This Just Can't Be Right!!

I snapped this picture today. I suppose this Burger King should "resolve" to check their spelling and then be "resolute"in correcting their sign.

© 2007 Barry T Horst



This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Retro Goes Only So Far

I was flipping through the latest issue of Old House Journal yesterday. I came across an ad for Big Chill Retro Appliances. For those of you that do not know, there is a massive business in this country and others helping the world take a step back in time. I decided to see what I could find.

I began my search in earnest at the Big Chill web-site. I came across fridges and stoves that certainly looked out of the 50's but were equipped with many of the amenities that we come to expect today (Ice-maker, Frost-Free, Radiant burners under glass, etc.). Many of the colors are truly retro. Although, I am not quite sure about red and orange. The web-site indicated they also had dishwashers but I never located them except on the Price Sheet page and in a few of the customers pictures.

I continued my search for retro-appliances and wound up at Elmira Stove Works in Elmira, Ontario. They have a complete line of 1850's style stoves to 1950's style models. They also have refrigerators and wall ovens. ESW advertised dishwasher panels. Apparently they do not make the dishwashers, only a panel to place on the front. At first I thought that's probably what Big Chill did. I looked back at their site for the price, $1695. Nope, that's got to be a real dishwasher. ESW shows a microwave also. Their web-site says the microwave is a "...deluxe 2.1 cu.ft...that matches the entire Elmira line." At least it is not as big as the first commercial microwave which was introduced in 1947 and was nearly 6 feet tall and weighed in at over 750 pounds. The first domestic microwave was introduced in 1957.

Moving to something smaller, I found a line of small appliances by Hamilton Beach that are somewhat reminiscent of some small appliances from the 1950's. The line is called Hamilton Beach Eclectrics.

Doing the research I found a fellow that made a scooter out of old appliance parts. I thought it was interesting and so I included it here. Give "The Retro-Future Scooter" a look.

For the past few years I have been seeing a lot of radios and phonographs designed to look like their distant cousins from the 1930's to 1950's. Of course, these have been modernized with current electronics as well as current features. Imagine, a radio from the 1930's with a cassette slot on the side or a CD slot on the front. Now they even make a retro phonograph with CD burner so you can record your old vinyl to CD. Cool!! If you would like to check out some more retro radios, clocks, juke boxes, etc. try CAMZ Retro, Inc, Retro Wonders, or Crosley Radio.

If you need other items for the kitchen, say a diner booth or some boomerang laminate then you need to visit Bars & Booths. You could spend like forever on their site looking at all they carry. Also, they have a page with links to several of their other web sites devoted to retro items. Click here and scroll to the bottom for the links. You can also try Lehman's. They offer many retro items. They stock various items ranging from hand crank ice cream freezers and butter churns to old fashioned steel cut nails and spoke pointers. You see, much of their trade is directed to the Amish. To help out with the retro feeling in the bedroom you can get an iron bed at American Iron Beds.

When you are almost finished with the decorating and remodeling and need a rest you can visit Kiddie Records Weekly and listen to many of the children's records from the 1940's and 1950's. Or visit Radio Spirits or Radio Lovers and listen to many of the radio shows from yesteryear. Another interesting site is Classic Themes.

I guess I'm through for the day. I suppose tomorrow I'll work on the bathroom and bring it up to retro specs. Would you like one hole or two? Do you prefer the Sear's catalogue or a corn cob? Or maybe just a chamber pot will do for the cold weather. Maybe that's taking this whole retro thing a little too far. I reckon I'll just pass and be content with the modern bathroom for now.

© 2007 Barry T Horst



This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

I Remember........

Last night,Tom and Ruth Ann, Chris' brother and sister-in-law visited. As happens when family visits the conversation eventually shifts to memories when we were young. The same thing happened last night.

Our trip down Memory Lane began when Ruth Ann asked about the Christmas candles I had mentioned in an earlier Blog post, the Gurley/Tavern candles. Chris pointed them out and then Chris, Tom, and their Dad began to discuss the various candles that they had when they were younger living in Kansas. They not only had candles for Christmas, but they had some for Spring, Halloween, and Thanksgiving. At about this time I remembered a catalog I had from the Vermont Country Store. I mentioned that our candles were the originals from long ago, but the candles were being made again. Look at the new candles here.

While we were flipping through the catalog, someone asked, "Do you remember Soaky Toys?" They are the old bottles for bubble bath that were made to look like various cartoon characters popular at the time. Chris and Tom both reminisced over the various ones they had and played with. I remember Mr. Bubble. My parents didn't buy bubble bath for me or my brother and sister very often. I suppose they thought it was a waste of money. They did buy shampoo though. For a youngster shampoo made pretty good bubbles. I wonder if it would have been cheaper to buy bubble bath and not have to buy so much shampoo because I was using it for a bubble bath?

