This was Alex's mom's typewriter. As I was setting it up, I realized that I will be using things from different generations of our family...typewriter was Alex's mom's, the cast iron pan was my grandma's, the rotary phone is my mom and dad's.
Yesterday was an interesting day as I dived further into the preparations. I wanted to make sure the rotary phone was good to go, and I discovered something very interesting in the process. If the dial doesn't rotate at the exact speed that it should, the phone dials a different number than the user intended. It took me four tries to dial my own cell number. Twice I got some business, once I got some home number, and on the forth try my cell final started ringing. I can assist the dial by keeping my finger in it and forcing it to move faster, but rotating too fast also results in an incorrert number. Should be interesting.
On a happy note, I did make a very good grilled cheese in the cast iron pan. I also bought an alarm clock and a YMCA appropriate swimsuit...since the swimming pool will replace the treadmill. Also interesting...I'm not a very good swimmer, nor do I really enjoy swimming....maybe this will be an opportunity for change.
Tomorrow will be my last post.
6 comments:
From Alex's Grandmother Gene,
Columbus had television in 1948 and we got our first television in 1950. NBC was the only station that broadcast from New York. I stayed up late to watch Steve Allen at 11 pm at night. Robert complained he was losing me to television.
Our cousins (the Britton's) had an automatic dishwasher shortly before 1950. They were fanatical about germs so they poured boiling water over the dishes before loading the dishwasher.
My mother heated irons on the stove, then cleaned them on a piece of wax paper (to get rid of the soot) before ironing.
With four children in 1948, I filled clotheslines everyday with children's clothes (after washing them in the wringer washer).
On the radio, there were a lot of soap operas. My grandmother loved "Our Gal Sunday" about a ranch girl and a British nobleman who fell in love with her. In the 40's, I listened to Jack Benny, Glenn Miller, Little Orphan Annie with her dog Sandy, news broadcasts from England and, of course, Roosevelt's Fireside Chats.
Your project has intrigued me, getting me to think of many stories of my past.
From Deborah,
I can't remember if you discussed the fact that you can't use ATMs, debit or credit cards but will have to write checks to merchants and go into banks to get cash.
Interesting to think of "Dialing" as a skill. We still use the term "dialing" today but is it really a relevent term?, phones don't have dials anymore! I am guessing you never had a rotary phone as a kid. I never had the problem you describe but I think dialing was just a fine motor skill you picked up as soon as your parents let you use the phone and I recall that was a big deal! But I remember my fingers as a kid sometimes having a hard time dialing, especially the bigger numbers like from 7 on, catching the hole at the wrong angle on the curve. But as a teenager I DIALED away to all my friends very expediantly with never a misdial!
Thats really so cool about the typewriter, I bet if if could recount all that it typed over years it would make a great book!
SO is your swimsuit 1949/50 styled??;-)
I grew up using a rotary phone at my grandmothers. (At home we had a princess push button phone.) I didn't have to make the dial travel at a certain speed. It did it all by itself. I stuck my finger in the dial, turned the dial back the start, and released.
So maybe there is something wrong with your phone (it is pretty old at this point), or maybe the digital technology the phone company uses on the other end to process the signal is more precise and thus less forgiving of variances.
I still use a manual typewriter. I love it. My wife thinks I'm nuts. Pete Muskegon, MI
Thanks great bloog post
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