All About Pocket Knives

Here's an on-going slice of America that surely does give me some hope.

Doing it the same way and in the same place since 1937.

Fifth generation in training.

Dr. Pepper and peanuts break at 9:30 evey morning.

Blueprints drawn in the dirt floor with a welding rod.

But, they still have business.

Got to love it.

http://www.youtube.com/embed/BckZ4i1BzF ... r_embedded

Charlie Noyes

Great vid Charlie. It brings a tear to my eye.

I once knew a man who had been a blacksmith for the early Southern California citrus farmers. My my, the stories that man could tell.

Isn't that somethin'

Thanks for sharing bro!

Wow, I lived an almost parallel life to that when I was a teenager. My Grandpa was shop foreman, my dad was head mechanic and at 14 I was the grease monkey for a rock quarry maintenance shop. It was a full blown machine and welding shop. I only worked partime, evenings, saturdays and full hours during the summer, but we used to get 10 oz. returnable bottles of Dr. Pepper and bags of Tom's salted peanuts from 10 cent vending machines at every break except lunch. We'd take about 3 drinks from the bottle of Dr. Pepper and pour in the peanuts. I remember the pop being as cold as it could get without being frozen and the peanuts were saltier then any you'll find today.
Been a long time since i'd thought of those days, thanks for reminding me Charlie! They were good times and that's a great video!

WB

Did anybody notice the cooler the Dr. Peppers came out of? They were immersed in refridgerated water. Those old coolers kept drinks right at the freezing point. Ice cold, indeed, just like WhiteBuffalo remembers them from his boyhood.

I wish they had discussed that old pick-up.

Charlie

I did Charlie. There were a couple of gas stations down on main street that used those old coolers. We had a local ice dock that hauled in the ice for them. Man how great those sodas were in the middle of July while riding my paper route. You're really flushing out memories now, my friend. How many of you guys grew up with the milkman delivering that ice cold milk and dairy products?

WB

Milk and Green Spot Orange Juice, actually more of an orange ade.

We had an Italian family that owned a deli up the street from us. His name was Junior Campesi. He had a huge double length Coca-Cola cooler that held the water inside. In the summer, he would use one side for Cokes, the other he added more water and put watermelons in it. They were ice cold and we could buy them three for a dollar.

Never again.

Charlie

whitebuffalo58 wrote:I did Charlie. There were a couple of gas stations down on main street that used those old coolers. We had a local ice dock that hauled in the ice for them. Man how great those sodas were in the middle of July while riding my paper route. You're really flushing out memories now, my friend. How many of you guys grew up with the milkman delivering that ice cold milk and dairy products?

WB

I remember those days. My favorite drink back then was Kayo in bottles.

When I get my 30 years in with the City I'd volunteer to work at a place like that just for the knowledge and experience.

RobesonsRme.com wrote: the other he added more water and put watermelons in it. They were ice cold and we could buy them three for a dollar.

Never again.

Charlie

Sometime back in the early '70s, we were down visiting my granddad and Barefoot McGee came through town with a wagon load of watermelons. We bought Georgia Rattlesnakes three for a dollar and Black Diamonds for fifty cents apiece. How times have changed. Three or four years ago, a fruit stand in the old K-Mart parking lot wanted $20 for a watermelon.

Re: Milk delivery. Get it in the house quick in the winter time so it doesn't freeze and pop the pasteboard stopper out.

In the summer time, the cows would get into the green onions and the milk would taste like onions. I wouldn't eat onions for years because of that.

Re: Ice boxes (the real ones, not the refrigerator you called an ice box). Who's turn is it to empty the drip pan?

Peanuts with my ice cold Coca-Cola or sometimes orange soda (Nehi of course). The sodas came out of one of those chest type coolers where you slid the bottle down a track and over into the mechanism. Then after inserting your dime, you pulled up and the gates of wonderfulness opened up and you were left holding an ice cold bottle of bliss. The cap lifter was mounted on the side of the chest. Pop the cap and enjoy.

Those track soft drink coolers would take your dime sometimes. If your hand slipped off the bottle while you were lifting it out through the mechanism, the bottle would fall down, the mechanism would reset and you had to insert another dime to unlock it.

Back in the day, there would be a one or two inch layer of cream at the top of the milk bottle. You had to shake it up.

To this day, I shake a bottle of milk before removing the cap. I guess I just do not understand or trust the definition of "homogenized".

Is it just me or is it true that watermelons simply are no where near as big as they were when we were growing up?

Charlie

RobesonsRme.com wrote: Is it just me or is it true that watermelons simply are no where near as big as they were when we were growing up?

Charlie

That's true. When we were young, you could feed a family reunion on one watermelon. Nor are they anywhere near as flavorful, sweet and juicy.

