Ballast stories from two of the "biddies"

{Attebetty's story}

This tractor photo made me realize I've spent a small part of my life as 'ballast'......

First, Vern, Steve Stalter and I were out dinking around on a snowy night and Vern's little car slid off the road and nosed into a deep-ish ditch. Steve and I got in the ditch and pushed as Vern gunned the motor, to no avail. Then Vern made me get up on the trunk while he pushed and Steve drove. Bob's your Uncle and we were out. I've teased him about 'insulting me' for years. He always answers with, "....worked didn't it...?"

Then to 1968. Dee and I went to the drive-in with Debbie and Larry Parker in his 67 Camaro. While we were there, the front, passenger side tire went flat. When Larry checked it, there was a pretty big hole in it. He had no spare. (....Who needed a stinking spare when there was beer to be bought in the 60s...????)

We got all the way from the Drive-in on 75th to 23rd and Hoyt by 'squishing' over to the drivers side. Dee was on my lap and Deb sat, mostly, on Larry's lap as he drove, thus re-balancing the car. Larry drove real slow on back streets, all the way. It worked because the Camaro was so long in the front and short, short in the back behind the passenger compartment.

Also reminded me of the day Dad was out yanking the concrete edges of the driveway. Also in the late 60's. He was breaking them up and pulling them out with the old '40 Dodge truck. Remember it? Not a lot of truck. Cool though. He got to one big piece that was giving him fits. He dug a hole under the middle of it and attached the chain. It wouldn't budge though. He came in and got Vera and I. He made us get in the bed and sit over each back wheel. Our extra weight did the job and the concrete came right out.

Vera was not happy, to say the least. I saw the humor in it. Dad sealed the deal when he got out of the car grinning and said quietly, "First time I've been happy to have two big daughters......." I cracked up and it took days for Vera to speak to him again.

{Pdot's story}
Back in the 70's, when I lived in another world by the name of Metaline Falls, my Wusband loved to go driving in the mountains. We lived very remotely and actually in the mountains, but I am talking about driving further up on little, one lane, gravel logging roads. Some roads were so old that saplings 4 feet tall had started to grow up in the middle of them.
We had recently acquired a little lavender and white Scout with 4 wheel drive that the Wusbund was dying to try out.
I had prepared dinner and put it into the oven to cook for an hour when he said, "let's all (meaning my four children and I) go for a drive." What's the harm I thought, so off we went. I had on my house shoes and saw no need to change as we would be back soon. Since we heated our home with an old wood stove,we were all dressed very lightly and we just trouped out to the Scout and left.
Up we went, and in a little while I said we should be heading back now as a half hour had passed and it would take that long to get back home. The views in the mountains were spectacular but it was getting darker and I was getting anxious.
Just as he tried to back down to a wide spot in the road to get turned around, he got too far over to the edge and due to the melting snow, the edge was soft and we started to tilt a little to the drivers side of the vehicle. I tried to keep my voice calm and said to John, my oldest son, to open the door on the passenger side and take his little brothers and get out.
My Wusband got out and put the Scout into 4 wheel drive and tried to drive away from the edge of the road. He just kept digging in deeper and the vehicle kept tilting further and further to the drivers side over the slash area.
I could just see it rolling over and him being injured with no way out for us but to walk. Four little children with no coats and me in slippers with snow on the ground.
I was praying and praying and begging him to stop trying to drive out of the predicament. An idea suddenly came to me. There were some big flat rocks along the side of the road. What if we stacked them under the back bumper and I got a log and we used it like a jack on top of the rocks to lift the back end of the vehicle up and out of danger. I got every one working on getting the rocks stacked and finding a small log that we could carry but would not break under the weight. Besides, getting the things in place would keep the kids warm and it JUST had to work.
We got the whole thing set up and I placed my weight on the end of the pole and swung out a little and the Scout creaked and groaned and started to move in a little. My son John, darted to the edge and put big rocks in the hole the tire had made while the Wasbund pushed against the Scout so it wouldn't slip back into the hole. When we had gotten it to where we thought it was safe again, he jumped in and gunned it and drove out.
It was just dark by then and we turned around "carefully" and drove down and home. Dinner was a little over done but not ruined and we wouldn't have cared anyway.
I don't know if you would call me ballast but it sure was leverage and it sure was God answering a frantic Mother's prayer.
Oh, and by the way.....the 4 wheel drive did NOT work in that bad boy so we had to have it fixed. Several months later the back axle of the car came off as we were driving up a winding road and we rolled over into a ditch. But that is another story.....

