Stories from the Stringam Family Ranches of Southern Alberta

From the 50s and 60s to today . . .



Monday, February 10, 2014

More Snow


George and Me.
One of us was smart . . . and the other has her hair in curlers.

I never was a particularly timid child.
In fact, if one were searching for words to describe me, 'timid' probably wouldn't have even been considered.
Boisterous. Cheerful. Loud. Noisy.
These all would have been correct.
But timid?
No.
And yet, there were certain times when 'timid', even fearful could have been used with complete accuracy.
Let me explain.
It was the fifties.
We had a TV.
And one channel.
Which came on the air at 10:00 in the morning and left the air at midnight.
I often watched as 'Oh, Canada' played in the morning.Because I had already been watching the Indian Head test pattern for half an hour, waiting for Friendly Giant.I never got to hear the playing of 'God Save the Queen' at midnight.
Because, let's face it, I was four.
By that point in time, I had been in slumberland for hours.
Moving on . . .
When the TV station was not airing, we had 'snow'.
And not the good kind.
White, yes, but that is where all similarity ended.
It was static-y.
And, when your brother turned the volume up loud . . .
Scary.
Said brother discovered this early.
And used it often.
If he was playing in the living room and didn't want any Diane type company, he would turn on the TV, confirm quickly that there really was nothing on, and turn up the volume.
Whereupon (good word) I would run, shrieking, from the room.
Heh. Heh. Heh.
Mom couldn't get after him because he hadn't said or done anything to me, personally.
Simple.
Genius.
Fool-proof.
And the room was cleared for another half-hour of uninterrupted fun.
Until Diane forgot everything that had just happened and ventured, again, into the front room.
TV. Volume. Repeat.
So you see where the word 'timid' comes in.
Unfortunately, the word 'brainiac' never applied.

11 comments:

  1. Friendly Giant...I loved Friendly and Rusty and Jerome...did you know that Friendly actually lived in Toronto and was a Block Parent. I remember reading a little article in the paper when I was long past Friendly Giant age about a little boy who got lost and knocked on the Block Parent house door...the Friendly Giant took him home. There's a 'show and tell' for you.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wonderful. But, oh, can you imagine? I wonder which chair he took? The one little chair, the big chair for two to curl up in, or the rocking chair in the middle . . .

      Delete
    2. ... and did he play "Early One Morning" on his recorder for the little boy? What a wonderfully gentle show that was for us little ones to watch!

      Oh, and George sounds like my big brother ...

      Delete
    3. It was a long long time ago but that little story in the paper has stayed with me over the years.

      Delete
  2. Actually Diane was the one who scared herself. She fumbled with knob and accidently turned it the wrong way. Too bad I was watching; I had just found another way to get at my sister. Heh-heh...

    ReplyDelete
  3. OMG I remember the Indian Head test pattern---and that low beeping sound it made while we anxiously waited for the cartoons to begin! Thanks for bringing back the memory and your picture here is priceless!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you! I love that picture! Mom would turn on the TV and I was snared by that black-and-white picture. Programs were going to start . . . Now? Now? Okay now? Great babysitter!

      Delete
  4. That brought back a TV memory. My brothers came up with various ways of teasing me. Oh those brothers; how I loved them.
    Blessings for the smiles on this one!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, LeAnn! what would the world be without brothers!

      Delete

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