Reznjun

woke up the other morning to find a coating of ice over everything. it was a mix of ice and snow.  the  weather vane on my toolshed was iced up too.  first thing i thought of was my garden. cool weather things shouldnt be bothered, some of them havent  broke ground yet.  the cabbage and spinach plants i put out are hanging in there. i havent planted any warm weather crops yet so i dont have to worry bout them. i still need to get my tiller to the shop so i can retill the ground before i plant my main crops.  plenty of time for that since it is still early and the ground is still wet from all that moisture.

been busy for the past 7 days.  we had a funeral, spring dance and our spring ball games all in a row.  havent had a day off. i have danced for 6 days and played in the ball game. i had to take a pain pill last night to relieve some of the soreness. every year i say this is the last time i will play in the stickgame. i have too much fun to quit now. i got hit in the head with a ball stick, good thing  i am not a wimp. just brushed it off and kept playing.  our danceground building is looking good. it is not done yet but the work on it  looks nice. i am glad we got to take care of what we had to do. now they can finish the work on our building. they got til summer dance now.

i caught up with my bracket in the ncaa tourney. i have no chance of winning the pool. i picked a few teams i shouldnt have picked. and the jayhawks got knocked out. i am still happy that they made it to the sweet 16. hate to say it but ‘wait til next year’. that has been the chant too many years, but our team should kick ass next year.

checked my email. it was backed up. got a gig to do at the end of may. a road trip to quincy illinois. it is an archaeological bus tour of ancient indian burial mounds. some of the mounds were looted by sleaze ball grave robbers. so they want me to say a few words. they have mapped out 23 mounds so far. they are from the middle to late woodland period and several mississippian temple mounds. there are 100s of individuals buried there. this is an attempt by the archaeological community to include native people. they are afraid of “radical” groups. so they bringing me in.

i will have a road trip before that too. i plan on going to the gathering of nations. with a twist though. i want to take a train ride. i rode in trains in europe. i took one from paris to rome. the travel company that booked my tickets tried to tell me to take a night one so i could sleep during the trip. i said no i wanted to see the country. only other train ride i had was when i was born. they shipped my mother to pawnee to have me cuz they didnt have any money to send expectant mothers to hospitals around here. so we took a train back home. i have been traveling since then.

i have a bird in my yard that sounds like it is whistling. it is a very distinctive whistle. at first i thought someone was out there. i have gotten used to it. it whistles almost every day. i have planted so many trees and bushes in my yard that i hear birds sing all during the day. it is neat to hear them. i even feed them. soon it will be time for the hummingbirds to come back. i planted vines, flowers and bushes to attract them.

now i have to catch up on everything that had to wait…

for indians anyway. our new year begins now when life begins anew. the grass is turning green. trees are starting to bud. wild onions are ready. i like this time of year. probably  my favorite time of da year. well i enjoy every minute i am alive, but i do like spring.

we had some serious wind yesterday. it was windy all day. winds up to 20-30 miles an hour. it was worse in other parts of the state. things were blowing all over. it was windier than a general council meeting. well maybe not, but it was windy.

we had a good rain last nite. i bet my potatoes and onions should break ground sometime this week. the plants i set out should also do good. i had good luck last year with cabbages, so i planted more this year. we made our own coleslaw last year. it was the best. and i put some cabbages away for stews that we had over the winter. dont know bout the spinach plants, i have never grown them before. its worth a gamble.

a few weeks ago i transplanted some gooseberry bushes. they were the tame kind. i had them growing by the ditch in front of the house. a tribal worker had that machine that annihilates every thing in its path last fall. it zapped my bushes. i could get a few gallons of berries from them every year. only the tops were cut off. the roots were still alive so i transplanted them to my treeline on the north side of my house. i had previously planted some wild gooseberry bushes there a few years ago. so i have over 30 gooseberry bushes growing now. gooseberry pie is my favorite. real njun pie. ‘cept them old njuns didnt have it with a scoop of ice cream on the side. guess that makes me a modern injun.

its been over a week since i had a cigar. besides saving a few dollars it is best i leave them alone. i breathe better without them. i will end up pretty boring when i give up all my bad habits. last thing to go is my gambling. but i dont gamble that much. well losing any money is too much. i do enjoy a night out at the local gaming establishments. its the only place besides walmart where i see indians.

