Reflections in Black and White – SoCS Television

Day 107

 

This is my first post participating in Stream of Consciousness Saturday (#SoCS) offered by Linda G. Hill. If you are interested, the rules and a link will be listed below the post.

The prompt for the day is: “television” Talk about your favorite show, past, present, or future, or about the apparatus itself.

“A little to the left! Too far! Go back again. Ok, STOP!”

Growing up in a small mountain community in the early 60’s meant a small black and white TV and antenna wire that stretched from the house nestled in the valley up to a precariously placed antenna on top of the steep hill behind the house.

Weather, wind, and animals always interfered with the generally snowy reception which meant Dad would climb up the hill behind the house and try to turn the antenna so the picture was a little clearer.

I am suspicious the reason my parents had four children was specifically for this reason. We would be strategically stationed: one in front of the television, one at the top of the stairs, one at the upstairs bedroom window and one outside relaying the information to our mother who then yelled to my father on the hill.

It was not a science by any means. One twist too far and the picture went from an acceptable flurry of snow to a full blizzard. Once adjusted to a watchable picture, Dad would come down off the hill proud as punch. He had saved the day.

Of course, the television choices at that time (considering we only received one local station) were shows more geared toward the adults in the family. But we watched anyway.

Sing Along With Mitch was a family favorite as we all followed the bouncing ball. One of the first shows I remember geared toward kids was McKeever and the Colonel. And there was simply nothing to watch during the daytime so we spent a lot of time in the outdoors.

Sadly, I remember learning too much about the Vietnam War on that television as well. We always watched the Bob Hope tours to entertain the troops. It was such a different time and in many ways, a more honest and better time. Even with all the snow.

Follow Linda G. Hill’s blog to write along every Saturday.

Here are the rules for SoCS:

1. Your post must be stream of consciousness writing, meaning no editing, (typos can be fixed) and minimal planning on what you’re going to write.

2. Your post can be as long or as short as you want it to be. One sentence – one thousand words. Fact, fiction, poetry – it doesn’t matter. Just let the words carry you along until you’re ready to stop.

3. There will be a prompt every week. I will post the prompt here on my blog on Friday, along with a reminder for you to join in. The prompt will be one random thing, but it will not be a subject. For instance, I will not say “Write about dogs”; the prompt will be more like, “Make your first sentence a question,” “Begin with the word ‘The’,” or simply a single word to get your started.

4. Ping back! It’s important, so that I and other people can come and read your post! For example, in your post you can write “This post is part of SoCS:” and then copy and paste the URL found in your address bar at the top of this post into yours.  Your link will show up in my comments for everyone to see. The most recent pingbacks will be found at the top. NOTE: Pingbacks only work from WordPress sites. If you’re self-hosted or are participating from another host, such as Blogger, please leave a link to your post in the comments below.

5. Read at least one other person’s blog who has linked back their post. Even better, read everyone’s! If you’re the first person to link back, you can check back later, or go to the previous week, by following my category, “Stream of Consciousness Saturday,” which you’ll find right below the “Like” button on my post.

6. Copy and paste the rules (if you’d like to) in your post. The more people who join in, the more new bloggers you’ll meet and the bigger your community will get!

7. As a suggestion, tag your post “SoCS” and/or “#SoCS” for more exposure and more views.

8. Have fun!

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