Today is my birthday which is no big deal anymore. We have a lot of birthdays in the family during August, seems to be a lot of cuddling during December as the cold months settle.
Back in 1955, the year I was born, Dwight D. Eisenhower was president – he raised minimum wage from 75 cents to $1 an hour which didn’t rise much over the the 20 years as my first jobs as a mechanical and architectural draftsman netted $1.50 to $2.50 an hour. My jobs in paper mills and construction in the mid 1970s ranged from 5 to $8 dependent on the job position (these were union jobs).
There were two hurricanes in August of 1955, Connie and Diane which moved through the northeast. Connie killed 43 in NC, SC, Virginia & Maryland. The hurricane pounded the Eastern U.S. for 11 days. Following Connie two days later Hurricane Diane flooded Connecticut River killing 190 & doing $1.8 billion damage. Eighteen inches of rain fell in Westfield, Massachusetts. 12.5 inches fell in Burlington, Connecticut from Diane (both state records). Death toll was 400.
A lot of things have changed both socially and with technology since the 1950s. Families lived closer together and in neighborhood everyone was social knowing all the families around them. Black and white T.V.s were coming into homes and every kid had to have a transistor radio. Hi-Fi phonographs were popular, which had a pair of large 12″ full range speakers. We only had AM radio, some of the tube sets had shortwave also.
All the kids in the neighborhood were outside playing until dark, there was no worries of kidnappings and many home were left unlocked over night. Mom and pop stores provided the food and daily needs families needed, seems there was one on every block, and they prospered before the big box stores moved in and put them out of business.
We have some rain moving into the area this morning mainly south of Grand Rapids which will be the case today. I have been waiting for a rainy morning to work on some of my in door hobby projects – I have an electronics lab upstairs and a wood shop in the basement. With all the dry clear days I have been outside doing lawn and building maintenance. It is time for a break. The best chance of storms will be south and east of Grand Rapids later today.
Happy Birthday MV!!! I was born in 1951 and growing up in the 50’s & 60’s was really different than today. I remember the transistor radio and how my Grandpa carried one in his shirt pocket with the ear bud in his ear to hear the Tigers playing. We played baseball on the front lawn or in the street and stayed out till the street lights came on. Have a wonderful day!
We were “rained upon” three seperate times this evening while attending the Lowell Fair.
We had some nice lightning and thunder with some soaking rain for about a hour overnight we needed it our yard was getting very dry we may get some more storms with a cold front Wednesday night then after that it maybe a week or so before we get any rain..Happy birthday MV have a nice Tuesday …INDY
Well we missed out on most of the rain again. The radar looked promising last night, then the rain fell apart as it came over us. A whopping 0.08” here, not even wet under the trees. Reminds me of last Winter in December and most of January when we were measuring snow by the tenth of an inch, only this is rain measured by the 100th of an inch.
With cloudy skies the temperature here at my house is now at 70° I did get 0.63″ of rain in the thundershower last night. Note I said thundershower while there was some lightning and thunder I would not say that it was a thunderstorm. It looks like that 0.63″ was one of the heaver amounts in the area, There were several reports in the range of 0.60 to 0.66 in central Kent county.
Slim
Happy Birthday MV!
You are several years younger than I am. Growing up in the 1950’s and early 1960’s was a lot different than today. My first jobs also were in the $1.10 to$1.15 range I started out at GM at $3.34 a hour that was somewhat higher then many of the other jobs but even many paid in the 2.50 to 3.25 range. I rented my first house (not a apartment a house) for $95.00 a month I was still in that house when I got marred but the rent was then up to 120.00 a month. I could have bought that house for 12,000 but instead bought a lower cost one for $7,900 with payments of $85.00 a month.
Slim
Happy Birthday MV!!!
Above average temps for the month so far and averaging 88% of total sunshine!