Category: da rez blog

there is an old joke. what did the indian say when his dog died? answer: dog gone. guess that aint funny when your dog dies. one of our red heelers died a few days ago. she was the companion to konugish.

those dogs followed me every where–when I walked, went hunting, picked nenwezhek or mushrooms and even to the mailbox. or when I went to feed chickens or get the eggs. I walked a lot of miles with them by my side.

we always treat our dogs good. we give them a home and take care of their needs. we would never hit them or be mean to them. in return they give us their loyalty. some people teased me about my “fat dogs”. I say that there are plenty of dogs in this world that go hungry. but mine never will.

I will miss that dog. I probably will get another to keep konugish company in his remaining years. I had him a coupla years longer than the one I lost. I had plenty of dogs while living here the past 30 some years. they keep me company too. they greet me when I get home from going some where.

theres an old story about the time raccoon and dog got into a fight. it was over who would get to be the one that indians depended on. the dog won. so hes the one that helps us.

once one of my dogs left. it never came back. an old indian said maybe it took away sickness or something meant for one of us. it took it and carried it away so it wouldn’t harm us.

tomorrow is the fall equinox. basically that means that night and day are of equal length. on this day supposedly you can stand an egg up. I haven’t tried that and really have no desire to. I would rather eat the egg for breakfast.

it is now fall. can’t tell that by all the green we see in the grass and trees. it is staying green much longer that other years. leaves aren’t turning brown or dropping either.

once the leaves fall I will go squirrel hunting. my dog probably wont go with me. squirrels will just hide on the other side of the tree. dogs usually make hunting easier by preventing that.

a good squirrel dog is hard to find. I once had a good one. we were walking on a dry creek bed. a squirrel took off running. my dog chased after it and caught it. he shook the hell out of it and brought it back to me and dropped it at my feet. some don’t believe me when I tell that story. I don’t care. I seen it.

yesterday the jayhawks lost their football game. I listened to most of it on the radio. today I get to watch the chiefs play. might be a bit much if I put my jersey on to watch the game.

I was up early ( well for a retired guy) and walked two miles this morning. my faithful dog konugish started to follow us. I made him stay. he kept watching mary and I walk away but didn’t follow. he listens to me. i remember the other day when the dogs had a rough time keeping up with us. poor dogs. they are old and have trouble walking.

i got my second walk in. the temperature was 73 degrees. nice pleasant fall weather to walk in. it beat the 96 heat index we walked in the other day. it is always nice to be outside.

once i get used to walking i will continue to walk on the tread mill. i have no excuse for not walking. got open road and a tread mill to use when the weather isn’t great. i want to make sure my blood sugar numbers go back down. i was doing so good. that’s why i wrongly guessed having some pop wouldn’t hurt.

i was out late last night. we had to go pick up my daughter wabenokwe at the airport in Kansas City. we stopped at the texas road house to have supper first. gotta have a fine steak dinner while i have some per cap left.

we took the turnpike to kc. we had some time to kill before wabeno’s plane landed. we decided to hit the state owned casino. again i have a few bucks left from my per cap. i never gamble more than i can afford to lose. we didn’t win so we headed to the air port.

we picked wabeno up and drove home. got home bout 1:30. haven’t been out that late for some time. i think it was when i used to gamble more frequently. i eased up on that.

my new 30 gallon stock pot was delivered awhile ago. it is stainless steel. i will use it to dry corn with. maybe next per cap i will buy another one. i will definitely need two of them for the times when i have a bountiful crop of corn. i dried 13 gallons three years ago. i had bigger crops than that too.

my computer has been working fine since it was fixed. glad bout that. it is cheaper to fix up this one than to buy a new one. i will eventually buy a new one. but not now. this one, like me hopefully, still has plenty of life left in it.

it is kinda disturbing to read about our national government plans to round up home less people. don’t know what they gonna do with them. i think it is because it is an embarrassment to the government. we preach we have the strongest economy in the world but many of our people are homeless. or go hungry. hide the problem and there is no problem.

back in my lost years i used to bum around all over the country. i seen many people that had no where to go. i kinda put myself in that same boat. i got to meet and know many on the streets. they were people like everyone else. there were many reasons they ended up with nothing. many times it was due to circumstances beyond their control.

i tried to help any i could. they don’t deserved to be treated badly. life is already tough enough for them. but then this is a government that thinks it is alright to take thousands of children away from their parents. or to beat, pepper spray and sic attack dogs on indians who protest for clean water.

i don’t know what our government will do to the homeless. probably no plan beyond rounding them up and taking away what little they have left.

nothing surprises me anymore.

got my computer back. it was locking up on me. I had to manually turn it off and restart it. that got to be a hassle. I took it to the same place that worked on it before. the guy replaced the mother board that time for a good price. learned long ago to always go back to places that treat you good.

