More Childhood Entertainment

In response to my post about Schoolhouse Rock, I was reminded by an anonymous commentator of another childhood memory (even harder to remember now that I'm officially 33...*sigh*), one that was likely unique to our family and overactive imaginations.

Once again let's go back to the days of Saturday morning cartoons...when for most kids, the entertainment only began with the actual cartoon broadcast. With my family, it was just not so...we could be entertained by a packing peanut (seriously - take a pen and put some eyeballs on it, and you have an instant caterpillar). In the wee Saturday mornings at Grandma and Grandpa's, we were entertained from the very moment the TV was turned on, no matter how early. You see, not everyone has a cousin who aspired to be a meterologist, as Jodie most definately did. Every Saturday of cartoon watching, Chad (my other cousin) and I were treated to a weather forecast while we waited for the cartoons to start.

Yep, this is the color screen which I believe is actually used to calibrate cameras. But to us, it was weather. Jodie was quite the weather girl, sometimes even using a yardstick as a pointer. As I remember, the weather usually broke down something like this:

It wasn't always the same...of course the weather changes. And Jodie was VERY official, with comments like, "Today in the nation's midsection, they will be experiencing high levels of sunshine. However, in Alaska, they will be having strong snow storms followed by hail. In California...tornados." We were fascinated, and begged for repeated forecasts. And when Trent and Tye joined the fray, they also demanded a forecast. Only Jodie could give an accurate one, though.

Our weather forecast was usually concluded with the National Anthem, followed of course by cartoons and a happy afternoon of playing outside. And though we thoroughly enjoyed them all, nothing beat The Forecast.

To this day, I can't see a color bar screen without thinking of the weather. Jodie truly missed her calling.