Entertainment |
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Judy Money didn't buy our entertainment because we didn't have money. Television
was not a part of
our lives either.
Parties: Birthday parties were fun times and we looked forward to the next invitation. Girls would get lots of presents. Usually paper dolls, or play jewelry were among the gifts and often good smelling perfume or bubble bath. Games we played were always, drop the clothes pin in the milk bottle. We had milk bottles that were glass and reusable. We would kneel on a chair and hold our hand over the back of the chair and aim for the bottle. The person who successfully landed the most clothes pins into the bottle won the prize. Often a box of cracker jacks with a surprise inside would be the prize. We also, played pin the tail on the donkey at almost every party. One special party I remember, Mother purchased ice cream in the shape of animals. They were so wonderful! We had cows, horses, cats, dogs, sheep. And they were all ice cream and we ate them. At 16, I had another birthday party,
and I invited many friends from school and church. Mom
and Dad rented the Floyd Park Club House, provided music
for dancing on records, made sloppy Joe's with chips and
relishes. Pop by the case (we didn't have pop
available to us until it was a special occasion.) My parents wanted to protect their little girl growing up. Almost every Friday, I had a party at our house. We would go into the basement which was finished off as a nice room. There we would dance to music from our old Hi FI record player. Kids would come over and we would dance or play ping pong. Late at night we would eat. Mother always prepared something like sloppy Joes and potato chips and would buy a case of pop. We always had a good time and Mom and Dad said they didn't mind doing this at all because they knew where we were and we were all safe. August 26, 1956 was the next big party at our house. It was our Wedding Weekend when it all began. All of my family, grandparents from both sides of my family, cousins and aunts and uncles all came to Sioux City. This time the basement floor became a large slumber party. People were sleeping everywhere on the floor. The grandparents and one aunt got the bedrooms upstairs and the rest of us took to the floor in the basement. Radio
entertained
us on Sunday nights. Mother would fix popcorn, and we
would have that with apples as a treat.
Radio
reports "The Weekly Reader" was a student paper we read every week at school. Because of this paper we learned of the newest activity going on in our country and sometimes other countries. The subscription cost 50¢ a year, if you could afford it, and it was delivered to school. Those of us who purchased it could take it home and share it with our parents. At North Jr. High School, Sioux City, Iowa 1950, we could go to the auditorium; and there we listened to the World Series broadcast. A radio was carried into the auditorium & put over the speaker system. That was a very special time. No classes! TV
did not come into
our home until 1954. I
might share my thoughts about what is
"essential" in our life. Being born in 1937. I
came into the world when television was unknown. In the
late 40’s television was reaching the stage where it
might be a viable means of communication. When the first
TV sets came out most people couldn't afford them
including my family. It was only something we heard about the rich and
famous using. That was early ‘50’s. The
early sets, as I recall sold for about $125. This was an
era when the average wage in my rural “Around
1950 or so, some people started purchasing TV sets and it
was customary to wrangle invitations to their homes or to
be invited for an evening of TV. Believe it or not,
wrestling, was popular on early TV but in no way like the
sophistication of that business today. One popular
wrestler was Gorgeous George! Could you imagine a name
like that today for a wrestler? I'm
trying to decide if I was better off in those formative
years without TV and I have concluded that I was. As
children we made up games to play and used our minds
creatively in many ways. We listened to the radio for
evening entertainment, and not having a picture to watch,
we had to formulate the sets and the scenery in our own
minds. I really enjoy much of what is available in the
modern era, including E-MAIL, but I'm also grateful to
God that I was raised in a less sophisticated era. How was TV? Really!? It was a wonder to see a picture come through that piece of furniture with a picture in it. It was very snowy, but no one complained because it was so special just to see and hear a program in our own home. Lassie Come Home, Roy Rodgers, Gene Autry, & Superman with Clark Kent were some of the kids specials. Wrestling was also a great entertainer for the entire family. I can remember Mother just "he hawing", she would laugh so hard. Later Red Skelton, (Today we watch him on Video.), Groucho Marks, and Art Linkletter were popular. The Never smiling Show was a good family show in the 50's. I didn't
watch it too much as I always had homework. I studied in
my room and the TV was in the basement under me. All the
sound would come up through the heat register. I would
have to holler down "Turn it Down".
