Then and now

15 Jul 2021

29 Sep 2020

This year in July 2022 my hair is past my shoulders.  Long enough to braid a tiny braid at any rate. I had a growth showing on my MRI 17 Dec 2019, had an Ultra sound on 30 December 2019 and diagnosed with Cancer 02 Jan 2020. I spent the entire Pandemic doing cancer treatment.  I am grateful for all the medical personnel who walked with me on this part of my journey. 

Yeah, hair was long enough to see after a year or so.  Thought I had one where all my hair was gone.  My niece did a short video of when she cut my waist length hair so it wouldn't look so strange as it fell out.  I'd had straight hair all my life.  Now, it's grown out in curls.  

22 July 2022

In July 2022, I accomplished a lifelong dream that was rescheduled from Aug 2020.  Yay, ChiiMigwitch to my niece, sister and friend for making it possible for me to see Stonehenge in person. 

I have pictures of that day, though not many.  My phone would not let me take pictures.  I left my camera at the Air BNB we stayed at.  Back at the Center, my phone started working.  Fortunately, Sis took several pictures.  

This is sort of a review of the past few years for those who only read this blog.  My Author blog will have most of my writerly doings which shall include the business side of things as those are an inescapable part of business life.  

Chii-Miigwitch for reading this post.  Future posts will be back to musings on life, perhaps 500-1000 words at most.  Flash fiction?  Flash non-fiction?  Whatever. Perhaps more along the lines of my news articles back in the day. Ahhh, decisions, decisions, and such choices I have. 

Speech at TEC Meeting

What follows is the text copy of my speech I gave at the TEC Meeting on 28 January 2022.

+++

 To: Minnesota Chippewa Tribe Members

From: Mildred R. Holmes, Bois Forte Delegate

Re: Delegate - Responsibilities 

It is the responsibility of each Delegate to ensure their understanding of what is involved in the process for current Minnesota Chippewa Tribe Constitutional Convention.  The Constitutional Convention has been meeting since 2018.  

During the first year, community members attended the meetings held on their reservation and within the urban areas of Duluth and Minneapolis.  Much of what has been written and debated on has come from those early meetings.  

Clarification on the following: 

1. Overall Constitution or governing document at the level of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe.

2. Individual Constitutions or governing documents for each reservation within the parameters of the overall Constitution.

3.  Each reservation’s individual treaty rights can be addressed within their own Constitutions.  There are general treaties, and specific treaties each of which established the individual reservations and the rights, duties and responsibilities of each of the participants in that treaty.

Now, the Convention Delegates are fast tracking as the original Delegates have sifted through and brought together ideas and suggestions for the good of the whole, whilst keeping in mind the individuals.  

One of the responsibilities of the individual members of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe was to find out their Clan, ways to discover were disseminated during that portion of the discussion. Why, you are thinking?  We are well aware that not everyone was given the opportunity to learn these ways.  And we, the original Delegates, want the new, or replacement document, to include our identity as a tribe with individual Bands as directed by various Band members.  

It was also discussed and agreed on that certain values and beliefs needed to be included as Articles within the new document: Rights of Nature, land, government, etc.  

Another of the Delegate responsibilities is to be open to suggestions and ideas of others.  There was a process in place to deal with voting and only the appointed delegates have the vote which is one vote per Delegation.  Individual members can attend meetings and join in the discussions as long as they are civil and respectful.  At times, one must agree to disagree which can happen if the process to get consensus breaks down, in which case majority rules.  

As for those who say they didn’t agree to these stipulations, then they aren’t the original appointed Delegates and must therefore catch up within their own delegation.  

What we want now from the general membership of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe is further direction regarding Enrollment and membership requirements.  And the removal of the Secretary of the Interior from the approval process of the Constitution and/or amendments needs to take place one way or the other.  This removal was suggested by Secretary of the Interior in 2017.  Now whether that means amending the current Constitution or replacing with a new document is up to each member of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe. 

