Category: da rez blog

no no I don’t smoke it no more. it may look like I spaced out and didn’t write anything this week. no I aint the burn out I was in my bumming around days. I thought I posted a blog a coupla days ago. the website is going thru a server change. each website is moving from the old server to the new one. this was happening about the time I posted. that is why it didn’t show up.

the last blog was right after the Kansas City Chiefs game. the game was played in mexico city. that reminded me of my trip there years ago. so I wrote a blog about the things I did while I was there. it might still get posted after it is recovered.

I had to write on my lap top computer. my desk top cooked. i thought maybe that’s why my last blog didn’t post. I took my computer to the shop. I was told I need another mother board. I had a new hard disk put on it earlier. basically I will have a rebuilt computer when it is done. it serves my needs.

I am in a habit of writing every other day. if I am busy I might miss a day but that don’t happen often. I write for me and for the hell of it. I am not trying to reach the masses. i just care about the ones that read me. some have for years. I respect that.

I just got back from the police station. no I didn’t do anything. i was there to transfer the tag off my old rav4 to my newer one. my tag will still be “reznjun”. i hope that don’t offend anyone. a few people tried to preach to me. i replied i lived when some called me an f+#^&#g injun. i stopped that many times. new wave indians haven’t seen what i did. they didn’t discover injustice. it was always here.

we are having our thanksgiving dinner tomorrow evening. under protest for my radical friends. for us it is all about a family get together. we are not supporting any causes or protesting others. the reason we are having it tomorrow is my daughter will be home and so will my grand kids. next week they wont be here. thus we are having our thanksgiving um… native American dinner tomorrow. aho

I have been watching the impeachment hearings. its disturbing to see that the rich and/or powerful don’t have to follow the same rules we do. they can refuse subpeonas and with hold evidence. or lie under oath. they can say they didn’t do it and that is their proof of innocence. i meet many prisoners who never got to do any of that. they were convicted of a lot less than that. and they do more time than the rich or powerful have to do.

I will head to Lawrence to pick up the grand sons from their school. so this indian will get “off the rez”.

friday was such a nice day that we walked on the road. I wore a hooded flannel shirt as a jacket. that was enough to stay warm. I don’t mind walking on the tread mill but i prefer being in the outdoors. I like breathing the fresh air. wont be long before its too cold to be walking outside.

we had a houseful of grand kids Friday night. the boys were up for the week end. the girls came over because their parents went to a foot ball game. it was a Jackson Heights game. my nephew plays there. they won. its on to sub state for them. if they win, they are in the state championship game.

I wasn’t up for another game so I stayed home. last weeks game in 39 degree weather was enough of a test for me. i seen my nephew play. we hung around for the whole game. I remember playing in weather like that.

no I wont go into a ‘when I played ‘ football stories. I remember one of our old home boys doing that. one of the younger guys, I think it was my brother bubs, said that’s when you took your helmet off, folded it and put it in your back pocket. everyone laughed. I miss that old guy and my brother.

i didn’t get to watch the KU basket ball game again. it was on a channel i don’t get. i see some on social media saying ‘it only costs 5 dollars a month’. its not the cost. i don’t agree with paying extra for it. i have been a fan for 50 years. they should be loyal to us fans also. we stay with them no matter what.

I did watch the KU football game yesterday for a half. it didn’t look good for the jayhawks so I switched channels at half time. I still think our team will eventually be good. this aint miles’ team yet. I have patience. he will turn this team around. it just wont be over night.

I have been having trouble with my computer freezing up. I took it to a shop. they couldn’t find anything wrong. the guy told me to unhook any thing connected with a usb. I said the only thing was my printer. I unplugged it. still got a problem. don’t know what to do. maybe take it somewhere else. in the meantime I may use my old laptop.

we bought more sausage and bacon from the meat locker. they have the best. we ordered a smoked ham for our thanksgiving dinner. smoked costs more but is worth it. we like the taste of a smoked ham, especially one from the meat place.

don’t know if indians are suppose to protest thanksgiving or not. I don’t think there is such a thing as having too many family dinners. we gonna have us a dinner. but we will do it under protest if we have to eh.

gotta do my two mile walk.

this is native American month. damn. I haven’t planned any native American festivities. just as well. I seen they changed it to honor some one else. they stole our month. well some indian groups are still celebrating it. I am indian every month.

