Reznjun

tonite pbpn pow wow starts. I haven’t been to any at all this year. this will be my first and probably only pow wow I will attend this pow wow season. that’s okay. it is our pow wow. I will know a lot of the people there. I remember when it used to rain at some of our pow wows. other times it was real hot when it was held in july. we will be able to enjoy fall weather at this one.

I used to travel all over this country to attend pow wows. I went to some just because they were some of the biggest ones. a few are just too big. I have been to a few small traditional pow wows too. while I like pow wows I am not a fanatic about it. I don’t sit there from the first song to the last. I will check out other things when I am at different places. 

I wont stand in line at a pow wow to get an indian taco. I see people that go crazy over them. I only eat indian tacos now and then. I try not to eat too much fried foods. well not counting fried potatoes. 

I charged two of the batteries for my Nikon camera. it takes better pictures than my cell phone. I will take a few pictures. probably more than a few. I have a folder in my computer. it is labeled portraits. it has almost a thousand portraits of people I took. I keep adding to it. I use images of pow wow dancers on my blog. 

I may have the four roaches I finished on display at our pow wow. gotta see if that’s gonna happen. a friend of my sister will have a stand and she agreed to show them. most of the time people don’t carry that kind of extra cash to buy a roach. I mainly want people to see them so when they in the market for one, they will remember this indian that makes roaches. 

I had company the past few days. some of our northern brothers were here. we shared our thoughts on language, history, culture etc. we also shared coffee, indian tea, a few meals and some laughs. I enjoyed our visit. I was invited to come to their place. I may take them up on that offer. 

someone at a flea market told me to start a collection of anything. someday it might be worth something. I ended up with a collection of Pendleton coffee cups. I wasn’t trying to get a collection. it just happened. I bought a couple because I like the size. it is just right for the amount of coffee I drink. I don’t like to use small cups. I was given several as gifts. soon I had a bunch of them. that is what got me started saving them. I did give a few away though.

I had four duplicates. I seen there were Pendleton cups I didn’t have. I had mary try to sell my duplicates for half price of what a new one would cost. someone made a deal with us to buy all four for $30. I took that money and went to the tribes gift shops and bought 4 new ones I didn’t have. one place had a 20% discount and the other had a 30% discount. using that $30 and the discount, I got the new ones for $10 each. not a bad deal. now I have 18 Pendleton cups and each one is a different design.

at the pow wow I will add to my t shirt collection and indian decals for my riding mower. I usually check out the stands for giveaways. I try to find nice things that people will cherish when they are given them. as a people, we are suppose to be giving. I hope to find something because fall dance is coming. meanwhile I will enjoy the pow wow………………

finally finished this yellow roach I was working on. that makes four I have completed. I aint trying to rush them, I got my rhythm going. it don’t take long for me to get one done. I added this yellow roach to my for sale page on this site.

yesterday I dyed yarn and two deer tails Kelly green. that will be part of my next roach. obviously it will be a green roach. i am trying to make as many different colors as I can. eventually I will have a roach to match about any color combination. 

I am continuously sorting hair. that job never seems to end because I have about 15 pounds of hair to go thru. I wont buy any more this year unless it is a real good deal. I have enough hair to easily make over 100 roaches. good thing I had the foresight to buy all the porcupine hair I could get my hands on. 

I will sew up the base for this next roach. that’s the part I don’t care for but it has to be done. its a good thing i had to sew things back in my bachelor days. I remember a pair of dungarees I had in my hippie days. they were full of patches. I musta looked like a street character. 

I wont have my green roach done by pow wow time. the boss ( me) said to kick back and enjoy watching the indians watch the indians. interesting enough I will check out a migo stand for their tacos. or get a smoked turkey leg if that stand is there. I can eat ‘indian food’ anytime. it is always a bit pricey at pow wows anyway. 

speaking of indian food, I have some of my dried corn on. making corn soup with the last of that buffalo roast I had. it is about done. it really tastes good. I grow corn because I like corn soup. it is the best. I don’t have to pay anybody for it. I can pat myself on the back for putting in all the work it takes to grow it. 

