Looking For Sputnik, Watching Westerns , and Family Time

We stood under the star-filled night sky looking for Sputnik, the Russian earth-orbiting satellite. My mother said it would be circling the earth and to look for bright red blinking lights. I didn't know that we needed binoculars nor did I know that only amateur radio operators could pick up the radio signals. It was the fall of the year in 1957 and there I stood beside my mother looking up at the stars believing that I could see the bright red blinking lights on a Russian satellite.  In actuality, it was the lights on an airplane passing over. So there I was a young child believing I saw the Russian spacecraft with a dog on board. My mother always was one to gaze into the starry night sky. She was filled with celestial wonderment, so much so that many years later she bought herself a telescope.

I complained that I was too cold to stand outside any longer. My mother grew weary of my whining, therefore, we hurried back to the house. We walked around to the back of the farmhouse to enter through the kitchen. We rarely used the front door. The screen door slammed shut upon our entering. The kitchen was empty now that supper was over. The dishes had been washed and put away.

The rest of the family sat in the living room watching the famous Marshal keep law and order in Dodge City in the television series that was on Saturday nights. My grandma was sitting in her bedroom in her platform rocking chair.  The floral pattern bedroom door curtains were drawn to one side so she could view the show. (It was common to use archway drapes or curtains in doorways to separate a room, keep out drafts or to keep heat confined to a room). My grandpa, Pop, was too ill to participate in watching the show. He had already retired for the evening. My sister, brother, uncle, mother, and I sat in the living room watching the Marshal chase the bad guys out of Dodge. My oldest brother had gone off to college but sometimes came home on the weekends to be with the family.
I had an extended family somewhat like the "Waltons" television series that aired in the 1970's.

Cowboy shows were popular when I was growing up and my grandma never missed her favorite shows which of course became some of my favorite shows as well.  I can still hear those whips crack as the caravan of covered wagons headed out west not to mention being pleasantly entertained by another cowboy show with a handsome, suave, riverboat gambler/conman. There were plenty of cowboy shows.

Evenings were a time to rest and be with family because the next day we would start all over again from sunrise to sunset...that's life on a farm.