Old and new ways

I woke up the other morning thinking about an old time ice box, my grandma's in particular. Sixty-plus-year-old memories. For those who are younger they probably don't have a clue as to what an ice box really was and is. When I was a little boy, we'd go up to my grandparents' and there in Grandma's kitchen was a wooden box about 2 1/2-feet wide by 2 to 2 1/2-feet deep and about 4-feet tall. By the time I came along, Grandma used it for storage, but in days gone by they'd put a block of ice in the ice box which would keep the box cold. It was an old-time refrigerator if you will.

But from the time I was little, we never called the refrigerator in the kitchen a "refrigerator." It was called an "ice box," simply from days gone by. And to this day I get my milk or cold water or pop out of our ice box. Our boys grew up with Marge and me calling it an ice box, so they are familiar with what we call the "fridg." I guess till the day I die it will be an ice box and never the refrigerator.

Every car that I can remember had a glove compartment or glove box in the dash of the car over on the passenger side. This glove box got its name from it being used to store the driver's gloves in this box and thus you had a glove box. Mom and Dad stored the vehicle's registration in this box along with somewhat nots. Maybe a flashlight or a pen and pencil and some paper. Might have a map. Might have some coins or change. Maybe even a candy bar or some crackers. One never knew what one would find in the glove box. It was kind of like the kitchen junk drawer but in the car.

Probably 15 or 20 years ago I was digging around in one of the junk shops over east of Cape Girardeau at the flea market, and I came across an old green canvas pouch with some tools in it. The pouch was maybe 3 inches by 3 inches by 10 inches or so. I checked inside and there was an assortment of old wrenches and tire tools. The owner was asking $10, so I brought it home.

Back when the first cars came out, many of them had a kind of tool kit that went with the car. Some of them had tire irons. Back then the tires weren't as good as we have today so it was common to have a flat that required one to fix the tire. I'm not sure, but I think that old tool kit at one time was standard equipment in many cars such as the Model T. Can you imagine a new pickup coming with a tool kit? I can't.

Mom used to have a red-handled mixer thing she called an egg beater. Marge has several of them today. We found them at a Mennonite or Amish store so we bought a couple. We found some at garage sales. It's really a non-electric hand mixer or simply an egg beater. You crank on the handle, and two beaters mix whatever you desire. Marge also has a twisted wire thing she uses to whisk eggs or mix them. She also has an old red-and-white-handled potato masher. Many today crank up the electric mixer and out comes smooth, lump-free mashed potatoes. I kind of like lumpy potatoes. If I'm boiling potatoes to mash, I cut up some onions in the potatoes so I end up with potatoes that are lumpy with both onions and potatoes. Marge doesn't like my onion mashed potatoes.

Growing up, the cellar was important to the settlers throughout the U.S. Mom and Dad's was made in the shape of an upside down U and was probably 7 to 8 feet deep with probably 5 feet in the ground and the rest above ground. Dad had covered the top with dirt so there was a kind of mound where the cellar was buried. One walked down half a dozen or so steps getting down into the cellar. It provided protection when violent storms came rolling in from the southwest. There were tornadoes which came close to Dad's, but never right where we lived.

But it also provided a perfect place to store one's canned produce as well as one's potatoes and carrots and such. Very few have a cellar today, but then very few grow enough potatoes and carrots and such to last till the next year's crops are ready. Most store their canned goodies as well as potatoes in a pantry, which is a poor substitute for a cellar. But then most today shop weekly for their groceries rather than stocking up to last for weeks.

The weather is cooling down, so many across our country are starting their wood and coal stoves. It takes more time, and it's a lot more labor intensive. But I think it's good for us. It slows us down and gets us into the woods. It's work, but at the same time we have it a lot better than our forefathers. Marge and I crank up our Stihl chainsaw which makes sawing a breeze. We then haul the wood chunks to the splitter which makes splitting also a breeze.

But when we build a fire in our wood stove, it kind of reminds us of a time in the past when life was maybe rougher but probably more simple. Getting up in the morning to a cold house and building the fire. It would be a lot easier to just turn the thermostat up and let the furnace or heat system crank out the heat. But until Marge and I can't do the fire wood, I think we'll keep hauling in wood and taking out buckets of ashes.

All of us have memories of the past or tags that help us think back to our childhood. Memories of an old wood stove or coffee from an old enamel coffee maker or an old tater smasher or bacon frying in an old iron skillet. We old timers could go back and live like that, but I'm not sure our youth could.