An Old Wood Fire Brings Back Memories

Have you roasted hot dogs lately?

It does a soul wonders when you sit back in front of a wood fire with a hot dog on a stick.  Watching those flames mesmerizes you for a while.  The yellow and orange with a tinge of blue in the flames makes you want to cuddle up next to your partner.  Partly to get warm, but more to realize the warmth of the relationship.  Watching the wood burn with brilliant bursts of flames and beautiful colors is something that draws us closer to our beginnings.

When you let your thoughts wander, you can almost feel how your primeval ancestors felt, sitting around the wood fire on the open prairie.  As you sit there with a few friends or relatives, you talk about everyday stuff.   Your fire mates and you become closer because you are all experiencing and enjoying the warmth, the camaraderie, the beauty of the flame colors and the smell of the cooking hot dogs.  The bond of closeness is formed.    And, when it comes time for roasting the marshmallows, it's even more wondrous, because of the sweet smells and your mouth is watering for the taste of burnt marshmallows.

If we all get such an enjoyment for the open wood fire, why don't we all sit around wood fires more often?  Probably because our worlds turn like a New York minute....Too fast and we just don't have time to enjoy the simple things of life.  I think it's time we all take more time for the simple things, be it sitting around a wood fire or taking time for our family.  Fall is the time for wood fires, cook-outs, get togethers and hayrack rides.  Always be careful when you have a wood fire or go on a hayrack ride, but by all means enjoy the season....it won't last long.

More Abraham Lincoln

1828 - In April, Abe and his friend Allen Gentry took a flatboat to New Orleans full of farm produce owned by Allen's father James Gentry.  During the trip they had to fight off an attack from seven black men.  In New Orleans, Abe watched a slave auction. 

1830 - In March Thomas Lincoln and his family begins a 200 mile journey to Illinois.  They settled on uncleared land along the Sangamon River, 10 miles southwest of Decatur (now the Lincoln Trail Homestead State Park).  During this year Abe made his first political speech about improving the navigation of the Sangamon River.

1830
March - Abe and his cousin John Hanks, and step-brother John Johnston leave home.  At Springfield, a general store operator, Denton Offut,  hired all of them to help build a flatboat at Sangamon Town, a village 18 miles northwest of Springfield (New Salem).  Thomas Lincoln again moves his family to Coles County.

April - July - Lincoln pilots the flatboat to New Orleans for Denton Offut, and then Abraham returns to New Salem.

August - Lincoln casts his first vote in Clary's Grove Precinct which includes New Salem.

September - December -  In September Lincoln begins as a clerk in Denton Offut's new general store.  Lincoln has his first job as an adult.  He slept in the back of the store. Later that year he wrestled a man named Jack Armstrong to a draw.  He learned basic math, read Shakespeare and Robert Burns and participated in a local debate society.

1832 -  On March 6 Lincoln becomes a candidate for the General Assembly with a platform of Sangamon River navigation impovement, change in usury laws and universal education.  The Black Hawk War breaks out and the neighborhood volunteers in New Salem form a company and  Lincoln is elected captain of the rifle company.  He enlists as a private after his company is disbanded and serves three months but did not see battle. On August 6 he loses the election for the General Assembly.  He was eighth out of thirteen candidates.  Mr. Offut's store goes out of business.

1833 - On January 15, Abraham and William Berry purchase another store in New Salem for $750, but this store fails and leaves Lincoln severely in debt.  On May 7 he was appointed the postmaster in New Salem (until 1836 when the office was discontinued).  In September he is appointed the Deputy County Surveyor and surveys for three years.

1834 - Abraham Lincoln is elected to the House of Representatives under the Whig Party as a representative of Sangamon County.  He begins to study law and meets Stephen Douglas  for the first time.

Note:  This has been another journey through the Lincoln timeline.  I will once again give additional information in a future post.  I hope you enjoyed learning more about Abraham Lincoln.


Recipe
I love cranberries but don't like the traditional cranberry salads which call for grinding the cranberries.  Long ago I got this recipe from a family member and have been using it since then.  It's simple and tasty and goes over well at holiday dinners.

Cranberry Salad

Boil 2 cups cranberries and 1 cup sugar in 1 1/2 cups of water until the cranberries pop open.  Stir in 3 oz box of Cherry jello and mix until jello is dissolved.  Cool but not in refrigerator.   After it's cooled for about 15-20 minutes (make sure it doesn't begin to gel), add a can of well drained crushed pineapple (I squeeze the crushed pineapple) , 1/2 cup chopped celery and 1/2 cup chopped walnuts.  Refrigerate for a few hours.

Thought For The Day

The most wasted of all days

is one without laughter.

--E.E. Cummings

I personally think there are dumb people and there are even dumber people.  Every once in a while I run into someone who, after listening to about one-half minute of garb coming from the person's mouth, it seems to me that spackle should be heavily applied to the mouth area to keep the rest of the person's intelligence from escaping.

I'm usually a pretty good judge of persons by listening to what the person has to say.  This weekend I had the occasion to be in a gas station/truck stop trying to pay for the high priced gasoline which I just pumped.  The person in front of me had pumped diesel and the bill was $344.00.  The person said why is the diesel so high?   It costs so much to operate my truck.  I'm sure the person's question was probably a rhetorical question but  the clerk said "because trucks cost more than cars."

I think I about busted my gut over that one.  But I couldn't decide if the person was Dumb or Dumber.  It hit me at the time when I was slap happy, so I went to my car after paying for my gasoline and laughed and laughed until I had tears coming from my eyes.

I had my daily laugh....and it did me good.  I'll have to remember not to buy a more expensive truck because diesel will get you every time.  Or, if a need a good laugh, maybe I'll go back to that truck stop/gas station and wait for another person to ask why diesel is so high so I can see what answer the clerk gives this time.

Remember the other day I asked you do me a favor and put a couple of bucks in an evelope and send it

to the Greenview Food Pantry and donate it in your family's name or in honor of Greenview's best (and only) history/humor blog:  yagottaknowthisaboutthat.blogspot.com - Just a reminder if you could, please help the Greenview Food Pantry for the holidays.  Greenview Food Pantry,  P. O. Box  42, Greenview, IL 62642

My email is: carlaslittlemoms@yahoo.com

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