What Happened "After the Storm"

I often ask myself, "How did Laura Ingalls Wilder get through hard times?"  The Ingalls family didn't lack challenges.  There were cramped quarters, hastily constructed shanties, and a lack of local coffee shops.  During this period of self-quarantine, I decided to reread The Long Winter to discover - What Would Laura Do?

The Long Winter, by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Chapter 5 - "After the Storm"

NOTE:  According to the excellent book, Prairie Fires, by Caroline Fraser, the October blizzard covered 500 miles, had winds up to 125 mph, and drifts ranging from a few inches to twenty feet.

Here is the interior of a claim shanty.  Not much room for yoga and puzzles.

The chapter begins with Laura waking up to both silence and a snowdrift on her bed.  The blizzard has ended.  She later finds out the storm ripped a large piece of tar paper off the roof.  These days I want to hit the snooze button and not get out of bed at all.  Laura didn't have all the wonderful things (coffee, a hot shower, heat, etc.) I have and yet she leaps out of bed into air colder than ice.  Note to self:  Tomorrow get going when alarm goes off.

Pa is back to spouting ominous predictions.  "I never knew a winter to set in so early.  I don't like the feel of things."  Glass-is-half-full Ma, begins chattering about an Indian summer while Laura eats breakfast and looks at the yellow window panes. Is it possible to channel the 3 Ingalls at once?  Can a person be prepared, hopeful, and in the moment? 

Pa noticed some strange cows standing at the haystacks, so Laura and Pa go outside to drive the cattle away.  Laura, as usual, stops to take in the prairie - "The sky was hugely blue and all the land was blowing white."  

Pa fights the wind to get to the cows.  Laura is scared by the cattle since they all have swollen white heads, bowing to the ground.  Pa figures out the cows' breath covered their eyes and noses and froze them to the ground.  Pa breaks the ice from their heads while Laura laments cows being smothered by their own breath. 

The giant auk - not your typical prairie bird.

Later, Pa brings in a strange little bird he found in a haystack.  Using her knowledge from Pa's green book, The Wonders of the Animal World, Laura identifies the bird as an auk. Pa muses that the exhausted bird dropped out of the sky and sought refuge in a haystack.  

The Ingalls put the bird in a box and wander over to the windows.  They see jack rabbits surrounding their stable.  Pa threatens to grab his gun, so they can have rabbit stew.  Tender hearted Laura begs him not to since the rabbits had just survived the blizzard.  Me?  I was pleading to the page, "No Pa!  Kill those jack rabbits and salt the meat.  You are right about an impending hard winter!  Grab your gun and get going."  Unwisely, Pa listened to Laura and not me.

WWLD

• Get up and get going
• Be prepared, hopeful, & in the moment
• Offer to help 
• Feed the birds

Join me tomorrow for chapter six, "Indian Summer."  (Finally, Ma gets an "I told you so.")

Prairie "The Horse Whisperer" Eydie.  I have no idea why I am wearing my bonnet as a feed sack.  

Prairie Eydie