# What were you doing 43 years ago ?



## Shrek (May 1, 2002)

We were in the rec room of our house and on the patio cooking out and watching Neil Armstrong go for a short walk and the associated news commentary on the big Magnavox TV and looking up and wondering if he was looking up at us. 

Worst part of it was although it was summer vacation, three women at our cookout were local science teachers and two had a 50/50 chance of having me in class the following year and both suggested to all of us kids to make note outlines about that day because they would be including it in their teaching plans.


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## sherry in Maine (Nov 22, 2007)

yes, I believe I was in a similar situation . . .


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## doodlemom (Apr 4, 2006)

I was wearing diapers.


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## JohnnyLee (Feb 13, 2011)

Hmm, lemme see, I was 8 months and 2 days old. I was probably not too interested in the TV at that time.


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## Tommyice (Dec 5, 2010)

I was having my third birthday party interrupted.


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## Fowler (Jul 8, 2008)

I was being potty trained.


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## City Bound (Jan 24, 2009)

I was dead and my soul was transmigrating through the bardos towards my next incarnation.


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## Guest (Jul 21, 2012)

I was 18 years old. You know *** well what I was doing.


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## whiterock (Mar 26, 2003)

I was sittin in my Dad's chair watching. Parents had gone off to California to visit some kin folks. Got to admit, I wasn't as concerned with that as I was trying to find some baling wire. There was a shortage and I had quite a bit of hay on the ground.
Ed


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## SarahT (Dec 26, 2010)

My mom was 5, so I wasnt even a thought yet.


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## vicker (Jul 11, 2003)

I was 9 years old and staying the summer with my Grandma Lettie on her farm in WV. We watched on her old tv with the big cabinet a little screen. my uncle was getting married that weekend and I helped him wash his car for a promised nickel, which he seemed to have forgotten about. I reminded him of it back in 2003 and he gave me my nickel, so everything is cool now.


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## tinknal (May 21, 2004)

The whole family was gathered around the Zenith console. I'll never forget it


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## sustainabilly (Jun 20, 2012)

Let's see...carry the one... I was 11 if I did the math right. That'd be about 6th grade. I was probably dreaming of doing whatever zong was doing. 

Living in PA. Thinking about my big brother in Viet Nam. It was summer so I was burning up the country roads on my bike, fishing and camping and doing stuff that probably should've left me broken and bleeding.


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## City Bound (Jan 24, 2009)

vicker you should have added interest. haha


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## sustainabilly (Jun 20, 2012)

God, there's too much clean livin on this thread! How do you guys remember all that detail?


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## Guest (Jul 21, 2012)

sustainabilly said:


> God, there's too much clean livin on this thread! How do you guys remember all that detail?


I remember cause thats what I always do. I just did it more then.


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## doodlemom (Apr 4, 2006)

zong said:


> I was 18 years old. You know @@@@ well what I was doing.


Let me guess. Mav called from a payphone to tell you he lost his phone so you'd drive him home and point it out for him. By the time you got back the show was over...Sheesh this story gets old.


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## Guest (Jul 21, 2012)

No, it involved a boy and a girl.....


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## katydidagain (Jun 11, 2004)

doodlemom said:


> Let me guess. Mav called from a payphone to tell you he lost his phone so you'd drive him home and point it out for him. By the time you got back the show was over...*Sheesh this story gets old.*


It does, doesn't it?


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## Darren (May 10, 2002)

That night I had guard duty in boot camp.


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## Marshloft (Mar 24, 2008)

Not sure really,,, those were some difficult times. I know I was just getting thru my first year (14) at a boy's ranch in SPringfield Mo. That first year was tough,,, having to go thru the gauntlet if you will.
If you would have asked for 42 yrs? I could happily say I was preparing for the Ozark Empire Fair in Sprngfld. Showing my Yorkshire hogs, and a week later,, the state fair in Sedalia. All provided by the boy's ranch. Worked for, and earned,, but still provided. I loved that place. Where boy's grow up to be men.
GH


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## sustainabilly (Jun 20, 2012)

zong said:


> No, it involved a boy and a girl.....