I was trying to concentrate and could not do so with all
the noise. Del said when TV came
to his house, they were not allowed to watch it. We
listened to the radio. Gang Busters,
Saturday Night, It Pays to Be Ignorant on
Friday nights, and Mystery Hour on
Sunday afternoons Our Married Life with Children and TV When we were first
married we had only our clock radio which I had purchased after
selling my Schwinn Bicycle while I was in high school. Del had yellow
tube radio that he received as a Christmas present from his parents in
1946. He still has that radio today 2007. It is over 60 years
old. We purchased our first TV console which sat on the floor. We paid $5 at an auction sale. That was 1959. (In the sixties.) We often heard "Captain Kangaroo", and "Howdy Doody Time" along with "The Lone Ranger", "Roy and Dale Rodgers", Trigger and Buttermilk, "Lassie", and "A Horse is a Horse of Course Of Course".
Video & DVD Times continue to change as the newest addition in the past few years 2005 is a DVD player. It plays CD Roms and DVD's ( DVD's are the size of a CD but can play an entire movie). They can be played on our computer or a DVD player which is connected to the TV like the Video player (VCR). VCR is already outdated in 2007. What's Next? The technology is changing so rapidly. We have never seen anything like it in our lifetime? Nothing moves slowly anymore! Victrola
hand wound with large heavy
record which played about 15 minutes. You had to keep
turning the crank on the side if you wanted to hear it
all. [According to wikepedia a it is a gramophone,
acoustic gramophone — an antique record player; the sound of the
vibrating needle is amplified acoustically.] Rusty
in Orchestraville 12 Dancing Princesses was my second Album of 3 records on both sides. It kept me occupied for over an hour and 1/2. A couple years later Dad purchased an electric phonograph record player. This was before Hi Fi and stereo . We thought we really had something special, and we did. It was monaural player, and we could buy 12 inch records and actually hear the sounds for the stories and the music. The piece of furniture was special too. It was so beautiful! I had to polish it every week with furniture cream to keep it shining. Bing
Crosby's Christmas record I remember listening to over
and over. Del said he had a record player for a few hours in 1946. His mother asked if he would rather have a radio, and he said yes. "Mother took it back and bought me the little tan tube radio which I use to this day." (now 72 years old in 2003) Still going in 2007. *********************************** Our Life Together after 1955: In 1959, We purchased a new Stereo Phonograph. It could be folded together with speakers folding out when in use. It had great sound and could be carried like a portable. It was too heavy to be a portable but had the wonderful sound at that time of a great HI FI (high fidelity) or Stereo as this one was. It was our special piece of equipment and we kept it for many years. In fact sometimes we wish we had not sold it on a yard sale because it would have served us well today. We so wish we had some of those older phonographs so we could play our many records in our collection. The records are keeping the shelves warm and our ears silent now. 2007. In 1986, we purchased the Stereo we had given to Cindy for her graduation gift. She had it on a yard sale because she and Phil were trying to come up with enough money for a down payment on a house. We still have this unit, but it needs work so we are not using it now. We are planning to keep it as turntables are more difficult to come by. Cd's have taken them over today, and the sound is so much better. However, we have a house full of long play stereo records . The past
few years the only Christmas music we have played has
been on CD's. How times have changed. This is a throw
away world we are living in today, and it isn't something
we are getting accustomed to at all. Afraid we remember
the depression days and the War. Our children will never
have the feeling we have of being careful and saving
every bit we can. What we purchased in those days we
purchased for life! Things could almost last a lifetime, too. My
grandparents and parents always said "If you buy something and take
good care of it, you will not need to replace it again, it will last you
a lifetime." Movies "I, Judy, remember Bambi,
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Black
Beauty, Ma and Pa Kettle Del "I went to a movie with My family in the little town of Holmesville, Nebraska. We watched a movie on an open air screen. We sat on benches (board on blocks of stumps) to watch the show. It was cold, and it was late at night. The moon was shining and everything was dark and cold. "In
Sioux City we went to the movies at Peter's Park Theater.
It was 10¢. Judy "In
the 50's Drive In Theaters became popular and families
would all go to the drive in. We would always take our
own popcorn and kool-aid for refreshments. Sometimes mom
would take along apples and oranges for us to eat. Our
Luther League Youth Group would often go to the Drive In
after Luther League on Sunday Nights. We even put extra
kids in the trunk so we could all get in. We pooled our
money so we could go. One night we went in through the
exit with a carload. It was after the ticket office
closed so it would be the middle of a movie. If we had a
few cents we would put it together and buy some popcorn
to share. Drive
Ins were a good place to go on Dates. Lots of
"necking" going on there. If you weren't
involved, and it was known you had gone to a Drive In
with someone, others assumed they knew what you were
doing there. The
last drive in theater we went to was after we were married.
