Sarah Uthoff By the Numbers August 2017

Show me the numbers they say and I was inspired by a poster for a concert at Kirkwood that included the performer’s number of Facebook likes. I thought, “I can do that!” I did previous posts Trundlebed Tales by the Numbers August 19, 2013,  December 14, 2013 , June 8, 2014, December 19, 2014, April 13, 2015, September 20, 2015 , December 30, 2015, April 6, 2016, and February 5, 2017. It’s a collection of raw numbers of my online activities. I think it will be interesting to track. Today’s post numbers are as of August 20, 2017.

Number of blog posts published on Trundlebed Tales: 1,583

Total number of blog post views: 142,007

Highest number of views in a single day: 389

Number of YouTube videos on Trundlebed Tales YouTube Channel: 74

Total Number of Subscribers to Trundlebed Tales YouTube Channel: 133

Number of total views on Trundlebed Tales YouTube Channel: 66,207 

Plus views of  my program on Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum channel: 16.628

For a total of YouTube views: 82,835

Number of Followers on Twitter: 1,951

Number of Friends on Facebook: 611 plus 219 follows

Number of Likes on Trundlebed Tales Facebook Page: 671

Number of connections on LinkedIn: 245

Slideshare Uploads: 3

Slideshare Views: 902

Number in circles on Google Plus: 226

Number of episodes on Blog Talk Radio: 189

Number of total listens on Blog Talk Radio: 94,611

Highest listen number for an individual episode: 6064

Number of Views on Academia.edu: 256

Followers on Academia.edu: 26

Photos added on Flickr: 148

Photos on Instagram: 566

Followers on Instagram: 158

Videos added on Vimeo: 21 (total watches not part of standard Vimeo statistics)

 

Sarah S. Uthoff is the main force behind Trundlebed Tales striving to bring the History, Mystery, Magic and Imagination of Laura Ingalls Wilder and other greats of children’s literature and history to life for a new generation. Uthoff is a nationally known Laura Ingalls Wilder authority and has presented at five of the Wilder homesites, many conferences and numerous libraries, museums, and events around the Midwest. Attend one of her programs, schedule one yourself, watch her videos, listen to her podcast, and find her on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, and Academia.edu. Professionally she is a reference librarian at Kirkwood Community College and director of the Oxford (Iowa) Public Library.

Herbert Hoover Presidential Library Goes YouTube

Hoover on YouTube

Sarah's Notebook

Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum - West Branch, Iowa Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum – West Branch, Iowa

The Herbert Hoover Presidential Library now has a YouTube Channel. I’m really excited to see it. They can have longer videos than 15 minutes and I look forward to what else they are going to add. Check back often.

UPDATED August 18 2017: Hoover has done an outstanding job putting things up on their YouTube channel. Be especially sure to check out their Laura Ingalls Wilder Playlist. I added a direct link to their main channel page in addition to the video, the image of the Hoover Presidential Library, and my current signature block.

Sarah S. Uthoff is the main force behind Trundlebed Tales striving to bring the History, Mystery, Magic and Imagination of Laura Ingalls Wilder and other greats of children’s literature and history to life for a new generation. Uthoff is a nationally known Laura Ingalls Wilder…

View original post 71 more words

Get Fuzzy Comic

Revisiting one of my all time favorite comics. After all it’s not a shrine, it’s an information media center.

Sarah's Notebook

As Laura read one chapter of the serial at a time to make it last, I read all the comics on the newspaper page whether I like them or not. Usually Get Fuzzy is in the not column, but once in awhile there’s a great one.

A recent strip explored the fact that rennet is in cheese. It came as quite a shock, so I guess he never read Little House in the Big Woods.

http://www.gocomics.com/getfuzzy/2005/06/03

My favorite all time strip from them was when Satchel, the dog, sets up an information center about his favorite author and Bucky, the cat, tells him that this is what it’s come down to he’s making shrines to people now. I have to remember that, “It’s NOT a shrine, its a media information center.” 😉 Because that doesn’t sound familiar at all.

UPDATED August 12 2017: I still love this comic to…

View original post 153 more words

T-Shirt of the Month August 2017

When I post my video diaries I always get comments about my Laura clothes. No, not my period dresses, but my Laura Ingalls Wilder t-shirts that I wear for travel and Laura trips. I thought everyone might enjoy a closer look at them. So enjoy our new monthly series where we look at a Laura shirt each month.

