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Yep, 50 days until our little pint-sized TV goes black.

Truth be told…I can’t wait.

We have been using rabbit ears for over 8 years now.

We get the “major” channels and that’s it. ABC, CBS, NBC and although fuzzy, FOX.

Those 4 channels are too much already. Too much advertising (with most ads being written by MTV generation punks who think they are funny and clever, but not…), too much sex, too much blood, too much sin. I really don’t care to be insulted or blush in my own living room. Not by a TV anyway.

Sure, I’ll miss some shows. LOST (yeah, I know, sex/blood/sin), NCIS, LOST. Did I say LOST? But we’ll get by.

Who knows, perhaps we will revert back to the days of the Waltons, where everyone sat around the radio and listened at night. It certainly didn’t limit John Boy’s creativity.

Or the days of Andy of Mayberry, where Andy took his guitar out to the porch after dinner and strummed for Aunt Bee and cousin Barney. Didn’t hurt Opie’s creativity.

Or up in the furthest reaches of the Alaskan wilderness, listening to “Trapline Chatter” on the battery-powered radio in their tiny cabin. It didn’t bother Heimo Korth. (Click on Heimo.) Or his wife Edna. It didn’t hurt daughter’s Rhonda or Krin’s creativity.

My son’s won’t be surprised. They may think they were the only kids in the city of Petoskey who didn’t have MTV growing up. I called the cable company and actually had to PAY to have it pulled from my service. Nothin’ doin’. It was outta there.

It didn’t hurt my boys to not have MTV in their household. Sure, they watched it at friend’s homes. I couldn’t control that…but I could control my home.

I made the decision one New Year’s Eve when I was flipping channels, came across MTV and paused for a moment…only to have now-deceased Kurt Cobain spit in the camera lens. I called that week and had it yanked.

I wouldn’t know, but I’m sure it’s worse now…20 years later. I shudder to think of all I’ve missed.

I was from the generation where Elvis was photographed from the waist up.

Where the word “pregnant” couldn’t be said on the air waves.

Where Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore had separate beds.

No Victoria’s Secret commercials. (What is it they sell anyway…?)

Instead of sitting in our cabin, watching what comes on next, we will structure our day around the sun (which is what Rustic Russ does now) and go to bed when tired and get up early. TV won’t factor into the equation. We control our lives. TV doesn’t control our lives. If that sounds odd, think about it for a moment. How many times have you watched TV instead of reading to your child, talking to your spouse, going to bed when tired, the list is long.

Plus, if we are missing our favorite shows, we can always pull a rabbit out of the hat…Netflix. It’s what we usually watch now. We select. We control what we watch.

In 50 days, we will be ready to pull the plug. Those 4 little channels won’t impact our lives any longer. We won’t buy into the fear-driven society. “Drive by media”…bye bye.

It feels good knowing we are going further into the Bush…

Will you?

See you tomorrow ~

Woodswoman