Wrigley’s Spearmint Gum

This post is a change up, from my posts of my search for Mail Pouch barns. In my endeavors to find a Mail Pouch sign in Fayette, Pennsylvania I encountered this old sign as I drove into town.

I immediately knew I had to capture this so I pulled over and started taking pictures. I have no idea when they were painted, the building looks to have been built in the 50’s, but isn’t this a great ghost image?

This is another one that was on the building, it looks like it had the bottom of the package painted at one time but it has faded. Also the faint wording at bottom “mark” probably from trademark.

This week as I was looking at blogs I ran across this old advertisement picture of Wrigley gums.

Notice the Y, Isn’t that a unique font?

This picture is a timeline of the gum. Notice that they only changed their packaging seven times over the years. They’ve always stayed with the arrow.

I love this story of entrepreneurship, In 1891 at the age of 29 William Wrigley, Jr. came to Chicago from Philadelphia with $32.00 in his pocket. His father was a soap manufacturer so he started selling Wrigley’s Scouring Soap. As an incentive to merchants he offered free baking soda as a incentivize, knowing that they would likely carry his brand if they got a “little something for nothing.” When the baking powder became more popular than the soap he switched to the baking powder business. Then he got the idea to offer two packages of gum as a gimmick and again the chewing gum proved to be more popular than the baking soda and again he changed his business focus, the business became Wrigley’s Chewing Gum. You can read more of this story here.

Photo from Vintage America Flickr Photostream

A vintage ad from 1930

Photo from Lotusmonger, Flikr photostream

Wrigley’s Spearmint gum ad from Real America Magazine April 1935 

I hope you’ve enjoyed your visit today to Fayette, Pennsylvania, and learned a little more about Wrigley’s Spearmint Gum.

I’m linking with Vintage Thingies Thursday

Blessings and Hugs,

Margaret

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Pennsylvania Mail Pouch Barns 3

The excitement of finding my first two barns, pushed me on to discover others on the list for Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. In traveling the back roads around New Stanton, I was familiar with the small community of Ruffsdale, the main road only boasts of a few businesses and a post office. Often when I go somewhere I turn on back roads and just drive and look at the country side, confident that all I have to do is turn the GPS on to get back home. This has allowed me to see lots of the rural areas.

The barn I was looking for that day had no GPS markers (latitude and longitude) Just the directions of south of Ruffsdale on SR3089, approximately 1 mile south of Rt 31. I headed out towards Ruffsdale and about a mile from the town I rounded the bend and saw this:

Cute! But not what I was looking for, although now I know what it would look like on a small outbuilding. I recently told Harvey of my intentions, of painting our tool shed with the Mail Pouch logo.

I arrived at SR 3089 and saw a marker for RT 31, but the road went the opposite way from the directions. I thought maybe someone had the directions down wrong so I took that road, after a couple of miles I knew it wasn’t right so I turned around. Back to the town and back the way I had come, maybe I had missed it. After a few times of going up and down the roads and no sign of the barn, I decided that it had been torn down and I headed to Mt. Pleasant and the local Walmart. I knew how to get there because I had gone from Mt. Pleasant to Ruffsdale before on my way home, so off I went. About a half a mile I looked up to my right and what did I see?

There she stood! My Ruffsdale Mail Pouch Barn! A little faded and worse for wear, but I had discovered it. I felt like Columbus discovering the New World!

I pulled off to the side of the road and started snapping away. How to get the best angle? I thought maybe if I get down in the grass and lay on the ground I could get an artsy photo! And then I remembered, I’ll be 55 the 30^th of July and how undignified I would look down on the ground, that I wouldn’t be able to get to my feet because of my bum knee. Ok, I’ll just click away with my telephoto lens and be happy! Surely if I take tons of pictures I will like one.

Now remember I have taken this road from Mt. Pleasant numerous times and never saw this barn. The reason is it’s only painted on the one end and I had never looked back. This is how it looks from the road.

The pictures above have been edited in PSE, the one below is how it looks natural.

You can click on this link to see what the barn looked like in years gone by.

