More Gore.

First, don't get me wrong, I am not really any fonder of George Bush than I am of Al Gore, but I do find a bit of humor in the both of them. Along with the anguish. George liked to pretend that he really knew what was going on, when sometimes he didn't. You could usually tell when he was uncomfortable in his skin, because he would start using words that didn't fit in his mouth. George was born and raised in Cowboy Country, Texas. They didn't generally use big words there. They are a lot like Italians down there in Texas, they gesture a lot, and used three or four word long, four letter word phrases.

I have a whole lot in common with old George Bush. I was raised using sign language, and used short, small word sentences myself. It's hard to hear over logging Cats and chainsaws, so a person learned how to use fewer words and make yourself real clear without really having to say much. If the cat skinner made a mistake, or wasn’t really paying attention. You could chew him out real good with just a few real good hand signs. With just a few quick hand gestures, you could take the place of several paragraphs, about what you thought about his mother bringing his sorry (posterior) into the world. I’m sorry about coming close to using graphic language, but you can’t talk about logging with out using bad words.

That’s kinda’ like old George finding himself moved out of a Texas cattle ranch into the White House. His old language that he used to speak was just not used in the White House. He was caught up in with a bunch of people that had spent their entire life using big words. And, women that wouldn’t swear even if they broke a nail. So, I figger ole’ George got out his dictionary and started writing down big words with important meanings, that he could use in case he really got cornered on an issue, but sometimes he would just get so frustrated that he would hollar. “bring um on!”

I think that where George Bush lost the American people is where he sold out his “roots”. He tried to talk like a Washington Politician, when he was a Texas cowboy. He tried to cover up the fact that he was from simple roots. Being from simple roots doesn’t mean that you are stupid, but trying to act like you aren’t from simple roots is stupid. Dwight D. Eisenhower always called nuclear “nucular”. Everybody pointed out that he pronounced it wrong, but he never changed, or apologized. Soon most people in the nation pronounced the word as “nucular”. Harry S. Truman was a poor speller, and he used the word ain’t. His only concession to the polite world was that he said “manure”, instead of the word that he would normally use. But, he didn’t sell out on his roots.

I guess what this is all leading up to, is that sometimes you really have to pay attention. Some people use small words but mean what they say. Other people use big important words, but don't really know diddley. I watched a clip of Al gore on Conan O'Brien the other day and I was shocked at his ignorance, which shocked me even more, because I expected Al to be ignorant. I know that most of you are great fans of Al, because you believe what he says. So, I guess that I should ask for forgiveness from the people that dote on Al's words.

If there were two people on this whole Earth that I world never follow, It would have been Gandhi, and now Al gore. If I'm going to stake my life on something, I want it to be based on hard science. I don't think that I could just squat in the road and dare the British to kill us all. Science and history tells me that the British are likely to do that. I think that Gandhi and his people just got lucky, I wouldn't recommend doing it again. Now, we are believing Al Gore! Can you believe that???

Nothing that Al says makes much sense to me, perhaps I read too much. I believe that Al is a charlatan. He knows how to use big words that fool most of us into believing him. First, he went off about the poor Polar Bears running out of ice. Here's a clue for you Al. Polar bears don't eat ice. Being the nice guy that I am, I decided to give Al the benefit of the doubt. The research that I was able to do told me that some Polar Bears groups are increasing in population and some are declining. It seems that food for the bears is in more abundance, because of the global warming, more critters are able to be out and about for the bears to eat. Some groups of bears are in decline because of man infringing on their territory.

There are recent bans for hunting the bears from ice-breaking cruise ships and helicopters. I'm in total agreement with that, somehow it just doesn't seem to be that fair, to cruise in, shoot a bear and go back home to Arizona. I believe that you should have to live in the land of ice and snow and take your chances the the bear might eat YOU before you have the right to kill it. Then, if you kill one, you should eat the whole darn bear, and make your clothes out of its hide. That would seem fair to me. So, I guess that I'll give Al a “bye” on Polar Bear protection. They are an incredibly beautiful creature. So, I guess that it is okay to show the poor Polar Bear swimming in open ocean where the ice used to be. Al and I could just call it a “White Lie” to save the bears.

Next Al says we need windmills, wind powered electric generators and solar panels, electric cars, and hydrogen powered vehicles that only exhaust pure water. Wait a minute! Where is the science there??? Hasn't he heard what a wind turbine does to a chicken hawk? If one flies through the darn things, nothing but feathers come out the other side. The Newcomers call them “Redtail Hawks”, but the reason that I call them Chicken Hawks is because I come from a long line of folks that watched them eat chickens. But, wind turbines have a bad habit of killing birds, and an acceptable level for bird death has not been established. Maybe Al will enlighten us about how many birds is okay to kill before wind turbines are considered to be a hazard. If the turbines were wacking Polar Bears, I'd bet that Al would be having a fit!

Solar panel systems have about a twenty-five year payback on them. So, if you buy them, it will be about twenty-five years before you get your money back. That doesn't cover any interest, maintenance or replacement. Not a very good investment. Oh, but you say that the energy companies will give you a subsidy to install them. How insane is that? They are not practical in the first place, so they allow you a subsidy that is charged to the rate-payers About 1% of our electricity comes from Solar at this point. If the plan was 100% successful, we would be charging ourselves enough to cover the subsidies to pay us to put the in solar panels. My brain hurts! We would never recover the investment. Either that or electricity would cost us about three times what we pay now. But, it's fun to talk about.

I'll skip right through battery powered and hydrogen powered vehicles, because most people have figured out that they are immensely inefficient. It takes way more power to manufacture hydrogen than you will ever get back out of it. Same with charging batteries, you would have to have free electricity to make them practical. Burning coal would be totally out of the question. The smart person would say “Why would we burn twice as much coal to power electric or hydrogen vehicles???” It's a no brainer! I think... Unfortunately there are a lot of people out there with no brain. And if you think dioxin, mercury, and lead are bad for the environment, just imagine if every vehicle had batteries in them. Do you have any idea how toxic vehicle batteries are? When they crash, or go into our rivers and oceans, what happens to all of that pollution. It doesn't just dissipate like petroleum products. The safety standpoint of a battery powered vehicle has not been fully appreciated yet, because not many of them have been involved in crashes. They carry onboard enough power to kill you if you get connected into it. It is an electric system in a metal car. The fire potential is also greater with electric vehicles. Well, that took longer to skip-by than I thought!

Now, what I really want to talk about is Al Gore latest Nobel Prize winning Idea. Geothermal Power. Al has recently discovered Geothermal energy, “a relatively new one”. Humans have used geothermal energy since the beginning of humans, but I guess humans are a relatively new feature on Earth, geothermally speaking. So, Al is suggesting that we tap into it... literally. He says that we should drill down into the Earth a “Couple of Kilometers” and tap into the almost unlimited source of energy. He goes on to say that we have “here in the United States, a thirty-five thousand year supply” of heat. He got that right. Kudos. But, it bothers me when somebody like Al Gore starts bandying words like “Kilometer.” He sounds like a scientist or something. He goes on to talk about “new drill bits” that will take the heat. I fell out of my chair when he said that the center of the Earth is “Several Million Degrees”.... This man just wrote a book on this subject. Shouldn't he know that the center of the earth is four thousand degrees??? He also said that the “crust of the Earth is hot”. Well if you go by the fact that Absolute Zero is four hundred and sixty degrees Fahrenheit below zero, then the crust of the Earth is “hot”. I always use Fahrenheit temperatures, because I'm not a scientist like Al Gore.

The problem that I have with Geothermal Energy, is that I've read too much about it. Although I firmly believe that Geothermal Energy is in our future, the stuff that we have now is not that great. What Al didn't tell you, is that Geothermal is a sticky wicket. Releasing geothermal steam pressure to the surface of the Earth comes with enormous pollution. The water in the Earth “two kilometers down” is under tremendous heat and pressure. Water is a great solvent at standard temperature and pressure, but down there it is a super solvent. It dissolves sulfur, mercury, iron, calcium, and other minerals that readily precipitate at the surface of the earth. They routinely have to shut down the geothermal plants for cleaning. Getting rid of the pollutants is a major project. If Geothermal was the complete source of our energy. It is not certain that we would be able to deal with all of the left-over polluting solids. A method of bringing the heat to the surface and leaving the rest down there is the only good answer, but as of now, that is NOT the case.

Can we noninate Al Gore for a new Nobel Prize? What should it be in? Greed avarice, stupidity....

The way it used to be.

Welcome to my blog, drag up a chair and make yourself comfortable.


A lady that I knew, once upon a time, found my blog while she was looking for some other information. I guess that you could call that serendipity. At least I call it serendipity. It gave me the good fortune to remember many people, places, and things that I haven't thought of in years. I haven't seen her in many years. (that I know of)


She emailed me, and the way she introduced herself seriously reminded me of the days of my youth. Back then, when you met somebody, you would give them your complete genealogy. Usually you found out that you had a common friend or ancestor somewhere. Back before about 1968, people didn't move around that much. Most of the people here had families that easily went back to the 1800's. If you had shown up later than that, chances are that your family had married in to some of the local families, so you always gave your pedigree. It really was like a big family around here.


As kids we hiked and played on the hills and canyons around town. If we got tired of hiking or digging fossils, we would go to the river and go swimming. Nobody worried to much about trespassing, we just went where we wanted to. If a rancher ran into us, we just told him who we were, or reminded him that we had asked for permission to be on his ranch. As kids we were even allowed to pack guns and kill squirrels. It was pretty normal for a kid to have a 22-caliber rifle. The ranchers liked getting rid of the squirrels, so it was a symbiotic relationship.


Like I said, it was a lot like one big family. That must be really hard for the people that live here now to understand or relate to. Now, you don't dare step foot off of your own property. The hills are guarded by land owners that are totally paranoid. The canyons are filled with society's low income tourists. They crap anywhere, and there are needles laying around. The river has so much fertilizer in it from the "medicine grows" that the Blue-Green Algae blooms in early summer. Dogs can't drink the water anymore, and kids can't swim in it.


