Episode 1162






 * Everyone wakes up from a good night's sleep to a beautiful morning in New Mexico. Everyone except Oscar, that is - he can't get to sleep without the loud noises of the trucks and buses back home, sounds which the others would rather avoid. And the sweet-smelling lilacs make it even worse for him! He decides to find someplace else to sleep.


 * Ernie and Bert: After Bert gets mad at Ernie, Ernie imagines what life would be like without Bert.


 * Cartoon: A little girl imagines what would happen if she dropped her bag of ping pong balls.


 * Oscar finds a little clay hut that has a door, but no windows. Bob and Maria try to warn him against going in, but he insists -- and then flies out again, covered in hot ashes. They tell him that he was trying to sleep in the hot oven. Luis tells him that he knows the perfect place for a Grouch to sleep -- it's messy, away from the house, and has a good view of the dump.


 * Luis takes Oscar to the compost heap. Mrs. Romo explains that they dump the table scraps and peelings on the heap, and let it rot so they can use it as fertilizer. Oscar is delighted, and settles down in the compost heap to watch everything rot.


 * Maria is up on a ladder working on the roof when she hears the phone ringing. She runs down the ladder and into the house to get the phone and talk to The Count, calling long-distance from Sesame Street. After they talk, Maria goes back outside and up the ladder again -- and then she has to run back inside to get another call. It's the Count again! After Maria goes back up the ladder and then runs back inside for the third time, the Count reveals that he's been counting the long-distance calls he makes to Maria.


 * "The Rhymies at Sea" - The Rhymies go sailing at sea until their boat sinks.


 * "Sluggo the Great" (David) puts on his baseball gear, but isn't sure which body parts to put them on.


 * Film: A boy climbs up a tree to gather coconuts.


 * Luis and his grandfather are planning to ride to their neighbor's ranch to get some nails. Bob and Gordon offer to go instead, but Luis says they'll have to ride horses. He doesn't think they can do it, but they insist that they can. Luis gives them directions to the ranch. When Luis is gone, Bob and Gordon admit to each other that they don't know what a "mesa" or an "arroyo" is, and they don't know how to ride horses. They ask a kid to help; she knows how to ride.


 * Cartoon: two dots play hide-and-seek amongst different shaped blocks.


 * Cartoon: Two men cooperate to row a boat.


 * At the New Mexico ranch, a boy bottle-feeds a baby goat.


 * Sesame Street Animal Films: Grasshopper


 * Maria and Gordon appreciate the peace and quiet of the New Mexico ranch, but then they're startled to hear loud traffic noises. They follow the sound to Oscar's trash can, where he's playing street noise on his stereo set. He feels homesick, so he's playing loud noises to make it feel more like home. Maria and Gordon tell him that he's bothering the animals, so he has to listen to the noise through headphones. Realizing that they're a little homesick for the city too, Maria and Gordon ask if they can share the headphones with Oscar. The three city dwellers listen to the familiar sounds of traffic as the sun goes down over the ranch. The story of the New Mexico trip continues in episode 1163.