Category: Rose

We had one telephone in the house.  The phone number was FAirfax 9580 until it was changed to FAirfax 1 9580 in 1947 because the introduction of area codes necessitated a 10 digit number.  For years after the the use of area codes were implemented, calls to the same area code did not require prepending the area code (412).  Until November 1951 long distance calls were placed  through an operator.

The phone was in the living room, and like all home phones at the time it was a black rotary phone.  Mom would often be on the phone for more than an hour talking with her friends and relatives.  She would often be on the phone staring out the window and gesturing as she talked.  The only place you could get a phone, was from the Bell Telephone Company.  People did not own their phones but rented thewere the charge ended up as a fee on the phone bill.  Although changes in the law went into force sometime in the 70’s, Mom used this phone into the 1990’s when we discovered that she was still paying rent on the phone (possibly $3.60 per month).  One of the family members, possibly Bill, discovered this and the phone was returned to the phone company.  A new phone, with features Mom liked,  was purchased for about $40.00.

Last updated 8 July 2020

In one of the kitchen cabinets, there was a flour bin that held 25 pounds of white flour.  To me this seemed like a lot, but Mom baked often.  I also remember seeing the bin refilled after most of the trips to the Pittsburgh Mercantile.  She baked bread, sweet and plain rolls, Kolaches, cakes and cookies.  Although at the time, I thought that was just another thing mothers do to feed their families, I learned later that she really liked to bake.  She said she liked to feel the bread dough when she kneaded it, and that the smell of freshly baked bread was one of her favorite smells.

 

Last updated March 22,2020

We we were growing up, the Pennsylvania government seriously disapproved of gambling in almost all forms.  Of course that changed, when they learned that the lottery and the numbers game (Pick 3) were more ways to collect revenue without too many complaints.

Most adults we knew “played the numbers”.  A quick tutorial: In the game a person would choose a three digit number or set of three digit numbers and place a bet on those numbers with a local bookie.  There were two games one could play, the stock and the race.  It was set up so that everyone could know what the winning number was.  The stock number came from the results of that day’s stock market trading. The digits used were the last digit of the number of stocks that increased, the number that decreased, and the number of unchanged.  A person could verify the number by listening to the news reports on several radio stations or by checking the following day’s newspaper.  The race used a similar method based on winning races but I do not recall where the races were held.

Depending upon the bookie, the winning number paid  between $6.00 to $7.50 per penny bet. Once in a while, the bookies would designate a number as “cut”, when for some reason more money was expected to be bet on a specific number..  The reason for the disparity was most bookies were go-betweens who passed their bets on to higher level bookies.  Their profit came from the difference they paid the winner and what they received from their next level.  The state pays $5.00. and has a $1.00 minimum.

Which brings us to our roles.  Mom played the numbers on almost a daily basis. She had many ways of deciding which numbers to play.  She used birthdays, anniversaries, significant dates then happening, but most often one of her  “Dream Books”.  In the Dream Book you could find a number for just about anything you might have dreamt about.

She usually played her numbers  at Gritman’s Grocery, but occasionally with other bookies.   On Royal street there were two others that I knew of Mrs. Ritzer and the Mrs Wagner who both lived across from Gritman’s.  Why she did it , I do not know. One of us kids would be sent down to the store to play her numbers, hence the title of this post. She seldom played the numbers “straight”,  one number. Most often it was a straight number and then “boxed” it, one bet for the straight number, a smaller bet for the five other possibilities.  When Bill was in Japan, and Judi was temporarily left behind, mom would send Judi to the newsstand in front of Hites Drug Store on East Ohio Street to play the numbers on her way to work.

We kids would sometimes be sent to the newsstand mentioned above to buy the “tip sheets” .  These were cards printed with all the winning numbers for past x number of months.  It would predict which numbers were more likely to hit.  Which numbers hadn’t hit for years etc.

 

Last updated December 27, 2020

Food memories. 

Klondike. When I got the notice of Aunt Anna Disher’s death, I was reminded of one of Mom’s favorite desserts. She and Anna enjoyed Klondike bars. As far back a I can remember, there were Klondike bars in the refrigerator’s freezer. Long after the nest was empty, she still asked anyone going shopping to pick some up for her.

Cherry Pie. I’m writing this on July Fourth and it brings back memories  of cherry pies.  On the hill behind the house which went all the way up to Braham Street were a dozen or so cherry trees.  In the spring we kids would be sent out back with buckets to pick the ripe cherries.  Once we got the cherries into the house, mom would have us pit the cherries using hair pins.  From the pitted cherries mom would make cherry pies, cherry jelly and cherry juice.  We got to do this wonderful chore about once a week until all the cherries were gone.  Nobody made cherry pies and cherry jelly as good as mom’s.

Phillip’s Pea Soup. Dad had picked up several cases of Phillips Pea Soup from the railroad salvage yard.  We had pea soup almost every day for what must have been months. Besides the pea soup, there would often appear cans of food without labels. Talk about “Pot Luck”!  Other foods that popped up often were “Welfare” cheese, powdered milk, and margarine.  Remember squeezing the package to mix in the color to make the white margarine yellow to look more like butter?

 

Last updated November 5, 2019

What are the  the 3 parts of a wood-burning stove?  Lifter, leg and poker.