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Bill Leggett

THIS WAS TAKEN JULY 4TH MANY YEARS AGO, 

SOUTH MAINSTREET. MY WIFE AND I WERE VISITING

A LITTLE HISTORY

Rex Booth

Rex Booth

And lest we not forget: "Gentlemen, Start Your Engines"!!

Indy 500  - Startup (1919)

Current Years  (no yellow flag... yet)

John Doyal

The Indy was still worth watching, full of the old ideas of how we should honor the day.  Even though the race was rain delayed it was one of the best with no larger crowd anywhere else(300,000+)  Did not see anyone refusing to stand or cause problems.   Was not fond of the way the two singers performed, but Indiana was super(Gomer would have been proud)  One of the only events where previous winners outnumber the rookies.  Hope everyone enjoys the day and the remembrances.

Rex Booth

John D.

The final laps of the Indy 500 were thrilling to watch! Josef Newgarden and Pato O'Ward were dueling it out in the final 5 laps. Bet they traded 1st and 2nd place a least a dozen or more times! The last two laps were awesome. I thought  Pato O'Ward had the race cinched when he passed Josef Newgarden in 2nd to last lap.  I was wrong... about half-way through the last and final lap, Josef veered to the outsidei, gunned it, passed, and edged out Pato for the win!  I consider them both winners! Josef won his  second consecutive Indy 500!  Not  many have done that.

John Doyal

Rex the other thing I noticed was Penski did not say gentlemen and ladies start your engines, he said drivers start your engines (with both being incorrect as team members start the engines)  I wonder how long it took to get out of the packed traffic after the race The fans looked like sardines before the race.

Rex Booth

Yes, there is some controversy whether the original announcer (back the 'teens) said "Gentlemen start your engines" or "Gentlemen start your motors".  It is only proper protocol now to announce: "Laddies and Lasses get your rockets started"... since Katherine Legge was the sole female driver.

Unfortunately, Legge DNF. Her engine blew on lap 22 of 200. Remember when Shirley Muldowney in her Top Fuel dragster beat 'Big Daddy' Don Gartlis "Swamp Rat".  It would be a change to see Katherine Legge in the Indy 500 winner's circle.

What sayeth thee Lasses?

Rex Booth

Does anyone know the name of this lass...?

Rex Booth

Rex Booth

Any of us have the summertime blues...?

Town Hall Party 1959  (put on Full Screen)

Charline Lake

Looks like Stevie Nicks to me.

Sherry Hester (Trasp)

Yep I agree with Charline! I might add, "a Young Stevie Nicks"!

Rex Booth

Ah Yes, the one and only... Stevie Nicks!!

Looks like Charline and Sherry get to see to the 1977 concert where Stevie sings her hit song from the Fleetwood Mac album "Rumours" !!

Hope you Nicks Chicks dig it !!!

Fred Miller

It has been said about Stevie Nicks that she can write a song, "Silver Springs", about breaking up with her man, Lindsey Buckingham, and then have him play the song in the band while she sings the song...all the while staring at him.

Rex Booth

Fred

A break-up with show-biz "Irony"...

A tidbit... the song "Rhiannon" written by Stevie was based on her research of an old Welsh fable. Rhiannon was the name of a Welsh Witch which possessed a young lass. If you watch Stevie's hand gestures as she sings... she looks as though she is experiencing an exorcism. 

Rex Booth

Coal Filled Iron Variation (600-1700 AD)

1880 - 1940

John Doyal

Rex, my mother still used them until we moved to town because we had no electricity at the ranch.  When not in use they were door stops to keep the doors open in the summer so air could blow through the screen door.  It was also the reason a lot of starch was used so the ironed clothes would hold the creases longer.  They were great for making roads in the dirt until you got caught.