I dropped it off Monday. they called me late that afternoon and said the hard drive was cooked. I would get a new hard drive that will be faster. hell yeah. we caught the problem early enough to save all my data. better yet. I liked the estimate so I agreed.

I picked it up the next day. that was a fast turn around. I told the lady working the front desk that’s why I support small businesses. they do the job. without the bs that the big places try to lay on you.

I am more of a home body since I retired. I need my computer. it allows me to bring the world into my home. I store my thousands of pictures and songs on it too. I cant lose the memories that are associated with each picture or song.

now I will have to reload many of my songs I zapped out when I was trying to save them. that’s ok. I have most of them on cds. I will lose a few songs here and there. I keep looking for cheap cds at garage sales, flea markets and ebay. I am constantly adding to my music collection.

I had my quarterly lab tests yesterday. I received good news and bad news. my blood pressure was good and I lost some weight. my blood sugar was higher than usual. I told doc I was afraid of that. he said he was surprised but asked why I wasn’t. I told him that lately I have been drinking pop and eating some of the ice cream I buy for the grand kids.

I was asked if I do the poking my finger thing. I said not really because I figure I have been doing alright. the doc said that’s the way it is with some people. he wasn’t overly concerned because he knows I am trying. he said he expects my numbers to go down by the next quarterly lab test. I said they will be.

I am busy during spring and summer. I have gardening, mowing etc. that is besides my regular chores like feeding my critters and keeping up the home site. so I haven’t been walking other than at flea markets and garage sales.

fall weather is nice while walking on the paved road near my house. or so I thought awhile ago. I told mary I wanna walk on the road this evening. she prefers the morning. it was mid day. we decided to take the dogs and go for a walk. we thought the temperatures were in the 80s. as we walked we felt the sun bearing down on us. we walked 2 miles.

we had to stop a few times because the dogs were tired. and panting heavy. we gave them some of our water. a coupla times. when we got home I checked the weather app. it said temperature was 90 but felt like 96. that would explain why my first walk in some time was rather warm. next time I will go in the morning or evening. the important thing is I got my first walk in. the first one is the hardest to do.

i finally made it to the Kansas City farmers market. haven’t been there since early spring. Andrew had a soccer game in Lawrence at noon on Saturday. i decided to go shop at the farmers market first then stop at his soccer game on the way home. that worked.

i was looking for Anaheim peppers. i found Anaheim and hatch peppers. basically the same thing but i will use both. i want to roast them then dice them up. i will make a fire outside with some elm. that will give me good coals to roast the peppers. we will have green chiles to cook with. i developed a taste for them in travels to the southwest.

i made two trips to the car with bags of fruit and veggies. i got my walking in carrying them. i bought blue berries and raspberries. the grand kids eat them up when they are here. we eat them too. we canned blue berries that we picked. these are to eat fresh.

i also bought tomatoes. we have plenty canned but i like to eat them sliced up fresh. i will make some BLTs too. gotta get my fill while they are in season. this winter they wont have any taste and will cost at least a dollar apiece.

i didnt get many of my sweet potatoes so i bought some more of them. i want more than a coupla cooking’s of them. i also got a cantaloupe and watermelon. cant beat the taste of ones that are home grown. and i found some green beans to put in the freezer.

i have been wanting to make some gumbo. i love the taste of it. so i picked up some okra. mine didnt grow well. i haven’t made gumbo before. i probably will need to make it a few times before i get the hang of it.

we stopped to watch Andrew play soccer on the way home. he scored two goals. they dont keep score. the idea is not to be overly competitive. the parents keep score though. Andrews team won 13 to 2 or something like that. i seen one of the other teams players crying after the game. even if they dont keep score the kids knew they were beaten badly.

since it is per cap season i bought me a set of blue tooth head phones. i want them when i mow. gotta have music while working. Andrew glommed onto them while watching his tablet. then Samuel wanted a pair. i had to order another set. its either that or have to hear their tablets blaring loud while trying to watch tv.

i ordered a 30 gallon stainless steel stock pot. i am anxious to get it. i will make a pot full of hominy as soon as it arrives. that’s why i didnt order a sturdier aluminum pot. i wanted it stainless to make hominy. next august i will use it to dry corn with. if this one works out i may buy one more before next years corn is ready to dry. i know i will need two when i finally get a big crop of corn.

