Reznjun

got a long weekend coming up. kinda looking forward to that. i plan on heading up to the sisseton traditional pow wow. i went there last year. it was alright. the people were friendly. the food was good. and they got a nice casino. they had a fireworks display. i camped out for the weekend. i havent camped this year at all. this will be my first chance.

i will make a stop on the way there. the locals say the lake there is where nankwe was when she had her vision. they had something there last summer to remember her. they have a different name for her than we do. so i plan on going to the lake to visit the place. an old man here said it was at another lake in north dakota where nankwe was. i have been there. i want to go to this lake also just in case. cant go wrong by visiting both places.

i have lost 15 pounds since the winter. i am walking and i burn alot of calories doing gardening. seems like i have been trying forever to lose some weight. finally happened. i am doing this for my health. i enjoy walking. a bobcat ran across the road last week when we were walking. that was neat. i have been watching snapping turtles in the creek below the bridge we walk over. it would be a hassle to try to catch them. i already have four of them in the freezer so i am not really into it. we see all kinds of animals when we walk. nice out in nature.

i have been sorting the last batch of porky hair i got. looks like good hair. i havent had time to get to that since i started gardening. i want to make some more roaches. i sold two that i posted on my site. i plan on going to crow fair this fall. i want to have a bunch of roaches made before i head up that way. i may be up for a good trade if someone has something i want.

the weather wont be too hot this week. they said in the 80s. i can handle that. i have one garden site i had to weed this week. it is over by the sr citizens. i have 14 rows of our corn there and 40 hills of crooked neck squash. i also planted 40 hills of other squash, melons, cukes and okra. i dont know how that will turn out. the ground has lotsa clay in it. the rain we have been getting is helping out. the garden i planted behind the clinic is doing damn good. it has fruit on the vine forming. i have kept up with weeding it. i have been busy.

hope the week goes by fast. i am up for pow wowing….and some road.

the winds that came thru last week bent one of the trees in the yard over. it broke off several limbs. i was concerned about the trees. the ice storm we had a few years back did some damage to them also. they must be tough. they are still hanging in there.

we have been getting rain almost every week. that is good for the gardens. the creeks are low though. most of the water rushed downstream. my lawn has to be mowed almost every week. today the heat index was over a hundred degrees. summer is only starting.

last night i went to the casino family night thing held at westridge bowling alley. it is for casino employees and their families. i went as a guest of my sons who work there. we bowled 4 games. i am not much of a bowler but i had fun bowling with my kids.  i am not into competition. i just try to improve my score each game. that worked until the last game when i just couldnt do anything. my best score was 178. not good enough for anyone to recruit me for their team.

they gave us tickets to ride go carts. i didnt ride any since i gave my tickets to my niece. she liked that. they also had putt putt golf but we didnt have time for that after bowling. it was over at nine. so we headed home to rest up for work. the heat tires me out. must be getting old. i keep hearing that.

i have been giving tours of the garden to people that pass thru. they all seem to enjoy it. i wonder why more people dont garden. it is basically free food after initial expenses like seeds and plants. an added bonus is the physical activity it takes to raise a garden. maybe we will have more people get into it. food grown at home tastes so much better than what you can buy in a store.

i wonder what the rest of the week will provide. time will tell.

i went to the mayetta high school reunion last night. it was the first time i went to one of them. a few years ago our class had a reunion. i enjoyed the evening. we had a social hour before and  after dinner. i talked to many that graduated from mayetta high. i found that most have lived in the area all these years.

the class i graduated with was one of the honored classes. its been 40 years since we graduated. there were four of us from our class present. we were given a coffee cup with a picture of the old high school on it. i was also given another one for being the youngest grad there. they introduced each class and everyone was given an opportunity to address all present. i wore my t shirt with the mayetta high logo on it. our class reprinted them for our reunion. the mayetta alumni association liked the shirt and decided they will sell them as a fund raiser. i was the first to sign up for a new shirt. i also ordered a history of mayetta high from them. it has all the graduating classes and many old pictures in it. i wanted one as soon as i heard they would be available. it is history.

