Reznjun

today is my sons birthday. william turned 23 today. he goes to haskell and is working as an intern at our casino for the summer. i am proud of him. we dont get all that much into birthdays but we do try have eats. busy time now getting garden produce picked and gathering coming up. so  we just gonna eat out. we picked mexican in topeekee. we like spicy food now and then. i bet he wont want to wear the sombrero and have the staff sing to him tho. i know i wouldnt.

my crooked neck squash are ready to dry now. that will take some doing. looks like i have alot of them. cant see too far into the garden because their leaves cover the ground. i have noticed the ones on the edges. i probably have more this year than i have had in a long time. i remember when i was young i helped to dry them. i even knew how to braid them like they did then. i cant remember how to do that now so i just dry them. i will have enough to last til next growing season. and i can still donate some for the gathering meal.

i grew up on this rez when we didnt have electricity or running water. can still remember those days but i find it hard to live without my cell phone and computer. the other night i went to services for an elder so i left my phone in the car. when i went home i couldnt power up my phone. i charged it and it still wouldnt work. since i pay for an extended warranty i took it to the phone place. they didnt see anything wrong with it. the girl said it was probably the screensavers i had in my phone. they interfere with the software. so they deleted them. it hasnt given me a problem since. but it zapped out my caller id pictures, speed dials etc. so i had to reload them. nice thing is they loaded me a free memory card.

i seen where our president sat down and had a beer with a cop and a professor. guess it was about racial profiling. or a misunderstanding. but then racial profiling is a misunderstanding. i dont see all that much of it like in yesteryear but some still exists. for the most part most people just want to live. racism is ignorance. thankfully we dont have many racists left. sad that we have any though. i can understand the prez trying to get opposite sides to sit down together. i dont see the beer part though. dont want to alienate people that drink but i seen too much of what it can do to our people.

speaking about racial profiling…i got ahold of an old newspaper clipping. it was published in 67. it was about the high school i went to, i was a sophomore then. the principal was talking to the reporter about indians. he said “we’ve got a couple who are pretty sensible”. so he sent someone after one of them. his runner came back “without the Indian”. so he told him to go to the pool hall and look for him. me and my brothers hung out down there. we didnt have  any sensible indians in the crowd we ran with. we were young and carefree.

i was reminded of an incident that happened years ago. i lived another part of the country then. there was this young indian who musta seen alot for his young years. he climbed to the top of a watertower. guess he was suicidal.  a crowd gathered, cops came. they tried talking him down. this took awhile. people got impatient. they wanted a show. so the crowd started chanting ‘jump’. this went on awhile. that was cold. people can be cruel. the dude finally came down. i never forgot that.

yesterday for the first time in my life i rode a four wheeler. man that was fun. i was tempted to speed but thought better of it. i dont need cheap thrills at this point in my life. buzzed about the hood, thru hayfields and down the road. never knew how fun those things could be. konugish ran along side. didnt think that dog would keep up with us. he eventually fell back. i fed him when he got home.  riding that machine was fun.

i have said i got more relatives than a politician running for office. and i do. i have alot of brothers and sisters. they have alot of kids, so i have many nieces and nephews. i have always been around kids. so i wouldnt know how to act if there wasnt a kid to hold or to tease.

seen some of my family last night. they are from oklahoma. they are another branch of my family. they adopted me years back. i used to go down there for ceremonies alot. so i got to know them. it was nice to visit my mother  and my sisters from there. my aunts and their kids were also there. i had a regular family reunion. it was nice to see all of them. we hugged each other when it was time to say bye. i hope to go down there and visit sometime soon.

i respect the act of adoption. i have gone thru 3 adoption ceremonies. i became part of those families. anytime i see any of them i make it a point to go see them. i have lost 3 brothers and we have adopted for them. when i see the ones we took for brothers i think of my brothers that i have lost.  we also adopted for my mother who was the biggest influence on me. i think of her alot. everytime i see the one we took in her place i think of her.

when i add all my families together i have a big family. at one time i had 3 mothers and 24 brothers and sisters. probably only a rez njun can say that. i dont know how many call me uncle or misho. too many to count.  it is nice to have so many relatives. friends come and go. i lost many of my friends over the years. probably from the lifestyle we led. family stays forever though. a close friend of mine told me i was rich. she didnt mean in the material sense. she meant because i am surrounded by such a big family. i agreed with her. i dont know if anyone dislikes me or not. wouldnt matter. the ones that care for me, genuinely do. thats who i care about. so i am rich.