i had a milestone of sorts the other day. i have walked 100 miles so far this calendar year. i take my faithful dog ‘ko nu gish’ with me. indians should do something for their health. preventative measures are best. lose weight, quit smoking, quit drinking, quit doping. doing that should better our lives and our health. and it would save us alot of grief. why kill ourselves? we should do things that make us live. after hanging around this long, we might as well keep on going.

bling bling

today is a tribal holiday of sorts. its per cap time. money hit the bank this morning. checks are in the mail. this is our stimulus. most of the money will be circulated into the local economy. walmart should be full of njuns. per cap is the only way that all tribal members share in the casino profits equally. that is after expenses are taken out. and the tribal bureaucracy takes a big cut off the top. it is sorta like reagans trickle down theory. have so much at the top that eventually some will trickle down to the bottom. today the little brown native gets a taste. this njun is heading to town later. no hurry tho cuz it all spends. i will go get a meat bundle from one of the meat markets. gotta replenish the freezer. the long winter months  emptied it. and i have to pay some on my new flooring. housing scammed about a thou of my grant, so i have to cover the rest. i wont get anything extravagant, just necessities. will be a broke ass njun again by next week. and the beat goes on.

i learned something from my trip to the clinic. went for routine lab work. told the doc i have had a pain in my hip for a few months. turns out it is bursitis. he said it had to do with aging. so i got some magic pills that takes the pain away. so i got arthritis and bursitis. other than that i am healthy. gotta hang on so they dont put me down.

been waitin for that tribal program to till the garden. in vain. the tractors are bok ske. need parts. so no potatoes soon. may end up firing up the old tiller and doing it myself. i have done my garden for the past 24 years. tribe only plowed for me twice. once they broke the ground then never returned to plow it. anutha time one of my neighbors came over and plowed up my garden. i didnt ask, he was just a nice guy. i dont really rely on others to do my garden. i have always done it. i did appreciate tribe turning the ground over. my tiller dont get that deep. and who knows maybe they will be back sometime this year.

speaking of stimulus, that new bill only has over 9000 earmarks on it. this after being assured there would be none. well really now what did you expect from our government. by the time this is all over we will find unbelievable waste. but then something has to be done. cant sit pat and hope the economy recovers on its own. would rather have this new prez than the last one.

the jayhawks made an early exit from the big 12 tourney. may end up a good thing. why beat yourself  up and risk further injury before the big dance. now they have a week off to heal and to get hungry. i have faith they will still go deep into the tourney. no one expected them to go this far. our team is always good. even after losing pros every year. i will be watch them all the way.

my pretty grand daughter theresa

heard from my grand daughter theresa yesterday. she lives like a million miles away. a thing can be said for modern technology, it  put us in touch. i was missing her and thinking about her when she texted me. she made my day. she added me on her myspace. so did her brother justin. i havent been on there in awhile. but i will now just to keep in touch with them. you dont think you getting old til someone calls you misho. i never thought i would live to see 30 years old. now i got grandkids. and i outlived hendrix, joplin and morrison.

we were lucky to get some moisture this past week. we need it for the gardens. thing is they are wet now, that dude that turned the ground over cant till it now. it is still early though. i was ready to put in cool weather crops. that will have to wait. i cleaned up where my strawberry plants are,  i added compost and fertilized them. i added compost to where i plant my gourds. they grow up the front of my toolshed. i also composted where i plant my injun beans, they grow up the front of my chicken house. i also pruned my peach tree and plum tree.

some folks were in a quandary over our spring dance. work is going on at our grounds. they wondered whatever can we do. i told some to let me make some calls. i called a big shot at da office. he didnt bother to call me back. so i called a homeboy on da council. he got ahold of the contractor working on the building. told them we needed to do our dance. they agreed they would hold off work that week to allow us to have our dance. i thanked them and called the guy in charge of setting things into motion. said we can do our thing now. no problemo.

you wanna see some injuns, go to a walmart after per cap. them skins will be acting like its christmas. it is per cap time in a few days. so if you got business with the tribe better take care of it now cuz the place will be deserted when the checks hit the bank.