We’d like a referendum vote on those two issues, not just amendments or resolutions.  There are other issues which certainly can be addressed by the Delegates in bringing forward a new document or a changed document for ratification by the general members of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe.  

My personal opinion is that I don’t want to get my fellow Band members hopes up by having meetings to encourage discussion and decisions if “Nothing is going to happen anyway.”  I’ve heard that too many times as I was growing up and lately as these meeting drag on going over and over the same issues.  No, we are not going to start over every time a new person jumps on the Delegate committee as has been the case the past few months.  

“We didn’t agree,” “We need to discuss with community members,” are not valid if the previously appointed Delegates already agreed.  If someone didn’t attend the publicly announced meetings or by publicly announced Zoom meetings, then they cannot say they didn’t know.   When I miss a meeting, I try to catch up with what I missed and if the issue was voted on by the group, I don’t impose my ignorance on the rest just because I wasn’t there.  

I tried to have community meetings to disseminate information decided on at the Convention as educational points for members.  Some are interested in one or another of what is presented.  However, one common interest is the issue of enrollment and blood quantum.  Now, the blood quantum issue was deemed to be irrelevant and an imposed requirement, whether by design or “trying to be helpful” and is no longer an issue for discussion.  The Delegates unanimously agreed that it needs to be eliminated, deleted.  

Enrollment in the MCT is based on being a DESCENDANT of a person on the original roll of April 14, 1941, which is known as the basic membership roll, and the final approval of July 3, 1961 by the Area Director of the BIA.  I am a DESCENDANT of 6 of those on that basic membership roll.  My mother was on that roll as well as grandparents and great grandparent.  

For a member of the Tribal Executive Committee to say that descendants don’t have a say in what happens is not only disrespectful, s/he is also saying that all of the enrolled members who are direct descendants of someone on that roll have no rights, including those on the TEC itself.  I, myself, am 65 and have been hearing this argument all my life.  

All the way back to the first treaty signed with a foreign government, the Chippewa have refused to sign treaties until provision was made for all, including “half-breeds” meaning those children left with the tribe when their non-Chippewa father went back to where ever he came from after making his fortune by dealing with the Indians.  Has this caring and concern for all the children born to an Anishinabe/Chippewa/Ojibway changed in my lifetime?  

One other point I want to make is the reason for all the land being divided and sold is that “half-breeds” were allotted land and Indian Agents weren’t too particular if someone showed up claiming to be half Chippewa to find out if this was true.  We need to stop calling our own people Half one tribe or another.  You don’t hear “Europeans” saying they’re half breeds if their bloodline included non-Europeans.  

Has Clan membership changed?  I was told as a child what my Clan was even if I wasn’t allowed to take part in ceremonies.  I’ve included all those who lived within my village, my reservation, my Band and as well as those of the MCT as family, as Clan cause we are all related or so I was told. 

Where did the idea of denying rights to descendants come from?  Not me.  As far as I’m concerned, all descendants of those on the MCT basic roll have the right to voice their opinion and to help if they so choose.  If they don’t voice their opinion or decline to help, they then agree to whatever is decided on when issues come up for a vote.  

At least, that is my understanding of what we, as a People, as a Tribe, as a Clan member, a Bandmember, and member of the Anishinabeg are to do. 

When I was always being told to be quiet or to shut up, I was amazed as I wasn’t just speaking for myself.  I’d always been pushed by my contemporaries to ask, to find out.  Being less than wise and mostly being on the excluded list from discussion as we were considered “not old enough,” we were left in the dark unless an older person took the time to explain things to us.  I made it one of my life’s policies to explain things to my children as much as I could.  

On the other hand, it could be that I was repeating something that had already been discussed and people didn’t want to tell me that it had already been decided.  How was I to know if people didn’t say?  Now this is one of the reasons there were “runners” or people who went around to let people  know what was happening.  I think this is one of the duties we, as delegates, accepted.  

