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Old time country peddlers

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hardwood
Join Date: Dec 2002
Posts: 3583 iowa
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2008-01-30          150940

Murf's post about Mr. Haney on Green Acres brought lots of memories from when I was growng up in rural Iowa. The Rawleighs man, Watkins man, Fuller Brush man, The fish peddler who showed up just before Lent. In the summer there were book salesmen who walked door to door selling encyclopedias, dictionaries, etc. then there were the tool salesmen who had everything from pliers to keystock. We weren't really loney at all out in the country back then. Most of these guys were just trying to make an living doing what they could, their arrival was welcomed and most all work stopped till they left. Some even took eggs, fresh, cream, butter, or fresh vegetables as some of the pay for their goods. Frank.

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earthwrks
Join Date: Dec 2003
Posts: 3853 Home Office in Flat Rock, Michigan
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2008-01-30          150944

Ah yes, reminds of growing up on the farm. We had to walk to school in knee-deep snow, up-hill both ways no less, even in the summer.

Franky, pull yer' stool up and tell us more...

(Reminds me of my two youngest sisters who are 10 and 13 years younger than me. They were visisting one day on their way home from junior high school. They asked me if we had computers when I was in school. Told them no. They both looked puzzled and said "well how did you learn". Then there was the much younger woman I was dating who wanted to use my phone (pre cell phones). I showed her my "antique" 1940's rotary phone. She had no clue on to dial out! Now she's a school teacher with two Master's degrees. Scary! ....

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earthwrks
Join Date: Dec 2003
Posts: 3853 Home Office in Flat Rock, Michigan
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2008-01-30          150945

Franky we have peddlers in DeTwah (Detroit)--'cept thay're not from the country and they peddle things that they don't own. I knew people that worked down town. Typically the peddlers will steal your car and then try to sell it back to you for $50. ....

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Murf
Join Date: Dec 1999
Posts: 7249 Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada
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2008-01-30          150946

Quote:
Originally Posted by earthwrks | view 150944
Then there was the much younger woman I was dating who wanted to use my phone (pre cell phones). I showed her my "antique" 1940's rotary phone. She had no clue on to dial out! Now she's a school teacher with two Master's degrees. Scary!


There are some here Jeff who might pick on you for your choice of such a clever woman, nay even inquire if you two are still happily wed, but not I, no sir-ee-bob, not me.

I know you're single. ;)

Best of luck. ....

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earthwrks
Join Date: Dec 2003
Posts: 3853 Home Office in Flat Rock, Michigan
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2008-01-30          150966

Ahhh I'm at a loss for words. How clever would you have expected her to be age...ahhh, never mind. Murf ol'SON me thinks me an' you are cut from the same cloth--if you get my drift... ....

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Murf
Join Date: Dec 1999
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2008-01-30          150968

I'm not sure it's 'cloth'......

But I think you're right, we were both cut from the same.... stuff. ;)

Best of luck.


....

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hardwood
Join Date: Dec 2002
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2008-01-30          150969

Speaking of cloth, yes, my Mother used to buy "bolts",kinda oblong looking rools of cloth for you youngings who weren't privliged to have lived back then to make clothes from. I do remember her once trading some live chickens to the cloth, needle, thread, yarn, zipper and botton peddler, and that isn't half of the story, on his way down the road the back door came open on his old panel truck and the chickens got loose. And again on the subject of cloth, there were men of the cloth who walked around the country side in the summer selling bibles and religous items. I could go on, but I'm sure you all have long since tired of my ramblings, old men tend to do that you know. Frank. ....

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mobilus
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 171 Clay County, TX
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2008-01-30          150980

Back as a young kid in the 60s, we kids loved to see "The Rolling Store" come up the dirt road to my great grandmama's house. It was an old truck with a wooden bodied "store" complete with steps on the back and a counter at which you placed your order. My great-grandmama would buy sugar and such, and she always bought us those little "pecan planks" for a penny apiece. We thought we were on top of the world for that little oiece of "store-bought" candy. ....

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hardwood
Join Date: Dec 2002
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2008-01-30          150983

Up till about the mid 90's there was still a CenPeCo salesman and a tool salesman who would stop by the farm shop about twice a year. The tool guy would roll out a new welder, plug it in and let you have a go at it, he had everything from torch tips to cotter pins. All of the other oldtimers were gone by then. I think the cost of fullsize vans and the fuel they used finally put them out of business too. I was never a big enough fish for the Snap On type guys to drive out in the country for, but I used to visit their vans once in a while if I saw them stopped at a farm machinery dealership. Frank. ....

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kthompson
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 5275 South Carolina
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2008-01-31          150989

If, we were to move back to more of this and less of hopping in and running 10 or 50 miles (one way) just to pick up something simple, any idea how much we could save per person and per a country in cost? Might make oil a little less costly. kt ....

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randywatson
Join Date: Apr 2007
Posts: 109 texas
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2008-02-01          151009

Believe it or not I forgot about them, but yea they did come by the farm time to time when I was a kid.

