Monday, July 02, 2007

November 26, 1939

From "The Salt Lake Tribune", November of 1939. One of my roommates was unpacking some stuff that had been packed with a bunch of Tribunes from this era, and he gave them to me. I've been reading through them, finding a lot of interesting and amusing stuff, that you will probably end up seeing here on these pages. Like, how much do you think a "new" 3 bedroom home would go for? With a 2 car garage, young fruit trees on 2/3 of an acre close to 39th So. on 20th East? Or how much was Grand Central charging for a lb of Top Sirloin? Package of Kellogg's Shredded Wheat? And how about a fully equipped brand new Pontiac Special "6" Torpedo? Just some of the fun, and totally useless, information I'll be bringing you in the future.

11 comments:

A Paperback Writer said...

What? You suddenly got roommates? Or is this the cat, perhaps? Or is this a former roommate?
And s/he is just NOW unpacking from 1939? Egad! I tease my parents about a box of books and records that's still in their basement from when we moved to that house in 1969, but not unpacking in 68 years??!! Wow. That's even more impressive than the newspaper ads themselves. And how old is this roommate? Since when have you been rooming with people over the age of 80? And if it's the cat who did the packing, I am REALLY impressed. 9 lives and all, but STILL!

Max Sartin said...

Yeah, it's the cat. If you figure 9 lives at an average of 15 years per life, that means she has only used up 5 or 6 lives to get from 1939 to today. The hard part was keeping all those newspapers from getting mousie blood all over them, 'cause what else would a cat have to wrap up. Actually I've rented the front room to a couple of friends that are building their own home and didn't want to sign another 12 month lease where they were. Ken grew up in Fillmore, in the same house his mom or dad grew up in, so Grandma had saved all these newspapers. Thats the real story.

A Paperback Writer said...

Ah, so that means I can't come over and snuggle with you anymore? Oh wait, I never did anyway. And you could get better than a pudgy middle-aged woman anyway. Oh, and I'll be in the UK for a month.
Huh. Oh well. It was a nice thought.

I like the cat story better, but thanks for explaining.

Max Sartin said...

Yeah, those 23 year old hard bodies are lined up around the block. Oh, wait, not so much. And if you weren't going to be in the UK, and if we had a history of it, you could still come over and cuddle anyways.
As for the cat story, it really is the truth, Gata's been around since the late 1800's (she's on her 9th life right now). She said the hardest part is keeping track of her stuff from one life to the next, but after the 3rd or 4th life, most cats have it figured out. Of course I had to make up the story about the roommates because if word got around about my cat, someone might think I'm a little, uh, tetched in the head.

A Paperback Writer said...

Maybe the cat rented the place out. Too bad she didn't rent it out to one of the 23-year-olds lined up around the block.
And sure, it's safe for you to invite me over for a cuddle now, when you know it's impossible. Story of my life. Geez.
Drop over to my blog; I'm going to post about something you'll think is funny.

TM.Cavalier said...

Gata, Gata? Where have I heard that before...hmmm...(pulls out ancient papyrus of Egyptian mythology)...Gata was the favorite cat of Nefertari...cursed by Ra for leaving presents in the corner of the pyramids...cross reference Gata of Transylvania... (reaches for Census records of Upper Carpathian regions)... Vlad II Dracul owned cat named Gata...bit son on neck... son's name was Vlad III Dracul - see Dracula ...c.f. Jack the Ripper ...ok where did I put that book on strange people of the last 200 years...(pulls book)... no, that is the Alder Family histories, close but no cigar...(pulls another book) ah, here it is...Jack the Ripper: ... rumored to have a cat named Gata...

Unholy Feline Batman! Max, you never mentioned you had a 3500 year old Vampire Cat in your house - of course it does explain a lot...

TM.Cavalier

Max Sartin said...

Explains a lot - like all those coffins in the basement, and the dirty wine glasses every morning. And I thought it was red wine. But I really should have known when I had to open the back door for her a couple of years ago because that woman's body couldn't fit through the cat door. Man, do I feel silly.....

A Paperback Writer said...

Wow. That does it, Max. We're taking the cat and buying that castle I mentioned on my blog. Our first student has signed up now (see comments on my blog), and she's about 23, so it looks like you might get one of those 23-year-olds in the bargain.
(Uh, I always assumed the cat was Gata because "gato" in Spanish is cat. Shows you what I know, eh?)

Max Sartin said...

The cat is Gata, because if you change the "o" in gato to an "a", then you gata, which must mean a female cat in Spanish. It works in Italian, with the added bonus of adding an "i" at the end for plural.
.
Oh, and the parallels with the vampires, cats and castles going on between the twqo blogs is mind boggling. (and it tickles when my mind is boggled). But I do agree that it is a sign that we must take the cat, buy the castle and move to Transylvania. I'm sure TMC saw something about that in the Census records of Upper Carpathian regions. If you get a chance, pop by while you're "over the pond" and see what kind of mortgage rates we can get.....

A Paperback Writer said...

Oooh, can I come over and tickle you to "boggle your mind"?
Okay, yeah. I figured as much about the cat.
Now, you made a really funny connection on my post. Go check it out.
What you also don't realize is that the whole reason I started a blog has to do with a series of books I'm writing (yes, one day I'll be rich and famous -- just wait). You may remember when I started it. One character is based on you, in fact. (Only he's Greek instead of Italian.)
Anyway -- the whole idea is that it's about a kid who's a half-vampire. That's why I posted the vampire stuff in the first place. Try searching "vampires" on my blog and see how many posts you get. (You can also read people's reactions to the manuscript when I won the famous Miss Snark's Crapometer contest -- okay, well, I tied for second anyway, out of more than 700 entries.) Anyway, Alternatefish (our first student) reads the blog because of the vampire stuff.
This is really mind boggling now, isn't it?

TM.Cavalier said...

Transylvanian mortgage...mort-gage ... death...meter...can't take it any more, too many parallels... (smashes head into Carpathian Census records) ...somebody call Buffy and start sharpening the stakes!!! Paperback writer, run while you can... oh, wait - Max said his mind was boggled... walk away while you can!!! The man you knew as Max has probably joined the armies of the undead! Explains his fetish with RED cars. BLOOD CARS. RUN!

TM.Cavalier