Paula Carl (Cowee Miller)

Yes, My grandmother used an iron like these. When my dad and uncles ran electricity to my grandparents home about 1955 she then used an electric iron and they had an electric stove. Even so we went to bed early and rose early to save on the cost of burning bulbs!  As I remember there was a lone bulb in the living room that was used for just a little while in the evenings. 

John Doyal

Paula, when we lived at the ranch it was early to bed because my dad had piped in propane for a gas heater, stove and refrigerator and a lantern in the kitchen and living room.  After we moved to town, it was early to bed to save the bulbs also.  John L. most of living at the ranch was fine because I didn't miss what I didn't know about.  The advantage was we raised beef, pork, chickens, and ducks and had enough milk and butter to sell some.  The water from the windmill was soft but had floride in it which has allowed me to still have all of my teeth.  When we moved I didn't miss the 2 holer with Sears and rearback toilet paper.

Paula Carl (Cowee Miller)

John, I hated using the outhouse at my grandparents!  Spiders, bugs, smell!  And the inside slop jar was horrible. Finding out about those we went to school with for all those years is absolutely fascinating because I had no idea how varied our lives were back then. Good job, classmates!  Happy Father's Day to all you guys!

Sherry Hester (Trasp)

John D and Paula, what a wonderful life you lived.
We all could be a little more humble by having had 
that sort of up brining! by the time I came along my
sister, who is 10 years older than me had those sort
of experiences but I am not sure she had the same attitude.
I really respect Ya'll! I am sure it wasn't easy but you don't
complain and as John said he, "didn't miss what he didn't
know about"! Thank you both for sharing your life with us!!
 

Rex Booth

I remember there being no toilet nor electricity in our house on South Montana. We did have an outhouse… During  and after World War 2, we lived all together with grandparents, aunt and uncle, and their two sons. Eight of us sharing one bedroom, a living room, and a covered porch in the back. It wasn’t until my uncle returned from Belgium after the war that he built the bathroom and another bedroom. And by 1947 my uncle had wired the house complete with "Reddy Kilowat"! 

John Doyal

Paula, at least the slop jar was big enough compared to the urine sample cups we now have to use when we see the doctors(seems like they are smaller each time I go).  The other thing I have noticed is that even in the outdoor toilets the seat heigth was high not like a lot of the modern day comodes where you feel like you are almost squatting on the floor like Japan where the toilet is only a hole in the floor.                                                         John L.  back in the 90's the gas company raised their rates here to 2-3 hundred a month and I went to wood heat totally.  I liked going to the mountains and cutting my own wood, but that came to a stop when my wood cutting area got closed due to a bug infestation and was closed.  I had looked at a heat pump as it both heated and cooled and had one installed.  It was nice not having to mess with changing from a furnace to an air conditioner twice a year.  It finally went out and I had to replace it last week for $9000 which would have bought 3 new cars when we graduated.  Amazing what we will do for the comfort now(I also have the tall comode)

Patrick Riley

Wow, some of you have amazing stories to tell!

I've frequently described the "hardships" of my youth by saying, "We just had one bathroom." I was describing the house I lived in from birth through sixth grade. But, hey, we at least had a bathroom ... outhouse stories are something I never experienced.

I just looked my childhood home up on Google Street View. Somewhat surprisingly, it's still there and a bit worse for wear but it did have a bathroom! See screencature below.

I remember feeling completely "normal" in my youth as my friends' and neighbors' houses were all about the same.

A number of years ago, Tommy Weathers made a very profound statement in describing our childhood ... it has always stuck with me. Tommy said, "We were all poor then; we just didn't know it."

Thanks to Google, here's a current look at my childhood digs ... just a short bike ride from Missouri Avenue Grade School:

Rex Booth

It's true, many of us did not know we were poor until... we went to high school. Then we discovered those who drove brand-new cars bought by Daddy.  On the flip side, it was a lot of fun playing Route 66 in Barney Durham's 1958 Corvette.  We may have come from humble beginnings, but we were 'rich' in other areas that has served us well.

'58 Corvette