i went outside with the smokers for a break. the topic turned to politics. the discussion became quite lively. they were a wide range of opinions. it seems many in this country are fed up with how the politicians are doing things. lot of discontent. i wonder if washington is aware of this. i doubt it. they keep themselves insulated from the people.

before i went to the reunion i took my dog to get a rabies shot and a flea/tick dip. while there they warned that a storm was coming with high winds. i didnt think anything of it since this is kansas. me and mary were smoking outside when the winds came. dont know how fast they were but they snapped some limbs off the trees in the yard. the trees were bent in about a 45 degree angle from the winds. it was the kind of storm that makes you put your sema down. not much else you can do.

i got home before dark and was sitting outside. i noticed lightning bugs in our hay field. they were hundreds and hundreds of them everywhere. i just watched them. that was the most i seen at one time. it was neat to watch them. i remember as a kid catching them and putting them in a jar. they would end up dying. kids dont know any better.

it rained again last night. the gardens i put in will really grow now. they will make me look like i know what i am doing. good weather makes good gardeners. the rain will also bring the weeds up. i just finished weeding the garden. will have to start over again….

i about forgot about this. last weekend when i was going to the pow wow i seen this buffalo. looked like he was having trouble so i backed up. seen the critter was caught up in the fence. so i called someone who called someone else that called someone else so someone would go get the buffalo untangled.  i later drove by to see if it was still stuck but it was gone. so in a round about way i helped the buffalo out.

saturday i take my dog over to get a rabies and distemper shot. they will have a flea and tick dip too. i think that is a great service they provide. i took konugish last year. usually i never hear bout things til they are over. i have a tribal email now so i hear some things.

i was driving home today and seen one of my neighbors walking. i stopped and asked him if he needed a ride. he jumped in and said yeah. his pickup ran out of gas at the notorious n road dumpster. i took him home to get his gas can. he filled his pickup with a coupla gallons of gas and primed the carbuerator. it still didnt start. another native stopped and checked it out. three of us indians looking at the motor didnt make it start. so i took the guy home. he was gonna call somebody. it was too hot for the old boy to be out there walking. later the truck was gone so he musta got it home.

i ordered a new computer from a friend. it will be faster, have more ram, at least twice as much memory, be able to burn dvds and will have windows 7. i will use it to teach my kids more language. they are getting good at it. i have a good speaker system on my old computer i will recycle. gotta have my jams. this ol rez injun gotta have that new technology.

after i ordered my computer i went over to get some eats for the game. got a full rack of ribs, fries and seafood gumbo. been eating healthy so i deserved a treat. only thing that tasted better than that was another laker championship. that was good after the jayhawks didnt win this year.

one more day of work this week. need a weekend for a change….

i scored me a new air brushed shirt advertising my site. kinda hate to wear it because i dont want to get it dirty. still thinking we had a good pow wow. i watched the dvd i burned a few times. i didnt tape very many singing groups. only had one battery charged since i hadnt planned on taping til the last minute. then i didnt push the long play button or sumthin. so the tape only lasted 60 minutes instead of 120. one hour of tape is better than nothing.

i counted about 10 roaches at our pow wow that were made by me. i dont know how many i made over the years. too many to count probably. i still get the ‘how bout indian price’ thing. in other words i am suppose to sell my art cheap cuz im indian. i do enough business that i dont have to. i just got another shipment of porky hair from a trapper i do business with. it is nice hair. i like to buy direct from trappers and cut out the middleman. the indian supply houses charge too much for too little.

when i drive i like to cruise. i am in no hurry to get anywhere. on my last trip i noticed i kept getting passed up by old people in buicks. i wondered where the hell they gotta be in such a rush. at that age if you havent gotten there by now maybe you wont be.

