Category: da rez blog

there will be an extra day this year because it is leap year. don’t know what I will do with another day. every day is another day. I have been sorting porcupine hair. maybe I will do that. it is a never ending job. I have pounds of hair to do yet. I put in a few hours working on that whenever I can.

i dont stay glued to the tv set. I have been doing some binge watching while I sort porcupine hair though. I like the idea of watching the entire series at once. well more like over a few days. watching every week for a few months aint all that great. especially if I have something else to do on a given night. I never know when I am called on to do something.

leap year may be good news for Jayhawk fans like me. we have won national championships on leap years. well this is a leap year. and we have a good team. I hope for a championship every year. we don’t get it but at least we have a program that competes for one every year.

tomorrow the hawks play k-state. no doubt there will be talk of the brawl last game. i still say desousa took a lot. they kept pushing him until they knocked him to the ground. then he came up swinging.  I know a lot of people who would do the same. they over reacted on his punishment. like they haven’t done enough to the kid.

some cant let talk of the ‘brawl’ go. guess they need talking points. it wont be much of a game. ku has been undefeated since that game and has become the top ranked team in the country. k-states season has ended since then.  they prefer the NIT because it is easier to spell than NCAA.

k u will beat them easily. our bench should get some playing time. that will give our starters some rest. our team is peaking about the right time. hopefully we dont get any more injuries.

i am drinking more water. it is suppose to flush your system. I keep track of my water intake daily. sometimes I drink green tea with fresh lemon juice squeezed into it. my supply of indian tea is dwindling. I will have to pick more this spring. I mean a years supply of it. I know many places where it grows.

the temperatures are gonna warm up this weekend. it might even reach 70 degrees on sunday. mary and I plan to go walk on the road. gonna log some miles. i kinda slacked up some. when I let the wood stove go out,  I don’t go to the basement as much. that shouldn’t be an excuse. I just need to get back to walking again.

a nephew loaned us his chainsaw. we are gonna cut up the elm tree that fell in our yard. the ice storm caused it to fall. we will save the wood for ceremonial use. it is a big tree. probably a pickup load of it.

got to do my chores.

I haven’t read my last book I bought. it is about the petroglyphs in Kansas. I did a fast leaf thru it. seen a few pictures. I will make the time to read it eventually. I want to know about everything in the book. if I ever get a  chance to go see any of these petroglyphs I will. I wasn’t aware that our state had any until I seen this book.

we have some rocks on the rez that have carvings on them. they are called the hay rocks. I guess cuz men working on haying crews would carve dates or symbols into the rock while on break. luckily there is no graffiti scratched into them like some that are in the book and at other places that have petroglyphs.

I knew this one dude who was an archeologist. I took him to our rocks. he said I wonder where these workers got their inspiration for their carving. he meant that they must have seen older carvings somewhere else. I wonder bout that too.

I remember an old man here on the rez. we were driving on the road. he pointed at a hill. he said when the potawatomis came here they carved a marker on a rock over the top of the hill. it was on the rez boundary. the land is owned by a farmer or rancher. I always wonder what the rock looks like. or if it is even still there.

I half watched the democratic presidential candidates debate last night. my impression is I hope they don’t blow this next election. they are doing a good job of eliminating each other. I wish they would unite behind one candidate and try to defeat the guy we are stuck with.

I am reminded of some of our tribal elections when I watch the debates. it seems like attacking your opponent is the way to campaign. we see that some times in indian country.  a few cant run on their own merit. instead they cut down others (even if they have to make up lies) and hope people believe them. then we wonder how we got some of the elected officials we had.

I got a fit bit as a present. it took some time to get used to wearing it. I never wear any jewelry or watches. I wanted to keep track of how much walking I am doing. ironically I am doing less walking since I got the fit bit. I am drinking more water. I  keep track of it on the fit bit.

the fit bit locked up on me for a few days. then all of a sudden it started to work again. I put it back on. I keep track of how much sleep I am getting too. when the weather warms up I will start walking on the road again. that may be soon.

the jayhawks play k state next. I am tired of hearing about the ‘brawl’. I think de sousa held back and wasn’t trying to fight. he finally did after he was knocked down. our program isn’t about brawling. the news people have that wrong. we have a class program. we beat them on the court.  rock chalk.

