Sunday, March 22, 2020

1973/1974 Florida

Back in 1973/1974 we lived in Tampa Florida on South West Shore Blvd not far from the Air Base.  Trica our oldest daughter was 14 months old when we arrived there and almost 2 years old when we left.

We did potty training in Florida.  She was a busy child...and would take off all her clothes by herself and put them in the laundry if she had an accident.  Then she would run around the house naked and giggling only to stop if her favorite commercials were on TV.

We had a tiny 12 inch black and white television.   We got one or two channels with the rabbit ears...sometimes we hung aluminum foil from them.

Entertainment for a child was commercials.  Trica loved two commercials in particular and would stop in front of the TV and  recite them...Chick Smith Ford in sparkling downtown Clearwater and learn to play guitar with Kenny Rogers.   I thought of those early times yesterday when I heard of Kenny Roger's death.  He was 81...that means he was 34 years old when he made that commercial.

Seems like only yesterday.


Trica 1973 18 months old in Tampa Florida.

Our stove and fridge were a lovely shade of  pink, some mornings were cool in Florida so I would turn the oven on to take the chill out of the kitchen. One day Trica asked me if she could have soup.  I said "Sure in a minute"  the next thing I heard was an explosion.  She must have decided to make soup herself and put the can of soup she wanted in the oven.  What a mess.

Far Side

25 comments:

  1. What memories! Losing Kenny Rodgers was a jolt. He was so young.

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  2. I think you need to stop allowing anonymous comments.... such vitriol....

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  3. I didn't see your anonymous commenter, but I suspect it was the same one making the rounds. I loved the picture you painted of that time in your lives. You are a very talented person, everything you touch turns out great! :-)

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  4. Yeah, he visited visited my blog too this morning as soon as I put up the post. Jerk! I laughed at the exploding soup. Wow, what a mess. And the rabbit ears with foil “flags”s — oh, yes, memories....

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  5. Such cute memories! Boy, do I remember those times. The exploding soup really made me laugh.

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  6. I love to hear about days past. You have precious memories. The soup in the oven must have scared the heck out of you!

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  7. We lived way out in the country in 77-79. Two rabbit ear channels if lucky.

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  8. You painted the picture well. Exploding soup can! What a mess!
    It's supposed to warm up a bit. That's nice to hear. :)

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  9. What a cutie she was! She must have been tall for 18 months old? She looks like she has long legs...lucky girl! I always wanted long legs but I got big feet instead. The soup can exploding! I've got some stories too! We're lucky we all survived huh? I saw Kenny in person when he was with The First Edition. Great entertainer....81 seems young now that I'm 71! LOL!

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  10. Ah, she is so cute. Aren't memories wonderful to have? I remember the same sort of commercials. The only TV show I actually remember was Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom.
    Blessings,
    Betsy

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  11. Oh my goodness... I shouldn't have, but I laughed about the soup incident! Stay well!

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  12. I laughed too at the soup incident! I'm sure it wasn't funny at the time, and even possibly dangerous. Our Eli loves to run around naked too, and is quite capable of removing his clothing. However, he hasn't figured out the laundry basket yet.

    What a cutie!

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  13. I had not heard that Kenny Rogers died. I've been watching the news less and less as all that I hear is about Covid-19. Not that I'm not taking it seriously, but I'm trying to keep calm about the whole thing ( while staying home, of course).

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  14. Cute story! Yes the music of Kenny Rogers (love sign). I believe as many staff as possible of the Judicial Branch are working from home. This is a change for everybody - it seems like we have new instructions numerous times during the day. Stay in!

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  15. Oh, I got so tickled at the explosion! But oh, my I would have hated the mess.

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  16. What cute stories you have to tell today about when you lived in Florida. That Trica is sure a cutie! We lived on Fort Myers Beach in a condo for awhile...mostly during the winter time. I loved all the flowers and greenery and the beautiful palm trees. Seems like long ago now....although for us it wasn't that long ago. Stay well you two! Thanks for sharing your stories.

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  17. The music of our lives evokes the memories of our lives. Thanks for sharing these cute memories.

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  18. Didn't realize the part of Florida you called home for a while was in Tampa. I have a cousin who retired from the Air Force who lives there now. Since we've had more and more of our relatives move to Florida lately, I end up seeing him almost once a year, so Tampa is becoming a more familiar place...though I don't suppose it is anything like it was back when you were living there!

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  19. What great memories, but that soup must have been awful to clean up.

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  20. Some fun memories! I have a mental image of a naked toddler watching the TV commercials. I had one of those toddlers too - that spent a lot of time removing her clothes.

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  21. She was so cute! The soup story is so funny. I remember days like that when my two girls were young.

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  22. My parents built a new ranch house in 1959. My mom chose all three bathroom items in pink. Sink, toilet and tube actually were kinda of pretty.

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Thanks for stopping by! I appreciate your comments! If you have a question I will try to answer it here. I no longer accept anonymous comments. All comments will be approved before posting...due to spammers...may the fleas of a thousand camels infest every hair on his body. Connie