Guinness Gum Wrapper Chain

        

With all this talk about candy, I started waxing nostalgic for gum wrapper chains. That’s when I stumbled on Gary Duschl’s Guinness World Record Gum Wrapper Chain.  You’ve got to check it out.

As of April 11, 2007, the chain has 1,201,601 gum wrappers and is 51,276  feet long. Whoa! That makes the 30 foot chain around my twin bed in 1965 seem like a shoe string.

And get this, he began the chain on March 11, 1965 and it’s 170 football fields long which means it would take about 4 hours to walk the whole length of it. Mindboggling.

You can send your gum wrappers to Gary in Virginia Beach, Virginia and he will wrap them into the chain. He also gives step by step instructions on How To Make Your Own Gum Wrapper Chain.

There’s another good site for learning how to make a gum wrapper chain at The Victory Old-Time Candy Store. Not only do they include detailed instructions for building a chain, they also sell (and include a brief history of ) Beeman’s, Blackjack, Adam’s Sour, Teaberry, Tendermint, and Clark’s Cinnamon.

Everybody, Chew On!

Friday, April 27th, 2007

-from Topic post, Candy Freak

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Top 35 Candy Cravings

by Categories (that only make sense to me)

1. Atomic Fire Balls
2. Jaw Breakers
3. Life Savers (I got a book of these one Christmas that I savored til June)
4. Red Hots
5. Smarties
6. Sweetarts
7. Candy Corn

8. Bazooka Bubble Gum
9. Beemans gum
10. Black Jack gum
11. Teaberry Gum (my fave, gum wrapper chains, hours of time well spent?)

12. Blow Pop
13. Bubble Gum Cigars
14. Rainblo Gum
15. Chiclets (the tiny size Chiclets are more fun)
16. Bubble Yum

17. Candy Cigarettes
18. Candy Watch
19. Nik-L-Nips (wax syrup bottles – Yum, chewing on the wax)
20. Wax Lips  & Fangs (loved these! think Halloween)

21. Junior Mints (remember that Seinfeld episode)
22. Milk Duds (movies, movies, movies)
23. Whoppers (more movies)
24. Sixlets (bad chocolate but that tiny BB size morsel!)
25. Sugar Baby (even more movies)
26. Planter’s Peanut Bar (what’s with the spectacles)

27. Sugar Daddy (pulled my fillings out)
28. Slo Pokes
29. Tootsie Pops
30. Tootsie Roll
31. Rolo

32. Snickers
33. Kit Kats
34. Twix
35. Pay Day (sigh, perchance to barter)

 

Friday, April 27th, 2007

-from Topic post, Candy Freak

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Candy Stash — Barter Is Better

-image by SCEhardt, released to public domain

 
When I was a kid, I collected things. This is no surprise to anyone who knows me. Stashing is cumbersome in adulthood. But as a kid, it was a goldmine.

I tended to be the slow, silent type who savored and squirreled things away. I cached items like carefully folded and dog-eared Life Savers books (12 candy rolls in every volume), a Mount Everest of Halloween goodies, bags of Tootsie Pops and Rolls, the half-bitten ears of milk chocolate Easter bunnies, and Peeps.

Okay, the Peeps didn’t last long in my sock drawer; they turned hard, chewy, and plastic tasting. And they made my socks smell like, well, that Peep smell. But the point is I could trade out bits and pieces of buried treasure to my brothers and sister for more valuable commodities. Important things like dusting the furniture, ironing, or doing the dishes (my chores).

Instead of cattle, cowrie shells, whale’s teeth, ornamental jewelry, tobacco, rice, indigo, wheat, or maize, I bartered candy.

“Hey, how about 3 Atomic Fire Balls, 1 pack of Black Jack gum, 3 Blow Pops, and a Wax Lips for dusting the living room?” 

Pledge anyone?

I didn’t end up using the secret barter system all that much. The truth is I liked the savoring a lot more than I liked the bartering. I’ve never been all that interested in money. Maybe I should have paid more attention to the economics of candy. It might have afforded a much sweeter ride through later life. For now I’m left with visions of a 401-Kandy-K dancing in my head.

Friday, April 27th, 2007

-related to Topic post, WRITING TOPIC – CANDY FREAK

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Proof There Is Yin and Yang

A post over at Fluent made me realize there are at least two sides to every thing. The post mentioned a persistent bout of acne (among other ailments), which got me thinking about my own constant struggle with oily skin. Which then got me thinking about my parents who at the age of 80 and 83 both still get pimples.

Yet, my parents have almost no wrinkles. I mean, yes, Dad has a couple of lines in his forehead, and Mom’s eyelids nearly cover her eyes, they’re so droopy. But Mom and Dad both have the sort of plump skin where you can push it with your finger and it bounces back. The same oil that gives them acne also preserves their elasticity.

Anyway, this got me thinking about what Natalie often said in her workshops about positives and negatives. I remember, I don’t remember. What’s in front of me, what’s not in front of me. Senile acne, no wrinkles. (Natalie never said that last one; it’s my own contribution.)

Except I think I’m remembering it wrong. It wasn’t positives and negatives. I just looked in Wild Mind, the only Goldberg book I have that’s not presently packed for the move, and I couldn’t find what I was looking for. What does she call these dual sides to things? It’s going to bug me all day if I can’t put my finger on it.

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