TV - The 60's

As I have been looking at TV in the 60's I realized I didn't watch much during those years and a lot of it I only saw if it went into re-runs years later. I did not have a TV for most of that time. There was no moral issue or any statement being made. We just didn't have a TV.
As I was growing up, there was no TV in our home until 1956. I was 12 then so it was never part of my growing up as is the same case with a lot of people in my age group.
In our home we watched a show on a specific night then we turned it off.

Look closely at this and see how little choice we had in programing in those days and this may explain some of it.


1960 -This guy and this show scared me to death. The Twilight Zone had some of the creepiest stories and I still remember parts of some of them.

Ben Cartwright and his three sons (by three wives, I might add) rode herd over the Ponderosa spread in 1860s Nevada in one of the most beloved series of all time. The first TV Western to be shown in color, it ran for 14 seasons; was the top-rated show for three of those years (1964-67). My Mom, who was so not into TV, was crazy about Ben. All phone calls, flitting about and talking had to stop when this show came on. She sat in her chair with her chin resting on her right hand, totally mesmerized. It was one of the few Westerns I ever liked.
1960 Television-See how wide they are starting to get. Curtis Mathis used to bring a Color TV to your house to let you watch for a week in order to sell you one. It took several big guys to bring it in. Did we ever buy one? NO. Everyone in the apartment building I lived in at the time took a turn on their free offer and we would go into each others apartments and watch TV every night.
The Dick Van Dyke Show-One of the funniest shows ever on TV. The writing was sophisticated and you actually had to have a brain to get some of the jokes. I still love this show and would watch re-runs as it is timeless.

1961-A good year to be ill, especially if you got Dr. Kildare when you were rolled into the hospital.

Mr Ed-Was about a horse who owned by Wilbur Post. Mister Ed was not just any horse, he talks to Wilbur! But this gets Wilbur in all kinds of trouble because Mister Ed won't talk to anyone else, so Carol, Wilbur's wife, thinks that Wilbur loves Mister Ed more then he loves her, because he spends so much time with Mister Ed. Mister Ed also talks on the telephone and goes out of his barn to cause mischief, which Wilbur gets blamed for. It was one of the funnier shows of that time.

The Andy Griffith Show-Little Ron Howard as Opie. Was that not the cutest face in TV land?

The Beverly Hillbillies


Mayberry R.F.D.- the spin-off of the Andy Griffith show. Andy got tired of the doing the show so this one was created. It's premier had the largest number of people ever watching a spin-off.
Peyton Place-I never went to my Mother's house on the night this show was on as she would not let me watch it even though I was a grown woman. I read the book when I was in my early teens, hiding under a blanket, with a flash light, after my Mother went to bed.....


Hogans Heroes

Adams Family


Death Valley Days-had quite a few emcees but this in the one we all remember.
Man From U.N.C.L.E.

Batman

Dark Shadows-never watched this but I sure know a lot of people that did. It had a cult-like following that included my formed MIL. She would race home from work to catch it.

The Dean Martin Show-still one of the funniest variety shows ever. I love to watch the video of them. I lived with a girlfriend, who worked nights, that would ask me to call her when he was on TV and sit the phone by the speaker so she could listen to it.

Hey Hey, We're the Monkees.....


"Tonight we have a reallllly BIG Sheeewwww!" That was always the lead in. The Ed Sullivan Show ran from June 20, 1948 to June 6, 1971. It was on every Sunday night at 8 p.m., and is one of the few shows to have been run in the same time slot, weekly on the same network (CBS), for more than two decades. It was hosted by entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan.



Ironside-loved this show


Star Trek-was not a Trekkie and never saw the show until it was canceled and they had all the marathons of all the shows. Probably the only reason I saw it then, I was dating a guy that loved this show. Oh, what we watch for love.

Here Come The Brides-I had no idea the few times I watched this, that it was loosely based on a true story. Sixteen years ago I found out about Asa Mercer, who was a Seattle pioneer, that took a ship to the east coast to find Civil War widows. His idea was to help settle Seattle by providing brides for the rough and tumble loggers, miners, etc. He was accused of white slavery. He was quite misunderstood. I would love to write a fictional book based on the facts of this story.

MOD SQUAD- This television detective show was so indicative of its time While all crime drama shows incorporate ideas of their era, most could be made 'contemporary' with a few simple updates in fashion and technology. Not so with The Mod Squad. The show worked because of its clothes, its language, its attitudes and, of course, its timing. The shows topics, such as student unrest and anti-war statements could only have worked in the late 60s. The characters all had troubled pasts and they were unified to help the youth of that time.

