Chores

[frawin]

Wilma, I think you are right about the name Delco as I had seen or heard of other old gasoline powered Delco Generators. There used to be several wind powered generators around Elk County. Kind of ironic that wind powered generation is now an important part of the electric generating future of this country and around the world.
Frank

[Dale Smith]

This has been such an interesting topic... thanks for sharing all these memories.  I love it.  Looking forward to reading more.

[frawin]

You know now that I think about it--did the Alladin lamps have wicks and no mantels?  I know that we had a Coleman lantern that we used and it had mantels.  Anyway, we used both and I remember how careful we had to be with the mantels.  Also, the chimneys on the lamps were very fragile and when you were washing and drying them, you had to be very careful.

Myrna

[Wilma]

There was a lamp that had to be pumped up like the lanterns and it had mantels.  We never had one.  Our lamps were coal oil and they had to be filled and the flues or chimneys washed every day and yes, they were very fragile.  I still have 2 old lamps that I don't use and a couple of new oil lamps that I don't use.  I prefer the battery lanterns in time of no electricity.  There isn't any chance of accidental fires with them.  Remember how careful we used to be to keep the lamps in the center of the table so they wouldn't get knocked off or over.

[Teresa]

You know? These archives on subjects like these are priceless. Thanks for all the stories. The way you talk about them, should be in the classroom. These kinds of things are a big part of our heritage and history. And just as important as some of the silly dates kids have to learn in school and never remember. Wouldn't it be great to have a "history" class where the kids had 2 days a week to sit and listen to real people come in and talk to them about the past? Women who were in the professional fields.. Women who were home having to deal with the hardships and family.. men who had been in the wars etc..
I bet you a dollar to a doughnut that we would have our children coming out of the classroom hungry for more.

[flo]

well, first off, Myrna, Aladdin lamps had mantles.  Rayo lamps, I think, had wicks.  We had several Aladdiin lamps when we were antiquing and had to buy mantles for most of them.  Well, didn't have to, but did anyhow.  I've read all these "good ole days" stories and lived all of them.  Hated wash day and pumping the water and carrying it to the tub to heat outside in the summer or inside in the winter.  Then when the hot water was transferred to the washing maching, you carried water for the rinse tubs.  One with just water and one with blueing.  Then when the laundry was done you carried the water to put on the garden or the flower beds.  We had a barrel to catch rain water to wash our hair with.   Hung out the clothes and brought them in.  Dishtowels losts of times were just spread on the grass.  Grandma thot that helped make them whiter.  Our iron was "two.  Ironed with one till it cooled off, unlatched the handle and hooked the one on the stove to continue ironing.  I Remember the bluing, the furniture oil, but haven't heard anyone mention "stove blackening".  Every spring the heating stove was cleaned inside and out and "blackened".  Made it look almost brand new. We moved to the south end of town in 1951 and it is then that we got our first refrigerator.  Not much of a one, very small, but you didn't have to put ice in it and you didn't have to empty the drip pan.    Grandma had bought a gas cook stove before me moved.  It had four burners on the right side and an oven on the left side.  No thermostat, if it got too hot, you opened the door a bit and let some of the heat out.  But we thought we were right uptown with that cook stove.  Well, enough of that. 

[Bonnie M.]

I was thinking about those irons.  I think they were called "flat irons?"  I was always so afraid that I'd drop one, since it didn't seem to me that the latch was ever "fool proof!"  You'd put your fingers to your lips to dampen them, then "smacked" the bottom of the iron, to see if it was hot enough.  (It's a wonder any of us are still alive!)

And, we managed the water the same as you mentioned.  Hand pumping it, carrying it in, then carrying it out to water whatever needed watering.  We caught rain water, too.  When you think about it, that's probably why we're "survivors," we learned how to survive in those "early days."

[flo]

yes those irons were heavy and the handles always seemed to have a lot of wiggle in them.  But they made wonderful door stops after you got your electric iron. 

[Ole Granny]

Flat irons!  I remember thinking how big I was when I finally helped Mother with the ironing.  She must have been a grand psychologist.  Started out with hankies, finally graduated to doing all the ironing as I aged.  All the while thinkiing how special it was to be trusted with the clothes.  When I was trusted with my Dad's overalls-that was the greatest.  I now have the flat irons as door stops-  three irons and one handle.

When I lived in the Colorado- our first home still had a wood stove for cooking.  The hot water heater was connected to the stove and had a separate burning area for heating the water.  You heated the water and hurried in to take your shower before it cooled.  The holding tank did not have any insulation.  At least it was the mountains and even summer it was not terribly warm.  

[W. Gray]

Before I came to Colorado, when someone mention flat irons, I thought of the irons that I recall my grandmother on my mother's side heated on the stove to do her ironing. My other grandmother who lived on Wabash Street upstairs where Robin's church is now ironed big time. She had one of those big steam presses that you see in a dry cleaning establishment. She had it in a small separate room.

Below is what I now think of when someone mentions flat irons. We have been through there but have never hiked in them.


The Flatirons are rock formations near Boulder, Colorado. There are five large, numbered Flatirons ranging from north to south (First through Fifth, respectively) along the east slope of Green Mountain, and the term "The Flatirons" sometimes refers to these five alone. Numerous smaller named Flatirons are on the southern part of Green Mountain and among the surrounding foothills.

The Flatirons were named by pioneer women after the flat, metal irons used to press their clothes.