I knew it!


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## Guest (Jul 21, 2012)

Ahhh, 43 years ago, July, 1969. A fine young Miss Debbie K, from East Stockbridge, Mass? I was from NC. We met in California. Lord, at the structure on her. Good grief!! Big brown eyes too. Well, that was Miss July, 1969 for me. Little did I know that I only had a year before I met the (first) evil one.


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## Shygal (May 26, 2003)

Shrek said:


> We were in the rec room of our house and on the patio cooking out and watching Neil Armstrong go for a short walk and the associated news commentary on the big Magnavox TV and looking up and wondering if he was looking up at us.
> 
> Worst part of it was although it was summer vacation, three women at our cookout were local science teachers and two had a 50/50 chance of having me in class the following year and both suggested to all of us kids to make note outlines about that day because they would be including it in their teaching plans.


Staying up "late" and watching a really fuzzy black and white picture of two guys hopping around the moon


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## Terri (May 10, 2002)

Shygal said:


> Staying up "late" and watching a really fuzzy black and white picture of two guys hopping around the moon


Me, too!

And, I was trying to convince my family that it was really important. They did not believe me.


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## sustainabilly (Jun 20, 2012)

Oh yeah, and I had a paper route. 5 days a week plus Sun. morn. $5.25/wk for the whole thing plus Christmas tips. My route went way out of town. Stopped at the last house across the street from the Schuylkill Haven Casket Co. Man that place gave me the creeps on dark winter evenings. 

The house had this spring out back though. Coldest water I ever drank straight from Mother Earth. It had this water plant growing all around it they called Brent Hazel, I think. It was spicy and would light you up. Then you'd get a big swig 'o that spring water. Oohwee!


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## Guest (Jul 21, 2012)

sustainabilly said:


> Oh yeah, and I had a paper route. 5 days a week plus Sun. morn. $5.25/wk for the whole thing plus Christmas tips. My route went way out of town. Stopped at the last house across the street from the Schuylkill Haven Casket Co. Man that place gave me the creeps on dark winter evenings.
> 
> The house had this spring out back though. Coldest water I ever drank straight from Mother Earth. It had this water plant growing all around it they called Brent Hazel, I think. It was spicy and would light you up. Then you'd get a big swig 'o that spring water. Oohwee!


Dude!!! Debbie K!! Superstructure!! Focus!!!


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## sustainabilly (Jun 20, 2012)

Big Dude! 11 yrs old. No focus... 6th grd girls don't even have much of a sub structure. Except... Nancy B. was her name. RRAARR!!! The classic love/hate grade school romance. Satisfied? It's not _always_ about you, man.


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## cindilu (Jan 27, 2008)

I think I was wearing diapers and have no clue. I guess that makes me the baby of the forum.


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## Raeven (Oct 11, 2011)

We were glued to the set. It was big, big stuff, and I appreciated it with awed reverence.

I was 12.


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## sustainabilly (Jun 20, 2012)

I still can't remember that exact day. I remember watching the astronauts on TV in school in 3rd grade. But that was in '66. No wait! Now I remember. That was the day the aliens took me. Or was it the koolaid?


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## tallpines (Apr 9, 2003)

zong said:


> No, it involved a boy and a girl.....


We were planning our wedding -----


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## Raeven (Oct 11, 2011)

sustainabilly said:


> I still can't remember that exact day. I remember watching the astronauts on TV in school in 3rd grade. But that was in '66. No wait! Now I remember. That was the day the aliens took me. Or was it the koolaid?


Maybe it was aliens WITH koolaid. Would explain a lot.


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## Guest (Jul 21, 2012)

Raeven said:


> Maybe it was aliens WITH koolaid. Would explain a lot.


Debbie?


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## sustainabilly (Jun 20, 2012)

I remeber it smelled like...cloroform...and...and BACON! Hey!!


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## vicker (Jul 11, 2003)

Ah man! Don't mention Debbie. Long, dark brown hair, green eyes, daddy was a produce farmer.