So, it was fun for me to take a trip back in time with her introduction of herself. I included it below for your perusal. She gave me her permission:
I was doing research "Larry Brown" and ended up on your blog. I remember Larry having a racoon.. Larry had a friend named Bud Miller, a Calif. Highway Patrolmen. He was my uncle. My father's name was Keith Wymer. He married Marian, Uncle Bud's sister. (Bud is a step uncle). Dad's mother, my grandmother was Ruby Blank. Ruby Valley, outside of Redway, was named for her. My step grandfather , Charlie Blank, worked at the "mill" near Briceland and lost his fingers to it. I have Grampa's 22 rifle that we used to go squirrel plinking with. Grampa Charlie taught me how to fish in that little stream under the bridge there in Ruby Valley and he would build a raft for us kids every year to play on and every winter, it would end up lost to a flood. Picked many a blackberry with Grama along that creek and picked huckleberries in the hills. Grama would make a little pot pie for each of us kids with our initial on the crust and we would pig out with a big scoop of ice cream!! Grama Ruby died in a car accident on the bridge just west of Redway. She drove off the bridge when it was under reconstruction from the floods. The Redwood Record, was of course, owned by my grandparents, Pappy and Francis Miller. Great memories in the print shop. Had to pass it on the way home from school and we were always welcome to help Grama out... Do you remember a Melvin Green? (she later remembered that it was Sid Green) He was a pilot in those days. He was a relative on Grama's side. Also, Ruth Burgess was my Great aunt as Fred Burgess was my uncle. My step sister is Mary Hurlbutt, daughter to Fred, who owned the water system supplying Garberville. So hence, I know Jim Johnson and Marie. That Marie is still a go getter!!! An absolutely adorable woman. And then there were the floods of 1955... OMG. How Garberville was landlocked. Marian would bake bread and Dad and us kids ate it before it was even cool!!! Can't justify any savings there!! And then we would be out till our alloted ration came up again when they dropped food into town by plane or something.... In the winter season, after my Dad got on with the CalTrans, he would sneak me into his truck and I would go with him to patrol for slides during the night hours... The first time, I about jumped out the window when he dropped the front blade to scrape gravel from the road at 35 mph... Dad just laughed.... I had a friend named Diana French. Her folks had a sheep ranch somewhere out that direction and I would go with her on weekends to help capture and shear the sheep.... Just thought I would say hello to you... I vaguely remember your name.... I went to South Fork High School about 1963 to 66. Known as Kay Wymer at that time... Feel free to use any of this if you wish... thanks for the memories!!! Always, Kay


She followed her first post with this:
I have just been browsing.. I used to live at Benbow ..about 1962 or so.. maybe earlier. Our house was along Highway 101, north of Benbow, going up the hill toward Garberville on the right side. It burned down one summer, I think in 1962 or 63. Used to take a school bus to South Fork High School. I had a step grandfather named Bob Welch that drove the school bus and on stormy days, he would pick us two kids up at the house instead of the designated bus stop (rules were made to break!) down the rode so we wouldn't have to brave the weather. We were spoiled by him. I used to walk down Hiway 101 (wouldn't dare do that today!) to Benbow Lake and watch the ski boats in the summer to pass the time.


Followed by this:
I was thinking... the pilot was Sid Green, not Melvin..... I remember the Brass Rail..... my Dad and stepmother, Marian, would go to dinner there sometimes. Was nothing for Marian to sew a dress in one day and wear it that night. She would inevitably be invited to sing a song at the Rail.. she had an awesome voice!!

Followed by this after she read my post on “Vehicle over the Bank” About the two kids that went over the Garberville bluff:
Wow, does that jangle some memory banks! Those guys were so lucky.. I have memory of my mother and I sitting at a stop sign on Locust St waiting to enter the main drag. We hear this funny noise, which we learned later, to be an air horn out of air. People were waving us not to go!! A few seconds later, a big crane went whizzing by us and headed straight for that bluff on the north side of town. He went over!!! I was so shook up about it, I started to cry (I think I was about 10 or 12 years old). A big mushroom cloud rose from the bluff like a hydrogen bomb.We learned later that the man's brakes had gone out on the South side of town, he rode the crane all the way through town in hopes of keeping it from killing someone and at the end, he jumped before it went over and survived with a broken leg. This was about 1961 or 62... Thanks for posting your information. That bluff will always have a bad memory for me... And those two young men, I am sure.

I know that I'm going to be boring a bunch of you, but those that want to follow all of the comments are going to learn a lot of Garberville history back in the 50's and 60's.

I replied:
Kay
Thank-you for your permission to post this stuff. Please join in in the comments box. I think that you are going to find many people that remember you.
Ernie

Lou Dobbs

Okay, I'll be the first to ask... What's up with Lou Dobbs?



Another defection to Fox News?

Lou Dobbs' farewell statement:
"I truly believe that the major issues of our time include — the growth of our middle-class, the creation of more jobs, health care, immigration policy, the environment, climate change, and our military involvement, of course, in Afghanistan and Iraq.
But each of those issues is, in my opinion, informed by our capacity to demonstrate strong resilience of our now weakened capitalist economy and demonstrate the political will to overcome the lack of true representation in Washington, D.C."

I always liked Lou Dobbs. I think that he always gave his honest analysis of the news. Is the news service getting so political that they can't allow a person with opinions?

Down here on the man-on-the-street level, opinions differ from what you hear on the news anyway. Have you ever noticed that? If you ask the average person what's wrong with America. The first thing out of their mouths is going to be that people need good jobs. But, you don't hear that from our politicians. Are they just not listening? Are they trying to avoid the subject? Or are they sold out to Wall Street and afraid to say anything, because they know who owns them.

I am capitalist, and strongly believe in the capitalist system. The problem is that the capitalist system has been hijacked by white collar thuggery. Not so many years ago our government controlled the corporations. There was anti-trust laws, and anti-monopoly laws. Corporations were not allowed to take over whole industries like the oil companies have done. They weren't allowed to sell our jobs offshore, unless we were getting a fair return or a fair balance of trade. I thought I heard Obama saying some of that kind of stuff on the election trail, and it was encouraging. But he no more stepped foot in the office of the President and he bailed out the insurance companies, the banks, and... Oh yeah, Wall Street. Detroit is still without jobs. Did he forget his promises?

Don't they teach our kids in school anything about ethics and fairness? I think that our kids really don't know that money doesn't grow on trees.

I think that Lou Dobbs understood that Wall Street was selling America offshore, while they put a dime out of every dollar that left the country in their pockets. It might be great for the Wall Street investors, but when the money is all gone, there won't be any money for anybody. That is why the greed is so pervasive now. It's like a fire sale of America. Everybody is trying to cash in while they can.

America can not build any wealth until everybody has a job and the money starts staying here.

It will be interesting to see what Lou Dobbs has to say now that he won't have CNN puling his strings. Any ideas??? Do you think that he will fight for America? Or sell out to the crooks and thugs on Wall Street?

Global warming solidly linked to Christianity!

As everybody knows, Al Gore is In San Fransisco promoting his new book on global warming. Myself, being a person that is seriously concerned about global warming and rising sea levels, I decided to look into it myself, just to see if I could help Al out. I've been indebted to Al ever since he invented the Internet. I'm immensity proud that I can now use his medium to promote his cause.

In my search back to check on rising sea levels I was shocked to find that sea levels were flat stable before Christ was born. The levels were just over 120 feet lower than they are today. My first thought was uh-oh, somebody's been Bad! I wondered if there could be some kind of correlation between the Birth of Christ and the rising sea. Being a student of history, I followed the rising sea level from the birth of Christ up though the years. I checked to see there was a correlation to the significant stages in Christianity. Wow! At the birth of Christ, God had already started raising sea levels in anticipation. Then at Christ's birth the sea started rising rapidly. Then when he walked on water, you can see in the chart that there was anther sharp blip.

The Crusades caused a sharp upturn because of all of the Christian activity. There was such holy fervor during the First Crusades that the sea went through a period of rapid warming. You can clearly see that sea-melt at the point “Melt water Pulse 'A'” Then, when the First Crusade was over, The was a flattening of the graph line. During the period of relative Christian inactivity.

The first Crusade was followed by another crusade, because the Muslims were trying to practice their own religion and The Pope at the time didn't like that. The Pope must have been a lot like George Bush because he thought that it was necessary to send Christian Knights to the Holy Land to fight for Christianity. You can see the second surge just above the flat period after the First Crusade. When that crusade was over, the sea level rise flat lined again. Then the Third crusade cause another rise. That rise continued clear up until Martin Luther decided that the Catholic Church had too much power and decided to take some away from it. The decline of pure Christianity reduced the rise in sea level. Indeed, it almost flat lined until the present day. The Christians haven't even burned anybody at the stake lately. No wonder the sea level rise has slowed down.

Now Al Gore is in San Fransisco selling books and windmills. How Ironic is that that my “Ol Buddy Al” would be selling something Wind Powered... He said that he has done quite well cashing-in by putting his money where his mouth is. Hmmmm... I'd bet that there is some potential there for me also...

But anyway it's my opinion that if he wants to keep cashing in, he's going to have to bring back the Christian Fervor, like they had in the Crusades. He needs to get himself a Revival Tent and have a good old "Brother Al Traveling Salvation Show”.

To Anon. This whole post is not real. I don't think that Christ really caused the rise in sea level. The chart is off by a factor of ten. It was just too much fun to relate it to Christianity. The only thing that is real is the chart. The sea really was 120 meters (390 feet) lower 20,000 years ago. Go figur'

Sea level change for the last 8 thousand years.


The Earth had no ice 120,000 years ago and the sea level was higher than today.

Universal Refrigeration Care.

Universal Refrigeration Care.
Now that we almost have Universal Health Care out of the way, I think that it is time to broach the subject of Universal Refrigeration Care. The time is right! I know that not all the bugs have been ironed out of the health care plan yet, but if I wait, who knows, somebody else might come up with a bail-out plan for their own pet cause, and squeeze refrigeration care out of the picture. Those darn auto mechanics are always looking for ways to cash in, and the cash for clunkers deal seriously helped Japans economy. So, I'm not waiting. This is my plan:

As you know, some people live on the street and don't have access to cold beer. You've heard me say it before, but warm beer is the only thing that I accept as a true refrigeration emergency. If the ice-cream freezer fails, the ice-cream is already ruined. The most that you can do is make milkshakes. It will never be good ice-cream again. Fish can't be refrozen because it gets mushy. There is nothing yuckier than mushy fish. Milk spoils if it gets warm, and has to be thrown out. But beer... You can re-chill beer and everything is fine again. Yes... just crank up the polka music and life is good.

Destitute mothers can get free milk for their babies through the Mothers With Infant Children plan, but if they don't have anyplace to keep it cold, the milk could spoil. There should be no child out there without access to fresh cold milk. Think about it. Refrigeration is probably more important for the health of our nation than medical care.

Refrigerators should be made available to anyone. We could implement the plan just like “Cash For Clunkers”. That way, everybody could get new refrigeration, and we would be helping Brazil's economy at the same time, because most refrigeration is made in Brazil now. You could take any refrigerator in for a trade in, you could even pull one out of the dump. That way everybody could qualify. You would get $47.00 trade-in whether it worked or not. The only catch is, you would have to prove that you didn't steal it.