I hit the road for the first time in my newer rav4. the boys went home early this weekend. it was Andrews birthday. his grandmother from the south west came to see him.

he was with us on thursday and friday because they didnt have school. we went out to eat at a migo place. he asked when are they gonna sing. they came out and sang happy birthday to him. he had to  wear a sombrero. he wasnt too embarrassed by it.

Saturday we headed down to Oklahoma. I haven’t gambled in a long time. I wanted to play bingo.  i like the place in newkirk. it is about a 3 and a half hour drive from here. the bingo hall was packed. we found a coupla empty seats in the glassed off non smoking section.

we asked the lady sitting at that table if the seats were taken. she didn’t answer. she only moved her things to the side. we sat down. the lady tried acting all hard. as grumpy as she was, it wasn’t a surprise she sat alone. the bingo place gave away drawing tickets. we gave her ours. we said we were from out of town and wouldn’t be there.

we kept talking to the lady. by the time bingo was over, we were alright. she said she wasnt a good person to sit by at bingo. we had no choice. the place was full. we didnt mind trying to be nice to her. all the people around us eventually were talking to us. it was a mixture of different races. people are people. if you are good to them, they will be good to you I think.

being nice to that lady musta been good mojo. we felt lucky. we didn’t win at the bingo hall. we went to the casinos at the state line. mary hit a few jack pots. it was enough to pay for our trip. so basically we played for nothing. our getaway cost us nothing. that was worth it.

my car gives us the gas mileage average. at one point it said I was getting 27 miles a gallon. that aint real good but I will take it. we seen an eagle going down to Oklahoma and I seen one another on the way back home. good mojo.

we stopped at sharps indian store. mary needed some beading needles. I didn’t see anything that I had to have. we also ate at the drive in diner i like. they make good cheese burgers. I usually stop there to get one. mine was good.

we got home early sunday afternoon. we watched the K U game against number one team in the country that we recorded. we knew the jayhawks won. we got to watch the last minute of the game Saturday when we checked into the motel. we watched the whole game to see how they won. they were good.

we went to my sons house for supper. it was marys birthday. she wanted to play pitch. we haven’t played cards in awhile. we enjoyed our family get together.

i will watch the number one jayhawks play tonight. I think this team can win the national championship. gotta see how this season plays out. rock chalk.

I ordered a book off amazon. it is about the petroglyphs of Kansas. I have seen petroglyphs in  chaco canyon, mesa verde and canyon de chelly. i also seen them on a beach in wrangell Alaska and in a lava field in hawaii. I took pictures of many of them.

i havent seen any in Kansas though. I wasn’t aware of them until I seen this book being advertised. I read that some are on private land. might not get to see these so I bought the book. the author of this book is speaking in hays about the book. I probably wont  make it to hear him speak about kansas’ petroglyphs.

they give tours of the Kansas petroglyphs now and then. I will look for them. I do want to go check them out myself. I think some of these are in the flint hills. i have to read the book to know where the rest are located and what they look like.

today is the big game between number 1 baylor and our number 3 jayhawks. las vegas posted the odds. they have baylor as a two point favorite. i would take that bet. I think the jayhawks will win. we are playing better than we were in the first game. I have faith in k u. the tv announcers always act like the other team will upset ku. bet they don’t say that about us winning. it wont be an upset though.

we took the boys to the topeka zoo. I was surprised at the cost to get into the ‘world famous’ zoo. half the animals weren’t out. we didnt get to see elephants or lions. we didn’t get a discount either. the boys had fun so I guess it was alright. even if all the animals were out, the zoo isnt that big. don’t know what makes it famous.

my chickens are laying 8 to 11 eggs a day. I am glad my relatives are buying the extras. now and then mary takes them to see if anyone wants to buy them. I dont know why anyone would pass. I gotta have fresh eggs. they taste the best. that’s why I raise chickens.

gotta get my chores done.

it isnt unusual to see eagles on the rez. I have seen them over the years. some say it is more common in the winter. I have seen them at other times too. I even seen young golden eagles. I could tell by their black and white tails. so I imaging maybe they breed here too.

i let my wood stove go out a few days. I started a fire in it last night. temps are going to be in the low 20s the next few  nights. I didn’t want to wake up to a cold floor. yesterday I threw some more wood into the basement. I wanted enough to keep a fire going thru the cooler temps we gonna have.

i lost interest in listening to the news. I have no faith in our government. they can do anything they want. money buys our politicians. it has always been that way. they are more open about it now.

