# The Green Thing



## dnvrdv (Jul 10, 2011)

Since I know there are some "Old Foggies" here figured some of you might enjoy this!  My Mom sent me this email.

*The Green Thing*

In the line at the store, the cashier told an older woman that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment. 

The woman apologized to him and explained, "We didn't have the green thing back in my day."

The clerk responded, "*That's our problem today.  Your generation did not care enough to save our environment."*

He was right -- our generation didn't have the green thing in its day. 

Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over.  So they really were recycled. 

But we didn't have the green thing back in our day. 

We walked up stairs, because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks.

But she was right. We didn't have the green thing in our day. 

Back then, we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the throw-away kind.  We 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; we didn't have the green thing back in our day.

Back then, we 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 handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana. 

In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us. 

When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used a wadded up old newspaper to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. 

Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power.  We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.

But she's right; we didn't have the green thing back then.

We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. 

We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull.

But we didn't have the green thing back then.

Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service. 

We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances.  And we 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 isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the green thing back then? *


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## meateater (Jul 10, 2011)

AMEM !!!


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## meateater (Jul 10, 2011)

This actually shouldn't be in the joke section. I remember bundling newspapers with twine for the paper drive. Remember pops turning the antennae on the roof and you yelling stop when your favorite station came in clear.There was no paper or plastic, it was paper which got bundled with the newspapers. Soap was a bar not in a bottle. Anyone feel to chime in.


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## dnvrdv (Jul 10, 2011)

What's an antennae?  I get on the roof and have the wife yell at me when the Dish signal is at it highest pitch!


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## miamirick (Jul 10, 2011)

maybe the green thing wasnt around back then because we took care of the world without ruining everything we touched and didnt use things one time and dispose of them


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## meateater (Jul 10, 2011)

I don't even remember ground hamburger in a chub. My mom ground everything from scratch. Microwave.............what the heck was that? Dishwasher.....ya that sucked as a kid. 
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





  Don't get me started on a school bus, we walked. Ya I'm ranting.


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## dnvrdv (Jul 10, 2011)

I figured I might stir something up!


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## meateater (Jul 10, 2011)

dnvrdv said:


> I figured I might stir something up!




In a good way, no worry's. Gonna be interesting to see where this leads.


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## nwdave (Jul 11, 2011)

Where it's going to lead to is when I show up at his house this weekend......  He's going to be surrounded by old foggies.....Not just me and SWMBO (his wife's parents) BUT his parents are going to be coming in the next weekend.  I'll be sure to let them know about the old foggies remark.   Course, if I'm not careful, I could be staying at a motel while there.


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## Dutch (Jul 12, 2011)

Shoot-I remember me and my cousins pulling a red wagon collecting pop bottles just so we could have money to go to the movies on a Saturday afternoon.


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## alelover (Jul 12, 2011)

It really wasn't that long ago.


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## venture (Jul 12, 2011)

Yea, Dutch.  We would spend a hot summer afternoon dragging that wagon around collecting those bottles.  In those days the grocers would redeem them for a whole 2 cents! Our grocer was mean, tho, he would always give us the third degree.  He always accused us of stealing the bottles out of his shed out back. Probably because his son was one of us kids dragging that wagon around all afternoon?  LOL

Good luck and good smoking.


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## jirodriguez (Jul 12, 2011)

.... and the most amazing part of all of this is that we are actually still alive to talke about it! I mean dear god, we didn't even have bike helmets and knee pads! You tucked the seatbelts into the crack of the seat because they were uncomfortable to sit on! And the dashboard was made of METAL! No warning labels to tell you "Hey idiot! Don't take a bath with this hairdryer!"


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## Bearcarver (Jul 12, 2011)

LOL---In my first 3 years of school, we didn't waste any water going to the outhouse in back of the school either!!!

Old Country Bear


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## dnvrdv (Jul 12, 2011)

NWDave said:


> Where it's going to lead to is when I show up at his house this weekend......  He's going to be surrounded by old foggies.....Not just me and SWMBO (his wife's parents) BUT his parents are going to be coming in the next weekend.  I'll be sure to let them know about the old foggies remark.   Course, if I'm not careful, I could be staying at a motel while there.


Being a couple months off from "OLD"  I too remember these things.  Thought it was funny to read.


