I sit in my house today as the snow melts from a late winter, much-needed snow storm. A click of a button and the furnace comes on, I sit at the computer to type a blog post, I use my phone to catch up on the grandkids' lives, flip a switch for lights, hop in the car to pop into the grocery store for groceries, turn a dial to light up the stove to make dinner, stop at the sink to wash my hands in instant warm water, and the list goes on. Is there anything in my day that doesn't involve instant power?
From my Father's history:
Approximately 1942 - In Lyman [Wayne County, Utah] my grandmother's sister (her name was Athalia Van Dyke), and her daughter, LaPreal, had a cow so they could have fresh milk. They had a machine that you worked by hand that was called a separator that was used to separate the cream from the milk. I remember LaPreal would use the cream to make the best, richest chocolate cake I had ever eaten. There wasn't any running water in the houses in this area. There was a pump at the kitchen sink that you pumped by hand to bring the water up from the well. The stove you cooked with used coal. No central heating. A small pot-bellied stove was in the front room that furnished the heat. To take a bath you had to heat water on the kitchen stove and fill a small tub you would put in the middle of the kitchen. A shower was unheard of. They did have a phone - 10 party line. You would have to lift the receiver, turn a small crank, wait for the operator to answer and give her the number of the party you wanted to call. Everyone on the party line could listen in to your conversation if they wanted to. Not many secrets in small towns in those days.
When I turned 14 [1944], I was old enough to get a work permit so I could get a job. There were no fast food places in those days. There was a bowling alley across the street from the Jr. High School and I got a job there setting pins after school, at nights and on weekends. Automatic pin setting machines were not invented yet, all the pins had to be set by hand by boys or men who sat on a board at the end of the alley and after a person had thrown their ball would pick up the pins and put them in a rack. After the second ball, pick up the rest of the pins. Then you would have to push the rack down to set the pins correctly. I made 7 cents for every game that I set pins for. On weekends if I made $5-$7 working all day long I was happy.
1948 - I bought my first car. A 1936 Ford two door sedan. It ran okay, but the battery would go dead after a few days driving. I would just have it charged and go on my merry way. One time I had a carload of friends and we decided to go to Evanston, Wyoming [from Salt Lake City]. It was late in the afternoon when we left and when we got there it was dark. Naturally, the battery went dead. I had it quick charged and we started home. We were a short ways out of Evanston and the lights became so dim I could hardly see the road, but I could make out the center line. This was before freeways. I had a flashlight and one of the kids held it out the passenger side window and shined the light in front of the car so I could see better, but not much better. A greyhound bus passed me and I decided I would follow it as close as possible. It was a wild ride trying to keep up with the bus, especially going down Parleys Canyon. The canyon was just a two lane narrow road at that time, even though it was the major east/west Highway 40 going east out of Salt Lake. Obviously, I survived that experience. Teenagers do stupid things at times. (I realized later that adults aren't too smart at times either.)
