Life on the Prairie

Once Upon the Prairie

 

Life on the Prairie
 

 Rylie 

Rylie is a ten-year-old writer.

She uses her stories to make her brother’s life brighter.

Her brother, George, has gone to fight in the Great War.

Rylie prays daily the war will be no more.

Her family and she know George is not a fighter. 

Family, friends and neighbors dread the knock at the door.

It could mean the family’s soldier is injured or more.

George does safely return at war’s end

Giving Rylie, her family and the world time to mend.

Everyone must try to understand the pain the soldiers bore.

 

 

 

Rylie: the Imaginative Girl took first place at the Heart of America Christian Writer’s Conference 2014 Writing Contest in the children’s story division.

 

Please note this blog posts the first and third weeks of the month.

 

 

 

 

 

Prairie Girls

Rylie

My sister Edith had a boyfriend named Lucas, and he was our brother’s best friend. We didn’t know she liked him until he went to war. I discovered she wrote to him every day just like she did our brother, George. Edith worried about both of them and had trouble focusing on anything, but her concerns. I tried my best to cover for her.

Everyone was distracted when Mother became ill from the flu. We nearly lost her, and she still hasn’t recovered fully. One of our neighbors down the street had a baby who died because of the flu. I hope no one else gets sick.

 

The Flu

By Judy

The flu was a deadly illness during Rylie’s lifetime, and it is still a serious illness. I lived in an apartment with three, four or five other girls my senior year in college. The number of girls living there varied from week to week. One, two, or maybe even three girls were off campus doing professional semesters, and rarely were we all living there at the same time. Now, I cannot even remember the names of everyone who lived in that apartment. One nameless roommate, though, brought the Hong Kong flu back to the apartment after Christmas break. It was not a welcomed gift.

None of us were nursing students nor had much experience with the flu. One girl was ill enough we did take her to the emergency room. Fortunately, I did not require a trip to the doctor, but I did miss a couple of days’ classes. During my long week of aching, moaning, and complaining, one of my roommates, whose name I do remember, did my laundry. It meant a lot to me. Thank you again, Ginny.

I recovered from the Hong Kong flu and have never again been that sick with the flu. However, there are those who will say each time I talk about having the Hong Kong flu, the severity of my illness increases. 

 

"Over There"

“Over There”

                                     By Collette

The killing power of new weaponry greatly increased during WWI. Air power changed from just reconnaissance work to air battles. Although the machine gun was used in the American Civil War, modifications allowed it to fire 600 bullets per minute devastating both allied and axis troops. The tank was not as useful as it could have been because it followed the army rather than clear the way for troops to push forward. The introduction of chemical warfare made life lived in the hundreds of miles of trenches on each side of “no man’s land,” deadly.

There were five types of gases used by the warring powers. The French introduced the first: tear gas. To counteract, the Germans introduced chlorine gas identified by its eerie green color. Next, the French utilized phosgene which could not be seen. Mustard gas developed by Bayer (aspirin) in Germany was especially dangerous and was yellow in color. After the Americans entered the war, they developed Lewisite gas that was not identifiable. This weapon accounted for 1.3 million casualties including many civilians and was outlawed for future wars.

The following sites might be useful:
www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trench_warfare
www.history.com/photos/world-war-i-trench-warfare
www.firstworldwar.com/weaponry/gas.htm
www.thefinertimes.com/Weapons-of-War/weapons-used-in-world-war-i.html

Prairie Recipes

 

Meat Pies

                                     By Collette

Some of these tasty dishes might have been served to Rylie’s family.

Mother’s Chicken Pie

1-3 to 4 pound chicken                               Pastry for 3 pie crust

Salt & pepper to taste                                ¼ cup butter

Flour

Cut chicken into serving pieces; place in large pot with water to cover. Add salt & pepper; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer until chicken is tender, adding water to keep chicken covered. Remove chicken from broth; cool. Remove chicken from bones in large pieces. Thicken broth slightly with flour. Line sides of large roasting pan with 1/3 of pastry. Place half the chicken in the roasting pan; add 1/3 of the broth. Cover chicken with half the remaining pastry. Bake in 350 degree oven until crust starts to brown; remove pan from oven. Place remaining chicken over the pastry; add half the remaining broth. Pull pastry from sides of roasting pan to lap over chicken; cover center with remaining pastry. Dot with butter; cut several slits in pastry. Bake until crust is well browned. Pull up top crust; pour remaining hot broth into pie. Replace crust; serve. Yield: 10-12 servings