Yes, we make decisions for everyone with our one vote.  This is why we are working at getting one central document that will address common issues to  all tribe members.  When this is done, we can follow up with our own communities as to the specifics for our own Band/Reservation.  *Last night during our after meeting discussion, it was suggested that perhaps we could write 2, 3 documents that could be presented for the People to choose from.  

So can we, as Delegates, agree to get this central document done so that Individual documents can be written and everything can then be proposed to all of the membership?  

One thing sure, Bois Forte’s document will include issues specific to our locality as well as the ceded territory rights and obligations. We need the overarching issues so ours can be defined within those parameters as well as our treaty parameters. Perhaps treaty parameters needs to be kept separate.  

Well, that’s a discussion for Bois Forte members. Not the whole tribe. 

Chii-Miigwuitch, Thanks for listening. 

Another Day in the Rez Life...

 Well, yesterday I spent the day on the phone talking to the Tech people.  Something had happened to my computer's battery and it wouldn't shut down and it overheated.  Even after hitting the power button, the reset button, or one of the many thousands of buttons that sit upon the keyboard.  T'any rate, the fan wouldn't shut down either...Naturally, I hit the panic button since that was the only button left to hit.  Particularly since my keyboard was getting hotter and hotter. 

Heck, I even went outside where, thankfully, I was able to set the laptop down, well, leaned it against the wall and the porch railing.  It had cooled down and I brought it back inside and noticed this strange orange light on the front of my laptop.  I'd hit the power button once again, even holding it since this had always worked before when I needed the computer to turn on.  Nope, not a thing happened.  

I tilted my head and listened.  What I expected this to do, I'm not sure.  It's just something that I'd been trained to do by one or t'other of my parents or grandparents.  Heck one of my ancestors, coulda even been one of the many cousins who stroll through my life and yard at the most inopportune times which means mainly when one doesn't really need help.  

However, this time it produced the white light meaning, I think, that my computer was turning on like it should.  I went and filled my coffee cup as I was hoping to get the final 5000 words needed for completion of my NaNoWriMo word goal for the month. 

 I tilted my head and listened again cause my keyboard wasn't lit up, then noticed my screen wasn't filled with the picture that normally means I have to enter my pin.  Hmmph. My eyes then went to the orange light at the front of the laptop.  Nothing.  My laptop had shut off.  Did I not hold the button long enough?  

Repeat all the above actions, 'cept this time I left my computer sitting outside for 10 or so minutes.  Well, after the third, or was it the fiftieth time of hitting those buttons, I finally grabbed my phone.  Although I used this with the greatest trepidation as I didn't want whatever what infecting my laptop to jump to my phone.  Naturally this would be the greater disaster as I have fallen behind times in the matter of my phone which happens to still be an S7.  

Luckily I was still able to Google the Support people.  After following the ever helpful suggestion to take out my battery, I learned how to open the flap that covers the serial and other numbers that support people are always asking for when one is in the midst of the latest current crisis that gremlins dearly love to see when one is in the middle of shops being closed and one doesn't really want to call those Tech people.  Did Murphy leave specific instructions for the gremlins today?  

Well, I finally screwed up my courage, after imbibing another cup of Java, wishing for one of those Carmel Macchiatos, hot, whole milk that was in the nearest Mickey D's forty, yepper, FoRtY miles away, and called the support number listed.  

Yes!  They answered and was I ever so glad to hear that accented voice that means my problems would soon be solved.  Well as soon as I could make myself understood and further to understand what I was being asked for.  Yay.  ONly had to ask once for the repeat of the instructions.  Since I had the choice, I was in the middle of giving her the 10 or 11 digit number when she said she'd send me to Tech since I had Premium support good til 2021.  Repeat everything to this Tech person who listened patiently as I explained what led to my pushing of the panic button and having to call Tech Support right in the midst of the changing of the shifts.  (This was the only explanation I had for the girl's quick hand-off and I am not familiar with world time zones even though I have these posted on my computer.  Oh!  My laptop was not working so therefore I couldn't access the current Tech person's time zone since I haven't mastered the art of double screens on my phone precisely yet.  That only happens when I least expect it.  Oh, those gremlins must be laughing themselves silly now.  Best thing that happened for them since the Co-vid hit.) 

