When dinosaurs roamed the earth ............

When I was growing up ......... we had an oak crank-style wall-mounted phone in my Dad's office.




Kind of like this one ..... but not as fancy.

It wasn't decoration.

It was a working phone.  We would crank the handle and Phoebe or Rachel would  answer.  I would tell them who I wanted to call .......... and they would hook me up.

(Yes ... before Friends .... Phoebe and Rachel worked as operators for New Windsor Telephone.)

It was an old phone when we used it ........ but it was sooooo cool!

I grew up in an era of no phone calls after 8 ......... Phoebe deserved a quiet evening.

I grew up in an era of party lines .... where multiple people shared the same telephone line.  The "ring tones" were 2 shorts ... maybe 3 longs.

Because Dad was a large animal veterinarian, we had a private line.  But most of my friends had party lines.

I grew up with 4 digit telephone numbers .... which I still remember!!  Two on 136.

Now .... I can't remember where I parked the car, why I walked downstairs or what I had for breakfast this morning.  But I can remember a phone number from 50 years ago!!!!

So in my lifetime .... I have gone from operators and crank style phones to dial phones to push button phones.

And now ..... the dinosaurs of Donahue have entered the 21st century.

Say what??????????????

Yea .......... the Lafrenz's bought cell phones.

I know!!!!  

Can you feel the earth cooling???

So you can follow me on Instagram now.

This may take me a while.  After all ......... I still put two spaces after a period.

But I learned to type on this typewriter!



 
Really.

Dinosaur. Honestly, a dinosaur.




Comments

Unknown said…
My number was 7 on 54 and was two shorts and a long!!!! I keep telling Dad FB is just like a big old party line! Have a great weekend!
Michelle said…
For a time in my childhood we had a party line, but I don't remember our number or our ring code. Your long-term memory is better than mine! Oh, I'm on Instragram, too (Boulderneigh); off to "follow" you!
Zan Asha said…
I love this story! I had NO idea about your childhood telephone set up. Great story. Enjoy your cell phone. Haha, I still have a flip phone and I refuse to use the internet on it...so no Instagram...yet.

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