Give Me Land, Lots Of Land

I moved up to Beatrice, Nebraska. Beatrice is said Be-At-Trice. I would think it would be hard to live in a place where you constantly have to correct how somebody says the name of your town. Beatrice is a little town where I decided I should hunker down while it snows and blows. Have I mentioned how uninsulated an RV is. This whole trip I've had a small space heater to help supplement my RV furnace. This way I don't have to use quite as much propane which is what the RV furnace runs on. I've run that space heater almost 24/7 and the fan is driving me nuts. It finally broke me so I ran out to the local ACE hardware store and bought me one of those oil radiator heaters. Ahhh – the quiet is wonderful. I don't even want to turn on the radio or the TV because I don't want to disturb this wonderful quiet I have. I'm so grateful for the little things.

My walking the dog attire.  It was brutal outside, weather wise.

Beatrice is also the home of the Homestead National Monument – a tribute to all the Homesteaders who came out west to try to make their fortunes. The Homestead Act was signed by President Lincoln in 1862 and gave anybody who wanted a 160 acre plot of land. All they had to do was improve the land which means building a house and putting in crops. If, at the end of five years, you had fulfilled the agreement, then the land became yours. The last homestead granted was not all that long ago – it was granted in the 1970's in Alaska. There were 30 states where land could be homesteaded. I thought the Monument was well done – they did give a fair amount of attention to the fact that this land was already occupied by Native Americans and it was land that was not really the U.S. Government's land to give. 

They had a whole wall of the thirty states where you could homestead with the available land to homestead cut out.  

The Beatrice Quilt Society had a National Parks Quilting project where each lady would pick a park and quilt however that park inspired them.  Evidently this particular trip is my Quilting Journey.