Category: da rez blog

we had to cop some road time. we have been staying home a coupla weeks. we made a day trip to the amish country store yesterday. we stocked up on supplies because they are natural ingredients. too many processed foods have preservatives, food coloring, sugar or salt etc.

we probably could find natural foods a lot closer to home. i like to support people that follow their traditions though. i admire people that live their beliefs. and its a nice drive over there. this indian gotta get off the rez sometime.

we made the trip because we ran out of their butter. i had some this morning with my dark rye toast. i gave up white bread since i am diabetic. dark rye toast with that good butter tastes really good in the morning.

i went to a few of the antique stores in town. i didnt find much. a few trinkets. its about the search that is the most fun. i never know what treasures i will find. we went to the restaurant in town. we ate there a few times before. they serve a good buffet. i can’t pass on their fried chicken.

on the way home i passed a business that did deer processing. i couldnt stop because a car was right behind me. i was down the road a coupla miles before i could pull over. i turned around and went back.  i could see frozen hides in the dumpsters. i went inside and asked about getting a few hides. they gave me their number.

i called them this morning. they will have 7 deer to process today. they will save the hides for me. they wont charge me a dime for them. they said they would throw them away otherwise. i am lucky i turned around.

i have asked hunters on the rez for deer hides. they usually say yeah, we will save you one. they dont. they toss them instead.  i couldnt guess how many hides are wasted every year. i only want a few to make miniature hand drums for my pow wow stand.

i dont know if i can use all of the 7 hides. that is a lot of work to scrape the hair off that many hides. i didnt want to turn down that opportunity.  i may make a few regular size hand drums too. i have a few hand drum frames laying around here somewhere.

it was time to walk on the treadmill last evening. i walk every other day. while i was walking i thought of back when i was younger. i used to go jogging. i would run for miles. my usual run was about 7 miles. once i ran for 14 miles. sometimes it felt like i was just floating along.

our medical people did a body fat check on the rez during this time. my body fat was 3.5. yeah really. i know its nowhere near that now. but all that running was beneficial for me. now that i am older i am walking instead. i will keep it up.

gotta do chores.

KU and the chiefs won this past weekend. its good when my favorite teams win. i watched both games on tv. the chiefs started slow but came on strong. they are peaking at the right time. i cant wait until the game this weekend.

that tomahawk chop is still lame. they get a celebrity to bang on the big drum to start the chant at the beginning of the game. it pumps up the crowd.  the NFL is hypocritical when it publicly stands against racism but allows that stereotype to be shown on national tv. i wish the players would take a knee during that chant to show they dont approve of it.

we talked about the chiefs’ game in our family text. i jokingly said that i caught covid to show my solidarity with hill and kelce. not really, but i had to grin and bear it instead of letting it get me down. i am over the covid now. it wasnt too bad because i was vaccinated and had the booster. i only had mild symptoms.

tonight, the jayhawks play. i am wearing my KU t-shirt. i will watch that game on tv. they play the oklahoma sooners. i think it will be a good game.  KU better be playing their A game. not many teams can beat them then.

i walked on the treadmill 4 times last week. i will try my best to keep it up. i feel i am getting in better shape. the best news is i think my A1C has gone down. i knew it would if i walked. i will find out for sure when i go for my quarterly lab in 3 weeks. it was at 6.8 when i was working out during cardiac rehab. it went up when i slacked off.

i havent been working on roaches lately. i seem to get busy with the many other things that come up. i will always work on roaches. it is what i planned to do during my retirement. i like creating art. it has taken me years to elevate my craft to an art. i will keep trying to improve it.

we cooked a ham roast yesterday. it is from the half a hog we bought a coupla months ago from a guy that runs a feed store. i have bought piglets from him before and raised them to butcher size. i raised 7 hogs altogether. once i took two hogs to the butcher that weighed 280 and 320 pounds. that lasted us about half a year. home raised pork tastes much better than what is sold in grocery stores.

we are out of the butter we buy at the amish country store. we plan on making a day trip there to replenish our supply. we will buy other things too. there are a few antique stores in town and out in the country. i probably will check them out. i cant pass on looking for some treasure i might find. we usually eat in town. they serve good meals.