Shirt of the Month

Here is this month’s t-shirt:

40th Anniversary of Walnut Grove Pageant T-Shirt
40th Anniversary of Walnut Grove Pageant T-Shirt

Earlier this summer, in honor of the Walnut Grove Pageant’s 40th anniversary, I posted a classic – probably early 1980s? – t-shirt as the June 2017 t-shirt of the month. Walnut Grove museum director Amy Ankram responded to the Facebook post about it with a photo of this year’s anniversary shirt. Find out more about the Walnut Grove pageant at the June post linked above.

40th Anniversary of Walnut Grove Pageant T-Shirt
40th Anniversary of Walnut Grove Pageant T-Shirt

I absolutely loved it and actually made a quick detour on the way back from De Smet just to buy this shirt. You can still get one from the wonderful Walnut Grove giftshop. They aren’t on the website, but call 1-800-528-7280 and you can get them from the giftshop.

Sarah S. Uthoff is the main force behind Trundlebed Tales striving to bring the History, Mystery, Magic and Imagination of Laura Ingalls Wilder and other greats of children’s literature and history to life for a new generation. Uthoff is a nationally known Laura Ingalls Wilder authority and has presented at five of the Wilder homesites, many conferences and numerous libraries, museums, and events around the Midwest. Attend one of her programs, schedule one yourself, watch her videos, listen to her podcast, and find her on  Facebook,  Twitter,  Google+, LinkedIn, and Academia.edu. Professionally she is a reference librarian at Kirkwood Community College and director of the Oxford (Iowa) Public Library.

Mentions July 2017

This month’s mentions of me and Trundlebed Tales that appeared in the news during July 2017. This month’s articles include upcoming reports on my shows in Clear Lake and Newton and a thank you from a prospective groom.

Sarah Uthoff in Walnut Grove Wagon
Sarah Uthoff in Walnut Grove Wagon

Delperdang, Judy. “North Iowa Nine: Barbecue, Art, Stories, and Music.” [Mason City] Globe Gazette. 20 July 2017. Accessed 1 Aug. 2017.
http://globegazette.com/entertainment/local_entertainment/north-iowa-nine-barbecue-art-stories-and-music/article_f37be3d7-1e37-5b6b-ab99-c793b57454df.html

Delperdang, Judy. “RSVP: Barbecue, Beatles and Blues, Lakefest and the North Iowa Fair.” [Mason City] Globe Gazette. 13 July 2017. Accessed 1 Aug. 2017.
http://globegazette.com/entertainment/local_entertainment/rsvp-barbecue-beatles-and-blues-lakefest-and-the-north-iowa/article_100e8478-d5e3-5a45-81b8-c0fc812a3d23.html

Klein, Becca. “Iowa Youth Chorus Choir Camp begins Monday at the library.” Newton Daily News. 14 July 2017. Accessed 1 Aug. 2017.
http://www.newtondailynews.com/2017/07/12/iowa-youth-chorus-choir-camp-begins-monday-at-the-library/aca28cw/

“My Engagement Story: On The Banks of Plum Creek.” Next Groom. July 2017. Accessed 1 Aug. 2017.
http://nextgroom.com/mystory/

Sarah S. Uthoff is the main force behind Trundlebed Tales striving to bring the History, Mystery, Magic and Imagination of Laura Ingalls Wilder and other greats of children’s literature and history to life for a new generation. Uthoff is a nationally known Laura Ingalls Wilder authority and has presented at five of the Wilder homesites, many conferences and numerous libraries, museums, and events around the Midwest. Attend one of her programs, schedule one yourself, watch her videos, listen to her podcast, and find her on Facebook,  Twitter,  Google+,   LinkedIn, and Academia.edu. Professionally she is a reference librarian at Kirkwood Community College and director of the Oxford (Iowa) Public Library.

My Trip to De Smet 2017 Day 3 Part 2 July 15

We pick up with part 2 of Day 3 of the trip.

Sarah Uthoff in front of Surveyors House 2017
Sarah Uthoff in front of Surveyors House 2017

I got some good tweets from Alison and Dean’s program today. This was their second program of the day. I’ve heard them separately before and it was so much better when they were playing back and forth.

Dean & @alisonarngrim @Arngrim on stage together is WAY more fun! #DeSmetevent #littlehouseontheprarie

A post shared by Sarah Uthoff (@sarahsuthoff) on

I loved this line. There were plenty of kids costumes of TV characters in the 1970s, but I don’t really remember seeing many from any TV non-science fiction TV show lately.

