LHOTR - Sunday studies

 

Don’t mind me, I’m up to page 321.

Even gals in the 1860s knew you have to take care of your hair, amiright Martha and Docia?

Simple pleasures: books and deep conditioning treatments.

I am unsure how to label my lifelong enthusiasm for the life of Laura Ingalls Wilder. Am I an obsessive fan, a fastidious student, or merely an exhaustive collector of information on my 19th century spirit animal?

My consumption of Little House books went beyond the original eight as early as nine years old, when the one thing I wanted for Christmas more than anything was the hardcover edition of The First Four Years, the first “extra” in the series. And my curiosity was piqued by the pulp paperback Laura, which was passed around by all the girls in my class, where I first discovered the news of baby brother Freddie. From the first time I borrowed On the Banks of Plum Creek from the Jackson District Library on Orange Street back in 1978 to this Christmas, scholars and Laura’s estate have guaranteed there was always MORE. 

This Christmas’ indulgence at my own little house has been inhaling the book Prairie Fires, the 2017 Pulitzer Prize winning book by Caroline Fraser. I somehow missed its publication three years ago as I had embarked on the chore of reading the original text of Pioneer Girl, which was presented alongside Pamela Smith Hill’s own research. Sidenote: I also took not one but two online literature classes from Missouri State University on the subject of Laura, taught by Smith-Hill. 

Anyway, at this writing I’m currently on page 321, where extracting Little House in the Big Woods from the original manuscript from Pioneer Girl is happening. The research is thorough and there’s thought provoking theories as to why Laura wrote her family history that goes beyond the need for money during the Great Depression. Laura began to collect stories about the Big Woods from her Aunt Martha shortly after Ma died, and was urged to put pencil to composition book after her sister Mary passed. 

I’m learning more than I expected, stopping numerous times during the first 100 pages to research serfdom, the outlawing of peonage in 1867, Russian winter wheat’s impact on the global economy in the 1870s, arid weather reports of the Great Plains, Rocky Mountain locusts, the impact of the Civil War draft on a young Wisconsin, tableland, sod houses, dugouts, and the railroad’s western expansion at the beginning of the industrial revolution. 

And I deep conditioned my hair. A girl needs to look good, be it a sugaring off dance or a retreat to the river during a pandemic.

LHOTR - woodland companions

 

Ace, the indoor adventure cat.

All creatures great and small.

Life at our little house, having begun in late October, has mostly been confined to gazing out our picture windows, watching the river flow by. While we are itching for spring to begin exploring the waters, we have had the opportunity to catch glimpses of wildlife.

So far, we have seen:

Beavers

Rabbits

Fish

Owls

Eagles

Deer

Turkeys

And this weekend, our first fox ambled across our dirt road. 

Knowing this wildlife is going to make itself more apparent in the spring, Ace the adventure cat will definitely have to be restrained on the stretches when he comes up to the cottage with us. While he has survived in the wild on his own those times he manages to escape our suburban household, he wisely chose refuge in the garage of a cul de sac as opposed to the wooded areas of Muskegon river. 

Merry Christmas

 

Merry Christmas from the little house on the river!

LHOTR - beautiful fabrics

The cranes!

The patterns!

In The Long Winter, Laura sacrifices some of her own pretty things so Ma and her sisters have Christmas presents. She of course learned the art of sacrifice and making something out of nothing from Caroline, who Laura found slipping netted bags of Christmas candy onto everyone’s breakfast plate.

This year, I sacrificed all of my bright and colorful fabric to make 403 face masks for friends and family. I sent masks to 23 states for people working in the front line as well as those who needed them the most. I “won” the virtual adult nationals championship for mask making. 

But now, looking for fabrics to create for the little house, I didn’t have any left to play with. 

My coworker Lexi, a recycler and conservationist, came through with a simple “what do you need?”  And out of nowhere, two boxes of fabric samples showed up on my front door.

Green velvet, blue corduroy, brocade florals, bold stripes,  rich and fantastical designs. I’m in the process of removing the hang tags and hangers. I will even use the hangers for scarves.

Like Laura, I’m enthralled, stroking the beautiful colors and imagining how to bring these bright squares to life.

LHOTR - the rules

This is going to be taxing and I'm sure subject to constant revision. 

Our place is cute and cozy, perfect for the three of us, and sometimes four when grandma comes to stay the night. 

But as we become more established and other people start to turn their heads north for a weekend getaway, we see the need to be hospitable and share our good fortune with others. We are already thinking this holiday season of offering a weekend stay at the cottage as a gift. 

Another but! How do we share our space with others without conflict? Thus we need to create... 

The Rules

Prior to: 

Let us know the best date for your getaway and we will reserve it on the calendar for you. Weekend stays Friday-Sunday; weekdays, Monday - Thursday. Not available: Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving or Christmas. 

Maximum capacity in the cottage is probably around 6: two in the king, two on the queen, and two on the futon/couch when folded down. There is also an air mattress in Will's closet in case of an emergency.

Pets are welcome, however please clean up after your cat or dog while here. Leave no surprises in the yard or under a bed. 

Secure a key from David or Melissa. We will either give you one or tell you where to locate the hide-a-key on the property.  

