Stir Crazy

It’s been six days now since the operation on my foot and I am stir crazy! The doctor said it would be at least two weeks before I was back to a semblance of normal and if she’s right this next week will be LONG.

All in all I feel good….except for my foot. The rest of my body wants to get out and about but the foot protests loudly. I did manage to go to my induction ceremony for the local Elks lodge on Thursday but I paid the price on Friday. After standing and walking around for a couple of hours on Thursday evening, I spent all Friday with my foot elevated and covered with an ice pack.

Yesterday I went out with The Bride on a short shopping expedition….that is a good comment on “stir crazy”. Anytime I accompany The Bride shopping you know something unusual is happening. Anyway, I did a little walking and then sat in the car for the rest of the trip. This morning the foot is not complaining too much so I’m encouraged.

The forced inactivity had allowed me to do a lot of reading. Several years ago I wrote a post about the Lakeside Classics series of books. I continue to collect and read them and in the past few weeks I have added about seven “new” editions to my collection. I’ve read three in the last week alone.

“The Border and the Buffalo” is the 1938 volume of the series and was written by John R. Cook who was a buffalo hunter and participated in the near extermination of this noble animal. It’s a pretty disturbing read for those of us in this modern age that weren’t trying to tame the wilderness of the Southwest in the 1870’s and 1880’s. Cook however, explains that the slaughter of millions of buffalo was a calculated move not only for profit but also to clear the vast lands for settlement…and to ensure the defeat of Native Americans. Reading the book provided quite a different view of the situation of the people that engaged in this profession and gave me a bit of a moral dilemma in judging their actions when looking through the “glass” of their times. In spite of that it was an excellent read.

“The Early Days of Rock Island and Davenport” is the 1942 volume of the series and consists of the memoirs of two early settlers of the area. J.W. Spencer migrated from Vermont to the area of Rockport in 1820 and J.N.D. Burroughs moved from Cincinnati to Davenport in 1839. Illinois was at this time the “west”. It was the edge of civilization in the young nation of the United States. Most of my readings of the series up to now have been related to the West and Southwest as we understand it today. It was interesting to read of the pioneers of an earlier day and their struggles to settle the country of Illinois. They encountered many of the same problems of isolation, lack of reliable transportation, severe winters and Indians that tested the later pioneers of the far west and southwest. The fact that this was a first person historical narrative, like all of the other Lakeside Classics, made it a fascinating read. The two authors reached out over 180 years to tell a story directly to me…..exciting.

“Narratives of the American Revolution”, the 1976 volume of the series has the subtitle of …As told by a young sailor, a home-sick surgeon, a French volunteer and a German general’s wife.” What an interesting look at the birth of our country! Again, first person historical narrative. Four vastly different people telling you their story of what happened to them in the American Revolution. Ebenezer Fox was a young man who ran away from a difficult home life and became a sailor for the Continental Navy. He was captured, imprisoned on a prison ship, agreed to service in the British Army to save his life and then escaped from his military unit in Jamaica and fled to Cuba and then back to the United States. What more needs to be said? A compelling story, but the book also recounts the lives of a volunteer surgeon who wintered at Valley Forge with Washington, a young French officer who served with Lafayette and the wife of a German general who served with the British and became a prisoner of war. If you are tired of the textbook story of the American Revolution, find this book and read it. It’s fascinating.

I now own 39 of the 107 volumes of the collection and consider them to be the most important and entertaining pieces of literature I’ve ever read. If you like American history, find a volume, any volume, as they are all fascinating and read it. You will NOT be disappointed.

Thanks for visiting.

Dancing At The Prairie Chicken Fair

The title of this post is a take off on a classic western novel by Ivan Doig, Dancing At The Rascal Fair. There’s not really any connection but it seemed like a spiffy title and I really enjoyed the book!

To get back to the story of the Lesser Prairie Chickens, I battened down the RV hatches and went to bed at about 9pm on Wednesday with instructions from Norma to be ready to go at 4:30 am the next morning. I haven’t had a “special” time to get up in the morning since I retired. Even when I was a working stiff I almost never used an alarm clock. I was always able to set an alarm clock in my mind and wake up at whatever time I needed to be awake.

