ypsi~dixit

It certainly sounds interesting.

I know you dont have a TV but I know a show you might be interested in if you can find a friend with one and a dvd player. A few years ago, PBS did a reality tv show called Frontier House. They set up a scenario where they sent three families out to Montana to go back in time and life like early settlers in that area. They had a whole summer set up shop so to speak. Their challenge was to work the land and lay up enough supplies to make it through the winter although they wouldnt actually need to do that. At the end of the series they were evaluated by historians who were experts of the period. The historians speculated on if they would have survived the winter on the frontier. It was very interesting!

Lynne: That is a great recommendation. Yep, I've heard of Frontier House. Didn't they utterly fail because they didn't cut enough wood? It certainly sounds interesting.

Yes. I need to find a friend with a teevee and a DVD thingie.

(clears throat).

Ooh, you can read the evaluations of the three families and whether the experts thought they'd have survived here, cool.

Scroll down to the bottom to read the other 2 evaluations.

Excerpt:
"Fuel -- Have about 2 cords of good fir and pine firewood split, stacked, and covered. They have another two cords of good fir and pine on the ground nearby. In addition to this, they need 4-6 more cords of firewood. All three families told me that their firewood supply on hand was calculated by trying to correlate their wood stove consumption from the end of May through the end of September. The families also planned to gather wood throughout the winter. Both these calculations are woefully wrong for a Montana winter and could have had disastrous results. During the training session in Virginia City, I stressed the need to put up more firewood than they could possibly imagine. "Spend every spare minute gathering winter firewood" was my comment. They should have heeded this advice and they also should have asked local old-time residents of the area what they thought instead of acting on their own presumptions."

Yep. I remember candle-dippin day at Cobblestone. We burned through more than a whole woodbox worth of wood: four by four by three feet.

Phooey. Family #2 cheated, and brought in a box spring. Losers.

But family #3 were outstanding, say the experts:

"Your financial status, as seen in your store account as of October 1, is marginal but your purchases through the season have been wise ones, and it would appear that you have sufficient funds to see you through the winter and to cover the start-up costs of the spring. More than that, all of you to some extent -- and Mark to a remarkable extent -- seemed to be preparing for winter as if you were actually going to experience that unforgiving season. Indeed, Mark, you seemed to us to have been transported to 1883 Montana by a force more powerful than that created by the production crew."

your sis has said DVD thingie and can always tape anything you want......!