yesterday afternoon we had a storm go through. it also brought some hail. i was concerned it would damage some of my crops. it didnt, though it got some of my pumpkin leaves.   my animals were under cover so it didnt bother them either. grateful for that. this is the first time i have seen hail this late in the season. never can tell about the weather. just have to live with it. the good thing is it brought more moisture to the crops. that is a good thing. i think they had it worse south of here. some large trees were up rooted and power lines were downed. so we were lucky.

the weather has been different this year. havent seen anything like it. especially the growing season. some things are ready early. others bolted and went to seed. my strawberries went dormant then starting to slowly produce again. my potatoes took a month to break ground then didnt flower. they are full grown now. some of my pumpkins are ready to dry. that is early. some corn is ready but just alittle. most will take some more time. but gardening is a gamble. gotta take what you get.

i got an unsigned email. i have said i wont post any unsigned comments. i pay for this site and put my name to it. it is understood what i wrote is my opinion. i have a right to say what i feel.  the email  condemned me for putting down peoples efforts to learn the language. it said i had a crab in a bucket attitude. i re read what i said and didnt get that at all. i applaud anyones effort. i use my language in hopes it will encourage others to try to learn. i merely stated a fact in my blog. it was taken out of context. if someone takes offense to what i say, well i am sorry. but i cant stop writing because someone dont agree with something i penned. some have made fun of my work with the language as well. i dont get offended. i just live with it. thats life.

finally finished my arbor in the backyard.  it works great.  i was working on it during a real hot day but  it was cool underneath it. it is a rez pergola cuz  i didnt need all the expensive treated boards. only cost i have in it is my labor. i will enjoy it as long as it lasts, then i will build a new one. my trees provide pretty of shade in the yard. i needed some shade next to my sweat. now i have it.

the other week they had a list of new words they put in the dictionary. i take note of them. a new one that caught my eye was ‘frenemy’. i didnt read the whole definition cuz i was kinda laughing. i guess it means someone that is your ‘friend’ but acts like an enemy. i thought nothing of the word til i went to the general council. we got people working on our behalf as friends but act counter productively. they insist our tribe move forward but do everything they can to hold things up.

i have been half listening to the debate about health care. that is the governments next fight. like democrats and republicans need a reason to jack this country around. i agree something ought to be done. and i can kinda agree with making insurance more affordable to the ones that cant afford it. i see a different problem. i think what the people in the medical profession charge is part of the problem. my wife had a simple gall bladder procedure done awhile back. everything turned out alright. later they sent the bills. a interesting cost was the 10 thou for the room a night. it was a nice room no doubt but i dont know bout no 10 thousand dollars worth of room. it looked no different than a motel room. granted medical care was available if necessary but this was a routine matter. doctors take some kinda oath bout providing care but what they charge is outrageous. sometimes they even give care that isnt really necessary but charge for it anyway. they do this because the insurance companies will pay for it.  then the costs of insurance goes up. the ones that dont have insurance arent given the same care. gotta wonder bout all that.

i wrote about putting some njun style decals on my riding mower. i bought some with eagle feather designs at the last pow wow i went to in south dakota. i put them on my mower. they look pretty good. i have to mow the yard again. now my mower will be slightly pimped out. i will have to pass on puttng some hydraulics on it.

maybe i notice billboards too much. i seen one of our casinos billboards on the way to town last night. it is the first one that is seen going past our casino. i guess for our patrons that are kind enough to boost our per caps. it says something like ”many happy returns”. i thought wtf  is that suppose to mean? i thought it was a gene autry or roy rogers song. to be fair some ad exec spent some effort on coming up with that one. we spent most of our time on two inconsequential issues at the last general council. maybe we can discuss getting rid of this lame billboard next time.

the gathering is getting closer. got things to do before then. and even during it. it will come and go quick. it should be entertaining.

been busy this week. havent had time to get on the computor much. i added more ram to it. i got my external hard drive. i will fill that up in no time. my computor is running good now.

 i went to a ball game monday. good news is the royals didnt lose. on the other hand they didnt play either. got rained out. i sat there at the stadium for almost 2 1/2 hours waiting to see if they would play. it was fun watching the crowd. everyone got an act.

i was gonna buy a royals hat but they were 24 bucks. thats a bit steep. then i seen a place down stairs that was having a sale. they were advertising up to 75% off. so i checked it out. i got a royals hat for 10 bucks there. i can handle that since i am not a big fan. i just like baseball games.

i went to the services for one of my cousins who passed away. she was a good woman. i always wonder why good people die, while others seem to live forever. i visited with some of my relatives i hadnt seen in awhile.