Oh BTW, If you want to go this Mail Pouch barn and maybe get there a little faster than I did…I’ve got the coordinates: N. 40. 10.006 W 79.36.141

 

P.S. I’m back home in Savannah, Missouri for the next couple of months. I’ve got three more posts of Mail Pouch barns, so if this interests you keep checking back and if you would like to see my other posts on Mail Pouch barns you can click here for part 1 and here for part 2.

 

Hugs,

Margaret

I’m linking this to

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Pennsylvania Mail Pouch Barns 2

And there she stood! After all the searching and traveling down back roads, all it took was getting on the PA Turnpike and following the directions. If you remember in my last post on Pennsylvania Mail Pouch Barns I had clicked on the option No Toll Roads on the GPS so I could get up close to the barn, and it had taken us on a “pig trail” and still we couldn’t find this barn. The next day we had been out shopping when my husband Harvey took a turn and I looked up and we were in line at the toll plaza. You have to know Harvey, he is very determined and never gives up, so there we went down the turnpike and just like the page said, 6.7 miles from the New Stanton exit over to the left…THERE IT WAS! (If you click on the link you can see pictures of when it was originally painted by Harley Warwick)

I’m all excited and yelling “Pull over, Pull over” Yea! Like where, we’re on the turnpike. Harvey managed to get to the side of the road and I jumped out and started snapping away, thank God for telescopic lenses because this barn was a quarter mile away. Cars whizzing by, and I’m just oblivious.

I figured if I took lots of pictures, I was sure to get one or two good ones. I was busy trying to not get the center divider in the picture too.

After I had taken quite a few, we got off the turnpike and tried to find the country road to get closer to the barn. After a few false turns we came to the site, but without trespassing on private property we really couldn’t get any better pictures.

This picture was taken from the side road and it says Marlin Zelmore. This barn has been painted and they painted right up to the letters. Leaving the original painting exposed. As you can see it still has bales of hay, and is still being used today. The above picture has been edited in PSE

If you love Mail Pouch Barns, stay tuned, I have more coming up in the next few days, I just have to edit my pictures and make them pretty!

I’m linking to Vintage Thingies Thursday

Hugs,

Margaret

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Where Bloggers Create II

Welcome to my blog if you’re visiting from Where Bloggers Create II, and let me say thank you to Karen for hosting.

I travel with my husband Harvey for his job, he works in the Nuclear industry as a contract employee with Westinghouse. Their office is in New Stanton, PA, we come here a couple of times a year for a five week period, while they plan the job. I’m writing this blog from Pennsylvania, where we’ve been for four weeks, one more to go!

While we are away from home, we stay in a 34ft fifth wheel trailer, with two slide outs. This is where I create! Well at least while on the road.

Here we are at the Fox Den Acres RV Resort our home while in New Stanton. We travel with all the luxuries of home including our Direct TV, you can see our satellite dish to the left of the trailer.

Welcome to my home away from home. This is the living room, dining room and kitchen. This is what you see as you step in the front door.

I bring all the  toys we need to have a home while we are gone. Including our computers, printers, and for me a sewing machine, material, all my crafting supplies, and my camera.

And this is where I create! It’s been organized for you to see, usually I have both the booth seats loaded with boxes that contain my supplies I need to play! Notice all the cords under the table! Guess I wasn’t as organized as I thought, but the white cord is to the hot glue gun, and the black cords are to the computer and the coffee pot, because we need lots of coffee at 6 in the morning.

I thought I would show you what is stored under the dining room cushions. Hint: My crafting and sewing supplies.

Behind the booth you see the plants, I bring plants with me to have a little bit of home. The patriotic pinwheels were a project I created for Memorial Day, you can read about it here.

I also bring a sewing machine, and on a previous trip I pieced this quilt top.

I store other scrapbook supplies in this three door storage container, that also holds my all in one printer (scanner, fax, printer)

And this small one fits between the couch and the back of the dinette, holds paints, scissors, die cutters and other miscellaneous stuff.

This trip I thought I needed a plant outside so I bought this hanging basket and planted it. I will take it home and hang it on the patio, but for now, this is where it hangs.

I spend my days editing my photos and learning Photoshop Elements 7. I’m thankful for the time that I have to concentrate on my art, I’m sure if I didn’t have the nine hours a day to concentrate I would have never learned PSE. On weekends Harvey and I try and go to a new location and I take pictures. These are some pictures I took in Homestead, PA.

