More of Us in Our Long Underwear...

  

   

Still the Name of the Game! Union Suits, warm, comfortable and fashionable. The Very Best Underwear!

Mosie On Over to my Companion Blog, Union Suit Fans in the Limelight, 

And play another round of Movie Trivia!

Looking for Spring After a Frozen Winter 

Forevermore, will it ever arrive? Spring!

Where is it? It's March 20th, the first day of spring, and most of us are tired of winter. But thank goodness for warm long-handled union suits! Our extraordinary underwear will get us through to summer. You know, those button-down, flap in the rear, ones!

  

  

  

For those extreme blizzardly days that you all particularly have been feeling in the upper mid-west and east, try doubling up your long underwear if you haven't already. Two union suits are better than one in those coldest of times: 

 

Keep the faith Union Suit Fans and, in the meantime, keep 'em buttoned!!  ....Chris

Je suis l'hom me qui apporte le printemps.

Je suis né le 20 mars à 23 h 40.

If your French is a bit rusty, like mine, allow me to try to interpret the message my good friend, Jérôme of France, sent to me this week, along with a photograph in his union suit pajamas! 

He says, "I am the man who brings the spring." And, "I was born the 20th of March at 11:40 pm.

You have seen Jérôme several times in Union Suit Fan postings over the past three or four years, always attired in his various one-piece long underwear. 

He corresponds with me fairly often in excellent English but I wanted to honor him with a "happy birthday" in his native language: 

                         Joyeux anniversaire ! Je te souhaite tout le meilleur.

 Happy St. Patrick's Day, Union Suit Fans!

Buckeye Mike
The only person I know who owns
and wears a green union suit!

Well, and this kid: 

Union Suits
The Underwear to celebrate!

The Calendar Might Soon Say Spring but Mother Nature Insists That It's Still Winter in the Northeast!

Union Suit Fans: this is a reposted photo and email I receive from Connecticut Mike back on March 23, 2019. I've not heard from him lately. So, Mike let us know if you are still a union suit fan and send me another photo of those union suits you dry out on your clothesline there in New England....Chris

Shirts, Sheets, and Red Long Underwear
Photo by Union Suit Fan
Connecticut Mike 

Hi Chris....  I'm a union suit newbie. I don't know how or why I never tried them any earlier in my life but now I am 100% sold on them; they are about the most practical and comfortable undergarment you could ever want, at least in the cooler times of the year. I got my first taste with the two layer wool/cotton Stanfield's and can't imagine trying any other brands; these just seem so well made.

I'm attaching a picture from yesterday of two of my Stans out on the clothes line. It was a good drying day and the snow is receding some (at least until tonight) so they didn't freeze up solid, lol.  My house is 104 years old so I would imagine that in it's earlier years it would've been pretty likely to see a few union suits hanging out in the same location. Best regards, Mike

Thanks, Mike, for the photo and email.  I suspect that after 104 years a few prior inhabitants of your home and users of that clothes line wore warm union suits.

From time to time I hear from guys who have not worn union suits before even though their dads or granddads or other relatives did. Like you they become hooked on this type of long underwear. I appreciate you taking the time to be in touch. It's great hearing from fellow union suit fans, both new wearers and guys who have been wearing them for years. Stay buttoned!    ....Chris

 

And this I received from him on March 12, 2022 and my emailed answer...

Hangin' Out with Connecticut Mike

Although he considers himself a "newbie," having only begun wearing union suits within the past four to five years, Connecticut Mike is a Union Suit Fan for sure. He hangs his suits, flannel shirts and other clothes on a clothesline for that fresh outside feeling. 

Here are some shots of Mike's one-piece, buttoned down long underwear... 

He reports, "All through December we had mild weather with fog, drizzle and straight up rain all the time so that definitely interfered with any clothes hanging.  Over the past 2-3 weeks though we've had plenty of single digits and a couple of nice snow storms.  The past couple of weekends have been good for drying; good sun, a breeze and cold!  You had asked why hang the suits out.  Well, growing up with Depression Era grandparents probably instilled some frugality for sure but, along with that, everything hung out smells just great and fabric seems to last longer and shrink less.  Good union suits tend to be hard to find and anything with wool is a bit pricey so it just seems to make sense to take good care of them so old school hanging on the line is what we do.

It was about 9 degrees when the pictures were taken and I can assure you that those were frozen stiff as a board.  A few hours later inside and that underwear was dry and pliable. Had some flannel shirts out there too.  Flannels and Union Suits, might just be a good title for a country western ballad!