Yay. My computer shut off and I was telling the tech guy that I was half afraid to try turning it on like he was asking.  Well, I finally turned it on.  Yay. It turned on.  He took over my computer, I happily watched his every move, hoping to learn his secret by osmosis or whatever process is prevalent when one is watching an expert at work.  Cause this guy was an expert.  

After talking to his supervisor and needing to check my email for the case stuff since they would be watching this for a couple days seeing's how they couldn't really find a reason why my computer overheated, I am happily back to having several windows open during my current book's progress to final draft status.  

Another day in my life

Well, guys, it suddenly behooved me to post on here since I haven't posted in such a long time. Course if ya'll follow my writerly blog, you have some idea of the major change in my life over the past year.  And the latest happening surely can't be blamed on the g-r-e-m-l-i-n-s.  Or...can it?

Quite possibly, since I h-a-v-e been messing around with machines this very day.

As some of you know, I generally do my spring cleaning in the fall and leave yard stuff for the spring.  Mostly, in the hopes of some of the stuff mysteriously disappearing when the snow melts.  Hasn't quite worked out yet.  As Father likes to say, or rather quote: "Hope springs eternal."  There's always hope that one spring, I'll emerge from my winter's long nap and find my yard all ready for spring planting.  Yep,yep, yep.  There's hope in this heart of mine yet.

Hmm.  Mayhap, if I leave some goodies for the b-r-o-w-n-i-e-s?  At any rate, those rabbit holes are appearing everywhere today.  Started over to my favorite haunt yesterday with a post by Will Hahn, author of "Tales of the Lands of Hope" and this morning with a disappearing pin that was of intense enticement that I got lost in the land of Pinterest for 3 whole hours.

And since I plan on being somewhere else this week-end (which for me is Wed, Thurs, and Friday), I duly decided to forego my daily stint at writing and clear up some items on my to-do's.  Which is where I promptly found out that g-r-e-m-l-i-n-s may have found their way back.  Bout two, three weeks ago, one sock decided to go adventuring and left through the sewer system after causing a ruckus with the washing machine.  Fortunately, all the water that overflowed in the kitchen sink was caught in time to stave off requiring the services of a professional plumber and leaving a bigger mess.

Now, some of you may be wondering what the kitchen sink has to do with washing machines and why didn't the washing machine overflow.  Luck, I tell ya, puure-dee luck.  Or, perhaps, it was the fact that the builder of this house put the trap for the washing machine in the wrong place.  When the kitchen sink starts backing up, that's when we check the washer.  As for the dryer, well, let's just say, that it's a darn good thing that company is out of business.  Over the past 20 years, we've done some work arounds on the advice of our favorite fixer-upper over to the hardware store.  Good thing, folks around here know how to make-do.  I'm not as good as my mother was.  I found that out just a few minutes ago when I promptly decided it was best if I did a bit of writing.

After my brother and our cousin fixed the plumbing for me, I left the washer and dryer alone.  Til today.  Being as how my son and I are fast running out of clean clothes and have no desire to "find our cleanest dirty shirt," I decided to clean the dryer vent and clear out the machines a little bit since I'd pretty nearly finished with the rest of the to-do's in the laundry area.  'Cept for a new furnace. Must remember to add that to the list of things to get done before the snow flies.  I wanted to get all the dust producing chores out of the way as I want to paint.  And, voila, got my wish.

Plenty of dust of the lint variety and remembered why I hate cleaning the dryer vent.  Specially as the fragranced dryer sheets left their mark behind.  After sneezing and coughing for a bit, I got the vent completely unhooked.  Well, okay, I had wrestled with the outlet plug for a few minutes.  Oh-kay, more than a few minutes.  Decided it was time to get my brother to rescue me as son was engrossed in some doings on the net.  Sides, which, I D-i-d N-o-t want him to know as he gives me the look which I didn't quite want to face on this trying day.  Oh no, at least, not til he left for work.