what will this week bring.

we got snow friday evening. it covered the ground, the trees and my cornfield. that snow will put moisture in the ground for next growing season.  a rabbit left its tracks in the snow near my garden.  tonight, andrew and i will set the live traps to see if we can catch that wascal wabbit.

yesterday andrew had a basketball tournament. he and his dad left. a while later we got a text that they were stuck in our driveway on the top of the hill. i drove up and tried to drive it out as william pushed. the snow was too deep. we called my son joe and he came over with his truck. they both pushed as i drove and we still couldnt get it out. there was no place to hook a chain on.

we called road and bridge to see if they could help us. they came over and cleared the road and got the car out. andrew missed two games but made it to the last game. there were 12 minutes left and the coach put him in so he could play.

whenever the wind blows after a snow it usually drifts up there. we have been snowed in several times before because of this. once we couldnt get out for 5 days. another time it took 3 days before we got out.

after the snow i fed my chickens inside the chicken house. the wild birds scratched up all the snow in the chicken yard looking for food. now the yard is cleared. i fed the chickens in their yard today. the wild birds are eating there as well.

i have been wanting mishmot. most know it as menudo. i bought some tripe (cow gut) at a migo store in topeekie. its not bleached tripe like walmarks sells and tastes better. when i ordered the tripe an older lady nodded. i could tell she smiled even though she had a mask on. she must like menudo as i do.

i dont chef that often but yesterday i cooked a big pot of mishmot. i used a menudo mix i bought at the mile high flea market in denver.   the  mishmot sure tasted good. i had enough left to put into freezer bags for two meals. all i have to do is thaw it out, heat it up and i got a meal.

today i am making tortilla soup. mary is helping me. we are using some of the chicken we cleaned this past week. i am glad we got that done before the snow and cold came. i fed those hens a few months to fatten them up. now they will feed me. homemade soup is the best.

we watched the KU basketball game last night. it was a close game in the first half. they dominated in the second half. they showed what kind of team they are capable of being. when they are on, they can beat anybody.

tonight i will watch the K C Chiefs play. i hope they bring their A game. when they are on, they can beat anybody too. they should have all their players available.

gotta get busy

last evening i was driving home. the sunset was giving off a red glow. i pulled over to get a picture of it with my cell phone.

we did clean 4 hens yesterday. we were gonna do that on wednesday but it was too windy. there was some wind yesterday but i put up a wind break around the fire ring. the fire ring also provides some break from the wind. i was able heat the water we used to dip the hens in before we plucked the feathers.

its a good thing that i put a zip tie on the feet of the ones i wanted to butcher. otherwise, i wouldnt have been able to tell the chickens apart. i use a big fishing net to catch them with. it took not quite two hours from when we caught the hens until they were clean and in freezer bags.

some of our old people used to joke about not having to clean chickens for them after they got sick or had to be in the hospital. whenever our people had funerals in the old days, they would clean chickens for the big feast they would put on. so after someone came thru a sickness or got out of the hospital they would say you didnt have to clean chickens for me and laugh.

i want to make tortilla soup. i need to go to town. i have to get corn tortillas, avacodos, limes, sour cream and cilantro for the soup. i dont know when i will make the soup but i will have the ingredients ready when i do.

first time i ever had tortilla soup was when i was in cancun for a wedding. we went out to eat while there. we went to a hard rock cafe. typical tourists. i ordered some tortilla soup to go with my meal. i didnt know what it was but i liked it so much i had to start making it at home.

one of my nephews had a deer hide for me. he put it on their shed but it disappeared. maybe dogs got it. he said he would get me another one. i ask hunters for deer hides. most say yeah i will get you one but dont. most hides are tossed. i want one to make rawhide with.

i make miniature hand drums with it. i need to have small items for my pow wow stand. most people dont carry lotsa cash to buy roaches. they will buy smalls for souvenirs. smalls will usually pay the stand cost.

i have a KU basketball game and a KC chiefs game to watch this weekend. i dont miss a game. i see this kid that has what looks like a toilet plunger going thru his head. he gets lotsa camera time. someday he will be tryna make a business deal with a classmate. they might ask ‘arent you the guy that used to have a plunger thru his head’? some people will do anything to get on camera.

