Sunday, October 3, 2010

Pioneer Woman, in Fahrenheit

Anyone who knew me between the ages of, oh, 7 and 15, knows I was completely obsessed with Little House on the Prairie. I would have given anything to be Laura Ingalls, and I even wrote a letter to Michael Landon proposing that he remake the Little House TV series starring. . . me. (Although I'm not sure I ever sent the letter).


Stick with me. . .


I returned home on Sunday evening from our week away in southern Norway, on solo parenting duty, with a crabby, hungry 2 year old child, and a hyper, hungry 5.9 year old dog (she is nearly 6, you see). It was 6 pm, we had been traveling since 9 am, and I entered the house to find that it was 53 degrees!!!


This usually would not be a big problem, however, we have not yet turned on our heat. A few weeks ago, I asked Erik if turning on the heat was a quick flick of a switch, and he said "no, not really. It's a little more involved than that." But there was no urgent need for heat at that time, so we didn't do it.


At 6 pm on Sunday evening, there was urgent need for heat. So, I did what any self-respecting Laura Ingalls Wilder wannabe would do: I hauled a load of wood up from the basement, and built us a fire in our fireplace. And at 7 am this morning, with the house back down into the mid 50s, I did the same thing. By 9 am, the house was toasty warm. At 10 pm, I am proud to report that the house is. . . 72 degrees! As Erik put it (as he is still down in southern Norway), I essentially "chain-smoked" the fireplace all day. That I did, and I'm rather proud of it.


This morning, as I struggled to get the initial flames to take (despite the use of the technological wonder that is a highly flammable fire-starter packet), I had a brief vision of Laura bent over her fire with a cold, hungry Baby Rose behind her. As self-sufficient as I may have felt at that moment, I also realized how very glad I was to be living in the 21st century.


And then I drank my cappuccino. Dressed in fleece.

3 comments:

  1. Well done on the fire lighting! I would not have known how to light a fire (luckily our heating turns on with the flick of a switch!)

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  2. Good for you! I had to smile the whole while I was reading that. Since it's October! and I am in Wisconsin, we have warm afternoons and switch off the heat and open the windows to enjoy the fresh air.
    What happens when you forget that and go to bed??? Someone has to crawl out of bed in the AM and turn that heat back on. That someone was me this morning.
    Sorry, but it was just a flip of the switch. 8-)
    We visited Oslo and Lillihammer long ago (1995?) and I am enjoying your blog! Keep it up!

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