Here's to you, little brother

So…Little brother is harassing me about getting something written for my blog. Here we goooo….I have so many memories about little brother[LB]. When we were kids, he used to give me all his banana baby food, I guess he didn’t like that flavor so I ate it for him. I remember sitting in the sun on the kitchen floor savoring every delicious bite. You gotta remember, this was the mid 60’s, so they were probably putting some good stuff in there…lots of sugar and yummy chemicals, none of that tasteless organic stuff. The baby food tasting happened around the same time Mum stepped on LB’s truck and broke it. Poor kid is still traumatized about that. Things that happen in your first year can scar you for life.
It may have explained later incidents, like the time LB threw me off the top bunk.
I wonder if he remembers fondly all those chicken butchering days and the rotting feathers and maggots that went with the process. And then there were the days we got to push Father's car to school and back, uphill both ways, 15 miles in driving ice and snow. Well, hopefully this blog update will satisfy LB.

Medicine Rock Montana

Medicine Rock Montana was an experience for us all. When we arrived at the entrance we were met by an Indian family who had come to fill their water jugs. They assured us of the safety of the well, accessed by an old fashioned hand pump just like my Grandparents had on their front lawn. Then they led us into the park and showed us their favorite camping spot, warned us to carry a stick and thump the ground to scare off rattlesnakes, and went on their way.
The next morning our menfolk decided to drive off and get our mail. Back by lunch, they were sure. We women and children decided to go in to town [Ekalaka] to the library and check our email. We went to a little cafe for lunch, and the owner/operator was excited to finally meet us. Seems her middle school aged son had seen us around town, and was anticipating us moving in...with not one, but three boys about his age- a commodity that was evidently pretty scarce in the area. We were sorry to disillusion her.
For pictures of Medicine Rock, see here;
http://www.montanapictures.net/medicine_rock.htm

California Beach Dreams

Seems like my Big Trip posts are all about the southwest, so I’m going to try to even things up a bit. In Northern California, we camped almost on a beach by the Pacific Ocean. It was September, kind of cold I remember. One day we walked along the shore and a seal swam along beside us. We walked as far as we could one direction, then turned and went the other way, and the seal turned and swam back the same way. We repeated this a few times, I think he was curious about us [of course we were curious about him, too…would have loved a closer look.]
We found large starfish all up and down the beach-they were pretty pastel colors, like pink and purple. All were alive, so we really couldn’t justify keeping them. We ended up in this primitive camp ground run by the state because we drove just a little further after a scary experience. We had found the campground we had researched, and found it to be some different from the description. Piles of trash were everywhere, and we were barked at by skinny cross eyed dogs. Skinny cross eyed children were everywhere, and directed us to inquire at a run down trailer for the manager. When we approached the trailer, a bodiless voice yelled, “whadya want!” “Um…looking for a place to camp?” Suddenly he was all sweetness…except we could see him now…holey stained t-shirt, beer gut and all. We were afraid to put our relatively new and good looking [albeit unpaid for] trailer in this park-so off we went. Going the extra miles really paid off.

Cave Dwellers

My brother is pressuring me again to write something about our Big Trip...[note the capitals] So, this is for you, Jon. What do I remember best...let me think. One of my favorite parts of the trip had to do with cave dwellers. The Anasazi people before memory, and the Southwestern natives who were there when the "Americans" arrived.
We stayed a few days at Bandelier National Park in New Mexico. The cliffs here were accessible by ladders that were replicas of those used by the inhabitants. It was cool to climb up into the cave apartments and look at the smoke residue on the ceiling.



We visited Canyon de Chelly [pronounced du Shay], and camped on the rim for a week or so. One day my sons and I climbed down to the floor of the Canyon in the company of a flock of sheep. We hiked across the floor to the White House Ruins. Standing on the bottom of the Canyon, looking up at the ruins, we marveled at the people who had built these walls in a cleft of the cliff, using ladders to haul up tools and supplies, and raised families in the apartments they had fashioned.
Earlier we had hiked along the rim of the Canyon and found the site where U.S. soldiers had stationed themselves to shoot at the families who had taken refuge in a less protected cleft of the Canyon walls. It was hard to fathom what those soldiers were thinking as they shot and reloaded and shot again at men, women and children huddled in the open cave.