It was entitled "Adam and Eve". In the late
1980's, Del
and I went to a Movie in Laughlin at the Riverside. Today we watch TV very little. TV has become so filled with advertising that it isn't even fun anymore. I like to watch Dr. Phil and Oprah, and that is about it. Rarely do we hear about a good movie and watch it. We have become more interested in watching Video's if anything. At least if we fall asleep, we can continue another day. Even those shows are few and far between. The Motor Home might find us viewing a few videos. Mostly when the rain is coming down or a storm is making the outdoors unbearable. Five and Dime Stores Woolworth's and Kresge's were 5 & 10¢ stores where we could buy fun things for a nickel or dime. Often these were referred to as Dime Stores. It was fun to shop there. As children these stores provided all we needed for Christmas presents. It was our custom to make something for everyone and "give something of ourselves" is what we were taught. Maybe the Depression and the War Years helped bring about these customs. 1937-1950 (I became the babysitter) We didn't
know what a baby sitter was. My parents always took us
with them when they would go out for a weekend. On
weekends we all got into the car and went to our friends
homes ( I remember Gene & Ardell Johnson and family,
Lad and Ethel Kasten, Winnie and Jerry, Betty and Gordie
(aunt & uncle). Other times their families came to
our home. Family
was important. We saw our grandparents every weekend. Often all of the grandchildren would be there. We
would eat and the men would listen to the ballgame on the
big radio.
We learned to play board games of many kinds. I had paper dolls and the boys had little trucks made of rubber or tin. We all learned to play cards too. Those were good indoor activities in the winter as well as reading books. READING CONTINUES TO BE A LEISURE ACTIVITY. Del has quite a collection of Louis L'Amour books. Judy enjoys Biographies and Autobiographies as Well as Janette Oke series of books which are of the Old West in a very historical, Christian, humorous, serious style. Her books are so real and can find the tears flowing and the laughter roaring at times. Another
neat Author is
our niece An excerpt from
her book here by permission: “Where do tears
go when they dry?” With
tousled hair,
and treasured smile, He said, “Mom,
fix it. Please make it feel better. Why can’t I see
the place where it hurts? “Let’s
follow one and see,” I said. I said, “Our
heart is where we store our love, It’s where we
keep our memories, and makes us who we are. Sometimes, even
hearts can cry, when they don’t understand. A heart is no good,
when it’s empty. I think that means
that tears must go,
I had a Dr. Kit
that we played with. We would one be a Doctor or nurse
and the others were patients. We had a stethoscope, thermometer, shots, and red hot candy for
pills. When we would give shots the patient would cry.
Then we would give them a pill to take the pain away. Del made many model airplanes. "Everyday I would work on them. I kept busy in my little shop and loved making things. I could buy a nice model for 10¢. They were of Balsam Wood. There were little containers called dope (colored paint) and tubes of tester glue for the wheels. They would fly through the air with the greatest of ease."
"I made a "pusher". I longed for a nice set of wheels for my pusher. It was really a homemade car with 4 wheels. I had one tire missing on mine. so it rattled like heck going down the hill. I had a broom handle to steer it with and cans for lights. You pushed it up the hill and then coasted it downhill. Pushers were on the scene for many years before bicycles.
OUTDOORS
He also
made a great sandbox and put it on the end of the Tennis
Court. I loved making cookies and mud pies, baking them
under the corner seats and serving them. When we went to the Park
My favorite activity was riding on the Merry Go Around!
Age 5 I had a great kitchen cupboard made by my Uncle Clare. There I had food stored. Every time Mom would empty a nice box or can I could have it to add to my pantry. I also remember that Oatmeal boxes also served as wonderful drums." Gpa Del said he played store. They put paper into old plastic bread wrappers to make them look like real bread. They also used cans with labels on them as the food items and empty oatmeal boxes. Leaves off the trees served as dollars at the grocery store. A wooden orange crate nailed on the side of the house served as a shelf for groceries. "When it rained we went out of business because everything was made of cardboard and got soaked so we had to throw it out." ******************************************** When in grade school in the '1940's, we played marbles and jumped rope. We would take our marbles to school and during recess we would shoot into a hole we made in the dirt. We each had shooter marbles. Everyone would put a marble in the pot and if we got our shooter in the hole we would win the pot. We also put marbles in our hand and had other guess how many were there. If you guessed right you got the marbles. If you did not guess correctly you had to pay. I still have quart jars of marbles I collected from the 4th through the 6th grades. We jumped rope at recess. Many
little jingles did we know and jump to. One, two, three O'Leary; 4, 5, 6,
O'Leary. 7,8,9 O'Leary 10 O'Leary Postman.