besides volunteering to register people and drive a golf cart for the gathering i am donating some of my pumpkins. they gonna have a traditional meal or something. they asked me if my pumpkins would be ready. i said they are ready now. i never seen them grow this big this early. i say that bout lotsa of things in the garden. my njun beans have covered the trellise on my chicken house. they have many bean pods forming on the vines already. that is early. it must be all the rain and the heat we have had this year.

my corn is looking good too. i may be drying my corn and pumpkin during the gathering. it should be ready bout that time.  i am getting tomatos that are starting to ripen. they taste great. they are off one plant, an heirloom tomato called abe lincoln. i am saving the seeds. i want to see if i can start my own plants next year. i remember the old folks talking bout how some day you wouldnt even be able to buy seed. i can believe that. i am saving seed from anything that tastes good. who knows.

i have to give an invocation during the youth conference. say a prayer and get off the stage. they bringing in the big guns to talk to our kids. hope they can reach them. my sons will also pray during the conference since they are some of the few young folks that can speak potawatomi. may be the only ones. my mother woulda been proud of them. she did hear them using our language when they were little.  i know i am proud of them. we dont get money, equipment and all that to learn our language. shouldnt be about that anyway.

i built an arbor in my back yard. real njun style. i saved some poles and willows to cover it. they were gonna be cut down and not used. so i got them. didnt want them to go to waste. i remember when i was little we had a shade out front where the old guys would talk. they used to talk injun. i would listen to them and wonder what they were saying.  i wanted an arbor for a long time. it reminds me of when i was a young lad.

 i am going to cut some more willows to redo my sweat. probably will make it a little bigger. i took the old one down. i spread the canvas covering out to dry and air out. i will use the tops of the willow poles to cover the arbor i buiilt some more.  i have been working outside all week. really getting brown from being out in the sun all day. i still have to pick some more tobacco.

been busy and will stay busy.  i am grateful i can still get around. my meds help. i was told not to get all caught up in the pain pills. i didnt say anything. i remember one of the nurses telling me that no one should have to live in pain. at that point i lived with back pain for several years. now i can get by. i doubt i become the pompous ass like russ limbaugh. i can stay active and not have to deal with pain. i am glad i can do all the work that needs to be done. i dont want to let it get the best of me. i stay busy. i like that.

scored some tickets to the kansas city royals baseball game tonite. havent been to a ball game in ages. well not since the money mongers took the game away from the average fan by pricing everything out of sight.

 i got the tickets with a promise to buy a dinner later.  even though i got them for nada, it will still cost me. the last time i went i remember the price of parking, a soft drink and a hot dog. its good that i dont imbibe in alcohol. i remember the price of a beer was 7 bucks a bottle. everything was high. i didnt bring home a hat or jersey because of the cost. it wasnt worth putting down those kind of bucks for a losing team.

our home team started the season out like politicians. quite promising. they were in first place for a week or so. then they slipped a little. then a little more. then alittle more. now they are 2 games out of last place. they have been mired there for the last few seasons. no matter. it is still a pro baseball game. back when i was a kid i dreamed of being a pro ball player. the only thing that stopped me was i didnt have that kind of talent.

i took my kids to a ball game whenever we had the chance. we even took a few of their friends. it was the first time some of their friends had gone to a pro baseball game. we would hang out after the game by the players exit. we would get their autographs. we tried to get a few stars from the other teams to give an autograph but they just blew it off.

as in any kind of crowd there will be some that will try to be the show. everyone got an act. street theater. but then that is part of the experience too, watching the crowd. someone will try to get everyone involved in a cheer for the home team. this is while the home team is getting its ass whipped. it all makes for a memorable outing. by the seventh inning stretch i am ready to begin the long drive back to the rez. it should be fun.

i went to the general council meeting yesterday. it was the first one i attended since they quit giving $25 wal-mart cards. i am honest enough to say my interest stopped when that promotion did. i wasnt the only one i guess. they used to have 3 to 4 hundred skins over there. yesterday it topped out at around 105 or so.

the meeting was called to order at 9:07. amazingly they zapped right thru the meeting. reports didnt take long. the crowd was assured if they had any questions they could call on council members. wasnt elaborated on whether you would get an answer or not.

 a motion was made to change the agenda to accomodate the gathering report.  after that the minutes were approved.  then there was discussion on whether or not to change the gaming elections in february so they would be held at the same time as the council election in july. a motion was made to vote on bringing it back to the next general council meeting in october so it could be voted on then. no shit. that really happened. might sound like a waste of time but this would save the nation a grand total of 14 thousand dollars. that u.s dollars. we will wait three months to see if we save this.