Usually, brother goes on lunch break when son goes to work.  Brother took his lunch break early and he came over.  Course, he gave me a bit of grief but that's better than my son's sort of grief.  I went in to sister's to give  her a report on the community dealings.  I met brother on the way back and he said he unplugged the dryer and unhooked the vent from the machine.  Yes!  Not.

I cleaned the lint screen and the inside of the little tube.  Took the vent hose apart and cleared out the elbow and sleeve that hooks up to the machine.  Washed those in the bath tub as I just felt like it.  Took the vent and looked inside.  Reached in as far as I could on both sides.  Pondered a few minutes, shook the thing, nothing felt out so I decided to wash it to, being that it was aluminum, it would dry fast.  Yeah!

I ran water in one end of the tube, shook it while lifting it to let the water run through to the other end.  Was doing this cautiously, cause if anything came out, I could put the bucket under it to catch it.  Then, I lifted it straight up and...horror of horrors.  Not a spider, such as the two I'd found this morning.  All those little floating black things was the wet, black lint I'd shaken from the tube.

I stared in utter fascination at the amount of it.

Then....

Heard the gurgling of the water flowing down the drain.  Then...nothing.  I leaped, I tell ya, that was a sight to see in the tiny little bathroom we have.  How I managed not to fall and injure myself is a miracle and my guardian angel must be happy to have things to do once again.  Too late.

All those lint pieces were now clogging the drain.  Nooowww what.  I pulled as much of it out as I could and grabbed the little strainer thing we have for catching hair and wondered, why or why, did I not think to make sure it was in the proper place.  I watched in relief when the water started draining, then horror when it started plugging up.

Frantic again, I looked around for something, anything, with which to stave off having to call brother and cousin again.  Aha!  The plunger.  I quickly used it and felt such a sense of joy when the water and everything went down the drain.  Well, not everything.  I made sure the little spider looking lint pieces stayed in the tub.  Decided to take a break and write a post whist waiting for the little spider-looking lint pieces to dry out a bit before I get up the courage to clean the tub, before cleaning the rest of the vent and putting everything back together.

So...tell me, how is your day going?

Old times

I was over to my favorite haunt this a.m. and came across a couple posts that had me laughing and now I'm thinking bout memories.  Course, my favorite haunt used to be second favorite haunt and now that most things have been more or less fixed, specially since I quit messing bout with coding and such, I spend quite a bit of time over there.

At any rate, the first post was something bout "if a woman says "do what you want," best stand still, do not breathe, etc and I laughed.  A few memories popped right into my head, mostly of mom, an aunt or two, a few friends and neighbors,  and then popped into my head those very same ladies with "the Look."  It was the Look that popped into my head when I read the words "Just play Dead."

The second post showed an old style Jingle dress dancer.  Took away my breath just watching her.  It was great, hearing those jingles, seeing the smile on her face made me feel good, happy.  Tried to download it, instead I shared it so it'd be on my wall as I'm not friends with the original poster.

That brought back memories of my childhood, being at powwows, and learning to dance.  Going barefoot most summers, even when it rained, sometimes, or should I say, especially, after it rained.  Those times are when I mostly got the Look.  Tramping in mud was most especially frowned upon.  Never did stop me though.  What finally stopped me was the time when I stepped on a piece of glass and, well, the sight of that much blood pouring from my foot was a bit scary.

Particularly when accompanied by the shouts of my sisters and friends who were trying to quiet me so the adults wouldn't come running to find out what happened.  We had to give up when we couldn't stop the bleeding.  Had to face the Look.  Especially on five or six of those very same ladies.

Oh, I know the context of that particular meme was probably written by a man, specially after that song popularized "Deer in Headlight look" but every time I see it, I think of those ladies.

Ahh, memories.  Going to go create a few more.

New Phone, New Company, New Routine

Whoa. Buying a phone, changing companies and getting the new phone set up, I don't know.  It took about three hours. The actual phone stuff was only bout 1/2 hour.  I left home bout 10 or so, arrived at the phone store after picking up my son and found we had about an hour or so to wait.  Long line of people ahead of us.  Naturally, we were a bit disappointed at the wait.

