Do you remember your first television? Ours was an Admiral that my great-grandfather had first. It had a large case, but a small screen — I think a ten-inch. We were quite happy with it but then what did we have to compare it to.

My great-grandmother and a bachelor uncle had a nice television. I remember going to her house on Sunday afternoon and watching Roy Rogers. Although it was still in black and white, the picture was much larger than the model that we had at home.

In the good old days, we had three channels — CBS, NBC, AND ABC. At home we had an antenna attached to the top of the roof. It brought in the Buffalo channels. I remember watching Howdy Doody and during the holidays a show about Santa’s elves.

Of course, our first television was a black and white model. We did not care. At least we could see the news and shows like Milton Beryl and Arthur Godfrey. I think I watched the coronation of Queen Elizabeth on that television.

Today the local news is the best to keep us informed about w

hat is going on in our neck of the woods. We seldom watch the national news because it is so biased.

When we got our first television there were hours of operation. Do you remember when the national anthem came on about midnight and the station was done for the day? It came back on about 6 a.m. with a news program. Now the stations never go off. They run programming all night long.

When my great-grandfather upgraded to a television with color, we got one with a larger screen. That was an upgrade for us. We continued to watch things in black and white. Eventually, we bought a colored television. I remember watching Lawrence Welk in vivid color.

In the years that my mother and I had an apartment — during my college years — we had a portable television with rabbit ears. I took that television with me to my first apartment.

It was the television that we brought to Hickory Heights. The room that is now my office was at that time the television room.

We packed in sitting on the couch to watch television. After a while we had to hold the rabbit ears in order to get the picture. I would hold it so the children could see the Christmas specials. Finally, that television gave out.

In later years we had a rotor so we could switch from Buffalo to Erie channels. It depended on the weather which channels we watched.

Whatever came in the clearest at the time was our choice.

After our portable television broke, we went a time without television. My husband promised our daughter that we would have a new television by the time the Miss America pageant came on. I think we went to Edborg’s the afternoon of the pageant and came back and installed it so she was able to watch it.

Fast forward to today.

The screens just keep getting larger and larger. Some people have televisions that are large enough to show movies on.I admit it, we have a pretty large television. We bought a fifty-inch one. It is so much better to watch sports and cooking shows on. My children each had a big screen television long before I did. I did not think I wanted one since my living room is fairly small — about 225 square feet, but after I married, we succumbed.

Now, we have a dish so we can see hundreds of channels — yet at times there is little we care to watch. Right now, everyone is running reruns of old sporting events since there is nothing being played.

We have found some old dramas to watch as well as some shows on HGTV and Food Channel. I like the cake baking shows since the cakes are simply amazing.

I also like “Flea Market Flip.” We watched that over the weekend. It must have been a marathon since the shows were on all day.

Everyone is sequestered at this point so at least the television channels could run some interesting things. We are on the computer a lot doing work and playing games. I have a Kindle with a lot of books to read. I spend a lot of time reading there. Of course, I have some hard copy books to read as well. If the Kindle loses power I go to the hard copies.

Everyone needs something to entertain themselves at this point and it looks like it will go on a lot longer. The President extended the social distancing through the month of April so we are all in until then.

The kids who are seniors will never forget their senior year that is for sure. Those having special birthdays will not forget them either.

No one could have predicted the position that we would be in. I am sure glad we got married last year as I know that would have had to be postponed as well. Now Don and I can go through this together. Misery loves company so they say.

Ann Swanson writes from her home in Russell, Pa. Contact at hickoryheights1@verizon.net.