Early Trucks

Until around 1900, men had to move cargo and other heavy items by animal or train power. Then............came the internal compustion engine that ran on gasoline. Man's world changed in a flash. Now you could haul logs, grain, farm produce, and just about anything else for short or long distances. The early engines were four, six, and eight cylinders......take your pick. There were pick-up trucks, log trucks, flatbed turcks..........trucks, trucks, trucks. WOW! The photo shows an oldie but goodie. Shes rusty now, but in her day, she was a dandy.

Sing It Man!!

Wrens are a long way from being the biggest bird in the flock. However, when it comes to belting out a song.........they can certainly do it. The one in the photo is certaily enjoying singing to the Lord. A wrens lung capacity can't be very big, but what a voice. They are friendly little critters. If you sit still long enough they will come right to you. They are very domestic and love to build their nests around houses, garages, patios, hanging flower baskets, etc. You find them everywhere. They eat a variety of foods. Just put out a bird feeder and you'll find them among the variety of birds that frequent the feeder.

The Last Kiss

As people age, they become less capable of taking care of themselves. As time passes, they cannot dress themselves, feed themselves, keep house, or do the personal things that healthy people do. When that time comes........they usually end up in a nursing home. The couple in the photo have been married 70 years. They had lived in the same nursing home for three years. Now, one of them is waiting to be taken to a "special needs" care home. This will split them up for the first time in their lives. They share one last kiss before this sad event takes place.

Huckelberries

What's that you say??? What's the difference in a huckelberry and a blue berry?? Well according to the dictionary, a huckelberry is: "any genus of the heath family bearing dark-blue berries......loosley a blueberry". So there you have it.......a huckelberry and a blue berry are one and the same. In Louisiana, the woods are filled with wild huckelberrys. They produce fruit like crazy and the birds, squirrels, and boys love them. In the fall the leaves turn a real pretty red and add so much to the beauty of the landscape. Yep, the huckelberry is a cherished memeber of our native forests.

Womens Handwork

Way back when, women took great pride in their "handwork". There was tatt'n, sewing, embrodery, quilting, needlepoint, etc. Some were extremely good at it, and some were, well........let's don't go there. They often used scripture verses as their subjects like the one in the photo. All of this good stuff made a womans home a place of pride, comfort, and beauty. Sometimes the work was given as gifts. Sometimes it was used for decoration. Sometimes it was used for some functional purpose. All in all, it was much appreciated by all who viewed it.

Christmas Decorations For The Old Cabin

Christmas was the time to acknowledge the birth of Jesus with special decorations for your home............a log cabin, a cottage, a lap-board house, or a mansion. This old home looks great with a simple wreath of pine and ribbon. It's the thought that God became a man and lived among us for a season. Now we remember this great event in special ways. As God decorates our lives, we decorate our homes and buildings.

Decorating The Big House For Christmas

Christmas was a BIG DEAL at the Big House. Everything was bigger and better for everyone. Crops had been gathered, so field work was done for the year. Christmas was a time for celebrating life with fun, food, and fellowship. Local evergreens were strung together to bring out the festive nature of the season. Red bows were put here and there, and special arrangements were found inside and outside the house. Food was prepared in great proportions. Everyone ate a "balanced diet"......they had a cookie in each hand.......hahahahaha..They celebrated the birth of Christ....the Savior of the world.

Bells

Throughout history BELLS have been used to alert people to life-changing events. Deaths, births, fires, invasions, victories, etc. The sound of the bell magnified people's emotions to the extreme - from agony to ecstacy. In early times churches had a bell in their belfry. It rang every Sunday morning to announce, "it's time to gather to worship". Wives rang the bell to summons field workers home for dinner. Plantation owners rang the bell to alert workers that it was "quitting time". No matter what the ocdasion.......when you heard a bell ring......you listened!!

Will This Be A Boy Or Girl ?