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## Shrek (May 1, 2002)

doodlemom said:


> I was wearing diapers.


So was Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Micheal Collins.


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## Raeven (Oct 11, 2011)

sustainabilly said:


> I remeber it smelled like...cloroform...and...and BACON! Hey!!


<tuneless whistle....> :whistlin:


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## sustainabilly (Jun 20, 2012)

vicker said:


> Ah man! Don't mention Debbie. Long, dark brown hair, green eyes, daddy was a produce farmer.


Not zong's Debbie. I figured it out. She was in CA looking for the summer of love 2 yrs too late. She asked him for directions to Haight-Ashbury and he followed her home.


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## Guest (Jul 21, 2012)

Thats true, but only one person(other than her and me) knows that.


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## sustainabilly (Jun 20, 2012)

The thread snitch told me. That makes two.


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## Guest (Jul 21, 2012)

no surprise there. apparently everything has been told. A shame too. It left zero trust.


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## shanzone2001 (Dec 3, 2009)

I know what my parents were doing 43 years ago considering I am 42!!! :bowtie:


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## Marshloft (Mar 24, 2008)

shanzone2001 said:


> I know what my parents were doing 43 years ago considering I am 42!!! :bowtie:


 But,, parents don't do that,,, do they???


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## shanzone2001 (Dec 3, 2009)

Marshloft said:


> But,, parents don't do that,,, do they???


My parents have 3 children so I have decided they must have 3 times!!!! Truthfully, my folks have an awesome marriage and I have no doubt they still keep the spark alive! (Ewwwww, right?)


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## glazed (Aug 19, 2006)

shanzone2001 said:


> I know what my parents were doing 43 years ago considering I am 42!!! :bowtie:



:donut:

ditto

:donut:


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## Shygal (May 26, 2003)

sustainabilly said:


> I still can't remember that exact day. I remember watching the astronauts on TV in school in 3rd grade. But that was in '66. No wait! Now I remember. That was the day the aliens took me. Or was it the koolaid?


Ok so who are you, really? Is there a name change I missed? lol


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## Marshloft (Mar 24, 2008)

shanzone2001 said:


> My parents have 3 children so I have decided they must have 3 times!!!! Truthfully, my folks have an awesome marriage and I have no doubt they still keep the spark alive! (Ewwwww, right?)


 Three times,, he he,,,
Thats just saturday and twice on Sunday...


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## Shygal (May 26, 2003)

Shrek said:


> So was Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Micheal Collins.



I love the description in one book I was just reading, of the waste collection bag......flypaper it to your rear end, do your stuff, and there was a finger pocket you could put your finger in to pry it off because stuff doesn't.....drop in space, then get it off your rear end, drop an antibacterial capsule in, and knead it to mix the contents. :yuck:
I think I would have rather not gone for 14 days :shocked:


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## vicker (Jul 11, 2003)

Oh, but they had a great view! I used to have a NASA calender with shots of the earth from space, and quotes from the astronauts. It changed them.
"It suddenly struck me that that tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the Earth. I put up my thumb and shut one eye, and my thumb blotted out the planet Earth. I didn't feel like a giant. I felt very, very small." Neil Armstrong

"When you're finally up at the moon looking back on earth, all those differences and nationalistic traits are pretty well going to blend, and you're going to get a concept that maybe this really is one world and why the hell can't we learn to live together like decent people." Frank Borman

"We learned a lot about the Moon, but what we really learned was about the Earth. The fact that just from the distance of the Moon you can put your thumb up and you can hide the Earth behind your thumb. Everything that you've ever known, your loved ones, your business, the problems of the Earth itself&#8212;all behind your thumb. And how insignificant we really all are, but then how fortunate we are to have this body and to be able to enjoy loving here amongst the beauty of the Earth itself." Jim Lovell

"If somebody'd said before the flight, "Are you going to get carried away looking at the earth from the moon?" I would have say, "No, no way." But yet when I first looked back at the earth, standing on the moon, I cried." Alan Shepard

