remote my parents had. ME!!!

 

[MBennettp]

It was safe for the neighborhood kids to all gather on their horses as soon as possible after getting home from school and riding miles before dark. Our parents didn't worry about us because they knew if there was an accident, all the neighbors knew us and they would be called and if anybody got into any mischief, they would be corrected and then the parents would be called.

The greatest privelege was the old couple that lived down the road allowing all of us to ride in their pasture. They knew we wouldn't practice rounding up their cows or ride the horses through their pond or we would get our butts spanked.

Our parents knew not to expect to see us from the time we got off the bus till dark. In the summer, it wasn't unusual for all of us to pack a lunch and stay gone all day. Our horses were in fantastic shape and so were we. There weren't any country kids that were overweight because we were always outside doing something.

We made our own toys, an old cable spool was a lot of fun we would have contests to see who could walk on it the farthest. No helmets, no knee or elbow pads, it is a wonder any of us survived.

The greatest problem we faced was a flat bike tire. Even rain didn't stop us, we would spend hours in the barn grooming our horses or seeing who could get the wettest.

I remember my mom scrubbing the grime off of us every night and our feet were so tough from going barefoot that gravel didn't even bother us.

We gathered in groups to haul hay or whatever other chores had to be done before we could go play, everybody chipped in and got the chores done.

I felt sorry for the city kids, I always thought that would be so boring.

Mary

 

[backwoodsnanny]

This was a great thread :aktion033: and yes Im definitely old enough to remember. I sometimes try to give my own grandkids some of the same memories if they dont get bored with it. IF you can tear them away from the TV and video game long enough. I think we all had less materially but abused I think not.

 

[Sue_C.]

VERY heavy sigh...

Summer days and weekends, I would jump on my horse first thing in the morning, and head down the road, coming home in the dark... Sometimes I'd take my baby brother, him sitting up in front of me...no saddle. And my parents didn't worry!!

Yes, I love to watch the oldies...nothing like thos old black and white movies.

 

[Cronewolf]

: Our local Tastee Freeze had a hitching post to park the horses, and a lot [most] of the boys were trading their cars for horses because thats where the girls were.

 

[Gini]

Thanks for the memories Robin1. :aktion033: :aktion033: I loved the black and white, being able to have your parents drop you off in the middle of town and not worrying. Going to Walgreens and sitting at the

soda counter with your friends. What we used to call pajama parties when the girls would sleep over

and call the boy's way into the nite. Robin, I remember all you mentioned and it was wonderful!!!

The kids now really don't know what their missing!

 

[minimule]

I remember all that. I also remember that the house I grew up in didn't even have a lock on the door. The house was old and only had the "skeleton key" hole. We never locked the cars either. No need to. I miss being able to jump on my horse and ride for hours without even seeing anybody, much less running into trouble. Now, the NIMBYs want you to pick up the horse manure after you ride.

:

 

[JO~*]

Yap it was good

: I watch TVLAND a lot but they are even starting to put in a lot of "newer" old shows

I used to ride my horse to the local hamburger place and be able to tie her up right next to the road a highway even and it was never busy. Now I wouldnt dream of even walking by the same spot.

 

[AppyLover2]

I've said at least a zillion times that I wouldn't trade growing up in the country for anything!!!

We were poor.....but I didn't know it.

My step-dad (God bless him) worked manual labor 10 hours a day, then came home, got the ax out and cleared brush until supper time. Mom and I would go along to the country store when it was time to buy chicken feed because we wanted to get matching feed sacks so she could make me a new dress.

We had some land and a few cows and chickens, a big garden with a cherry tree right in the middle of it. There were some wonderful places to play down in the woods with a beautiful little waterfall (more like a drip) when it rained. I spent literally hours there transplanting wild flowers. We had a huge lilac bush and a bridal wreath bush that I used to love to make bouquets from. I had my horse and life was GOOD!!

:

Anybody remember the "bread man" or the "milk man"?

Yep, it's true.....you definitely CAN'T take the country out of the girl!!!!!

:

Wow - thanks for the chance to reminisc.

 

[minisaremighty]

If only we COULD go back to black and white!

: :no:

This thread brought back many memories of my youth. I grew up in a small town, wandered all over the places, MILES from home, after dark even. Was home alone all the time (well except for my brother) during the summer, we had a blast! Never a care in the world and my parents didn't have to worry either. Times were sooooo different. Summer was the best!

I'm sorry that my children will never experience that (a big part of why we moved to acreage was so the kids could "wander" safely, albeit on our own property) and I am envious of my parents that they didn't have to go through all the worrying that I have to as a parent in today's society. "Progress" is not always for the better... :no:

 

[chandab]

I'm 38 and remember many of the "old" times. Like playing outside from morning till night, with nothing but trees, a yard a swing and a bike. Never wanting to come in.

I also remember the great T.V. remote my parents had. ME!!!

Wow, I could have wrote this word for word. Except, I'll be 36 this year. It's amazing how things have changed.