I got a call from the KU williams fund people. I renewed my pledge. I do this because I am a big KU mens basketball fan. it allows me to buy tickets before they go on sale to the general public. I have gone to the opening exhibition game for the past 10-15 years. lost track of how many I have been to. the exhibition games are usually blow outs. that’s okay with me. it allows me to go down to the tunnel to high five our players. that is my ritual. 

gotta psyche up for the pow wow…………..

my per cap is about gone. alas poor per cap, I knew it well.  that’s okay I got my moneys worth. I owed for my battery and tires. I accept that expense. gotta keep the car running. I wanted a road trip but had to cancel it because my tires were shot. now I have to save for my Hawaii trip.

I went to bingo, didn’t win but I had my juice. gotta have that too. I have cut back on my bingo. it costs too much for what you get out of it. I aint like some players who buy up hundreds of cards. they take the fun out of it. 

I bought chicken feed and dog food. I take care of my animals because they take care of me. the dogs would bang against the door when we were walking. they would be anxious to go. they must know I am slightly down because they haven’t done that since my knee stopped me from walking. smart dogs. my knee is better so we will start walking again soon. I wont press it though.

I stopped by the meat locker and bought a mixed bundle. I gotta eat meat that aint full of growth hormones etc.  and the meat from the locker tastes better. its rare that I buy meat from the grocery store. now all we have to do is go to our freezer and get out some pork chops, steaks or bacon.

I will have a few bucks to spend at our pow wow. it is this coming week end. maybe I will buy some decals for my riding mower. it aint pimped out as much as i want. I usually get a t shirt from a tribal members stand. he air brushes them. I get my indian name or my websites name put on a t shirt. 

there are a few people we haven’t seen in awhile who are coming to the pow wow. some are marys friends. some I know. I probably will get in a lot of visiting. gotta charge my Nikon batteries too. need to take some pictures to post on my blog. I lost count of how many pictures I have taken over the years. thousands. I will take some more. 

lately I have been eating oatmeal for breakfast. trying to eat healthy. for years I wouldn’t eat oatmeal. it reminded me of boarding school. we had to eat it every morning except sundays. we were given a bowl of corn flakes for that special day I guess. I have let go of boarding school memories enough that I can now eat oatmeal. I still wont go into a church though. 

I forgot to mention bout when I went to that injun movie last week. they gave me a $2 discount on admission. I seen the sign that said senior citizens got that discount. I liked I saved a coupla bucks but they could have asked me if I was over 60. that would have made me feel better maybe. guess I look like an old guy. I was talking to an old lady at the flea market. she asked why I was limping. I told her. then I said its hell getting old. she nodded. I add but its hell not getting old. she smiled. at least we made it to old age. I know too many that haven’t. 

the roach I am currently working on is half finished. my boss (me) said take your time, finish it when you can. that’s what is nice bout being your own boss. you do things when you feel like it. it still gets done. this one will be a good one when it is completed. 

I went to that njun movie the other day. I was surprised there were only 3 of us in the theater. maybe we were the only ones that hadn’t seen it. or maybe cuz it was showing during a work/school day. yeah that’s it.

or maybe not many care bout indian movies. indians have to stay in the public’s eye. otherwise the government owned police force can pepper spray them, shoot them with rubber bullets or sic the attack dogs on them when they protest for clean drinking water . wait that cant possibly happen. this is America. at least the big business owned politicians can’t evict us from this country like they want to with our brown brothers and sisters. 

I had my dr appt. and lab test yesterday. I told the doc bout my knee hurting. he checked it out and told me it was arthritis.  I was hoping it was a sprain that would go away. I thought great, just what I need. I already have arthritis in my back. doc told me to find a happy median in walking. maybe only do 6 miles a week. I have to stay active or else I experience pain in my back. so I am damned if I do, damned if I don’t. I will keep walking. 

today is per cap. I aint rushing to town. half of my check aint gonna hit the bottom of my pocket. I gotta pay off the new tires I had to have on my car. I also have to pay for the new battery I bought for my car. after that I will have a few bucks left.