Guys, I don't imagine that we're the first generations to believe that when talking about our childhoods, you could take nearly every descriptive word in the english dictionary and automatically add an "er" or "ier" to the end of it. And yep, watermelons WERE bigg"er", sweet"er" and juic"ier"!
If the family wasn't at the lake camping, you could pretty much bet there was a backyard "wienie roast" scheduled for almost every saturday night through the spring, summer and fall. The hotdogs they got from the local butcher shop were as big as bananas. Grandma's tater salad, mom's baked beans, aunt lou's coleslaw! Roasting marshmallows while the men pitched horseshoes, and after a full night of hide and seek and catching fireflys, we ended the night with a big ol' chunk of ice cold watermelon.
Yes sir, in those days everything was definetly "er" and "ier"!

WB

You hit it right on the head WB. Everything was 'er' and 'ier'.

And now and then, grandad would buy a block of ice. Us kids got the job of sitting on the back steps to that old house, taking turns, turning the crank, making home made ice cream. Is it any wonder I live in the past so much of the time?

..............all this is really bringing back memories, guys!!!!!, but, at my age(76), it gets harder to remember them!!!.............. .......................

Lovin' this thread, too!

WB

Great video Charlie. There are still a few shops like that around, but they are about gone.

WB, I figured you had a broad background in shop work, from some of the stuff I have seen you put out.
I am going to have to try adding peanuts to Dr. Pepper now....

Hey Bret, the credit for that, goes mostly to my grandpa. He always told me a story about his days during the depression, when the men would stand down on the town square and wait for the work trucks to show up looking for laborers. He said the mistake that alot of the men made was, if they were looking for a machine operator, most would stand there because they weren't one. He said he got through it because no matter what they were looking for, that's what he was. Whether it was a sacker at a grocery store, a lathe operator at machine shop or a backhoe operator digging ditches, he'd jump right up on the truck and go to work. He said he learned to do more things during the depression, then any other time in his life. He literally learned to be a "jack of all trades" as a result. I'm nowhere near as diverse as he was, but I did learn an awful lot from him.
As far as peanuts in your Dr. Pepper, watch out for the foam!!

WB

Those were the types of guys that you could stike a contract, on nothing more than a 'word' and a handshake.
I surely do miss those days. It makes me sad to look around and see what our society has evolved to.
I remember the Bordens milk man delivering to the house. If us kids were real lucky, Mom would buy us a
jug of chocolate milk too! That didn't happen too often though. We also had bread delivery. The Omar bread company.
It's kinda funny that I can remember things from 50+ years ago, but I can't remember what I had for supper last night.

carrmillus wrote:..............all this is really bringing back memories, guys!!!!!, but, at my age(76), it gets harder to remember them!!!.............. .......................

Those are the only things I DO remember!
The things I forget are; what did my wife want me to get now that I am at the store?
Or did I eat breakfast? Or remembering to take my pills(esp the memory pills)!

Great video!

We didn't have a milk man, we had a milk cow. It was usually my job to milk her.
If the milk sat for 24 hours, there was a quart of cream on a gallon jar of milk!

My grandad used to say he could read the milk cow's mind during the winter months. He said she was thinking, "There comes old icy fingers".

Coca-Cola and peanuts, that's what it was around here. Oh, and the little coke bottles too, not the big ones. I still like it. Good memories!

RobesonsRme.com wrote: Back in the day, there would be a one or two inch layer of cream at the top of the milk bottle. You had to shake it up.

To this day, I shake a bottle of milk before removing the cap. I guess I just do not understand or trust the definition of "homogenized".

Charlie

Charlie, my great grandfather quit working on the Western Maryland Rail Road at the ripe old age of 25 and purchased our family farm in 1904 so he could get into the dairy business. His kids, including my grandfather, would drive the horse-drawn milk wagon into town for home delivery to the city folks. He hand milked twice a day and farmed with 2 draft horses. You can skim off the milk fat, put it into a paddled butter churn and crank out the best butter you have ever tasted in about a half hour. Several times as a kid we had a single milk cow and I got to milk her and make butter. Hated it then but wouldn't mind doing it now just to get that fresh butter. It was much more yellow than the sticks I buy at the grocery store today.

Forgot to add- my Dad says the only reason why milk is homogenized is so the government can regulate it an collect a tax.

John -- When my grandma didn't have enough cream for the regular butter churn, she would put the cream in a quart jar and give it to one of us kids to shake until it turned to butter.

We moved off the farm when I was six and for years I whined and pined for some "good old fresh cows milk". "Oh, what I wouldn't give for some good old fresh cows milk". Well when I was about 16 or 17 we were invited to dinner (noon meal) after church, at the home of one of the congregation who farmed and had milk cows. They had some "good old fresh cows milk" in the refrigerator and poured me a big glass full. Yuck! After all those years of drinking homogenized milk, that stuff was nasty! How disappointing.