About two, three weeks ago, my son told me to watch the mail for the new phones as he decided to change companies.  I'd only been trying to get him to think about it for a few months.  Ever since the third or fourth time ago when I was extremely frustrated with that particular "exhausted bandwidth" snafu.  That had me actually pounding on my computer because the current project kept getting interrupted by the "mini-blackouts" every couple minutes.  Weell, it felt like every couple minutes.  I actually don't know since I was in the middle of some very important research, copy/pasting bits of knowledge over into my plot lines, etc, etc, etc.

"Oh, by the way, I need your phone too."

My eyebrows raised and I could feel my eyes bugging out.  Actually speechless for a couple seconds.  "Why?" was all I could manage to utter in my slightly panicked mode.  Being as I was in a swirl of emotions, happy we were changing so I could actually use my phone here at the house, glad I was getting a new phone which did not last very long seeing's how I'm finding how much I dislike learning these new-fangled operations on new phones, or anything that's the latest in the high tech world which I sometimes struggle to keep up with and most important, was a sinking feeling regarding the thought of having to give up the old phone which was fully paid for at the time of purchase.

"Cause I got a deal on the new phones, BOGO (Buy One Get One free, since I stealthily managed to find out what those particular letter combinations meant) and I need your phone."

"Why?  It's a perfectly good one," was all I could come up with in the come-back department.

"Cause we have to turn in the phone to get the new one."  My son's face was getting set into that expression that  I learned so many years ago meant that I was becoming a bit frantic as he thinks I overreact to stuff.  Complete and utter bafflement befuddled my poor little birdbrain as I tried to marshal my thoughts into arguments that would wear down my son and let me get my way.   He  must know me pretty well cause he turned his head, lips thinning, trying to keep from laughing cause he knew perfectly well that I'd give in.  Which I promptly did.  "I guess,"  whilst thinking there's plenty of time to change his mind.

However, standing in line, I was beginning to get just the tiniest bit excited, looking at the displays of all the new phones and stuff.  Guess I am my father's daughter as he gets the same way.  Then sister doesn't want to wait at the store whilst all this is going on so she suggests we go downtown.  I want to go to Walmart just across the street.  Son looks a bit perturbed.  I go out to have a you know what and she comes out and we go to Walmart.

We're there for about the hour and get back to the store, thinking everything is taken care of.  No son.  I look all over the crowd of people.  No son.  Sister gives me her phone so I can call him being as he has my phone.  "Where are you?"

"On the road, by the gas station.  I'm walking.  I forgot my driver's license."

"Wait there, We'll come get you."

So, we pick him up, get him to his house and get the license.  Then we decide to have lunch first.  Finally back at the store an hour later.  Ahhh, the phone setup was smooth, nothing wrong, weell, guess some of my stuff didn't transfer.  However due to previous experience, I'd backed everything up to the cloud.  However, I did not know I'd need my password to actually get into that stuff, so that had to wait til I got home.   Eight hours later, I enter those few, all important bits of code and voila!  New phone that promptly let me password into my account with just the text as I had to be able to log in to get the authenticator.  Yippee.  Doing the hap, hap, happy dance!

Now, my son and I are going to talk the eldest into doing something about the internet situation, probably involving switching companies on that too.  Wondering if this is the first time we've worked together to get the eldest to do what we want when it involves the spending of money.  Not that he's a scrooge or anything, just he thinks we go overboard sometimes.  Hmm.  Tapping my foot, so I think I'll head out and dance with the plants.  They might like that.  It'll wake them up a bit more.

Machines Two Step Dance

Well, my cousin and I had a bit of excitement yesterday. It was time for her annual checkup and things proceeded relatively smooth on Thursday.  We managed to get out of Dodge reasonably on time.  Only had a couple turnarounds to pick up something we forgot.  Got to Duluth, made the all important stop at Barnes and Nobles, had supper and got to the hotel bout our usual time.  Morning arrives and bam.  Things started going the way of Murphy's Law right up to bout 1500 (3:00 p.m.).