The very poor people that don't qualify for the new refrigerators, or can't afford them, could get one free from the utility companies as part of their energy saver program. All of the new refrigerators would have an American flag on them so you could feel patriotic. Or, if you aren't into flags, you could get one with my very own symbol on it. (My plan will be revealed later in the post) Over all, everybody could have a new refrigerator. I'm already feeling warm and fuzzy inside.

The cost to everybody would be less than $50.00 per person. But, everybody should be able to afford $50.00 dollars. After all we are the richest nation on the face of the Earth... Or, at least we were a few short years ago, and we are still coasting good, and there is still some “Fat of The Land” out there. We should tap into it now before Wall Street ships it all off to China.

Some refrigeration failures can be catastrophic, so we should all be able to take out Refrigeration insurance to cover those catastrophes. To make sure that those insurance companies treat us fairly, there should be a “Public Option” where anybody that chose to, could buy insurance from the government. The Government running a private business like an insurance provider shouldn't cost us much. Besides, the money we save by keeping our refrigeration in good running order should more that offset the additional costs.

Just to make sure that Refrigeration Care is implemented fairly. Anybody who doesn't agree to pay their share will be fined $250,00.00 or do a year in jail. That will discourage the slackers.

I don't know why I didn't think of this before. My dad always said that “if you can't beat them, join them, and beat them at their own game.” Dad was smart like that, but it takes me awhile to catch on. Now that I've thought of this, I can't wait to get started. First, I'll have to run for President. If elected, I promise everyone will have Universal Refrigeration Care. It's the only fair minded solution for poor refrigeration care!

I will need a slogan for my administration, but I will need something that will catch on. Any Ideas???

Stuck in Iberia...

Photo of Monarch Butterfly from Wikipedia.

As I have often said before, I suffer just a little bit from attention deficit syndrome. I suspect that we all do to a degree, It’s just that I enjoy my distractions so much that I can’t resist them. I’m very likely to be in the middle of a conversation about brain surgery and be distracted by a beautiful butterfly flitting by. My thoughts will be immediately grabbed by the beautiful butterfly, but the person that I was talking to will be annoyed because I dropped the conversation. I will be surprised that the person that I was talking to doesn’t seem to appreciate that we can always come back to what we were talking about, but the beauty and grace of the butterfly can only be enjoyed in the moment, because it will soon be gone.

I think that the name “Attention Deficit Syndrome” should be changed to “Attention Over Abundance Syndrome”. It used to embarrass me that I am so easily distracted, but now, I just enjoy it. Life to me is like exploring a new trail every day. I’m often shocked that I will notice things going on around me that nobody else notices. I wonder how they can get through life without the peripheral vision that I seem to have. I’m always noticing things around me, while others seem, to me, to be dangerously focused on what they are doing. For crumb sakes, Godzilla could sneak up on them and eat them it one big swallow. Not me… I would notice Godzilla sneaking up on me in a heartbeat.

You probably wonder by now where this is all going. A few posts ago, I started to set the stage for explaining why the New World explorers were so heartless and brutal. Knowing very little about psychology, I get in trouble by knowing just a little about it. I know that people with brutal upbringing have a tendency to be brutal themselves. By extension, I extrapolated that would be true of any whole groups of people. So, I decided to look into the history of Christopher Columbus, and the Conquistadors. Just so all of the anal-retentive types out there know. I understand that Christopher Columbus was not the first to discover America… I know that! It’s just that he was the most important person to discover America, from the era of 1492 until the present. Sheeeeeesh.

But, I thought that I could show everybody what a brutal part of the world that the Conquistadors came from, and then you would be overcome with understanding, that the brutality that they showed in the New World was simply because, that was the way they were raised, and that is the only way of life that they understood. I wanted to talk about burning people at the stake. Pulling people apart while still alive on “Racks”. Using every means of torture that they could devise to kill off heretics, just to convert people to Christianity. I wanted to show everybody that Spain had just gotten their land back from the evil invading Moors. That they were tough fighting people that used violence to survive.

I soon learned that much of history was lost through the Christians having destroyed any record that did not agree with the teachings of the Pope and the Christian Church. So, I poked around to see what else I could learn about that part of history before Columbus came to America. That’s when a Beautiful butterfly flew past me, a butterfly by the name of “Spanish History”.

There is lots of history available from 1492 back into 711, when the Moors invaded the Iberian peninsula (Spain). I discovered that much of the reason that there was no recorded history before the Moors invaded, is because the Muslim Moors are the ones that brought the “Three R’s” to Iberia. They brought recorded history to a new world that was previously unsophisticated and uneducated. They brought light to the Iberian Peninsula. All religions and races were allowed to live together in “peace” up until the “Reconquista”, where the Christians, in the space of about 600 years, were able to eventually drive the Moors back out of Iberia. Coincidentally, that happened the year that Christopher Columbus, an Italian navigator, was given three ships by Queen Isabella and king Ferdinand the III to find a new spice route to China. The buildings, castles, and palaces were intricately and beautifully built, with elaborate fountains and gardens. Structures were built that still exist today. Buildings gardens and Architecture that would be hard to duplicate, even with today’s technology. The Spanish butterfly was beautiful beyond what I had expected.

Most of you know that we “Attention Deficit Types” can’t resist playing “What If”. When I’m not playing “What if” or “look at the beautiful Butterfly”, I’m in my imaginary world of make-believe. Anybody who has ever read “The Life and Times of Walter Mitty” will know exactly what I mean. My Imaginary world of Walter Mitty got tangled up with my What if world recently, and I imagined myself as being Christopher Columbus. First Christopher was not all that smart. (Which I can identify with) He was Italian, but the Italians didn’t want anything to do with him because he went around proclaiming that the world was round. Any fool back then knew that the world was flat. Flat! The Pope said it was flat, so it was flat. If you didn’t want to be burned at the stake you didn’t go around arguing with the Pope. The world was flat.

Chris needed to get financing to buy himself some ships to find a new route to china. Chris saw that he wasn’t getting anywhere with the Pope so he went to see Queen Isabella in Spain. Spain was just ending a “surge” to get rid of the Moors. Isabella was feeling the pinch of the very expensive war, but she finally got rid of the heretic Muslims. Now, she needed some income. She reckoned that a new and direct route to the Orient would bring her some wealth from the spice trade. Chris was too dumb to know it, but the ships that she gave him were too small to make a transatlantic crossing. They were too small and way under stocked with food and fresh water. They had to depend on catching a few fish along the way. The boats wouldn’t even qualify for the Cash For Clunkers program today. But Chris was able to make some valid points for the world being round, and Queen Isabella’s greed was boundless, so she gave him some ships, with the of chance that she might cash-in. It was what, in today’s world, would be called a long shot.
So, when I Imagined myself as Christopher Columbus, and I started to step onto the deck of my command ship. My first thought, (even as dumb as I am) would have been “How far around is this world”. If it’s a million miles in diameter, I’m not going to be able to make it to China. Hmmmm…..

Even though Chris was able to prove to Queen Isabella that the world was round, he used new math to prove it. He used a lot of talk like; “Pi times R squared equals the radius of the diameter, and that proves that China is just off of our coast to the west.” I know how that kind of talk often charms people into agreeing with me, but when I boarded my ship I’m sure I would have gone over my calculations.

If I was staking my life, and the life of my crew, on something, I’m sure that I would be dead sure that my figures were right before I lifted anchor and sailed west to China. But, not old Chris. He just said a prayer for God to guide him to China, lifted anchor and sailed away. He was just happy that the world was round. My brain would be screaming ; “HOW round??” I would have had charts and cardboard cut-outs. Stakes driven in the ground with yarn (don’t call it string!) stretched between them. I would have run sand through hour glasses, charted the movement of the sun, and come up with the real diameter of the Earth before I even thought of lifting my anchor. Believe me, when it becomes reality time, and my life is at stake, you would be surprised how smart I can become.

They say that God protects damn fools and drunks, so that’s what must have happened to Chris, because he sure the Hell didn’t know what he was doing. He could tell from the position of the Sun, Moon and stars that he had been blown way south of where he should have been. So when he found land and saw the color of the brown people, he just thought that he missed China and was blown clear down to India. Lucky for him that there was land in the West Indies where he landed. It was far less than halfway to China. If he hadn’t been dumb, stupid, idiotically and foolishly lucky, he would have simply perished in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. He didn’t have a clue that there was a New World in his way, and that he was nowhere near to China!

So, the Idiot that found and “Discovered” the New World was just lucky! But, he went down in history as being a “Great Navigator”. See, that’s where I come back out of my Walter Mitty World and back into the real world… My luck never works that well. That is MY reality!

So, with the way my research has been working, we’ll probably linger a while longer in Iberia… Hey, look... a butterfly!

The Day Time Began

A construction crew in 1885 at Green River in the Cascades

It has long been established that there are twenty-four hours in a day. I’ll bet you think that there is some big scientific reason for there to be a twenty-four hour day don’t you? Nope.. Ha, Ha! No reason whatsoever. In fact, the reason for a twenty-four hour day is nebulous. I used the word “nebulous” because some theories say that time is related to the stars and "nebulas", and that there are twelve signs of the zodiac. But, you say “wait a minute… Aren’t there twenty-four hours in a day?”
Yep, but there are twelve hours in a day, and twelve hours in a night. That totals twenty-four.

Some think that a Greek astronomer by the name of Hipparchus established the length of an hour. Before that, a day was measured from daylight until dark and divided it by twelve. Twelve evenly measured hours of daylight and twelve evenly measured hours of night. So when the daylight days got longer so did the hours, and of course the nighttime hours got shorter. But, there were still twelve hours of daylight and twelve hours of dark, for a twenty-four hour day. Hipparchus said that it was just too confusing, so he established twenty-four sixty minute hours in a day.

But why did they use the number twelve? It is reasoned that it might have come from the Sumerians, who used a twelve based number system. Also, if you hold up four fingers, each finger has three segments, and four times three equals twelve. We count on ten fingers, and the Sumerians counted the finger segments, for twelve. We both started by counting on our fingers, but we did it differently. The Sumerians could count the daylight hours on one hand and the night-time hours on the other, for a total of twenty-four hours. Those Sumerians were clever.

People that study time, and timekeepers like clocks and watches, are called “Horologists”. Who’d uh thought!