then a motion was made to cut the number of gaming commissioners from 5 to whatever. one member said most oklahoma tribes only have one, but then they have lotsa embezzlement. this drew laughter. it was pointed out that the gaming commissions’ budget had been cut by 800 thou. then again by 240 thou. so the question was why another cut. another man said the casino has been operating 12 years without a scandal. so why change. the motion failed.

that concluded the only business brought up. we can save 14 thou and we can cut some jobs back. after the treas. gave his report they had a question period. this probably lasted longer than the rest of the meeting. it wasnt the question so much as the build up to the questions that took a long time. one person rambled on and never really asked a question. a few people were concerned we have spent over 16 million in dekalb. they wanted to know what we have to show for it. an answer was given but i didnt get it. one wanted the council to take the travel there out of their own budgets. this drew a few shocked looks.

it was brought up several times “to stop this in-fighting among ourselves”.  i guess it was merely discussion cuz it wasnt brought up for a vote. otherwise i woulda voted hell yeah.

in one of the reports they said the council was working on the dance grounds. the work is nearing completion it said. that was news to me. they quit working on it in april and nothing has been done since.  i told one council member this. he asked me what still needed to be done. so i told him. dont know what will happen with that.

i signed up to be a volunteer at the gathering. i will work at the regristration booth to sign in guests on  thursday. then i get to drive one of the golf carts. that is big time. i offered to do that before but got the run around bout me not being on the insurance. then i seen teenagers driving the carts. i guess this committee will throw caution to the wind on that matter and let me drive one of the carts. i am looking forward to that trip.

the meeting was adjourned at 11:34. not much hating went on. some council people got off with only stating their name. one caught hell for re stating his name for the stenographer. one didnt say anything. just witnessing the events as they unfolded was entertaining. i may go again to the next one. the suspense of whether or not we will save 14 thousand dollars will kill me.

a few people have said this is the best year for gardening that they have had in a long time. dont know bout that but i am having good luck with a number of things. i pick cucumbers and zuchinni every few days. i had my first picking of green beans. my pole beans all doing good. so are my gourd plants. my crooked neck squash are growing fast. i havent seen them this big this early. i should be able to dry alot of them if they continue to grow like this. i have a bunch of cantalopes on the vines. i usually dont have any luck with them. my corn is tasseling already, except for the ones i re- seeded. they are still in various stages of growth. i have fresh potatoes and onions whenever i need them. carrots are ready,especially if you like them young. my lettuce has bolted though. i had alot of salad before it did.

i have been watering my tobacco. i had my second picking that i fixed today. it is doing good. i also watered my tomato plants. they have fruit on them. they look good. the weather guy said it may rain tonite. or it may not. like that dude is a real genius.

it is time to pick menashkuk. i noticed the purple flower the other day. havent had time to get to it cuz i helped at a funeral. i will put some away tomorrow. i use it in sweat lodges. i like the smell of the plant.

i got picked for jury duty at the end of the month. my civic duty and all that.  they dont tell you whether or not you will be called to serve on  a jury or not, but you have to be available. you have to wait til the nite before and call a number. i had a speaking gig coming up around then. it woulda been another road trip. that jury bullshit will end that. then it could be that i wont even be called. thats justice for you. i could made some righteous coin.

i was talking to one of my bros the other day. we both have noticed that there are alot of rabbits around. havent seen this many in awhile. things must just go in cycles. i have a few that hang around my garden. they havent been a problem. i hope they make it til winter. then the game will be on. my dog ko nu gish tries to chase them but cant catch them. i use to have beagles that could catch up with them. my daughter bought two beagle pups recently. i like those kind of dogs. my favorite breed.

tomorrow is my youngest sons birthday. he will be 22. we would have a cookout for him normally. thing is he jetted off to vegas. hope he hits a big jackpot out there. might have to cook out when he gets back. we like to have family get togethers.

i noticed in the news a few days ago they got that harold and kumar guy to be some kind of white house aide or something. he is suppose to help draw asian support  to the presidents cause. may be on to something there. why not get that mclovin guy too. he could be like an ambassador or state department guy. let comedians in. they couldnt be any worse than politicians. that way if they fly off to argentina with a mistress and get caught, they can just say it was a joke.

speaking of jokes we got a general council meeting coming up in a few weeks. i havent been to one of them in a while. i got tired of the once every three months saviors. they disappear til the next meeting. dont know how we make it for 3 months without them.we must have a real terrific council now cuz they havent tried to get rid of anyone for awhile. i may go to this one just for the hell of it. it may be entertainment. gotta take your amusement where ever you can get it.