I’ve spent the last four weeks researching and photographing Mail Pouch Barns. If you are interested in old barns you might want to follow me for the next couple of weeks as I chronicle my visits.

For the month of March and April we were in Palacios, Texas where I decorated birdhouses to look like a Mail Pouch Barn. We stayed in a campground right on the beach for five weeks.

This is a shrimp boat coming into the harbor at night, now tell me where else can you get a view like this from your front door?

And did I mention the beach in California? That is our next trip in October of this year to Diablo Canyon Nuclear Plant in Avila, California.

This view is from the road going to the plant, and of course the one below is of the nuclear plant. It’s a view that most people don’t see since the plant is closed to visitors.

These pictures were taken last October when Harvey worked five weeks in California. California is always a fun trip because that is where I was born and raised and lived until three years ago when I married Harvey. My children still live in Bakersfield, Ca about an hour and a half from the beach, so I get to spend lots of time with them and my grandchildren.

I hope you’ve enjoyed visiting me, where I blog and create. I’m sitting here at my kitchen table writing this and when I need something from the fridge it’s five steps away. Some people have commented “Don’t you get tired of living in that small space?” My answer is “This is so much better than staying in a motel for five weeks” Even though they put us up in luxury motels, I would rather have my little home on wheels, with all my “stuff” to be able to have home cooked meals, to sleep in my own bed with my own linens.

I get inspiration from the things around me, and believe me when you go to a new city, you get lots of inspiration.

Thanks for coming by to visit, and please leave comments. I really enjoy reading your comments!

Hugs,

Margaret

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Pennsylvania Mail Pouch Barns

Last Friday afternoon the rain finally let up for a day and we set out to find the closest Mail Pouch Barn. I had the coordinates entered into the GPS and had the function off to avoid toll roads because one of the barns was said to be off the PA turnpike and I wanted to get close enough to photograph it. Off we started, I knew from looking at the map that the first one was not far from Jeanette, PA. Following the GPS took us down some back streets but it got us there. When we turned on Boxcar Road we saw farm land and knew we were getting close, and there on the rise we saw the writing on the barn. We turned up a gravel road and went up to the barn, then we saw the No Trespassing sign, we were in front of the barn and had to turn around so I got out and took some quick pictures. I didn’t spend a lot of time, because I was worried about being run off the property.

This dove was nesting in the crack of the barn and I thought I would have to be quick before it flew away, but it just sat there and I kept clicking. I love this picture!

This barn is unusual, most of the others just have the lettering, unlike this one which has the logo. My research shows this same logo is painted on the Mail Pouch building in Wheeling, West Virginia.

These outbuildings were to the right of the barn, possibly a one room cabin. The one on the left is hand hewn logs. Notice the ducks in the yard!

To see a picture of this barn taken years ago you can click here. Their picture is taken at a different angle. I would have loved to have been able to go out into the field and take more pictures. The one above is from the road, I had a hard time because the automatic focus wanted to focus on the weeds in front of me, but it still makes for a nice picture.

We decided to go to the second barn which according to the directions was six miles east of New Stanton, PA. After entering the latitude and longitude in the GPS we started out. The barn was off of the Pennsylvania turnpike, so we knew we were taking back roads to get there. Following GPS directions sometimes can be crazy, it told us to take this one road. Harvey said “No way! was he going down that pig trail”, so he kept going down the same street, the GPS rerouted itself and as we went on we saw the road it wanted to take us down was a back alley. Eventually we got there, but we couldn’t find the barn. A little bit disappointing!

We went back the next day on the turnpike and found the barn. I will post pictures later this week.

I hope you enjoy the pictures, I have so much fun researching the locations of these old barns and plotting out our trips there.

Yours,

Margaret

I’m linking to Vintage Thingies Thursday

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Homestead Pennslyvania

 

Kolbe House, located next door to the St. Maxmillian Kolbe church in Homestead, PA.

 I’m linking to: Sweet Shot Tuesday

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Happy Memorial Day!

