Saturday, January 30, 2016

Old but Sturdy.......


Dovetail Joints
How did they factory cut them back in the 30s through 40s time period? It is a mystery to me.


Some corners are in better shape than others.  The box came from the Horton house when they moved to town. The box is over 70 years old.  The four boys in the family used it to hold crayons and pencils back when there was not television and only one radio in the house. Reading and drawing was a good activity until it got dark at night.


The drawings on the side are marked just like kids do today.  Draw something and put a name on it just in case a viewer doesn't know what it is.  The rabbit is being chased by a hound.


The standing figure with boxing gloves is marked Lowell and I can not figure out the writing that labels the boy laying down on the ground.  It  may be a neighbor boy that is knocked out here.

The box is from my John and Iva connection.  They were step great uncle and aunt from my grandmother's marriage into the family.  The had four boys. Their third son, George, was drafted into the army in the early forties and was killed on Omaha beach in Normandy. All the other boys are still alive.  I am assuming Lowell drew the illustrations on the box but Harvey could have been doing so to make fun of his brother.  Lowell and Harvey should be in their upper 80's now and Loren, the youngest son, lives in Iowa City, Iowa. I have yearly mail from him at Christmas.


The mystery of why the box was never tossed and how it ended up in my possession is just a thing that just happens.  The curious thing about the illustrations on the box is that I just recently discovered them the past few years while I was doing a blog. I have had the box over 45 years plus now.

I wrote two different blogs about this and scrapped the first one.  I see now that the whole thing is totally disorganized.  I had been sick and my brain just doesn't want to keep up with things I guess. I left out stuff that would help make things make better sense.  Just enjoy the photos and move on if you wish.

We are getting warned to be prepared for the snowstorm on Monday evening.  We have purchased things to tied us over and we do have creative ways to keep ourselves fed.  Our can pantry is medium full and bread and eggs can get us through a lot of storms.  Most importantly is the coffee supply and the dog food supply.  All is well in those two departments.  I am slow getting blogs written these days but I just keep plugging along.  Thank you for stopping by today.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Love the box and those dovetail joints. We watch a show each week where a crew takes apart old log cabins piece by piece and then puts them back together in another location. The craftsmanship from these old log homes is amazing.

Those drawings are precious and how odd that you had it for so long before finding them. A real treasure.

Sorry you have been sick and I'm sorry you had to get out to stock up on things for the upcoming storm. We try hard to keep cat and dog food stocked up in case we have icy weather.

Praying you guys stay safe and warm.

The Furry Gnome said...

I have an old box like that! It's amazing how they cut all those joints.

Coloring Outside the Lines said...

Oh I hope you don't get a bad storm. Our weather is overly spring like and worrying me because I hate missing a season.
I have an old side table with those dovetailed seams..I am fascinated with early woodworking.
Have a great weekend!