nursery rhymes, Bible stories, and the Saturday morning cartoons

  Have you ever suddenly got an urge for something? No, not that. All at once I was thinking about Alpha Bits. You know the cereal. So I was at the Walmart Superstore and headed right over to the cereal aisle. Up and down I went but couldn't find them. Now being the modern man that I am, riding the cutting edge of technology and information systems I Googled that. Well turns out they quit manufacturing Alpha Bits in 2011. That's right, they haven't made Alpha Bits in ten years, an entire decade ago! How did I miss that? The fact is, I didn't miss them, rather a sad commentary if you think about it. They were there for me as a child, entertained and educated me throughout my formative years. I do remember searching for the letters to spell my name or a name for my sibling. It would seem that I, along with many others just abandoned them and as a consequence they were discontinued. Another memory relegated to folklore, I can the great grandchildren about Alpha Bits, the cereal that taught spelling. 

 On the way home from a disappointing shopping experience, everything is an experience these days, the wife and I were talking, in another one of those random things Old Mother Hubbard came up in the conversation. After struggling a bit we remembered that Old Mother Hubbard went to her cupboard to get her poor doggy a bone. When she got there the cupboard was bare, do the poor doggy had none. The later part was a bit foggy, like looking at the text through cataracts. Once again Google to the rescue, To my surprise they are many more verses to that old nursery rhyme. In the second verse the poor old doggy is dead! Still that doesn't stop the dog from having  a great many more adventures. I had to chuckle when reading that rhyme as the dog is smoking, feeding the cat and dancin' a jig. I didn't remember any of that part of the rhyme. I was laughing to myself thinking about the cupboard was bare. Guess old Mother Hubbard hadn't applied for assistance. And then I though about some of these liberal folks with all their cancel culture stuff reading that rhyme, there heads would be spinning faster than their fidget spinner! Old Mother Hubbard went to the joiners to buy him a coffin, that's when she gets back home to find him a laughin'. 

 I haven't heard anyone reading nursery rhymes to children but then again I haven't been around babies in a while. I have a big book of rhymes and stories that I would read from for my grandchildren. I imagine Mother Hubbard is in that book although I don't recall reading that particular one to them. We did read Little Boy Blue and Mary had a Little lamb. I have to say though their favorite was a DVD of curious George. The DVD was far more entertaining than grandpa. On that DVD there was a collection of other stories as well. Stone soup was one. And their was one with singing crickets. By todays standards the crickets would certainly be viewed as a racist thing as they spoke with heavy Spanish accents, you know, like they do in the comics, when things are funny. Well when that used to be funny, now it is just offensive. I still laugh about it though, just like I laugh when the coyote gets flattened by an anvil. No, I'm not traumatized by that and never have I tried to drop an anvil on anyone. You know Foghorn Leghorn was pretty funny and that chicken hawk just wouldn't quit. I learned how to deal with a bully watching those cartoons. 

 Well no more Alpha Bits, who knew about that? I wonder what else has disappeared from the shelves? I wonder what stories and rhymes are they reading to the children today. I grew up on nursery rhymes, Bible stories and the Saturday morning cartoons. The cowboy shows taught me about being a man. Brave, loyal, and trustworthy. When you gave your word , you stood by that, even if it meant dying! And I learned that you shouldn't shoot people, or attack them unless they deserved that. And yes, some "varmints" needed killing, there was no other way. I knew Mother Hubbard had a bare cupboard but never thought I should make someone else pay for her groceries. I wasn't taught that Mother Hubbard was oppressed. No, we all just laughed about that and moved on. Life was simpler back then and I miss it. Now I'm missing Alpha Bits. Now that I think about it I haven't seen a Chunky candy in quite a while. Off to the next quest.