I remember stories my Dad used to tell about living during the Depression. There weren’t many of the conveniences that we have now. They had kerosene lanterns for light, outhouses, a hand pump outside, wood stoves for heat and cooking, and thundermugs. Dad said they had an old model A pickup, but when it got cold in the winter, they had to build a fire under it to warm the engine up enough to get it to start. He said they were super cautious not to catch the pickup on fire. The wheels had spokes so they would wrap rope around the tires for traction devices when there was snow. One of my favorite stories was when they would tie fish hooks on the end of a couple of feet of heavy string, tie the line to a stake in their field, and put a kernel of corn on the hook. Ducks would fly in at night to feed in the field, swallow the corn, and get hooked. Dad and his brother would go out in the morning, thump the ducks on the head with a stick, clean them, and have ducks for dinner.
From 1960 to 1962, the first two years on the farm after Dad retired from the Navy, our family didn’t have electricity or running water. We took baths in a galvanized tub that Dad would set up next to the wood stove on bath day, and we would heat water on the wood stove. When we finally got a TV, it was black and white, and you had to be constantly fiddling with the nobs on the front so it didn’t look fuzzy and the picture wouldn’t constantly flip. We got three stations, but someone had to climb the fir tree next to our house and turn the antennae when you changed stations. Someone would lean out the window and yell at the person in the tree when they were in the right spot.
The electricity was off for a couple of hours during this ice storm today. I was instantly reminded of how many conveniences we have and how addicted and dependent we have become to them. I have a recliner that is operated by an electric motor. I was in it fully reclined with my feet up when the electricity went off; I couldn’t get out of my chair; I was stuck, and Patty had to pull me out.
Two things we did while raising our kids to keep them from becoming overly addicted to modern conveniences; the first was we went camping a lot and roughed it, and the second is we took them all on mission trips to third-world countries to see how they lived so they would be appreciative of what we have and not take it for granted.
I often daydream about heaven, and I have wondered whether we will have heated seats in our cars.