Saturday, January 19, 2019

Memories



Remember when deliverymen would bring legendary Charles Chips® to your home or office?

I remembered the Charles Chips but argued they were not around when Bob was  10. Investigoogling shows they have been around Since 1942

Remember clamp on skates and vintage scooters? The photo is Bob at 20 in 1954, regress him back to 1944 at age 10 in your imagination.

 These are a few of  Bob's memories, some fond, some not, but shared and shared again to me.

He truly did walk miles to school in the snow, even when he was 6 years old, he walked or rode a bike through snow, 2 miles to school with his siblings.

Bob...

Turned a scooter into a sit down scooter by nailing a Charles Chips can on it to sit on and race down the hill.

Nailed the front and back of skates onto a wide board they found, and rode down hill laying on their stomachs.

Sticks and Inner tubes were turned into sling shots that fired stones. At birds.
Created homemade rubber band shooters that could fire up to 30 feet.

 They created a maze out of head high weeds on an abandoned property, just because they could, then tormented high school students into chasing them through the maze.

They batted stones with big sticks, to see how far out in the water they could knock them, played baseball with bats and balls or used sticks and old balls.

While doing all of this, he worked from age 6 to 16 sweeping a factory with his family, his dad kept Bob's paycheck and gave bob 50 cents to spend. Everyone worked or no one ate. He put roofs on houses at age 10, took care of his dad's hunting Beagles, food and water and cleaning kennels. At 15 he worked 12 hour shifts at a gas station, and gave his check to his dad.....his part was 2.00.

Please leave me a few of your memories in comments




11 comments:

My Mind's Eye said...

Oh yes we were on the Charles Chips delivery route. I loved those chips!!!

I remember the roller skates that your slipped on over your shoes...I think I wore out several pair. Then when Big M was little she and I would go to the roller rink. We both had the high top white shoe skates. Much more ankle support.

My Daddy was raised just like Bob. Daddy started selling a paper called the Grit ( Bob might remember it) when he was 10. HE also helped my Granddaddy, who was an electrician.

My first job was wrapping gifts during the holidays at Nowell's clothing store.
Hugs Cecilia

Lois said...

I do remember Charles Chips and the clamp on skates! They were always coming off and I lost my skate key all the time.

Ginny Hartzler said...

Oh MY!! And these times are now gone forever. Maybe not a good thing either. When kids lived like this, there were no serial killers, you could leave your doors open...wonder if there is a connection? Kids who just do tech all day have too much time for their minds to wander and to think of bad things, influenced by others on line. I LOVE this post!! Bob is one handsome dude! The skates, I HAD them. And wore the skate key around my neck. I had saddle shoes and hated to wear them, but they were the only shoes that the skates fit on. I skated all day, down our big hill. Walked up and skated all the way down, with my pigtails flying behind in the wind. Neighborhood people commented on me. Skating was my passion. I has a tricycle, but never had a scooter, which I wanted.

Ginny Hartzler said...

P.S. I never heard of these chips! But I was raised up north, they may be a southern thing.

Rose said...

I really enjoyed reading this. I walked about a mile to and from school most of the days of my life...a few times had a ride. And the biggest portion of the walk was on a railroad.

I cannot remember when I actually started to wash dishes, but I always had to wash evening dishes, mom washed the breakfast dishes while I made the beds. And we both cleaned up the dinner table. In the summer it was my job to do what needed to be done at the barn...feed the pigs, and if we had a calf inside, to turn the cow in and out to it...or feed it with a bottle if it was one we were raising.

We grew about three acres of tobacco, and there was always something to be done to it...set it, hoe it, top it, and of course there was spraying to be done, but my brother always done that. And sometimes I had to go through and pick the worms off...but don't remember doing that often...the spraying must have taken care of that. But I don't really remember what the spraying was for, but think it had to about be that.

We had a creek we played in almost every day in the summer after our work was done..but by the time I got in late elementary I was helping keep the garden hoes out, and helping gather, and can and freeze things...I LOVED that. Well, not the hoeing...our garden was clay dirt and it is not fun to work in.

photowannabe said...

You have one handsome guy there. He was and still is a hard worker. You are one lucky gal.
I never heard of those chips..as Ginny said they probably are an East coast thing.
Those skates were on my feet all the time. I skated and skated and skated...and have the bruised and battered knees to prove it. I always had wounds from the skate coming off and hurting my heels. The skate key was always around my neck too.
Never had a scooter but had the most glorious tricycle and then about age 9 or 10 I got my bicycle.
My Daddy built me stilts and I had a ball with those and got really good at walking all around .
Besides babysitting my first " real " paying job was for a company called Western Girl. It was a temporary agency and my Mom and I did the weekend mail for Union Oil. Boring work but I did love my little paycheck...just pennies by today's standards.
I then worked for Sears and worked in many departments but ended my career in the Snack Bar. I actually liked it and was efficient at serving hot dogs, popcorn and ice cream cones. I made lots of friends there and it helped give me money for college.
My family didn't have much money but we were happy and managed to make much out of little.

Mevely317 said...

How this makes my heart hurt for the boy-that-was Bob!!! I love hearing of his ingenuity, tho … especially the Charles Chips can-turned-scooter-seat!
I never heard of Charles Chips, but can sure identify with both those roller skates and the scooter. Other than dumpster diving for empty pop bottles, my biggest thrill was hunting horny toads and lizards. Oh! My dad also built me a pair of stilts; it's a wonder I didn't break my neck!

Chatty Crone said...

Bob was raised in a tough environment, but he turned out great. He has great values and I think and I know this is not really the topic - but if more kids were raised like that I think the world would be a better place. My hubs was raised tough like that too. I remember all those things too.

photowannabe said...

I guess the answer to the YBH on my post is a change of attitude. I am trying to look at things from a more positive aspect. Turning things around really does help.

Cat and DOG Chat With Caren said...

I remember our neighbors getting Charles Chips, we didn't because my Mom said we were all fat lol. I remember riding bikes with NO HELMET........staying out walking the neighborhood with my friends (life seemed safer then), "smoking" candy cigarettes, playing on playgrounds that had blacktop or concrete (gasp)...if you fell instead of the woodchips, etc. of today. And we're all alive to talk about it.

Heidrun Khokhar, KleinsteMotte said...

I had skates like that but not for long as my Dad was able to get us a used pair of hockey skates in 1954 and I got figure skates in 1955. We also had a scooter to share in 1956. We did not have to work but were always left on our own before and after school and during school holidays. We walked to school past a candy store and if we were lucky to have earned a penny doing chores my bro and I would enter and buy something. My fave candy then was sponge toffee. We did not have that brand of Charles stuff. We did have popsicles in the summer months and when we saved a nickel we would share one.