i sold my old rav4. it gave out on us a few months ago. we were driving and it wouldn’t go into gear. i assumed it was the transmission. I aint a mechanic. I am not like one of those guys  on tv. they open the hood, adjust something near the carburetor and say ‘now try it’. and it works great. back when others were working on cars I was partying.

i thought if it was the tranny it would cost enough to make a down payment on another car. I drove that old rav4 for 7 years. I put 160 thousand miles on it. after fixing it probably got another 100 thou on it. I didn’t want to mess with it though. I was ready for a new (to me) rav4. I want a car I can take as many road trips in as my old one gave me.

anyway I  sold the old one to a relative who needed some wheels right now. I told her whats wrong with it. she was willing to work on it. I think it will be a good car once it is one the road. I didn’t ask much for it.

now i got some coin that hit the bottom of my pocket. I kinda wanna go to a big bingo hall down south. they pay more for less buy in there. I haven’t gambled very much at all these past few years. maybe bingo  3 times, slots once or twice. I deserve a night out and I need to take my new car on the road.

i will go to this drive in hamburger joint I like down there. I don’t eat burgers that often. these ones are worth eating. maybe I will check out that indian store down there too. I look for what is on sale.

the boys don’t have school this Thursday and Friday. not it aint a tribal school. we pick them up tonight. they will be with us a few days. it is Andrews birthday tomorrow. I know he will expect a birthday gift. I admit we spoil our grand kids. but i also make them mind. they listen to misho.

gotta do my chores.

i like driving by the buffalo pen. we didn’t have any buffalo here when i was young. really we didn’t have very much at all here on the rez. that’s why not many wanted to live here.  i like to take pictures of our buffalo. i see if i can get one good picture of them. sounds easy but it aint. i find if i take enough pictures, i will get one i like.

I  have noticed the geese are more active now.  they must be getting ready for spring. I seen them flying overhead many times the past few weeks. I hear them before I see them.  i got a picture of some snow geese flying over my house.

my grand kids were over this week end. they wanted to play outside. they made a couple more snow men. now we have 3 of them. most of the snow is  melted now except the snowmen. they are still standing but slowly melting away. wont be around for much longer though. temps will be in the 50s today. bye snow men.

I don’t have a bucket list. if I did, I would say a trip to china is at the top. I wanna walk on the great wall. sounds like now isn’t a good time to go. people are reacting to the coronavirus. or over reacting. the news reported that some are avoiding Chinatown in NYC. business is down there even though no cases have been reported. lets see a virus on the other side of the world and people avoid all Chinese.

I imagine that people wont plan trips to china in the immediate future. later on maybe they will have good deals to draw tourists back. I will keep an eye on travel  deals.

i am binge watching another show. I will sort hair while watching this series. I will get something done. I have so much porky hair I bought over the years. it will take a long time to sort all of the hair I have. i have pounds and pounds of it.

i didnt add any more grow boxes last year. I will make some this spring. I prefer planting in grow boxes. the soil in my garden gets packed by the end of the growing season. I don’t have that problem in grow boxes. I get a better crop in them. i want more vegetables I can save for the coming year.

indian people  are suppose to help each other. not all of our people believe in that. recently a young lady called about a problem we had for a coupla years. the ones that were suppose to help us with that didn’t want to deal with it. I accept that’s how the fort system works. or don’t work. some have lost contact with  our ways.

well this young lady took care of our problem in no time. I told her i appreciated her help. I wondered why this couldn’t have been done a few years ago. all it took was a few calls and an email. I am glad some of our people are willing to help. thats the way it is suppose to be. its just a few that are heartless.

tonight I will watch the jayhawks’ basketball team. they are peaking at the right time of year. rock chalk.

yesterday andrew had to have a snow man. the  boys didnt have school. misho had to get out there and help him. the snow was kinda froze. it wouldn’t stick together when we tried to roll a ball of it. we had to pile it up  and hand tamp it together. it didnt hold together very good. we couldnt make the three layered one.

andrew was all into it. the snow man needed arms. i told him to use some of the broken branches from the last ice storm. he used rocks from the driveway for eyes and buttons. twigs for the nose and mouth. i added an old plastic top hat from new years. he was pleased with the result. I didn’t feel the cold until we went back inside.

i was out and about yesterday.  I drove all over the rez and visited with many. sometimes I think it is strange that people text others on cell phones instead of talking to the ones they are with.  I still like to  talk to people. conversation is not a dying art with me.

i remember how it was on the rez when I was young. old Indians used to come to misho’s house to visit. they would stay all day and spend the night there. next day they would talk all day again. many of them talked indian.