I am planning to go to bingo. I haven’t gone in a while because I was bokske. (translation: indian slang for broke) tonite I will go play. its my sister jackies birthday. we will meet her over there. lets hope this indian can win some bucks. 

first I have to go pick up the grand sons in Lawrence. they talk all the way home. I will get to sleep in tomorrow. last Saturday Andrew came into my room and woke me up. he said you should mow the yard misho. I just finished mowing the yard. now the kid cant wake me up. 

mary has a stand at the per cap flea market at the bingo hall. she makes a few extra dollars there. one time she sold our dvds. she made several hundred off that. it came in handy when we went to vegas. my niece and daughter in law also are having a stand. I hope they do well.

yesterday I cooked a buffalo roast. got it from the tribe. usually I only get some burger, so a roast was a big score for me. just a few closest to the fort get the prime cuts. I put the roast in the crockpot with leeks, red bell peppers, onions, green chiles and garlic. I grew all of those except the garlic, which I bought at the farmers market. the roast tasted great. I used the liquid the roast was cooked in to cook egg noodles in. I got the noodles from an amish store. I think I will warm that up for my lunch today. 

gotta get some work done on this latest roach……….

I do get off the rez now and then. my car is running and I got my old folks check. I am going to see “neither wolf nor dog” in Lawrence this afternoon. its an indian movie filmed on the pine ridge rez. don’t know much about it other than its got indians in it. movies with indians in them are rare so indians gotta see them. it has been advertised on a facebook page.

it says based on an award winning book. don’t know if it is written by an njun. most likely not. indian writers are like indian actors. there are only a handful of them. don’t think there are any country indian writers though. if I got famous and they made a movie about me, who would play me. wes studi? adam beach? graham greene?  gary farmer? probably the fat guy.

this movie will leave town tomorrow. I better see it before its gone. otherwise I have to wait until it comes out on dvd. its funny how you can buy almost any used dvd for 5 bucks but all indian dvds cost you at least $20. its still like the old indian trader days. if indians want it, someone will supply it at a marked up price. 

I drove to Lawrence to catch a movie years ago. it was last temptation of Christ. the reason I had to go there was Topeka banned it. I wasn’t really into the movie, I had to see it because someone else decided I wasn’t allowed to. I wasn’t gonna let backwoods Kansas standards stop me. after it was over I thought they shoulda banned it cuz it wasn’t that good. not because it was controversial.

I usually go to any movie that has an indian in it. kinda got burned on that when I went to see the last lone ranger and tonto. that one was almost funny while not trying to be. johnny depp played tonto. he had a dead bird on his head through out the movie. it started with him looking like he was 150 years old.

I remember back when tonto was the only indian on t.v. he was the indian we were suppose to emulate. yes kemo sabe, me do kemo sabe. seen too many indians like that. some still are like that. 

I hope this movie is worth the hours drive there and another hour drive home. I don’t know how parking is downtown Lawrence. last thing I need is a parking ticket. Lawrence has a thriving down town. a lot of down towns are dead. you only go to down town Topeekie when you have to for business or something.

my knee is getting better. been staying off it. it stiffens up when I am sorting porky hair. when I get up it hurts alittle until it loosens up. I hope I don’t have a long walk from my car to the theater. 

I better get in some work on my roach before I head out. I log a few hours on roach making almost everyday.

I went over to the daycare this morning. it was grand parents day. the kids were allowed to have breakfast with their grand parents. mary and I ate with kinikwe and miamikwe. I enjoy any time I spend with my grandkids. 

I tend to think I was kept alive so I could enjoy my grand kids. I have been taught that when we endure hardships later on we receive blessings for that. that’s why I believe my time with my grandkids is my blessing. I have seen some hard times now I get to enjoy life. 

one of the staff at the daycare said I would be proud that they dried two gallons of corn. I said yeah, that’s good. I used to help the daycare with gardening. I am happy they still take care of one. they expose the kids to gardening. that is education at its best. 

I only knew one of my grand parents, that was my misho. he died when I was about 7. didn’t know my grandmother. she died when my mother was about 5. because my parents were divorced I didn’t know my paternal grandparents. i missed the opportunity of growing up with grand parents. I am lucky that I was exposed to their teachings. I hold on to that part of them. I want my grand kids to know me as their misho. I try to teach them good things. 

I am happy I drove my car to breakfast. I went after a battery this weekend and put it in the car. it started right up. I knew it would. gotta keep that car running as long as I can. some one I used to work with had a car just like mine. it has 250,000 miles on it and still runs. that might mean I have a chance to drive mine another year or two. that would save me money by not having any car payments. there is an old joke bout rez cars. no such thing anymore. even kids drive new cars. maybe my car with be a rez car.

