We Need Something Cold

[Diane Amberg]

Our trees are shedding leaves early too. It looks like rain and then it goes north of us. Not quite as hot but hot enough.

[Wilma]

Ms Bear still needs us.  Let's all send our cold thoughts to Texas.

Do you remember the old ice cream cones that were actually cone shaped with the pointy bottom that you couldn't set down?  Remember how the ice cream used to melt and run down into the bottom of the cone and eventually soak through the cone and leak out?  Remember how you could then suck on the bottom of the cone and get all the melted ice cream?  Do those still exist?

[Ms Bear]

Thank you Wilma.  I am so ready for even a few cool days.  Tired of shoveling dirt every day after I put the big dog back outside.

I think the cones you are talking about are the sugar cones, the cake cones are flat on the bottom.  I like them both but think the kids liked the pointed ones best because they were messier.  Amazing how they only got ice cream all over them if they were dressed up, play clothes never.  My youngest is 41 and I still remember this.

[frawin]

Ms Bear still needs us.  Let's all send our cold thoughts to Texas.

Do you remember the old ice cream cones that were actually cone shaped with the pointy bottom that you couldn't set down?  Remember how the ice cream used to melt and run down into the bottom of the cone and eventually soak through the cone and leak out?  Remember how you could then suck on the bottom of the cone and get all the melted ice cream?  Do those still exist?

Wilma, Braums still has the pointed sugar cones.

[Catwoman]

If you get with Cork AAA, you can get Schwan's Sundae Cones (I think that was their name, anyway)...Pointy sugar cones, with chocolate in the tip to forestall leaks, with ice cream in it that is topped with nuts and a center of fabulous caramel...Totally decadent and YUMMY, YUMMY, YUMMY!!! 

[Mom70x7]

Family Market sells pointed sugar-flavored waffle cones. Jim uses them all the time.

I eat my ice cream in a dish - I'm too slow an eater to use a cone! 

And old-fashioned vanilla is my favorite.

[Diane Amberg]

Sugar cones are still easy to find.I loved to bite the bottom off and suck out the then soft ice cream also. Now I just get a cup .

[Janet Harrington]

Schwann root beer float bars. They remind me of the floats that you used to get at Batson"s back in the 60's.  Squirt and I would get a root beer float there and sit in the front window and consume them while reading comic books. AAAAAAAHHHHHHH the GOOD OLD DAYS.  If I remember at one time Teresa worked there!!

I used to work there when I was married to Woody.

[farmgal67357]

If you get with Cork AAA, you can get Schwan's Sundae Cones (I think that was their name, anyway)...Pointy sugar cones, with chocolate in the tip to forestall leaks, with ice cream in it that is topped with nuts and a center of fabulous caramel...Totally decadent and YUMMY, YUMMY, YUMMY!!! 

Those were originally called drumsticks. They were my moms fave!
Lisa

[Wilma]

It seems that Ms. Bear still needs our help.  Let's give it another shove.

Do you remember the ice man, you know, the man that delivered chunks of ice to the ice box in the kitchen before everybody had electric refrigerators?  I do because I used to ride around the route with our ice man.  He had an old Chevy panel truck.  That was a truck with doors in the rear that opened like French doors.  Each door had a little window.  The only other windows were the ones up front.  The interior was open from the windshield to the rear doors.  Except he had put in a partition just behind the seats.  This partition was in two pieces, lower and upper.  The upper part had a window and was removable.  The purpose of the partition was partly to help keep the cab portion warmer in the winter and partly to keep the ice away from the back of the seat.  There was a shelf about half way up the side that extended from one side of the truck to the other side of the truck.  This was to keep the mail sacks off the damp floor.  You see he was also the Star Route carrier in the area.

He would start his day at 6:00 in the morning when he picked up the mail at the depot.  His first stop was in the town where the ice plant was, so after dropping off the mail for that town he would stop at the ice plant and load up six or seven 300 pound blocks of ice.  They just fit crosswise in the back of the truck.  He covered the ice with a tarp, then a handsewn blanket of burlap made from gunny sacks, then another tarp.  After dropping the last of the morning mail, he would start the ice route for the day.  He had at least two routes and delivered at least twice a week.  The customer could have 100 pounds, 75 pounds, 50 pounds or 25 pounds.  To make a 100 pound chunk, Daddy had to cut the 300 pound chunk into 3 equal pieces.  To do this he had a scribe tool that was made to measure exactly 1/3 of the way into the side of the chunk.  Starting at the top and using the end for a guide, he would score the side of the chunk on both sides, then using the ice pick he would gently chip into the score until the ice cracked.  Voila, one 100 pound chunk.  For 50 pounds, he would use the tool and score across the middle of the 100 chunk.  For the 25  chunk, he used the pick and his judgement.  To carry the ice, he had two ice bags.  How to describe them.  Maybe like a sling shot, but sturdier.  Made of tough canvas with rivets, etc., leather handles for comfort.  I can still see them.  The larger one was for carrying 50 lb. chunks.  Daddy didn't try to carry 100 lb. chunks, that was too heavy even for today's man.  The smaller one was for the occasional 25 lb. chunk which was all some of the older people needed or could afford. 

My job was to keep the book for him.  He had a notebook with the customers listed in the order that he came to them.  He always wrote down how much ice they got, how much they paid him in one column and another column for if they didn't have the money that day.  I learned to spell and pronounce a lot of difficult names that way.  My other job was to keep the ice splinters cleaned up which was easy to do on a hot day and I didn't have to share with anyone as his customers were rural.  You couldn't ask for a cooler job on a hot day as riding with Daddy as he delivered ice to his customers.