Robert Chianese at
Island View Media did a wonderful blog post on home deliveries made in the old
days in Trenton, New Jersey. I think it’s a great read and I highly recommend
it! https://www.islandviewmedia.com/single-post/2020/04/22/Home-Deliveries-Then-and-Now
Let’s go back 60-70
years to my home in Kansas City, Missouri and I’ll reflect a bit on the deliveries
made to our home on West 58th Terrace.
One of my fond memories
is of Manor Bread. This was in the early 1950’s. We had moved to our new house,
the one we enjoyed for over 50 years. They actually had a horse-drawn buggy.
They would come once a week. The driver was known to my Mom. She talked about
cuisine and how he helped her. (Manor
Bread is in Facebook. “Things and Places We Loved When We Were Much Younger.”
An especially favorite
memory is Salt Rising Bread. This was a real treat. It wasn’t available
generally, so when it was available, everybody wanted it. Salt Rising
Bread! In the toaster! I still want it, and I succeeded in making it some sixty
years later, but there was some trouble with the bread dough. I tried my old
Crock Pot once, at 200 degrees, which was a little high for the temperature after
twenty-four hours, but it did work!
There was no coal
service, as we had a gas heater. But I
remember the basement room into which coal had been delivered. It was about 6
feet wide, about 8 deep and maybe a 7 foot ceiling. It was part of the wall, but went back from
the wall. It was opposite the stairs to the basement. It was on these stairs
that I sat, about 60 years ago.
I had a .22 carbine,
made by Remington. Target practice took place in the basement. My Dad supervised
at first. I was about 10 or 11, maybe 12. Later I was allowed to do it by myself. What
we did was to shoot into the coal bin. The target device was on saw-horses. It
was small, with sand between boards. I would target something, a bullseye, for
example on the front side, and then shoot.
When I pulled the trigger,
I was a little off kilter and the shot ricocheted. I could hear the bullet
zinging around the basement!