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## meateater (Jul 12, 2011)

JIRodriguez said:


> .... and the most amazing part of all of this is that we are actually still alive to talke about it! I mean dear god, we didn't even have bike helmets and knee pads! You tucked the seatbelts into the crack of the seat because they were uncomfortable to sit on! And the dashboard was made of METAL! No warning labels to tell you "Hey idiot! Don't take a bath with this hairdryer!"









  I could write a book that would make Evil Kneivel blush.


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## sunman76 (Jul 12, 2011)

yep you could leave in the morning with a bb gun and walk to your friends house down the dirt road and down the creek and be gone all day without any worrys just be home before dark...

walk down the road with a bb gun now and see how far you get before the man
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





 come and checks you out and tell you that your not old enough to have a bb gun


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## meateater (Jul 12, 2011)

sunman76 said:


> yep you could leave in the morning with a bb gun and walk to your friends house down the dirt road and down the creek and be gone all day without any worrys just be home before dark...
> 
> walk down the road with a bb gun now and see how far you get before the man
> 
> ...


We used to wave to the coppers and ask if they wanted some squirrel. My neighbor was a Sergeant. That's just memory lane right there.


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## venture (Jul 12, 2011)

BB gun hell!  My dad wouldn't even let me take that out of our yard.  It was my worthless little cocker spaniel and a .22 rifle.  In late winter we could have rabbit for dinner. And nobody said a word while I came a block and a half out of the country to our house with them.  LOL

Bear, I was in the third grade when we moved to the house with the indoor toilet.  I remember about flies in the summer,  cold wood and splinters in the winter.  We were rich, we could afford paper on a roll.  But the Sears catalog was always there in case of an emergency!

Good luck and good smoking.


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## michael ark (Jul 12, 2011)

I remember collecting glass quarts  and pint coke bottles to cash in. T.v's had handles and rabbit ears and knob with dials behind them for fine tuning and radios were furniture.


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## Bearcarver (Jul 13, 2011)

WOW!!!

I got just about the same memories as ALL of you guys.

Got my first Daisy when I was 5, and my Savage 24DL when I was 13 (22cal LR / over 20ga).

I never lived in town though.

Michael---Yup---Fine tuning dial behind the channel changing knob!  LOL

Bear


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## beer-b-q (Jul 13, 2011)

I often wonder how any of us OLD FOGIES managed to grow up without all the conveniences kids have today... Guess we were more resilient...


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## Bearcarver (Jul 13, 2011)

Beer-B-Q said:


> I often wonder how any of us OLD FOGIES managed to grow up without all the conveniences kids have today... Guess we were more resilient...


LOL---I'll never forget when the first Transistor Radio came out. It was unbelievable!!!  

I was in 4th grade when I saw my first one.

It looked like this---Talk about nostalgia:








Bear


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## michael ark (Jul 13, 2011)

Beer-B-Q said:


> I often wonder how any of us OLD FOGIES managed to grow up without all the conveniences kids have today... Guess we were more resilient...


We had to have a imagination.Because their was only 4 chanles on the T.V if the weather was right.We were more resilient becase we didn't have antibacterial everything and most food came from mason jars.


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## meateater (Jul 13, 2011)

Bearcarver said:


> WOW!!!
> 
> I got just about the same memories as ALL of you guys.
> 
> ...


Remember the old match box cars? If you ran them across the kitchen table the squeek from the off balanced tires would change the channels on the tv. That was from the old push button remotes days.


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## dnvrdv (Jul 14, 2011)

meateater said:


> Remember the old match box cars? If you ran them across the kitchen table the squeek from the off balanced tires would change the channels on the tv. That was from the old push button remotes days.


Zenith!


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## Bearcarver (Jul 14, 2011)

meateater said:


> Remember the old match box cars? If you ran them across the kitchen table the squeek from the off balanced tires would change the channels on the tv. That was from the old push button remotes days.




LOL---I forgot all about that !!!

My grandparents had one that was so sensitive, you could change channels by clapping your hands.

They called their remote---"The Clicker".

Bear


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## jirodriguez (Jul 14, 2011)

I ain't as old as some of you folks *looks at Bear*, but I can still definately relate.

Growing up in NM we lived in a style of house called an Earth Ship (hippie thing), no indoor plumbing, no electricity, wood heat. When you live at 7000 ft. on a high desert mesa smack dab against the foot of the Rocky Mountians you get a crap load of snow and let me tell you, you have to really, really need to go to the bathroom at 3:00 AM to make the walk out to the outhouse worth it when it's -17° with a gusty wind! LOL


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