STATE LICENSE PLATE COLLECTION

Ever wake up in the middle of the night and can't go back to sleep?? Years ago while racking my brain during the night I said to myself, Wouldn't it be great to have a license plate from ever state in the USA to hang on my shop's wall?? I was receiving a car magazine that you could place a free add. I WILL TRADE A TENNESSEE LICENSE PLATE FOR YOUR STATE PLATE. Then the fun began as I started receiving some plates from different states and would in turn mail one from Tn. back too those who sent me theirs. The states I thought would be the most difficult to collect were attained right off the start. I found a Hawaii plate locally at a garage sale. Found a bunch of Tx. plates at a junk yard. One guy in Colorado wanted to trade 7 plates. It was always an adventure to go to my mailbox and find new license plates I didn't have. Within a year I had most of the states and finally down to that last remaining plate( Delaware) That one was so hard to add to my collection. I had almost given up on Delaware and one day there it was in my mailbox. Mission accomplished. The Delaware plate was the worst looking plate in my collection but I sure treasured that ugly plate. I have traded for some foreign plates, Australia, England, Germany, Canada, Nova Scotia, Yukon to name a few. I also have several older Tn. plates shaped like our state. Some of these are valuable to collectors. The most valuable Tn. plate is the 1915 , because it was the first year Tennesseans had to by law have a license plate on their cars and trucks. Not many were sold. A collector friend found a pair of 1915's and gave $7,000 for them and had them refurbished. He runs an add in those swap and shop papers all over Tn. A while back a black lady called him and ask, "Are you the fool who will pay $1,000 for a 1915 Tn. License plate??" He said yes I will!! " You had better get down here before you change your mind." He went to Memphis and got a great looking plate, almost in perfect condition. License plates are highly collectible and get this.... A man in California has every state license plate that has ever been issued!!!!

CHEAP GAS PRICES......1959!!!!

I know we all are feeling the effects of high gas prices. And we though they were high back in the day at 19.9 per gallon. OK, not all of you go back that far??. While in high school 19.9 was what we paid for a gallon of gas. For $1.00 you could drive a week or more. Man, those were the good old days, little did we know how good at the time.
I had enrolled in college at Murfreesboro,Tn. and was staying with my Aunt and Uncle and their two boys, Randy and Steven. My sleeping quarters was in the same room with the two boys. Little Steven had a problem, he was afraid of the dark and insisted on sleeping with the light on. Once he was asleep I would get up and turn the light out. If Steven woke up during the night he cried out and I would have to get up and turn the light back on. I soon found out it was better to sleep with the covers over my head as to try to out smart Steven.
My uncle J.B. was the manger of the local Red Ace Gas Station. He received a call from his boss that the station was going to start a Gas War for the week end. He told uncle J.B. to lower the price of gas from 19.9 to .09.9 starting Friday morning and running till Monday morning. Uncle J. B. ask if I would help pump gas during this time and I was glad to help. Back then stations pumped your gas when you came into the station. They also washed your windshield, checked your tires for low air pressure and put in oil if you needed it. We didn't know what self service was back in those days.
You can imagine the crowd of cars coming into the station that weekend to fill up their tanks with that cheap gas. We were the only station in town with those low prices. The cars formed a long line while waiting to reach the pumps and the line ran for blocks. Tanker trucks were standing by to fill the in ground tanks out back as soon as we pumped them down low. To say that weekend was a mad house is an under statement. Man did we sell the gas. That weekend the gallons sold was a new record for the Red Ace Owner.
The old saying," What goes down will go up" was true, because Monday morning Mr. Red Ace called Uncle J.B. and told him to raise the price of gas to 24.9. I know the people weren't happy with the new gas price. Little did we know what a great deal that was at the time.
Today or tomorrow it's time to fill up my wife's car and my truck. $3.69 here at present. Man, I wish it was 1959 again.

FLYING KITES........

March winds always back memories of when I was a young boy and my love of flying a kite. Times where tough in our household with 3 siblings. Kites cost a dime at the local 5 & 10 store. Guess you haven't seen one of those stores in a long time? I was too poor to buy a store bought kite so I made my own.
First you needed a big brown paper sack, two sticks, some string, glue and a piece of cloth to make a tail. The big brown sack was cut so it would lie in one large flat piece. I would find some round weed stalks that grew down by the creek. They were about a half inch in diameter and very strong. The sticks were arranged in a cross pattern with the vertical one longer that the other one. They were tied together with some string forming the cross. Around the outside of the cross you attached a string in each stalk by silting it with a knife. Once you had the outline of your kite you placed the cross onto your brown sack and traced a line about an inch bigger than your cross. You would turn the sack's extra inch over the string and glue the paper around the cross. I would mix some flour and water to make my glue. Yeah, we were poor!! once the glue dried you need a long piece of cloth to make a tail for your kite. The stronger the wind the longer a tail should be. Mom always had a big stool of strong thread that was used to attach to the center of the cross. My kite is ready for a flight.
Only one place in the neighborhood to fly my kite. The Ward's vacant field by their home that had no trees or electric wires. Test to see which way the wind was blowing and run with the kite and give it more line until it was airborne. What a thrill it was to see my kite soar into the sky. If every thing was right with your creation it flew effortless in the strong wind.
Several times it flew out of sight and when reeled back to earth it would have ice on the kite. Once I built a kite out of aluminum foil and when it was almost out of sight I cut the string. A radio station was about a half a mile away and people began calling the station reporting a flying saucer. Those were the good old days. I might go to town this afternoon and buy me a real kite?? I'm just about over being poor????