my high school reunion this weekend. i plan on going. i meet people that have gone to mayetta high now and then. the social network sites dont even list mayetta high. it burned down years ago so its like it didnt even exist. i still wear a t shirt my class had reprinted. it shows the indian logo and mhs on it. i guess now that is racist or sumthin. but we were the mayetta indians. damn proud of that. hell with the bleeding hearts. i wonder how many of them have seen the racism i have.

i was weeding the garden at work yesterday and it got a little warm. as i walked in i told a few fellow workers i was sweating like a worthless politician before an election.

i am making plans to go to the crow fair this year. it is one of the few big pow wows i havent been to. my contract will be about over by then. i probably will pass on the gathering so i can go there instead. not much to do at the gatherings anyway ‘cept sit around and wait to eat. i want to do some taping at the  crow fair. they have lotsa teepees and chicken dancers. maybe on the way there i can stop at a hot springs to soak.

i have weeding to do all week. hope to get much of that done before the string of 90 degree days come. touristos complain of the kansas heat but i am used to it. dont seem that hot to me. whining bout the heat dont make it better…

we had a good pow wow this year as always. it probably is my favorite pow wow. so far this year it is the only i have been to. usually i would have gone to a couple by now. we get rain almost every year. it doesnt stop our pow wow. i think ours is one of the best in the area. we draw good singing groups and good dancers. and we get to visit with many of our people. i took alot of pictures and done some video taping. i already burned a dvd.

i didnt go back on sunday. i had work to catch up with here. the rain made my lawn grow. it had to be mowed again. the weeds in my garden took off too. the door on my chicken house needing fixing. the list goes on. sometimes there never seems to be enough time in the day.

the gardens i helped plant are coming up real good. i checked them out and seen most of the seeds have sprouted and broke ground.  now the hard part. to wait and see what will produce. got alot of weeding to do. suckers to pull off. etc. i will be busy. now i have several gardens to worry about. not used to that. i wouldnt have been able to do this a few years ago. i was in constant back pain. i got sore from every physical activity i did. being active and the meds i took have helped alot. now i am able to do it. all the activity is helping me lose some weight. a plus.

i picked some gooseberries yesterday after work. they are from the bushes i planted in the tree line in my backyard. they arent producing alot right now but will in the future. i have a combination of wild and tame berry bushes. i like them mixed. they taste better that way i think. me and mary were stemming them til news was over. i dont know if it is late in the year for them or not. not many were red or soft.

gotta get ready to head to work….

got back from training in time for our pow wow. i went to tulsa for traditional gardening. it was a nice getaway. i gave a presentation about our tribe and our program. i also did a short video clip about how i got into gardening. they showed that to the rest of the group. i also listened to what the other tribes were doing.  it was all about trying to persuade indians to have a better diet and to exercise. i have thought that for years. we can do something about our health. why wait until we develop complications. if we can catch it early we may be able to do something about it. like the old saying goes ‘an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.’

on the drive down the song ’24 hours from tulsa’ came to mind. i have heard so many songs. just need something to trigger the memory of them. i seen some young indian running on the roadside. some kind of spiritual run i gathered. a van following the runner cautioned that runners were ahead.

it was hot yesterday so i waited at our casino for it to cool off before heading to the pow wow. that cost me a few bucks.  i walked around the pow wow grounds and checked out the stands. i bought a few things. a t shirt, a roll of artificial sinew for my roach tying and some conchos for my otter turban. i stopped and visited with people i knew. seen a stand that does airbrushing that i have bought from at our past pow wows. i put in a order for a new t shirt that will have a picture of a roach and my web address on it.

early this morning i heard it raining. it rained for awhile. dont know what effect it will have on our pow wow. seems it rains often during our pow wow. i didnt camp for that reason. no matter the show must go on. i will still go and enjoy myself.

