TV reception via my computer monitor is getting better every day - and has a long way to go yet. I use wwitv.com for accessing news at mid day. For entertainment TV I use Netflix or Hulu. We have links Streaming Netflix and other options- Electronics Forum - GardenWeb and At the bottom of thread on Wii games - Computer Help Forum - GardenWeb.

My grandparents were all born in the 1880s and my last grandmother died when I was 12. She'd been in a nursing home for some time by that point so I was very young when I was visiting their homes. Both of my grandfather's passed before I was born. My maternal grandmother lived in an old duplex on Toledo, Ohio's south side--right near the big Haughton Elevator plant where my grandfather worked. Very industrial and I remember the neighborhood being very gray--dark, charcoal gray. There were railroad tracks that basically ran behind the house. During the depression, the homeless men who were traveling as hitchers on the train would stop and my grandmother would feed them--whatever she had--which wasn't much. Mom said that it was a daily occurrence. And there was a bar called The Showboat just a few doors down. Some time during my young adulthood, it morphed into a drag club. I never went there, but it was VERY important to my grandpa. LOL That grandmother had a small, dank kitchen with a freestanding gas (heating) stove, lino countertops with the banded edge, and (I think) green painted cabinets--and not many. It just felt dirty and old to me--much like that neighborhood. My uncle lived in that duplex apartment for more than 60 years. He had cerebral palsy and lived at home and never married. What I remember most about that house was the smell of his cologne, believe it or not. By the time he moved in the early 80s, the apartment had fallen into horrendous disrepair. My paternal grandmother was a charcter--my last remaining grandparent. Some time between 1915 and 1920, they sold their large farm in Tontogany, Ohio and moved to the "big city" of Bowling Green. Their house was a traditional 2 story, white, with a big front porch and two catalpa trees out front. I spent hours playing with the seed pods--"Indian cigars" as she called them. Her kitchen wasn't big, but it wasn't small. There was a wall of cabinetry that faced the country road to the east with a sink and symmetrical white painted cabinets. Certainly no dishwasher. LOL The floors were a speckled lino--all kinds of colors but basically white and the cabinets had black rubber toekicks. There was a typical 1930s wallpaper, red, blue, yellow with forks and spoons motif on all of the walls above white (?) ceramic tile. I want to say that it was banded in black tile, but...I don't know...maybe... There was a breakfast alcove with a wooden table and 4 chairs--always covered with a vinyl tablecloth. I remember a lot of red and white checks...LOL The stove and refrigerator stood by themselves on 2 walls, and there was a door in the back corner that led out onto a breezeway with a dirt floor that housed the old wringer washer and beadboard cabinets full of home canned goods. I grew up eating her quince jelly and peanut butter sandwiches. We had her jelly YEARS after she passed away. I can STILL taste it. And lebkuchen. Always lebkuchen. And on your birthday, she would sit down at the big upright piano in the living room and belt out the most raucous "Happy Birthday" you ever heard. She'd been a piano player in the silent movie houses and was quite good--sitting there in her flowered shirtwaist and gingham apron with her white-white hair pulled into a tight bun.... My mom always told me that I reminded her of that grandmother.... I like that.

You mentioned a fort with the blankets, we did/do the "boat" thing sometimes for a nap but most of the time for bedtime. The kids all love it and even my kids still talk about the adventures we used to go on. It was our time to wind down and we did it most weekends, especially in nasty weather. The boat got supplied with books, snacks, flashlights, favorite toy and blankies, and a plastic placemat map that I had found. They would close their eyes and pick a place. Off we went We take a portable radio, to check the time and weather, They used their imaginations and could make up the best stories. I used blankets, quilts, sleeping bags and pillows, whatever they wanted to gather and the living room floor was ours. They also knew there was no tv and what was dragged out had to be put back or there would be no more adventures. There was never a problem with cleanup time. One benefit is you get to lie there and grab a some rest with your eyes closed and listen as they talk on.....one regret I didn't tape some of the conversations for them. My daughter got through a couple of long hydro outages using this same activity, said the kids were very content and she said it was fun.

My dad's mom was from a farm in Minnesota. They raised horses. Several kids all together in one bed in the upstairs room. She loved the country and her home with the stream running through the pastures. My dad's dad lost his parents young. His dad was a tailor. Both their parents had come over from Sweden. My grandfather especially never forgot that his parents came over to escape religious persecution for being Baptists. Both grandparents always celebrated their Swedish heritage. My grandmother spoke Swedish with all her brothers and sisters. At the end of her life, when she had memory loss, she said she wanted to go back to be with the Swedes ( Minnesota ). They had things from Sweden all over the house and my grandma always had blue and gold curtains and fabrics for slipcovers. They asked me to make them a big Dala horse with the house numbers on it for the gate. I remember the two Victorian portraits of my grandfathers parents over the Victorian organ that was in the family room. We loved to play that organ as kids. Grandfather also had the china and a writing desk from his family when they came to America in the 1800s. Grandma always loved gardening and had a flower garden everywhere they lived. They started out in Minnesota, moved to Maryland, Indiana, and then out to California. The happiest day my Grandma had according to my dad was when her brothers and sister came over during WWII and they were all together again. Both brothers were in the army then and my grandpa worked as a radar specialist and sometimes flew in the large bombers. My grandmas brothers helped my grandpa build the first house they had in So.CA My grandma had a big garden then and it was packed full of flowers. I was a toddler then but I still remember all the flowers and the hand poured cement walks. Grandpa also built a little pass through door in the wall from the kitchen into the family room so grandma wouldn't have to go around. She always loved to bake. Later, they moved out to Riverside county. They had a bigger property and grew all kinds of fruit trees and grapes and every kind of vegetables. Grandma canned them all even though she had a market right down the road. She had all kind of little figurines and things for the kids to play with in the yard. We liked to make out little farms with the toy animals and give them rides in the old wagon she used to move plants around in. Grandpa had a room he added on to the garage where he had his electronics equipment. After the war, he was involved with the space missions. He loved radios, anything electric and my dad got him an Apple computer when they were first available. He was on the cutting edge of technology even into his nineties. I remember dad said he could fix anything. He was always going over to a neighbors house to help with electical or plumbing or carpentry. That's what neighbors were supposed to do. He had a woodshop in the garage and he built all our garage cabinetry and shelving and all our kitchen cabinets and a big kitchen island. He removed all the kitchen cabinets from their last home and replaced them with custom ones. If his body hadn't worn out, he'd still be doing it. Grandma always had pets. She loved them and I don't remember a time when she ever scolded them ( or us) . My sister said that grandma could make a good dog out of a bad one. She never was sophisticated and had an 8th grade little schoolhouse education but she had a kind heart and would always be there for a friend or neighbor in need. Her three kids all went to college but she never boasted about it. Any kind of flattery embarassed her in fact. She loved crafts and had a little room full of scraps and buttons and trims where she would sew. We spent hours in that room going through it all just for fun and on holidays she let us make valentines and ornaments and all kinds of Christmas decorations. We got together every Sunday for dinner and afterwards watched Lawerence Welk, Wild Kingdom, and Disney. I remember my cousins came over too and especially during the holidays. Two of my cousins moved to Virginia but they came to spend the summer with grandma in CA. She loved Virginia too and sometimes she lived there with my aunt for a month in the summer. After my grandpa passed away, she moved to my aunt's in Virginia and saw my cousins and their kids all the time. She loved kids and babies and all kinds of animals. She loved the seasons in Virginia and sent me pictures and fall leaves.