I need to hook up my pedometer. I go up and down the basement steps a lot. I go down to stoke up the fire. the wood stove keeps us warm. I like putting flat cedar on top of the stove. when it gets hot it smokes. that gives off a good aroma. also good mojo.

the furnace don’t heat the basement. I still remember my pipes freezing once. nor does the furnace heat the floor. nothing like having a warm floor on a cold morning. this country indian goes barefoot all the time at home. the first thing the grand kids do is take their shoes off when they get here.

I added more straw to konugish’s dog house. it should be warmer for him. his house has a wind break on the north and west sides. I put it there for that very reason. I take care of my dogs. and chickens. now I have to feed the gold fish survivor. that is Andrews job when he is here.

I got on the tread mill again yesterday. I have to keep my weight down for my health. I am in a routine of doing two miles several times a week. with the wood stove going I get a sweat going easily. that’s good to open my pores. my skin gets so dry during the winter.

I called the jury hot line. I didn’t have to report yesterday. I was glad but also disappointed. I got a mileage check from them for the time I did show. went to town and cashed that for some walk around money. I have to call one more time in December. then I am done with my jury duty for now.

I wonder why I have to do my civic duty. or follow the rules. when I watch the news I see our national leaders don’t have to do any of that. they don’t have to follow any of the rules they pass for the rest of us. they exempt themselves so none of that applies to them.

its a good thing we defrosted our freezer. we found some straw berries we picked last year. mary fixed them with chopped up banana. that sure tasted good. they were much sweeter than any thing you buy in a grocery store.

I also found some cow tripe. I will make some mish mote one of these days. I will make it with hominy. last night we have fried cabbage with kielbasa sausage. the cabbage was also in the freezer. I grew that. it had a real good flavor to it.

I am getting less eggs with the cold. I was getting at least a dozen a day. not now but I am glad I get fresh eggs even in the winter. i am shopping around for the best deal on a solar powered light for the chicken house. they lay better when they have more light in the winter.

gotta do my chores.

seems like fall didn’t last long. yesterday the temps were in the single digits all day with the wind chill. it is the coldest since last winter. not used to that cold yet. its bout as cold as some get at general council meetings.

I made our first fire in the wood stove. the house feels all warm. I like the feeling of having the wood stove going. nothing warms a house like that. we will keep the fire going and stay out of the cold.

the grand sons helped me stack the wood in the basement. I paid them for their help. they saved me labor and back pain. no matter how cold it gets, we don’t have to go outside to get wood. we just toss another log in the stove.

when it is time to do something we gotta do it. our freezer has been needing defrosting. we knew temps were below freezing outside. we took every thing out of the freezer and place it all in plastic bags. we put them in two empty plastic trash bags outside.

it stayed froze all day. we move it all back in. we will probably cook some of the stuff we have in there. I noticed a coupla bags of deer meat. we will put a roast of that in a crock pot. now we can see what we have in the freezer.

I noticed straw berries, blue berries, nenwezhek, mish mote, deer, buffalo, catfish and squirrel. there is also some meat we bought from the meat locker. we also have alot of frozen veggies.

we have some good food put away. besides what we froze we also have dried indian corn and squash. we canned apples, blue berries, hot sauce, salsa, spaghetti sauce, cherries and nenwe zhek. we can see the work we put in.

I got on the tread mill for the first time in a long time. good thing we started walking on the paved road. the hardest two miles to walk are the first two. we did that. now we just keep up our routine in the basement. we have to go down there anyway to stoke up the fire.

I took a picture of the full moon rising. it is called the full frost moon. the moon is in Taurus. that’s my sign. not to sound hippie like. my camera didn’t see the moon the way I did. I wasn’t happy with the picture.

I still have to go feed and water my dog and chickens. i have to bring in the eggs too. good thing the hens are laying every day. i have to bundle up and go do my chores.

our fund raiser at our dance ground went well. it was Friday afternoon. I went over in the morning to help set up tables. we enjoyed fried catfish and dessert. I just ate a small piece of pie. I passed on the rest even thought they all looked good.

we visited with most of the people there. it was crowded so we didn’t get to say hello to everyone. we sang happy birthday to mama judy. it made her day. the fund raiser was fun as well as worthwhile. the money goes to pay expenses. it not only benefits our members but many of our tribal people use the place as well.

