Have We Turned into Weather Wimps?

A recent article by Eleanor Barkhorn featured in The Atlantic says that a passage about Laura Ingalls trudging her way to school the morning after a snowstorm proves we've all gone soft where the weather is concerned.

Citing the cold morning journey from These Happy Golden Years for Laura and her students that includes breaking their own path to school and then entering a schoolhouse that was even colder than the outside, Barkhorn states that getting to school was very difficult without the technologies we have now, but that there was no question if school would be open. It was open. According to the author, that makes us a bunch of wimps. Do you agree?

You can read the article in its entirety at http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/01/school-wasnt-canceled-for-bad-weather-in-1882/282913/

"Home is the nicest word there is."--Laura Ingalls, A Harvest of Friends

In the first episode of the first season of Little House on the Prairie, the Ingalls family settles in Walnut Grove, Minnesota and builds their little house on Plum Creek. Mary and Laura are asked by their Pa how they like their new room. They have a larger comfy bed to share and even their own window. Laura declares that she has decided something, "Home is the nicest word there is."

That's exactly how I felt after being displaced for a week because of the snowstorm. I can't tell you how comforting it was to move all our belongings back home a week later and settle into life as usual. We have a tendency to take for granted what our modern world has provided us. After the storm, I could cook on my gas stove, but we couldn't run water or use the toilets. We had bottled water for drinking and plenty of canned goods, but I felt dismally unprepared again. This is now three storms over the past five months where we've lost power, and I still don't think I know how to prepare for them.
 
As we prepare for winter--hoping it's not as bad as last year's--my thoughts wander to the Ingalls family and how much effort it must have taken them to get ready to endure the cold months of winter while they waited for spring to arrive, so the growing season could start all over again. It certainly does make one appreciate 21st century life.

Snowstorm Aftermath Day 4

It has been four days since the freak October snowstorm, and we still have no electricity. We could have toughed it out at home if we could have used water and flushed the toilets, but since the sewer ejector pump isn't operational, we've been hanging out at the in-laws.

It's times like these that give you a glimpse into how much tougher it was to survive day-to-day back in the time of Laura Ingalls Wilder. Never mind the sun up to sun down litany of chores that kept the farmer and his household busy, being isolated during storms, not being able to get out to purchase supplies, and the cold that seeped in through any nook or cranny. This all sure makes me happy I live in the days of indoor plumbing, electricity, and grocery stores every few miles.

Our hope is that power will return tomorrow night. Then comes the clean up. There are still several trees down in the yard that need to be cut and hauled away. We were able to save a lot of the food, and we'll truck everything back over to our house once this is all over. Who knows if we'll have Internet or cable once the power is back on. The girls are already climbing the walls after being out of school all week.

I honestly don't think I could have survived on the prairie like Laura did. It certainly makes a person appreciate her life more.