History I guess it finally happened, I have turned into my grandpa

Red Wing shoes..... I'm sure the boots are just as good.....

 

Redwings are made in Redwing, Minnesota.
The Irish Setters are offshore now I think.

 

Whether things are disposable or not is up to the user, not the item. I have clothes I've been sewing back together since high school. I have a pair of leather pants that are 20 years old. I wore them pretty much every day most of my 20s. They still look and wear great. (the Indians knew that leather pants ruled.) I have a sweater my grandpa wore during WWII in Europe and it's been sewn together by me at least 4 times.

I feel the op, most people throw things out and trust too much in technology. I'm also moving backwards towards more simple and reliable things. I played guitar professionally, electric mostly, though I played acoustics for certain things. I slowly moved backwards in time with instruments to where I play string bass, cello, banjo, things that are the heart of American music from the start, and that don't require amplifiers. I don't own any electric instruments anymore.

If the internet went down for a month worldwide, think how it would impact business, personal lives, etc. And it barely existed 25 years ago...

 

Just tried on my first pair of roundhouse overalls thanks to this thread, I am turning into an old guy also.

 

Single handedly putting leisure suits out of style......

 

Some of the redwing boots are still made here, but nothing priced at the low end at their stores.

 

Oh I understand business and geopolitics. do you? There are a lot of reasons the mom and pop parts stores have dried up - not just because online is available. Maybe its the other way around?? Maybe online is here today because the mom and pop parts stores have dried up.

I'm happy you can find a place to buy locally. In your own little world I may be wrong, but I'm not for most of the western hemisphere today. There are no family run parts stores around here anymore. I have no choice. Its the way the world is.

 

What a wonderful thread. I'm not sure I have ever hit the "LIKE" button more than once or twice in any previous thread. I hit it on so many posts here that I lost count. Its comforting to know there are others who share my opinions. Thanks for the reinforcement of my thinking, I'm not crazy after all. Well maybe a little..............

 

In these years of our lives, crazy is a good thing.

 

I'm 72 and I saw this cartoon the other day and it hit home. Thought I'd share it.

 

One thing I keep forgetting to mention is that "Hank's Belts" out of NY is a great product. I kept buying belts at the clothing stores and they would fall apart within a year.

I looked up "American Made Leather Belts" and this came up. https://www.hanksbelts.com/collections/shop-hanks-belts
I took a chance and bought one. I have had it about a year and it has become my "go to belt".

For you CCW guys, it's stiff enough to hold up your holster. I bought "The Gunner".

FYI, I carry a slimline 9 with a leather holster. Their belts run about $10-15 higher than the stores, but they are solid leather, not some plastic coated crap.

I'm getting ready to order another one in a different color.

 

Was told by my parents when I was 12 or 13 I was turning into my grandfather and I was way too young to be that irascible. Took it as a compliment.

 

Roothawg
I did turn into my grandfather about 10 yrs ago. He was Italian and drank his wine in Welch’s grape jelly jars. Very utilitarian because they used that jelly. The jars had the “Flinstones” Archie,Jughead, Veronica, etc” “Howdy Doody” most of you old timers remember. So I started buying them up on eBay and have quite a co,lectionary and when I drink my daily wine like he did I honor all my grandparents because they all drank from those jelly jars.

Pat

 

My family used Mason jars. We had a local jelly company that even made them with handles.

 

As we all get older, some stay up and gravitate to technology, others step back to a simpler time they recall.
In my mid 20’s my dad and I were building something with used lumber

I was tossing the pulled nails into a bucket.

Then a week later when he stopped by saw me with a hammer and straitening them on a 2x4

He said “your just like your grandfather “.
Hell, I didn’t know, I figured I was just a cheap SOB.

Heck, he had buckets of nuts and bolts saved that today are not good for much in the automotive word, old square headed bolts he’d call “farmer John “ bolts.
I surely don’t want to go back and live in 1919, but being a bit frugal and repoupicing stuff is good sense.

 

Growing up, my dad had a whole rack of leather belts. The belts from back then lasted forever. He had some from the 60's. His favorite weapon of choice was a white patent leather belt with 2 sets of holes. I would say circa 1965. He used that on us until I was old enough to get out on my own. He probably still has it. That would traumatize an entire generation. It just made me say "yes sir and no sir " and respect authority for the rest of my adult life....

 

I got one too (belt) just once, must have been 4-6 years old. As I pissed my dad off with smart mouth thing, he whipped is belt off and got me in the hamstrings.
I realized at that young age what authority was about. He never had a need to do it again.
Hell, a parent would be up on some near manslaughter charge now days
I raised 3 girls, mostly by myself, but maybe I still felt that belt, I never laid a hand on any of them.
Now if they would have been boys...