While I was still pondering the bubble bath issue someone else started tugging us to a different location on Memory Lane. This was a very dangerous location on Memory Lane. It involved past girlfriends. Just prior to this Tom was relating his memories of going to an early Pro-Bowl at Arrowhead Stadium shortly after it was built. Then it happened. He mentioned having taken a girl to the game. Ruth Ann said that she has heard the story many times but this was the first time she heard the part about the girlfriend. We are beginning to slide down the slope now. Then, someone (Probably his sister Chris) asked Tom just how he knew how many girls he had dated before meeting and marrying Ruth Ann. He simply said he kept a list of their names.

Not content to be sitting on the sidelines I decide to wade in with both feet. Out of the blue I say, "I remember the funniest thing that happened to me on a date." Too late now, I'm committed. They want to hear it now. For a time in high school I worked at The Cinema movie theatre. We could get discount tickets to other theatres in town. There was a new girl that started at the Cinema and I decided I would ask her out for a date. She said yes so on Saturday night we wen to a movie at the 25th Street Theatre. I don' remember what was showing but I do remember what the fellow taking tickets at the door said. He looked at my date and said, "You must have like this movie a lot to come back again tonight!" As I said, I don't remember the movie and I really don't remember the girl.

During this whole episode I look over and Julie has picked up the Tavern Puzzles. You know, they are the metal puzzles (horseshoes, etc.) where you have to take off a ring or some such object and it looks near impossible to do. It is possible with a great deal of patience. Julie had involved her self with trying to solve the puzzles and then all of us get into the act. At that point Memory lane was left behind. I guess you could say it was just a memory. We were now busy making new memories with the puzzles. Undoubtedly, Julie will relate these memories to her children many years from now.

More memories later. I have to go make a few more for the future.

© 2007 Barry T Horst


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Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Last Night Was 1936, 1938, and 1959

The movie, "Joy of Living" 1938, came on TCM on December 20th. I was busy that night preparing for the last day of school before Christmas holidays so Chris recorded it on the DVR. Well last night we watched it. It was a cute movie which Irene Dunne and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. Irene Dunne played a Broadway star whose family sponged off of her. Irene fell in love with Douglas Fairbanks Jr. who wanted her to leave the stage if they married. Of course, the family was against this. Hilarity ensued as they went back and forth. The movie was very enjoyable and definitely worth another look. However, the real reason I am writing is this...If our lead character was an actress and she fell in love how could the object of her love tell if she was sincere or merely acting?

I suppose you would call this one of life's imponderables. Here are a few more of Life's Imponderables:
Why do we sing "Take me out to the ball game" when we are already there?
Doesn't "expecting the unexpected" make the unexpected expected?
Why is it called "after dark" when it really is "after light"?

Moving right along,

Chris and I watched two more good movies that were DVR'd from TCM earlier in the week. They were "The Next Time I Marry" 1938 and "Petticoat Fever" 1936. "The Next Time I Marry" starred Lucille Ball, who incidentally was also in "Joy of Living". Lucille played an heiress who must marry "a plain American" in order to inherit a fortune. "Petticoat Fever" starred Irene Dunne and Robert Montgomery. He portrays a wireless operator in Labrador that falls in love with a woman, Irene Dunne, that is stranded at his wireless base only to have his fiancee' show up. Both are great and are highly recommended.

Finally, after the old movies I popped in a DVD, Perry Mason-Season 2, Volume 2. I watched Episodes #21-23. What a great night; Old Movies and Old TV Shows.

© 2007 Barry T Horst



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Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Where's My Schedule? I Think I'm Running Late

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, holidays give me a lot of spare time. Therefore, I can get a lot of my backlogged "need to do's" taken care of. Well, holidays are also great for getting your internal out of sync. Way out of sync. The same has happened to me or my internal clock, as the case may be.

I generally get up at 4:00 AM to Blog, then I get ready for work, and have breakfast. I arrive at work between 6:45 and 6:55 AM daily. Once at school my schedule is set by the school day. After school I return home; generally no later than 4:30 PM. I may run a few errands on the way home. I will do a few things around the house, do school work, etc. Bedtime is between 9:00 and 10:00 PM. Then we start all over again the next morning. Weekends are not very different. The only exception is I don't go to work. I will do small projects around the house and perhaps run some errands with Chris.

But the holidays!!! I am not sure how it happens or when it exactly occurs. It may be that in the way back, deep, dark recesses of my mind I think (Yes, I do think occasionally!); anyway, I think, "I don't have to go to work tomorrow. Maybe I will stay up a few minutes later!" Perhaps I unknowingly think that if I maybe sleep a few minutes longer the next morning I will catch up staying up later! Who knows?

All I know is that it doesn't work. It just gets worse and worse. Presently, I seem to be going to bed around midnight and getting up at 6:00 AM and having a short nap thrown into the mix during the mid-afternoon. By my calculations, if I return to work on January 7, 2008 I should be going to bed around 3:00 AM. Something has got to change before then. It will. As usual, I will start a few days before the holidays end and will force myself back to bed "early" so I can start rising on time at 4:00 AM. Ahhh!! It will be nice to get back into the normal routine.