Next time it was 2 O'Leary's. each time you jumped. and
then 3 and 4, and you kept jumping until you missed and
then you were out and had to turn the rope for the next
jumper.
Delmar and brothers Ken and Ron played on the farm with cousins when visiting grandparents Waltke. They remember playing Chinny Chin. (This was a game with two opposing teams with a line scratched in the dirt in the middle of them. Behind each team was a 4' X 6' square which was scratched in the dirt. It was a goal about 20 feet behind the line. Each person on each team had a stick (whatever we could find to hit with) with which they would hit a tin can to the square behind the opposing team. The idea was to get the can to the goal on the side behind the opposing team. It was called Chinny Chin because quite often someone would get hit on the Shin of their leg while playing the game. The can eventually got beat up into a tiny ball of metal. Arm wrestling and finger games were great fun activities for the guys. *********************************************************** We and our children helped with the lawn mowing, and leaf raking and burning. We remember summers filled with bike rides, Playing cowboys, softball games, bowling, visits to the swimming pool and drinking gallons of Kool-Aid powder with lots of sugar. Soda Pop WAS NOT A CHOICE!
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Judy says,
"In the winter months, we sledded on a short hill
behind our house. That was on the Old Chippewa Road in
Eau Claire. It later became known as Starr Avenue when we
moved back in 1947. Ice skating rinks were close to our
home, about a mile. Ice skating was popular in Wisconsin.
My grandmother Haag would take us skiing and skating.
She was such a good sport, and we loved going with her. One of the boy scouts took off his belt and put "Del's legs
together for the transport. One week was spent in the
hospital in Cozad, Nebraska. The lady writing an article
for the local paper said "poor thing". |
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Picture at left is
diagram of farmstead in Nebraska. below are words typed that Delmar wrote in long hand on the left.. Sled - History Of:
"Silver Deluxe" This diagram was drawn
by Del Carstens in the year 2000. |
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All through the years we find little pieces of paper with men's faces doodles on them. Here are a few I found that had been tucked away.
In the next column you will find some recent ones. Looks quite happy!
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| Musical Instruments During the 30's, 40's, and 50's, every home had a piano. Every girl and boy took piano lessons weekly. Daily
piano practice was on the family schedule. Pianos were
gathered around during family gatherings. Members sang
along with the music and had fun together. First grade was the beginning of my musical training. It was fun harmonizing with family and friends at home. A piano was not available at so. Our music was led by our teacher with a pitch pipe in mouth. I
remember learning Steven Foster's songs one of which was "Way
Down Upon the Swanee River". According to legend, Foster had most of the lyrics in place but was casting about to give a name to the river of the opening line and asked his brother to suggest one. The first suggestion was "the Yazoo" of Mississippi, which, despite fitting the melody perfectly, Foster rejected. The second suggestion was "the Pee Dee" of the Carolinas, to which Foster said, "Oh pshaw! I won't have that.". His brother then consulted an atlas and called out "Suwannee!". Foster immediately wrote it in (misspelling it "Swannee"), saying "That's it exactly!". Foster himself never saw the Suwanee or even visited Florida, but the popularity of the song singlehandedly started a major tourist movement to Florida to see the river, as travelers from the Northeastern states in particular flocked to the region. More information like this might be found on Answers.com When I was 10
years old our family friend, Eugene Johnson gave us an antiquated piano
from his music store in Eau Claire. My parents could not afford
to give me the lessons I wanted so I robbed my piggy bank and
purchased a book from Gene's store. That was my education, and
it was on a piano that no longer responded to tuning. The only music
taught to me was from this book, and I was my own teacher.
Nothing was beautiful about this ready to be retired workhorse. Keys
were there, but without ivory and the finish was in desperate need of
restoration. This instrument could not be tuned, but I didn't care. My baby brother
had no choice as he listened to my music and slept through it all.
Del's family had a piano and Mother played it, and sang along with it. Ken and Ron took lessons but Delmar wasn't interested. He took violin lessons in school and made it to second chair which he thought was pretty good.
I took violin lessons in the 4th grade. Before the year was
over the instructor suggested I might want to quit as he knew I wasn't getting it.
I refused to give up much to the
displeasure of the instructor, I am sure! At that young
age I had learned that I must never quit something
started I started. I played in the
Christmas Concert just moving the bow almost anywhere and sometimes
without touching the strings. I am sure everyone around me would have
been happier if I would have just stopped. That was the last year I played
violin. The most musical talent I displayed was singing in the church choir. To that I was dedicated, and there "everyone was welcome." There were no try outs so I made it!
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Musical Instruments,
Continued Judy's brothers (Jon and Gene) played the trumpet and drums in the 1950's.