tomorrow is my regularly scheduled lab and med check. my appointments are right at per cap times. that’s how i remember my appointments. i am hoping my lab tests come out good. i consciously try to eat healthier. i know i consume more fruit and veggies.

i also know there is an occasional can of pop. its hard to eat right. i will find out tomorrow how i am doing. i do know i have lost some weight. not enough to have someone notice though. losing weight is a slow process. too bad i can lose weight as fast as my money is spent.

marys’ sister and brother in law are coming for a k. c. chiefs football game. it is against the colts and will be played next month. mary asked me if i wanted to go too. i said sure. she ordered tickets. we will be going to that game.

i seen on facebook some home girl was fixing up jerseys of any team. for half the cost of what one would go for at the stadium. i ordered these ones of the chiefs. and more specifically of Patrick Mahomes. we will be wearing these jerseys and be part of the sea of red at arrowhead stadium.

last night KU’s football team played. i dont have the channel the game was aired on. i toyed with the idea of up grading the cable package i still have. i decided to keep cable for the basketball season. i am sorry i didnt upgrade. the jayhawks won.

you can tell i am a fair weather fan for ku football. i thought they would get beat because they were a 3 touch down underdog. i wasnt concern about up grading yet. besides my grand son controlled the remote to the tv. i could have watched that game. i would have been hollering.

after i picked up the grandsons for the weekend i stopped at a quick shop. the boys had to come in to find something to eat. the teller said i can tell you have patience with them. i replied that’s cuz i am a grand parent. grand parents are always more lenient to their grand kids than they were with their kids. she said i know that’s right, i am a grand parent too.

i got my per cap yesterday. i had planned on buying a big 30 gallon stain less steel stock pot. i will use it to blanch our indian corn when we are drying it. i read the reviews on various pots. the cheapest ones are the cheapest. i will pass on them.

i probably will pay more for the pot i buy. that’s okay the investment will cover years of use. i will use the pot to make hominy with too, that’s why i am getting stainless.

i mowed my yard again yesterday. the grass grew high because of the rain we had. it usually takes me an hour to mow the roughly one acre of yard i have. this time it took about two hours.

while mowing my riding mower started losing power. it acted like the mower blades weren’t working right. i stopped it in the shade to check it out. i have grass piled up around the belt drive. i cleaned that all out. i though that was it but it wasnt. i had a board that wedged one of the blades. it couldn’t turn because of that. i got a wood chisel and cracked the board apart and removed it. it worked fine after that.

this afternoon Andrew has a soccer game again. he gives me that Andrew look and asks ‘are you coming to my game misho’. how can i tell the kid no. i already went to one game but he thinks i should to all of them. some times i cant. that’s why i do go when ever possible.

gotta see what this day brings.

i already went to town this morning. i had to go to topeekie to get my cars’ oil changed. i went to wal marks for that. they listen when i tell them all i want is an oil change. other places want to replace my air filter at triple the price. or will do a transmission flush for a coupla hundred. damn. all i want is an oil change.

i remember when almost all rez guys changed their own oil. they would give you a funny look if you didnt. i used to do my oil changes but dont anymore. i dont mind paying for the convenience of having some one else doing it.

we dropped my car off and headed to breakfast. we went to a place that i have gone to quite often over the years. my chickens are molting now. i aint getting as many eggs. that’s why we went to town to eat. besides that i got my old folks check yesterday and tomorrow is per cap. hell yeah. we will spring for breakfast.

i still haven’t taken my desk top computer to get fixed. maybe this afternoon. i have to unhook all the wires. i have dual monitors, speakers, printer and internet hook up. i also have junk on top of every thing. once i have that done i will load the tower up and take it to town.

i had some work done on this computer before. i will take it to the same place. the price was pretty reasonable. i will take my business back to them. some places act like they too busy. that’s okay, i will go some where else.

it musta been raining before we got to topeekie. and it was drizzling off and on while we were there. not so much here. we have some drops. i wanted to mow my yard again. i will have to wait until the grass isn’t wet.

i dug up the one grow box of sweet potatoes i had. i was slightly disappointed. i only got enough for about two cookings. maybe i am spoiled from past years. once i got about 20 pounds of sweet potatoes from one grow box. i thought with all the rain we had this year i should get enough to last me awhile.

i still have one more digging of red potatoes. i am happy with them. i planted them late but still got some. i will grow more next year. some say diabetics aint suppose to eat potatoes. they convert the starch to sugar or something like that. i think any thing grown at home is better than the processed foods sold at the grocery store.

i haven’t gone to the farmers market in Kansas City since early spring. i want some of their Anaheim peppers since mine didnt grow that much. one stand that sells them will even roast them. dont know if they will be set up or if it is too late. i will find out.