This time however I needed to make sure I was up and ready so I brought along an alarm clock and set it for 3:45 am. I was nervous that something would go wrong and either the alarm wouldn’t work or I’d sleep through it….Shouldn’t have worried. Between a fierce wind that blew all night long and rocked the RV more than I’ve ever experienced before, and my constant checking of the time, I got very little sleep and finally just got up at about 3:30 am.

By 4:30 am the wind had died down and Norma and I headed out in her pickup truck to the lek we were going to watch this day. For whatever reason I was the only customer this day so I really got the personalized treatment. As we approached the lek it got overcast and foggy. Norma said that the Prairie Chickens might not be active because of the weather and I got this sinking feeling. Within a couple of minutes however we could hear the birds calling to one another in the dark.

Sure enough, as soon as it was light enough to see we could see six males about 50 yards away doing their daily dance. Each male had staked out a territory and every couple of minutes another male would come running into the others territory all puffed up with tail spread and ear feathers pointing to the sky. The two males would circle each other squawking pejoratives about the others mother or some such insult and jump up and down in front of each other. After about 30 seconds of this they would back off and sit down in the grass facing each other. After a rest of a minute or two they would break off and go challenge one of the other Prairie Chickens. 

We stayed in the same spot and watched the display for about two hours. I took a ton of pictures but because the lighting was pretty poor and I was shooting at maximum telephoto distance, a lot of the pictures were not in complete focus. All the while we were watching, Norma kept up a commentary about the birds, their habits and habitat. She said she was worried for the survival of these birds because they cannot tolerate humans. They won’t nest or exist within a mile of human activity or even a building. The government currently pays landowners not to develop areas so that the birds will have some habitat but Norma said that this program expires this year. She said the landowners that are paying taxes on the land have to make some money from the land in order to pay the taxes. She feared that the few areas of habitat left would be farmed or ranched without the government program.

I feel privileged that I was able to see this natural curiosity and watch these incredible birds. I hope that next year I can bring The Bride to see it as well.  We were back at the ranch by 7:30 am and I packed up the RV and headed out for more adventure. Stay tuned and I’ll tell you about the rest of the trip.

Thanks for visiting.

Recent Read

Cannery Row - John Steinbeck. My last "Recent Read" was another Steinbeck book, "Travels With Charley". Reading that book gave me an appreciation for Steinbeck's talent and when my daughter, CaJenn, got married at the end of Cannery Row in Monterey, CA a couple of weeks ago I just knew I would have to read this classic too.

Cannery Row is a delightful, quirky story of a group of misfits who live in the sardine capital of the world. At the time this book was published (1945) Cannery Row was home to 16 sardine canneries. It was the peak year for this business and Monterey was a bustling town.

One of the central figures in the book, "Doc", makes a living by gathering and supplying various companies with specimens of sea life which he collects from nearby beaches. Doc is somewhat mysterious and while everyone calls him "Doc" he is not a medical doctor. That does not keep the locals from coming to him for medical problems and "Doc" does his best to help. Doc is a beloved figure to the downtrodden of Cannery Row.

Mack and the boys, Hazel, Eddie, Hughie and Jones, are the counterpoint to Doc. They are the fringes of society. They live in an abandoned warehouse, which they called The Palace Flophouse and Grill, and pursue the free spirited life, working only when absolutely necessary and constantly scheming for the next big deal.

A large part of the book centers around Mack and the boys planning and throwing a party for Doc. They had to do it twice because the first time Doc was out of town and by the time he got home. Mack and the boys and all the other guests were totally drunk and had trashed Doc's place.

This is a very entertaining book and if you want it to be it has an intellectual sub story all about humanity, morality, psychology and social issues. To tell you the truth, I resisted the intellectual part and just enjoyed the hell out of a rollicking good story.

As I read the book I said to myself, this is really good but this is a guy book. Only a guy would understand the convoluted logic and antics of Mack and the boys. Maybe I'm wrong however, because this book would not have achieved the acclaim it has if only guys read it.

In any case I can heartily recommend this book to all the guys out there. Ladies, you might want to try it too....

Thanks for visiting.

Recent Read

Travels with Charley: In Search of America - John Steinbeck....an RV book and a Nobel Prize for literature all at once? How can you go wrong? Where did I go wrong in not reading this 1961 masterpiece long before now? Maybe it was a good thing because at this stage in my life I can really enjoy and appreciate the content.