Turned on my trusty computer to do a bit of revising. Ratted, Windows 10 app decided it was time to work and started downloading the whole system. So, whilst the laptop is merrily clicking, whirring and doing it's strange happy dance, I decide to head out for some coffee from the local Star Bucks.

Got downstairs and remembered I'd have to drink the free coffee as it was 0445 in the a.m. and such places of business aren't open at that hour.  Luckily, I was in the casino and proceeded to the free coffee at the beverage station.  The machines started their "come hither" music which all such one-armed bandits use to entice the unwary into parting with their hard earned money.

Well, me and my money were soon parted and I go back to check on my handy dandy laptop's strange little dance.  Course it wasn't finished yet.  Still whirling.  So I goes and gets the new and improved "moccasin telegraph," plug IT in and wait for the flashing green light.  I make some more coffee, fully expecting to get a bit of revision done before breakfast.  NOT!

Both machines were happily doing their happy dances as the moccasin telegraph decides to join its' compatriot.  I try to find something to watch on the TV and it decides it needs a break and is filled with those half hour ads, being as how it must earn its' keep in some manner.  So, I decided to answer the one-armed bandit's call which had found its' way to my room.  I get to the door and bam.

My trusty laptop decides to quit dancing and get down to some serious work.  So I go back, fully expecting it to be done within a half hour or so.  Noooo, its' filled with some even stranger whirring and clicking, finally telling me its ready to install so I'd best save my work and let it get to business.

So, I have to do some fancy moves with my fingers so I can get signed in to my accounts which had been idle since the day I listened to the advice of the good folks over to King dot com and cleared my cache which also signed me out of all my accounts.  And that is another loonng story which I may relate one day.

In the course of doing this, I find I need that moccasin telegraph to stop its' happy little dance so I can get the things synced.  Whilst going to unplug it, my eye moves across the other little machine designed to get us on our way so we will not be operating on Indian time in the wider world off the rez.  Oh!  No.  Can't be.  Only 15 minutes til I have to meet Lucille for breakfast.  Time sure does fly when one wants it to operate in slo-mo.  Why, oh why, can we not have the powers of some of those heroes we watch on that time stealing machine every day?

I get the machines in sync, hit the button the insistent laptop keeps telling me I need to push so it can get on its' way to making my life easier.  Lies, I tell you, lies.  Why do I keep falling for those lies?  Cousin calls and says she's ready.  I look at the time machine's accusing little face and see that she's twenty minutes late.  Yay!

Heeeh. I go down to meet her.  Can't find her.  She's usually waiting for me.  I tell ya, people in wheelchairs turn invisible at times.  Why are they gifted with those powers?

I ask the security guard if he's seen a woman in a wheelchair go by.  This, of course, earns me one of those looks and I shake my head.  Course he sees quite a few of them in the course of a few minutes.  I roll my eyes and he decides to take pity and see if he can remember my particular person.  No.

I head back to the buffet line.  "Miss!" the guard says and points.  I see her.  Ahh, all is right with the world at this point in time.  We have breakfast and decide to leave and get some shopping done before her appointment.

Well.  Therein lay the problem.

Her trusty vehicle decides to join the others in their strange little rituals of flashing lights, weird sounds and funny little stops and starts which must be a universal step for these things.  Being as how I really didn't want to worry her before her appointment with the doc, I don't tell her how serious it might be.  Til she decided we'd have to head up the hill to the mall.  One can only imagine the images that flashed in front of my mind's eye thinking about the flashing lights and what might happen if the vehicle decides to stop ITS' little dance going up that hill.  (Only those familiar with Duluth know that feeling.  Maybe San Francisco?  Or any other city built on hills or mountains?)

