Remember this? The old Civil Defense logo? Times of the past when we had the cold war and the Russkies might attack us with missiles armed with nuclear warheads. And yes, my class and I had to participate in the “duck and cover” drills. We were told to get under our desks. We were told that the desk would help protect us from the cement ceiling falling in. Then we had to put our face to the floor, our hands along the sides of our face, and close our eyes. This was to help protect us from the bright flash of the atom bomb going off thanks to the Russkies. The hands by the side of our face not only helped to shield our eyes from the blinding flash but also from flying glass from the windows. This was all pretty scarry to a young boy in grade school and I was very concerned about having an atomic bomb dropped on me until I got older and realized that I lived in a very small rural hamlet whose main industry was growing McIntosh apples for apples juice and concord grapes for Welch’s grape juice and jam. I mean, we weren’t even big enough to qualify as a town and were officially classified as a hamlet. Why would the Russians want to bomb our little town (oops, I mean hamlet)? It just didn’t make sense and with this my fears eased. I actually got this old Civil Defense sticker/decal from a souvenir shop on an Indian reservation in Grants New Mexico west of Albuquerque while on vacation. Grants, New Mexico is famous for all of the uranium mines. They just seem to abound everywhere in the area. Fortunately the cold war has passed and along with it the threat of nuclear war with Russia. Now we have to worry about terrorists. So what do we do when we see the bright flash from the suitcase nuclear bomb? That’s right, duck and cover. See how well I remember my childhood training? As Dave Garroway use to say at the end of the Today show on early morning television, “peace”. Villager, was it the Today show that Dave was on? If you don’t remember then you will have to get your broom handle and do half an hour of exercise with Jack LaLane. Nostalgia, how sweet it is. Wait a minute, didn’t Jackie Gleason use to say that? Lew
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Jack LaLanne is still exercizing, I see.He looks pretty good. I used to faithfully watch his daily show, do the exercises, and try to match his bounce and enthusiasm. That was when I was a confined busy housewife, with the two girls, and a husband to keep house for. There was no way to get away and jog or take the walking 20 minutes away from the house and child care. LaLanne was a real escape for the dutiful housewives of that era. This is contributed by Villager
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