I really love this one about watching the Earth rise from the moon.
"Suddenly, from behind the rim of the Moon, in long, slow-motion moments of immense majesty, there emerges a sparkling blue and white jewel, a light, delicate sky-blue sphere laced with slowly swirling veils of white, rising gradually like a small pearl in a thick sea of black mystery. It takes more than a moment to fully realize this is Earth . . . home." Edgar Mitchell

Evidently it is a profoundly moving thing to see the earth from space. I would love to try it.
Many more quotes here
Space Quotations: Looking Back at the Earth Quotes


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## dragonfly (Jan 5, 2010)

I was in a place in Texas, ( Ft. Bliss) where I was being yelled at, a LOT!
"Boot Camp".....
Bill


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## WhyNot (Jun 21, 2011)

43 years ago I was a twinkle in my father's eye, six years early.


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## MoonRiver (Sep 2, 2007)

dragonfly said:


> I was in a place in Texas, ( Ft. Bliss) where I was being yelled at, a LOT!
> "Boot Camp".....
> Bill


And I was doing everything I could to not go "to a place in Texas (Ft Bliss) where I would be yelled at". I probably was in summer school catching up on enough credits to stay in college. I mastered the social aspects of college very quickly, but sucked at the studying part.


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## maverickxxx (Jan 25, 2011)

Shrek why to exclude people! Try the oj n Katocar chase. I'm not sure but I think more people watched that


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## Raven12 (Mar 5, 2011)

I wasn't born yet and missing out on all the great music from the 60s.


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## Izitmidnight (Oct 22, 2011)

We were in the living room, taking turns looking thru the telescope at the moon.


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## Shygal (May 26, 2003)

vicker said:


> Oh, but they had a great view! I used to have a NASA calender with shots of the earth from space, and quotes from the astronauts. It changed them.


My favorite from Bill Anders, "We came all this way to explore the Moon, and the most important thing is that we discovered the Earth" :bowtie:

I got a bunch of Mercury/Apollo/Gemini books for my birthday and Im happy 

Where is the geek icon? :teehee:


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## Fair Light (Oct 13, 2010)

I was in summer school taking an extra biology class.....(gee I haven't changed any.....that's what I am doing now !!!!) I remember they brought in a black and white tv for us..we were supposed to have a test that day. The teacher postponed it so we could watch it....I remember that after class I went to my grandparents house and my grandfather laughed. He said it was all fake and produced in Hollywood...


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## Shygal (May 26, 2003)

Where were you going to school, Fair Light? You must have been on the west coast to be able to watch the landing part in school  
There are still people that say its all fake. It would have cost them more to fake it, than to do it.


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## Ramblin Wreck (Jun 10, 2005)

We were watching it at home on TV. Back in the "old days", there was no cable and only three "over the air" tv channels in Atlanta. We got good reception...most days.


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## cindy71 (Jul 7, 2008)

Not born yet!!!!!!


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## Fair Light (Oct 13, 2010)

Shygal said:


> Where were you going to school, Fair Light? You must have been on the west coast to be able to watch the landing part in school
> There are still people that say its all fake. It would have cost them more to fake it, than to do it.


I was in south Louisiana....it was middle of the day...maybe it was a re-play or something...don't remember that much detail...


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## ldc (Oct 11, 2006)

I was an exchange student, in a small bar in France that had a tv, listening to people saying it was a fake, that Americans have to show off, and it's an obvious fake! (yes, the bar was rich enough to sponsor an exchange student - NOT!) I was underage even there, but nobody cared.


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## homefire2007 (Sep 21, 2007)

My mother, grandmother and aunt drug me to a showing of 'Gone With The Wind,' at the Paramount Theater. It was a coming of age thing .... I did my best to look serious but thought Scarlet was mean and Rhett needed to get a 'real' job. Mammy was the only decent one in the bunch and I thought a red petticoat would be nice, too. I looked over to my family, they were wiping away tears...I just didn't get it. My mother explained to me it was more about a woman with a strong will who got things done....not about slavery I determined then that Scarlet was not a role model I would care to follow. Melanie was okay but could anyone really be that nice? War was horrible and I really should go to that nice place I saw on a calender...it had lots of snow and a red barn..I think it was called Vermont


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## JohnnyLee (Feb 13, 2011)

Fair Light said:


> I was in summer school taking an extra biology class.....(gee I haven't changed any.....that's what I am doing now !!!!) I remember they brought in a black and white tv for us..we were supposed to have a test that day. The teacher postponed it so we could watch it....I remember that after class I went to my grandparents house and my grandfather laughed. He said it was all fake and produced in Hollywood...


