He brought in a Quart 'yar'

With all the discussion about plastic water bottles and Styrofoam usage in our land fills, we would like to think back about how people used to do it. Before there was plastic water bottles, there was the common quart or pint jar.

My grand parents both talked with a Norwegian brogue, a JAR was a YAR.

When grandpa went off to work in the summer, he had a yar of coffee, which he drank cold and a yar of water. Later, the yar was filled with root beer nectar, lightly seasoned with sugar. The nectar was stored in the fridge, if you drank it in the house, it was so cold it made your head hurt, it also made you wish there was more sugar in it. The nectar came from some traveling like salesperson, most likely the Watkins man.

When my sweet Thomas was telling me about how he crawled on his belly in the furrows of a field to get a better shot at a duck, he said they left their lunch in a special place for later. His drink was stored in an insulated container. Remember these? At first they had glass liners. Many of us who did not have a hot lunch program would start the year with a little insulated container of milk, which was warm by lunch time. Before Christmas, it always seemed to break.

My parents liked to go for a ride on Sunday afternoons. They would take the Scotch plaid picnic bag with a container which was made by Thermos. Mother would fill the container with very hot water before she put the coffee in to keep it warm.

We are a society of paper like cups and plastic bottles. Although I saw the quart yars full of water, the idea of it seemed a little far back to me until one summer when I was going on a travel, I bought a quart yar, which was insulated. I filled it with ice and water and it would last all day. The only problem was you couldn't see the road when you tried to drink out of it while driving! Yes, I still have it and it works great!

Again, my sweet Thomas is convinced that bass only are on the bite just before daylight and into sunrise. I know when he wakes me in the morning, the coffee will be cooked and a reusable unbreakable container will be filled with hot water, changed out only when it is time to pour the coffee in.

My children had lunch boxes and liquid containers. The best way to keep things hot was to heat the food to very hot and bring it to school just before lunch. With luck, a hamburger hot dish would still have some warmth to it.

I would hope that all of you consider using reusable containers when possible. Check your cup boards. How many insulated containers do you have that you have bought to refrain from the use of plastic on your morning run to the coffee store?

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