Early in the United States history, time was established by the town, or city that you lived in. Usually it was established by one central person, like the man that maintained the town clock. Clocks were usually great in size and kept in public places. Like the clock in the town square of the church steeple. The town time was established with a Sundial. So, high-noon was set on the town clock at Twelve-O’Clock. If you set your watch and traveled to a community to your west, the time would change by how far that you traveled. High-noon is at a different time in different communities. The further west that you go, the later that your watch will fall behind. If you set your watch in New York, and you traveled across the United States to San Francisco, your watch would be three hours late. Each town that you went through on your way would read a few minutes earlier than your watch. But, each village was happy with their time.

As you are probably already guessing, the railroads found the need to have accurate, well established time zones, because every town having it's own time was just too confusing. Mostly they wanted the trains to pass each other on side-rails at a well establish and accurate times, rather than have head on collisions. So the United States and Canada established Time Zones and accurate time keeping. On November 18th 1883, the United states and Canada established five time zones. Trains ran on time, and the railroads were the standard for accurate time keeping. Some communities stuck to their own time for a while, but soon they saw how practical it would be for everyone to be on the same time schedule. I remember as a child, when somebody wanted an accurate time, they asked; "What time is it, in Railroad time?" That meant that they wanted the right time, including the minutes.


On March 19th 1918, they established what they called the standard time act, they established a "Daylight Savings time." ... So much for simplicity. Now, in the place of arguing over which town had the correct time. They could argue whether or not each town would adopt the savings time. As you know, some did and some didn't, so the confusion and arguments about the correct time that were once settled for all time (pun) were back on again. As you might have guessed, I don't like the Daylight Savings Time" change. It only confuses things and doesn't really change a thing.

When an old Indian gentleman was asked what he thought about Daylight Savings Time he said: "The white man thinks he can cut off one end of a blanket and sew it to the other and thinks he has more blanket." As soon as I remember who said that I'll post it.

More Moor

I was talking to Donna today. She is the Blond lady that owns the flower shop behind my shop in town. She had looked at my Blog this morning, and she remarked that she was enjoying the Mediterranean history and she also remarked that the Moors built one of her favorite places in the whole world. Alhambra Spain. She loves the Moorish gardens throughout Spain. She's a flower and plant nut. We talked about the young girl in the previous post, Alizee Jacotay. I looked up her bio on the Internet. She is from the French Island of Corsica, off the coast of Spain. She was born in 1984. She started dancing and singing at a very young age. The thing that struck me is, that her dark skin, hair, and eyes, very well may have been from the Moor influence.

King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella forced the moors to leave Spain In 1492.


With the royal banners and the cross of Christ plainly visible on the red walls of the Alhambra: …the Moorish sultan with about eighty or a hundred on horseback very well dressed went forth to kiss the hand of their Highnesses. According to the final capitulation agreement both Isabel and Ferdinand will decline the offer and the key to Granada will pass into Spanish hands without Muhammad XII having to kiss the hands of Los Royes, as the Spanish royal couple became known. Muhammad XII indomitable mother insisted on sparing his son this final humiliation. The Moorish sultan was received with much love and courtesy and there they handed over to him his son, who had been a hostage from the time of his capture, and as they stood there, there came about four hundred captives, of this who were in the enclosure, with the cross and a solemn procession singing the Te Deum Laudamus, and their highnesses dismounted to adore the Cross to the accompaniment of the tears and reverential devotion of the crowd, not least of the Cardinal and Master of Santiago and the Duke of Cadiz and all the other grandees and gentlemen and people who stood there, and there was no one who did not weep abundantly with pleasure giving thanks to Our Lord for what they saw, for they could not keep back the tears; and the Moorish sultan and the Moors who were with him for their part could not disguise the sadness and pain they felt for the joy of the Christians, and certainly with much reason on account of their loss, for Granada is the most distinguished and chief thing in the world…

Christopher Columbus seems to have been present; he refers to the surrender on the first page of his Diario de las Derrotas y Caminos:
After your Highnesses ended the war of the Moors who reigned in Europe, and finished the war of the great city of Granada, where this present year [1492] on the 2nd January I saw the royal banners of Your Highnesses planted by force of arms on the towers of the Alhambra, which is the fortress of the said city, I saw the Moorish sultan issue from the gates of the said city, and kiss the royal hands of Your Highnesses…

Legend has it that as the royal party moved south toward exile, they reached a rocky prominence which gave a last view of the city. Muhammad XII reined in his horse and, surveying for the last time the Alhambra and the green valley that spread below, burst into tears. When his mother approached him she said : "Weep like a woman for what you could not defend as a man". The spot from which Muhammad XII looked for the last time on Granada is known as "the Moor's last sigh" (el último suspiro del Moro).

Please click on this link to view the Moorish Gardens of Spain

Moor Gardens in Spain
The Moorish Gardens of Spain

Why the Moors Conquered Spain

I've been trying to find the time to finish my post on the brutal conquest of the new world by the Spaniards. All that I’ve read before leads me to believe that the Moors conquest of Spain was more about the women that they fell in love with than the land or the Gold. Conversely, the women of Spain seemed to take readily to the new men that showed up upon the new shores. The men were educated, and sophisticated, they wouldn’t let anyone push them around. Remember that they chopped up and boiled their enemies in cauldrons. Some of them were a little greedy and selfish though. Remember Mohammad I, he built the Palace of Madina Ashara, and stocked his Harem with 6,000 Spanish women?

I watched a story on TV one time, where they were interviewing a group of Muslim girls, and they were giggling about how great it would be to be one of Osama bin Laden’s wives. I was shocked, that any woman would want to be anywhere near that man. Then I realized that women have always been attracted to wealth and power. The Spanish women must have been attracted to the new conquerers of the old world, just as they are today.

I have always been curious about the reasons for conquest of new lands. It always seems to me that the conquest was as much about the women as it was about wealth. The conquerors always took home the women that they found, or took over the women of the new lands that they settled. The men were usually killed or vanquished. That’s kinda’ fair. To the victor go the spoils.
I know that everyone today thinks that the American Indian women were taken as wives against their will, but the stories that I heard as a young man said otherwise. I know that many women were taken as wives without their permission, but few ran away after they got used to living indoors and eating well. Many Indian women desired to marry the new settlers. As I’ve said before, I’m sure that that didn’t settle well with the Indian men, But life has been much the same throughout history.

I was searching the internet to find an example of a Spanish woman to drive my cousin “Oregon” crazy. Because he claims that it only takes one woman to drive him crazy. I figger the following video of a Spanish Girl singing Madonna’s “La Isla Bonita” Should do it. Her name is “Alizee”.

Turn your sound on, Turn it way up, and you bass way down low, Then try to imagine what the hell Mohammad I would want with more than one Spanish women!

Conquest.

Spain->

Yeah, I know I've been gone a while. But, I have been studying something that I know very little about. So, if I make any mistakes on this post, feel free to set me straight!

In the years of 711 until 1492, the area that is now known as Spain was racked with turmoil that makes the turmoil that happened during the conquest of the New World and America look like a small chapter in a history book. The African Moors took over Spain in 711 and were not completely pushed back out or exterminated until 1492. It was a conflict that involved royalty and serfdom, the religious and heathen, the Catholics, the Muslims, and the Jews.

Moor Photo to the right->

To give you some insight about what happened to the American Indian. You should start at least a little ways back in the roots of the re-discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus. My search through history was to try to find a common thread as to why people fight each other for land, and kill each other with such little regard for humanity. What was the motivation?

In the Eighth Century, Spain, a country on the Iberian peninsula, north of the Mediteranian Sea, was a Roman Catholic country, with a few Jews scattered in. The Moors, who were Muslims, invaded from Africa and conquered the Iberian people as far north as the Basque country. The Moors landed near Gibraltar. The rock of Gibraltar was named after General Tarik ibn Ziyad. The rock was called Djabal Tarik (`Tarik's Mountain'), or Gibraltar. Tarik was the leader of the Moors. Upon his landing in Iberia he gave this rousing speech:


"My brethren, the enemy is before you, the sea is behind; whither would ye fly? Follow your general; I am resolved either to lose my life or to trample on the prostrate king of the Romans."

The Moors, from the North Western Continent of Africa, were black people with curly hair and it is said that many of the people of the Iberian peninsula today are descended from the Moors. The dark skin and curly hair of many of the Portuguese People came from the Moorish influence.

The Green Area to the right is the part of Spain and the Iberian peninsula that the Moors conquered. ->

The initial invading force was only 10,000 Moors. Later, more invaders came, increasing the fighting force to 28,000, but at no time did the invading army exceed 40,000 troops. The ruling class of Iberia was the Goths and the Visigoths. (Goths from the west) The reason that the Muslims were able to so easily defeat the great number of Christian Goths is because nobody much liked the Christians, and people readily joined forces with the Moors to overthrow them. Anyone that would convert to the Muslim religion would be freed, and allowed to remain in Iberia. Then, of course, the Jews looked forward to the defeat of the Christians, so they became the Moors willing ally. That was probably one of the few times in history that the Jews and the Muslims allied. It is thought that the Moors may have been encouraged to invade Spain by the Iberian serfs. The Iberians expected the Moors to take a little booty and go back home, but the wealth and power kept the the Moors in Spain.

What the moors actually did is take some of the wealth that they found, and a fine bevy of Spanish beauties back to Africa, as proof of the great wealth and beautiful women that they had found in Spain. In short order, many of the Moors were scrambling to get to Iberia. It is said that Many of the Moors built log rafts to cross the Straights of Gibraltar, to find their own wealth and women. Not many of the Moors took their women with them. They found and married the Spanish women after arriving. I wonder what the Marriage ceremony was like.

The conquest of Spain by the Moors sounds a lot like the American Gold Rush, doesn't it?

After defeating the Iberians, the Moors chopped up the leaders of the defending Iberian armies and boiled them in cauldrons, the Goth King Roderick was thought to be among those pieces in the cauldrons. They then send the rest of the armies back home to spread the word of what kind of people that the Moors were, and they were not to be challenged.

The battle to get rid of the Moors from Spain started as soon as Spain was conquered. The retaking of Spain was called the “Reconquista”. (reconquest) It took 800 years, but it was complete, and it was thorough. The Pope encouraged the cleansing of the Iberian Peninsula.

”The Reconquista was originally a mere war of conquest. It only later underwent a significant shift in meaning toward a religiously justified war of liberation The papacy and the influential Abbey of Cluny in Burgundy not only justified the anti-Islamic acts of war but actively encouraged Christian knights to seek armed confrontation with Moorish "infidels" instead of with each other.”