I was only 8 months old when it happened, but I remember asking my grandma about it, and she said that she thought it was just something made up like the "movies" too!


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## Guest (Jul 21, 2012)

You should watch the movie "Capricorn One"(1977 or 78 I think) It even has OJ Simpson in it!! The premise is a fake mission to mars. The return from the fake mission goes wrong, and the astronauts , who were out in the desert the whole time, need to be killed off. One makes it through.


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## CGL2011 (Dec 18, 2011)

43 years ago? I wasn't doin much...I was less than a year old.


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## Vickie44 (Jul 27, 2010)

N Armstrongs first words when walking on the moon were actually " Heres to you Mr Johnson ", then he said his famous step for mankind quote. His fellow astronauts and the press asked him for years what Heres to you Mr Johnson meant and who Mr Johnson was but he would never tell.

After 30 years went by he finally agreed to tell the story.

As a young boy he was kicking a ball around the yard as it got dark . He kicked it and it rolled to far, under the window of the grumpy neighboor Mrs Johnson. He was afraid to get the ball as she was very unpleasant so he slowly crept over to the window where he heard Mrs Johnson saying to Mr Johnson in her screechy voice " Oral sex....oral sex... youll get oral sex when the boy next door walks on the moon !


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## Wolf Flower (Dec 21, 2005)

I was about 18 months old 43 years ago. According to my mother, I was in bed when they were all sitting around the television watching the astronauts land on the moon. The moment Niel Armstrong set foot on the surface, I started screaming, and my mom was put out because she had to leave the television to see what I was screaming about. Must've had a dirty diaper or something, who knows?


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## Marshloft (Mar 24, 2008)

Shrek wasn't born yesterday,,,
This thread is a tactical diversion...
Who said what to whom? Life on ST hasn't been 
at all boring,,, so what gives? hmmmmmmm?
GH


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## Frenchy (Sep 28, 2005)

_I was 4 yo in Millington TN as to watching it I'm sure we did my folks never missed anything like that on the tv my lil bro was just less than a year old so I am sure whatever I was doin involved him at the time I was still sure he had to just be a ugly lil puppy hahahaha _


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## Shygal (May 26, 2003)

Marshloft said:


> Shrek wasn't born yesterday,,,
> This thread is a tactical diversion...
> Who said what to whom? Life on ST hasn't been
> at all boring,,, so what gives? hmmmmmmm?
> GH


This thread is because Shrek is a space geek just like I am and a few other people on here. I expected him to start a thread about it, just like the Apollo 13 one in April


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## Marshloft (Mar 24, 2008)

Shygal said:


> This thread is because Shrek is a space geek just like I am and a few other people on here. I expected him to start a thread about it, just like the Apollo 13 one in April


Well,,, there ya go shygal,,, I had no idear this thread was about space...


GH.


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## springvalley (Jun 23, 2009)

I was eight, going on nine, and don`t remember anything about the moon walk, well maybe a little. > Thanks Marc


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## xaguar_69 (Feb 8, 2006)

Im with Shan and glazed only 42 so wasn;t even born yet lol.


