On my walk through the neighborhood today we found 50 rings but they hadn’t slipped off people’s fingers.
The rings were made of wood.
The tall person counted 50 rings, each representing one year of growth.
That meant that the tree began its life in 1962.
I asked the tall person what the world was like in 1962 and he told me that the world came very close to being destroyed in a nuclear holocaust. He said that the Russians placed ballistic missiles on Cuba just 90 miles away from the coast of Florida. In response, the United States readied 1,436 B-52 bombers for take off and 145 intercontinental ballistic missiles stood on ready alert.
Fortunately, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev and U.S. President John F. Kennedy reached an agreement and the missiles were removed from Cuba.
Because the Soviet Union and the United States came the closest in history to all out war a direct communications hot line was established between Moscow and Washington, D.C.
Hmm, I hope the hot line phone never rings.
bassasblog 
Mom hates 1962! She was a little girl and VERY afraid all the time because of the nuclear threat. The whole thing sounds absolutely terrifying to me. I wasn’t born, yet, but I’m with you, Bassa. I hope the phone NEVER rings!
Love and licks,
Cupcake
That sure is an old tree. It was a very different world in 1962.
You and me both Bassa…..
Good point! We hope the phone never rings too!
There’s a lot of people that hope that phone never rings Bassa!
Bassa – the Cuban Missle Crisis, as we call it, was a scary time. Today there are still scary things in the world and we hope that there are a lot of communications going on, so that the special phone NEVER has to ring.
That tree experienced a lot of things!
We hope the hot line never rings too! What a neat tree.
Bella and DiDi
Too bad we just can’t disconnect that line forever.
SHE grew up in Florida and remembers the air raid practices in HER school during the Cuban missile crisis. SHE told me that it was scary for a little kid to hear those sirens and then practice getting under their desks. Scary times. Hope it never happens again.
It was a different world then….. but actually its pretty much the same but with different names doing the face downs….. lets hope the phone never rings and lets hope that someday ppl will just leave each other alone…