dont know what else is coming up. will find that out too.

i seen on the calendar that Sunday was grand parents day. i didnt know that. when you are a grand parent every day is grand parent day. i was lucky that 4 of my grand kids were here Sunday. we spent most of the day with them.

i have more grand kids in the northwest. i even have 3 great grand kids. i didnt think i would live past 30 years old the way i was living in my careless youth. now i am a grand parent and a great grand parent. i am thankful somebody was watching over me.

my computer is kinda messing up. it will lock up and i have to manually turn it off. i do a disk clean up and it runs alright. it wont totally clear all of the disk though. it will lock up again unless i do a clean disk now and then. i will take my computer tower to town and have it checked out. i was hoping it would make it til per cap eh.

i was trying to save all my songs on iTunes onto a external hard drive. i wanted to save them before i took the computer in. i dont know what i did but i deleted my songs. that was several thousand songs. i was able to recover most of them but not the ones i recently down loaded. i will have to down load them again.

i have most of my favorite tunes in playlists on my phone. i have about 10 play lists that have about 9 hours of music on each of them. glad i didnt zap them, they are the ones i listen to. i will load them back into my computer.

we canned a lot of hot sauce made with habanero peppers. its hard to judge how many peppers to put into a big batch of hot sauce. i went thru 3 jars already. it was alright but i wanted it a little hotter. i picked a fresh batch of habanero peppers from my grow boxes. i decided to add them to my hot sauce to give it more of a bite.

i opened up all of the hot sauce jars. i dumped the contents into a pan on the stove with the new habaneros, vinegar and fresh onions. i added garlic and let them cook together to blend it together. then i pureed them in my blender. mary re-canned all the sauce again. now i have enough good hot sauce to last me until next growing season.

my chickens must be molting. the chicken house is full of loose feathers. and i am not getting as many eggs. they will start laying again. i am hoping that they are molting and something aint still getting my eggs.

i let the chicks i bought this spring loose. they are big enough so the big hens dont peck the hell out of them. i had them fenced off from the older hens. now all of them are running together in the big chicken house and yard i have for them. i have 24 hens now. when they start laying i will have a lot of fresh eggs to sell.

it is time to mow the yard again. and feed the critters. there are always chores to do.

yesterday we all went to Andrews soccer games in Lawrence. i missed the first game. it was early. i was there for the second game. they dont keep score but the parents sure do. his team won one and lost one. Andrew scored 3 goals in one game and one goal in the other. we cheered him on.

after the game we went separate ways. our sons took the grand kids to the renaissance fair in bonner springs. the kids enjoyed the rides and carnival games we heard later. Andrew and kinikwe rode the ponies. they liked that.

mary and i went to the art fair at Haskell. that was the most Indians i seen in some time. we checked out a few stands. most of the jewelry was outta my price range. it aint per cap yet. i told mary i was mainly there to get something to eat. we missed lunch. we headed over to the food stands.

i seen mutton stew and fry bread at one stand. Haskell is the only place around where that i can eat mutton. i developed a taste for it. i got in line there. i stood there awhile because there were lines of people at every stand.

i got closer to ordering when i seen a stand next to the one i was at. it advertised mutton sandwiches. i would rather have that but i didnt want to get into that longer line after waiting that long. a sandwich would be more filling than stew. i ordered my stew and fry bread.

mary was in another line and got green chile stew and fry bread. it was too spicy for her so we traded. i kept some of the mutton. i dipped my fry bread in the stew and ate it. it was southwest style fry bread. it is thinner and aint as doughy as Midwest kind. we ate our meal in the shade under a big tent.

we seen people we knew and visited with them. i tell people that everyone has gone to Haskell. well not really but many have or know some one that has. i stopped at the Haskell stand and bought me a purple and gold Haskell t shirt. i will wear it some time.

i went to Haskell a number of times before i finally graduated from it when it was a juco. i got an A.A degree. i went during my alky days. that is why i dropped out so many times. i was young and didnt realize i was going nowhere with all that partying. i finally tried straightening up and got my juco degree.

i was talking to a guy who was telling me his story. he got adopted out and was raised by non natives. i have heard that story many times. it happened to many of our people. they eventually find their way back to our people. but some feel they missed some thing. i agree with them. boarding school is a similar experience. you miss some thing being away from your people.

one stand had oven bread. i bought a loaf before heading out. i like eating that bread. i got used to it while traveling thru the southwest many times.

i toyed with the idea of going to the KU football game. it was already a long day. i passed on the game. they lost. glad i didnt have to sit thru that. wait til basketball season. well too early for that.

