Wilder on the Prairie

Episode 193 Little Town on the Prairie ch. 19 "Whirl of Gaiety" Join us this week as we discuss Commentators on the Acts, to be on one's mettle, "Rock Me to Sleep, Mother," "The Good Old Way," a New England Supper, graham bread, 50 cents in today's money, $5 to Mary, Braille writing, German silver, "Stories of the Moorland," and wax works. 

Episode 192 Ch. 18 of Little Town on the Prairie "Literaries" Join us this week as we discuss hoarfrost, what a literary society is, Pa's opinion on organzing groups, the history of spelling bees, who is Mr. Barclay?, mimosaceous, xanthophyll, and grecophil(e).

Episode 191 Little Town on the Prairie ch. 17 "The Sociable" Join us this week as we discuss how much a dime is worth, what a sociable is, Mrs. Addie Tinkham, princess style dresses, the history of bangs/fringes, pinked edges of fabric, Mr. Timothy Johnson, Mrs. Susan Johnson, dotted Swiss curtains, isling glass windows, Mrs. Frances Woodsworth, Mrs. Margaret Garland, Mrs. Hattie Bradley, and Mrs....

Episode 190 Little House on the Prairie ch. 16 "Name Cards" Join us this week as we discuss Mr. Clewett, Frank Gilbert, the autographs in Laura's book, the history of name cards, Jake Hopp, how much twenty-five cents is, what is the greenie?, bobolinks, cornflowers, and the origin of Almanzo's name. 

Episode 189 Little Town on the Prairie ch. 15 "The School Board's Visit" Join us this week as we discuss Matthew 23: 25-26, taking care of lice in the 19th century, Lazy, Lousy, Lizy Jane, Willie Oleson, what a "nubia" is, the definition of "impudent", "a dog that will fetch a bone will carry a bone", and Ma's verse in Laura's autograph book. 

Episode 188 Ch. 14 of Little Town on the Prairie, "Sent Home from School" Join us this week as we discuss "spindly", who are Clarence and Alfred?, coal hods, the exports of Brazil, "peaked", and the picture depicting Laura's braids. 

Episode 187 Ch. 13 Little Town on the Prairie "School Days" Join us this week as we discuss the game anteover, Charley Power, buggies, the etiquette of bowing when a man raises a hat, "set a cap" for somebody, and Eliza Jane's homesteading. 

Episode 186 Ch. 12 of Little Town on the Prairie "Snug for the Winter" Join us as we discuss groundcherries, husk tomatoes, Alfred Lord Tennyson, "The Lotos Eaters", and Carrie's health.  

Episode 185 Ch. 11 of Little House on the Prairie, "Miss Wilder Teaches School". Join us this week as we discuss Eliza Jane Wilder, Ida Wright Brown, Rev. Edward Brown, Genevieve Masters, what a "polonaise" is, a jabot of lace, "With double a ruffle round her neck", "The Whip-Poor-Will's Song", and whippoorwills.

Episode 184 Little Town on the Prairie ch. 10 "Mary Goes to College" Join us this week as we discuss fall housecleaning, we revisit straw ticks, Brookins vs. Brookings, sprinkling curtains, the Iowa College for the Blind and Vinton, IA, what month Mary started college, "valise", and a world-record autograph album. 

Episode 183 Little Town on the Prairie ch. 9 "Blackbirds" Join us this week as we dicuss how much Pa earned in the spring, Spanish needle grass, "to scrabble", cashmere, hoop skirts in the 1870s/1880s, catch-stitching, a "gored" skirt, "shirred", yellow-headed blackbirds, "Sing a Song of Sixpence", and $15 for the heifer.

Episode 182 Ch. 8 of Little Town on the Prairie "Fourth of July" Join us this week as we discuss "The Star Spangled Banner", "Marching through Georgia", union suits, Laura pinning her braids vs. the chapter illustrations, Fort Ticonderoga, Lawyer Visscher Barnes, Laura and Rose's politics (libertarianism), "My Country 'Tis of Thee/America", Samuel Owens, what a "cuss" is, winning $5, and mentionin...

