A Funny Story from the Over 30 crowd
Road Warrior
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 1,993
Likes: 57
From: St. Louis, MO
RE: A Funny Story from the Over 30 crowd
I'm 35 and I remember all of that too. I also remember when TV remotes had wires that connected them to the TV and satellite dishes looked like something NASA would use today. lol
Extreme HDF Member
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 17,880
Likes: 9,633
From: Big Pine Key, FL
RE: A Funny Story from the Over 30 crowd
44 here and never had cable TV while I lived in my parents' house. Three channels plus UHF, and in the words of Jeff Foxworthy, if the President was on, your night was SHOT!!!
I DID have a badass 8-track player in my 1974 AMC Javelin, though.....
I DID have a badass 8-track player in my 1974 AMC Javelin, though.....
Seasoned HDF Member
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 6,336
Likes: 67
From: SW Minnesota
RE: A Funny Story from the Over 30 crowd
TV Satellite dishes? LOL
We had a pole by the house, with three antennaes, facing three different directions, for the three stations we got, which also went off the air around 1: am. One of them had a neat Blue Angels video with the poem High Flight being recited.
I never had to use the outhouse, but it was still there when I was born in '52. Furnace was a coal stoker we fed corn cobs to, and we often had ice in the toilet getting up in the morning (Great fun for little boys pissing holes through the ice!) Then we had to fish the towel wrapped bricks out of the foot of the bed, and take them back down to the wood cookstove to heat them up again for the next night, to keep our feet warm.
We had a pole by the house, with three antennaes, facing three different directions, for the three stations we got, which also went off the air around 1: am. One of them had a neat Blue Angels video with the poem High Flight being recited.
I never had to use the outhouse, but it was still there when I was born in '52. Furnace was a coal stoker we fed corn cobs to, and we often had ice in the toilet getting up in the morning (Great fun for little boys pissing holes through the ice!) Then we had to fish the towel wrapped bricks out of the foot of the bed, and take them back down to the wood cookstove to heat them up again for the next night, to keep our feet warm.
Extreme HDF Member
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 11,317
Likes: 11
From: Tucson, Az
RE: A Funny Story from the Over 30 crowd
You guys from the 80's don't know how good you had it !!!! 
How about no television. How about no kind of video games at all. If you wanted to play music you either turned the radio on or hand cranked the Victrola. If you wanted water you had to walk to the well to get it. If you had to take a dump in the middle of the night it could get pretty spooky for a kid going outside and walking to the outhouse. If you wanted to take a bath (or just wash) you had to heat the water up on the stove. In the winter you had to go out and shovel coal for the one stove that heated the whole house. When the phone rang you didn't even know if it was for you until you heard the complete ring cycle as you were on a party line. You had to hand crank your grand dads car to get it started.
And the worst thing of all is you had to kick over your Harley to get it started !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
How about no television. How about no kind of video games at all. If you wanted to play music you either turned the radio on or hand cranked the Victrola. If you wanted water you had to walk to the well to get it. If you had to take a dump in the middle of the night it could get pretty spooky for a kid going outside and walking to the outhouse. If you wanted to take a bath (or just wash) you had to heat the water up on the stove. In the winter you had to go out and shovel coal for the one stove that heated the whole house. When the phone rang you didn't even know if it was for you until you heard the complete ring cycle as you were on a party line. You had to hand crank your grand dads car to get it started.
And the worst thing of all is you had to kick over your Harley to get it started !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
HD Forum Stories
The Best of Harley-Davidson for Lifelong Riders
Harley-Davidson Fat Boy Becomes a Dark, Decepticon-Inspired Custom
Verdad Gallardo
6 Weirdest Harley-Davidsons Ever Sold to the Public
Verdad Gallardo
7 Times Harley-Davidson Chucked Tradition Out the Window
Verdad Gallardo
7 Surprising Harley-Davidson Products that Are Not Motorcycles
Verdad Gallardo
8 Best Harley-Davidson Motorcycles Ever
Pouria Savadkouei
10 Worst Harley-Davidson Motorcycles Ever
Pouria Savadkouei
Killer Custom's Jail Break Is The Breakout That Refused to Blend In
Verdad Gallardo
Crazy Bunderbike Build Looks Amazing, But Is It Impossible to Ride?
Verdad Gallardo
Harley-Davidson Reveals Super Cool Cafe Racer Concept
Verdad Gallardo
Road Captain
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 608
Likes: 1
From: Scottsdale, AZ
RE: A Funny Story from the Over 30 crowd
ORIGINAL: grape ape
and everybody in the family sure didn't have their own television in their bedroom. We all had tosit together in theliving room and actually agree on what program to watch. Imagine that!
and everybody in the family sure didn't have their own television in their bedroom. We all had tosit together in theliving room and actually agree on what program to watch. Imagine that!
My wife and I have a daughter who is almost 2 and a half, and we are talking about putting a 32 inch LCD HDTV with a dvr and dvd player in her room when she turns 3.....I don't think I had a TV in my room ever growing up!!!!!!!! And I'm 35!!!!!!!! The problem is the old tv's (consoles) are just too big for any bedroom these days. Plus you can pick up 32 inch LCD's for under 600 bucks now so its almosta no brainer....I never think twice a about how good we have it now, and we should....
Seasoned HDF Member
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 6,336
Likes: 67
From: SW Minnesota
RE: A Funny Story from the Over 30 crowd
When the phone rang you didn't even know if it was for you until you heard the complete ring cycle as you were on a party line.
Shoot, didn't matter if it was for you or not. Everybody listened. No such thing as a "private" line. And there were ten parties (phones) per line. Our ring was two short, one long.
If you had an emergency, you said so, and everyone hung up, until they heard you "ring in" to the operator, and then they listened !
And we had no Harley to kickstart! But we did have a gas, foot start Maytag washing machine! With a Fairbanks Morse Magneto!!!
Shoot, didn't matter if it was for you or not. Everybody listened. No such thing as a "private" line. And there were ten parties (phones) per line. Our ring was two short, one long.
If you had an emergency, you said so, and everyone hung up, until they heard you "ring in" to the operator, and then they listened !
And we had no Harley to kickstart! But we did have a gas, foot start Maytag washing machine! With a Fairbanks Morse Magneto!!!