had a long day yesterday. we went to have breakfast at the casino. after we ate we headed to kansas city. no, we didnt sing Kansas City here i come. we were going to a Royals baseball game.

since we left so early, we got to the stadium early. we were like the griswalds at wally world. first ones here, first ones to leave. the gates weren’t open yet. we walked around a bit til they did. once inside we checked out the little stands. i bought a frig magnet to add to my collection of places i have been.

our tickets were in the top section. the bob uecker seats. at first we were going to buy some that were in a lower, shaded section. but we thought, what the hell. these tickets are free and that top section is in the shade. it would be part of the experience too. we took the escalators up to our seats.

we got to where we were suppose to sit. the usher lady told us our seats were further up but we could sit anywhere. she said if someone came, we could move. no problem there. the stadium was mostly empty, only 14 thousand went to the game. capacity is 37,903. our section was reserved for people that donated blood. it wasnt full.

i bought a large drink. it was 9 bucks. i said 9 bucks? the cashier said i can get a free refill. that is still high. i took the drink to my seat. i did go back for a refill at that price. i didnt buy anything else.

i seen a brown guy wave at me. he asked what tribe i was. i said potawatomi. he replied he was comanche from Oklahoma. i gave him a thumbs up. he said he seen i was wearing a Pendleton hat and i had long hair. that was a tip off i was indian. i know i dont look like i belong on a buffalo nickel.

the woman behind us heard us. she asked if our kids went to royal valley. we said they did but graduated already. she has a son who teaches math at the high school and a daughter who teaches kindergarten. we talked with each other during the game.

i got into the game. after all it was a major league baseball game. when i was young i dreamed of being a pro base ball player. i couldn’t pitch, bat or field at that level so that dream died a slow death like disco.

we were up 3 to 1 and the crowd was into it. then the next inning Detroit hit three homers in one inning to take the lead. that quieted the small crowd. we had been at the stadium for four hours. we eased out after the bottom of the seventh inning. we waited that long because we bought 50/50 tickets. it reached $4,400. we wanted to see if we won half of that cash.

i didnt want to be in the traffic rush so we left early. on the way back we stopped at the state owned casino to eat. i wanted the buffet instead of eating $7 hot dogs at the stadium. the buffet wasnt open so we grabbed a deli sandwich. i am avoiding too many fried foods.

we got home bout six o clock last evening. that’s why we went to a day game. i didnt want to get home after midnite. this ol misho aint out late anymore.

i enjoyed the game. it was a good day.

we are having a long growing season. i am still getting cucumbers. i had my fifth picking and there are more growing. i also picked some of my Anaheim peppers. we cooled outside yesterday so mary grilled them. they are diced up and put away as smoked, green chiles. we use them in many things that we cook.

i picked a bowl full of hot peppers. i bought the big wooden bowl at the sparks flea market for 4 bucks. i got habaneros and jalapenos peppers. i have already grilled a few of the jalapenos. i know they are hot. i haven’t tried the habaneros. i used what i grew last year to make this years hot sauce.

there were a few white onions still growing too. i picked them. i put them in the car port to dry a few days. then i will put them with the rest in the basement. i have a couple of card board flats full of them. we use them as we need them.

i haven’t dug my sweet potatoes yet. i have four plants that will fill up the whole grow box. last year, one box had 20 pounds of sweet potatoes. i like them kinda big so that a few will fill up the crock pot. the vines look healthy. maybe i will dig them up this week.

i still have about a third of a row with red potatoes in them. my rows were about a hundred feet long. i dig them as we need them too. i am diabetic and some say potatoes aren’t good for me. mine dont have chemicals so they are better than the mass produced foods sold in stores.

i eat what is in season. i am eaten many tomatoes, cantaloupes, water melons, strawberries, blue berries, potatoes, onions, kale, radishes etc. i was told to eat more fruits and vegetables. i do, as much as i can.

yesterday i was asked if i have any crooked neck squash. i planted some but they dont look healthy. they flowered and have some small fruit on them. i dont know if they will make it. if they dont, i will buy some to dry. i drive to an amish town in Missouri that is two hours from here. they have big squash for half of what they charge locally. i try to dry a lot to use over the year.

this Thursday i have free tickets to a Kansas City Royals game. well it aint free. i have donated my red blood cells for the past number of years. i dont donate for a reward but i will take one.

i go to a Royals game when ever i can. i chose this date because the game is a day time game. i dont want to get home after mid night. i will eat before the game. i dont want fill up on $7 hot dogs and wash them down with $7 drinks or what ever the inflated price is. cant wait til game time.