The content gives you the hilarious and the soul searching cultural introspection all in a relatively short 210 pages. Steinbeck was in his late fifties when he began a cross country trip with his dog Charley and a three quarter ton truck and camper. The camper was named "Rocinante" which was the name of Don Quitoxe's steadfast horse. After many years of international travel and the high life of an important author, Steinbeck felt he may have lost touch with his countrymen. This trip was an effort to reconnect. Early on in the trip Steinbeck states that "We do not take a trip: the trip takes us.", and so it is he travels across the country recording his travels and observations. Most are not planned by him, they are controlled by the trip.

The two constants are his steed Rocinante and his standard poodle, Charley. Steinbeck waxes eloquent and hilarious when describing the character and foibles of his very French poodle. I was in literal stitches as he described showing his companion a redwood forest for the first time.

"Now there is not any question that Charley was rapidly becoming a tree expert of enormous background. He could probably get a job as a consultant with the Davies people. But from the first I had withheld from him any information about the giant redwoods."

"After this experience he might be translated mystically to another plane of existence, to anther dimension, just as the redwoods seem to be out of time and out of our ordinary thinking. The experience might even drive him mad."

In the true French manner however, Charley barely acknowledged these giants at all and Steinbeck mused that if he thought Charley did it to make a joke he would kill him.

About his own ability to navigate he was also eloquent in his lack of ability...

"I was born lost and take no pleasure in being found..."

It's not all lighthearted travel commentary however. Steinbeck visits New Orleans in the midst of a particularly nasty episode in the desegregation of the public schools in that area. In this arena his writing becomes darker. It is equally as eloquent, but darker. He states his opinions and beliefs but steers clear of offering solutions to society's problems.

This was a delightful read, totally deserving of the praise of the many people and institutions that have done so.

Thanks for visiting.

Recent Read

A True Picture of Emigration by Rebecca Burlend, is the 34th release of the great Lakeside Classics series. This release was published by The Lakeside Press in 1936 and is a reprint of a document originally published anonymously in 1848.

The original full title was "A True Picture of Emigration or Fourteen Years in the Interior of North America Being a Full and Impartial Account of the Various Difficulties and Ultimate Success of an English Family Who Emigrated From Barwick-In-Elmet, Near Leeds, in the Year 1831" . I guess when The Lakeside Press decided to reprint the document they didn't want to use as much paper for the title as the rest of the book, as it was a rather short document of about 150 pages.

While the book is relatively short it is once again my favorite type of book, a first person historical narrative. Rebecca Burlend tells the story of her family's emigration to the frontier....directly to me.

The editor's forward is as entertaining as the book itself. He recounts how the book was chosen for publication and how the identity of the author was uncovered. Remember, I said that it was originally published anonymously. It was exciting to learn that after over one hundred years, the editor was able to find descendants of the author still living in the area described in the book.

The Burlend family left England in 1831, traveled across the Atlantic to New Orleans and then up the Mississippi and Missouri rivers to western Illinois around Detroit in Pike County. The story of their journey to their new home is as fascinating as the story of their struggle to survive in the American wilds. At one point in the Atlantic their ship was nearly sunk by a tremendous storm.

The story of a frontier farmer is perhaps not as glorious as some of the other Lakeside Classic releases that described the lives of fur trappers, gold miners and rootin' tootin' lawmen, but that doesn't make it any less interesting. Two adults and several small children trying to break enough ground to grow food to feed the family, and all this without equipment or livestock is a gripping story. Finding food, building shelter, getting the simplest of clothes and absolute necessities boggles the modern mind.

While not an educated woman, Rebecca Burlend does herself proud in her vivid descriptions of everyday life....and for actually succeeding in this difficult and tenuous life. If you like early American History and/or first person historical narratives, this will be a joyful read.

Thanks for visiting.

Recent Read - Not

I have published a lot of posts entitled "Recent Read" in which I review a book that I have read. I haven't done one of those in a while for several reasons. First, I find it harder now to find time to sit down and read. It's that same crazy retired excuse that I just don't have the time to do everything I want to. Secondly, I've been reading more magazines than before. Doesn't require as much time although I will admit that I don't get the same sense of fulfillment as I do from reading a book.

