Well, my parents came through the depression, money just wasn’t available, they repacked, sold dried fruit, prunes, dates, raisins, citrin, pineapple, JMC brand, and when they needed, wanted to travel from CA to MT, they packed up a bunch, sold it along the way to cover their costs… By the '40s when I came along, they were still struggling, and made or fixed everything themselves, Mom had been a trail cook in MT on roundups, great cook, made her own mayonnaise, best bread ever, and they canned everything from green beans to fruits… Frugal, forever… Dad was a carpenter as long as he could, again, no new cars, extras… I don’t remember ever eating ‘out’ as a kid, one time at an Italian restaurant, but it must have been when I was real young, don’t recall what was served, just the name, Freddianni’s, outside the small nearby town of Sebastopol… So no investments, hand to mouth… Just the way it was… You need it, make it!
Ourselves, we did well, invested, but I know my eldest brother had our parent’s attitude, where I would toss and buy new, he fixed it, bailing wire, wood bits, made it work… I guess I missed that gene, but I don’t have the same worries they had, so far! Only bought 2 new vehicles, well, 3 now with the Toyota, but before it, a '95 Chevy PU, and earlier a '70 Maverick… The Chevy turned out to be a lemon, but that Maverick went way over 200K miles…
Changing, crazy times…
