Quoting "James N. McBride" <jnmcbr@xxxxxxx>:
> My granddad in Iowa had a creek flowing through his place
> and there was a
> long clay slope (beach??) that led to the creek. That was
> great fun to slide
> down when it rained. Clay was abundant but sand and
> gravel were scarce
> commodities around there. I remember people spreading
> corn cobs on their
> driveways. People in Iowa have found some interesting
> uses for corn cobs,
> the worst probably being in the outhouse. /jim
It's hard to find a good working outhouse these days,
especially family-owned. They seem to have gone the way of
the Montgomery Wards catalog (to which there was also an
intimate relationship).
My grandpa used to burn corn in his furnace instead of
coal during the depression. Now your cobs are burning in
your gas (ethanol) and probably sweetening your coke
(fructose).
I also miss seeing corn in bins with wood slats. In Amish
country you still see that kind of thing, but elsewhere
it's all modern dryers (i.e., not very picturesque).
Hay making was a beautiful thing and then came bales and
baling machines (ugly and somewhat labor-intensive).
Modern methods of making big rolls of hay which lay about
fields for a while have made haying beautiful again. When
I see haying, my shutter finger gets itchy (my nose too).
Joel W.
< This message was delivered via the Olympus Mailing List >
< For questions, mailto:owner-olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx >
< Web Page: http://Zuiko.sls.bc.ca/swright/olympuslist.html >
|