I had to go to town to get chicken feed. the hens are giving me about a dozen eggs a day. cant beat fresh eggs. I sell my surplus eggs to my relatives. cant beat 2 dollars a dozen for cage free and chemical free eggs. I wont deliver at that price though. I only sell to cover cost of chicken feed.

while at the feed store I bought me an insulated hoodie. I misplaced my old one. don’t know where it went. I have one I use for work. but I wont wear it to town since it has paint stains and rips in it. I found out I was lucky to have bought the new hoodie when I went to the football game later that night.

there is something about a high school football game. the atmosphere etc. we went to see my nephew play Friday night. we had to be hard core fans. the temperature was 39 degrees. we sat on a thick blanket and covered with another. we also bundled up warm. it was still cold.

the two teams were evenly matched. it was 0 to 0 at half time. both teams had a chance to win it in the second half. each played good defense. there were also more penalties than a game should have. the game ended without a score. it was zero to zero at the end of regulation.

it went into overtime. the opposing team fumbled to end their shot at winning. Jackson Heights scored on their possession to win 6-0. that made them the regional champs. they advance on to the state playoffs now. the team they play next is the one that beat them in last years play offs.

we hung around at the end of the game. we went on field to congratulate taylor. he was happy we showed up to watch him. I seen his brothers and one sister too. I hugged each one. my nephew Zach is 6’5 and weighs bout 300. it is hard to get my arms around him.

couldn’t believe that next days temperature was 65 degrees. we took advantage of that to go walk on the paved road. wont be long before we wont be able to walk outside. that may be the last 60 degree day we have. we logged 6 miles last week. not good but not bad either. at least we are trying. soon we will use the tread mill.

gotta stack the wood I threw into the basement. we will have a fire going this week. it will be cold at night. not us though. we will be warm.

the tribal program that provides wood brought us a load. I got a mixture of oak, hack berry, elm and hickory. some of it was kinda card boardy. it burns fast and don’t produce much heat. nowadays some don’t know their woods. that takes some knowledge of wood.

the rest of the wood is good. happy bout that. the high temperatures on Monday and Tuesday are 28 and 29 degrees. Monday night the low will be 9 or 10 degrees. you can bet this indian gonna have a fire going.

I tossed enough wood into the basement to keep a fire going awhile. I will need it the next week or so. Andrew came outside looking for me. he wanted to help me when he seen me working. I let him. I even paid him for his help. he didn’t ask for it. I want him to know his help is appreciated.

I will stack it later. don’t wanna over do it. my arthritis acts up when I do any labor. I will work as long as I can. I wont quit cause it gets uncomfortable. I have to stay active. I see lotsa guys my age slowing down. I wont until I have to.

we finally got our fish tank set up. I bought an air pump. was gonna hook it up and discovered I needed an air hose. I bought that and found out I needed an air stone I think they call it. it diffuses the air bubbles. it makes a lot of noise with out it. I don’t know why they cant sell a complete set instead of bleeding you for more money..

we also added fake plants, gravel and a barrel tunnel thing the fish can swim thru. Andrew had to help. he even makes sure it is him that feeds the fish. misho indulges the kid. the grand kids want to keep this gold fish as a pet. I agree since it survived in the cold rain barrel.

we have an old drum set. the boys wanted to bang on it. we set it up for them. they had fun on it for a while. good thing our nearest neighbor lives a quarter mile away. soon it will be too cold for them to be outside. we let them play outside whenever they can. they enjoy being out in the country.

I have been hearing geese flying around. that can only mean one thing. geese are flying around. it used to be they would fly south for the winter and head back north in the spring. not anymore. many of them stay here year round.

this morning I am heading over to the dance ground. I will help set up tables for the fish fry. it will be a fund raiser for our place there. it takes money to keep the place going. we have insurance, propane, water and electricity bills to pay. and any other costs that come up.

I am slowly getting our gold fish settled in. we bought a 10 gallon tank. since then I got an air pump, gravel and fake plants to put into the tank. I also bought the pills to add to the water to make it better for the fish.

