More NUTZ NOTES

(Originally run 2/11/04 on our old site)

Anita Hart Fuller

Has anyone - but me - eaten at the McDonald's corporate headquarters in Oak Brook, Illinois? One can buy a glass of wine or beer to go with one's Big Mac! Of course, in Europe, one can, but then Oak Brook is NOT Europe.

(A glass of wine or beer with my Quarter-pounder? I’d DEFINITELY be lovin’ that! -tlp-)

Don Thompson

That's really interesting. I thought the ice plant got their water from Searcy's piped water supply. I suppose it was better water than the well water.

I always liked water with character and only drink bottled water for convenience. Actually we fill the plastic bottles with tap water, since Little Rock water tastes fine. We also keep a cache of Ozark for guests. Why should they get the good stuff? We don't use a refrigerator filter either.

Did you ever get the urge to slip in some of that good sulfur mineral water from the fountain nearby?

In Sunnyvale, CA, where I lived for 40 years, the northern approx. half of the city (137,000) got water from the Hech Hechy reservoir up in the Sierras and part of Yosemite. The water was mostly melted snow. The rest of Sunnyvale got local well water as did the adjoining cities. Since there were numerous industries possibly contaminating ground water, there was lots of testing and controls. Still …

Your ice water story reminded me of a neighbor kid who mistrusted tap water and most store water so much that he drove up into the Santa Cruz mountains to get water obtained from distillation. He wouldn't drink bottled water produced by filtration.

Outdoor privies are another story. I have done a lot of camping where the old style pit outhouse is still used, so it's not too strange to encounter them.

Porta Potties have been improved so much these days. Have you seen those with hand wipe dispensers? Last year, I saw my first handicapped porta-potty at an electronics swap meet we attend each year in Los Altos Hills, CA. We'll be there March 13th. Accompanying this is a picture of the W.C. row brought in for the folks. I have been buying and selling at this event since 1972.

Keep on producing those neat stories.

Dan E. Randle

The U.S. Postal Service issued a stamp honoring the one hundredth anniversary of the first flight by the Wright Brothers. The first man in powered flight was from Ohio, the first man ever to orbit Earth was from Ohio, and the first man on the moon was from Ohio.It sounds like a lot of people are trying to get out of Ohio.

Dan, was that a knock on my late, Ohio-born father? Remember: he left, too.

I’ve started attending the monthly meetings of the White County Historical Society (or, as I persist in calling it, the Hysterical Society – last Monday night of each month, 7 o’clock, at Harding Place). My other partner-in-nostalgia, Ernie, in response to my quote of “As long as someone remembers you, you’re not truly dead,” replied:

Ernie Simpson

I'm not sure Eddie (Best) was able to use the little 'paragraph' on Crosby; I was astounded at my discovery of how old I was in that little memory I had as a child. He fooled me even more when he produced a photo of Hardy Branscom's dad, Boyd, holding the reins of two mules!
We wonder what is of value to remember but, to some (maybe just ourselves), it may be truly worthwhile.

And, finally, these thoughts from EDDIE BEST, Editor of the Historical Society’s Newsletter

IT WAS GOOD

Were you a kid in the Fifties or earlier? Everybody makes fun of our childhood! Comedians joke. Grandkids snicker. Twenty-something's shudder and say "Eeeew!" But was our childhood really all that bad? Judge for yourself:

In 1953 The US population was less than 150 million... Yet you knew more people then, and knew them better. And that was good.

The average annual salary was under $3,000... Yet our parents could put some of it away for a rainy day and still live a decent life... And that was good

A loaf of bread cost about 15 cents ... But it was safe for a five-year-old to skate to the store and buy one... And that was good.

Prime-Time meant I Love Lucy, Ozzie and Harriet, Gunsmoke and Lassie... So nobody ever heard of ratings or filters... And that was good.

We didn't have air-conditioning... So the windows stayed up and half a dozen mothers ran outside when you fell off your bike... And that was good.

Your teacher was either Miss Matthews or Mrs. Logan or Mr. Adkins... But not Ms Becky or Mr. Dan... And that was good.

The only hazardous material you knew about... Was a patch of grassburrs around the light pole at the corner... And that was good.

You loved to climb into a fresh bed... Because sheets were dried on the clothesline... And that was good.

People generally lived in the same hometown with their relatives.. So "child care" meant grandparents or aunts and uncles... And that was good.

Parents were respected and their rules were law.... Children did not talk back..... and that was good.

TV was in black-and-white... But all outdoors was in glorious color....And that was certainly good.

Your Dad knew how to adjust everybody's carburetor... And the Dad next door knew how to adjust all the TV knobs.. And that was very good.

Your grandma grew snap beans in the back yard... And chickens behind the garage... And that was definitely good.

And just when you were about to do something really bad... Chances were you'd run into your Dad's high school coach... Or the nosy old lady from up the street... Or your little sister's piano teacher... Or somebody from Church.... ALL of whom knew your parents' phone number... And YOUR first name... And even THAT was good! ~

Bring this to the attention of anyone who can still remember Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, Laurel & Hardy, Abbott & Costello, Sky King, Little Lulu comics, Brenda Starr, Howdy Doody and The Peanut Gallery, The Lone Ranger, The Shadow Knows Nellie Belle, Roy and Dale, Trigger and Buttermilk as well as the sound of a real mower on Saturday morning, and summers filled with bike rides, playing cowboy, playing hide and seek and kick-the-can and Simon Says, baseball games, amateur shows at the local theater before the Saturday matinee, bowling and visits to the pool...and eating Kool-Aid powder with sugar, and wax lips and bubblegum cigars
Didn't that feel good, just to go back and say, Yeah, I remember that!

And was it really that long ago?