Meat Pie

8 potatoes, peeled                                      1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

2 large onions, chopped                             1 teaspoon pepper

1 pound ground beef                                  2 teaspoons salt

1 pound ground pork                                 3 teaspoons poultry seasoning

Pastry for two 2-crust pies                         milk or water

Cook potatoes and onions together in kettle in boiling water until potatoes are soft. Drain; mash. Add remaining ingredients except pastry and milk; mix well. Line 2 nine inch pie plates with pastry. Divide meat mixture; place in pastry. Add top crusts. Brush crusts with milk; cut slits in crust. Bake in preheated 425-degree oven for 45 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 35o-degrees; bake for 45 minutes longer. Serve hot. Yield: 12-16 servings.

 

"In the Good Old Days..."

“In the Good Old Days…”

By Collette

Growing up in a small town had some advantages over life lived in the city. There was a special neighborly feeling on every block of our little berg. Everyone knew his neighbor, played with his kids, shared gossip and stories across the fence and knew he could be counted on when needed. Before I was born every neighborhood had its own grocery store, sometimes a bakery and even its school. Cafes and restaurants were everywhere, and gas stations could be found on nearly every corner downtown. Nobody locked their doors, and you knew your kids were safe no matter where their bikes took them because friends watched out for each other. Life was simpler, slower and richer.

Today, there are only two major grocery stores, no department stores, few restaurants and some citizens never venture out to meet neighbors. Our schools are consolidated with centralized locations. No one sits on his front porch in the summer time, and everyone feels the need to be entertained instead of finding their own fun. Maybe television is the culprit for our lack of motivation to interact with people.

I never wanted to move back to my hometown and live out my life here. Is it just a sign of age that now I miss what I took for granted growing up? I wish my grandchildren could experience even a little of “the good old days.”

 

Spots, Spots, and More Spots

Spots, Spots, and More Spots

                                         By Judy

“Mom, I think I’m going to be sick,” are words every mother dreads for she knows the child doesn’t think he is going to have a sore throat, a cough, an earache, headache, or even a runny nose. No, the child means he is going to be sick to his stomach. Oftentimes, a young child is unable to complete the sentence before he is sick to his stomach. There are times and places a mother particularly dreads hearing “I’m going to be sick,” and I speak from experience. It was never good to hear those words in the middle of the night. I didn’t like to hear them when I was driving, and the kid was in the back seat either. It was never good to hear them while we were in church or when my child was onstage during the school’s Christmas program.

I didn’t want to hear them at 7:30 in the morning after the child had been home from school for a week, and I had missed work for a week. I might add in that particular instance because the child was not running a fever, I did go with the decision to send her to school for the day. The plan was to feign surprise if the teacher called. I do believe bus drivers, teachers, school secretaries, and school janitors have some special gene which enables them to efficiently clean up after—I mean care for—sick children.

There were other words I didn’t like to hear. It was New Year’s Eve. “Mom, look at these spots,” my younger daughter said right before she said, “Mom, I think I’m going to be sick.”

Two weeks later, my older daughter said, “Mom, look at these spots. Mom, I think I’m going to be sick.”

Two more weeks passed. “Mama, Mama, Mama, Mama, Mama, Mama,” my 18 month-old son cried. Translated, those words are, “Mom, look at these spots. Mom, I think I’m going to be sick.”

Two long weeks passed. “Dear, look at these spots. Dear, I think I’m going to be sick. Dear, can you take me to the hospital?” my husband moaned. Grown men do not, or at least that particular grown man, did not handle the chicken pox well. After several days of his moaning, I called the doctor, who possibly might have been a little tired of my frequent calls for something to calm my nerves and anti-itching medicine, said, “He’s already got the medicine he needs. They’ll stop itching before long. So, for now you can listen to him moan, or you can shoot him.”

Fortunately, the words from a song I used to hear in church came to mind--“yield not to temptation.”