conversation today

At the vegetable stand getting some corn and a watermelon. Bob always hangs out with the lady running the stand. I asked Bob, "ARE YOU 100 yet"? Four more years he said. So you were born in 1918? The end of ww1. Yes he said, my grandma was 99 when she died, by accident. She was born in 1865, the end of the civil war.

My mom will be 88 next week

Yep. A lot of people ( especially the young ones ) look at those times as if it were back in the cave man days or something when it really hasn't been that long ago.

A good friend of mines dad lives in the home with him and is 97 years old. Every time I go over there his dad wants me to stay as long as possible. He often asks me to spend the night. He is an incredibly sweet soul.

We roofed my Great Great Aunt's house a few months back. She is about 60, my Dad's age. Her pops had her at 70 years old w/ a gal that was 25 years old.

Wow, can you imagine having a child at the age of 70? You just know that you will not be around to help raise them. What would the mother be thinking?

Ive got ten critizied (by assholes) for having children in my 40's. Big dif between 45 and 70. Perhaps the 25 yr old should've been on the pill, or ghe 70 yr old left them a lot of money.

Just kidding ya clover. At least grandpas flag still ran all the way up the pole

I know im enjoying my time with my boys, altho it is hard to relate to a 7 yr old sometimes at age 55 :laugh: Heck relating to ANYBODY is hard enough :dry:

From the family stories, he had no problems keeping up w/ his age 25 "old lady"

I just had my first kid at 30, made me feel old!

Thirty four years ago when I was 12, I sat on the front porch of my 96 yr. old great aunt's home and listened to her tell me the story about the first car that ever came through the little town we grew up in. She said even though there were no telephones much less computers and internet, that the word got out pretty fast and everyone went to see about it. I said what kind of car was it? She just laughed and said "we didn't actually see the car, everyone just ran up to the road to see the tracks it left in the dirt". :dry:

That sets me to thinking Chuck. Thinking about the value of todays instantaneous communication. I guess that nowadays, many people would have seen That car, due to texting and cell phones.

And that would have mattered.....why? B)

If they had known how many of them would soon be covering up the roads, gas for them would cost $4 per gallon, the pollution they would put in the air and how many people would die from accidents, maybe they wouldn't have been so excited about it. :dry:

Chuck Said: If they had known how many of them would soon be covering up the roads, gas for them would cost $4 per gallon, the pollution they would put in the air and how many people would die from accidents, maybe they wouldnt have been so excited about it. :dry:

If you're going to bring up auto safety, you can't even think of todays standards in the early days. You have to compare the early cars to horse and carriage. Sure the early hand-cranked cars caused so many broken appendages starting them that virtually everyone knew someone who had been hurt.

But they were comparing that risk to being stepped on, bucked off, tipping buggies, being kicked, feeding, shoveling.......everyone knew someone who had been hurt by that, too.

When my 81 year old Mom was growing up, if a plane flew over the valley, people would ask if you had seen it for weeks afterwards.

I was just trying to look at both sides of the coin. Not just the flashy side. Of course we need our automobiles in today's world. But did they need them to live like they did 300 years ago? Which way is better? Nearly everyone alive would say the way it is today but would the folks that lived 300 years ago think its better today or back then?

I've never won any popularity contests. Most people just try to say things others will approve of. I just say what I think. Sometimes it's right, sometimes its wrong and sometimes its a little bit of both. I was voted "most controversial" my senior year. ;)

Life was really tough 300 years ago, and lifespans were very short in comparison to today.

We only have cars, computers, phones, electricity, etc... because man has a never-ending sense of wanting to find easier ways to live, and live longer.

I doubt it you offered a car to people 300 years ago that many of them would say, "No thanks, I'll keep walking".

Mike H Said: lifespans were very short in comparison to today.

Lots of people lived into their 80s and 90s. The difference being the infant mortality rate so the average lifespan was short. If you made it out of childhood, you could expect a long life.

The difference between the lifespan today and back in the hunter gather day.is because of clean water sterile living conditons and good quality food not genectics Most of the brunt of decreased mortality came in the youth by age 15, hunters gatherers had more than 100 times the chance of dying as modern-day people. 70 is the new 30 in a lot of countries today. B) :) :) B) Deep Down In Florida Where The Sun Shines Damn Near Every Day

Let's see, today the average American has thousands of dollars in credit card debt, a high mortgage payment or rent, an average utility bill of $300-$500, cell phone bills, home phone bill, internet bill, $4 a gallon for gas, cable tv or satellite bill, car payments, everything at the grocery stores is $5 and up, etc. and is taxed to the hilt.

300 years ago most people owned their own home ( and farm ) outright, had zero debt, no utility bill, no phone bills, no internet bill, no tv bill, no car payments, had a 5 year supply of food on hand, etc. and little to no tax obligations.

I guess if you have the money today's way is much better but if you don't maybe not. I can't say for sure because if I was alive 300 years ago, I have no memory of it.