Saturday, May 27, 2017
Buddy is all smiles, but he will be frowning when he gets a bath soon.
Buddy and Homer.
Sunday, May 21, 2017
Last weekend was the festival at the Mission Garden. I worked my non-profit's booth, but had time to wander around the garden and see things. There are a lot of hollyhocks. They remind me of my childhood in Buckley, where every year I'd pluck one of every color of hollyhocks and press them between pages of old Sears catalogs. I wonder whatever happened to them.
Hollyhocks.
While I was at the booth, people were busy cutting wheat and putting it on a giant piece of canvas. They then had a pair of horses stomp over the wheat, separating the heads from the stalks. I wondered aloud what would happen in one of the horses pooped in the grain, and almost immediately afterward one did. I don't plan on eating any of that wheat.
While I was at the booth, people were busy cutting wheat and putting it on a giant piece of canvas. They then had a pair of horses stomp over the wheat, separating the heads from the stalks. I wondered aloud what would happen in one of the horses pooped in the grain, and almost immediately afterward one did. I don't plan on eating any of that wheat.
Horses.
Every day when I come home from work, Buddy is super excited to see me. I sit on the porch and rub his tummy. And then I get to clean up his poop. He certainly makes a lot of that.
Buddy.
Summer has arrived and I am watering things. I mostly have a black thumb, so I have a few potted plants, some bushes, a hackberry that sprouted in the front yard, and the trees. One of my two lemon trees looks like it will actually produce lemons this year.
Lemons.
To save money I gave myself a haircut. On Saturday night I worked the door of game show. This was the second time. The woman who has been doing it for a long time snapped at me a couple of times. That was a tad annoying.
Game show.
My next genealogy book is 300 pages of newspaper transcriptions from 1866 to 1869. I am busy entering the names for the index into an Excel file. I just finished page 140 tonight, almost half done (90 pages over the weekend). I'm hoping to complete it in the next couple of weeks.
And then there is the crap show of our presidential politics. Crazier and crazier. What will happen next? I remember watching Nixon resign in August 1974, at the house in Buckley with all the hollyhocks. Wonder when I will get to see Orange resign. Hope he takes closet case Pence with him.
Friday, May 12, 2017
I had stopped by the Anthropology Department and saw a job listing and applied for it, knowing full well it was pointless. And one day I came back to work from lunch and there was a message, "call the National Park Service." So I ran home and did and was hired to go work at Fort Union Trading Post, National Historic Site. The next day I turned in my resignation, my immediate boss Melody congratulating me (her husband was an archaeologist) and the head of the library making a nasty face because they were going to have to find someone to replace me. Whatever!
I went home to Sault Ste. Marie and my parents drove me out to Williston, North Dakota in the truck with a homemade camper on it. We got there a day early and drove up to Canada. We passed Fort Union and I wanted to stop, but of course my father (who hated archaeology) said we would stop on the way back, and made sure we drove a different way.
The next day people met up and I managed to invite myself to live with Melanie, Becky, Dana, and Colleen in a house trailer in Fairview, Montana. $28 a month for each of us. We were getting paid $7.11 an hour, so after half a day out month's rent was paid.
We were divided up into four crews. Dave Ford was my crew chief and Melanie, Pat, Scott, Jeannie, and Matt were my other crew members. We first worked next to a bastion, uncovering the wall and post holes.
Lunch time under the ramada. Dave Ford in cowboy hat. Don on the left. Eddie on the right. Bill the boss in white teeshirt and shorts.
SO MUCH FUN! Going to work was exciting. You could find pretty beads and sometimes other cool things. And on the weekends we went places. One weekend we went to see the Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site, where you could see the depressions where houses had stood back in the 1820s-1830s, before the village was ravaged by small pox.
Wallie, Matt, Martin, Pat, Becky, Homer, ???, Lynelle, Bill, and Blaine at Knife River.
Becky was from Akron and was a lot of fun to hang out with.
Becky and Homer.
Becky, Matt, and Homer.
One weekend we drove north to Wynyard, Canada to attend the Wynyard Kinsmen Chicken Chariot Races.
Homer, Melanie, Matt, Wallie, and Jeanie.
Melanie.
Melanie, two kids, and Pat.
We worked with a lot of volunteers. Laurene was there a lot and she still sputters about the time I reached into her screen and pulled out the only crucifix found at the site.
Laurene.