I used to hang around to listen until they chased the kids away. they did that when some one was making noise while they talked. if i was quiet and listened they didnt bother me.  I had to help make coffee for our visitors. eventually I started drinking the coffee.

while i drove around the rez I had my .22 in the car. that was in case I seen a rabbit. I didn’t see any. one guy said there werent as many around as there used to be. I agreed. I said I usually have them in my garden. another guy asked if I had any luck with my live traps. I said not yet. i have been setting them for the past month or so.

i aint giving up on my trapping. I am kind of like this one guy who was hunting. he was asked how many he had. he said if I get this one and two more, I will have three. that’s what I am thinking.

when i was young my brothers and i would go rabbit hunting after any snow fall. they are easy to spot in the snow. I would go by myself too. I couldn’t guess how many miles I would walk. I know I walked all day. i knew all the creeks or draws for miles around our house. i only went home when the cold finally got to me. sometimes I would be carrying game, other times I was empty handed. such is life.

yesterday I heard someone pull into my yard. I looked out and seen a tribal truck loaded with wood. it backed out and left. I guess they were bringing me a load of wood but seen some still piled up in the yard. they didn’t know I bought a load because they brought me a load of green wood. I needed dry wood to get the green burning. the load I bought was green too. so I lost all around. again such is life.

fed the chickens this morning in the snow. they were already scratching up the snow looking for any feed under it. I threw the feed where they were scratching, they went after it.

yesterday we drove over to an amish settlement in Missouri. I like the drive. it is something to do on a slow day. I wanted some of the home made egg noodles they sell in bulk. I also bought some home made peanut butter. the grandsons usually want peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

we also checked out the  bakery they have there. I bought some cinnamon rolls. mary bought a loaf of fresh baked bread and fresh dinner rolls. i also bought this strawberry filled donut. this diabetic aint suppose to eat too many sweets but I had to have one. it reminded me of my old parochial boarding school days. it tasted so good it had to be a sin. I would have had to say 10 our fathers and 10 hail marys for enjoying it. that’s how good it was.

we drove into town and checked out the antique shops. I like looking at old things. i see stuff we had when I was young. it was junk when we had it. now it sells for a few bucks as an antique. I didn’t find anything I had to have.

we ate at a ma and pa diner in the small town. those places have the best food. I ordered a house special, the ‘amish dinner’. it was roast beef with mashed potatoes, cole slaw, green beans, amish dressing and a dinner roll. it was all home made. it sure tasted good. I couldn’t finish it so I got a to go box and brought it home.

we drove over there on narrow two laned roads. on the way back I seen a big bird in a cottonwood tree. I slowed down and seen a bald eagle. the white head and white tail feathers are easy to spot.

it is snowing right now. don’t know how much we gonna get. I hope it stops before this evening. I want to go to my sons house to watch the k u game. he has espn+ as part of the Disney package he bought. I am glad he has that. I didnt want to have to be nice to someone I don’t care for just to watch the game.

i had an elm tree in the front yard. branches of it kept breaking off. the rest of it came down at the last ice storm. the ice was so heavy it made the tree fall over. i have been using the branches for kindling. it gets the fire going quick. some day I will have to borrow a chain saw to cut up the bigger pieces.

i am keeping our fire going. don’t know how much more winter we will have. I know it aint over yet. I am sure I have enough wood to keep the house warm though.

next I will be leafing thru the seed catalogs. I will buy what seeds I don’t have saved. spring might be early with the weather we have been having. I am ready for spring even if it is early.

we drove to Lawrence Friday to pick up the boys. that gives us a few more hours with them. they talk all the way home. last week end we seen eagles going down there and on the way back home. good mojo.

this week we drove the back roads. traffic is too fast on the turnpike. we took the narrow two land road that goes to lake Shawnee.  I wanted to see the eagle nest on the south side of the lake. the boys wanted to play on the play ground. we did both. I didn’t get to see the eagle though. they musta been hunting.

yesterday we had our fund raiser for the dance ground. soup and bread was served for a good will donation. the money goes toward expenses. we took a pot of soup there.