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## Bandit (Oct 5, 2008)

On July 4, 1969 I was Officer in Charge of the Plum Island Light Station and the Orient Point Light , off Orient Point , Li. , Ny. We controlled ( The Coffee Pot ) with Big Breaker Switch's 
On that night , the two of Us were sitting on the catwalk at the top of the light , over 100 Ft. above the water dangling our legs over the edge , and watching 26 different fireworks shows between Ny. & Ct. 
I have never seen another show that equals that one night . Plum Island Lighthouse, New York at Lighthousefriends.com

Orient Point Lighthouse | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

On Aug 6 , 2012 the director of the Maritime Museum that maintains the light invited Me , My wife and our daughter to join the museum with a family membership , and then as members , accompany them on there yearly trip of 30 members allowed (onto the restricted access island , now controlled by Homeland Security ) to visit Plum Island and tour the lighthouse . :happy:
I have not been back to the island since Aug. 21 , 1969 , the day I was discharged from the U.S.C.G.
Bandit


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## vicker (Jul 11, 2003)

Way cool, Bandit.


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## Shrek (May 1, 2002)

Shygal said:


> My favorite from Bill Anders, "We came all this way to explore the Moon, and the most important thing is that we discovered the Earth" :bowtie:
> 
> I got a bunch of Mercury/Apollo/Gemini books for my birthday and Im happy
> 
> Where is the geek icon? :teehee:



Here is the geek icon :nerd:


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## Esteban29304 (Apr 29, 2003)

I was in Ft. Benning, Ga., & had just gotten my orders to go to Vietnam.


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## sherry in Maine (Nov 22, 2007)

I think I remember that 'Johnson' quote . . . . but it wasn't covered and nothing else was said. Thanks for the story behind it!


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## Guest (Jul 23, 2012)

LOL, I liked the "Manny Klein" version better. "One small step for man, one giant leap for Manny Klein"


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## Shrek (May 1, 2002)

Shygal said:


> I love the description in one book I was just reading, of the waste collection bag......flypaper it to your rear end, do your stuff, and there was a finger pocket you could put your finger in to pry it off because stuff doesn't.....drop in space, then get it off your rear end, drop an antibacterial capsule in, and knead it to mix the contents. :yuck:
> I think I would have rather not gone for 14 days :shocked:


I think I may have read the same book because when I read the procedure I thought that a "floater" up there would have been way worse than one in a swimming pool.

After reading it I said to myself if I was an astronaut I would have tried to keep that one procedure classified and away from the FOIA as :tmi:


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## rickfrosty (Jun 19, 2008)

Shrek said:


> We were in the rec room of our house and on the patio cooking out and watching Neil Armstrong go for a short walk and the associated news commentary on the big Magnavox TV and looking up and wondering if he was looking up at us.
> 
> Worst part of it was although it was summer vacation, three women at our cookout were local science teachers and two had a 50/50 chance of having me in class the following year and both suggested to all of us kids to make note outlines about that day because they would be including it in their teaching plans.


Don't recall exactly the circumstance of watching the moonwalk, but that year had my 1st full time year round job @ either $2.75, or $3.75/hour w/10 hrs. overtime each week & I thought I was 'rolling in it ' !?


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## newcolorado (Jan 31, 2012)

I was a new widow ( end of 68) with 3 kids to take care of. July I would have been worrying over the garden to be able to can our food. And how I was going to find a job and what I could do with no training. I had bought a TV in Feb as the kids fought all the time as upset. To keep my sanity I bought the TV and that did help. TV in that area at that time had one station. They could not fight over what to watch. I had to learn to drive and get my license. I know got my license that summer. It was a rough year for me. I made it and early in 70 I had a steady part time job. 69 I did fill in for people on vacation and even picked tomatoes. We cut weeds too. I took what I could get.


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## simplegirl (Feb 19, 2006)

I'm guessing I was playing with my Barbies outside under the big hickory tree. Or maybe playing a little football with my sister and brother. Not sure. But something like that.

Oh but now that I read all the posts in the thread, I do remember watching the moon walk on the black and white TV.


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## trish4prez (Jul 9, 2006)

Shygal said:


> Staying up "late" and watching a really fuzzy black and white picture of two guys hopping around the moon


yep, me too!


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## WolfWalksSoftly (Aug 13, 2004)

I remember watching it on the Quasar TV. I was the remote control back then. I was also perfecting my Bugger flicking skills onto anything that belonged to my brother.


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## fffarmergirl (Oct 9, 2008)

I was floating in amniotic fluid.


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