BATTERY OPERATED

One morning when we awoke to play golf, the coffe pot, which had been set to come on at six o'clock in the morning had been shut off during the night as well as the other clocks. The electricity had gone off during th night, so everything went off for a few seconds or minutes. I called the electric company, Duke Energy, as this had happened several times, with no storm or hurricanes. They drilled me on exactly what had happened. I relayed my story to two individuals. They said they could see nothing wrong but would send someone in the morning to check. At five o'clock in the evening a Duke Energy repairman appeared, I said, "Good Morning". He apologized. Said he had checked and there was no problem to be found. A few days later, a female called me from the Duke Energy Office, inquiring about the power outage. Again, I retold my story of the power just going out at night between midnight and six in the morning and shutting everything off.  She said they did not find a problem, so she suggested that I get a battery back-up. I laughed and said, "That's why I'm paying these expensive Duke Energy bills, so I can have a battery back-up when there is no storm?" Yes, that was her suggestion. With that I hung up and remembered living in those days when we had no electricity. Everything was battery operated or kerosene for lights.

At first my family had a small table model battery operated radio, but when my brothers went into the service in World War II, my parents got a big floor model radio which took one huge battery. The reception was better and they listened to the news every night to try and find out where my brothers were serving. They listened to the news on WLW in Cincinnati, as well as WJJD, I believe, in Chicago, and WHAS in Louisville. We were told to be quite when the news was on. Our brothers were not allowed to tell where they were but by listening to the news and knowing what batillion they were with, gave my parents a good idea of there whereabouts. One evening I was making a lot of noise, arguing with my sister, Lorena or playing with my dog too loudly, and my dad threatened to whip me if I didn't quite down so he could hear the news. Often the stations were very staticy because of being so far away as well as the poor reception.

The radios were good entertainment. We listened to the "Mid-Day Merry-Go Round" from Knoxville TN each day. We listened to "The Grand Ole Opry" in Nashville on Saturday nights. We listened to some comical shows, such as "Lum And Abner".  We had to be careful and not waste the battery too much. Therefore our programs were selective. Mom and Dad listened tosome gospel music in the mornings.

We also had battery powered flash lights. But if we were on a walk to our grandmothers or friends at night we would use a lantern powered by kerosene. Our lights for reading were kerosene powered. My mom had a special lamp which gave more light than normal that she used for quilting and sewing. Those days seems remote and unmodern but they were fun and I am glad I have experienced them. I don't want to go back to those battery powered days, so I hope Duke Energy gets their wires straightened out soon.

PAPER DOLLS AND LOVE

                                                                   PAPER DOLLS

When I was a little girl I loved to play with paper dolls. My first dolls were cut out of catalogs which came in the mail.We would find the people with underwear and cut them out. Then we would match the dresses, pants, coats and what other clothes we wanted to those models.

My older sisters bought me some Dagwood and Blondie paper dolls, which were a delight. I started a collection of paper dolls from catalogs as well as store bought. I loved the Lana Turner doll as well as Gene Tierney. I also had a book of paper doll babies. I loved babies, whether real, dolls, or paper.

The dolls I liked the most were the ones I cut from catalogs. I always named my paper dolls. I  pretended to have twins, a boy and a girl. My favorite names for the twins were, Judith Kay and Johnny Keith. I thought if I ever had twins, I'd name them that. 

What a surprise it was, when I went to high school and met a handsome red head with a fantastic physique, whose name was Johnny Keith. I thought it must have been a sign. At first we just talked and walked from the restaurant, where everyone gathered before school, to school. He was a basketball player and when I could get to the games, I was thrilled to watch and maybe we could have some time after the game to be together. It all depended on how late it was and how I was going to get home. We would sit in the restaurant and have a coke or go for a ride in someone's car.

We began going steady when I was fourteen and he was fifteen. We had a study hall together and we would  hold hands and whisper. The teacher, an old maid, fussed at us and said we should be doing somethin beneficial. She wanted me to go practice typing and him to go practice basketball. After that semester we were never together in any class or study hall. I guess they didn't fancy first love.

There were many ups and downs in our relationship, which will be in a later blog, but true love won, even though it could have started from an imaginary paper doll, named Johnny Keith.