Reznjun

havent had a chance to up date the ol blog. been busy doing all kinds of things. i had to help at two funerals. we have this language project going. and most of all i have been waiting on this little guy my grandson. he was a week over due. i said since he was late he has the potential to be a tribal employee. my son named him andrew, after my brother i lost. that made me feel good that my brother was thought of. i still miss him and my other two brothers i lost.

i held this little guy in my hands not long after he was born. i wished i could have been there when he came into the world but i had to get back to the rez to prepare for the ceremonies we were doing.  i was amazed to hold such a small and innocent life in my hands. he was like a little angel. i held him a long time. i swear the little guy smiled at me. some people dont believe babies can smile. i do. i seen him. we will have a bond together. we already have plans that i will be the one that gives him his indian name. i will hand him in my hands and name him. that is what a misho is all about. an old man once said there is no honor greater than to name ones own grandchild.

i have noticed a lady on the rez the last several weeks and probably longer. she has been picking up trash on the roadside. my hat is off to that lady. you have to figure that she is doing this on her own, out of the goodness in her heart. i admire that lady who ever she is. she is trying keep our grandmother earth clean. and not just on earth day like around the country. sometimes i feel like stopping and telling the lady she is a good person. but people like her dont need to hear that. they do it for the sake of doing it.  people like that are totally unappreciated.

i have been getting seed catalogs. that must mean that it is approaching planting time. i am getting anxious for that. my garden hasnt done well the last two years. i have been busy taking care of other gardens. my own has suffered as a result. i grow my food because i believe in it. i wont let my garden go this year. my dried corn supply is getting low. i still have plenty of dried pumpkin though. i also have indian beans left. i will replenish the supplies i have that are getting low.

i have been smoking cigars again. like i really need  to. i go to the casino enough that i am getting secondary smoke all the time. i have a smokers cough from that. so i figure if i am getting all that smoke i might as well have a smoke i enjoy. like a fine cigar. i buy them in the gift shop. the cheapest one costs 6.50. i figure might as well. life is too short to smoke cheap cigars. if one has to have a habit then might as well pay for a good one.

now gotta concentrate on this language thing. it is nice to visit with the other bands of potawatomi.

we didnt get any snow that they hinted we may get. we did get some cold. i have the woodstove going in the basement. for awhile i didnt have a fire going. now it is needed.  so we are getting a small taste of winter after all. last night i was driving home from one of the local gaming establishments and i seen a skunk. this is way too early for them to be out. so the weather must be fooling them too.

speaking of gaming parlors…..now and then i get people that come up to me in the casino and ask to borrow money. i usually say no. i never leave the house with enough money to support more than my gambling habit. i wonder if they would even pay me back at all. i had some ask for 5 bucks. you cant gamble long with that. i think if they cant afford to gamble they ought to stay home. and leave us addicts alone. i remember sharing my last drink or dope with others that asked for it. i found they never would share when they had any. they usually were just trying to glom on.

two of my dogs got fixed last week. the humane society has a grant that they use to pay for the costs. i was hoping konugish would mellow out some. he did somewhat but still acts like he owns the place. the two pups i will keep will get fixed next. i dont have names for them yet. i will think of some. usually i give my dogs injun names. the last dog i had stayed here for years. maybe she was 10-15 years old. i never did get around to naming her. i did give her a good home tho. i took in many animals over the years. animals that people just wanted a home for. so i took them.

i seen on the local tv channel last week about a law they are proposing. the mayor of the capitol city wants to outlaw hoodies and ball caps. his reasoning is it will reduce crime. i dont know how he figures that. i wear a hoodie at times. i dont commit crimes. hell i am an old guy. taking away my outer garment that keeps me warm wont prevent crime. it will just be an inconvenience. i suppose that maybe someone that wears a hoodie or ball cap may commit a crime. its a stretch though to think that all people who wear them commit crimes. politicians. they have too much time to think.

i have been getting inquiries about whether or not i want to buy more hair. i check the leads out. one trapper had short hair. i passed on that. i missed an offer from someone that had alot of hair. i didnt see that email until 3 weeks later. i emailed them anyway and said i was interested. i am always looking to establish a long term business arrangement. i want to buy hair from these trappers every year. i have been getting people that want to buy a roach too. i need more time to make them. been busy doing all kinds of things. i am still sorting the hair i bought so far this year. that will take alot of time. hopefully i will get some done before next pow wow season. i will see after i get the hair sorted. i can be picky in what roaches i make. i dont deal with people that just want to beat me down in price. i dont make cheap quality roaches.