   

“Sure I wave the American flag. Do you know a better flag to wave? Sure I love my country with all her faults. I’m not ashamed of that, never have been, never will be.” — John Wayne

   

  

  

  

 

  

 

  

I think patriotism is like charity—it begins at home. “Henry James”

   

  

  

  

 

  

“Be sure this Memorial Day … you are a part of those Americans asking God to bless the heroes we remember who never really set out to be heroes. As the kin of a fallen soldier once proclaimed, ‘Each loved his life as much as we love ours. Each had a place in the world, a family waiting and friends to see again. They thought of the future just as we do, with plans and hopes for a long life. But they left it all behind when they went to war, and parted with it forever when they died so that you and I might enjoy freedom today.’ On this Memorial day set aside time from celebrating summer for you, your family and friends to honor and remember those who have given their lives for you because as Robert Orr so beautifully said, ‘To live in the hearts of those you leave behind is never to die.’ Frankly speaking, saluting their memory is our duty, and on this day, it is our privilege. The time is now to show we care and to honor their sacrifice not only this Memorial Day, but every day. Honoring our military heroes assures their memory does indeed live in our hearts and thus, these heroes will in the name of freedom never die.” –columnist” – Frank Jordan  

  

  

For instructions to make the Patriotic Fans, check out 

 

  

Martha 

If you would like the project including the picture, I’ve uploaded it to The Graphics Fairy Flickr page. Click on all sizes, then download large size.

 

  

 

 I’m linking this to Vintage Thingies Thursday 

I’m linking this to The Graphic Fairy for Brag Monday. 

  

  

  

I’m linking to Bobbypins Boardwalk

   

 

 

  

Happy Memorial Day to you all!

   

  

  

  

 

  

 

  

  

  

 

 

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Vintage advertising barns

Doesn’t everyone love old barns? As we travel across the country I see many barns, many are in various states of disrepair, and I find myself wishing that someone would repair them before we lose any more.

One of my favorite sightings is an advertisement barn. The first one that I remember as a child, was on a trip to Illinois to visit my Grandparents, it was a barn with Meramec Caverns painted on it. There are still barns with that signage on it. This one is fun because of its wording “See Jesse James Hideout”.

Internet Image: Seemidtenn.com

Another favorite of mine are the Mail Pouch Tobacco advertisements. While traveling in Western Pennsylvania on a trip to Fallingwater, we took a back road and I saw my first Mail Pouch barn. I was without a camera that day, but Harvey will be working at Westinghouse in New Stanton, PA in a few weeks and you can bet I’ll have my camera. I’ve discovered there are quite a few in the West Virginia and Pennsylvania area and I plan to do more research.

Here is a picture of one from Flikr.

This one has obviously been kept up, and repainted. But isn’t it beautiful?

 

Inspiration comes in funny packages sometimes. When we got to our RV site in Palacios, Texas, there were quite a few “Snowbirds” or Winter Texans as the manager called them. Three RV’s over there was a gentleman who was making birdhouses, I knew that I wanted one, but ended up buying four of them. One was with new wood and the other three were made from an old weathered redwood fence. He said he knew the fence boards were over 50 years old when he took it down. I have been decorating the birdhouses, to see another check out this post
last
picture on the page.

But back to Inspiration! This week I got to thinking about these old barns, because that is what the weathered redwood reminded me of. The idea to decorate a Mail Pouch bird house hit me!

I started in Photoshop and worked on laying out the lettering. Something new I learned was how to put a color shadow on my lettering, which was time consuming but I enjoyed learning this. I was so excited when I printed it out on cardstock, because it looked just like the original. I added the flowers that were made from a flower punch and layered together. The birds nest is made from old grass and a grapevine wreath, with shreds of an old hymnal added in.

The quote is from General Robert E. Lee and says ” I have been up to see Congress and they do not seem to be able to do anything except eat peanuts and chew tobacco.” NO COMMENTS FROM THE PEANUT GALLERY! So of course I had to put a few peanuts in the nest to go along with the quote. Isn’t that the way your projects go? One idea prompts another!

While researching Mail Pouch Barn advertising, I came across some interesting web pages. There are a couple of articles on The Barn Journal, and another good story is found at Ohio Barns, and all the information you might be interested in including locations of barns can be found here.