spring break coming up too. my boys will be home. i can usually tell when they home cuz they leave clothes laying all over the place. we may have to fire up them rocks.

i better get a shopping list together. lets see i need some walking shoes. i already have logged 80 miles this calendar year. and i have to buy seeds and plants for my garden. and some new printing cartridges. the list will grow. you can always tell who the gamblers are. they keep the crisp bills so they go into the slot machines. they spend the wrinkled bills.

i have some lab tests tomorrow. the doc scheduled me for some 3 months ago. i think the tests will come out okay. i have a real old cat and an old dog. we kinda eye each other, to see who gonna outlive who.

me and gary mitchell

my brother gary was re-elected by the voters to serve as gaming commissioner  in the recent election. someone told him to clean out his desk prior to the election. despite that  he was voted back in as the first one to get over 50% plus one of the voters. (dyer ran unopposed.) previously he had served 10 and a half years on tribal council and has served for 8 years on gaming commission. that ranks him up there as one of the longest tenured elected officials in da tribe. he scored a fine blanket with the tribal logo on it.

so they had a swearing in ceremony today at the old bingo hall. i went over to witness the occasion and to take some pictures. plus they had free eats. i passed on them but drank coffee. i sat with the country indians. we got rowdy over in our corner. we had a good time.

most of the tribal council was there and most of the gaming commission. but what can you expect on a friday. it was good to see the interaction between everyone. at the general councils there are some that put all elected officials on the defensive. like its us against them. they just dont get it. it is us. not us and them. that is one of our problems.

i headed to town after that. my chickens needed feed. gotta indulge them since they are producing 4 eggs a day. they are the big brown eggs. my favorite.

seen one of the first signs of spring while in town. spotted a garage sale sign. that is definitely spring. gotta wait for the calendar though. and our spring dance. which we dont know when that will happen. they still working on our dance grounds. 3 weeks ago they said they would be done in 2 weeks. not quite. it will take some more time for completion it looks like.

the amazing randy turning the ground over

i was  in my garden pulling last years cornstalks out when randy pulled up with a tribal tractor. he works on some traditional gardening program or something. he plowed my garden for me. the tractor and the attachment on it went deep in turning the ground over. he even broke some new ground for me, since my garden has been in the same spot for the past few years. i like it there cuz it has good drainage.

he will come back later to till the large clumps of dirt up. that will make the garden really good this year.  it saves wear and tear on my tiller. i have gardened for the past 24 years and have gone thru a number of tillers. basically the ground here is hard pan and it really does a job on them. i usually plant a big garden, about 80 feet by 90 feet.  i have added alot to the soil over the years, that breaks it down.

randy said he did about 8 gardens so far, and had more to do. that surprised me. i didnt think there were more than a handful of people that raised a garden out here. glad to hear more are getting into it. i remember a story an old lady told me. she said that our corn was our life. when we stopped growing it, then we would have no more life. and we weren’t to sell it, cuz that would be like selling our life. some do tho. maybe they just dont know better.

i offered randy something to eat but he had to get going. i told him i really appreciated  he did that for me. i am always grateful. i never asked for help, but i will take it if it is offered. i just quit asking the tribe for anything. i usually just got some lame ass excuse. i didnt ask this time and got help. cant beat that. kinda renewed my faith in some tribal programs. i know we do have some of our people in there that actually want to help people. not everyone is a heartless bureaucrat. we got some damn good people working for us. my hat is off to them. wish we had more of them.

now it is time for me to think of planting. i have already bought some seed. radishes, lettuce, onions and carrots. just cool weather things. i will head to town sometime to get cabbages and seed potatoes. i was getting ready to plant potatoes. they say st patricks day or good friday. i am neither irish nor catholic so i split the difference. in gardening you need all the mojo you can get.

i am glad i have some new ground broke. that is always some rich soil. whatever is planted there comes out good. one year when i broke new ground i ended up with a gallon of corn dried for each row. zucchini were plentiful. couldnt beat the tomatoes. everything produced well. looking forward to this years crop already.

