Tyler and I are reading Little House on the Prairie together and enjoying it immensely. Ma Ingalls, as we all know, was extremely resourceful about serving up veritable feasts with virtually nothing in the larder. One of the meals that really impressed Tyler was corn cakes and bacon. I have to admit, my mouth watered too as I read how Ma carefully greased the spider with a piece of salt pork, mixed cornmeal, salt and water, then patted it into little cakes, and baked them.

I could almost hear the prairie grasses rustling and Jack, the brindled bulldog, growling softly in his throat.

Well, I'm bound and determined to give my kid An Experience any time he shows an interest in something. So I popped open a Jiffy corn muffin mix and went to town. When I served Tyler his simple, yet tasty, meal of bacon and corn cakes, he was excited.

But, as you can clearly see, he observed the age old rule of 'Children should be seen and not heard.' He ate his meal with gusto, much as the
Ingalls did, I'm sure.

Chip thought it was okay too. Anything Tyler does is big news to Chip.

Pa Ingalls was awfully resourceful too, but I've got a much better shot of keeping up with Ma, so we'll just leave it at that.