//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

The crowds were just as big or bigger the second show of the second day.

Another great spillover crowd #littlehouseontheprarie #DeSmetevent @Arngrim

A post shared by Sarah Uthoff (@sarahsuthoff) on

I didn’t get the movie title in the tweet and checking the IMDB, none of Kurt Russell’s sounded right.

//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Dean doing riff on when his character broke up with "Laura" about her taking a job #littlehouseontheprarie

A post shared by Sarah Uthoff (@sarahsuthoff) on

//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Doug Hansen did a second show that was equally informative about the wagon.

Hansen Wagon demonstration This is really good #DeSmetevent #lauraingallswilder

A post shared by Sarah Uthoff (@sarahsuthoff) on

Then we got to listen to some more from Bill and Nancy about the history of De Smet and the Pioneer Girl Project.

Now the good stuff William T Anderson and Nancy Koupal #

A post shared by Sarah Uthoff (@sarahsuthoff) on

I love this quote from Nancy.

//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

After the presentations were over I drove over to the roads of Manchester. I wanted to visit again. I hadn’t been there since the memorial went up. The memorial and the town pump are still there. If you don’t know, Manchester was where Grace Ingalls Dow and her husband Nate Dow lived. It’s 6 miles up the road from De Smet. Famed artist Harvey Dunn also was from Manchester. The entire town was swept away in an F4 tornado back in 2003.

The roads of Manchester are what I would call a little better than Level B meaning I wouldn’t drive them in bad weather, but they mostly still good and stable although the houses and businesses are almost all gone – a couple remain right on the edges of the town. I drove the entire matrix of roads that showed up on the GPS. They were all still in good shape except the road on the far western end of the grid. This last loop was in questionable condition. I made it fine with the Jeep, but I don’t know if I’d want to try it in a sedan.

Driving the streets of Manchester SD #Harvey Dunn #tornado #GraceIngallsDow

A post shared by Sarah Uthoff (@sarahsuthoff) on

Afterwards we considered our options and decided our best bet for supper was the Country Club. I hadn’t eaten there under the new management – they used to be known for their long wait times. It also is off the beaten track with just a small sign off the road that leads you from town south to the cemetery. I figured unfamiliar tourists wouldn’t know to stop here. It was quiet, the service was good, and the food was a bit better than the Oxbow, with the exception of the iced tea which the Oxbow still keeps the coveted best tea in De Smet award. Afterwards figuring that most people would be out at the pageant, I swung back around to get some Surveyor’s House photos. Then back to the hotel and the pool.

The next morning I had a leisurely breakfast and made one last quick swing by the Ingalls Homestead. I forgot to say earlier I had also made a swing by the Loftus Store and the De Smet News. The Loftus Store, besides being a Laura site itself, offers different souvenirs than the other homesites. The De Smet News is where you find all the news in town. I always pay my subscription when I stop, so I have a real piece of business to do in town.

I’ve just got to get back there when there isn’t an event so I can do some everyday stuff. I got to say hi to almost all my friends in De Smet and home that I can make it back there soon.

Sarah S. Uthoff is the main force behind Trundlebed Tales striving to bring the History, Mystery, Magic and Imagination of Laura Ingalls Wilder and other greats of children’s literature and history to life for a new generation. Uthoff is a nationally known Laura Ingalls Wilder authority and has presented at five of the Wilder homesites, many conferences and numerous libraries, museums, and events around the Midwest. Attend one of her programs, schedule one yourself, watch her videos, listen to her podcast, and find her on  Facebook,  Twitter,  Google+, LinkedIn, and Academia.edu. Professionally she is a reference librarian at Kirkwood Community College and director of the Oxford (Iowa) Public Library.

Iowa State Fair

It’s time to get ready to go to the Iowa State Fair.

Sarah's Notebook

UPDATED August 6, 2017: This is my trip report from 2007. If you’re planning on going, find a link to my podcast with my travel plan.

SAMSUNG CAMERA PICTURES

Iowa State Fair

Yesterday my family hit the Iowa State Fair. It’s one of the best state fairs in the country with some of the best examples of Exposition style architecture. Normally I feel that it is too crowded and if attendance keeps increasing they will either have to length the days or the buy more ground because they are running out of room. This year was a little better than usual because we were able to go on a weekday and it rained. It was still pretty busy before we left.

We have some places we hit every year and then we try to do a few new things. We usually start out in Agriculture Building. Besides the display of crops and…

View original post 642 more words