Sepia Saturday challenges bloggers to share family
history through old photographs.
This week’s Sepia Saturday photo of a sweet family group
comprised of Dad, Dog, and Boy inspires the imagination. What is that little cowboy thinking of doing
with that lasso?
And what or whom was my cousin aiming at with that bow
and arrow? He was grinning, but I’m not
sure I would trust that grin.
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| Glenn Davis at the home of Orvin and Lucille Davis about 1952 or 1953 |
Nevertheless, wasn’t Glenn cute in that Hopalong Cassidy
cowboy outfit? Probably the only thing
cuter though was the cowGIRL version that my cousin Bobbie got that Christmas.
 |
| Bobbie and Glenn Christmas 1952 or 1953 |
Bobbie loved this costume. But she has one sad memory of that Christmas
when they came to visit our grandparents.
The house was heated by an oil furnace centrally vented through the
floor between the living room and dining room.
It was a rather sizeable floor vent.
As kids we liked to stand on it and feel the warmth blowing up our
clothes.
That vent could get hot though as Bobbie learned all too
well. At some point while running
through the house – maybe chasing Glenn – Bobbie dropped her little red plastic
gun on the vent. And there it melted.
Hopalong over to Sepia Saturday to see what stories and
photos the others have lassoed today.
©
2014, Wendy Mathias. All rights
reserved.
I am jealous of those Hopalong Cassidy outfits. My first watch was a Hopalong Cassidy watch. I had it in my jewelry box until I was about 30. Unfortunately I threw it away shortly before I decided that old things like that were worth saving.
ReplyDeleteI was too young at the time to be jealous, but when I saw those photos a few years later, I became jealous. Too bad about that watch -- it's probably very valuable among collectors.
DeleteGlen appears to be wearing his skates so that he can make a quick getaway after the shooting! That’s certainly a charming picture of the tiny cowgirl, but how sad to hear of the fate of her gun.
ReplyDeleteThere were no replacement parts back then -- so that gun was done!
DeleteOh no, poor little red plastic gun! I just know how horrible something like that can be! Great memories here Wendy!
ReplyDeleteTraumatizing! LOL
DeleteYes, poor little red gun. But things melt when they get too hot! My youngest daughter found that out one time when I had the oven on with the door open for a moment and daughter suddenly decided to throw her little stuffed polar bear in there for some reason? I managed to grab it and pull it out, but it had caught fire for a moment and the part of the fur that had touched the hot heating element melted into a black stiff matted mess. Fortunately, I was able to trim that part off and still leave a smidgeon of fur. But boy, did her eyes go wide and to this day she has no idea why she did that.
ReplyDeleteYIKES -- good thing there was no worse damage than singed fur. Imagine trying to explain what happened to the insurance company.
DeleteI'd forgotten that Hopalong actually wore black shirts -- but now that I see this photo, it's all coming back to me!
ReplyDeleteEnjoy basking in the glow of that memory.
DeleteAre skates better for shooting at moving targets? These are really fun pictures!
ReplyDeleteOh, ha -- you're on a roll today!
DeleteAre toy guns still popular in the States? I think they are rather frowned upon now here in Aus.
ReplyDeleteOh goodness -- "frowned upon" to the extreme. Schools are practicing zero tolerance for anything gun-related. A 5-yr old was expelled for "shooting" with his FINGER.
DeleteYou need a Robin Hood suit to go with that bow and arrow ! Cute photo.
ReplyDeleteOr at least an Indian suit. Glenn was definitely confused about cowboy weapons.
DeleteMy brother had his cowboy outfit and I remember seeing Hopalong Cassidy on TV. As Jo said, toy guns are now very much frowned on in the U.K. as well. What a sad end though to a favourite toy. It reminded me of my granddaughter playing at baking and unknown to her Mum she put her Thomas the Tank Engine bowl in the oven. It was only discovered when the oven was switched on for tea and a rather odd smell arose from it.
ReplyDeleteAs a young boy, my husband shot and killed a barnswallow only to discover some babies. He felt so guilty that he gathered them up and put them in a shoebox. He then put the shoebox of baby birds in the oven on WARM. Later that day, his mother decided to bake a cake and preheated the oven. You know what happened from there!
DeleteI see he was roller skates, for a quick get a way????LOL
ReplyDeleteHA -- isn't that a funny combination with a cowboy suit?!
DeleteI suppose the skates substituted for a horse and enabled him to get a quick getaway.
ReplyDeleteThat sidewalk went straight to the road and out of town! But as I recall, we could feel every rock in the road, so it wasn't an easy escape on skates.
DeleteOh no! What a sad thing for Bobbie! We had a heater vent like that in one of the houses we lived in. My brothers and I liked to straddle the vent for the warmth, but if we stood directly on it, not only was it too hot, but it would melt our shoes. I remember so well my mom calling out, "I can smell your shoes burning!"
ReplyDeleteHa Ha -- yeah, I can picture you now. Today you could sue for new shoes, I'm sure.
DeleteShe's lucky it didn't burn her if it was hot enough to melt the gun! ouch.
ReplyDeleteI think we had developed a special sense for just how long we could stand on that vent.
DeleteThese snapshots look like teasers for YouTube videos where something painful is about to happen. My 1940s house in Savannah had the same kind of floor furnace which was the single heat source for 1100 sq ft. It could indeed get pretty warm and we soon replaced it with a modern HVAC system, as in the deep South, air conditioning is more important than heat.
ReplyDeleteI suspect there was someone about to get an arrow suction-cupped to his forehead.
DeleteAm I seeing things or was your cousin aiming that bow and arrow while on roller skates! An early multi-tasker!
ReplyDeleteAnd coordinated too! I'm sure I would have taken a tumble on those skates.
DeleteThe cow girl outfit is darling. Kid expelled for shooting with his finger??? Now I've heard everything.
ReplyDeleteSometimes that "zero tolerance" rule is practiced by people with no common sense.
DeletePhew had me there for a moment. glad it was only Bobbie's gun that melted, I was imagining her sitting on the vent and melting skirt or worse....very sweet photo and faces are adorable
ReplyDeleteOh my -- I never imagined my description of the floor furnace would take your thoughts in that direction!
DeleteOh! That's terrible! Terrible for little Bobbie and for your grandparents. However did they get that melted plastic off of their vent? That must have been fun. NOT!
ReplyDeleteGood question -- I think I was much too young to have been aware of the melted gun, so I never asked. And Bobbie only recently shared the story of her gun, so there's no one to ask. Actually, maybe Bobbie knows. I need to ask her.
DeleteIsn't it amazing the memories that are unleashed from just talking about a couple of photos!
ReplyDeleteThat is so true. Another blogger just the other day wrote about strategies for expanding on a story by studying details in a photo.
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