I will be on time for school and life will be grand. Until, Spring Break. And don't even get me started on Summer. Summer really throws a monkey wrench into the mix.

Before I leave today, I wanted to mention a web-site. I have been helping a friend develop her website. The web-site is for The Cedar Chest Antique Mall. I would appreciate it if you could visit the website and give it a look. I have also added a link to the web-site under My Favorite Links on the sidebar of the Blog. See it? It's right there, on the left hand side.

© 2007 Barry T Horst

This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Two Kinds of Cans-Aluminum Cans and Pecans

I do not go back to work until January 7, 2008. This is great because it gives me time to catch up on things that I have not had time to do. With Christmas over, I decided yesterday to try to catch up on a few things. I decided to take aluminum cans for recycling and to sell the extra pecans.

As we empty our soft drink cans we keep them in containers outside. I periodically bag them up and take them to Lipsitz Metals for recycling. Yesterday Chris told me that I was being "Green" for Christmas. I told her that I wasn't being "Green", I wanted "Green" Anyway, I loaded all of the bags of cans into the back of the truck and headed down to Lipsitz. I waited in line for my turn. When the time came I pulled the truck up, got out, and started to take the bags of cans out give them to the attendant. He slices each bag open and pours the cans on the conveyor. At the end he prints out a ticket which I take to the office. The ticket indicated that I turned in 54 pounds of cans. How much would I get? Once inside the office I eagerly anticipate my new found wealth. The man behind the counter says, "That's $32.40!" That is 60 cents per pound of recycled aluminum. Not bad for just drinking soft drinks and keeping the cans for about 6 months.

Now, let's look at the numbers behind the numbers. Thanks to modern manufacturing techniques there are approximately 33.5 cans to make a pound. In 1980 that number was 25 cans per pound. That is why the cans seem so much thinner now. I can remember when I was in junior high and high school guys would show off by tearing an aluminum can in half. I did that recently and was proud of the fact that I could still do it. Then I learned that I could do it because the cans are made a lot thinner these days. So much for the feelings of youth from days gone by. Back to the numbers. So let's see; 54 pounds multiplied by 33.5 cans/pound equals 1809 cans. If you divide 1809 cans by 12 cans in a 12 pack you get 150.75 packs. Let's just say 150 packs. Now we can have fun. My $32.40 divided by 150 packs equals approximately 22 cents per twelve pack. OH! If I spent an average of $2.75 per twelve pack to buy the 150 packs of drinks that means I spent $412.50 in order to make $32.40. OH MY!

Let's look at it another way. If I spent $2.53 per twelve pack ($2.75 average cost less the 22 cents made from recycling the twelve cans) that means each can would cost a little over 21 cents. Sometimes it is better to look at the little picture than it is to look at the overall big picture. The big picture can get cluttered up with lots of silly numbers that lead us away from the overall goal which is the fact that each can is worth a little under 2 cents each. Keep that in mind the next you chunk a can out the window. "Hey honey! There went 2 cents."

I felt good though, after all that was money I didn't have earlier. Maybe I will fare better with the pecans. We have one pecan tree in our yard. We had an extremely good year for pecans. Towards the end of fall I began to harvest pecans. Harvest is a fancy word that means "stoop over and kill your back". Anyway, in my spare time I would pick up pecans and store them. On Christmas Day I was cracking some and decided that I had more than I could ever use like in forever. So, I made the momentous decision to sell what I couldn't use. I kept about half a bushel and bagged the rest. I would take them to Empire Seed and then come home to wallow in my new found riches.

After leaving Lipsitz yesterday I drove to Empire Seed. For those of you that do not know, they are across the street from each other. I walk in and tell the gentleman behind the counter that I have pecans to sell. I tell him that I had I so many pecans that I could use them all and I wanted to sell the rest. He said, "That's OK. We eat all we can and then sell the rest, just like the ice cream!" I wonder if he used to work for Blue Bell Ice Cream? Any way, he then tells me, "...45 cents a pound" and proceeds to weigh them. After weighing the pecans he takes them to a massive bag and dumps them in. This bag had every kind of pecan in it imaginable, at least in my imagination. Then he announces that he has to weigh the bags empty and get the difference. I commented about the different pecans in the big bag and he laughs about buying an occasional rock or two. Then he shows me a pocket knife that was in a bag of pecans he bought the other day. He said he kept expecting the owner to come back to get it. He hasn't come yet. I tell him it is not bad for 45 cents a pound.

I then learn that my haul came to 39 pounds. At 45 cents a pound that is, let's see, $17.55. OH!
The fellow at Empire Seed then tells me that the local Lion's Club brings in bags of pecans to be cracked. The Lion's Club then shells them to sell for $7.99 a pound. OH MY! If I did that I could make $311.61. OH GOODNESS! From both of my trips I made just under $50. Why that won't even buy a tank of gas! OH MY GOODNESS!!!!


© 2007 Barry T Horst



This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.