 

The last known painter of Mail Pouch barns was Harley E. Harrick, he has since passed away, but his story is an interesting one. His family had a barn; the Tobacco company would paint the whole barn if they could put the advertising on it. They would repaint them ever few years. When he came home from the war, the painters were there at his family farm painting their barn. He watched them in their work and in talking to the guys they offered him a job. “He thought that’s better than milking 27 Jerseys every night and morning.” His reflection on painting the barns was”the first 1000 were a little difficult but after that you got the hang of it.” With a helper painting in the black background Harley could paint two signs a day. His wages in 1946, were $32 a week painting six days a week and mixing paint on Sunday.

After I finished my Mail Pouch bird house, I ran across information that said after Mr. Harrick retired from painting barns, he continued his art making birdhouses with the Mail Pouch logo on them. So maybe my inspiration wasn’t something “new” but I love the fact that I can carry on a tradition, that in a few years may be gone with the old barns disappearing, but I can tell my Grandchildren stories of “Back in the day” !

 

Do you know what this picture is?

It’s a tool for cutting a plug of tobacco, It’s definitely vintage. I took this picture at the Outrigger Grill in Palacios, Texas. Thank you Cheryl for your hospitality and allowing me to take pictures of your antiques.

 

I’m linking this to: Vintage Thingies Thurday

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Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater

Saturday we decided to visit  Frank Lloyd Wright’s famous home Fallingwater, located about 30 miles from where we are staying in New Stanton, PA.  Since its February 21 and in the middle of winter here in Pennsylvania we had to take the grounds tour.   A lot of walking on mountain paths, but it is well worth the trip. As you round the bend and come to the house you are blown away by the beauty, and the majesty of the surroundings.  You hear the water before you see it, then you  cross over the river and you are at the house.

A little history on the house. It was built in 1935,  by  famous American Architect Frank Lloyd Wright for Mr. Edgar J. Kaufmann Sr. as a vacation home.  It is built over a waterfall on Bear Run, a tributary of the Youghiogheny River.

First view of the house

I have posted a few pictures, they don’t show how beautiful the place is.

In researching this place I found a couple of videos on You Tube. The first is a neat computer program that shows how the building went together. The second is by a director at Fallingwater, she is giving an interview about the property.  There is lot’s of good information and a look at the inside. The furniture  all  belonged to the original family, and was also designed by Mr. Wright.

 

 

Would love to sit there and dangle my feet in the water!

 I hope you enjoy the videos and if you ever get a chance to visit you’ll be glad you did!

Eweniquely,
Margaret

 

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Testosterone I !!! Cabela’s

“A road trip to Cabela’s in Wheeling, W.Virginia…

 Yeah!  That’s what we’ll do this Saturday!”

 

Now it’s too far to drive to other nice places in Pennsylvania, but it’s not to far to drive sixty miles to Cabela’s… Ok!  I’m giving Harvey a hard time (cause sometimes he reads my blog)

For those of you who don’t know what Cabela’s is… It’s a huge Mega-store that is a mans dream come true.  Every thing he could possibly dream about as far as hunting, fishing, camping all those manly activities can be found here.

This is what we did last Saturday, and believe me it’s testosterone heaven for men.  I mean they flock to this place.    Little kids love it too!  They just stand and stare at the bear and the moose.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fishing anyone?

This whole section is dedicated to fishing! 

 Notice this guy is giving me the suspicious eye!

What’s this lady taking a picture of me for?

 

 

 

 

 

 

We've come to the Ultimate Men's Playland! CABELA'S!

I haven’t even shown you the gun gallery,  the bargain cave, the Aquarium, or the cafeteria…….

Saving that for… Tuh Duh!!!!  We’re going back  tomorrow! 

With all that they had in this store, they didn’t have what we wanted.  So we ordered it online and had it shipped to the store, saved on shipping.

Stay tuned for Testosterone II and III

 

Part2 & 3?  Well I have to show you what we did the other two weekends  before we went to Cabela’s.

 

 

 

Camo as far as the eye can see!

 oh and wait they do have things for women……

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

           A Camo halter!

Leave some comments!  Tell me how your men act when they go to Cabela’s or Bass Pro Shop.

