These Are The Good Old Days

By Major Van Harl USAF Ret

The Good Old Days, Electric Heater
These Are The Good Old Days, toasty warm by the space heater.
Major Van Harl USAF Ret
Major Van Harl USAF Ret

Wisconsin –-(Ammoland.com)-  My late grandmother-in-law spent her married years living in an un-insulated farm house on the prairie of eastern South Dakota.

In the winter time the family lived in the kitchen, because it had a wood burning stove for cooking and heat. I did not meet her until after her husband had died, but I visited the family farm many times, always in the summer. Late in life the family moved her into town and she lived out her days in a very warm home.

In fact we did Thanksgiving one year staying in her big city house (tiny town actually). We arrived in a blizzard and a week later we drove home to Texas in another blizzard. The whole time we were there we kept telling Grandma to turn down the heat.

No way was that going to happen. She would look at us, smile and say “isn’t my house warm.” So we spent the week in T-shirts and shorts while a blizzard was raging outside, but Grandma Viola was toasty warm and happy to have forty of her relatives in for dinner.

The grand-kids, to include my wife the Colonel, had fond memories of summers on the farm, and were always asking Grandma Viola “don’t you miss the good old days.” To which she would respond, “These are the good old days.” She was in a warm home and her propane tank had just been topped off so she had fuel enough till spring. There was no outhouse that had to be used. If she needed emergency assistance the fire/police/EMTs could drive right up to her home.

Back in the good old days the snow would drift over and block the lane onto the farm. Until someone came to plow them out there was going to be no emergency response vehicle pulling up to the farm house door. Before there was electricity Grandma Viola used kerosene lamps and lanterns. In the 1980s I was collecting Aladdin lamps and while visiting her farm I found a pre-WWII Lincoln Drape, Aladdin lamp font lying on its side in a back room having not been used since electricity was installed. It was missing the burner and chimney, but I really wanted the lamp.

I bought a brand new Aladdin lamp and cannibalized the parts to make the old Lincoln Drape work. When Grandma Viola came to Alaska to visit us she was very pleased that I had restored her lamp to working order and actually using it on a regular basis. The rest of the time we were in Alaska, power outage or not we used Grandma’s Aladdin lamp.

To make sure she was ready just in case of a modern real world power outage we got her a current production Aladdin lamp. It was sitting in her dining room after the funeral, I am not sure which one of the children or grandchildren got the replacement lamp.

The new Starz Channel TV series Outlander has come out, and the wife and I are devoted fans. The series is based on the books written by Diana Gabaldon. It takes place in the highlands of Scotland in 1743. The problem is Claire, the main character, is a 1945 WWII British Army nurse who has “passed” through some “magic” stones and found herself 200 years in the past.

I lived in Scotland as a child and forever turn to the sound of bagpipes playing. I read the first book in the series back in 1991 and have read all the new ones as they came out. Claire is living at a highland Clan Chief’s castle. Life is not as bad for her as the average uneducated Scottish peasant. Make no mistake I want nothing to do with her current life.

I watched an on-line interview that had most of the major cast members talking about the “show.” One of the questions was, if you could go back in time like Claire did, where would you like to go?

They all talked about historical places and times they would visit, but Diana Gabaldon was on the panel and did not really want to go back in time. She said she had been married to the same man for forty years and was not going anywhere without him.

I would suggest in her over 25 years of research into the lives of Highlanders in 1700s Scotland, she has a very good understanding of just how hard and dangerous living in the past could be. There was no electricity, no clean running water, no indoor plumbing or toilet paper and the big one, no antibiotics.

History is interesting and even fun to study and enjoy, but it is the past. As Grandma Viola said yes in fact “these are the good old days.” By the way–Viola’s favorite modern invention was the paper towel.

Major Van Harl USAF Ret. / [email protected]

About Major Van Harl USAF Ret.: Major Van E. Harl USAF Ret., a career Police Officer in the U.S. Air Force was born in Burlington, Iowa, USA, in 1955. He was the Deputy Chief of police at two Air Force Bases and the Commander of Law Enforcement Operations at another. He is a graduate of the U.S. Army Infantry School.  A retired Colorado Ranger and currently is an Auxiliary Police Officer with the Cudahy PD in Milwaukee County, WI.  His efforts now are directed at church campus safely and security training.  He believes “evil hates organization.”  [email protected]

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RralityCheck

Well most women i would say were certainly a lot nicer to meet, but Not today.

jd

I shudder at the thought of an EMP attack or a major solar flare and the effect it will have on modern society due to the loss of our national power grid.The younger generations who were born into all the modern conveniences of the technology boom will be like fish on dry land..no internet,no ATM,no Starbucks $5.00 coffees,no internet,all utilities such as running water,natural gas and electricity would cease.They will be the first to have a mental breakdown after a few weeks of “the good old days.”

Joe Mancy

Apparently Grandma Viola knew the importance of being prepared for the unknown and was grateful for things like electricity and running water too many of us take for granted, but probably shouldn’t.

Lava

Why is this on ammoland, and why is it in “gun rights”?
What does it have to do with the right to bear arms?
What is an Aladdin lamp.
Finally what is the lamp “laying,” an egg? No, it’s lying. It’s true, the lamp’s lying on its side.