Today, expectant mothers can determine the gender of their child by super new technology. Wasn't so back in early times. However, there were women with "the gift" of telling the gender by one of two methods. Those methods were:

Method One: The gifted woman would rub her hand over the tummy of the pregnant woman for a few strokes. When prompted.....she would speak forth the gender of the child.

Method Two: The gifted woman would tread a needle in a piece of tread about two feet long. Then she would allow the needle to hang in front of the expectant mothers tummy. Withing seconds, the needle would begin swinging in a circle without the aid of the gifted woman. If the needle swung to the left the child was a boy. If it swung to the right, the child was a girl.

It has been said that both of these methods were 98 percent correct.

So much for modern technology, huh?

Twelve Inch Wide Pine Board Flooring

The use of wood as flooring in homes and stores seems to come and go. However, back in old times, the use of wood as flooring was the accepted thing. The wider the board, the fewer you needed to finish the job. Boards 12 inches wide were common back then because logs were hugh. Virgin pine was used in most cases because it was a very tough, durable, and attractive. One it was down..............it would last a lifetime. What few wood floors you see today are oak and very narrow strips. Usually about 3 inches wide or less. To see old 12 inch pine floors you best go to an old historic home, building, or country store.

Apple Boxes

Back in the 1940's and 50's apples came in wooden boxes like the ones you see in the photo. After the apples were removed, the boxes could be used for all sorts of useful things like: a table to put your checkers game on, sawn up to use for building bird houses, Bible school projects, and lots of other stuff. The wood was usually cottonwood because it was colorless, odorless, and tastless. It was easy to saw and easy to drill. The apples were placed in blue cardboard like slots. Why blue???? If you know, tell me......Maybe the purpose of the cartons was to keep the apples from touching each other and spoiling, maybe not. Anyhow, that the way it was back then.

Froe

The tool that you see in the picture is a froe. It had several uses but was utilized mostly for making wood shingles for roofing homes and other farm related buildings. People made shingles out most any type of wood that would split readily. In the South, pine was used most of the time. Other woods that split well were oak and cedar. It took a bunch of shingles to have enough to roof a house. A person splitting wood for shingles also needed a wooden mallet to strike the frow and drive it thourgh the wood. When the froe was about one-third through the wood piece, the shingle usually split from the wood block and fell to the ground........man, only a million to go!

Ole Country Stores

The country store was much more than a place to buy goods. It was often a feed store, drug store, clothing store, shoe store, gasoline station, post office, grocery story, notions and fabric store, and lots more. If they didn't have it.......you probably didn't need it. It was also the place for men to gather and play checkers, cards, and dominoes. They also swapped stories (lies) about all the squirrels, ducks, doves, quail, deer, coons, possums, turkeys, and geese that they had killed recently. Gossip was spewed forth about as often solid truth. It was also the "politicing" place. New of who had a new baby, who was court'n who, who was sick, and who had an accident was spread at this CNN of the local area.

Console Television

Television came to America as a product of World War II technology. By 1960 just about everybody had some sort of television in their home. Some had a 12 black and white portable one with rabbit ears for an antenna. Others had a "big" t.v. with a 16 inch screen. Then come along color t.v. where the set was put in a console to make it look more like a piece of furniture. Man that was really "up town". There was even an outside antenna. Some of the shows back then included: I Love Lucy, Ford Theatre, Loretta Young Theatre, Ed Sullivan's Variety Show, and Bonanza. WOW!!

Pump Organ

This unusual and unique instrument was the forerunner of todays modern organs. These pump organs were in vogue back in the 1800's and on into the mid-1900's. The organ was operated by one person who used their hands and feet to get the desired sounds out of this sometimes tempermental instrument. Back in the Wagon Train day to California, it is said that you could find a pump organ about every mile of the way after you left Nebraska. People kept trying to lighten the load on their draft animals so they could travel lighter and faster. Tools and food were considered essentials..............entertainment stuff was expendable.