There were several focuses in removing the Moors from Spain. First there was The Reconquista, then came the Inquisition. It would seem that it was one and the same to the lay person. But, the Reconquista was to take back the land from the Moors, whereas the inquisition was to reestablish Christianity. The Catholic Church wanted to control the people, control the wealth, and collect tithing for the Pope. The church demanded ten percent of the wealth that was gained by the serfs, they explained it thusly:

Timothy 6:17-19 states:
Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.

(Give some of your money to the church, your money will help you get to heaven, where you will be richly rewarded for your "tithing".)

It becomes obvious that the more people that were paying tithe, the richer that the church became. The Inquisition was not so much about spreading the word of Christ as much as it was collecting tithe. During the inquisition it was demanded that a person renounce their beliefs, and swear loyalty to the church. In fairness they gave that person three days to think about it, and at the end of the three days the person would be killed if they refused to convert to Christianity. Not only were they killed, but also all records of them having ever existed were expunged. It give a whole new meaning to the term, "If you aren't a Christian, you aren't anybody"... Literally.

Refusing to convert to Christianity was punishable by death. If a person would campaign against the church, or publicly renounce it, the person would be tortured and burned at the stake. I've read before that far more women were killed during the Inquisition than men. I was not able to find any varification of that fact, but I think that it may have been that women held to their religious beliefs stronger than men.

From Wikipedia:

"The Spanish Inquisition can be seen as an answer to the multi-religious nature of Spanish society following the reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula from the Moors (Muslims). Much of the Iberian Peninsula was dominated by Moors following their invasion of the peninsula in 711 until the thirteenth century. Following the Christian victory at the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa (1212), and the fall of Cordoba (1236) and Seville (1248) most of peninsula, including most of the south, came under Christian rule. Only the small region of Granada remained under Muslim rule, which was ended by a final Christian victory of 1492. However, in the medieval period the Reconquista did not result in the expulsion of Muslims from Spain, since they, along with Jews, were tolerated, although treated as inferiors, by the ruling Catholic elite. Big cities, especially Seville, Valladolid, and Barcelona, had large Jewish populations centered in "Judería

It appears that much of Spain was recovered in the three major battles, and all religions lived amongst each other peacefully. That is until the Church was so encouraged by the regaining of Spain from the Moors that they continued the battle to completely make Spain a Christian Country. And, of course, collect their pound of flesh in the form of tithe.

I wonder, if the American Indians had organized a "Reconquista," and were able to regain their land from the greedy interloper, the interloper that moved to California in great hoards, and didn't even bother to bring their women with them, because there were women in California, in the form of native women? Would they have wanted to live in peace? Or would they have started their own inquisition to demand that the interloper adopt the Indian ways or face execution.

In 1492 the Christians had finally defeated the Muslim Moors for the control of Spain. Many events in history have parallel paths. Some paths join together for a new purpose. The Reconquista was started to regain control of Spain, then the Crusade was started and paralleled the Reconquista. After the Recoquista was accomplished, The Muslims were able to live amongst the Christians peacefully, but the church wanted to be rid of the Muslins, so they continued the crusade for many years.

I had intended to use this background in a complete post, but is is beginning to get to be too long. So, as many of you already know, 1492 was a pivotal point in the history of the world. So I'm going to break here and continue the story in my next post.

To be continued:

The Moorish conquest of Spain

Spanish history, the Moor period

The Reconquista

Rollover!

One of the most dreaded of emergency calls is “vehicle rollover”.

Years ago, when I joined the volunteer fire department, we were just that, a fire department. Nowadays, we are “Emergency first Responders”. We have mutual-aid agreements with all other emergency agencies and we are no longer called firemen or firefighters, but simply “First Responders.” We are expected to do it all. If it's an emergency we are most likely on it.

The “rollover” call is one of the most dreaded because of the technical aspects of rescuing the victims. If you are a First Responder, a lot of the rollover calls come in when you are sleeping the most soundly. Early morning calls, when people have been drinking too much, or have simply gotten too tired and fallen asleep, or rocks and debris in the road. Whatever the reason, frequently a vehicle will end up rolled upside down.

While you are sound asleep. Your pager will be sent a tone that turns in on, followed by a loud beeping sound that wakes you up. Then there will be a voice message something like; “Vehicle rollover, Briceland-Thorn Road, cross street Oakridge. Over the bank. Multiple trapped occupants. C.H.P. on scene, Garberville ambulance, Redway Fire, Technical rescue, and Cal-fire responding. Time out 0411.”

Your ears tell your brain, “wake-up, Emergency!”. Your brain kicks in. It screams to your Adrenal Glands, “Hey, wake-up down there! We need a shot of Adrenalin!” Immediately, before your feet can hit the floor, adrenalin is squeezing into your system. Your training kicks in, because you have placed this scenario in your brain at every drill that you have ever had before. Even though you are not awake yet, you realize that it is a real emergency. You know to put on your lighter “wildland firefighter gear”. Because, it is lighter-weight and easier to move around in. If it was a structure fire call, you would be putting on your “Bunker Gear,” which is very heavy fire protection gear, but difficult to move in well.

You are actually moving at a very fast pace, but it seems like you are just crawling. Your brain chews out your adrenal glands again; “Hey more adrenalin, we need to get moving, send me a double-shot-espresso adrenalin, I can't think, I'm still sleepy!” Hurry, hurry, hurry! Move, move move! Go, go go!

Finally, after you have your gear on, which seems like it takes you an eternity, but usually take about a minute, you get into your truck to drive to the fire department. The first thing that you tell your self is; “Slow down! Things are moving faster than you think!” “Drive like you have your baby daughter in the truck with you”. Your most important task, once you get behind the wheel, is to get to the victims safely. It may very well be somebody else's baby daughter that you will be saving. The last thing that you want to do is involve yourself in an accident. That will distract from the rescue at hand, and jeopardize not only yourself, but the victims that you are trying to rescue. Every responsible First Responder knows that.

Once you get to the fire department, you check your gear, get in an emergency vehicle, and respond “Code Three”. Which means full-on red flashing lights and siren. The flashing lights and siren are only asking for the right of way, it in-no-way gives it to you. If you run a red light and crash into someone, it is still your fault, and you will bear the responsibility of the crash. The only thing that the vehicle that failed to yield to you will be responsible for is; “Failure to yield to an emergency vehicle”. Which is still a violation, but not as serious as being responsible for a crash.

On the way there, some of the responders might say; “Whatta' we got”. Often the radio transmissions are weak, all we know is that we have a call. In our training we are drilled; Acknowledge all communications. So we are already in answer-all-questions mode. Somebody will say; Rollover, Oakridge”. Usually two or three words will give the outline of our call. Which will engage the thought process; “What will we do when we get there?” It's always a good idea to “chat it up” on our way. Somebody will say “ABC”. Which means, “Airway, Breathing, Circulation.” ABC is the first job of the First Responder.”

If the victim says; “Help”. You have just checked, they have an airway, and they are breathing. Sometimes it's simple. Then you move on to check all of the extremities for circulation. If circulation is cut off, the victim could lose an arm or leg. Sometimes all you have to do is remove the object that is laying on the victim, or reposition the limb. A real simple but important thing to do.

The reason that a rollover call is so scary is sometimes the victim will have a head injury and be bleeding. Hanging upside down is not the best position to be in with a bleeding head injury. To get the victim down is critical, but you will have to get him down without injuring his neck spine. Or, anything else. You have to rapidly put the victim in a C-Collar to stabilize their neck, gently lower them onto a back board, strap them on, and move them out.

Usually, the fewer words you can use the better, If the vehicle doors are jambed, you may hear the call; “Make a hole”. The person inside, with the victim, needs to know that you heard them. You always acknowledge. You say; “Make a hole”. That's much better than. “Okay”. "Okay" doesn't mean a darn thing. You could be replying to someone else. The other emergency people need to know, without any doubt, what you are doing, and if you heard them. Repeating their request is the best method to let them know that you heard them.

First responders are always trained to repeat the command. It's a very important habit to gain. We coach each other on that command often. I wish that I could teach my wife that little trick. I'm always saying as gently as I can; “Did you hear me???” Which always gets me chewed out at home. But, sometimes she doesn't hear me, and I get chewed out for not making myself clear. Sometimes a guy just can't win.

In the first responder business we keep things as simple as we can. “What” and “where” is all we need to know to mobilize. Usually two words get the job done. We leave “why, where, and when” to the news people. But, we need to know those two things.

When my Pager goes off, it gets my complete and undivided attention. Almost as much as my wife saying; “Honey we need to talk”.

This morning at at 4:10 AM my wife yells “Rollover”. My Brain says; “Quick, adrenalin!!!” annoyed that she didn't give me the second part: WHERE! I jump and hollar; “where???” She doesn't say anything. Annoyed that she isn't following protocol, I shout at her; “Where??? Brain to kidneys: “Quick, more adrenalin! I can't wake up!!!. Something is wrong, I didn't hear my pager, I was sleeping so soundly. Usually, I hear my pager, even as my wife sleeps through it, so it caused me to sightly panic. Nothing was happening according to plan... Brain to down there; “Help! I need adrenalin, now!” Finally adrenalin starts to kick in. My eyes are wide open, and I'm ready to dive into the “Hero business”, as we like to call it in the first responder business. No time to lose. Go, go. Go!

By then I'm getting very annoyed, and not really being careful to not step on my poor wifes delicate little toes, I shout again “Where??!!” not that I really need to know that. It's just part of protocol. Go, go, go...

My wife says... again!... “Rollover.. you are snoring.”

Whaaa.... I'm snoring??? Sometimes the hero business can be real simple, this time all I have to do is... “rollover”.

Now, with about four quarts of adrenalin in my veins, all I have to do is try to go back to sleep. I think that the confusion added more to my adrenalin than I normally would have summoned. So, I thought I might as well share some of my excitement with you. Anybody need some adrenalin??? I'll trade you a quart of adrenalin for a pound of sleep...

California Indian Tribes in pre-history.

Native Tribes, Groups, Language Families and Dialects of California in 1770
(after A.L. Kroeber 1925). Adapted from Heizer (1966: Map 4).
(See Key at bottom)


I have a blogger friend up north that is interested in local history. She has asked me to see if I can get some information for her.



Hi Ernie,
I know you have a lot of readers in SoHum and was wondering if you might be willing to do me a favor.
I have a friend with "Numsoose" listed as the tribe of an ancestor. Other records say wylacki (sp?).
Would you mind posting something asking folks if they've heard about the Numsoose, where their territory was, etc.?
Or maybe put me in touch with someone down there that might know--if you don't want to take up room on your blog...?

Thanks for considering it.
Regards, Lynette

I have indeed heard of "Numsoose", but I'm not familiar with their territory. They are listed as "Race Number 30" In the list of Federally Recognized California Tribes. (How utterly endearing) So, I thought that I could make this an exercise for all of us to find the Numsoose.