got another holdiay coming up. cant wait………….

the last snow came and went. it didnt last long. the weatherman was right they had more to the north of us. we were suppose to get half an inch. that is about all we got. it melted already. it is suppose to snow again. and maybe sleet.  probably not enough to shut the tribe down. but who knows. i have been sitting here watching the morning news with my fingers crossed.

i thought of a good friend of mine the other night when i was driving home in the snow. the snow coming down reminds me of when we had to pull over because we couldnt handle the snow coming down. we had been smoking the funny stuff. hey we grew up in the sixties. thats what people did back then. we imagined that the snow flakes that kept coming were getting bigger and bigger. it was white out conditions. couldnt see anything. the herb probably intensified the situation. now every time i see snow coming down i remember that time. where ever my friend is i wonder if he thinks about me. he been gone for years now.

i have only been half following the presidential race. if anything the names amuse me. one guy is named mitt. reminds me of a ball glove. and another guy is named newt. like a lizard. another dudes name sounds like sanitarium. they all vying for the job to put our country deeper in debt. both parties are blaming the other for the financial mess we in. reality is they are both responsible. politicians will be our downfall. i wonder if it is even worth voting. most voters actually think their vote counts for something. no matter who gets in there, they work for the rich. they should just open the treasury and let the rich haul off all the money they print. it would be alot easier that way.

my favorite team the jayhawks got beat last weekend. they were beat by a good team that was playing at home. they were even ranked higher. so a loss wasnt out of the ordinary. some made it seem like the jayhawks choked. they should have won. k u will play another highly ranked team tomorrow. they will be in good shape this april after playing so many good teams. i will be a diehard fan all the way.

i dont follow the super bowl all that much. this time i got into a $5 pool. so i had some interest in it. i havent been in any pools lately. i did watch part of the game to see if i would win some money. i didnt win but it made me watch the game. and i wanted to see the t v commercials that advertise as being good. none caught my attention. so i dont know if they were worth a coupla million or not.

my faithful dog konugish is going to the vet today. he will not look at me kindly for a day or two i suspect. he will be fixed today. that should mellow him out big time. if he lasts as long as my last dog he should live here for at least the next 10-15 years. the same with the other dogs i am keeping. a country boy has to have a dog.

yesterday the humane society came to see me. i had asked if they would spay and or neuter my dogs. two ladies that work there came to my home to see the dogs. it wasnt just a simple yes we will do it kinda thing. we negoiated back and forth. the woman that took charge started out with i would have to pay half the cost. i had already gotten a bid of $105 per dog from a vet. i had 9 dogs total. half of the dogs were going to people i knew but they all wanted males. some would take a female if it was neutered. i told the lady that. she said they wouldnt do any if i was going to give them away. it was an all or nothing deal.  thats when she offered to take all the dogs but the ones i would keep. i was thinking of the ones that i promised a pup to. then realized it was about which dogs was i going to keep.

i decided i definitely would keep konugish. he is my dog. he only listens to me. spaying konugish will mellow him out. then the lady said she would take the blue heeler and her pups. i said i wanted one of the males from that litter. then i said i would keep the red heeler female and the blue with the best markings. she finally agreed like she was doing me a favor. which she kinda was. ended up that she will spay and neuter the four i will keep and take the rest. they already had homes for them in colorado. no doubt. these are pure bred heelers. it would be no problem having someone take them.

at any rate i will have all of the dogs fixed at no cost to me. i will keep the dogs that i really want. i am a country boy. i gotta have dogs. how many is too many. i can handle four. two males, two females. two are red and two are blue. that is a good mixture. i know these dogs will be taken care of by me for along time. my last dog stayed here for years. she lived to be about 15 or so. these will be the same.

weatherman is predicting rain. and maybe some snow. kinda wondered when we were going get some snow. i washed my face in snow when i was in wisconsin but not here. the tribe delivered some wood yesterday. i still had some outside that i didnt throw in yet. it has been warm enough that i let the fire go out. and i was sick over the weekend so i didnt throw the rest of the wood into the basement. now i will have to do that sometime before the rain or snow gets here. winter couldnt be here too much longer.

