Monday, April 13, 2015

A to Z - K




For my A to Z Challenge theme I will be posting items that are no longer with us or are close to becoming extinct.

These are great items to use if you are trying to set a time period in your story or to stay away from if you want your story to be timeless.

If, like me, you watch "Love It or List It" you will be very familiar with this obsolete electrical wiring; Knob and tube. Homes in the U.S. built from around 1880 to the 1940s often still have knob and tube electrical wiring. This is where electrical wires anchored by ceramic insulating knobs pass through tubes placed inside holes drilled in the joists of the house. I also grew up in a house with this wiring but it was not something you saw. We knew if a house was old when it had the panel with two buttons, one that stuck out while the other was pushed in, on the wall instead of the flip switch.

Knobs, yes continuing with Knobs, they used to be on your television and they were the only way to change the channel and another for the volume. You had to walk to the television, and rotate the knobs around the thirteen channels you had to choose from. There was also a knob to stabilize your picture which you used once the antenna had been adjusted.


Captain Kangaroo This was my favorite kids show growing up. I got up every morning and watched Captain Kangaroo and his wonderful cast of characters. I even had a Little Golden Book about Captain Kangaroo and the puppy who needed a home. It was Mr. Green Jeans who taught me to stay away from squirrels because they may look cute and fluffy but they have sharp claws and teeth and can be vicious. I would find this out in Central Park when two of them, not the slightest bit afraid of me, took over my backpack to get my grapes.
Captain Kangaroo, played by Bob Keeshan, was on weekday mornings from 1955 through 1984, that my friends is almost 30 years!
Image result for captain kangaroo

Happy Writing!

9 comments:

  1. Great K words--Loved Captain Kangaroo!

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    1. Me too and he was a last minute pull while I was typing. Thanks so much for visiting.

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  2. Hahaha, these are awesome. Have a great week!

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    1. I hope you have avoided the stomach flu. Still recovering here from the terrible head cold.

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  3. Hi Kat - remembering the old days .. of having to walk to the tv, or radio to switch over .. mostly I still do! But I don't think we had the knob and button electrical switches though .. Captain Kangaroo - never saw that show .. 30 years of it - wow! Cheers Hilary

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    1. I forgot all about the radio. Everything that used to have dials has been replaced with push buttons.

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  4. love this too. Reminds me of the giant radio with those knobs : )

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  5. A remote didn't come into my life until I married the Husband in 1996. I probably gained a few pounds from not getting up to change the channels. lol

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  6. We had a TV with knobs when I was very little. It was bought when my brother was born, so that was 1976. We later got a bigger TV, but my brother kept it and took it with him when he left to go to uni, so it was still in working order at least 18 years later!

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