Many of my Indian friends dispute the names and the territories of California Tribes, so there is always room for much error. I would always give the benefit of the doubt to the Indian person directly involved. They should be in charge of their own history. I have a few Indian friends who consider themselves to be “Wailaki” and they have been told that there was a “Sinkyone” tribe in Bear Creek in the Sinkyone Wilderness. They say that according to their ancestors that there was no such tribe, and that it was “made up by the park people”.

Much of what we know is from the mid 1800’s on. As everybody already knows, 80% of the American Indians were wiped by the “discovery” of the New World by The Old world. Many of the California Indians must have been dying out from disease before the white man ever saw them. The Spaniards started the occupation of the New World as far back as the 1500’s. That is three hundred years of suffering Old World diseases before the Indians even saw the Lewis and Clark Expedition, and the Hoard from back east during the Gold Rush. I expect that many tribal territories changed during those early years of pure disease. Then, many tribal locations probably changed during the occupation of California.

It’s difficult to tell “who” was really from “where”. before 1870. The map of California Indian Tribes In 1770 had to have been a bunch of very good guesses at the best.

I know that somebody out there can give us a good guess as to where the “Numsoose tribe” was located.

Key:
(Note: some designations have changed since Kroeber's 1925 compilation)
Athabascan FamilyOregon Group 1a. Rogue RiverTolowa Group 1b. Tolowa.Hupa Group 1c. Hupa 1d. WhilkutMatole Group 1e. MatoleWailaki Group 1f. Nongatl 1g. Lassik 1h. Shelter Cove Sinkyone 1i. Lolangkok Sinkyone 1j. Eel River Wailaki 1k. Pitch Wailaki 1l. North Fork Wailaki 1m. KatoBear River Group 1n. Bear RiverAlgonkin FamilyYurok 2a. Yurok 2b. Coast Yurok 3. WiyotYukian Family 4a. Yuki 4b. Huchnom 4c. Coast Yuki 4d. Wappo
Hokan FamilyShastan 6a. Shasta 6b. New River Shasta 6c. Konomihu 6d. Okwanuchu 6e. Achomawi (Pit River) 6f. Atsugewi (Hat Creek)Yana 7a. Northern Yana 7b. Central Yana 7c. Southern Yana 7d. Yahi 8. Karok 9. ChimarikoPomo 10a. Northern 10b. Central 10c. Eastern 10d. Southeastern 10e. Northeastern 10f. Southern 10g. Southwestern 11. Washo 12. EsselenSalinan 13a. Antoniano 13b. Migueleño 13c. Playano (doubtful)Chumash 14a. Obispeño 14b. Purisimeño 14c. Ynezeño 14d. Barbareño 14e. Ventureño 14f. Emigdiano 14g. Cuyama 14h. IslandYuman 15a. Northern (Western) Diegueño 15b. Mountain Diegueño 15c. Southern (Eastern or Desert) Diegueño 15d. Kamia 15e. Yuma 15f. Halchidhoma & Kohuana (now Chemehuevi) 15g. Mohave
Penutian FamilyWintun Dialect Groups 16a. Northern (Wintu) 16b. Central (Nomlaki) 16c. Hill (Patwin) 16d. River (Patwin)Maidu Dialect Groups 17a. Northeastern 17b. Northwestern 17c. Southern (Nisenan)Miwok 18a. Coast 18b. Lake 18c. Bay (Saclan) 18d. Plains 18e. Northern Sierra 18f. Central Sierra 18g. Southern SierraCostanoan 19a. San Pablo (Karkin) 19b. San Francisco 19c. Santa Clara 19d. Santa Cruz 19e. San Juan Bautista (Mutsun) 19f. Rumsen (Monterey) 19g. SoledadYokuts Dialect Groups 20a. Northern Valley (Chulamni, Chauchila, etc.) 20b. Southern Valley (Tachi, Yauelmani, etc.) 20c. Northern Hill (Chukchansi, etc.) 20d. Kings River (Chionimni, etc.) 20e. Tule-Kaweah (Yaudanchi, etc.) 20f. Poso Creek (Paleuyamni) 20g. Buena Vista (Tulamni, etc.)Modoc 20h. Modoc
Uto-Aztekan (Shoshonean) FamilyPlateau Branch Mono-Bannock Group 21a. Northern Paiute (Paviotso) 21b. Owens Valley Paiute 21c. Mono Lake Paiute 21d. Monache (Western Mono) Shoshoni-Comanche Group 21e. Panamint Shoshone (Koso) Ute-Chemehuevi Group 21f, Chemehuevi (Southern Paiute) 21g. Kawaiisu (Tecachapi)Kern River Branch 21h. Tübatulabal (& Bankalachi)Southern California Branch Serrano Group 21i. Kitanemuk (Tajon) 21j. Alliklik 21k. Möhineyam (Vanyume) 21l. Serrano Gabrielino Group 21m. Fernandeño 21n. Gabrielino 21o. Nicholeño Luiseño-Cahuilla Group 21p. Juaneño 21q. Luiseño 21r. Cupeño 21s. Pass Cahuilla 21t. Mountain Cahuilla 21u. Desert Cahuilla

Below:
First map is Algic Language Groups, second map is Athabaskan Language groups.






Native tribes, Kroeber, 1925
Federally recognised California Tribes

Road Trip!

Western Bluebird, From wikipedia

Today, I had the serendipitous good fortune to get out of my office and out of Garberville. I had a service call to New Harris. I always look forward to a trip out the Harris ridge anytime that the sun is shining. Actually, I enjoy a trip out the Harris Ridge anytime at all. I always seem to see something interesting.

Today as I drove out the ridge I watched the cattle along the road. They looked a little on the poor and hungry side. The grass this time of the year has few nutrients. It's dried out, and most of the seed has dropped long ago. The rain washes the sugars out of it, and there is not much food value left. Eating the grass only keeps the cattle busy with something to do until the fresh green grass of winter comes back. I looked for green grass, and sure enough, this short rain storm that we had the first part of this week has already sprouted the seed. I didn't notice any of the cattle trying to get to it, I guess that it is still too short. But, I felt good about the promise of good food for the poor cows that will soon be mamas.

I noticed the spot where the grass fire was this Fall, It has young grass sprouts all through it. The fresh smell after the rain was intermingled the damp smoky smell that is in the air after a grass fire. Two of my favorite odors. The yin and yang, the fresh and the dank

I was pleasantly surprised to see numerous Western Bluebirds. They would fly up into the bare oak snag trees, and then back to the ground. As I drove along I saw many Blue Birds make the trip to the ground and back. I don't have a clue what they were doing, but I assume the were finding things to eat. I was glad to see so many. I worry about them, because other birds rob or kick then out of their nests. I've heard that they have been driven out of some places. I would miss them greatly if they were gone. They are the sweetest of the sweet birds.

I saw a few Redhead Woodpeckers. The woodpeckers seem to rather use power poles for nests nowadays, rather than their traditional Fir snag. They are one of the showiest birds that we have here on the coast. They are brightly colored, and they are as pugnacious as the are beautiful. We used to feed the birds off our deck railing until we got tired of the coons 'possums and squirrels fighting all night and day and night for their UN-fair share. The Woodpeckers always cleared out the other birds as soon as they appeared. No other bird wanted to challenge them, not even the Blue Jays who are normally the rulers of the roost.

I drove through the wooded grove at the top of the ridge. Just before starting down the other side, I saw a couple of half grown pigs rooting under the oak trees. They were in good shape. They must be finding plenty of feed. I was ashamed of myself for thinking how tasty they might be.

One my way back, I watched a small buck with about four inch long spike horns trying to charm and herd two small yearling does. I stopped my truck and watched him for a while. There is nothing more sad than young unrequited love. I felt a little bad about laughing at him, but he was so comically full of himself that I just had to laugh.

As I watched the deer, I was thinking how well Mother Nature has been rewarding me lately. I've seen a few unusual sightings this week. About ten o-clock Saturday I saw a Ringtail Cat run across the road just south of the Machine shop in Redway. You would have to know what you were looking at to recognize one, they are very nocturnal. I have no idea what it was doing out in daylight, but it was running like it was panicked.

As I crested the ridge again, there was one large Raven perched on the top of a rock on the top of the hill. I expected him to fly away as I approached, but he just sat there with his feathers ruffled staring at the sunset. I was reminded that the raven is my Totem bird, and the derivation of my name. “Bran” in Branscomb stands for “Raven”. I wondered if he was enjoying the day and the setting sun as much as I was.

Some days just go better than others!

Happy Columbus Day! Or, if you are an indigenous person, Oh No!

Christopher Columbus on bended knee, claiming the New World.

Columbus set foot in the “New World” on this day in 1492. That is a historical fact. No matter how you feel about the event, it is unchangeable. It was only a matter of time that the eastern hemisphere would find the western hemisphere. Only a fool could not see that inevitability. Sadly, no matter who set foot in the new world, the events would have been much the same. Many thousands of people would have died from disease. I often wonder how the new world might have been different if it had been discovered by a Muslim, or a Hindu, or a Pagan. It gets to be a very complicated exercise. The only thing that I'm absolutely sure of, is that the two worlds would have inevitably found each other. Look at the technology that we have today, much of it would have happened independent of finding any new lands, but can you imagine them not finding America before today? Columbus found America, and to protest that fact, just seems ridiculous. Yet many do.

Columbus discovered the new world by sailing a fleet of three small ships, smaller than most modern fishing boats. Columbus' ships were hardly even seaworthy by today's standards. Yet he sailed them across the Atlantic ocean, and was able to make the return trip. If his fleet of ships had sunk, who knows who would have discovered the new world. His ships were the Nina the Pinta and the Santa Maria.

Columbus Day was originally celebrated on October 12th, now in the United States it is celebrated on the second Monday in October. We do that so we can take the day off as a paid holiday, thereby proving that celebrating the holiday is more important than the honoring the man. Many of the foods that the world likes came from America. You probably already know most of the foods that came from the new world, but some surprised me. The items listed are links, you can click on then for more information.

Pre-Columbian Distribution of Native Organisms with Close Ties to Humans.

New World to Old World.

Domesticated Animals:

alpaca guinea pig llama turkey

Domesticated Plants: coca cocoa chili pepper maize (corn) manioc (cassava, yuca) peanut pecan pineapple potato pumpkin quinoa rubber squash sunflower sweet potato tobacco tomato vanilla

Diseases: syphilis

Old World to New World.

