From Judy Regnier...I spent weeks at a time on the farm in McLean with my grandparents and learned how to get eggs from UNDER the old hens(NOT SO EASY - I got pecked)! Or how to milk a cow - now that was not as easy as it looked, either. And I liked to listen to the Whippoorwill (a bird) calling in the trees. My family did a lot of canning, and that cellar in McLean was always full of vegetables & canned fruit!
I remember when we went on those vacations on the "hard road" (as opposed to the county roads, which were usually gravel), my grandmother packed a real basket lunch, with fried chicken, bread & butter sandwiches, a Mason jar of cold water wrapped in newspaper to keep it cold - which it did! There was always a soapy washcloth to wash our hands & face, and it felt so good on those 90 degree-plus days! I remember playing at dusk in our neighborhood - Kick the Can was my favorite, stalling to go home until as late as possible in those summer months.
And none of our parents ever worried about us until after dark, then only that we were getting bitten by mosquitoes!
From Janet Streenz...I was never forced to gather the eggs when I visited my grandparents on the farm, but I remember Grandma do it. I also remember watching Grandpa cut off the heads of the chickens they were going to dress and sell, and the chickens would flop all over the barnyard AFTER their heads were cut off!
Do you remember penny candy? My dad sold it in his store. I even remember seeing antique cars on the road that people actually drove. We call them "jalopies".
From Jim Stahly...Boy you guys ARE old! How about real honest-to-goodness fireworks that we could set off on July 4th...salt shakers from Steak-N-Shake...swimming in the lake at State Farm Park, if you were lucky enough to know someone who could get you in...pizza at Casella's Thursday after choir, Friday after games, Saturday for dates, Sunday after MYF...stiff rolled up Levi's to start the school year...seeing your footbones in the X-ray at Rodger's Shoe Store...getting drink glasses out of laundry soap boxes.
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