THE REATTA LOUNGE

[ship]

As I've mentioned before, my dad was career Navy.  So, I was born in Newport, RI, then lived in San Diego in my younger years, then in Colorado Springs for a short while, then to Massachusetts for the rest of my time now.  I tend to notice folks' different American "dialects".  I try to catch myself when I sound too "New England"...too many "ah's" at the end of most words, i.e., "down cellah", which means "in the basement", "forah" which means "four".  My wife has a wicked Boston/New York accent, and Good God Girt if I make fun of it.    

[Padgett]

Being mostly a Floridian had trouble when in Indiana someone ordered a roast beef sandwich with mangos.

 

ps Grandfather was army top kick, father was a Conoe U grad & was in charge of the back of the boat. So I was AF since did not want to walk where I was going.

[Ron Walker]

Padgett, and any others in Florida, hope you're weathering Ian without much damage or issues. Looks pretty scary on the TV. My thoughts and well wishes to all affected.

[Padgett]

Land always slows himmicanes down. Looks to be on a line from Punta Gorda to Sebring to Melbourne and wind speed has dropped 30 mph since landfall. Florida is a big state. Will know more tomorrow morning.

[Ronnie]

My daughter fusses at me for not recycling plastid water bottles and cardboard. She says if my generation had done more to keep the environment clean it wouldn't be in such bad shape now., implying that my generation did nothing to stop pollution of the environment  Later on I found the following and emailed it to her. She hasn't mentioned recycling to me since.  The older people here will understand the moral of the story.

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This Green Thing

 

Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to the much older lady that she should bring her own grocery bags, because plastic bags are not good for the environment,

The woman apologized to the young girl and explained, "We didn't have this 'green thing' back in my earlier days."

The young clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations."

The older lady said that she was right our generation didn't have the "green thing" in its day. The older lady went on to explain: Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled.

But we didn't have the "green thing" back in our day. Grocery stores bagged our groceries in brown paper bags that we reused for numerous things. Most memorable besides household garbage bags was the use of brown paper bags as book covers for our school books. This was to ensure that public property (the books provided for our use by the school) was not defaced by our scribblings. Then we were able to personalize our books on the brown paper bags.

But, too bad we didn't do the "green thing" back then. We walked up stairs because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks. But she was right. We didn't have the "green thing" in our day.

Back then we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the throw away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy-gobbling machine burning up 220 volts. Wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days.
Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that young lady is right; we didn't have the "green thing" back in our day.

Back then we had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana.

In the kitchen we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us.

When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.

 

Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power.

We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity. But she's right; we didn't have the "green thing" back then.

We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blade in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull. But we didn't have the "green thing" back then.

Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service in the family's $45,000 SUV or van, which cost what a whole house did before the "green thing."

We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 23,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest burger joint.

But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the "green thing" back then?

Please forward this on to another selfish old person who needs a lesson in conservation.

 

 

 

 

[Padgett]

You don't think that the US population having doubled since I was born (Florida is more like 10X) has something to do with it ?

BTW yes we have more appliances (when I was growing up AC was rare and used to take a shower & go to bed wet)} but suspect the power utilization by my house is less now than in 1985.

Also when growing up water came in 5 gallon glass jugs from Deep Rock, not individual bottles.

Bottom line, tell kids when making statements, make sure they have all the facts.

Edited October 8, 2022 by Padgett

[Ronnie]

Reading what I posted above brings back some old memories for me.

 

My mother died when I was young. In the summer when Dad was at work I stayed with an old widow woman who lived on a limited income. She didn't have a refrigerator. She still had an ice box. I remember the ice man would come around every so often and bring her a big block of ice to go in her ice box. I still have a vision in my head of him putting a leather cape over his back, going into his ice truck and grabbing a big block of ice with tongs, and slinging it onto his back. He would carry it in her house and put it in the ice box for her. His ice truck didn't have a refrigeration unit to keep the ice cool. It had dry ice inside the truck in bins along the sides. That kept the blocks of ice from melting so fast as he delivered it. Before he would leave he would throw me a few chunks of dry ice in the yard so I could play with it. I liked to put it a jar of water and watch it boil, or throw it on the sloping concrete sidewalk and watch it squirm and slide around as it melted. The milk man would bring glass bottles of milk and set them on the porch. You had to leave you empty milk bottles on the porch for him to pickup.  His truck was also kept cool with dry ice but he wouldn't give me any.