I remember that mom had made arrangements with the local (Nichols) bread delivery guy who normally only delivered factory to stores, he'd stop by once a week with 20 loaves for our family.

....

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earthwrks
Join Date: Dec 2003
Posts: 3853 Home Office in Flat Rock, Michigan
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2008-02-01          151014

Randy, I know things are always bigger in "Teyhas" but 20 loaves??? Daaaaaaang! Now that's an appetite! ....

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randywatson
Join Date: Apr 2007
Posts: 109 texas
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2008-02-01          151015

Well,
there was 6 kids, and believe it or not we'd some time run out. That did not include the biscuts on a fairly regularly basis.

Ya should have seen the garden, if it hadn't been for that and the milk cow, we'd been plenty hungry...Tater diggen time was real fun, on good years I'd dig around 60-70 bushels ...didn't have a tractor, all the work was done with horses.

Course we was WV Hillbillys, I'm transplanted to TX 20 yrs, rest of the family is still in the hills. ....

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Murf
Join Date: Dec 1999
Posts: 7249 Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada
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2008-02-01          151018

I always get a kick out of the 'bigger in Texas' thing.

Ontario is not the biggest province in Canada, it's about 43% smaller than Quebec.

It is however, bigger than Texas and New Mexico combined. In fact even at that there's still room for New Hampshire, New Jersey and Connecticut with room still left over, almost enough for Rhode Island.

We also have a large territory in the north which was recently reorganized and renamed Nunavut, to comapre it by scale, it's 20% bigger than Alaska, and a little over TRIPLE the size of Texas.

It also has a population of just over 31,000 people! That's about 26 square miles per person.

Best of luck. ....

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kthompson
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 5275 South Carolina
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2008-02-01          151020

Murf, so they do not have a bread truck making the rounds there do they?

Back to what I have seen of the type of eaters Randy is talking about they are all skinny as they can be. kt
....

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randywatson
Join Date: Apr 2007
Posts: 109 texas
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2008-02-01          151021

Murf,
I gotta say I bow to the elbow room yall got, but I bet I have a lot less feezing temps here, and my bones can't take the cold like they used to, although it was 22 degrees this am, but expectin 50 by noon and warmer tomorrow,

even better as far as TX there is a saying, if you dont like the weather, wait an hour...ain't far from true,

last friday was close to freezing, on sunday I was out in t-shirt hiking through the campground.

KT, you are right we was bone thin then, not so much now....



RJ
....

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kthompson
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2008-02-01          151022

Randy, I know what you mean about not true now. My nick name was Skinny Kenny but the Skinny part I worked hard to get rid of that part. One fork full at the time. kt ....

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Murf
Join Date: Dec 1999
Posts: 7249 Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada
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2008-02-01          151023

Kenneth, it's whale blubber by snowmobile..... ;)

Randy, we have the same thing up, today is in the high 20's and we're getting about a foot of snow, Tuesday they say it will be mid-40's and rain.

I remember as a teen eating 5 meals a day during times when we were doing field work, 4 a day the rest of the time and never put on a pound, now my belt gets tight walking past the fridge.

It reminds me of the sign a friend had on his boat "Middle Age: The point in life when a broad mind & a narrow waist change places on you."

Best of luck. ....

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earthwrks
Join Date: Dec 2003
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2008-02-01          151029

Murf: 'round here, Canada is considered a suburb of the US.

Kenny: didn't you tell me your nickname was No Neck?

My former helper is 20. We're friends. He's always harping on me about losing weight. The other day I asked what size is pants were. "30-30" he says. "Guess what" I told him I was your size when I was 26--an' look at me NOW. He says "That's scary". Yup sure is! 'Tis like looking in a mirror that has a 20-year-lag time. ....

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Murf
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2008-02-04          151081

That makes me feel better.

I had a 34" waist at 16 years of age, today it's 37".

I weigh a little more, but not too much. :)

Best of luck. ....

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hardwood
Join Date: Dec 2002
Posts: 3583 iowa
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2008-02-04          151093

I have one of those convex mirrors that makes me look tall and skinny. My Mother was a good cook amd I also married one so here I am, went from a 32 waist at 21 to a 46 at 66. I know I'm a heart attack waiting to happen, but the Mrs. still cooks like we have all them teenage kids at home yet, so I just can't stand to watch the dog eat my meat and taters. But in the real world that's a gain of 14 inches in circumfrence meaning I really am only 4.4 inches wider than I was at 21, so that means I only gained a tenth of an inch per year in diamater, that aint so bad. "Fatso", I mean Frank. ....

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hardwood
Join Date: Dec 2002
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2008-02-04          151094

EW; I'm not meaning to ignore you lately, but your comment about walking uphill to school both ways. "Oh Boy", you and all them other poor saps, we got to walk down hlll both ways, then we got a bus, "Flintstone Style" we walked and carried the bus. Sorry, but you should have grown up in Iowa. Frank. ....

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kthompson
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 5275 South Carolina
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2008-02-05          151103

Hardwood, not sure the location of his younger years is the problem (EW), more think it is in the line of "growing up". Some just never do. kt ....

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