gotta do chores

the grand daughters are back at school. that means they get off the school bus at mishos and grammas. it is always fun to have them over. when they are here, i have to surrender the tv remote to them. i dont get to watch anything until they go home.

i have been taking advantage of the warmer weather. yesterday i put my solar powered light up. it didnt take long and i didnt have any pieces left over.  i turned the timer on and it is working. the inside of the chicken house is lit up. i am pleased with the light. now i will see if the hens lay more eggs.

today we are gonna clean 4 hens. they are the older ones i bought late summer. they might lay eggs a little while longer or maybe not. i got them at a good price with the idea i will fatten them up for soup. we stocked up with home made egg noodles we bought at the amish country store. i like to make tortilla soup and will try egg drop soup. nothing beats the taste of home raised chickens.

i will build a fire outside in the fire ring. it will heat a big pot of water we will use to dip the chickens in. that makes it easier to pluck off their feathers. we have the routine down. we can pluck and butcher the hens in no time.

i am getting ready to start some seeds for cool weather crops like cabbage.  i had to laugh at articles i seen on the internet. they suggested using empty toilet paper rolls or egg cartons to start seeds with. i dont know how much time it would take to used up 100 rolls or what that would cost. i can get a 72-compartment seed starter tray for a few bucks.

i previously bought some pad warmers and grow lights.  the warmers keep the seed starter mix warm enough for the seeds germinate. the lights help them so they dont grow too tall too soon and fall over. the wood stove will be going too so it wont be too cool for the started plants.  its early but i want to be ready.

i took my computer tower in for some work. i got it back the next day. my dvd-cd drawer was replaced. it wasnt opening. now it works. the usb ports are working too. they needed to have the dust blown out. i like the place i took my computer to, i am pleased with their work and prices.

i am encoding into an access file. it will list the hundreds of cds i own. once it is complete i wont have any confusion about whether i own a cd already.  as i get the info entered i check to see if the songs on it need to be downloaded again. that is why i need the cd drawer working. i have found a number of songs that got zapped off my playlists.

gotta get busy.

we will have a few days of 50-degree weather this week. that will let me work outside. i need to install the solar powered lights i got for the chicken house. these lights have a timer. they come on and shut off automatically. well that is after they get charged.  this might get the hens to lay more eggs.

we might even clean a coupla chickens this week. i have been wanting to do that but i didnt wanna be out in the cold doing it. i want some fresh chicken soup. that is the best soup. this past summer i bought 5 older hens just to fatten up for butchering.

we didnt get that much snow. because of the cold, it is slowly melting away. most years it is gone the next day. i seen rabbit tracks in the back yard. i might set my live traps to see if i can catch one or two. i always liked the taste of rabbit. that is why i would hunt when i was younger.

i would go rabbit hunting after the first snow. i would walk all day if i had to. i would cover miles. if i was lucky i had to carry any game i had. sometimes it would get heavy after walking for miles. that was okay, i knew we would be eating rabbit and/or squirrels.

shoes in those days werent waterproof. the leather would get wet from the snow. it would soak thru and get socks wet. as the day wore on, my feet would get cold. that would end the hunt if my socks froze. i learned from other rez hunters to put plastic bread sacks over my socks. this kept my feet dry and i was able to stay out longer.

we had a neighbor that use to supply bullets to me and my brothers. that was on the condition we had to take him a few if we got any. bullets were precious. you couldnt waste any shooting at anything that we couldnt eat. if you took five bullets on a hunt, it was expected you return with five rabbits.

i grew up without electricity and running water. now i cant live without my computer and cell phone. well not really but i use them a lot. i am gonna take my tower in to have it worked on. the cd drawer gets stuck often.  i have a coupla usb ports that dont work. i was given a good price to replace both.

i will take the tower to a place that has worked on it before. i was having problems. they replaced the mother board with a faster one. later i went back to the same place and had them add hard disk. basically, they replaced the insides to make it like a new computer. it is still working good. it serves my needs well.

yesterday we finally took down our christmas tree. that is earlier than most years.  andrew helped us. we leave it up because we like looking at the lights. taking the tree down freed up a lot of space.

gotta get busy.