still waiting on winter here. the high today will be almost 70 degrees. this is at the end of january. my chickens are laying eggs because of the warm weather. it is making that al gore sound spooky with all that global warming he talked about. man has messed up his environment.  havent had any snow or cold temperatures yet this season. there is a reason for everything. snow puts moisture in the ground for gardens. the cold kills germs. i am aware of that point as i caught the flu from somewhere.

the  k u jayhawks got beat this past weekend. no big deal since as usual they are playing way over what people expected out of them. it did give the rednecks down the road something to cheer about since their team isnt. they will be better as the season goes on. they had a tough schedule so far this year and still have some top teams to play. i will follow them all the way.   my money will be riding on them again this ncaa tourney.

i will miss a few games because i will be in peru at the end of april. i am still getting used to saying that. i dreamt of doing this for a lifetime.  i dont know if i will feel like the new agers and say i feel the vibes there. i wont look at the many ruins i will go to and think that space aliens built them because the natives couldnt have. i do know it will be a great trip.  the hot springs will be a 5 minute walk from the hotel i stay at when i get to the bottom of the hill at machu picchu. i will soak for sure. i found out i may not see the nasca lines. that would be an all day trip and cost an additional 500 some dollars. i will just stay on the tour and see the rest. my brand new nikon camera isnt acting right. the battery wont hold a charge. i will get that worked on before i leave.

i better check my socks before and after i leave on this trip. when i worked at leavenworth this one preacher kept talking about the trips he took. he just got back from somewhere and was heading somewhere else. everyone was impressed listening to him talk about his missionary travels. india, middle east, europe etc.  his religion sprung for some trips. we were at a check point somewhere inside the prison. so we had to take off our shoes. this dude had a hole in one sock. i thought if you gonna travel the world, at least get some new socks. perhaps he took a vow of poverty. but then the trips had to cost some coin.

i let my newspaper subscriptions lapse long ago. i dont miss them. they were charging more for less paper. the only down side is i am getting more information off the internet. you cant believe everything you read on the net. it must balance out because you couldnt believe everything you read in the paper either. i wrote a paper in college about how if you are exposed to a certain opinion all the time, you soon adopt that opinion as your own. the teacher accepted my point. thats probably why tribal papers across the country have you believe you are in the garden of eden.

will see what this week brings…….

i’m not running a puppy mill but my blue heeler had a litter of pups. shouldnt be a problem. half the pups i have are spoken for.  they will go to good homes. i will keep a few of them. the humane society will spay the mother dogs.  and konugish. i dont know how he will look at me after that.  i did want to keep his blood line going. he is a special dog. he goes everywhere with me. he understands the commands i give him in potawatomi.  i will keep him as long as he wants to stay here.

i went for my scheduled doctors appointment today. i had to have lab tests done. i go to these appointments and labs just as a precautionary measure. i have arthritis which i deal with. havent had pain in along time. i had ived with pain for years. i found that i dont have any other health problems. today the doc told me i might live along time. its in my dna. my ancestors all lived alot of years, so my chances are good that i may also. so one more thing on my bucket list might be crossed off. i want to live long enough to be a crabby old man. just might happen.

i didnt have any problem like what some people talk about at the clinic. i showed up a little early. checked in. waited for my turn. i was taken care of.  i was out of there. no problemo. i have found that if you treat people with respect they in turn will treat you with respect. it was the same when i worked inside prisons. i treated the bros with respect, they treated me with respect. same as on the street. i wonder sometimes if some people get that or not.

recently i was reminded of a guy i worked with years ago out west. he didnt have many friends. he invited me to his place once. he showed me his book collection. it was a set called the great books or something. he said i have everybody–plato, socrates, all of the great authors. i asked him how many he read. he said none so far. i kinda wondered if the books were merely to impress others. but the dude didnt have many friends. so i dont know who they were to suppose to impress. thing is in ways i met other people like him since then. their trip wasnt literature though. they used other things.

the deadline to pay for our trip to peru is coming up at the end of the month. aint no thing. it is all paid for. definitely going. today when i had to schedule another doctor appointment in three months, i was asked if april 25th was okay. i said i hate to sound like a snob but i cant i will be in peru at that time. damn….i waited a lifetime to be able to say that.

i went to the general council meeting again this past saturday. it is open to all enrolled tribal members over the age of 18. i went because i thought it would be amusing. i wasnt wrong.  when i signed in i was number 65. that is the required number for a quorum. signed in members topped out at a hundred something. most stayed til alittle after 2. then it was like lets all get the hell out of here so they lose quorum. i am suprised it wasnt a little sooner.  i seen enough finger pointing,  insults, denials and innuendos to last me until next meeting.

