My Grandmother found a use for everything from eggtrays to chicken bones. When I look back at the summers I stayed with her and gramps in the mid '50s I get so amazed at her frugile ability to reuse anything. Now adays we're trying to teach people recycle things to do our part. This Email I got brought her back to my mind.


In the line at the store, the cashier told an older woman that plastic

bags weren’t good for the environment. The woman apologized to her and

explained, “We didn’t have the green thing back in my day.”

That’s right, they didn’t have the green thing in her day. Back then,

they returned their milk bottles, Coke bottles and beer bottles to the store.

The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and

refilled, using the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled. But

they didn’t have the green thing back her day.

 

In her day, they walked up stairs, because they didn’t have an escalator

in every store and office building. They walked to the grocery store and

didn’t climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time they had to go two

blocks. But she’s right. They didn’t have the green thing in her day.

Back then, they washed the baby’s diapers because they didn’t have the

throw-away kind. They dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling

machine burning up 220 volts – wind and solar power really did dry the

clothes. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters,

not always brand-new clothing. But that old lady is right, they didn’t have

the green thing back in her day.

 

Back then, they had one TV, or radio, in the house – not a TV in every

room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a pizza dish, not a

screen
the size of the state of Montana. In the kitchen, they blended and

stirred by hand because they didn’t have electric machines to do everything for

you. When they packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, they used wadded

up newspaper to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.

Back then, they didn’t fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut

the lawn. They used a push mower that ran on human power. They exercised by

working so they didn’t need to go to a health club to run on treadmills

that operate on electricity. But she’s right, they didn’t have the green thing

back then.

 

They drank from a fountain when they were thirsty, instead of using a cup

or a plastic bottle every time they had a drink of water. They refilled

Pens with ink, instead of buying a new pen, and they replaced the razor blades

in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade

got dull. But they didn’t have the green thing back then.

 

Back then, people took the streetcar and kids rode their bikes to school

or rode the school bus, instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi

service. They had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of

sockets to power a dozen appliances. And they didn’t need a computerized

Gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in

space in order to find the nearest pizza joint.

 

But that old lady is right. They didn't have the green thing back in her day.

machineman9 wrote on May 17^th, 2011 at 7:52pm:


Oh she used the old envelopes to keep old recipes in, and she collected stamps.  When she was writing notes, when she got to the bottom of the paper she would turn the paper sideways and continue on. 

Webb wrote on May 19^th, 2011 at 9:30pm:

Skunkworks wrote on May 19^th, 2011 at 11:14am:



I got to carve my own pumpkin for halloween and the next day after she would make a pie from scratch from the remnants.  And bless your mom for getting to 93, mine is 87 and still worries about me! 

Hi Steve...

Will try to keep with an aviation theme on this...

Paper, mail and recycling...okay think I got it now...

When I was flying scheduled roots we would land at many old war time strips and on the ice with wheel/skis on the DC3.  Many landings at night on the ice sometimes just by moonlight, no flare pots and having flown and been on duty almost a whole day or better.

Sometimes it made for tired grumpy crews...

However before the props stopped windmilling the Innuit/Inuit people would be at the rear of the DC3 reading the air mail.
You see the control surfaces on the DC3 were fabric and they would write their messages in soapstone on the rear elevator or parts of the rudder and no stamp required.

At the next stop they would simply wipe it off and rewrite a message or two.

Talk about being recyclable....

Innuit:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inuit

Soapstone:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soapstone

I guess that is keeping with aviation and a little on topic...