Around '52 or so, my parents contracted to get a concrete block 2-story addition on the back of the house. An AD in the weekly paper insert for KAYCO BUILDERS is who they picked. After re-routing the gas line and water lines into the eat-in kitchen room, and moving the range and sink (Dad did this, as he was practical) - they tore down the summer kitchen, and dug out & built forms for the foundation walls.
The day they poured the concrete, then left, I went out back to explore. Having helped my Dad in the past to mix concrete and lay bricks, I knew it should look GREY - but it didn't - it was an ORANGE sandy color - something was wrong! It starting raining, and I watched each droplet pitting deep holes in the foundation top - about 9' X 12' - then, I poked a finger in it, and knew it was too much sand!
When Dad came home from work & I showed him - DAMN - he was mad as HELL! Those .#$%^& SOB's! Trying to cut costs & make more profit. He was glad I discovered this, and explained that the entire heavy building would have 'settled' - cracked the block walls, and been a catastrophe!
Needless to say, it all had to be dug back out and re-done properly. By the time the project was finished - it took them several months, only showing up periodically, after repeated phone calls of complaints - my parents had to call The Better Business Bureau many times! What a bunch of ‘Hill-Billies’!
Finally though, we had a REAL kitchen, and a REAL bathroom above, with a Hot Water Heater to boot! What an improvement! No more carrying 'Honey-Buckets'! And we had a real 'THRONE' and even a shower!
Prior to that, water had to be heated in pots on the stove, poured into an oval galvanized tub, and then 'bailed out' every time a bath was to be had by anyone!
Isn't it amazing how today's 'Whipper-Snappers' don't have a clue as to how GOOD they have it?
The following Copy & Paste quote is from a GE 1961 Sales Meeting:
“Hello: I'm Ronald Reagan speaking for General Electric.
At General Electric, you know, "PROGRESS IS OUR MOST IMPORTANT PRODUCT".
But, all progress must have a starting point.
All great human enterprises begin at a frontier. The pioneering of hostile lands. ..the mushrooming of the Atomic Age with its mixed blessing of destruction and construction. ..the rolling back of space frontiers beyond the planets to the stars. ..and the beginning of the information-handling revolution. ALL these had -a common starting point --a frontier of PROGRESS.
Webster has defined a frontier as: "An advanced or not fully explored region."
That is an almost perfect description of where the computer industry is today-- in an advanced or not fully explored region.
The broad expanse of this region is almost limitless.
General Electric Company, with its tremendous resources is continuing to invest in the exploration of this region through accelerated improvements of its present products and their related facilities, and through added research and development.
General Electric recognizes the computer business is an exciting frontier. The traditional pioneering efforts of the Company in this field have already resulted in dramatic new technologies.
Many of you are undoubtedly aware of the Company's major contributions--such as solid state computers and magnetic ink character recognition techniques.
But---where and when did the exploration of this information handling frontier begin? Who initiated it? Was it the business machines manufacturers? Was it the Federal Government? Was it in 1954 when the first large scale. ..electronic computer system for business data processing was installed by General Electric. ..at Appliance Park in Louisville, Kentucky?
The answer to these questions is, of course, NO. It was GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY.
But the year was 1920! ... “
To read the entire speech, go to the following URL ...
Isn't it amazing how today's 'Whipper-Snappers' don't have a clue as to how GOOD they have it?
Most people today are extremely spoiled, and often extremely leary of doing any manual labor. My grandad and my father put in indoor plumbing themselves, and space heaters, and hot water heaters, and even dug out a canning shed for my grandmother's home grown veggies under our garage. And I'm very glad that I got to watch and learn from them.
Once again, you've made me miss Those Good Old Days very much.
Your living conditions then were a bit less than modern than when I grew up. I do remember when dad bought his first house in the early 60s. He had it built in a typical subdivision. We watched it start from a hole in the ground through completion and yes I remember a lot of yelling and screaming at the developer for being way behind schedule and for work requiring corrective action. Contractors......Patrick
Well, after reading this, and remembering my Dad's memoirs about the 20s & thirties and such, I am glad I am a young whippersnapper that had all the great inventions that the 20's & 30's brought about for the 50's, 60's & there on in...e
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Most people today are extremely spoiled, and often extremely leary of doing any manual labor. My grandad and my father put in indoor plumbing themselves, and space heaters, and hot water heaters, and even dug out a canning shed for my grandmother's home grown veggies under our garage. And I'm very glad that I got to watch and learn from them.
Once again, you've made me miss Those Good Old Days very much.
My only contribution would be in the fact that I always enjoy the meanderings of your mind.
Thanks again, Dick