an overused buzzword is sovereignty. it loosely means we control everything within our domain. general councils shoot that down. we cant even control our meetings. it all begins with a prayer. i seen many with their heads bowed. i dont know if they were really praying or were merely asking for strength to smite down thy enemies. as soon as people say amen, the gloves come off.

generally when people approach the open mike they do so in the name of the people. no one comes out and says ‘hey i am here to protect my interests.’  no one wants to point out a hundred some people can pass resolutions for nearly 5 thousand tribal members. the absent have no voice in the matter at all. some say we dont want a handful of people to possess unlimited power. so they propose a resolution to appoint a handful of people to oversee the other handful of people. the choice presented is choose one of us to speak for everyone, that makes the choice which is the lesser of two evils. the general council will become a boy that cried wolf scenerio. one day someone on the floor will propose a valid point that will be overlooked because everyone has heard wolf so many times before. it is getting so that who proposes the motion determines if it gets passed or not.

i eased out of the meeting when it looked like it needed to close. i wanted to watch the k u basketball game. i got home and it wasnt even on the local channel. i didnt find it on the radio either. so i did a few things around the house. back to business as usual i guess…………..

i went to the k u – baylor basketball game the other night. we were leaving and i seen a tall dude being interviewed. i told my family that it was scott pollard. he played for k u a few years back. i am not one to pass up a photo op. so i walked up to him and asked if i could have my picture taken with him. he said sure. he looked bored from the interviews anyway. after this picture was taken i shook hands with him. he was holding a big cigar. later i thought i should have asked him if he had anymore. probably had some good ones. not like the cheap ones i smoked. former pro players dont smoke black and milds.  scott was a real sport posing with this neshnabe. i knew this would go on my blog.

before the game i noticed someone sitting at a table autographing books. it was tyrel reed. so i cut the line and walked up to him and said hey tyrel. he looked up and said hello. so i shook hands with him. the people in line didnt say anything to this crazy indian. maybe one thought go on back to the casino chief. probably not though. our fans are cool. the rednecks are down the road.

the game itself was a real good game. i knew k u would win. they are better than people think about them. and they havent peaked yet. they will be even better as the year goes by. the crowd at allen fieldhouse was loud. they show the decible level when they are loud. i seen it once at 113 decibles. no wonder the players get all hyped up. they gotta feed off the energy. nothing beats watching a game at k u’s home court.

a few weeks ago one of my southern kin was going to come to the rez. she was gonna ride with someone that wanted to hunt deer. she asked if i would show them around. i said i had to work that day. i didnt think about it but later i thought of a great line. i should have told her to tell them to go sit by one of the deer crossing signs and wait. then all they had to do is blast one when they crossed. i seen that in one of the fat freddy comic books. they were the underground dope comix back in the day.  i dont know if  my cousin came up or not.

it hasnt really been cold here yet. i am beginning to wonder if it is going to be cold. i bought a new coat and just got to wear it lately. it wasnt cold enough. i have been just wearing  a hoodie. got the fire going though. the house gets cool if it aint going.

i dont know if the weather will get cold or not. but saturday is the general council meeting. that should get cold. its kinda ironic that they pray before the meeting starts. then later anything goes. you can insult whoever you want at them things. some must save the rage up for 3 months so they can expel it at the meeting. once they good they go home and wait for the next meeging. i may go over there for the entertainment value of it. and i may raise my hand to vote no on some outrageous things that usually get proposed. one of these days someone needs to grow a pair and take charge of the meeting. but maybe not. the meetings get funny sometimes…………nothing says sovereignty like our governing body carrying on like little kids sometimes.

i have been making roaches for over 30 years. my art has come along way in that amount of time. after awhile you kinda see a bit of everything associated with the business. most people are straight up. i can appreciate that. then there are those that take advantage of  situations. i dont appreciate that.  i used to buy hair from the typical supply sources. i had to make due with that because i didnt know any place else to get hair.  it is because of the internet that i can make contact with people in montana, oregon, washington, south dakota etc. now i am able to get better hair. they look for me instead of the other way around.  by cutting out the middleman we both get a better deal. some times the name of the game is you do the work and i buy it from you and double my money. often the middle guy makes more than the ones collecting the hair and the one that makes the roaches. people trust them more than the small business man. there is no haggling with the dealers but i cant count the times i was asked for the ‘indian’ price.