Neighbors were kind; but we remember the upstairs of our house had windows open and the entire block was a part of the daily audience during practice time. It was a great family neighborhood in Sioux City, Iowa. In 1956, Del and Judy were married and began raising their musical family. Wendy, Cindy,
and Jon all took piano lessons during the late 60's and early
1970's. Judy also took lessons
when Wendy did so she might be able to help out with
practice. As an adult I learned to read notes. Marguerite Johnson
of Winfield, Iowa was our patient instructor. Weekly I went to her home
with each of our children. Lessons cost $.50 each time.
1967 Cindy enrolled in Suzuki Violin Lessons at school.
Cindy started in Kindergarten. Her baby brother, Jon, listened as
she would practice and began lessons at the age of
4 years. 1970 was the year we took both Cindy and Jon to Stevens Point, Wisconsin to the National Suzuki Institute and continued for two more summers. When Jon was in Jr. Hi we took him to another Institute in Kansas. He continued lessons through High School taking lessons his last years at the School of Music in Iowa City. Both Cindy and Jon did well in Music, but Jon continued throughout his school years. After marriage Cindy took lessons after Paul was
born and loved it. (PICTURE) |
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The Zoo in Chippewa Falls was a favorite spot as children living in Eau Claire. After moving to Iowa we went to different Zoo's and the one in St. Paul Minnesota stands out as being super special. Also, St. Louis. Phoenix Zoo is a great place for photos and our club did a photo shoot there recently and here is a sampling of those pictures. http://www.members.cox.net/mrbiblw860/LWPSZOO.HTM Earlene Stanley showed me the Calendar she made with Zoo pictures. It is so professional and Beautiful, I wish I could show it to you here. Haven't figured out how to do that one yet. One day soon video editing will be something we will know how to do and that would be a great way to show something like this off.
Watch for Pictures to come Here!
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In 1993, a Tandy desktop computer found a home in our home. A new PC made its way into our world. A visit to our grandchildren found they had a new entertainment with computer games. Judy found it fascinating and volunteered many hours at the Glendale Adult Center inputting information into the computer there keeping the gift shop records up to date and doing the payroll. (Picture Glendale) It is there I learned about the internet and with the help of computer buddies was able to get a modem and get connected with Aztec email and internet service from Arizona University. It is a Free Net which continues to serve residents today in 2004.
1997
We purchased a Windows 98 PC with 2 Gigabytes. I thought
this would last me the rest of my life. 1999 A Laptop became my friend when traveling and proved to be very helpful with email communication. It was also a Windows 98 OS but it has 4 Gigs. A CD DVD drive. Soon discovered that neither of these would have enough storage or memory for Print Shop and Photoshop Elements which are programs I love to work with. [Both My Desktop and Laptop crashed within 2 months.] This led me to find a home on my desktop In 2001 for A 40 Gig Dell Computer. Grandson Joey became the new owner of my HP PC. I reformatted it, and it was like a new computer. Didn't have the storage for me, but a good starter for him. 2004 Replaced Tower on Dell with Compaq 40 Gig and replaced Compaq Laptop with Compaq 40 Gig. Judy has volunteered numerous hours with the Computer Club in Leisure World starting in 1999. The club has grown to over 500 households and is offering numerous classes to the residents at a nominal fee of $10 because of the 9 volunteer instructors.
Judy completed 2 years as President and served two years as ex-officio on the Board. 2003 we acquired a new classroom and lab as a part of the improvements in Leisure World. Beautiful well equipped classroom and lab. 2005-7 we have 11 instructors and 20 more or less classes offered each semester Fall, January and March. A few Short classes in June. Hundreds of students, all residents of Leisure World have taken a variety of classes to improve their computer skills. Judy was Education Director for 2½ years. |
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Under updated May, 2009 |
, The
Quiz Kids (prizes were awarded to
anyone who could stump a panel of precocious youngsters.).
The Lone Ranger. (The voice of
the Masked Man's faithful friend, Tonto, and the
thundering hooves of Silver brought the days of the Old
West alive), 
As the new
medium was invading American households, there was
something about Godfrey's wide grin, his infectious
chuckle, his unruly shock of red hair that made millions
tune in not once, but twice a week. 
This was a story of a boy going to Orchestraville, and
there all the instruments talked to us with the sounds
that they made. 
" I made a
toboggan and a coaster wagon. 
sticks at the Lesser nightingale over our motor home.
Just can't have him dropping little poops
on our awning. A mess! So grandpa is taking up his childhood
again. 
"I was so proud of
this snowman I built by myself in 1938."
Construction