I got a lot of skill working at the dig, discovered I was very good at archaeology. I developed a lot of self confidence that summer, something I had never really had (thanks to my abusive father).
Dana, Scott, Laurie, and Becky at the back gate area.
The coolest thing I got to dig that summer was part of a cellar filled with things discarded in the 1840s. A gold leaf-decorated decanter, bottles, clay pipes, and a pregnant wolf were among the items I found. Melanie dug the other half and found beaded moccasins.
Cellar.
Matt was nearby digging a drain. For weeks. He hated historic period archaeology. He liked to wear short shorts.
Matt.
We dressed up for the Rendezvous, when re-enactors camped out next to the fort.
Homer, Melanie, Laurie, and Eddie.
I'm still friends with many of the people I met that summer. I would eventually analyze animal bones from the dig for my Master's Thesis. It seems amazing how a few months affected my life.
Thursday, May 11, 2017
I really hate drama. I do not know how the idiots in the White House can stand going to work when it is all drama-mofo drama-more mofo drama, every single mofo day.
It is pretty obvious that we have a Manchurian Candidate situation going on. Donald Trump is a traitor. Back in the old days, back when Republicans were patriotic, any hint of collusion with Russia would get you hauled in front of Congress and forced to explain your actions. Not anymore. Apparently being a traitor is fine and dandy.
Anyways, every day just seems like a train wreck and it just gets tiresome.
It is pretty obvious that we have a Manchurian Candidate situation going on. Donald Trump is a traitor. Back in the old days, back when Republicans were patriotic, any hint of collusion with Russia would get you hauled in front of Congress and forced to explain your actions. Not anymore. Apparently being a traitor is fine and dandy.
Anyways, every day just seems like a train wreck and it just gets tiresome.
Sunday, May 07, 2017
I planted some zinnia seeds back in January or February. Three or four came up. Here is the first one to bloom.
Zinnia.
They remind me our gardens back in Michigan.
Friday, May 05, 2017
Catching up.
I skipped the annual egg decorating and egg hunt party. For several reasons including my busy schedule and being somewhat grumpy. I did invite Kamron over to decorate cookies and then Dino stopped by and I made him decorate one.
Along the endless trail was some fun rock art, including people holding hands. What you cannot see in the picture is someone named Oscar scratched his name across the image. According to a previous survey, this happened before 1987. Vandals suck.
I skipped the annual egg decorating and egg hunt party. For several reasons including my busy schedule and being somewhat grumpy. I did invite Kamron over to decorate cookies and then Dino stopped by and I made him decorate one.
Egg Day Cookies.
And then back north traipsing through the woods. And finding many sites and occasionally seeing some wildlife,
Rattlesnake.
Gopher snake.
The scenery along Fossil Creek can be very lovely, as long as I forget that I just walked three hours in to see it and have to walk all the way back out again.We had to scramble up and down some truly scary slopes. In the picture below I am clutching the rocks to keep from falling down. Unpleasant.
Several hundred feet up.
We also had to wade across Fossil Creek in several places. I took off my pants once to keep them from getting wet.
Remnant of a dam.
Lots of wildflowers blooming, I really liked this perky cactus.
Red.
Rock art.
Paul and Jon came over and we played cribbage and Mexican train dominoes.
Paul and Jon.
I won the last game of dominoes.
Mexican train.
For the annual meeting of the non-profit I am president of I made a chocolate mayonnaise cake with chocolate meringue frosting, a gluten free carrot cake (Namaste brand spice cake mix) with vanilla cream cheese frosting, a lemon meringue pie, and a coconut cream pie. All but two cake slices were eaten up.
Cake and pies.
Then back north to finish the survey. I managed to lose my new glasses and my compass. I am a clutz during surveys.
Tyler, Connie, and the Clutz.
We had our last lunch sitting on boulders next to the river watching the fish. I stuck my hand in and two fish grabbed my fingers. I almost screamed.
Apache trout?
Rob was driving from San Francisco to Oklahoma City and spent the night in Tucson. We went to Rosas and had Mexican food and caught up. Nice to see him and we had a fun time.
Rob.
Every afternoon I come home from work and Buddy is excited to see me. He usually hates having his picture taken, so apparently I caught him in a good mood couple of days ago.
Happy Buddy.
Swamp coolers are going. Jeffrey gave me his old one and Kamron came over and helped me hoist it onto the roof. It is very effective, if I leave it on my house goes down to 55.