Hahaheeheehoho...being from somewhere in the middle of the sticks where we are used to having much things done before the sun has risen a quarter of the way through its' daily dance, we sometimes experience frustration when we find that not everyone operates on the same wavelength.  We had an hour to wait for the stores to open.  She checks her to-do's and we find a store or two that are usually open 24/7.  By the time we get done with a bit of her shopping, that flashing light has been joined by another ominous looking steady light that tells us something is happening with the braking system.

Course, seeing as how those things aren't always accurate cause they decide sometimes to dance just cause they feel like it, I hadn't been that worried.  Til I thought of going downhill to her appointment with the doc.  That steady light caused Cousin to grab her handy dandy instruction book to see just what that light meant.  Not that she didn't believe me when I told her it had to do with traction.  It had been raining off and on and we'd gone through some puddles in the potholes that are waiting on funding from the powers that be to be filled.

"We'll go the Honda store after I'm done." 'Maybe it'll fix itself' flashed through both our minds.  I tell ya, the thoughts and hopes that go through one's mind when one is miles and miles upon miles from home and things are going wrong that'll interfere with reaching that objective.  I'm still shaking my head at that one.

I stop in and see my brother-in-law before we head back up the hill intending on hitting the Honda store.  Cause, of course, the lights didn't magically fix themselves whilst I fiddled with the other flashing lights on that handy dandy laptop that had been operating on it's battery this whole time installing its' new instructions for the new steps of it's chosen lifestyle.

"You can't drive it if the lights are flashing" started us on the hunt for a ride home.  Luckily, my moccasin telegraph had decided it had had enough excitement for the day and decided to behave itself for a bit.  I was hoping my niece was home and would be able to provide us with a place to wait whilst my sister drove down.  Yay!  Problem solved, niece shows up, we have lunch and head to her house.

Whilst there, my trusty laptop decides it must settle down to learn its' new steps which my niece took credit for since she has superfast internet.  We made plans for the rest of the day.  She heads out after trying to tell me how to lock her fancy new door in case the car gets fixed while she was gone which I said she'd have to write out for me.  And anyway, the car wasn't going to be fixed because they had a backlog so I wouldn't need it.

Yep.  The Honda store calls, said they'd found the problem and it was an easy fix.  Seeing that most trusty vehicles all are attuned to their own little dance steps, one of the cogs in that machine had decided it wanted a bit of a rest, which of course, threw the rest off balance and started them whirling in alarm and set off our alarms at the thought of being so far from H-O-M-E.  Niece kindly brought us back to the Honda store and waited to make sure we were safely in the car and on our way.  Thinking bout the day, one would think I'd learn from past experience.  When Cousin's reservation was lost in the hotel's computer system and refused to leave whatever dance it had joined even though she had her confirmation number, others would soon join in.  I tell ya...

Fantastical news....

On Friday morning, I woke up to play a few Hexic D games along with various other to-do's. It was a tad bit cold, alright, downright cold. I wondered why my little toesies were freezing. My solution was to find another blanket or two and wrap up in one while adding the other to the top of the pile I was already under.

After my third straight loss at Hexic D in survival expert mode, I glanced out the window cause the drapes had been left open a mite. I was surprised to see daylight. I went back to debating myself on the merits of continuing the loss record or watching something on Netflix. At the precise second that my eyes swung halfway back to the screen and my fingers were already hitting the buttons, a field of white where there hadn't been one the day before appeared at the limits of my peripheral vision. 

05 October 2012

I looked.  I stared, okay, goggled. I just could not believe it. I jumped to my feet, kicked the blankets loose and hightailed it to the door.  Which I promptly jerked open, rubbed the storm window, then shoved the darned door open. Snow, snow on the roof of the building where I had first spotted it.  Amazed, I stepped out and immediately regretted it.

Snow! Snow, every where I looked. That's when the regret hit me. My poor little toesies that I worked so hard to get warm. I leaped back in the house, slammed the door, not caring if the storm door shut and ran for the blankets again.

It's not even close to Halloween. Now where are my hat and mitts. They were here in July, even August. Hmmmm. Boots? Jacke....