A couple of months ago I started to read Studs Terkel's autobiography, "Touch and Go". Studs is a Pulitzer Prize winner for his book "The Good War" and he has written a total of 12 oral history books. I read "The Good War" and several others and really enjoyed them so when I saw that he had written an autobiography I was really looking forward to reading it.

The book had gotten wonderful reviews but I just could not slog my way through it. It was one thing for Studs to relate the stories told to him by other people. His own story, related by him just left me cold. Lord knows I tried. I know he's a good writer and a lot of high powered people said the book was a masterpiece. He was never able to "hook" me however, and after slogging through about half the book I just gave up.

Shall we say that Studs was an intellectual? A socialist? He certainly was NOT a Communist as the McCarthy camp tried to paint him but he was a very political person. I grew up in the McCarthy era and in the hippie era and maybe that's why I couldn't read all about it again. I didn't like it then either.

I don't mean for this post to discourage anyone else from reading the book....I just couldn't get through it. I have committed myself to carving out more time to read however and I'm about finished with another Lakeside Classic that I'll post about in a few days.

Thanks for visiting.

Recent Read

Among the Indians, Eight Years in the far West, 1858-1866 by Henry A. Boller is yet another of the fabulous Lakeside Classics. This edition was released by the R. R. Donnelley Co. in 1959. The original manuscript was prepared from Boller's journals and published in late 1867 or early 1868. The title is somewhat confusing because the actual time period described in the book spans only four years 1858-1862.

Even if the title is misleading, it doesn't change the fact that if you like this type of first person historical narrative about the early fur traders and Indians, this is an absorbing, vivid, can't put it down type of book.

Boller came from an upper class family and spent three years at the University of Pennsylvania. Despite his privileged background and the chance to lead a life of relative luxury, the call of the frontier led him to abandon college in his senior year and obtain a clerkship with the "opposition" fur company of Clark and Primeau. This company was in direct competition with the American Fur Company owned by John Jacob Astor. In 1860 Astor bought Clark and Primeau in an effort to eliminate the competition and Boller found himself without a job. He quickly secured a spot in another "opposition" company, Larpenteur, Smith and Company

During the four years he chronicled he spent time in numerous fur trading forts and Indian villages all along the Missouri River and up to the Yellowstone River in eastern Montana. Boller describes not only his day to day activities, but he also gives us an in depth glimpse of Indian life before the demise of the buffalo.

Unlike settlers who tried to avoid all contact with the Indians, Boller's livelihood depended on constant contact with the Indians. His "career" demanded that he interact with both friendly and hostile Indians on a regular basis. Because of this, Boller is able to give us an intimate look at the everyday live of the many Indian tribes in the area. Both the fur traders and the Indians faced tremendous challenges in everyday living that they both accepted as a normal state of affairs. Life was hard and uncertain and there was plenty of excitement and danger to go around. Boller is an accomplished writer and is able to paint a vivid picture of events that make you feel as if you were right there with him.

I've said it before, but if you want to journey back into the very beginnings of American Western history, if you want to feel like you stepped out of a time machine and found yourself in that exciting but dangerous era, read this book.

Thanks for visiting.

Recent Read

Army Life in Dakota, by Phillipe Regis Denis de Trobriand is another of the fantastic little Lakeside Classics series. This edition of the "little books" that I have become so fond of, was published in 1941 and was the 39th volume in the series at that time.

General de Trobriand was the son of one of Napoleon's generals. Born in 1816, he led a privileged life in both Europe and the United States. He visited the U.S. for the first time in the 1840's and settled down to a gentleman's live in New York.

Despite the fact that he had no formal military training, in 1861, he was appointed a Colonel in the newly formed French Regiment of New York. He served ably throughout the Civil War and by war's end had attained the rank of Brevet Major General.

When the army was reorganized at the end of the war he was one of the officers chosen to be retained in service and was commissioned as a Colonel in the regular army. Between 1867 and 1879 he served on the Indian frontier in the Dakotas and Montana.

This volume is a copy of his journal from 1867 to 1869 when he was military commander of several forts on the Upper Missouri with headquarters at Fort Rice in the Dakotas.

