Episode 134   By the Shores of Silver Lake ch. 25 "Pa's Bet"   Join us this week as we discuss Mr. Hinz and the 2 Mr. Hawthorns, "the fat was in the fire", "anywheres", what $14 is in 2024, and how big 160 acres really is.

Episode 133   By the Shores of Silver Lake ch. 24 "The Spring Rush"   Join us this week as we discuss "greenhorns", how much 25 cents was, Fort Pierre South Dakota, "March comes in like a lamb, it goes out like a lion", what it means "to board" someone, Sioux Falls South Dakota and "to be hung for a sheep as a lamb".

Episode 132   By the Shores of Silver Lake ch. 23, "On the Pilgrim Way"   Join us this week as we discuss "Lend a Helping Hand", Rev. Alden in the late 1870s, Rev. Stewart Sheldon, Huron South Dakota, the Home Missionary Society, the word "repined", brown sugar syrup, "receipts" vs. "recipes", Jean Pierre de Smet, and "baching".

Episode 131   ch 31 By the Shores of Silver Lake "Happy Winter Days"   Join us as we discuss 1880 history in context, Yankton South Dakota, The New York Ledger, continued stories (serials), "Gypsy's Warning", "When I Was One and Twenty, Nell", "Billy Boy", "Camptown Races", "Three Blind Mice", "Nelly Was a Lady (Last Night She Died)", "Ben Bolt", "Oft in the Stilly Night", and "Banks O'Doon".

Episode 130   Ch. 21 By the Shores of Silver Lake "Merry Christmas"   Join us as we discuss setting the Christmas table, wristlets, "gathers", cheesecloth, codfish gravy, where did the cream come from?, "plenty more down in a cellar in a teacup", onion stuffing, "Jumping Jehosephat!", and the Boasts living in the surveyor's office just for the winter.

Episode 129   ch 20 By the Shores of SIlver Lake "The Night Before Christmas"   Join us this week as we discuss Ella Peck Boast, the definitions of "parbroil" and "raw-fry", claim jumpers, the ranges of voice types, and "Merry, Merry Christmas Everywhere".

Episode 128   Ch. 19 by the Shores of Silver Lake "Christmas Eve"   Join us as we discuss the scrap bag, jackrabbits, cornmeal mush, "Down the River on the Ohio", "Why Chime the Bells So Merrily", "Jingle Bells", "Mountain of the Lord", and "Gentle Words and Loving Smiles".

Episode 127   By the Shores of Silver Lake, chapter 18 "Pa Finds the Homestead"   Join us this week as we discuss going 10 miles in the snow, buffalo wolf tracks, wolf life spans, pack sizes, and Pa's quarter section.

Episode 126   By the Shores of Silver Lake ch. 17 "Wolves on Silver Lake"   Join us this week as we discuss where their shoes came from (?), whether wolves are nocturnal, and flatirons.

Episode 125   By the Shores of Silver Lake ch. 16 "Winter Days"   Join us this week as we discuss muskrats in South Dakota, the history of checkers, and the word "immoderately".

Episode 124   By the Shores of Silver Lake ch. 15 "The Last Man Out"   Join us this week as we discuss Horace G. Woodworth, the "prairie cure" for consumption, buffalo wolves, Pa's prediction of Dakota winters, "Hail, Columbia!", "Highland Mary", "Coming through the Rye", "I'm Mrs. Jinks of Madison Square", the polka and the waltz.

Episode 123   Ch. 14 in By the Shores of Silver Lake "The Surveyor's House"   Join us as we discuss gables, the history of canned food, the location of Brookings, "Mary of the Wild Moor", and "Paddle Your Own Canoe".

Episode 122   By the Shores of Silver Lake ch. 13 "Breaking Camp"   Join us this week as we discuss "Where Are You Going My Pretty Maid (Nobody Asked You", Lena's ultimate fate, Jean's fate, Pa seeing in shades of grey, Brookings South Dakota, Robery Abey Boast, and what a sherriff did in the late 1800s.