As of this writing, we do not yet own inner tubes or kayaks for enjoying the river. Please BYO flotation devices. This is subject to change in coming months. 

When you arrive:

Upon first entering the house, go into the first bedroom and check the breaker box to make sure the pump and the hot water heater are on. If not, turn both on to get water started in the house. 

There is an ashtray in the junk drawer for you to use outside on the deck if you desire. Please no smoking in the house. 

Cushions for the deck furniture are in the deck box, next to grill. Please put them away when done using so they do not get wet in rain or blow away in wind. 

If weather allows, open a window prior to cooking. The smoke detector in the kitchen is very sensitive and reacts to the slightest smoke and/or heat. 

Upon leaving: 

Do a basic courtesy clean-up prior to leaving: sweep, wipe down the table and counters, dispose of any uneaten food. Wash and dry all your dishes; Don’t leave any dirty dishes in the sink. 

Strip bed and put dirty sheets and towels in the laundry basket in the bathroom. We will run it home to wash, no problem.

Please take your trash and pop/beer bottles with you. We do not have trash service here. 

Lock up and either return the key to its hiding place or return to Dave and Melissa upon returning to town.

Please enjoy the space, we hope you love it as much as we do. 

LHOTR - Done! A pictorial post.

 

Cut our losses and unclicked the plank floor and determined we would need three cartons of carpet tiles. They worked perfectly! 

Dave bought me a nail gun for Christmas, so I made quick work of reaffixing the door frames, chair rail, and baseboards. Nailed it! Or, I got the power! 

Baseboards were super easy: I measured and ran to the lumberyard with my dimensions and the guys quickly assessed how much wood I would need. Measure twice, or three times and cut once.

Will pretty pleased with his fresh, clean room. I’d like to say done, but there’s touch ups to do on paint. 

LHOTR - Our first holiday, Thanksgiving

 

“So, Eliza Jane, what are you going to have?”

A social media post from the Little House museums wished us fans a Happy Thanksgiving, and featured one of Helen Sewell's fabulous woodcuts of a gleeful Almanzo at the dinner table, surrounded by the delicious dishes prepared by his mother Angelina. 

Things at the little house on the river were similar for Thanksgiving 2020. Dave and Will prepared the turkey in the roaster, slicing onions, carrots, apples, and oranges for flavor and aroma. But the turkey was too big, so we had to slide it into the oven. 

I got the rest of the sides prepared, setting the yam and potatoes to boil, prepping a simple dish of peas, stirring the stuffing, and getting the cranberries out of the can with a satisfying thwack. There were plenty of drippings for homemade gravy too. Setting out a small dish of deli cole slaw, and dinner was ready by 1:30.

Because of COVID, it was only the three of us, so the meal was informal, intimate, and over in only 15 minutes. Me? I had a little bit of everything, but Will and Dave feasted on the wings and legs like barbarians. A quick cleanup, and we were lazing on the couch by 2:30 and I was cybershopping on my phone.

Dave's social media posts reflecting on the day, while overlooking the river were filled with gratitude and thanks for how lucky we felt to be enjoying the day together. I have to agree. 

LHOTR - Flooring

The cabin in Kansas, all built by hand. I'm not that clever.

If there’s one thing Caroline couldn’t tolerate, it was dirt floors. So for the homestead in Kansas, Pa went to great lengths to split logs in order to lay a wooden floor in the little house. In Minnesota, once they were out of the dugout, he laid store-bought, machine-hewed boards in place of logs. 

Before: that's just sad. 

If there's one thing I can't stand is having my child sleep on the subfloor of our little house. Why on the floor? Because when we were moving stuff around in his room, we discovered the old mattress and box spring were heavy with mold and mildew: it smelled horrendous. We ditched it at a charity thrift place that cheerfully accepts donations of anything they would find useful and blew up the air mattress we stored in the closet for guests. I imagine the mattress is now used for hunters' target practice. 

With the mattress gone, I emptied the rest of the room and assessed the floor situation. The previous owners left us 10 boxes of plank floor to finish the room. I studied YouTube videos, read and reread the directions on the box, measured and swept the room... and something didn't add up. I recalculated and I thought maybe we could make it, perhaps only short a board or two. 

The start of after: it's a nice start, but I'm already worried I won't have enough. 

Annnnnd, I'm out of boards. 

What would Pa do? He'd grab a buckskin of ginger water and chop down a tree or two. I'm not that handy. My manly man took to the internet to see if we could flag down the manufacturer and plead for a box or two of floor that perhaps was last produced in 2014. I scoured the big box, small box, and mom and pop stores. Nothing.

So, what's next? 

My next idea was to lay a transition strip down and get a dozen carpet tiles. In order to make this work, I would have to remove a total of 8 rows of board in order to carpet 48", or 2/3 of the room.

So I priced out transition strips, and wanted to cry. It would cost as much as nearly two boxes of carpet tiles with no guarantee it would look cool. 

The plank has got to go. 

So we bought four boxes of carpet tiles and will be tearing up Will's room once again to get the floor down and while we are at it, put the baseboards up. Dave bought me a nail gun for Christmas. It'll be fun.