The Black & White Electronic Babysitter

Back when I was young I remember Mom talking feverishly about her desire to have an "under the counter television", one on which she could easily watch the major networks while she prepared the family's dinner as Dad drove back home after his workday. Until the point when she began considering this TV, as Mom prepared the dinner meal, which she typically began at about 4 p.m., she'd need to turn on the living room television, our family's main TV, & "listen" to it through the wall. She never raised the volume of it as many do today just to hear what a news anchor was saying or a 4 p.m. program's host; she'd just catch what she could when she was passing through. This is likely why she requested this "under the counter" option.

Incidentally, I remember this terminology because of how little sense it made to me. At that age Mom had me picturing a television which would be, quite literally, under the counter. The counter was at waist height & that meant that it would be inside the cabinet underneath that space. It would be, for all intent & purposes, completely unseeable - which is what left me most baffled, though I dropped the idea, shaking it out of my head as a cartoon character would shake a overhead bubble from looming above them, knowing that, whatever would become of this desire Mom spoke so often of, the concepts would come together as need be to illustrate the purposes in real time; soon everyone would be enjoying Mom's request.

So Dad got Mom this TV. It had an AM/FM dial as well as an, at most 6" wide screen. It's attachment piece got installed on the underneath of the hanging cabinets at the entrance to the family's kitchen, right next to where the rotary telephone hung on the foyer wall with its long cord dangling to the floor (yes, ours wasn't nearly as long as others' whose wrapped around their phones before attaching to the receiver).

She used it just as she'd predicted & it never mattered that its picture was only a black & white one. On at least one camping trip, either that summer, or the following one, when we stayed at a campground that had electricity, Mom decided that we should bring along what had become known as the "kitchen TV". In addition to electricity, it ran on four C batteries, though we typically only used the battery option as a back-up feature.

We quickly learned that using the TV, or the radio option while at camp required some strategizing. It worked via antenna after all & being in the midst of a campground, even one that wasn't all that remote, required technique. In addition to this it really wasn't practical or polite to use any part of the device once the sun went down for the day. Considering nearly all of our neighbors' walls were made of fabric, & we knew how we felt whenever these disturbances happened to our misfortune, we kept to a likewise peace.

Sometimes it was nice to watch a few minutes of TV now & then. The noon news perhaps. I most remember Mom listening to the radio earlier in the day. Eventually, having this TV/radio on hand while camping simply became an "in case of emergency" benefit.

To think that now-a-days these same "perks" all come within one hand-held device which most everyone has & keeps on them on a practically constant basis. And especially when it's time to go camping...A campground gets positive marks just for having Wi-Fi accessible, though most campers' data plans probably support their needs while at camp, signal strength would likely be a campgrounds bigger burden to manage.

Any of the accounts one can have like this one, this one, this one, this one, this one, or this one, 😁 along with what's likely to be an included case with supporting stand (like these), thus turning each hand-held device into the much desired under-the-cabinet-AM/FM-radio-black-&-white-TV (however, now-a-days in color 😉).

Incidentally, I'm of the camp (well, I suppose the pun might have been intended as I did see it coming & veered toward it, not away from it! 😏) where minimalist living, especially while camping is of the essence. A plump bed of grass could make do for a simple bed, a fire pit for a stove top, a water pump to rinse my things, & a bathhouse [read: restrooms]... Well, I do suppose as I don't own a television that, while camping, I'd be quite content to be without one too.

Peace, tranquility, renewal, meditation, nature, organic...these are the sounds of camping...

And don't forget about bringing along a good book (pick one from here) & turn some pages...

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