On OUR party line, you cranked the handle for the rings. Ours was two longs and a short ring.
One did pick up the the handset to see if anyone else was using the line at the time.
One learned to only say on the phone what one assumed that everyone in the neighborhood would know about within minutes.

There were times that I felt like I was talking to my Mom in code when I called her! Actually, we WERE talking in code!
Remember "rubberneckers"? They were the people that listened to other people's conversations?

And there were real "operators" that transferred calls on a switchboard?

Since when is 51 older then dirt?!

I loved black jack chewing gum! I guess I was the only one because I never see it in stores anymore!

Go to Cracker Barrel for all the old time candy and gum. They still have Black Jack, Clove and some others. They also have Sky Bars, my favorite candy.

My mom was one of those operators who worked the night shift all by herself in a little block building in town. She had a couch to lay down on when there were no calls, which was mostly all night. People went to bed early to get up at the crack of dawn to do real work. We lived on a farm and if we didn't grow it, we didn't eat it. I remember asking for a bologna sandwich one night and my dad just laughed. At dinner that night was a huge steak covering the platter along with every yummy thing you could get out of a garden. Air conditioning was the huge shade tree in the front yard and opening all the windows at night to get the breeze going through the house. Riding your bicycle to town 2 miles away just to go to the Tasty Freeze was something fun to do in the summer. You didn't ever complain about being bored in the summer because there were field of beans to be picked and canned. Mom usually did at least 100 jars of those every summer. Along with corn, tomatoes, sauerkraut pickles, every kind of jam you can imagine. We ate good in those days at home and never for a minute thought we were poor. I wish my kids could have had that upbringing. I loved every minute of it. Of course all my friends had parents who had been married for years and years and we didn't know much about divorce. And yes I am older than dirt and remember all those things on the list. Thanks for the memories.

I'm with you all. I come from a family of 11 children (not uncommon in those days) and we were the last house in our county to get indoor plumbing!!! I remember luxuriating in a big bathtub that I didn't have to share with someone else!! Those good ole days! :)

18 of the 25! Those were the good ole days!! Rollerskating or playing kickball in the streets in the summer until the street lights came on signaling time to go home! Being dirty, actually DIRTY from playing outside!! Kids are missing so much sitting in the house exercising their thumbs!!

Me too.....I remembered all of it so I must have dirt all over me. Thanks for the memories.

Older than dirt and lots of it here as well! Definitely the good old days. Fortunately we live in a town where little kids walk to school by themselves and will be filthy by the time they get there!

Do you remember wax lips? S&H Green Stamps? Service Merchandise? Remember when you took your tv tubes to the hardware store to test them? Remember not wearing white pants, shoes, or handbags before or after Memorial Day? Nylons and garter belts and fish net hose? Baseball cards clothes pinned to wheel spokes? Romper Room? ahh...the good 'ole days!

Remember all! Older than dirt here!!!