Kid found a link to the past

Our oldest girl called us from California where she and her college roommates have rented a place on the beach for two weeks while they’re on school break. She was excited to find that their neighbor actually knows me and her mom very well. Turns out  they had rented a small apartment on Mission Beach right next to an old friend of ours from back when we traveled around the country.

Now I’m sure that me and the Mrs. will get to here all about what our friend tells our daughter about us in the old days. She was never really very enthusiastic about stories of our past when she had to hear it from us, but she seems really excited about finding out that we really did have a life before kids from someone else. Maybe it’s because she’s three thousand miles away and ran into someone that actually knows her parents that she’d never met before and totally by accident.

Kids, they can be amusing.

Family…

Been kinda busy last couple of days. I’m getting ready to take a few days off work to go see Grandmother and maybe see if it could be possible to have her come live with us instead of having to stay in such a place as a Nursing Home. Wife and I are still discussing the pros and cons of the possibility especially as to what her medical needs may be or develop into.

Family means a lot to me, even if it is my adopted family, they are the only family I knew growing up and did well by me. It is not like my people to put away our old where they cannot be seen or heard. We are connected to our past through the elders and it is our heritage itself we pass along with the wisdom only gained by experience and what we learn from them must be taught to our young and them to their young. Only in this way can a people survive the onslaught of time. We must do right by those who have done right by us, we owe them that. We owe ourselves that.

Independent aging Grandmother being sent to nursing home

Received a disturbing phone call from my sister today informing me that they have placed my grandmother, of 98 years of age, into a nursing home. There is no doubt in mind that she absolutely hates being kept there. She has always been very independent and does not like for people to have to fuss over her. I’m much like her in feeling the same way, I do not like people to fuss over me unless I’m sick then it is OK.

The whole family has been like that since I can remember. From the top to the bottom a feisty very belligerent bunch to say the least. I will go out to Oklahoma to see grandmother at some point soon, something that I have been putting off for too long and now the time has come where I must, and I will.  I need to see why she was placed in a nursing home and if it is a permanent thing or just until she gets better.  She did have a bit of a fall but I thought she was fine.  Guess I better start making plans to check into this and soon.

Sky Dogs

I do on occasion have a few friends and family members come by for brief visits time to time. I enjoy the children that are brought along and  I do have a way with children. My house is full of interesting and unusual artifacts that it doesn’t take long to get a kid interested in a certain piece or a collection of the various Native Americana items that are so fascinating and hold many interesting stories and myths inside them.

I even have a few books that I enjoy telling them stories from, for some of the ones they can sit down long enough to really pay attention and listen too.  One of my favorites just so happens to be about my own people of the Indian nation and it is called, “Sky Dogs”, and was written by Jane Yolen.

When horses first appeared to the Blackfeet people, they thought the strange animals were large dogs sent as a gift from the sky – from God, creator of all things.

It’s a good story, if you run across a copy I urge you to pick it up and give it a read. It is a short story of our people and how they came to know of horses.

When President’s Lie

I have always enjoyed reading, I can’t remember ever there being a time in my life, that I didn’t have at least one book that was holding my attention and I find that I’m usually in the middle of reading several books at a time, I read depending on my mood.

I am very interested in early American history and have many a bookcases overflowing with books on this subject, and I am very proud of some of these treasurers, and am always looking for new ones to add to my growing collection.

I picked up a book by the name of “When President’s Lie” which is a History of Official Deception and It’s Consequences, by Eric Alterman, which is a little bit off of the beaten path of what I usually find myself interested in, but a buddy of mine read it and was talking so highly of it, that when I saw it at the Dollar Store for only $1, I decided to give it a try. I hope that I won’t be disappointed, I’ll let you know what I think of it in a week or so.

Asia is facing hard times

As if the cyclone Nargis hitting Myamar wasn’t grief enough for Asia, now a huge earthquake hit China!  Seems as if Mother Nature is conducting a large scale massacre out there!  I was reading that some people think that the tragedy has been worsened emotionally because of the policy of each family only being allowed to have one child, but I am wondering if each family had been allowed more children, if the death toll would have been higher!

Something to ponder over and discuss with other folks.

Please stop wasting my time!

How irritating is it to get all of these spammed messages that state “I didn’t agree with you first, but last paragraph makes sense for me…” especially when the post is absolutely not about anything that could be agreed or disagreed upon! These folks need to at least put some thought into their comments!  At least take the time to actually read my postings and then make your comment relate to it, it is not that difficult.

Computers and the Internet have made things so much easier for us and it is has become for us all a huge time saver, what a drag to get bogged down with such trivial nonsense.

More men die in floods

I was reading in an article from Time magazine, that men are more likely to die in floods than women.  The article says that men are more likely to die in thunderstorms, too.  The attempted explanations theorize that the reason for these situations could be because men take more risks than women do, and/or it could be simply because men tend to spend more time outdoors than women do, so they are exposed to the risks of being killed in situations like that.

This made me think about what I would do if my friends or family was in a serious flood and I felt that I had to try to rescue a family member.  How much of a risk would I take?  I wonder how many of those flood related deaths are because of men trying to rescue someone else?  Interesting information that someone took a lot of time to gather and put together for us to contemplate and hopefully discuss with others.

Good News about Algae

I think that instead of using salt water to create fuel to run our outrageous amount of vehicles that are clogging up the roads at alarming numbers, that using algae to create fuel is a much more reasonable path to take.  I’ve been reading several articles as of late, about making fuel from algae, and I saw that some companies have already began using fuel made from algae, including one airline company!

This is awesome news because algae is NOT fossil fuel; it is a renewable resource that will produce less harm to the environment!  There is a website about algae fuel that I found that has a lot of information about the subject.  If you are interested in learning more about this exciting news, please click here.

Native Tribes discovered as “uncontacted”

I am always amazed when I hear news of uncontacted native tribes being “discovered.”  There is a story that I saw one today about a tribe in Brazil that shows pictures from a recent “flyover.”  These poor natives are photographed aiming flaming arrows right at the aircraft that is taking their pictures.  Can you imagine the horror and dread these natives are feeling as they see this “monster” flying overhead?

Makes me think whether it really is in the tribes best interest, as human beings, to be left undeveloped or is it in their best interest to be contacted and taught “modern ways.”  That is a moral and ethical decision I know I’ll never have to make, and I’m glad that I don’t have the responsibility of having to make that decision