I have been out and about on the rez. went to a few things. people noticed I was limping. don’t know how many times I had to explain about how I sprained my knee. got lotsa advice about how to take care of it.  I even had offers of knee braces, ice packs and canes. I replied I should just stay off it but haven’t been able to. one person said they hoped I would be alright by fall dance. I agreed. 

i probably will finish my yellow roach this week. i will work on it today. gotta stay off my sore knee. i will do that this week. rest it up so i am ready to go when i get my per cap and old folks check. half my per cap is gone already. i have to pay off my new tires i had to have. maybe i will order some deer tails. i have plenty of porky hair but am running short on deer tails. money comes, and money goes.

better get busy working on a roach…………………

and not an indian was stirring. this one cant cuz his car needs a battery. I gotta get the old car on the road before per cap and my old folks check comes in.

kids drive newer cars than mine. my car is ten years old and has over 200,000 miles on it. I don’t have a car payment so this old guy will drive it til it wont run no mo.

seen one of my nephews last night. he is passing thru from Georgia on his way to his next duty station. he will be stationed in Colorado. glad he will be close by and not some where half way across the world. but then traveling is a growing experience. I asked him what he does, he said he is in the infantry. I watched him grow up. now he is in the army. like I need another reminder I am getting older. 

when my nephew seen me he came up to me and shook my hand. I asked him what about a hug. he said I didn’t think you were the hugging type. I said I aint but he did hug me. I am not all that demonstrative like I see some of our people at pow wows or gatherings. the rest of the time, when they aint on exhibit, they are apathetic toward each other. 

every where I go I hear someone call me uncle, shishe, or misho. I kinda like that. it makes that connection that we are related and have some kind of bond. see too many of our people that are mean to others. our teachings tell us we are suppose to get along and help each other. 

I always keep up with the news. been watching the damage that the hurricanes are causing. seems ironic that when indians stood up to protect water they were beaten, pepper sprayed, hit with rubber bullets etc. now water is showing man he is powerless against it. we gotta respect water, there can be no life without it. I depend on it for the food I eat. 

I gotta finish the yellow roach I started. got the base done. now I have to tie the deer tail trim for the inside. then tie the porcupine hair. I will never use the synthetic stuff some use. I will continue to make roaches the way I was taught…..

this is the last roach I finished. it is an 15 inch one with 8 inch front hair. I posted this same picture on my for sale page. I have already started on another one. I dyed the yarn and deer tails yesterday. I am sorting more hair while they are drying. my next roach will be a yellow one. 

I agree when some say its hell getting old. well not really. it is a blessing to get old. I lost many friends and relatives who didn’t get to make it to being old. I had to quit walking because of the pain in my knee. I musta stretched a ligament or tendon. it was slightly hurting before I started walking. all that walking aggravated it. then a few days ago I almost couldn’t walk because of the pain in my knee. I couldn’t put any pressure on it. 

my lab and doctors appointment is next week. I didn’t know if there would be any openings at the clinic before then so I thought I would tough it out. well with a few pain pills and muscle relaxants I have for my arthritis. I also have one of those rice bags that you nuke in the micro wave. that heat reduced the swelling. I am glad it is slowly getting better now. I was proud of the miles I was logging while walking. then my knee got hurt and I had to quit walking. I will pick it up again when its healed. 

I had this salve this indian guy gave me. its a home remedy. never had a chance to use it til my knee hurt. it gives temporary relief. I rubbed it on my knee after applying heat. it helps. I also bought some salve from the amish store last month. it helps too. seems like I get different medicines whenever I travel. they are what was used before modern medicine. 

my knee aint the only thing that gave out. my trusty rav4 wouldn’t start because of a dead battery. I anticipated that. the last oil change warned me about it. they said it needed attention. I only half believe oil change places. they kinda like politicians. you don’t know if what they say is true or not. some places always trying to scam a sale of a over priced air filter or something when you go for an oil change. I was hoping my battery would hold out til per cap next week. it didn’t. 

its a good thing I have my roach making. it is keeping me busy while my knee is out and my car down. it don’t bother me that I am home. I have plenty of work to do. I have a porcupine hair wanted page on this site. every fall and winter season I am contacted by trappers that sell porky hair. because of that page I am sitting on about 15 pounds of hair. that is enough to make about 150 roaches. I probably wont buy any more hair unless I get a real good deal on it. I plan on making roaches whenever I can. I put in lotsa hours every week. 