Episode 181 Ch. 7 of Little Town on the Prairie, "Nine Dollars." Join us this week as we discuss how much $9 is, what fryers are, a reminder of what laths are, bran mash well peppered, was the Ingalls stable made of sod or wood?, to contrive, college and manual training. 

Episode 180 Ch. 6 in Little Town on the Prairie, "The Month of Roses." Join us this week as we discuss Laura's wages, saloons, Laura's gratitude, Charles H. Tinkham, who Brown was who owned the saloon, "Pull for the Shore", Thomas Power, and Bill O'Dowd/William O'Connell. 

Episode 179   Little Town on the Prairie ch. 5 "Working in Town". Join us this week as we discuss Mr. Clancy/Clayson, definition of "dry goods", the history of sewing machines, Mrs. White, 25 cents a day, thunderpumpers, going "Indian file", basting, bias facings, and a "shanty Irishman".

Episode 178   Little Town on the Prairie, ch. 4 "The Happy Days"   Join us as we discuss organizing the Congregational Church, why Laura wasn't a charter member of founding the church, skim-milk cottage cheese, setting a hen, what a pullet is, what a cockerel is, and when it is too old to be laying eggs.

Episode 177 Ch. 3 of Little Town on the Prairie, "The Necessary Cat"   Join us this week as we discuss Dakota Territory, the use of italicized words in the chapter, Pa losing his hair, Kingsbury County, what counties do, Amos Whiting, when cats' eyes open, and the cost of a cat. 

Episode 176   Little Town on the Prairie ch. 2 "Springtime on the Claim"   Join us this week as we discuss who is the calf's father? How to skim milk. What a poll is. Laura wearing her hair up or down? What is a rolling coulter or mold board? Mary quoting Jeremiah and Job and Psalm 23. Pa mellows the dirt. What are angleworms? The blackbird nursery rhyme, and the bean plants popping out of the gro...

Episode 175   Ch. 1 of Little Town on the Prairie, "Surprise".   Join us this week as we discuss Laura working in a hotel, a little of the Ingalls' time in Burr Oak, 1941 in the context of Newbery Honor books and famous people born in 1941. 

Episode 174   Ch. 33 of The Long Winter, "Christmas in May".   Join us this week as we discuss the tablecloth sitch, yeast cakes/sponge/light bread, seedless raisins, cream of tartar, how far the Boasts' claim was from town, a dripping pan, ways to mash potatoes, the Boasts' winter on their claim, "Where There's a Will There's a Way".

Episode 173   Ch. 32 of The Long Winter, "The Christmas Barrel".   Join us this week as we discuss whaleboned basques, fascinators, what "dove colored" is, Laura's jealousy about the Christmas barrel, talking turkey, and the presence of Mr. Boast.  

Episode 172   Ch. 31 of The Long Winter "Waiting for the Train"   Join us this week as we discuss King Nebuchadnezzar, "The May Queen", positive stereotypes of people of Scottish descent, why the Ingalls air the bedding, what an emigrant car is, and Pa not caring about taking items from the railroad company.

Episode 171   Ch. 30 of The Long Winter, "It Can't Beat Us".   Join us this week as we discuss Carrie not helping with chores (?), no more lessons, Pa not singing his trouble song, Laura's light within her, the Chinook winds, and "beauty is only skin deep".

Episode 170   Ch. 29 of The Long Winter, "The Last Mile".    Join us this week as we discuss how Almanzo treats Prince, what a neckyoke is, what "tugs" are, "Is that the best you can do?", Laura clarifying the timeline of the narrative, what Loftus charges for the wheat, the physcial description of Pa and the toll the Long Winter has taken on him, the respect Pa commanded, "palaver", how they divi...

Episode 169   Ch. of The Long Winter "Four Days' Blizzard"   Join us this week as we discuss Pa yelling at the wind, "Song of the Freed Men/We Are All Here", "It Will Never Do to Give (It) up So", "Great Is the Lord/And Greatly to Be Prais'd", "When I Can Read My Title Clear",  chilblained definition, and Pa revealing where he got his seed wheat.