From 1957

Thanks! That was a great glimpse at the year I was born, Doesn't seem like that long ago, but tihings sure have changed. Now I feel old, but blessed to be able to remember when things seemed "normal".
 
Brings back memories.

1957 we were gifted a 12" round tube TV set from relatives in Chicago. One snowy channel.

Things weren't that bad. We, the neighborhood kids would play baseball in the street until bed time. That wasn't a problem because the parents would walk two or three blocks to work.

I had spending money. Made $1- per hour working in the hay fields in summer and shoveling snow in winter. Picked up night crawlers, fish worms, in early spring at city park. Younger brothers would sell worms all summer long.

$35- for first car. Used 50 Ford Custom Deluxe Club Coupe. Drove that car for 5 or 6 years.
 
A dollar an hour was big bucks in 1957 for part time work. My first job in 1962 as a 16 year old was for 80 cents an hour.
 
That was back in the good old days before the Progressives changed the names of the meals. Working in the hay fields it was breakfast at home. Then around 10 AM lunch, noon dinner, 3 PM lunch, 6 PM supper, and sometimes around 8 PM a hearty snack.

Those were 100 lb. square bales, hay bales stacked 4 high on a hay rack. 80 to 100 bales to a rack. The bed of most hay racks were 2 1/2 to 3 feet off the ground. Front two rows meant that working from the ground you had to put/toss the bales up 7 or 8 foot. It took 3 people of load the hay rack. One on tractor, one on the rack stacking bales, and one on the ground.

Work for one farmer for a hay cutting. Next farmer for a hay cutting. Rotating farmers through the summer. It was pretty much a full time job. Back then it was mostly manual labor.
 
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