Episode 121   Chapter 12 of By the Shores of Silver Lake "Wings Over Silver Lake"   Join us this week as we discuss brant, redheads, bluebills, canvasbacks, teals, mudhens, hell-divers, swans in South Dakota, Uncle Henry, Louisa, and Charley's fate, Pa earned $300, and the Ingalls girls becoming teachers. 

Episode 120   By the Shores of Silver Lake ch. 11 "Pay Day"   Join us this week as we discuss Laura helping Pa with haying?, $1,000 in cash, Pa's revolver, rifle, and shotgun.

Episode 119   By the Shores of Silver Lake ch. 10 "The Wonderdul Afternoon"   Join us this week as we discuss "A Life on the Ocean Wave", "Buy a Broom", Ma's opinion of Lena, Fresno scrapers, and Mary not supporting Laura's ventures. 

Episode 118   By the Shores of Silver Lake ch. 9 "Horse Thieves"   Join us this week as we discuss mashed potato cakes, bushwhack, brushing your hair 100 strokes a night, Ma stroking Laura's hair, and clearing up the confusion for this chapter.

Episode 117   By the Shores of Silver Lake ch. 8 "Silver Lake"   Join us this week as the discuss seagulls in South Dakota, the Big Slough, what graders do, bedlam, ticking mattresses, where did Mary's rocking chair come from?, Stebbins' camp, pelicans in South Dakota, quonking, purple buffalo bean pods/ground plums/buffalo plums, and Mary laughing. 

Episode 116   By the Shores of Silver Lake chapter 7 "Where the West Begins"   Join us this week as we discuss the Big Sioux River, buffalo wallows, the 1800s buffalo population, "Uncle Sam's Farm", the James River, and where is Aunt Polly?

Episode 115   By the Shores of Silver Lake, chapter 6 "The Black Ponies"   Join us this week as we discuss the difference between ponies and horses, cooking for 46 people 3 times a day, what the washing exactly was they were hiring out?, hames and traces and whippletrees, "Beware!", "A Railroad Man for Me", and the character of Lizzie marrying at 13. 

Episode 114   By the Shores of Silver Lake, ch. 5 "Railroad Camp"   Join us this week as we discuss Laura preferring old-fashioned travel, "teamsters", "shanty", "peaked", and Ma and Laura cleaned their lunch site.

Episode 113   By the Shores of Silver Lake, chapter 4 "End of the Rails"   Join us this week as we discuss the role of firemen, "There Is a Happy Land", Mary's sensitive fingers, and the cost of the meal.

Episode 112   By the Shores of Silver Lake ch. 3 "Riding in the Cars"   Join us this week as we discuss starching clothes, lawn dresses, lillies of the valley, Tracy, MN, how fast trains went, and the roles of brakemen. 

Episode 111   By the Shores of Silver Lake, ch. 2 "Grown Up". Join us this week as we discuss 1939, 1879, hardtack, losing Jack the bulldog, Laura crying, Laura growing up at 12? At 10?

Episode 110   By the Shores of Silver Lake ch. 1 "Unexpected Visitor"   Join us this week as we discuss Burr Oak, Iowa, scarlet fever, Docia (Ingalls) Forbes, the Homestead Act of 1862, Aunt Ruby Ingalls, Uncle Peter Ingalls, Uncle Henry Quiner, and Cousin Charley. 

Join us for the AMA (ask me anything)!!!

Episode 109   On the Banks of Plum Creek ch. 41 "Christmas Eve"   Join us this week as we discuss rosin, "Charlie He's a Dandy", rollicking, and "Lily Dale". 

Episode 108   On the Banks of Plum Creek ch. 40 "The Fourth Day."   Join us this week as we discuss not doing the housework, the word "shamble", the whole family crying, bean broth, the $10 buffalo coat, "freeze the nose off a brass monkey", the word "gully", and oyster crackers. 

Episode 107   On the Banks of Plum Creek ch. 39 "The Third Day"   Join us this week as we discuss cat's cradle.

Episode 106   On the Banks of Plum Creek ch. 38 "The Day of Games"   Join us this week as we discuss waking up snowy, cornmeal mush, the significance of the red-checked tablecloth, and little girls crying.