Andrew named the fish andy. then he changed it to Charlie. he wants to feed the fish all the time. he knows that he aint suppose to over feed it though. we are making a pet out of Charlie. he survived in the rain barrels even when it had an inch of ice covering it. the other fish died but not Charlie. we will keep him.

we took advantage of the fall weather yesterday to go for a two mile walk. the farmers that own the field south of us were combining the soybeans yesterday. that created a lot of dust from the plants being crushed up in the combine. we didn’t want to deal with that so we went to peoples park to walk.

we had a good walk. it was the first time we went to walk at the park. well I was there on a walk for some cause once. there wasn’t anyone else there. we had a good peaceful walk. we did a loop or two to make sure we walked enough time to cover at least two miles.

i went to vote yesterday. i have voted for 49 years. i may have missed an election or two while i was bumming around the country. i did vote in most elections though. i voted for my nephew who ran for the local school board. he missed by four votes.

i posted on face book that i was glad i could walk into a church and not get struck by lightning. i have stayed out of churches every since boarding school days. that kind of religion left me with a bad feeling. they used to treat us so bad that i would never go into a church if i didn’t have to. i think i did a few times for funerals then even stopped that.

I watched the KU-Duke game last night. it was close thru out. even if KU had 28 turnovers. it went down to the last minute before we lost. any other team would have been beaten by 20. i hope they learn something from this game. if they don’t it will be a long year.

i get tired of listening to the announcers on KU games. that one played and was an assistant coach at duke. i could have guessed that by the way he called the game. everything duke did was great and everything KU did wasn’t.

announcers try to create their own lingo. they used words like “physicality”. they sound like this one teen movie where the hip girls tried to create their lingo too. they used the word so ‘fetch’. it was stupid but they thought it was cool. same with these announcers. i guess ‘physicality’ sounds better than ‘he’s a big mofo’.

this Friday we are having a fish fry at the dance grounds. it is to raise money to pay expenses there. i will go down to help set up. and to eat. i love catfish. i hope we have a good turn out. our place helps a lot of our tribal members.

we have to go after the boys this evening. they don’t have school Thursday or Friday. they gonna spend the time with us. i like that. no such thing as too much time with the grand kids. i am looking forward to it.

I have been slackin on my walking. it was such a nice day yesterday that I decided to go for a walk on the road. that is after the K. C. Chiefs won of course. couldn’t go til I seen if they won or not. they did by a field goal.

I made konugish stay home again. I get no trouble from him. he obeys me. probably knows that he cant keep up with us. we don’t walk fast but he is too old to keep up. the weather was just right. 65 degrees. I had a light flannel shirt over my t shirt. I wore it as a jacket but didn’t need it.

we seen a couple of relatives on the road. they were driving by and stopped to talk. we had a short visit with them. there have a been a number of times that some one will stop and talk to us. we don’t mind. we enjoy being outside.

I was disappointed that KU’s football team lost to them other guys. I hoped for a better game. I turned the channel before the game was over. I don’t know what to think about this team. they play real good and then have a bad game. they gotta play more consistent. on the other hand this aint miles’ team. he will make this a good team yet.

when my old rav4 broke down I didn’t make it to the movie I wanted to see. last night I finally went to see the “Joker”. I thought it was a good movie. joaquin phoenix played the part well. others that seen it said it was hard to watch. a woman behind us was crying. it made a powerful statement about mental illness.

we stopped at wal marks. Andrew was all worried about ‘his’ fish. he wanted gravel for the bottom of the tank and an air pump. misho had to get them. I know that next he will want the fake plants and other things in the tank. I will end up getting them.

tomorrow I will go vote. i have voted since i turned 18. that is almost 50 years that i have voted. I don’t know what will be on the ballot. I will find out tomorrow. I remember once I was able to vote at the senior citizen building. guess that aint happening anymore. i also voted at the Methodist and Catholic churches.

i have to call next week to see if i have to serve on jury duty. last time i had to show up but was dismissed because there was no defendant. i hope i don’t have to go again. most likely i will have to call three times before i am done. that’s the way it was last time. rich folks don’t have to mess with civic duties.

i will drain the gasoline out of my riding mower. once i had to get a carb rebuilt on a tiller because i left gas in it over the winter. the guy said to drain the gas. i imagine that applies to rider mowers too. i also read some where to drain the oil. not sure about that though. i want my mower to last.

what will this week bring?

