Thursday, September 15, 2011

Thoughts for Thursday

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Do you ever wonder how the pioneer women did it all? I mean I have a vacuum; I don't have to beat the rug. I don't have to make the rug to be able to beat it. I even have a small electric sweeper. The pioneer women, if they had a wooden floor had a broom to sweep.

Cooking involved getting the food and preparing it from scratch. Like going to get the still clucking chicken and cleaning it for a meal. Then she would have to start a fire in the stove and get it to the right temperature. Then cooking and preparing the meal then clean up.

I have running water in my house and don't have to go to the well to pump it to wash dishes, take a bath or get some to drink.

I have a dishwasher that cleans my dishes sparkling clean with the press of a button. The pioneer women washed everything by hand and dried it and put it away. They normally had only one set of dishes for the family, so the dishes must be cleaned after every meal.

I do have a bathroom to clean, which I am very thankful for considering what the option was for the pioneer women. But I do have to clean it.

Doing laundry involved scrubbing each piece on a washboard in a tub of water. Granted you did not change your clothes as often as we do today. If so,  I think I would spend 40 hours a week just on laundry.

And she did all this while three or four small children running around with no TV, or computer, and very little toys for the children.

It just goes to show you how thankful for all the inventions we have to help us. Think about it. What would be hard for you to do without?

*Photo The Prairie Is My Garden Painting by Harvey Dunn. Image taken from Laura Ingalls Wilder Country: The People and Places in Laura Ingalls Wilder's life and Books, by William Anderson

2 comments:

  1. No antibiotics either ! No way to run to the store when you ran out of something as well. Likely you were going to town on Sunday with the family and if you were lucky you could stop the general store afterwards if you were out of something although not likely the store was open on Sunday so you would likely have one trip to town per every three months for supplies so best not to forget anything at all and often the supplies were two to three towns away and you sent hubby off with a list to grab what you needed. So yeah kind of a tough way to go all around the roads were nothing as well and broken wagon wheels happened frequently and getting stuck in the mud as well. Not to mention they dealt with illness like the plague , scarlet fever and other various things as well.

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  2. Yes. I am thankful for all those things too! Thanks for your comment.

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