have to borrow an old buffy st. marie title to describe the jayhawks climb back to the top 10. our team is back where it belongs. we beat the number 3 and 11 teams in the past week. that loud smacking sound the other night was the hawks sending mizzerah back home with a sound beating. i am ready to watch the jayhawks go deep into the ncaa tournament again this year. many thought they would be down this year after losing a buncha pros. we lose some to the pros every year. and still bounce back. it will be the same this tournament. kansas university basketball is my other religion.

speaking of buffy st marie. she was one of the first native musicians to be known nation wide. the old billy jack movies had her songs on their soundtrack. not many native musicians made it big nationally. i can name only a few. i had a friend that i hung out with in the haight that jammed with many top rock bands of the area. lost track of that dude. i think he got too deep into drugs. i dont even know if he is still alive.

kinda smiled about that republican guy who is hoping the stimulus fails. he said ”we need less dependence on government”.  that summed up the party line in new orleans after katrina. but they gave the  war machine billions.

i updated my computer with some new software. some had trouble opening some of my files when i sent them. downer though is i lost some files. i can retrieve most. i lost a database of my language materials i was working on. i have copies that i will have to encode manually. bummer. well anyway it gives me a chance to review it and add more.

someone asked me to join facebook. i quit jacking round with myspace. so i opened a profile. now i need friends. only got 7 or so right now. it is just my first day. i probably wont get into that much. i have this website that takes some of my time. and i have so many things to keep me busy. i do like playing on the computer though. it is my contact with the outside world. i grew up without electricity and running water. now i cant be without my cell phone and computer. modern njun.

still sorting porky hair. that takes forever. i bought a few pounds of hair this past winter. so i have to catch up with sorting. then i can just sit down and tie alot of roaches at the same time. i have a shipment of deer tails that i have to dye also. gotta get ready for pow wow season. and i have had inquiries from france, italy and canada for roaches. and some from around the country. i must be in the search engines. that is why i got this website. gotta get my product out there.  it pays the bills. many of the things i do, i do for nothing. so i depend on my art to keep going. got other things to make too as soon as the weather permits.

will, mishan, zach, joe, eddie joe

zach had a good year in wrestling.  he went to state and ended up 31-7.  he won his first match by pin and he lost his second match at state. he had a knee injury during the second match so didnt continue on. too early to tell on the knee. hope it dont interfere with his football career, he has a shot to play D-I football.

 i thought it was something that a homeboy from the rez was wrestling at state. it was only zachs second year in wrestling, usually kids wrestle from a young age on. so just being in state was an achievement  for him. not many indians make it that far. we are all proud of him.

yesterdays redneck rag had an article about the impact our casino has had on the county. surprisingly it was a favorable article. you would really have to have blinders on not to see the good it has done. they did get one jab in though. they said one downer was that the county cant leech on some taxes. even 10 years later they just dont understand that the indian gaming act was to help indians, not the county. the federal  act specifically stated that neither the state nor the county could tax. they just cant get this in their head. most of the indian programs had failed for the past few hundred years. the gaming act was to allow indians to make some money to catch up on services. if indeed they can ever catch up. our leaders cant seem to articulate this point.

our governor is moving on up. got a big appointment in the cabinet. earlier she said she was too involved in bailing the state out. musta fixed the problem cuz she is taking the job this time around. no truth in the rumor we got a few offers from illinios for the open position.

the executive director of the state republican party said the democratic party will cease to exist after the governor leaves. hmmm. i bet.  i am registered as an independent. so i vote for whoever i feel like voting for. sometimes i think there is no real difference between the parties. both are equally guilty for the mess we are in. they should work together to fix the problem, since it is everyones problem.

wonder how it what be if everyone worked like the government. if you encounter a financial problem just write a bad check. let someone else pay for it later.

this country will pull thru. it will take time. the real strength of this country is not the ones that have to be bailed out.  our strength is the ones that make it without being bailed out. they are  the  backbone of our country. tribes are like that too. we have a few that cant make it without help, while we have many that make it and dont need help. they are the strength of the tribe.

we got a coupla inches of snow the other day. we need that to put moisture into the gardens we will soon plant. we didnt get much snow this past winter. we have to make do with what we got. and life goes on.