Shopping with the Girls

I went with my sister-in-law and two nieces to a thrift store in a nearby city on Columbus Day. We found lots of good bargains-my 13 year old niece Katyana bought 3 skirts for $9. My sister-in-law found two pairs of jeans that fit well. My 4 year old niece did not find the time we spent shopping as fascinating as her sister did-after all, they had nothing in her size. Poor Becca got pretty bored, so she and I went into the shoe section and I let her play shoe sales lady [and I got to sit and rest...] Her taste runs to stiletto heels and really pointy toes, mostly about a size six...I felt like Cinderella's evil stepsisters. With size nine feet, I generally avoid that pointy-toed thing. I did find a nice fairly non-descript, low heeled, good tread pair that I bought for $9. I'd been looking at Walmart for new shoes but the ones I liked all cost $35.
After our thrift store expedition, we went to the mall and had some lunch. I scoped out some bargains her, too. Becca was especially pleased when I found a bin of 75% off stuffed animals. After digging all through the bin, we found some Dora the explorer dolls that cost about $1.50; it was easy talking Mom into one of those. I liked the Winter Dora, in a parka, but Becca overruled me. She picked one in shorts and a t-shirt, and stripped her right down on the ride home.

California musings

En route from Yosemite to Manzanar, we camped in the Owens Valley for two nights and visited a little museum there. We were looking for information on Manzanar, which we found...but we also found that the aforementioned battle is still alive and well, at least to the local people. Their river [or lake] bed is a poisonous dust bed now, and a good wind can cause all sorts of problems to the people and few remaining livestock in this once active farming community. The curator referred us to an older man who told us about attempts to blow up the aqueducts and talked with bitterness about what sounded like a very recent theft of the Valley’s water. When did it happen? In the 50's or 60's? I looked it up later and found that it had all happened in 1920. This gentleman was old, but not nearly old enough to remember those events. Yet the bitterness is still very much there, and with reason. Very few people in the Owens Valley have any benefit from this enterprise.

notes from the trip

We were in this area in October-November. We hiked to the hanging gardens and emerald pools in Zion. I bet it's even more striking this time of year. We visited the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, but my kids were more impressed with Canyon de Chelly[pronounced shay] in eastern AZ. Also, Hubbell trading post is "near" de Chelly. We camped on the Hopi reservation and did laundry in a town there. Great culture study! Near Zion, we camped in the Virgin river recreational area...what views! We live in upstate NY so it was all new and exciting. Oh, in St. George there are dinosaur tracks you can see. Ask some locals for directions. Pipesprings National monument is really cool. [south of Utah in AZ] There is a massacre site near St. George, but many of the locals would rather forget it...Kit Carson had been in the wagon train attacked...he was 7. If you are interested, I could find more info on that.
We did a ton of History and Environmental Science there! And saw our first tarantula and Jerusalem cricket.
We just got home in February from a major around the U.S. excursion. This is where my introduction begins, because this trip was really defining for us. My elder son and I started homeschooling 9th grade just before we left last July. My younger son started 6th grade at the same time, and is in 7th now. We've seen ourselves as homeschoolers since the older son was 3. We use Boy Scouts heavily, and now Civil Air Patrol as well, for my older son. We tend to be borderline unschooling relaxed eclectic homeschoolers. ;-)
I am homeschooling college-doing some credit by evaluation based largely on my homeschooling experiences and some on-line courses. My sons are dyslexic, but against all forecasts [by evaluators] are readers[the elder son at grade level, the younger way beyond]. My limited time with my boys is scaring me to death...they're not near "done" yet!!!!