Alison Argrim on HuffPost Live Tonight!

Alison Arngrim (Nellie Oleson, Little House on the Prairie NBC) will be interviewed tonight at 4PM Pacific at HuffPost Live. Follow this link for more information: http://live.huffingtonpost.com/#r/segment/alison-arngrim-little-house-on-the-praire-/513f7f272b8c2a0bc50000db

This Day in History During Laura's LifeTime

In the ninety years that Laura Ingalls Wilder lived, she witnessed or read about many events. I thought it might be interesting to mention some historical events that took place in America and abroad during Wilder's life. Here is what happened on March 8th.*


1884 - 1st performance of Edward MacDowell's 2nd Piano suite
1884 - Susan B. Anthony addresses the U.S. House Judiciary Committee arguing for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution granting women the right to vote. Anthony's argument came 16 years after legislators had first introduced a federal women's suffrage amendment
1887 - Everett Horton, CT, patents fishing rod of telescoping steel tubes
1894 - The state of New York enacts the nation's first dog-licensing law
1896 - Volunteers of America forms (NYC)
1898 - Richard Straus' "Don Quixote," premieres in Keulen
1900 - NL decides to go with 8 teams. They exclude Baltimore, Cleveland, Louisville & Washington (in 1953 Boston Braves move to Milwaukee)
1902 - 1st performance of Jean Sibelius' 2nd Symphony
1904 - Hugh Trumble takes a hat-trick in his final Test Cricket match
1906 - Stanley Cup: Ottawa Silver 7 sweep Smiths Falls (Ont) in 2 games
1908 - Dutch utopist Frederick of Eden speaks in Carnegie Hall, NY
1910 - Baroness Raymonde de Laroche of Paris is 1st licensed female pilot
1911 - 1st International Woman's Day. International Women's Day is launched in Copenhagen, Denmark, by Clara Zetkin, leader of the Women's Office for the Social Democratic Party in Germany.
1913 - Federal League organizes with 6 teams
1913 - Internal Revenue Service begins to levy & collect income taxes
1915 - 1st US navy minelayer, Baltimore, commissioned
1916 - US invades Cuba for 3rd time, this to end corrupt Menocal regime
1917 - Russian revolution breaks out [OS=Feb 24] (in Petrograd)
1918 - The first case of Spanish flu occurs, the start of a devastating worldwide pandemic.
1920 - Denmark & Cuba join the League of Nations
1921 - Spanish Premier Eduardo Dato Iradier is assassinated while exiting the parliament building in Madrid
1924 - Coal mine explosion kills 171 at Castle Gate Utah
1927 - Pan American Airlines incorporates
1929 - US worker union commission reports of slavery in Liberia
1930 - Mahatma Gandhi starts civil disobedience in India
1930 - Babe Ruth signs 2-year contract for $160,000 with NY Yankee GM Ed Barrow, wrongly predicts "No one will ever be paid more than Ruth."
1934 - Edwin Hubble photo shows as many galaxies as Milky Way has stars
1936 - The first stock car race is held in Daytona Beach, Florida
1939 - Lenore Coffee & William Joyce Cowan's "Family Portrait," premieres
1941 - 1st baseball player drafted into WW II (Hugh Mulcahy, Phillies)
1942 - Japanese forces captures Rangoon Burma
1942 - KNIL, Dutch colonial army on Java, surrenders to Japanese armies
1943 - 335 allied bombers attack Neurenberg
1943 - Limited gambling legalized in Mexico
1943 - US Ladies Figure Skating championship won by Gretchen Merrill
1943 - US Mens Figure Skating championship won by Arthur Vaughn
1944 - US resumes bombing Berlin
1945 - "Kiss Me Kate" opens in Britain
1945 - 53 Amsterdammers executed by nazi occupiers
1945 - International Women's Day is 1st observed
1945 - Phyllis M Daley is 1st black nurse sworn-in as US Navy ensign
1946 - 1st helicopter licensed for commercial use (NYC)
1948 - Supreme Court rules religious instructions in pub schools unconstitutional
1949 - WAGA TV channel 5 in Atlanta, GA (CBS) begins broadcasting
1949 - WBAP-FM, Fort Worth Texas, begins broadcasting
1950 - 1st woman medical officer assigned to naval vessel (BR Walters)
1950 - Marshall Voroshilov of USSR announces they developed atomic bomb
1951 - Intl Table Tennis Federation bans Egypt (for refusing to play Israel)
1952 - Antoine Pinay forms French government
1953 - "Two's Company" closes at Alvin Theater NYC after 90 performances
1953 - Census indicates 239,000 farmers gave up farming in last 2 years
1953 - KSWO TV channel 7 in Lawton, OK (ABC) begins broadcasting
1953 - Patty Berg wins LPGA Jacksonville Golf Open
1953 - WFMJ TV channel 21 in Youngstown, OH (NBC) begins broadcasting
1954 - Herb McKinley sets quarter mile record of 0:46.8 in Melbourne, Australia



* Source for this information is http://www.historyorb.com/

Funny Valentine

I couldn't help but think of The Long Winter when I saw this.  Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Birthday Almanzo!

Oh, how my life would be different if Laura Elizabeth Ingalls had never met Almanzo James Wilder. I would never have met many of my online chums. Historic sites would never have existed. And television shows and movies about life on the prairie as seen through the eyes of a young girl might never have been inspired by a set of books that might never have been written.

Thankfully, a young Laura Ingalls did meet the dashing hero we read about in The Long Winter. Almanzo Wilder would court her. He would go and fetch her from her teaching job with his beautiful Morgan horses. And a couple of years later, the two would marry.

Now, we have books, televisions shows, movies, and annual events to remember the legacy created by the Wilders. We are grateful for all this pioneer family has meant to us. We are thankful for the small screen portrayals of Almanzo that actors Dean Butler and Walter Goggins brought us.

On Almanzo's 156th birthday, we fondly remember everyone's favorite farmer boy. Happy birthday, Almanzo!

Happy Birthday, Laura!

Happy 146th birthday to Laura Ingalls Wilder! Her work has brought many wonderful people and experiences into my life.

I joined Prairie Talk many years ago, where I met other Laura fans. That led to me creating a Yahoo Group for Dean Butler with the goal of bringing him to the World Wide Web. Once Dean created his Legacy Documentaries website, he also shared with us how he was creating a documentary about Almanzo Wilder, which can me ordered through the Wilder Homestead. Butler's Little House on the Prairie work did not stop there, however. He created a documentary about Laura that has been viewed at Laura Ingalls Wilder events around the country, and worked on the Pa's Fiddle project, which was showcased on PBS during last year's pledge drive, and is now available for purchase.

I'm also part of another LHOP forum, where I talk with fans from all around. The funny thing is that I know them from other forums, too: Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman and Downton Abbey.

While I came to the books later in life, Michael Landon's Little House on the Prairie was an always watched show in our house while I was growing up. Between reruns, fan fiction stories, and forums, my love for Laura Ingalls Wilder's work continues to grow.

Hope you'll join Sarah Uthoff tonight to celebrate Laura's birthday at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/trundlebedtales. She'll be talking with fans on her show tonight about Laura Ingalls Wilder effected our lives and our favorite Laura related memories and experiences. Show starts at 9PM Eastern/8 PM Central. You can all in at (877) 633-9389.