i just scored another batch of real good porky hair. i sort my hair to make better roaches. so i need alot of hair. i could just make them any old way but i still make them the way the old guy that taught me did. i learned that way so i still do it that way. i really appreciate having good hair. i am now stock-piling it for the day i just make roaches. i am realistic enough to know i can be working for myself in an instant. so i am preparing for that day by buying supplies now.  i have bought over 3 pounds of hair so far this winter.  i may still have another pound of hair coming. this will be added to what i already have.  i have orders for roaches that i will get to. i dont always have time to get to them. i been around long enough to know that a real good roach is worth waiting for.

i am glad i have a day off. i was tired from the road trip. i stayed up talking about the language with others til late into the night. i was going on about 5 hours of sleep each night.  not many people care much about the language. it is refreshing to be around people that have a passion for it. i dont know how much i will learn but i will learn something. my mother was my main influence but i had many other teachers. therein lies the problem. sometimes i say things that others arent familiar with. i dont think what i say is wrong. it is the way that these speakers said things. i doubt they are wrong. they were fluent speakers. i am learning to teach my kids and my unborn grand kids. they are my responsibility to teach. i dont look to anyone else to do that job. they will speak the way i learn. maybe when those days come there wont be anyone that gives a damn one way or other.

on the way back from up north we saw a couple of bald eagles. i seen something on the side of the road. i told my cuz who was driving it was an eagle. so he slowed down and stopped next to where the eagle was feeding on a deer carcass. he said there was another eagle up in a tree. i got out to see if i could get a picture with my cell phone. the eagle closest to us flew off as expected. soon after the other one in the tree did also. it was neat to see them so close. i was pretty sure that i had seen an eagle on the way up also.

we stopped in minneapolis on the way up on this trip. my brother larry is buried there. i havent been to his gravesite yet. i am not much into that kind of thing. we were tight. a part of him will always be with me. we went back over 50 years. i got enough memories of him that i dont need small reminders of what we seen together. i feel the same way about my other brothers bubs and mikey.

i have tickets to the k u- baylor basketball game tonight. they arent the 50 dollar tickets up in the rafters. they are the 80 dollar ones right next to them. to far up to wave at the t v cameras. too dark to see. not me, the lighting. tickets are getting a bit steep but then i feel i owe it to myself to see one real good game a year. i bought these tickets a while back. i knew both teams would be good. i didnt predict them to be ranked so high but figured they might be. it should be a good game. maybe too close to miss the ending to go high five the players. i may just have to sit still til the game is over. i already high fived the players anyway at the first exhibition game. will enjoy myself tonight…………

on a road trip to see my potawatomi brethren from forest county. we came up here to attend a dictionary workshop. it was informative. i liked being around some of the few remaining fluent speakers of the language. i like to hear anyone talk in the language. that is encouraging to me. it also makes me realize how much i have to learn. what little i know aint enough. i have to use that as motivation to keep trying to learn. so many of our people couldnt care less about the language. i like to see that there are some that do care alot of the language.

it snowed up here. so i washed my face in the first snow i seen this year. i have tried to do that most of my life. i really cant remember when i didnt. i did that even when i was bumming around the country. where ever i was i tried do that every winter.

i even scored some wild rice up here. been looking for some. we ate the last of what i had for thanksgiving. my bro larry used to keep me supplied with rice. it usually was native picked and fixed. the best kind as far as i am concerned.

we are staying at one of forest countys casinos. it had an exercise room. i used the treadmill tonight after supper. i walked a mile and a half. i cant let my walking go even if i am on the road. its good they have a place to walk here at the hotel. cant walk outside. it is too cold and snowy.

we are heading out in the a.m. we will get home in the evening. its good we have three drivers. we trade off so that no one person has to do all the driving. i like to get away but i enjoy getting back home just as much.

i got an email that the rest of my porky hair is in the mail to me. it might get to my house the same day as i do. i can see what i will be doing the rest of the winter. i have so many roaches that people want. i just make them and i know they will go. not many roach makers left. i was asked to do a small round one. i havent made them but the technique is the same. just made alittle bit different. i probably will make that one. i know the guy asking for it. i respect the man so i will do it for him.

every time i leave home i wonder did anything change for the better while i was gone. i never know til i get back. every day someone does something good….we will see.