This website is being maintained
in memory of Tom Hennessy
who
made the site possible
MARCH
Time Flies
By Connie Riter
Here it is…March already! It seems like 2021 just began, and it is already 1/6 over. Do you ever want
to tell time to "Stop! Let me get off for just a little while and enjoy the present, before it's gone forever." This is a beautiful
time in Arizona as we see what is happening in the rest of the country….subzero temps, power outages, high winds, etc. Here the
wildflowers are beginning to bloom, the citrus are budding, and the days are cool enough for a gentle hike on a mountain trail.
Arizona as a state is now over 109 years old…and much has changed in those years. The average life expectancy back then was 47 years.
Only 6 percent of homes had telephones and there were only 8,000 cars in the entire country (and only 144 miles of paved roads.)
The average wage was 22 cents per hour and a good doctor might make $2500 per year. Most women washed their hair once a month and
used borax and egg yolks for shampoo. The remote community of Las Vegas, occupied mostly by ranchers, numbered around 30 people.
Antibiotics, plutonium, and insulin hadn't been discovered yet. There was no scotch tape, canned beer, iced tea, Mother's Day or
Father's Day.
Coco Cola contained cocaine, not caffeine, and marijuana, heroin, and morphine were all available at the local store. How far we
have come in a century! Someone said to me as I was writing this article, "Women were probably washing their clothes in the river
and pounding them on rocks nearby."
Years ago, an Alabama grandmother gave her newly married grand-daughter the following recipe for washing clothes. It was found in
an old scrapbook and is printed with spelling errors and all.
Warshing Clothes
Build fire in backyard to heat kettle of rain water. Set tubs so smoke won't blow in eyes if wind is pert. Shave one hole cake of
lie soap in boilin water. Sort things - make 3 piles-1 pile white, 1 pile colored, 1 pile work britches and rags. To make starch,
stir flour in cool water to smooth, then thin down with boiling water. Take white things, rub dirty spots on board, scrub hard,
and boil, then rub colored - don't boil just wrench and starch. Take things out of kettle with broom stick handle, then wrench
and starch. Hang old rags on fence. Spread tea towels on grass. Pore wrench water in flower bed. Scrub porch with hot soapy water.
Turn tubs upside down. Go put on clean dress, smooth hair with hair combs. Brew cup of tea, sit and rock a spell and count your
blessings." Yes, time flies….and sometimes I'm glad it does!
in memory of Tom Hennessy who
made the site possible
MARCH
Time Flies
By Connie Riter
Here it is…March already! It seems like 2021 just began, and it is already 1/6 over. Do you ever want
to tell time to "Stop! Let me get off for just a little while and enjoy the present, before it's gone forever." This is a beautiful
time in Arizona as we see what is happening in the rest of the country….subzero temps, power outages, high winds, etc. Here the
wildflowers are beginning to bloom, the citrus are budding, and the days are cool enough for a gentle hike on a mountain trail.
Arizona as a state is now over 109 years old…and much has changed in those years. The average life expectancy back then was 47 years.
Only 6 percent of homes had telephones and there were only 8,000 cars in the entire country (and only 144 miles of paved roads.)
The average wage was 22 cents per hour and a good doctor might make $2500 per year. Most women washed their hair once a month and
used borax and egg yolks for shampoo. The remote community of Las Vegas, occupied mostly by ranchers, numbered around 30 people.
Antibiotics, plutonium, and insulin hadn't been discovered yet. There was no scotch tape, canned beer, iced tea, Mother's Day or
Father's Day.
Coco Cola contained cocaine, not caffeine, and marijuana, heroin, and morphine were all available at the local store. How far we
have come in a century! Someone said to me as I was writing this article, "Women were probably washing their clothes in the river
and pounding them on rocks nearby."
Years ago, an Alabama grandmother gave her newly married grand-daughter the following recipe for washing clothes. It was found in
an old scrapbook and is printed with spelling errors and all.
Warshing Clothes
Build fire in backyard to heat kettle of rain water. Set tubs so smoke won't blow in eyes if wind is pert. Shave one hole cake of
lie soap in boilin water. Sort things - make 3 piles-1 pile white, 1 pile colored, 1 pile work britches and rags. To make starch,
stir flour in cool water to smooth, then thin down with boiling water. Take white things, rub dirty spots on board, scrub hard,
and boil, then rub colored - don't boil just wrench and starch. Take things out of kettle with broom stick handle, then wrench
and starch. Hang old rags on fence. Spread tea towels on grass. Pore wrench water in flower bed. Scrub porch with hot soapy water.
Turn tubs upside down. Go put on clean dress, smooth hair with hair combs. Brew cup of tea, sit and rock a spell and count your
blessings." Yes, time flies….and sometimes I'm glad it does!
Time Flies
By Connie Riter
Here it is…March already! It seems like 2021 just began, and it is already 1/6 over. Do you ever want to tell time to "Stop! Let me get off for just a little while and enjoy the present, before it's gone forever." This is a beautiful time in Arizona as we see what is happening in the rest of the country….subzero temps, power outages, high winds, etc. Here the wildflowers are beginning to bloom, the citrus are budding, and the days are cool enough for a gentle hike on a mountain trail. Arizona as a state is now over 109 years old…and much has changed in those years. The average life expectancy back then was 47 years. Only 6 percent of homes had telephones and there were only 8,000 cars in the entire country (and only 144 miles of paved roads.) The average wage was 22 cents per hour and a good doctor might make $2500 per year. Most women washed their hair once a month and used borax and egg yolks for shampoo. The remote community of Las Vegas, occupied mostly by ranchers, numbered around 30 people. Antibiotics, plutonium, and insulin hadn't been discovered yet. There was no scotch tape, canned beer, iced tea, Mother's Day or Father's Day. Coco Cola contained cocaine, not caffeine, and marijuana, heroin, and morphine were all available at the local store. How far we have come in a century! Someone said to me as I was writing this article, "Women were probably washing their clothes in the river and pounding them on rocks nearby." Years ago, an Alabama grandmother gave her newly married grand-daughter the following recipe for washing clothes. It was found in an old scrapbook and is printed with spelling errors and all.
Warshing Clothes
Build fire in backyard to heat kettle of rain water. Set tubs so smoke won't blow in eyes if wind is pert. Shave one hole cake of lie soap in boilin water. Sort things - make 3 piles-1 pile white, 1 pile colored, 1 pile work britches and rags. To make starch, stir flour in cool water to smooth, then thin down with boiling water. Take white things, rub dirty spots on board, scrub hard, and boil, then rub colored - don't boil just wrench and starch. Take things out of kettle with broom stick handle, then wrench and starch. Hang old rags on fence. Spread tea towels on grass. Pore wrench water in flower bed. Scrub porch with hot soapy water. Turn tubs upside down. Go put on clean dress, smooth hair with hair combs. Brew cup of tea, sit and rock a spell and count your blessings." Yes, time flies….and sometimes I'm glad it does!