Eweniquely yours,

Margaret

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Still working on Double Delight Mystery Quilt

Step 1, was 120 square in a squares, with indigo  centers and 1 cheddar corner and the other 3 in light shirtings.

 

Step 2: 120 of these units with Cheddar gold  centers and scrappy browns.  Picture is using the easy angle ruler to square them up to 3 1/2 inches.

 

 

 

 

I took pictures of the first steps, but since I didn’t have my cord to my laptop I couldn’t upload them to my blog.  You can follow the steps at Bonnie’s Quiltville webpage.  Here is a picture of my blocks all finished. 

 

 

 

 

Bonnie gave instructions for her borders, but I felt like it still needed something else.  I was reading the posts on the Yahoo Group Quiltville and Rose from Tasmania, Australia posted on her blog Threadbare how she did her borders, well… I fell in love, so now I am working on about 80 more square in a square blocks so I can  make this border.  Someone else mentioned that she had put in 45 hours making her quilt top.  I didn’t keep up with the hours but I know I’ve been working on it every day for this past month.

Today on the same Yahoo Quiltville Group, Melissa sent me the EQ file of this quilt in three different sizes. Lap size, original and King Size.  You can go to her blog (In the Hive) and see how she is setting her blocks, and she also chose different colors to work with.  I emailed her and come to find out she is from Pennsylvania, on the other side of the state.

So I still have some work to do on my Double Delight quilt, but it is really pretty.  Someone posted that there was 2,440 individual pieces in the original quilt.  That’s a lot of piecing, but it has been a good learning experience.

By the way it’s cold here today, at noon it was up to 9 degrees.

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Where in the World is Margaret Diggs?

First I should say Sorry!!  The first week of January we came to New Stanton PA. for Harvey’s work.  We are here for eight weeks, or till the first of March.  In all the packing I brought my laptop but forgot my power cord.  Soooo.. no posts.  Willie my step son sent me my cord so now I’m back up and running, so  I will try and keep everyone updated.

In my last post I mentioned that I was going to be working on Bonnie Hunter’s Double Delight Mystery Quilt.  While I have been here in the Day’s Inn motel room, I’ve been sewing on my quilt.  I’m putting blocks together still and will show them in the next few days.

This is the official logo for the quilt.

 

 

 

It’s snowing now, but this morning we had freezing rain.  Its been cold here, last week the temperature in the car said -2 degrees,  thats a new one for me.  This California girl has never been in weather that cold.

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New Stanton, PA, our home away from home for 6 weeks!

We just got back from six weeks in New Stanton, PA, where Harvey was working at Westinghouse, preparing for upcoming jobs at Watts Bar, Tenn and next springs job in Taiwan.  We stayed at a beautiful campsite just outside New Stanton Fox Den Acres Campgroundhere are a few pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

This was the first time Harvey and I had stayed in the fifth wheel, previously we have stayed at the Howard Johnson motel in New Stanton, but five weeks in a motel gets old…       

 

  It took a lot to get the fifth wheel ready, It had been sitting for a few years in California, when we brought it back to Missouri.  On the way home we blew out a couple of tires and tore up the side of the trailer and destroyed the wiring. 

These were some of the things that we had to work on…WE or should I say Harvey!  He repaired the siding, put on a new door to the hot water heater, replaced the electical element in the hot water heater so it would work on propane.  Serviced the airconditioner, installed new vent covers, new foot on the landing gear.  Put in a new linoleum floor in the kitchen and entry. He said he made a list and it filled two pages of a legal pad!  Every day after he got off work, he worked on the trailer.  

 I found this wallpaper border on a clearance table at an RV dealer. I had been looking for a way to cover a burnt spot to the left of the stove.  I had put a skillet that was to big and when it touched the wall it burnt a big black spot.

 This was the perfect cover up and it made the trailer look updated.

 

A new recliner and love seat made for comfortable seating. Installing new window blinds completed the update.

 

 It’s really nice now and we feel like we have a home away from home.  We can cook our own meals and sleep in our own bed.  A few cosmetic touches and it looks really nice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A few turkey calls and some bread and Harvey had him eating out of his hands!

 

 

 

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