 

Mine still laugh at the time they got a whipping at 16 and 14. They wanted to act like they were 6 and 8 so I treated them like it. It was embarrassing more than anything.

It didn't hurt em. One is a Nurse Practitioner (in 2 months) and the other is an IT Security Consultant.

Guess, I better try and get this thread, somewhat back on track. Not that it ever was on topic.

 

haapens to us all

 

I wouldn't mind turning into my Grampa. He was really cool: he could eat his peas with a knife! It just doesn't get cooler than that!

 

If I was half the man my grandpa was I'd be a superhero by todays standards. He went to Belgium at 17 and fought for the King. Got a snoot full of chlorine gas and fried his lungs. When he came home he homesteaded and raised 7 kids. He always had a huge vegetable garden and a freezer full of moose and deer . I never really got to know him very well , he died when I was 9 or 10 . I don't remember him talking about how much better things were then , he seemed to like the modern conveniences of the day.

 

You sure as hell could turn into a lot worse things than your Grandpa.

 

AMEN!!!

 

Here's a grandpa story for you.

I went with dad to the parts store and the girl was checking us out. She said " Do you have a Military discount?" Dad says "Yeah, I fought in the Civil War", She says "Thank you for your service" and shakes his hand. He never missed a beat.

 

Learned a little about 'leather" belts a few years ago. Mine always turned to shit pretty soon, and it wasn't because I insisted on putting them on the 3rd notch when my guts says use the 1st notch. They fell apart, no matter how I wore them.
Walked into a leather shop a few years ago, the kind that smells so damn good. I can get off on that smell. I asked for a belt made out of one damn cow, and only one cow.
Years later, I'm putting bout 50,000 PSI on the 3rd notch, and it doesn't have a mark on it. I could pull engines with this belt.
No more of the "made from sorta leather scraps, crumbs, cigarette butts, and glue" leather fake shit for me.

 

I bought a pair of White’s Boots Original Smokejumper boots probably 3 years ago. Took 6 months for them to break in, but now they’re like wearing slippers. Expensive? Maybe, but they can be rebuilt and resoled many times and because I suffer from plantar fasciitis they’re the only truly comfortable footwear I’ve found!

 

I had an epiphany the other day... Took my woman to breakfast and while sitting having a cup o' Joe I noticed a nice old grey-haired couple across the isle. Suddenly I realized they were our age... I guess Gramps was right; "We get too soon oldt & too late schmart!

Oh & by the way; "Get off my lawn ya dang whipper snappers!"

 

Hello,

That title would be for our granddaughter to pop up one day in the future. With all of the valuable time we have spent with her from 6 months to the present teenage days, she has a memory that does well for our family history. Her memory always pops up ideas and things that my wife and I have said or done over time with her. Casual drive time sayings, discussions, pointing out road facts and driving skill techniques were all apart of our time together. The road trips to the beaches and parks were things we all looked forward to each week.

Passing on knowledge is supposed to be a fact of life, but if it is done in a casual way without making a big point of the facts is a great way to be a part of the action. In a subtle way, both my wife and I were aware that the little girl in the back car seat was 100% plus in the hearing arena, so whatever we discussed in the front seat had to be a part of her life, too. Sometimes, out of the blue, she would repeat something we said a while back and it would surprise us to no end.

If I heard her say that title, I would be a proud grandpa!!!

Jnaki

We were not doing hot rod stuff when we were totally involved in her daily life. But, things will forever be in her life with a hint of hot rods, cruising teenagers, and a car oriented lifestyle. But, for her generation to become involved in our old lifestyle, it will be a hard road to follow. Her life is hers to create and enjoy. Any mention of our old hot rod/drag racing/photography days are left to those times when she asks a question. It is not a forced discussion.

She does remember art work and flame drawings every time we had an art day during the activities. She even remembers the giant flames drawn on the restaurant table top with crayons at one of her favorite places to eat.

He teenage years are completely different than ours. The pandemic has hit right in the middle of high school and has thrown everyone for a loop. So, what ever reference she can remember about us is a wonderful thing. Recently, one of her favorite restaurants closed after serving the community for 45 years. Her memory of that restaurant was one that involved our together times and had a reference to my wife’s reaction to going to the restaurant every week. Grandmothers also play a huge part of being at one with those that care.

But, gee...grandfathers and grandmothers were those old people walking around slowly at family functions and at the neighborhood sidewalks... We looked at the "old people" and said that as teens, we would never get to that point. What the world has shown us over time... we fell right into that scene.