A true first person historical narrative and a diary as well, the author tells the reader the day to day happenings in the dangerous and unforgiving landscape of Indian occupied Dakota Territory. A seasoned writer and wonderful observer, de Trobriand describes good Indians, bad Indians, good white men and bad white men. Reading his journal, it is easy to transport yourself back in time and stand by his side as he interfaces with some of the most famous Indian chiefs of all times. Medicine Bear, Running Antelope, Sitting Bull, Four Horns and Bloody Knife were just a few of the Indian chiefs he had direct dealings with.

At the time of this writing most of the troops on the frontier were infantry and not cavalry. It was therefore next to impossible to engage hostile Indians because of their mobility and de Trobriand was reduced to an occupation and defensive stance. Woe be it to any small force dispatched that let their guard down for the Indians were expert in deception and surprise. The forts themselves and large bodies of troops were relatively safe because the Indian style of warfare kept them from any large direct confrontation.

Indians, blizzards, wildfires, mountain men, a virgin frontier, this book has it all. It's as if you were reading a letter from a family member who recently left home for a new job. Incredible stuff.

Thanks for visiting.

Mom's Hail Marys

This week business once again takes me to the Providence RI area. The trip here and the trip back takes a whole day traveling, each way, because there are no direct flights and I have to connect in Chicago. So it’s a whole day sitting on an airplane or waiting for an airplane. I normally use this time to do “recreational” reading….non-business related reading that is.

I’m currently reading “If You Lived Here, I’d Know Your Name” by Heather Lende. The author is a social columnist and obituary writer for a small local newspaper in Haines, Alaska. I got it because I was looking for a good…but easy read as a counterpoint to my normal western history readings.

It is a good read and easy as well, but it had an unexpected consequence for me. Some of the chapters describe the obituaries, no not the obituaries, the people the author wrote the obituaries about. Haines, Alaska is a very small town and the author knew most of the people she wrote the obituaries for. It’s soulful content. Reading it I couldn’t help thinking of the people I knew who have died.

One chapter is not about an obituary but about the Catholic Rosary. The author is not a Catholic but an Episcopalian. She somehow became interested in the Catholic Rosary and as she said, “a prayer is a prayer”. Anyhow, she describes what she learned about the Rosary and the different prayers associated with it. The Hail Mary is the most prominent of the prayers contained in the Rosary. She concluded that the Rosary is more like a “mantra” than praying to God. The simple repetition provides a meditative calmness.

I consider myself a “cultural” Catholic. I was raised in a strict Catholic household. So strict that when I struck out on my own, I ceased active participation in Catholicism….or any organized religion for that matter. My mother was a devout Catholic. She died about eight months ago. It wasn’t an easy death and I sat with her several days before she died knowing the end was near. On several occasions as I sat alone with her she would become lucid and pray the Hail Mary out loud. Even though I hadn’t said that prayer in years, I prayed out loud with her. I think it helped her in the “mantra” sort of way the author described. I thought of her as I read the book and wept a little.

I don’t want this post to be a sad thing however, remembering is a good thing. Someone said that you live as long as you are remembered. So to balance things off here’s a good remembrance. The picture below shows my mother and her four boys in St. Marks Plaza in Venice, Italy in about 1958. I was about 11 years old at the time. I’m the one on the right with the camera bag. My older brother stands to the left of my mother and my next younger brother squats to the left of him.

You will note this brother (referred to by the whole family as “The Rotten One” even today) is staring intently at my mother and older brother who have pigeons eating from their hands. Either my older brother or I had just bet him twenty-five cents that he couldn’t catch a pigeon. “The Rotten One” is kinda like “Mikey” of commercial fame. When you wanted to get someone to try something you always asked/told/bet “Mikey” because “Mikey will eat ANYTHING!” So too with “The Rotten One”.

Shortly after this picture was taken, “The Rotten One” figured out that if you put the feed in your hand and got the pigeon to perch on your hand and were quick enough with your hand, you could grab the pigeon by the feet.

Pigeons thusly grabbed…with wings and head free can make a tremendous racket while spreading a lot of feathers and pigeon poop. We know this first hand (pun intended).

In 1958 Americans were still the heroes of the free world. We were loved and respected especially in Italy. The ugly American had not yet matured….but he was right there with a pigeon in his hand. I’m sure my mother said a Hail Mary for “The Rotten One” that day.

Thanks for visiting.