 

That was the good old days... wasn't it??

 

 

[Padgett]

and milk bottles had a bubble area at the top for the cream to rise...

[Top Down]

Let's not forget houses of 1000 sq ft versus 3000 sq ft and books instead of electronic devices.

[Padgett]

Having had this house built in 1984 (on high ground and with wind protection), it has seen the whole range. Paid extra for 200A service and all copper wiring. After many changes now have 2000 sq ft house wired for Cat 6 (gigabit) and 2000 sq ft garage/workshop with a lift. In a neighborhood with sidewalks and a HOA. Can watch Universal fireworks from garage roof (accessible though a window).

Wired BellSouth phones to Spectum VOIP and different provider for Cell. Changed providers so often got my own domain.

Gone from 1200 baud dial-up to 300+ Mbps fiber. 6 TV channels to over 100 OTA and do not know how many screaming (cut the cord a year ago). BTW MotorTrend TV offers a military discount. 25" TV has become 75".

According to Zillow, home has increased in value 5x since purchase. Have a 3% mortgage as a hedge against inflation.

Currently prefer manuals in searchable .pdfs but have enough paper/books on all four walls in second floor den it may become first floor room.

One thing has not changed, I still build computers into closets and have a couple of Columbia VP-1600s (but several Windows 11 and Kali Linux machines).

[Ronnie]

Anyone ever used rubber mulch for landscaping around your house? Wondering about the pros and cons. I'm tired of putting down wood mulch every year.

[ship]

I have not.  I spread dark wood mulch... I don't like the color of any of the other mulches (especially the red).

[DAVES89]

We use Red Cedar mulch.

Edited October 13, 2022 by DAVES89

[BlakesReatta]

The nice thing about wood mulch is it is easy to remove and you can burn it or let it disintegrate naturally. I have a combo of rock and wood mulch beds and I wish they were all wood mulch because my rock beds are full of dirt and grass and weeds grow up in them. Removing it all will be a lot of work and I’d like to reuse the rock but I’m going to have to clean it.  Rubber mulch is used pretty frequently on playgrounds. I’m not a big fan of it but it’s good for children cause they won’t get splinters from playing in it. 

[Ronnie]

2 hours ago, BlakesReatta said:

Removing it all will be a lot of work and I’d like to reuse the rock but I’m going to have to clean it.

I hadn't thought about what happens when it gets debris mixed in with it. I'm looking for a way to stop having to do manual labor so often I have  considered both rocks and rubber mulch. Both are expensive up front. With rocks you are one and done other than the cleaning you mentioned. Rubber mulch it loses it's color over time but they guarantee 12 years . I'm sure that doesn't cover removal and replacement.. Another alternative is to pay someone to do the labor for me using wood mulch.

[BlakesReatta]

Ronnie, do you have a good heavy duty bed lining? That’s really important no matter your top layer. 

[BlakesReatta]

Rocks or rubber would be the least maintenance. Last longest. Does your mulch loose it’s color quickly? 

[Ronnie]

2 hours ago, BlakesReatta said:

Ronnie, do you have a good heavy duty bed lining? That’s really important no matter your top layer. 

Yes. It is heavy duty fabric of some sort. It is 18 years old and I still can't tear it with my hands.

 

2 hours ago, BlakesReatta said:

Rocks or rubber would be the least maintenance. Last longest. Does your mulch loose it’s color quickly? 

I use cypress mulch and it doesn't last much over a year. Just disappears. Hardwood and bark mulch doesn't last that long.

[2seater]

I have dark brown rubber mulch in an approx. 10ft x 10ft patch with a large wooden two person swing in the middle. There is no fabric under the mulch, which is three to four inches thick, and have very little weed infiltration after six+ years. I don't have any plantings within the mulch so I don't know if it has anti foliage properties or not. If the mulch breaks down, it is surely turning into a type of soil. I use stone in plantings around my house, with fabric underneath. Over time, no matter what you do, airborne dust and debris will infiltrate from the top. The good thing about the stone is it is reasonably easy to pull weeds and such if you stay on top of it. 

[Ronnie]

Go Vols!