there was a good turn out. we enjoyed visiting with people. I like talking with older members. we have more in common. we remember the older ones we talk about. the older ones may be gone but are still thought of.

i told a coupla stories about my uncles. everyone said they were hard hearing. I used to hang around with them old guys. they heard what they wanted. and when they didn’t want to hear it, they didn’t. in private we had lotsa conversations.

we got to talking about train rides. I want to ride a train some where across this country. I rode trains in Europe and Peru but only once in this country. I rode a train when I was born. my mother had to go to Oklahoma to have me. after I was born we boarded a train and came to the rez. I don’t remember that ride.

we had to go to town to get valentines for the boys. they needed them for school. after we got them we headed back to the dance ground to pick up marys crockpot. I was teased that most of the clean up was already done. I do alot of work that no one sees so I just smiled.

we sat around and did more visiting. we were in no rush to leave. we shared stories and a few laughs. after a while we had to go. we had to take the boys back to their mother. they slept on the way to topeekie. they were worn out from this weekend.

we have been keeping our fire in the wood stove going. it keeps our home nice and warm. we probably have enough wood to last the rest of winter. or at least i hope so. this winter hasnt been too cold.

i have been thinking of driving over to that amish settlement in Missouri. they have a grocery with natural foods and a bakery. we usually load up on things. a few times I went to the antique stores located in town. it is a good day trip. two hours to drive there and two back. that aint counting the time spent there. beats watching t.v.

jayhawks on the tube this week. but I cant watch the game. I aint paying for espn+. because of that I will miss 10 games this year. oh well. I missed out on many things in life. it goes on no matter what.

got no plans this week. will take whatever comes up.

I was only half watching the impeachment. when I got tired of hearing it I would switch to reruns of the king of queens. I still think doug, carrie, ritchie, deacon, arthur and spence had a better understanding of life than many of  our politicians.

I seen on the news that our politicians were acting tribal. I guess meaning republicans stuck together and democrats stuck together. no matter what. a good example of that was in the last alabama governors race. republicans felt a pedophile was better than any democrat. republicans wouldn’t investigate  the last nominee for the supreme court. whether the guy was a serial rapist or not just didn’t matter.

the impeachment wasnt a trial at all. it was a cover up done out in the open.  it was a good example of we can use the system to do anything we want. no witnesses were called and no evidence was admitted. it was no surprise that the president was acquitted. that was decided before it even started. only one senator voted against party line.

indeed the president can  do  anything. he is above the law.  it stands to reason then that he didn’t assault any women, misuse his charity foundation, separate children from their families, open national parks for oil interests, embrace tyrants, use his office for personal profit etc.

the democrats could have brought up a number of charges. only after their leader said they could. instead they chose to put all their bets on two charges. it didn’t matter. they didn’t have the majority vote in the senate anyway. the whole point was for the country to hear the truth it didn’t get to hear.

well the parties stood together as one. is that tribal? i will grant them that. that kinda brings me to a realization. the politicians are more tribal than many tribes. even if they use the concept in a negative way. we are more divided than what the american people are saying about themselves.

we dont stick together like that. too many of our people forgot the greater good of the tribe comes before the need of the individual. the ones in the system benefit the most. some can get everything. some get nothing. that’s not tribal.

we can fire someone with an alcohol or drug problem. or we can fire someone because of jealousy. its possible they will never work for our people again. national politicians accept sexual predators or corrupt officials faster than we accept some of our own people.  we turn our backs on some. that isn’t how our people were. it is something we learned.

we often criticize the ones that don’t vote. who can blame them after seeing how the system works. a majority of americans wanted witnesses etc. for a fair impeachment hearing. but that decision was made by 50 some senators. their votes meant more than the concerns of millions.

its the same in tribal systems sometimes. we are living in the best economic times of our existence. but not every one benefits equally from our money. the ones that get every thing, get every thing. that’s not tribal.

who can blame the majority of our tribal members who don’t vote. their opinions don’t matter sometimes.  a general council quorum of 65 can pass items the over 2000 eligible tribal voters don’t have a say about. the 7 member tribal council can do the same.

I guess I don’t know exactly what ‘tribal’ means. I can see what it has become. maybe the tomahawk chop is tribal. but whatever. I wont act ‘tribal’ in the sense it is used today.