REALLY OLD TV

ONE OF THE FIRST SHOWS I REMEMBER IS THE LONE RANGER AND TONTO....REMEMBER.....KIMOSABE...WAS THAT A REAL WORD?
HOPPY, WHO DIDN'T LOVE THIS GUY? I KNOW SOMEONE THAT FAINTED WHEN SHE MET HIM AND HE KISSED HER !!!! DON'T BELIEVE ME....MAKE A COMMENT JUDITH FF!!! TELL THE TRUTH AND SHAME THE DEVIL....
HOW COOL WERE THESE OLD TV'S!!! I REMEMBER THE FIRST ONE I SAW HAD A MAGNIFIED SCREEN THAT DROPPED DOWN SO YOU COULD SEE THE DARN THING.

THE FIRST SHOW I EVER SAW WAS LUCY! DON'T REMEMBER WHICH ONE BUT IT WAS DEFINITELY HER. MY MOM HAD LEFT ME WITH THE NEIGHBORS WHEN MY DAD DIED BECAUSE SHE FELT IT WOULD BE TOO HARD FOR ME TO GO TO HIS FUNERAL. WE WATCHED LUCY.
OUR MISS BROOKS WAS A BIG HIT!! DO YOU REMEMBER CORLIS ARCHER?
HERE IS ANOTHER BEHEMOUTH!!!
PHIL SILVERS WAS AN ICON OF THE TIMES....AND EVEN AS A KID HE IRRITATED ME TO DEATH.
AND THE CAPTAIN....YES, CAPTAIN KANGAROO AND MR. GREEN JEANS....LOVED IT.
MY ALL TIME FAVORITE.....YES, I KNOW NOW THAT IT WAS UNREAL, BUT I LOVED IT THEN AND STILL DO....BUD....CALL ME!!!
'IT'S HOWDY DOODY TIME, IT'S HOWDY DOODY TIME.......COME ON LET'S START THE SHOW, COME ON KIDS, LET'S GO.......THUMP YOUR MAGIC TWANGER FROGGY,GOINNNNNG........ HI YA KIDS, HI YA, HI HA....."

"I'M BUSTER BROWN, I LIVE IN A SHOE, THAT'S MY DOG TIGE, HE LIVES THERE TOO." MY FIRST 'KIDS SHOW' AND I REMEMBER ALL THE WORDS.

SARGENT PRESTON OF THE YUKON AND HIS DOG KING......
MIC...see u real soon, KEY, why, because we love you...M-O-U-S-E.....DID WE LOVE ANNETTE!!!
OUT OF THE NIGHT, WHEN THE FULL MOON WAS BRIGHT, CAME A HORSE MAN KNOWN AS ZORRO...........
IS TIMMY IN THE WELL, LASSIE? WHO ELSE WANTED A DOG LIKE LASSIE?
CHUCK CONNERS IN THE RIFLEMAN....LOVED THIS SHOW!!!
LLOYD BRIDGES IN SEAHUNT....AQUATIC ADVENTURE AT ITS FINEST (FOR THAT TIME) NOW WE HAVE BAY WATCH....HAHA!!!
WANTED, DEAD OR ALIVE!!! STEVE MC QUEEN, THE FIRST REBEL WITHOUT A CLUE!
MY MOM DID THE MOST AMAZING IMPRESSION OF WALTER BRENNEN AS GRANDPA MC COY...DO YOU REMEMBER HIM HOBBLING ALONG AND TALKING TO LUKE IN THAT WEIRD VIBRATO VOICE OF HIS?

THE BEAVE.....SUCH A WEIRD LITTLE BOY AND SUCH A HUGE SHOW ABOUT HIM. AS FAR AS I WAS CONCERNED THE ONLY REAL CHARACTER IN THIS SHOW WAS EDDIE.....
I LOVED THE MAVERICK BROTHERS...JAMES GARNER MADE MY HEART GO PITTY PAT! HE STILL DOES BUT IT MUST BE ALL THE AGE SPOTS...HA HA
DONCHA JUST LOVE CLINT.....HE JUST GOES ON FOREVER!!! HE IS A HUNDRED YEARS OLDER THAN DIRT AND STILL A BOX OFFICE HIT. HE WAS SUCH A HOTTIE IN RAWHIDE.....NOW HE'S A WRINKLED OLD PRUNE. BUT THEN SO AM I....

Speaking of Girlfriends....

What would we do without our girlfriends?

What's so poignant about this picture? Well, it shows a line of little girls holding hands facing the immensity of ocean waves.
Alone they might be washed away, but together they stand strong.
Thank you for holding my hand somewhere along the way when I was facing a wave of my own.
I hope you will reach for my hand when your own wave threatens.

All of us girls..
Old and young...
Near and far...
Hold special memories of good times we've shared.
We've had our share of hard times when our friends were there to make us feel better.
We've shared...
our hearts
our time
our secrets
our fears
our hopes
and our dreams.
Let us never break the chain of friends!

Thanks Joybelle for sending this to me.