Halloween is over. I guess that means trick or treat too. we only got one visitor here for candy. we too far out here in the sticks. people usually go to town or the clusters. coming out here to the boondocks takes too much time to fill up the candy bags. so we get a pass.

my niece came over with her kids. good thing I bought a bag of candy when I was in wal marks. I thought just in case. we did have a just in case. I gave the little ones candy. I jokingly said we also have fried chicken. they took a drum stick too. I was kidding but I guess you don’t joke with indians bout fried chicken.

my great grand kids (am I that old?) in Washington dressed up for Halloween. their school had a contest. the ones with the most likes on their face book page won. I shared their picture and asked people on my friend list to like their picture. my great grandson won first prize. my great grand daughter took third place. don’t know what prize they won for that, if any.

I emptied my rain barrels yesterday. I had gold fish in the barrels to eat the mosquitos. I thought the fish were long gone. the barrels had about an inch of ice covering the rain water. I chopped up the ice to empty the barrels. I had two gold fish living. I brought them inside and put them in a glass jar. once died a little later.

this morning the other one was still swimming around. I bought a 10 gallon fish tank to put it in. if it survived the cold water it deserves a chance to live. the grand kids all watch the fish swimming around. next I will have to buy the accessories to put in the tank. gravel, fake plants, air pump etc. I go over board to indulge these kids.

Andrew said he was gonna give the fish a pet name. he ended up picking “andy” as the name. wonder how he came up with that.

I got a dozen eggs today. the cold hasn’t stopped my hens from laying eggs. this is the first time I got a dozen in one day. its been about 9 to 11 eggs a day. I thought the dozen mark was a big deal. later I should get more in a day.

I upped my cable package today. that is a 12 dollah increase. I only kept the cheapest package so I can watch basketball. the outside antenna don’t get enough channels for me to say hell with it. I upped it so I can watch the KU-K State football game tomorrow.

I also want to watch the KU basketball games that will be on. some are on espn+, for 4.99 more a month. hell with that. I will miss those games. I don’t want to be charged for it if they pay their players. simmer down Jayhawk fans. it was a joke.

we had a buffalo roast. got it as part of the commodity buffalo program. senior citizens get a little taste. we cooked it with dried corn. it made the best soup around. I had to have several bowls. I go thru all the work to get corn because I like it so much. I reward myself for that. the corn soup is better than a pat on the back.

cant wait for the KU football game tomorrow. I think they will beat them other guys. rock chalk.

I was getting used to the fall weather. the other day we got our first snow of the year. the temps dropped too. enough to make me turn up the heat. it cant be winter already. maybe. I heard the farmers almanac predicts 7 snows this year. well six to go if you count that little one.

mary put in our request to have wood cut for us. I am so used to burning wood. I like the feeling of a good fire going in the wood stove. it makes the house feel like home. it reminds me of back when I was real young. we had to burn wood. mom even cooked on a wood stove in the kitchen. she made the best bisquits in that oven.

I am glad I am a senior citizen so they bring me wood. I used to do that all the time when I was slightly younger. I cut many loads for our ceremonial building too. that was before I got arthritis. if I were to do that today my back would have pain for a few days.

the snow is gone now. there were a few traces of snow coming down earlier. I think more is suppose to come today. before the first snow melted away I was able to wash my face in it. I have done that most of my life. I remember as soon as the first snow fell we were told to go wash our faces in it. when you are a little guy that can seem to be cold.

I got a letter from the b I a. it is a standard form letter that I get every year. it tells me that I have zero beginning balance and my current balance is $0.00 well thanks. I really don’t need someone to tell me they don’t owe me any money.

I got a friend request on face book from some one I didn’t know. against my better judgement I accepted him. I thought maybe he knows me from long ago or something. he did the wave thing. then asked me how I was. I said okay. then he went into a sales pitch. and again after I closed the dialogue box. I unfriended the guy. don’t need no one selling me something on face book.

the world series is tied at 3 games apiece. I couldn’t care less who wins. all I am after is for me to win the series pool I am in. I have gotten into pools for decades. I even organized pools for friends and relatives. it is a thing that we all did. it made the games more fun to watch.

I am going to see the movie “the joker”. I missed it the day my old Rav4 gave out on me. I still want to see it. it is suppose to be cold out but it wont be inside the theater. I imagine we will be the only ones watching the movie. that’s okay. I don’t like crowds, unless it is a packed allen field house.

I need to get me another insulated hoodie. I will do that while I am in town. something to wear in this colder weather. that is until it is time to put on the winter coat. I am not ready for winter.