the rain will benefit our gardens. i checked out the one i had at the health center. many of the seeds i planted have sprouted. so have the weeds. my own garden is doing good though it is weedy. i will produce lotsa food this year maybe. wont know til a few months from now. i planted some soy beans where my sema used to grow. i left it fallow last year and put soy in this year. next year i will plant sema there again.

i have lost a few pounds since last winter. i am trying to eat better and to exercise more. it is slowly paying off. now if i can just give up the cigars…..

last night mary and i went to a memorial walk sponsored by the cancer society. my daughter wabeno was working at her companys stand. they had been raising money for research the past year. other companies had been also. it was held at a high school track. all along both sides of the track were the names of people lost to cancer. later that night they were to light a candle in the bags to light the track up. my mother in law angie and sister in law freda had their names included in the memorial.

they opened up by having a survivors walk for all those that survived cancer. they filled up half the track. as they walked by everyone stood up and gave them an ovation. i recognized one of the survivors. i didnt know she had been thru that. i waved at her and she smiled back. there were people from all walks of life there. all ages and races. cancer affects many. one of the speakers said we all know someone that had cancer.  after they made a lap the rest of the people joined in the walk. it went on for hours. mary and i walked with wabenos company team. we walked for 2 and 1/2 miles. as we walked by some of the survivors applauded the rest of the walkers in appreciation.

after we finished our walk we visited some of the stands. we bought several items. some said part of the money they are raising is going toward cancer research. they thanked us for supporting them. i wanted a t-shirt that had the walk logo on it but couldnt find one.

i finished my 4th week on the job as gardener. i am now finished with planting two gardens. the language program does their own garden. one garden measures 54 feet by 150 feet. the other measures 66 feet by 150 feet. i planted 26 rows of our corn. the language garden has my corn seed in it as well as my own. i am happy our seed is continuing on.  i planted many mounds of other vegetables in the gardens. i have over 15 different kinds of vegetables planted. not maybe, might, gonna. they in the ground. the weather guy predicts rain. i say let it rain. my gardens will benefit.

the land department fixed me some trellises for the indian pole beans i planted. they did a good job. i wish i had some like that. mine is rigged up with discarded tent poles that go up my chicken house. we have 3 different kinds of indian beans. the land dept gave me bales of straw that i used to mulch my crooked neck squash patch. i will cover the ground where my melons, cukes and other squash are growing. i cant say enough for the cooperation i have received from other tribal workers. it over rides the few that havent responded to requests i made.

my own garden has gotten weedy because i am tired when i get home. i tilled it and got most of the weeds out. i still have some space that needs to be filled. i bought some tomato plants. it is not too late for them. the ground is has just warmed up after a cool spring. almost a late spring.

mary and i were walking the other day and we seen two young deer. they were walking toward us just about 50 feet away. they didnt seem concerned with us at all. then konugish got it in his mind he was gonna catch one. he took off after them. it didnt happen. one rainy evening we seen a beaver near our house. i was concerned i hadnt seen any of the 5 i watched last year. glad to  know there is still at least one left.

last week i cleaned three turtles. as i finished them some one brought me  another one. so i have to clean it also. when i was at work friday i got a call that there was one crossing a rez road. knowing i had 4 in the bag i declined but thanked the caller. i had a report i had to finish. i gotta give a presentation at a traditional gardening meeting next week in tulsa. my mind immediately went to hard rock and creek nation when i heard that. will check them out. i am a contract worker which means i dont get any bennies. when the tribe takes out i dont get to. a free trip is my only bennie. all i can say is pass me my per diem.

posting that last batch of roaches on my site has paid off. i sold one and am waiting on payment of another. some dude says he is buying a third. but then he has said that for a month and it aint happened yet. thing is i gotta find the time to keep on making them. one of the trappers i score porky hair from emailed me he had almost 6 ounces of hair left. i wondered why he didnt sell me any during the past season. i hadnt heard from another old man that has kept me supplied the last few years. hope he is alright.

gotta finish my gardening and packing for my road trip…..