Thinking the frozen days may be behind us til next winter, starting to see some daffodils pushing up pretty good.  Still getting some nights cold enough to enjoy a good union suit but the days are warming up... Mike"  

Thanks, Mike! Nothing like that sunny, out-door freshness. Here are some more shots of long underwear flapping outside in the breeze. Guess you're not the only one displaying union suits in the great outdoors:

Just for Laughs! 

Blogs,Union Suit Fans and Union Suit Fans in the Limelight, will be taking a break for the next couple of weeks, be back here second week in March. Until then, keep 'em buttoned. 

In the meantime, here's a little "puzzler" to complete."

 

Thanks to Barry, a buttoned-down Freshman at Iowa State for sending me "The Puzzler."   Appreciate it! 

Stay warm over there in snowy, freezing Iowa! Later...Chris

And, Union Suit Fans, when adding your comments to my postings, do me a favor and be sure to sign at least your first name and home town or at least the region of the country in which you reside. It's great to hear from all of you around the golden U.S.A.

Down On the Farm - Concludes

Well, Union Suit Fans, that's it. Hope you enjoyed my "Down On the Farm" series, a look at some of the men, young and older, who've kept and keep this country warm and well fed. A special thanks for my grandpa's and great grandpa's agricultural pursuits wearing union suits and a bunch of uncles, long departed, and cousins, all farmers who wore and wear one-piece, buttoned down long underwear too. Partly due to their examples, I've enjoyed wearing union suits myself since I was a boy. 

(Thanks, to Retro Jeff, for this photo)

Chase of Monroe, Louisiana emailed me this "yesteryear family photo" of his pa, a country man, out in the kitchen early one morning in his sleepwear, a union suit, naturally. 

Thanks, Chase

If any of you have further stories or if I missed anyone having contributed farm photos and memories in the past which may have been featured in earlier Union Suit Fan postings, be sure to let me know! In the meantime, keep 'em buttoned ....Chris

A Deep Freeze for Millions of Americans

"Boy Howdy, I'm freezing my a** off!" as my best friend who now resides in Houston is want to say. It's been frigid all the way across the U.S. particularly in Mid-America and even down to the Deep South, including in Houston where my buddy went deep diving into his chest of drawers to find his long handled drawers. 

My gosh, iguanas are dropping by the thousands out of the trees in Florida. I heard from one of my blog viewers in Montgomery, Alabama. He went running for his union suit underwear before Christmas, the red ones he favors, and continues to wear them! He probably will be for awhile yet.

This past week, I received an email with an accompanying photo from one of my new, good friends who resides in the Augusta, Georgia area. He writes:

Morning Chris,

Blessed Sunday. I trust you are well buttoned up this winter. You'll never believe this. Snow!  Snow in Georgia! I'll be danged! It started yesterday while I made preparations come what may. It hit my area around noon and got so bad, I decided to put on my wool Long Johns! Normally I'd wear my regular thermal red long handles, as I have been doing so at work since its cold in the warehouse. But I needed extra protection. 

It made the night warmer and comfortable, plus bearable. This morning before church, I stepped outside to check on the chickens with my union suit on. The sun was just rising and everything was a winter wonderland. 

I usually wear my long johns in November and especially in through February, but I do wear them to bed as it is more comfortable.  You should've seen me last year around this time; it was colder cause of the hurricane and I was much much thinner so I needed warmth.

I hope you're faring the cold a lot better than this southern boy is.  

Keep in touch, Georgia Boy

Hey, Georgia Boy, I thought I might be hearing from you after seeing on the news all the snow and ice storms across the southeastern U.S.  I don't blame you for pulling on your woolen union suit as you surely need them this winter. Hope your chickens had their woolies on too, and survived your extreme weather!! 

Like me, I know you wear union suits for pj's!  In fact, I wore mine to bed practically all last summer, having the windows wide open, enjoying the fresh mountain air and the breeze off my lake.

Keep those long johns handy, Georgia Boy, as you're likely to need them for many days to come, even down south. I've been wearing mine 24/7 since October here in northern Idaho and expect to continue until at least Memorial Day...Chris

(This, the fifteenth posting in my "winding down" of the series of "Down On the Farm.")

Another Winter Olympics Has Begun! Could be the best ever.

Did you catch the opening ceremonies in Italy yesterday? Another fabulous kickoff on this U.S. Football Superbowl weekend. Back on March 4, 2018, I posted this P&G ad of Ted Ligety, alpine skier, getting some well earned rest wearing long red underwear to sleep in. His bed covers had been thrown off, revealing that he like many of us, chose union suits to sleep in:

 Olympian Union Suit Fan

During the 2018 Olympics, I remembered the above 2014 NyQuil magazine advertisement featuring Ted Ligety. He was shown in bed asleep atop his bed covers wearing a red Union Suit, age about 26 at the time.