Episode 105 On the Banks of Plum Creek ch. 37 "The Long Blizzard" Join us this week as we discuss overcoats, the mysterious clock on the shelf, personifying the blizzard, Pa's jumper, the narrative shift to Ma, "Bean Porridge Hot", and the ball of fires coming down the chimney.

Episode 104   On the Banks of Plum Creek ch. 36 "Prairie Winter"   Join us this week as we discuss "scudding", Pa wanting to go West, a bear's track quilt, "Jesus Holds My Hand" and "Sweet Sabbath School."

Episode 103   Banks of Plum Creek ch. 35 "Keeping House"   Join us this week as we discuss beaver in Minnesota, Pa's "itching foot", shawl pins, Laura's use of onomatopoeia.

Episode 102   Banks of Plum Creek ch. 34 "Marks on the Slate"   Join us this week as we discuss lard and beeswax as a salve, turnips, slate pencils, and the definition of "pell mell."

Episode 101   On the Banks of Plum Creek ch. 33 "Wheels of Fire"   Join us this week as we discuss ragweed, eastern cottonwood, and Spot having a calf!

EPISODE 100!!!   On the Banks of Plum Creek ch. 32 "Grasshoppers Walking"   Join us this week as we discuss bobsleds and when the locust know it's time to go west.

Episode 99   Chapter 31 On the Banks of Plum Creek "Surprise"   Join us this week as we discuss cosy vs. cozy, muskrat, otter, and mink in Minnesota, what a muffler is, Carrie's china dog, Laura's jewel box, and what a muff is. 

Episode 98   On the Banks of Plum Creek ch. 30 "Going to Town" Join us this week as we discuss pioneer thrift, flannel, gilt, Nellie's manners (or lack thereof), navy beans, challis, "When Johnny Comes Marching Home", "The Girl I Left behind Me", "My Old Kentucky Home", "Swanee River", and "Home Sweet Home".

Episode 97   On the Banks of Plum Creek ch. 29 "The Darkest Hour Is Just before Dawn"   Join us this week as we discuss Laura's foot pain, Anna misbehaving, Ma scolding Laura about Charlotte, comforters, and inheriting sibiling's clothes.

Episode 96   On the Banks of Plum Creek ch. 28 "The Letter"   Join us this week as we discuss hairpins and how much Pa was earning in eastern Minnesota.

Episode 95   On the Banks of Plum Creek ch. 27 "Rain".   Join us this week as we talk about dogs aging, dustdevils, the Nelsons' house, Exodus 10, heat rash, and what underwaists are.

Episode 94   On the Banks of Plum Creek ch. 26 "Grasshopper Eggs"   Join us this week as we discuss grasshopper eggs, making cottage cheese, "All the Blue Bonnets Are over the Border," "The Campbells Are Coming Hurrah!" and "Life Let Us Cherish."

Episode 93   On the Banks of Plum Creek ch. 25 "The Glittering Cloud"   Join us this week as we discuss lizards panting, $1,080 per acre of wheat, pullets, "no great loss without some gain", and the Grasshopper Plague of 1874.

Episode 92   On the Banks of Plum Creek ch. 24 "Going to Church"   Join us this week as we discuss the Congregational Church, Edward Alden, shirrings, Ma's gold pin, "Wait from the Wagon", "There Is a Happy Land", John 11:35, "Jerusalem the Golden", and "Pa's bell" is still in Walnut Grove.

Episode 91   On the Banks of Plum Creek, ch. 23 "Country Party"   Join us this week as we talk about vanity cakes, Ma's patience, the Ingalls' chickens, and the definition of "knoll."

Episode 90   On the Banks of Plum Creek ch. 22 "Town Party"   Join us this week as we discuss velocipedes, china dolls, talking dolls, and Mother Goose.

Episode 89   On the Banks of Plum Creek ch. 21 "Nellie Oleson."   Join us this week as we discuss the value of money to the Ingalls, the interactions with the Oleson family, ring-around-the-rosie, "Uncle John Is Sick Abed", and Nellie Owens. 

Episode 88   On the Banks of Plum Creek ch. 20 "School"   Join us this week as we discuss the definition of "sprigged", which readers the girls would have used, blue herons, snipes, who Laura and Mary's friends were, and Miss Eva Beadle.