it may be cold but i am wanting to plant seeds from a squash we were given. i cut it up into pieces to fit onto a baking sheet. mary baked it bout an hour night before last. she scraped it off the rind and put it away. she cooked some of it a little while last night with butter and brown sugar.  i was impressed with how good it tasted.

i saved the seeds. i will plant this squash. it stored well for over a month or two. it has a hard rind kinda like a hubbard squash. it will take some work to store it next year but it will be worth it to me.

there are a coupla stories about this squash. one is it was found in a clay ball at an archaeological dig on a rez up north. it was carbon dated to about 850 years ago.

another story is a tribe in indiana found the seeds in a cave. they have been growing it for a long time. it is believed the squash came from guatemala and has been grown and refined for thousands of years.

this squash was given a new name ‘gete okosimin’, meaning old squash. a professor is given credit for saving the seed. indians never get credit for the heirloom seeds they have saved for hundreds if not thousands of years.

i dont know which story is true. maybe there is even another story or two besides these. you gotta romanticize any story bout indians. i  dont need a story to know that i like this squash.  i will grow some to see how much i can put away for later use.

i have lotsa dried crooked neck squash left so i will only grow this new to me squash. i want to keep the seed from cross breeding. i want a good crop of these squashes. i dont know if it can be dried. i will try one to see. if that works i will dry a bunch of them.

i have been getting texts asking how i am. people want to know how i am dealing with the covid. i tell them i am okay. my symptoms are similar to having a cold. i can handle this. i have told some if i can come thru open heart surgery i can deal with this milder form of covid.

my covid symptoms havent stopped me from doing my regular chores. i  feed my dogs and chickens every day. i bring in the eggs too. we all keep the wood stove going. and i am still walking on the treadmill and lifting weights. it is good that this is a milder form of the virus.

i have been sorting porcupine hair while staying home. it is not strenuous work. today i have to make a choice. do i watch K U basketball or K C Chiefs football? probably watch KU at 3 and dvr the chiefs game to watch after the game. rock chalk and tomahawk chop. (sorry to my native friends eh. )

gotta do my chores.

the temperature outside was 9 degrees this morning. with the wind chill it was 7 degrees below zero. i felt it when i went out to feed and water the dogs and chickens. they still need water even if its cold. the wild birds need it too, besides eating the feed.

we have been staying home during this cold and keeping the wood stove going. only been out to pick up my meds at the drive-up window at the clinic. gotta make sure i have my meds. the tribe was only open 5 days out of 14 during the holidays and weekends. i dont know what kinda complications this diabetic woulda had if i ran out of insulin.

many people in this area and on the rez are coming down with or already have covid.  we have close family members that tested positive last week and were around others that did too. we stayed home until the mobile covid testing unit came to the clinic on tuesday.

our results finally came back awhile ago. they said “detected”.  guess that means positive. i have had a sore throat and a cough for a coupla weeks. i thought it was from a cold i had.  other than that, i didnt have any other symptoms. i went for the test because I wanted to know for sure if i have the covid or not.

it is ironic we tested positive. we stayed home the past almost two years as much as we could. we wore masks when we went out and practiced social distancing. we got both vaccines and the booster.

i admit feeling like if i havent caught the covid then i wont ever catch it. wrong. it is possible that anyone at any time can catch it. there are too many in this state and on the rez that dont believe in vaccines, wearing masks or staying home.

and we like others are probably guilty of getting lax about precautions. this covid is like a bad politician. it wont give up on its own nor will it go away. we are stuck with it for now.

i dont have facebook or whatever name it goes by. i wont be able to cop some cheap likes by posting i gots the covid. nor will i get prayers sent my way with the little praying hands. thats okay, i got my own beliefs anyway.

i think our quarantine time should be about up. we were probably exposed early last week. we only have mild symptoms. we will continue to stay home. we are self-quarantining. we are considerate of others.

when this covid first came up a coupla years back, i was asked if i would practice social distancing. i replied i have been doing that for the past 20 years already. i dont like going out in public much anyway. the years of bumming make me appreciate having a home. thats why i stay home alot.

life will go on. this will only be an inconvenience. i have gotten thru other things that were worse. i hope all will be well thru these times.