Domesticated Animals:

bee cat camel chicken cow goat goose horse rabbit (domestic) pig rock pigeon sheep silkworm water buffalo

Domesticated plants:

almond apple apricot artichoke asparagus banana barley beet black pepper cabbage cantaloupe carrot coffee citrus (orange, lemon, etc.) cucumber eggplant flax garlic hemp kiwifruit kola nut lettuce mango millet oat okra olive onion opium peach pea pear pistachio radish rhubarb rice rye soybean sugarcane taro tea turnip wheat walnut watermelon amaranth avocado bean bell pepper blueberry cashew chia chicle chirimoya huckleberry papaya

Infectious diseases:
bubonic plague chicken pox cholera influenza leprosy malaria measles scarlet fever smallpox typhoid typhus yellow fever yaws

It's strange, but I always thought that Syphilis was an Old World disease. I wonder what the old world used for a venereal disease before finding America?
From Wikipedia:
"Three theories on the origin of syphilis have been proposed. It is generally agreed upon by historians and anthropologists that syphilis was present among the indigenous peoples of the Americas before Europeans traveled to and from the Americas. However, whether strains of syphilis were present in the entire world for millennia, or if the disease was confined to the Americas in the pre-Columbus era, is debated".

Research links:

Old world foods
New World Crops
Columbian Exchange

How smart are you?

What's intelligence? According to the dictionary Intelligence is:

a. The capacity to acquire and apply knowledge.

b. The faculty of thought and reason.

c. Superior powers of mind

It doesn't say anything about common sense. It doesn't say anything about how out of balance you might be. It doesn't talk about whether you use your intelligence for good or evil. So, intelligence can mean many things for different people.

The smartest person in the world may or may not believe in God. The smartest person in the world is capable of making foolish choices. Most intelligent people get married. Is there intelligence in getting married? What good would intelligence be if you are incredibly lazy? Some very smart people use their intelligence to get out of doing their fair share. Others use intelligence for the betterment of mankind. Still, others use their intelligence to fulfill their incredibly greedy ambitions. I often envy very intelligent people, but most often I admire wisdom and accomplishment.

Marilyn Vos Savant was, at one time, listed as the most intelligent person in the world by the Guinness Book of World Records. Her Intelligence Quotient is 228, for what ever that's worth. Most likely Vos Savant has spent her entire life answering other peoples stupid questions. What fun would it be to be intelligent if the whole population of the world is trying to think up questions, just to see if they can be answered. Then, if she does answer them, could the asker understand the answer?

But of course, the number-one question that everybody asks will always be; “Is there a God?” Vos Savant has always given a politically correct answer. When it appears that someone is sincere in asking, she gives an acceptable answer. Rather than just say flatly that there is, or is not a God, she says that it is best to believe. If there is a God, you get to be right, and enjoy everlasting life in heaven. If there isn't, you will just turn to dirt anyway. So there is no harm in believing in God. In fact she says, that it is best to believe in the religion that offers the most. That way, when you die, you get the most bang for your buck. Some religions preach that if you die for a holy enough cause, you not only get to go to heaven, you get 27 virgins. I don't want to believe in that one. First, I don't want to have to die for any “cause”. Second, living with 27 virgin women would make a person insane in short order. Think of all of the virgin women that you know. Could you live with twenty seven of them? I'd rather spend all of eternity with just one woman that loves me. And, I don't hold virginity in all that high of regard.

To understand what Vos Savant truly believes is subject to conjecture. She shows no outward signs of believing in any God, or religion.



Albert Einstein and Steven Hawking are both very intelligent people. Neither have been tested in any form for intelligence. But, they are estimated to have I.Q.s in the 180 range. Einstein gave us the most information about how the world around us relates to itself. And, he gave us many theories, yet to be proven, about very small particles. He was best at telling us how time, mass, speed, and distance related to each other. Most of his theories have proven to be correct.

There is more than conjecture that Einstein had Asperger Syndrome. (Autism) Einstein had intense intellectual interest in limited areas, but had difficulty relating in social settings, and he had great difficulty in communicating. He often became so interested in his work that he would not eat. What value is intelligence if you cannot apply it to your own personal world? He had difficulty in his marriages, and with his acquaintances.

Kim Peek has an I.Q. Of 73. He doesn't grasp the meaning of a metaphor. If he asked you if you wanted a beer, and you said “Does a bear poop in the woods?” He would be able to figure out that certainly a bear poops in the woods, but he couldn't figure from that, that certainly you wanted a beer. He never learned to walk until he was four. He can't button his shirt or dress himself. He can't tie his shoes, or take his own bath. But, maybe you've heard of him. He is the person that the movie “The Rain Man” was about. He was the man that was Dustin Hoffman's character's brother. He can remember vast amounts of information. He can read a book in about an hour. He reads the left page, top to bottom, by scanning down the middle with his left eye. He then reads the right page with his right eye. He reads at the rate of 8-10 seconds to the page. He retains an astonishing amount of what he reads. He has almost total recall of 12,000 books! Neither Einstein nor Vos Savant can do that. So, I think that all of the above only proves that everybody is smart in their own way.

The Real Rain Man - Kim Peek - The best bloopers are a click away

There is a young man in Garberville that frequents our store. When we have a keyboard on display, he will often began to play. He plays with great depth and feeling, just as you are busy being being amazed at how beautifully he plays, he will abruptly switch to another tune which he also plays beautifully, then soon to be followed by something poorly played. The simpler tunes that he plays seem to be the ones that he plays the poorest. When you ask him why he doesn't play the tunes all the way through he will reply “I did”. Soon you realize that he is playing tunes that he has heard. He replays them exactly like he has heard them. It shivers the spine.

One of my personal failings is that I am a terrible speller. I have noticed that my spelling has improved remarkably since I started this blog. I don't think that makes me any smarter, just more practiced. My wife can spell any word that she has ever seen in print, I often envy that. I worked as a Refrigeration consultant for Harold Murrish when he was going to build a new store in Willits. We were comparing six different bids. He would lean back in his chair, rest his arms on the armrests, touch all of his finger tips together in front of him, slightly look at the cieling, and slightly close his eyes. As I compared the value of each item on the bids, he would mentally add them up in his head. When we were all through, he would pick up his pen and write down how much each bid out-valued another. I couldn't do that if I had a pen, paper, and an adding machine. Even if I tried, it would take me all day. They were not simple bids. I was so amazed at his ability to compare large columns of numbers in his head that it actually gave me chills. Yet, to talk to him on the street he appeared to be a very common man.

Often, I am made to feel very insignificant when I am in the presence of someone who is remarkably talented in some way. Feeling my grinding inability to rise-above in so many ways used to bother me greatly. One day my wife told me that she could never understand electricity, or how a refrigeration system works. I told her that it was so simple that I was embarrassed to say that it was my profession. She told me that it must not really be all that simple, because a lot of people have tried to learn it and failed. I realized that she was right, that I'm able to do something that many others can't.

So now, when I read something that some genius or another has written, and I'm amazed by their talent, I wonder to myself whether or not they could build a refrigerator. I enjoy the gloat. I'll bet Vos Savant would break a nail just trying!

I went on to develope my own R.Q. test. (Refrigerator building Quotient) You've seen it here before, but I enjoy repeating myself so much that I going to post it again.

RQ rating system:
70-You can wipe your forehead with a wet cloth.

80- You can build an air-conditioner.

90- You can build an ice cooled box.

100- You can build a refrigerator.

110- you can build a freezer.

120- You can build a walk-in cooler.

130- You can build a walk-in freezer... and the drain works.

140- You can build a complete supermarket.

150- You can build a supermarket, and even know what the engineer designed wrong.

160- You can explain why you are too busy to fix a refrigerator while you are really playing on your blog.

Now that I know how smart Vos Savant is, maybe I should extend my rating system to larger numbers. But, as much as some of us would like to be smarter, it seems that most smart people are out of ballance in the world that they live in. Would you trade who you are to be smarter?

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Frost on the Punkin'

I got up this morning and came to town to go to work. I noticed right off that it was chilly, but I didn't see any frost. By the time I got to the top of Benbow Hill the grass looked a little grayer, like it might be frosty. When I got to town, a few roofs were obviously frosty. So the fall weather is definitely here. I'm anxious to catch up at work so I can enjoy the Indian Summer. So, instead of doing a big complicated post, I'm going to leave you with an old-timey poem that I've always liked.

It reminds me of the family farm in Laytonville, and my days as a wee lad. There always seemed to be a great push to get everything done before winter set in. Sometimes when a rainstorm was threatening, the old folks would work late by the light of The Harvest Moon to get the garden and the orchard "in".

"When the Frost is on the Punkin"

James Whitcomb Riley. 1853–1916

WHEN the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock,
And you hear the kyouck and gobble of the struttin' turkey-cock,
And the clackin' of the guineys, and the cluckin' of the hens,
And the rooster's hallylooyer as he tiptoes on the fence;
O, it's then the time a feller is a-feelin' at his best,

With the risin' sun to greet him from a night of peaceful rest,
As he leaves the house, bareheaded, and goes out to feed the stock,
When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock.

They's something kindo' harty-like about the atmusfere
When the heat of summer's over and the coolin' fall is here—
Of course we miss the flowers, and the blossoms on the trees,
And the mumble of the hummin'-birds and buzzin' of the bees;
But the air's so appetizin'; and the landscape through the haze
Of a crisp and sunny morning of the airly autumn days
Is a pictur' that no painter has the colorin' to mock—
When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock.

The husky, rusty russel of the tossels of the corn,
And the raspin' of the tangled leaves as golden as the morn;
The stubble in the furries—kindo' lonesome-like, but still
A-preachin' sermuns to us of the barns they growed to fill;
The strawstack in the medder, and the reaper in the shed;
The hosses in theyr stalls below—the clover overhead!—
O, it sets my hart a-clickin' like the tickin' of a clock,
When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock.

Then your apples all is gethered, and the ones a feller keeps
Is poured around the cellar-floor in red and yaller heaps;
And your cider-makin's over, and your wimmern-folks is through
With theyr mince and apple-butter, and theyr souse and sausage too!...
I don't know how to tell it—but ef such a thing could be
As the angels wantin' boardin', and they'd call around on me—
I'd want to 'commodate 'em—all the whole-indurin' flock—
When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock.

Makes you just hanker for some souse and cornbread, doesn't it?

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Vehicle over The Infamous Garberville Bluff

Well, last night somebody drove off of the bluff and LIVED! Not one, but two lived. One of the guys walked down the river to get help for his trapped companion. I can't say who it was, or any pertinent details, because it would not be appropriate for me to do so. I was only there as a rescue person. But, I guess that I can tell you it was two 20-30 yr old males. Only two occupants.