Grand Entry To The Dining Room

If you got invited to dine in the Big House, just the grand entry itself was enough to knock your socks off. Millwork, spacious double doors, the size of the room, the elegant furniture, the fine china, the rare silverware, my oh my.............it's what they called "putt'n on the dog". The table would be decorated with flowers and evergreens, candles at night, and food too good to describe. Yes sir, it was something special.

Forerunner Of The Lazy Boy Chair

The chair in the picture was made for people whe were getting over an illness or injury, or a person who was too feeble to sit in a conventional chair. They were kind of a novelty back in early years because very, very, few people had one. In fact most of them were hand made on the place for a family member. The chair would lean back and help you adjust your feet. Just like an early prototype of todays Lazy Boy recliner. Who says recliners are a new idea...........hahahaha!

Overnight Pot

The idea of indoor plumbing was just a pipe dream back in yesteryear. During the day people used the "outhouse" for personal disposal, at night they used the overnight pot (see photo). Most overnight pots were not as fancy as the one in the picture, but most anything would serve the purpose. It saved you from visiting the outhouse at night. This luxury was appreciated even more when the weather was rainy, cold, windy, or in icy conditions.

When morning came, it usually fell the job of one of the kids to "carry out the pot". It was a nasty, thankless, debasing job........uck!!!

Travel Trunks

People didn't travel very far back in early times. Couldn't afford it........didn't like it because it was slow and uncomfortable......and it was dangerous. Guess that made sense. A few people however, did travel for business far and wide, just like today. Luggage back then was mostly the "travel trunk" (see photo). Built like a Sherman tank, it could take a knock'n and keep on rock'n. Why not....it was made of metal and built to last a lifetime. Heavy......man you don't know what heavy is!!!
You could put nine years worth of clothing in it, or a half a bale of cotton. It had some room and then some.

Unique Bedside Lamp

Yep! That's a unique bedside lamp alright. Actually, it was first a coaloil lamp that was lite with a match like any other coaloil lamp. It's just that this one is a very fancy one. People liked to read in bed back then just as we do today. They also needed some light for doing various things in the bedroom before and after they went to bed. When electricity came along, this lamp was converted to an electricity lamp. Still mighty fancy. Don't see many like this one around anymore.

Bedside Baby Bed

Babies need so much attention. Early time people helped solve a bit of the problem by crafting a bedside baby bed. That got the baby out of the main bed, but as close by as possible. The beds were simple to make from a few pieces of wood and string or wire. They lasted for years, so it was a hand-me-down item as new children were born into the family. Back then, the nanny slept underneath the Big House in a private quarter just for her. If she was needed during the night, a stomp on the floor by the mother or dad gave the signal that the nanny was wanted in the bedroom to take care of the baby. Up she came and she knew what to do. Babies soon learned to rely on the nanny as much as the mother because they spent so much time with them.

What A Beauty

This type of pitcher and bowl (see photo) was as common as chicken pox back in early times. Everybody had one or more. However, this pitcher and bowl are expensive ones imported from Europe. Mighty pretty. Makes you afraid to use 'em because you might drop one and what a mess that would be. They were fashionable but had a funtional use to. The pitcher held water to be poured into the bowl to was you hands, clean up messes that occured in the bedroom like baby.......well you know what that means. You can still find these babies in antique stores, museums, and historic sites.

Call Me Sometime

The telephone was a big step for mankind. You could talk to someone close or far away by simply picking up the receiver and making the call. Many of the first phones were set up in groups called a "party line". That meant that several families were on a line together. Each family had a signal as to which calls were for them or others on the party line. For instance, if your family phone rang two long rings and two short rings, that call was for you. If any other combination of rings came on the phone, the call was for someone else. To place a call, you called the operator and gave her the number that you wished to call, and she placed the call for you. The swithcboard operator "knew a lot of stuff" since she had to handle all the calls. There were not local secrets from her.