May not be funny, but....

[ABP]

I once was remodeling a home and came across some old newspapers that appear to be some kind of farmers newspaper dating back to 1901, I still have them somewere. I like to look at them every now and again, there is an ad for 5 mens long sleve white shirts for (I think) 1.25. My how times have changed

[alyssa]

Isn't that the truth, times have changed! You can barely buy a pack of bubble gum for $1.25 these days!

[briannarae]

We have a home built in 1960's, and the original owner had had a wheelchair ramp built for his grandsons. When we bought the house, we just left it there. We are going to put siding on the house, adn decided that the ramp was either going to have to be brought up level, or just taken off (as the ramp was caulked to the old siding). So we tear it down, and in the mounds of sand that they had used with the form, we are digging it out to take it below level of sidewalk for new cement, we find pieces to well I am not sure what it is called, but ages ago I know that this contraption was used to hold the rear legs of an animal while being skinned for processing. The only piece we didnt find was the main bar. I am just glad there was no animal still attached!!! Also while repairing an inside wall, we found old phone wires that was used with those phones that you had to wind upand the earpiece hung on the side.

[LazyPup]

Alyssa..talking about what a buck will buy, check out the attached photo of a Daisy BB gun that I found sealed up in a bathroom wall.

When I originally found it we were ripping out the old lathe and plaster for a rehab in a bathroom. At first all I could see was the tip of the barrel and i couldnt figure our why any pipe would have a hole in the cap. when i touched it, it moved so i lifted it out of the wall to discover it was an old BB gun. Out of curiosity I cocked it and fired into some scrap in the dumpster and to my total amazement if fired perfectly. I then began to inspect it closer and could not find the slot where you pour the BB's in.

I brought it home and cleaned it up a bit to find the manufacturers name, serial number and any clue as to its age. I found top of the reciver section stamped "Daisy Mfg, Plymouth, Mich." but i was still not able to find how to put BB's in it.

I then sent an Email to Daisy with the serial number to see if they could shed any light on the subject.

Two days later i received a reply from Daisy that said this was originally marketed between 1929 and 1940 as "A Daisy for a Buck" , that's right folks, the original selling price was $1.

They also informed me that this is a single shot BB gun. In order to load it you must unscrew the barrel and pull it out, then insert one BB in the base of the barrel, reinsert the barrel and cock the lever to fire. The internal spring activated air pump has a leather washer which is supposed to require occassional oiling to prevent it from drying and cracking.

According to information from the original homeowner that bathroom wall was originally closed up in 1935 and had not been opened since then, so it would stand that this BB gun has been in that wall since 1935, hence the leather washer was never oiled, yet it still works perfectly.

I am 59 years old, and as a kid on the farm I had daisy BB guns from the age of 7 or 8 but I have never seen a single shot BB gun before or since finding this one.

[skootch]

I have an old sears catalog that i like to look at. Guns were like 5 bucks in the 19 teens!

[tudor]

Speaking of old Sears catalogs, they used to have Craftsman home plans in them about 100 years ago. They're fun to look at:

Bungalow Floor Plans Index