In our day we did not have all the modern day conveniences you whippersnappers take for granted. We had to pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps, and that was just to get out of bed.

Not only didn't we have these "computing machines", we got along without even an abacus. When we had to do multivariate calculus we did it in our heads. Every day. Or no breakfast.

And then we had to write a report in triplicate, explaining our methods and justifying the time it took. Which wasn't easy, because we didn't have spelling, grammar, or contractions back then. And believe you me, if you think giving birth is hard these days, try it without contractions and you'll be singing a different tune!

And our parents didn't do all the work for us either. I was in labor for 56 hours before I shoved my way out of my mother's womb, and then I had to chew through the umbilical cord with my teeth and weigh myself. And If I wasn't at least 8 pounds, I was going back in!

But life wasn't all hard. Every other Sunday we got to go to church, if we were good. It was two miles through shoulder-deep snow, uphill both ways, rain or shine. But we enjoyed every second of it. Or else.

Yep, things sure were different in those days...

Why I remember the first time we saw a horseless carraige...

We had spent the last three years building it, and those cows were mighty hard to train, let me tell you.