gotta get to work

the other evening Andrew told me to come see the sun. I had to indulge him as I always do. the sun was totally red as it was setting. I tried to take a picture of it with my small sony camera because my Nikon battery needs to be charged. the sony wouldn’t pick up the pretty red color. the picture didn’t show the sun as a full circle because of the glare. I took this picture with my cell phone. it didn’t get the all red color either. cameras cant see what the eye can see.

last  evening I went for my two mile walk. we were almost home when I looked toward the setting sun. it was totally reddish orange. I don’t carry my phone when I walk so I couldn’t take a picture. it was kinda cloudy so the glare wouldn’t have been as bad as the night before. by the time I made it home the clouds covered the sunset up. couldn’t see it, so no picture. 

yesterday was a holiday. that means it was a day off for most of the country. not for me. I fed my animals as I do every day. I finished tying the deer tail trim on the tail piece of the roach I was working on.  I thought might as well finish it, it is so close to being done. I have three of them done now..

I will start another one now. maybe a yellow one. get all the primary colors going so they match some outfits. I don’t have any yellow yarn or deer tails so I will have to dye them too. I have about a dozen white deer tails left. after I use them up, I will have to buy some more. the price doubled on them since I bought them last. more than likely I will wait til the October sales are on. the tails are longer at that time. 

when I went to the big flea market at sparks I was looking for 3 ply rug yarn. that is what I use for the roach base. the company that made 3 ply rug yarn went out of business. it was called aunt lydias and it had another company called caron that made 3 ply. that’s why the price went up. I used to buy mine at garage sales or flea markets. I would get each skein for a quarter or up to a dollar.

I had a grow box that I planted leeks in. I use them in cooking especially when cooking turtle.  I use leeks, garlic and diced up celery. it takes the gamey taste out of turtle. I use leeks in soups and stews too.  the dozen leeks I planted are full grown now. I pulled them and diced them up and put in freezer bags. I filled two one gallon freezer bags with them. 

gotta start another roach….

ended up going to the flea market in sparks yesterday after all. I finished fixing my sema. I have most of the work done on my latest roach. it don’t take long to get one done. I thought it wont hurt to go have a look. you never know what you gonna find at auctions and flea markets. whenever a salesperson asks what I am looking for, I tell them I don’t know until I see it. they usually say I know what you mean. 

I walked for about 3 and a half hours. I got my exercise in. it isn’t walking all that time but I am on my feet constantly. that is tiring and sometimes causes my back to ache. I plan on walking my two miles this evening.

my son joe and his family were there too but we didn’t see them. they were looking for us too. there are so many stands. I go to these things so often, some of the dealers kinda recognize me. I try to see what things are worth and I remember their value. I look for bargains. there are times I will pass on something because I think it is priced too high. I know when I seen it cheaper. stands sell the same things at all the flea markets.

now I try to get a better price if i can. took me a while to even try that. I seen so many little old ladies do it, I thought i will too. I found a nice wood bowl. it was marked $18, I asked the lady if she would take 15 for it. she said yeah so I bought it. I will use it to play indian dice. it is the right size. wooden bowls are hard to find. when you do find them, they are listed as antiques. that means a higher price for them. 

I found a small wooden t ball bat. it was marked $4, I asked the guy if he would take two. he said he would take 3. so I bought it. I will use it to wrap roaches around. they sell sticks at supply houses to wrap roaches on for $5. I use that as a price to beat. another guy had two bats he wanted $10 for. I passed. I have a bunch of them I bought cheaper over the years. 

I bought two metal o rings. I know it is modern but I use them when I am lacing up a hand drum. I found me a holster that was marked $8. the guy said he didn’t know what it would fit. I said I had a .22 pistol that it would fit. he said yeah it looked like it would fit a .22. I asked if him if he  would take $5.  he said he would take 6, so I bought it. I will carry my pistol when I walk in the timber by my house. 

I wanted a smoked turkey leg most of all. I went to a bbq stand and asked if they had any. the guy said to come back in an hour. I did. by that time I was ready to sit down at one of his tables. I ate part of the turkey leg and wrapped it up to take home. the other half was my supper. though I didn’t buy much  it was worth the trip to me. 

today I will finish tying the porcupine hair for my current roach. I know its a 4 day weekend. I tell people when you retired every weekend is a 4 day weekend. I work when I feel like it. I want this one done so I can start another. I have a deal with someone that will have a stand at our pow wow. she will show my roaches at her stand. if she sells any I said she can have 10% commission. gotta get busy.