The Pioneer Spirit

9:01 AM Edit This 8 Comments »
I got to observe two groups yesterday AND I got to help write group notes. So exciting! I know, that probably doesn't excite all of you very much, but it's like superwow to me. I think this is going to be a very good fit for me. Yeah for jobs that you love! In the meantime though, I'm still working three mornings a week for the Good Doctor. I work there from 8:30 - 11:30 and then I go to my new job from 12:00 - 8:30 p.m. Those are some seriously long days for me. I know it's just for three weeks, and I can certainly use the money, but it's only Wednesday and I'm already exhausted. Good thing the excitement of the new job is so strong. Keeps me going in the evenings.
 
In other news, it's 20 below today. I tried googling how the pioneers stayed warm in the winters, but I haven't found a good article full of death and pestilence for you yet. I'm still looking for the perfect one. I'm thinking they probably slept with the cows. Because cows are big and warm, right? I know I read about one settler that killed a cow, gutted it and then crawled inside the carcass to stay alive during a blizzard, but I'm talking about day to day tactics for staying warm. What did they DO? And then, the whole conversation about why the hell they stayed here enters my mind. So here's how that goes. They come here and live through a terrible winter, and then say to themselves, screw this, we're going south, so they pull up stakes as soon as spring comes and head to Texas and they get there right about July or August, when the heat is mind-numbing and soul crushing. That's about the time I'd probably take a shotgun to my family. I always thought I'd make a good pioneer, but in retrospect, I'm kind of a pansy.

8 comments:

Rebecca said...

A nice cowhide teepee and a fire inside?

Shelley said...

I don't know how they did it, either. Big fan of the Laura Ingalls Wilder books as a kid and I still marvel that Ma kept following Pa all around the dang country with those winters.

Not only are you working LONG hours, but your brain is absorbing so much right now with the new job - I always say that learning is exhausting. Be sure to coddle yourself when you are at home so you get through this period without getting sick or anything. Glad you are loving the new job!

Anonymous said...

Can we go back to the part about it being 20 below? I think we all need to meditate on that a bit. And then write our congresspeople to somehow repeal this particular part of United States whatever. It just seems wrong that a part of this country gets that cold. Am I right, Internet?!?

Helen said...

Even if I don't understand it, it warms my heart to see you so excited about your new job!

You can do anything for three weeks, that's just a drop in the bucket of your life.

Nilsa @ SoMi Speaks said...

Just spent a few minutes catching up on your blog. As if the end of December and early January aren't full of BIG life things already, you have to go and start a new job? =) It's very exciting, Kate, and I hope you continue to let the momentum carry you through these next few weeks until things calm down a bit!

Jen said...

Those are some serious long days. Glad you are so enthusiastic about the new job though, it is great to find the perfect job, enjoy! :)

The Good Cook said...

20 below should be against the law.

TMC said...

Think of it another way. Being an independent, successful and mostly happy woman is being a new kind of pioneer...