over the holidays i got some new hats. when i cant change my attitude i change my hat. maybe thats why i go thru so many of them. i put a beaded headband on my new derby. i might replace it with one with quillwork. i will add a feather when i wear it. it will be my going to the dance hat. i might make it my pow wow hat too.

the other ‘straight off da rez’ hat is my walking around hat. i got it as some rez humor and have been wearing it. a few friends and relatives told me they like it.

i bought the derby with the gift card my daughter gave me. i also bought a coupla cds. one is by marianne faithful. i like her version of the rolling stones song ‘as tears go by’. i need that in my playlists. the other cd is by neil young. i still have a balance on my gift card. i will continue to look for things i want but passed on because they werent in my budget.

the solar powered light with a timer should be arriving. the light is for my chicken house. i have a solar light in there now but it dont have a timer. i am getting about 6 eggs a day. 17 hens should give me more than that. hopefully the timer will help. chickens lay less eggs with shorter day light.

this morning we took our pups to the vet. they are getting spayed and neutered. we aint gonna start a puppy mill. they gonna be our companions not money makers. that process is supposed to mellow them out. i wouldnt mind that, they are rambunctious little pups.  we pick them up later today.  i hope i dont get that ‘thanks alot’ look from them pups.

we made it thru the below zero temps this past weekend. we have more cold weather this week. it will be in the single digits at night for the next two days. i havent heard about any wind chill. we are keeping the wood stove stoked up. it is keeping our home warm.

tonight K U plays oklahoma state in basketball. i will be tuned into that game. i dont miss many games. i have tickets to the texas game this year. i heard they might be a final four type team.  i should have got baylor tickets instead. they are the number one ranked team in the nation.

i was sorting porcupine hair again yesterday. i will doing that again today. i sorted enough for a big roach. i wasnt after that. i am working on a coupla small woodland style boys roaches. i will keep making roaches this winter.

i was supposed to walk on the treadmill yesterday. i was busy sorting porcupine hair. i dont like to quit when i am in a routine. i will have to walk today instead. i will also hit the weights.

finished my chores. gonna work on sorting hair.

yesterday we woke up to our first snow of the winter. i slept in. when i got u, andrew told me i was the only one who hadnt washed their face in the snow. i told him i would. he always looks after his misho.  the cold of the snow on my face woke me up.

we didnt get the 4 to 6 inches of snow that was predicted. nor did we get the possible drifting they warned about. thats good. when the winds blow our road drifts and we cant get out. once we were drifted in for 5 days. country indians are often overlooked.

the snow isnt deep but it will still help our gardens this spring. after some snows it usually drifts near my chicken house. then i have to clear a path so i can feed the chickens and bring in the eggs. i did feed the hens inside their house because of the snow.

the wild birds scratched thru the snow to find feed in the chicken yard. food is scarce for them in the snow.  they know they can find food here. i havent filled the wild bird feeders yet. i will have to go to town when i can to get feed for the wild birds.

i am glad i cleaned the stove pipes. the house smells like smoke when the pipes are filled with soot. the fire burns more efficiently when they are clean. thats good because it was 10 degrees below zero yesterday. today it is 8 degrees below zero. tomorrow temps will reach 38 degrees. that will be like a heat wave.

the other day andrew helped me throw wood into the basement. we have enough wood stacked downstairs to last about a month. we did that before it got cold. gotta work when its time to work. it may be cold outside, but we will be warm inside.

since our woodstove is going the basement is real warm. that keeps our home comfortable. we dont wake up to a cold floor. it also means i work up a sweat when i am walking on the treadmill. i get exercise going up and down the stair to stoke up the stove.

last night we watched the KU basketball game. that was nice because we are staying home. it was a close game but the jayhawks won. it will be even better if the chiefs win today.

yesterday we cooked a smoked turkey. one of my nieces sold it to us as part of a school project. smoked turkeys cost more but they are worth it. they sure taste good. we will be eating turkey for a few days. it is probably for lunch today while the chiefs play.

i was talking to someone i have known for years. we were at our winter dance. i told him that almost everyone there called me either uncle or misho. i come from a large family and was adopted into a coupla others. i like having so many relatives.

what will this new year bring.