We are starting to read "The First Four Years"

Some of their homesteads are still standing! We checked out their website!

A LETTER FROM LAURA... Dear Children,I was born in the "Little House in the Big Woods" of Wisconsin on February 7 in the year 1867. I lived everything that happened in my books. It was a long story, filled with sunshine and shadow, that we have lived since "These Happy Golden Years." After our marriage Almanzo and I lived for a little while in the little gray house on the tree claim. In the year 1894 we and our little daughter Rose left Dakota in a covered wagon and moved to a farm in the Ozarks. We cleared the land and built our own farmhouse. Eventually we had 200 acres of improved land, and a herd of cows, good hogs, and the best laying flock of hens in the country. For many years we did all our own work, but now almost all of the land has been rented or sold. For recreation we used to ride horseback or in our buggy - later on, our Chrysler. We read and played music and attended church socials. In 1949 Almanzo died at the age of 92. We had been married 63 years. Our daughter, Rose Wilder Lane, the novelist, now lives in Connecticut. You may be interested to know what happened to some of the other people you met in my books. Ma and Pa lived for a while on their homestead then moved into town where Pa did carpentry. After Mary graduated from the College for the Blind she lived at home. She was always cheerful and busy with her work, her books and music. Carrie worked for THE DE SMET NEWS for a while after finishing high school, and then she married a mine owner and moved to the Black Hills. Grace married a farmer and lived a few miles outside DeSmet. All of them have been dead for some years now. Several years before Almanzo's death he and I took a trip back to DeSmet for a reunion with our old friends. Many of the old buildings had been replaced. Everywhere we went we recognized faces, but we were always surprised to find them old and gray like ourselves, instead of being young as in our memories. There is one thing that will always remain the same to remind people of little Laura's days on the prairie, and that is Pa's fiddle. Every year at a public concert, someone plays on it the songs Pa used to play. The "Little House" books are stories of long ago. Today our way of living and our schools are much different; so many things have made living and learning easier. But the real things haven't changed. It is still best to be honest and truthful; to make the most of what we have; to be happy with the simple pleasures and to be cheerful and have courage when things go wrong. Great improvements in living have been made because every American has always been free to pursue his happiness, and so long as Americans are free they will continue to make our country ever more wonderful.
With love to you all and best wishes for your happiness, I am Sincerely your friend,
Laura Ingalls Wilder

PS Our children said when they die, they want to meet Laura and Almanzo. Me too! : )

Palin biggest threat to Obama?

I’m not a big Palin fan, but this article does provide an interesting viewpoint…

 

http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/06/sarah_palin_the_21st_century_i.html

 

 

Letter to my Senators: Please Vote NO on S.909, the federal "Hate Crimes" bill

Perhaps you have heard about this bill. Already passed by the House of Representatives, this bill would make members of the LGBT community a federally protected class. It is an unconstitutional attempt to stifle open opposition to the gay lifestyle, and is ultimately another step in this administration’s goal to enshrine a perverse lifestyle in federal garb, and to force acceptance of such by all citizens.

 

I am a little behind time with my letter, as the Senate is likely to vote on this soon. Here is the letter I sent to my Senators. Perhaps you may want to write to your as well.

 

Dear Senator,

 

I am writing to ask that you please VOTE NO on S.909, the so called "hate crimes" legislation.

 

This legislation is nothing more than an attempt to federalize unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination across the United States, and is another step designed to force acceptance of a perverse lifestyle upon all U.S. Citizens, all under the banner of federal law.

 

Violent crimes are already severely punishable in all 50 states. Legislators or special interest groups who attempt to circumvent the 10th Amendment BAR to such vicious legislation do so without any real proof that such crimes are not already prosecuted to the full extent of the law, or that such extents of the law fail to reach far enough.

 

To claim that sexual "orientation" requires special protection or ought to be a congressionally mandated suspect class is a travesty of justice and logic, and is an affront to the intelligence of the average American.

 

That the House of Representatives has already succumbed to this socially engineered nonsense frankly scares the heck out of me, and I hope and pray that I can count on my U.S. Senators to act with some intelligence and maturity in refusing to pass this nonsensical, unconstitutional drivel that is designed, not for protection, but instead is designed to attack and undermine the moral values upon which this country was built.

 

The moral foundations of this society are eroded enough. Enshrining the consistent dribbling of such acid upon our moral footings in federal law is dangerous and irresponsible. Please VOTE NO on S.909.

 

Sincerely,

 

Clifford A. Arthur

Good books! & Good insight!

As our family reading book we have been reading "the little house on the prarie" series. I have really enjoyed them! and my children have really enjoyed them also! : )

We have been reading "Farmer Boy". Which is the third book in the series. It gives such good insight of how it was back in the 1870's and 1880's. I would like to share one of my favorite quotes... "Haste makes waste, but a lazy man'd rather get his work done fast than do it himself. ... All it saves is time, son. And what good is time, with nothing to do?"

I have been thinking about that quote and our daily tasks, ie: loading and unloading the dishwasher, etc. If I would just wash the dishes I could use them right away versus if i put them in the dishwasher I have to wait for three hours before they are done.

The other thing I have thought about in this book is that the cobbler (shoe maker) would come to your house and stay with you and make you shoes to fit your foot perfectly or the school teacher would live with each of the students families for two weeks and rotate through the whole class. Then the term would be over. It was a different lifestyle. But I like it more than our disconnected society now. I don't even see my neighbors and they are just a hop skip and a jump away.

How to use unwanted fabric : )

I have been wrestling with what to do with immodest clothing that is given to us. Which is normally girls clothes. : (

Sometimes, if there is enough fabric, I am able to alter them and make them into something modest. But if I couldn't alter them. I didn't feel right passing it on to someone else. Nor did I feel right in donating them or destroying them.

But finally I was given insight to make a quilt with them! I will post pictures when I complete it.

A Russian Perspective on World Events

I don’t agree with everything this cat says, but he is thought provoking…

 

http://mat-rodina.blogspot.com/