In truth the little house on the prairie was a brutal life

I'm a bit sluggish this morning. I got up late. Not really , but according to the clock it was later than normal.

No, I'm not going to launch into a rant on the uselessness of DST. The stupidity of the concept is there to see for everyone. But the golf industry is happy.

For some reason I am not my normal ebullient self this Sunday morning. I braved the winds to get some donuts, but even a donut has failed to buoy my flagging spirits.

We had thunder and lightning last night. Perhaps this is a sign the long awaited spring is around the corner. Snow is in the long range forecast, so maybe not. One thing is clear -- never again will I put my faith in the prognostications of a groundhog.

I made a quick stop to the National Homestead Memorial/Monument during my trip to Nebraska this week. It was interesting, but I wouldn't go out of my way to return. Perhaps if the weather had favored visiting the actual homestead and farm buildings it would have been more meaningful. Of course many of the displays were about the plight of the poor indigenous peoples. I agree what our government did to the American Indian was terrible, but this National Park was to be dedicated to the Homestead Act. I didn't go there to see "Who really owned the land?". I'm only a bit surprised I didn't see reference to "white privilege" in some of the displays.

On the whole I give the interpretive center/museum a grade of C-. I have been to local history museums with more informative displays and a better sense of "what life was like". In fairness, the whole National Park is dedicated to a pretty narrow subject. The museum failed to adequately explain what life was really like in a homestead in the late 19th Century, it failed to discuss the history of prairie farming. They had displays of old farm tools and some sales models, but not much in the way of the real thing. In trying to be everything it really captured nothing beyond a basic primer on the Homestead Act itself. Again, maybe some of these shortcomings were addressed better if I could have made the hike to be actual homestead buildings.