The great U.S. Alpine Olympian Skier won two gold metals. He, in his long johns, proves once again that you find Union Suit Fans among the famous and the regular Joes like you and me. Keep 'em buttoned!    ...Chris

It could have been in 2014 or another year or several years in a row when winter Olympians were all provided red union suit underwear to help keep them warm throughout the couple of weeks they competed. I don't recall which year or years. If you know, send me an email to pass along to Union Suit Fans.

.....Chris

Down Memory Lane with Artie, back when he lived, worked and grew up "Down on the Farm"

A hard workin' farm boy, who now resides in Maine, takes us back with him and his brothers to the family farm. The following is the fourteenth posting in my farmer appreciation series....    

"I grew up on a small dairy / hog farm in Southeastern Massachusetts, oldest of four boys. When I was small I had after school chores that included cleaning cow manure in the barn, feed off the grain and silage to the cows. Hard, physical work that I wouldn’t change it for the world.

"We lived in a small uninsulated farm house; main heat supply was a wood stove in the kitchen. Long Johns were a very important thing on the farm. There was no official start date to long underwear season, just Ma saying that Dad is in long johns so you boys get them on before you go to the barn.

"The above picture of rural brothers is special to me as we were spaced out in years like they were. We boys would shed our barn clothes in the back room and stand all around in our long underwear warming up while Ma got us our “clean jeans” to put on. We would play grab ass and fight like brothers do! 

"I can still hear my Grandma saying “you look like perfect gentleman in your underpants “ in an exaggerated Irish accent while my Mother laughed at her sense of humor. 

"Growing up on a dairy farm, I learned to always wear clean long johns to bed so your sheets don’t smell like corn silage.

"There's still a little rural boy left in me.... Artie up in Maine."

Farm boy and union suit fan, all grown up, learned the values of hard work as a youngster. Like most every farm kid, those lessons were taken to heart and have served him (and them, I presume) well. 

Thanks, Artie, for sharing your story of growing up on a farm.  

Long time union suit fans will remember another couple of farm boy postings I featured written by Ron Payne, a great friend over the years. He honored me by portraying his early years on a farm in Virginia. Here's a portion....Scroll back to November 14, 2019 in Union Suit Fan to "An Innocent Rube" for one of the best stories of youth and union suits you'll read!  A big shout out to my buddy, Ron, for his memories.....

Growing up back in the 50's there were union suits in the inventory of clothing stores that served small towns and farming communities. I always shunned union suits as being too ridiculous looking when I was a youngster. But when I got into high school and was changing into gym clothes, I saw a few of the boys from the nearby farms wearing union suits without shame. They laughed at themselves and ribbed each other over their "hillbilly" long johns. But there also seemed to be an element of pride in wearing "country boy" underwear.

I grew up in Loudoun County in northern Virginia on a farm between Purcellville and Lincoln. My Dad wore two piece thermal underwear but no one I knew wore union suits. I'd only seen men in union suits on TV or in the movies and it was always associated with comical humiliation. Like John Payne in "Restless Gun" when masked men held him up and made him strip down to his union suit. He had to walk into town in his one-piece long johns while the townsfolk laughed. But I saw union suits at the clothing store in Purcellville and, of course, there were the Sears catalog ads. Any type of long underwear seemed an embarrassment to me when I was a kid. So I avoided the thermal two piece type that my father wore, not to mention union suits. Being shy, I was afraid of looking stupid and having people laugh at me....

Read more in those postings I mentioned above and then take a look at Ron's update which I posted in 2023. You'll want to turn to that one too. Here's a portion:

Why Be Shy? How I Came to Stop Worrying and Love the Union Suit   

By Ronald Payne, Guest Contributor

I grew up on a Dairy Farm in northern Virginia during the 1950s and like other boys who lived on a farm I was expected to do at least some farm chores. I was excused from helping with the milking (I was scared of the cows that were so much bigger than I was) but other chores like gathering eggs, feeding livestock and driving a tractor during haymaking season were a part of my growing up. This necessitated wearing work clothes which I hated. I didn’t want any part of a farm identity (I wanted to be a sophisticated city kid). I was afraid I’d be seen in farm work clothes by other kids.  When winter came around I drew the line on wearing long underwear.  My Dad wore the two piece variety, but I thought “long johns” were just too embarrassing. If I had to be outside in snowy cold weather, I’d happily wear coats and sweaters, but no way I’d ever wear “long johns”...... 

Thanks, again, Ron...Chris