 

[whiskeyranch]

oh my gosh, the milk man. I had forgotten about that. We had a silver metal box that we kept on the porch and I swear I don't think I ever saw that milk man!!! He must have come early cause we didn't sleep past 6 at the latest back then!

 

[SunQuest]

I remember all of these things and I am only 38. I often feel the same way. I have taken to buying old movies to escape from the reality of this new technological age. I love the black and white movies and record them when I can. Of course a few color movies aren't that bad either, but they all have to be before 1970 for me to truly enjoy them.

And yep, I remember the whooping from the neighbor and praying that they wouldn't tell my parents. And on the neighbors farm there was an outhouse and it was used by all of us kids as well! And I remember walking to the post office and playing on the farmer's dirt road and the kids ice skating on his pond in the winter and running from the cows as we went to and from that farm. (While I didn't have ice skates, I remember watching the kids who did.)

And we didn't watch the weather reports or look online for what the weather was going to be. We just went outside and played all day and if the sky turned dark, then we came in. Laughs... I rememer one nasty storm that we were in and didn't make it back into the house by the time it hit. Needless to say it was close to "I don't think we are in Kansas any more!"

Yep, I long for the simple life.

 

[susanne]

I remember those days quite well...and I remember my parents and grandparents saying how things just weren't the same as when THEY were growing up.

It's the same with every generation. Change is always a mixed blessing. For example:

My great aunt, who like me was a type I Diabetic, died as a young child. This was before insulin (large generation gaps in our famioloy...this was in the early 1900s), and there was nothing her family could do but watch her die slowly...she gradually slept more and more until finally she didn't wake up. Because of modern medicine (and juvenile diabetes didn't hit me until I was in my 20s), I have lived to 47 and hopefully for many years to come.

Nostalgia is wonderful...fun and comforting, but another take on this poem is the Paul Simon song, "Kodachrome."

"Kodachrome...

Gives us those nice, bright colors

Gives us the greens of summer

Makes you think all the world is a sunny day"

In other words, we remember things much rosier than they ever were.

I love remembering all of these things, but don't ever kid yourself -- life was not perfect then. Kids did die of e coli -- it was just that nobody knew what killed 'em. There were plenty of child molesters, probably the same percentage of the population, it was just that nobody talked about it...and we lived further apart, so there was less chance of rubbing elbows with them.

The past was glorious, but so is the present, and the future will be better yet.

If you don't believe it is true, do you choose to bury your head in the sand and live in the past, or are you out there working to make the world a better place?

 

[luvmycritters]

What a great thread! I remember all of these things and so much more! I swear I lived on my white horse "Trina" from the time I was five untill about 14. I learned how to saddle, bridle and ride her all on my own. During those first day's I would have to catch her out in the pasture, tie her to a wooden fence, get some thing to stand on and then heeve ho that heavy saddle up on to her back. Bridling was another feet. ( I still have that saddle and bridle and STILL use them on my current horse. ) The first time I tried to ride her away from the barn, she reared. As we all know - kids have NO FEAR! I turned this into a trick and from that day on had the coolest white horse around. All I had to say was "up" and she would rear on comand. The other kids said she did wheelies.

: I would ride for hours and for miles and miles - five miles one way on any given day was nothing. One day we were riding home - I - plus two friends were on her back. It was pooring, lightening and thundering - we were at least three miles from home. But we made it home safe and sound. The farm I grew up on is still there, well the house is. The barn has long ago fallin along with the other builings and trees surround them now. Dad still lives there - all of the fields that I once rode in are gone. It is saburbia paradise now. Gone are the good ole days.

Lori

 

[Robin1]

When I was young I lived all year for spending the summers up in Wisconsin on the farm. There were 3 generations living in that house and could get really interesting at times. They had 120 acres with a lake, you didn't want to swim in it cause it had leaches. :new_shocked: I would ride all day, we would ride on the edge of someones pastures because you didn't want to hurt the crops and make the farmers mad. We would ride into town, 10 miles one way, so we could visit the A&W or Dairy Queen. I remember coming home from one of those trips to town and being hit by a hail storm. Naturally I was riding bareback, my cousin's horse was saddled and we noticed there were 3 different tornados that we could see.

No Suzanne, it was not perfect. There are always going to be problems but given the choice I would like to do "that" part again.

:

Today the farm is split in half and the front part, with the old farmhouse is sold. My uncle and Aunt live on the back half. If they want to go riding they now have to trailer the horses out. People from the city have built up all around and don't want horses anywhere near their property.

If you drive down the road on a tractor and leave any manure, you will be fined. :no: My relatives were told by the town council that,"the town was going to try and tax them out." You see, if the property is sold into 2 to 5 acre parcels with $500,000 homes built the town will get a lot more in taxes. :no: I can't tell you on here what my Uncle told them.

:

It breaks my heart to see all the old farms going by the way side. There is no more land being made, there won't be all day rides past farms where you know who lives there and they know you.

Robin