Trundlebedtales

A report on my September 2019 trip to Wilder Days, Mansfield's big Laura Ingalls Wilder event. Wilder Days is a big Laura event that includes special speakers, music, a crafts show, a pageant showing, etc. The Wilder dinner is a newer event and includes a special guest speaker who is then available for signing. This year the special guest was Alison Arngrim aka Nellie Oleson on "The Little House on the Prairie" NBC TV show. Another fairly recent additional to the program is a fiddle festival that is quickly developing a regional reputation for a high quality event.

Join us tonight as we talk about the fall season and a couple of big upcoming events. The Laura Ingalls Wilder homesites are closing for the season, a major production of "Little House on the Prairie: The Musical" is rolling out in Springfield, Missouri, and some of the TV show cast is doing a new (only 2nd year) event in Burbank, California. Looking ahead at a special Carrie anniversary event at Keystone, South Dakota in 2020 and a new weekend for Wilder Days next year. 

Get a full report on what was happening during Pepin, Wisconsin’s Laura Days 2019. Laura Days is their big Laura Ingalls Wilder event of the year. They have events going on at the museum, the city park, and the cabin. What’s it like to visit? What did you miss this year? What’s different from visiting during Laura Days and visiting during a normal time.

Join us as we catch up on what's going on in with Laura fans this month including some programs, upcoming books, and upcoming videos. 

This month will see major events at the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum in West Branch, Iowa for their Laura Ingalls Wilder Remembered event, Laura Days in Pepin, Wisconsin; and Wilder Days in Mansfield, Missouri.

There is a HUGE community of Walt Disney World addicts online. They've produced discussion boards, Facebook groups, YouTube videos, blogs, websites, and podcasts. Unfortunately for a lot of new fans it's like coming in at the middle of the movie. This episode will get you going on the basic terms that you'll need to successfully plan a trip. And trust me you need to plan to have a successful Disney trip.

August is a little slower month, but there are still events to find. Look for them in DeSmet, South Dakota; Spring Valley, Minnesota; Mansfield, Missouri; and Malone, New York. We also have a new book this month The Prairie Devotional by Wendi Lou Lee.

One of the questions reenactors, people who wear old-fashioned clothes at living history museum sites and at living history events, get a lot is "aren't you hot?" Sometimes the answer is yes, sometimes it's no. Today we'll look into why that is and what can you do in heat if you're wearing old-fashioned clothes or even what you should do yourself is you're visiting a living history site or wearing a costume during summer heat. Learn about how people used to beat the heat.

Get a jump on everything going on in Laura Ingalls Wilder fandom during July 2019. We’ll check in on the Laura Ingalls Wilder museums having special events, the opening of Laura Ingalls Wilder homesite season, and my programs. Find out more about Walnut Grove, Minnesota: DeSmet, South Dakota; Spring Valley, Minnesota; Mansfield, Missouri, and Malone, New York. Plus about the "Little House on the Prairie" TV cast reunion and a conference.

Once again we join host Sarah Uthoff and Walnut Grove museum director Amy Foster as they talk about the major event the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum and the Walnut Grove Pageant coming up July 12-13, 2019 in honor of the 45th Anniversary of the Little House on the Prairie TV show. This will be the largest reunion of the cast planned for this year. We’ll talk about what’s happening, who’s coming, and what to expect.  Tune in with your questions.

Join host Sarah Uthoff and Pauly Tee (he was previously on the show talking about visiting Little House on the Prairie TV show filming locations) as we talk about meeting actors. What do you do if you run into an actor? What can you expect at a reunion event? How do they work? What should you know before you go? We're going to focus on the Little House on the Prairie reunion coming July 2019, but these tips will be helpful no matter what the TV show, event, or con you go to.

Get a jump on everything going on in Laura Ingalls Wilder fandom during June 2019. We’ll check in on the Laura Ingalls Wilder museums having special events, the opening of Laura Ingalls Wilder homesite season, and my programs. Find out more about Independence, Kansas: Burr Oak, Iowa, and Spring Valley, Minnesota.

A lot happened last year because of the big anniversary, but there's still interesting stuff going on this year. Since this is late we'll go through some of the big events this year and what we're still looking forward to. Whether you're interested in the TV show, the museums, or books, there is a lot going on.

Debra Reid, Curator of Agriculture and the Environment at The Henry Ford, joins host Sarah Uthoff to talk agriculture. Laura didn't just live in Little Houses, she lived on farms across the Midwest. But while people tend to have one idea about what farms were like in the past, it was really much more complicated. We'll examine how agriculture has helped the country through the fulfillment of the Homestead Act, what Wheat Culture was down to what variety Pa and Almanzo would have grown, and how agriculture changed between the late 19th century and the 1910s and 1920s when the Wilder farm Rocky Ridge was thriving. 

As part of my read aloud celebration AND as an experiment with microphones, I’m doing a series of short (around 10 minute) episodes. The story I'm finishing today is "Why Reddy Fox Has No Friends."

Get a jump on everything going on in Laura Ingalls Wilder fandom during December 2018. We’ll check in on the Laura Ingalls Wilder museums having special events, the opening of Laura Ingalls Wilder homesite season, and my programs. Find out more about Mansfield, Missouri; Burr Oak, Iowa; Spring Valley, Minnesota, and William T. Anderson.

Join us as we talk with long time cookbook collector and home economist Susan Uthoff. Uthoff has been collecting cookbooks for over 50 years. Find out how she selects the books and categorizes them. She'll also give some tips to what to look for to find a quality cookbook and some suggestions on how to do your own cookbook.

As part of my read aloud celebration AND as an experiment with microphones, I’m doing a series of short (around 10 minute) episodes. The story I'm starting today is "Why Reddy Fox Has No Friends."

As part of my read aloud celebration AND as an experiment with microphones, I’m doing a series of short (around 10 minute) episodes. I’m reading Danny Meadow Mouse Learns Why His Tail is Short.

Since I didn’t get an episode done for National Read Aloud Day, I decided to do a short series of episodes reading a book instead. I’ve chosen stories from “Mother West Wind’s Children” by Thornton W. Burgess. I also wanted to do some short episodes because I want to test various microphones so we can hear the difference before I do some longer episodes I have coming up. Let me know what you think. I’m going to do about 10 minute episodes. If the story takes longer than that I’ll find a good breaking point and I’ll continue in the next episode.