The view above is Garberville looking toward the North-East. The bottom view is a zoom of the bluff. The bluff is often referred to as "The two-hundred foot bluff." But, if I were to guess, I would say that it is only 173-3/4 feet to the bottom. The bluff is a shear 90 deg angle straight down. I should tell you that the bluff is much, much taller than the view shown. The view above is merely a Google Earth projected image of what the terain might look like. As you can see, the bridge across the freeway seems to barely clear the roadbed. But, it's a quick way to come up with a photo. The coordinates are at the bottom of the picture if you want to take Google Earth to get there.

There is a guard rail that protects traffic from going off the bluff. There was a white van parked at the south end of the guard rail. The accident happened at about 2:00 AM. The vehicle that went over the bluff was coming from the north, up the hill into Garberville. He rear-ended the parked vehicle hard enough to knock it clear across the Redwood Drive and into the bank by the southbound off-ramp. The vehicle with the two occupants was then deflected over the bluff, eventually to end up as a crumpled ball at the bottom of the bluff, upside down in the river, between a rock and the river bank. Rescue personnel removed the trapped occupant, placed him in a stokes litter, packed him through the river and on to the west side. He was then transported to the ambulance in the back of a four wheel drive pick-up truck.

The other occupant had waked to the ambulance area to get help at the homeless camp that is at the mouth of Bear Canyon. He was not it great shape, but he was able to get help. He was badly chilled after wading the river. I'm sure he will be in great pain this morning!

I was not the med-tech, so I don't know how badly injured they were, but after a 175 foot fall, they had to be hurting. Time will tell.

Gandhi's Birthday

King's trip to India
Gandhi in glasses
Harriet Tubman

Today, October the 2nd is Gandhi’s birthday. He was born in 1869, Just ten years earlier, in 1859 the United States was in the midst of trying to abolish slavery, and there was a great effort to eliminate the north coast Indian population.

1859 was the period just before the Civil War. A woman by the name of Harriet Tubman was helping slaves escape to Canada, with what was called the Underground Railroad. Tubman, herself an escaped slave, made about a dozen trips from the south to the north with rescued slaves. She lead them through a series of safe places and safe houses until she reached a safe place for the escaped “Negroes” to live. She was able to rescue almost her entire family. To insure that her route, and the people that provided her with safe houses and passages would not be revealed, she carried a pistol in her pocket. Any slave that wanted to return when the going got rough was threatened with her gun. She told them that she would not allow anyone to turn back and reveal their route, and that she would surely kill them if they tried. No one tried, and no one died by her pistol. Now that’s my kind of woman. No peaceful resistance there. It was do it her way or die. In the end nobody will argue with her results, or the methods that she used to achieve them.

The extermination of the American Indian is another story. For the most part they only offered peaceful resistance. A few Indians tried to fight the white man, but they were the first to die. The rest tried to get along peacefully and co-exist with the white man. The rogue white man, and the greedy white thugs, set out to just plain get rid of the Indian. Their excuse was that they were not being protected from the “predations” on their farmland and cattle. They formed groups of “rangers”, and killed the Indian people indiscriminately. The killing was finally stopped by white people with sore consciences. Anonymous letters were written to outside newspapers with the news of the slaughter. The killing was finally stopped by the outrage of the general populace. But few Indian People were left.

It has always been my theory that peaceful protest will only work against peaceful people. Gandhi was only successful, (if you want to call getting people killed during his protest against the British Empire “success”), because he was protesting against peaceful people. That, and India was not worth fighting for. (Sorry, but true)

Dr. Martin Luther King visited India in 1959, and was convinced to try Gandhi's Non-violent resistance in his fight for equal rights for his followers.
"Since being in India, I am more convinced than ever before that the method of nonviolent resistance is the most potent weapon available to oppressed people in their struggle for justice and human dignity. In a real sense, Mahatma Gandhi embodied in his life certain universal principles that are inherent in the moral structure of the universe, and these principles are as inescapable as the law of gravitation."

Dr. Martin Luther King was wise enough to know that peaceful resistance was a plan that would work in America at the time of his protests. In 1869 he would not have even had a chance to hoist his banner before surely being killed. He was a great and wise man that took advantage of his time and place.

Gandhi on the other hand was somewhat foolish in his peaceful protest, and sacrificed many lives. I believe that he was extremely lucky to have lived as long as he did. With very minor differences in circumstance, it would have been “Gandhi who?”

I think that some things are worth fighting for. I also believe that non-violent protest will only work against peaceful people. It is interesting to note that Dr Martin Luther King, whom I greatly admire, and Gandhi both met violent deaths at the hand of assassins. Neither packed guns.

Both Harriet Tubman, whom I greatly admire, and most of the north coast thugs died of old age. Both packed guns and stood up for what they believed in. Right or wrong.

Just another “I love this canyon” post.

Last week we had a whole stream of 100 deg plus days. The last few days has been “watermelon mornings, and strawberry wine afternoons.” They say that Spring is the best time to fall in love, but if you are already in love in the Fall, you’ve got all Winter to enjoy it. Spring and Summer just seem to be too busy, and there are just too many interesting things to do without having to fall in love in the middle of it all.

I’ve got my four cord of wood already split and stacked. The wood heaters are all clean and ready to use. I just cleaned the roof and all the gutters and downspouts. I even have most of the tools that I have scattered all over the yard picked up, so I’m ready for the “Mud Season.”

As soon as the rains start, I can sit in front of the heater with my feet resting on the hassock, toasting in the warm glow of the fireplace, while staring out the window and bitching about the %#$*&^% RAIN!

Frickin’ rain… I hate the rain, and the cold. Give me a day with sunshine any day. They say that we need rain to make the Redwoods grow, but I think that I could settle for smaller redwoods and less rain. I’ve never seen an ugly small Redwood, have you. See… we could use less rain.

I do like the smell of the first rains of the fall. The wet leaves and grass make the air smell so sweet that you want to drink it in the place of your morning coffee. The deer seem to look forward to all the young sprouts that shoot up. Last year I saw one nibbling on a Redwood sprout. Is that legal? Most evenings you can still hear the evening bugs sending out their love signals like they are saying “this is your last chance, if you want me, come get me, it’s now or never”.

The buzzards have already “towered up” and headed south. The locals will know what that is, the newcomers will wonder what the hell that I’m talking about, or have another name for it. I’m already seeing a few fall birds coming back for the winter. The South Fork of the Eel canyon is one place that the Robins leave in the summer and come back in the fall to get drunk on our fermented Pyrocantha, and Madrone berries.

They say that ducks and geese are coming back, but I don’t see the great flocks of them flying over Garberville like I used to. They are all over the place in Eureka, but they seem to stop there now. Maybe they stopped flying over Mendocino because of the large human population that is in the area that they have there now.

Back when there were fish in the South Fork, my wife and I would choose an Osprey nest to watch for the season, but the nest sites seem to be going away also.
I guess that I’d better go gather some acorns before they get wet and start to rot, or start to sprout. I’m going to add some clay to them this year just to see if it really makes them sweeter.

So… are you ready for Winter?

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Conquistadores

It is strange how everything is all connected. When I try to find out about one thing, I run across so many other distractions on my search, that I don’t have room in my head to hold it all. Usually, I just poke something in my memory that says; “go back and check this out later.” and hopefully, I will remember to do that. Sometimes I remember much later, when I run across it again. Sometimes it becomes real handy that I know about something that happened, and I can go back and look it up. Other times it just becomes part of the mish-mash miasma that is my thought process.

More to the point, I started looking up shipwrecks on the north coast. I ran across at least two verified(?) wrecks of Spanish Galleons. One at Spanish Flat north of Shelter Cove and one at Gold Beach Oregon. The Galleon wreck at Spanish Flats comes with the story that the Spaniards mistreated the Indian people, and the Indians killed them. The Indians had some Spanish Gold that verified their story. The Twice-Told-Tale is that there was a treasure chest aboard the Galleon that the Indians hid. The tale goes on to say that a landslide buried it, and has never been found since. Many people have looked for it, but it has never been found.

The other Galleon wreck was at Gold Beach Oregon. They have been finding beeswax washed up on the beach for hundreds of years. Often they find some Chinese porcelain. Many people thought that it was a Chinese Junk that got blown off-course and into America. Kinda’ like my brain gets blown off course by too many interesting distractions.

Beeswax found at Gold Beach

The San Francisco Xavier was carrying some 75 tons of beeswax, representing at least 500 cakes, according to shipping records. Because a massive tsunami in January of 1700 would have sent earlier ship remains farther inland, a researcher on the team believes the Nehalem Bay beeswax is likely from the 1705 shipwreck.

What? There was a Tsunami In 1700? Is that the one that went over Trinidad Head? (Note to self, look this up, stick to shipwrecks)

From a lady named Phyllis who found the wax:

“Much of the wax was originally in blocks weighing about twenty pounds. The large quantity of the wax suggests that it was a shipment consigned to the Catholic missions for use in making images and candles”. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the Spanish built hundreds of Catholic missions in their colonies in the Americas. The church required ritual candles to be made from 100% virgin beeswax. The pure wax symbolized Jesus’ flesh from a virgin mother. And unlike waxes made from animal fat or paraffin, beeswax was safe around paintings because it creates no soot. Since there were no honeybees in the Spanish colonies in the new world, beeswax was imported from the Spanish colony in the Philippines. If this is beeswax, I still don’t know what it was doing in the Northwest, where there were no Spanish colonies.

Well, I know what Spanish Galleons were doing in the Northwest. The Spanish were remarkably good sailors, and they had discovered the great Pacific Gyre. I know about the Gyre from the huge island of trash that has collected in the center of it. The winds and ocean currents swirl in a clockwise pattern that makes trash collect in the center. The Gyre has been there for centuries. The Spaniards knew about it, and they would sail up the East coast of China and Russia, then across the top of the Pacific Ocean, from west to east, after arriving at the north coast of America they would follow the wind and currents down to New Spain. (Mexico) That way they always had fair winds and a following sea. They were smart enough to avoid the center of the Gyre were they could become becalmed, and they could have just stayed there in the center of the Pacific ocean forever. Trapped in the center of the whirlpool. I'd bet that is were some of the old sailor superstitions about whirlpools came from. They knew about both the Atlantic and the Pacific Gyres.

The Spaniards had a fear of landing in the Northwest, because of the rugged coastline, the normally rough seas, and the fact that the Indians would burn the brush and timber. The fires scared the Spaniards, and they thought that surly it was the work of the Devil.

But. like Ben said, any Galleon on the north coast would be coming back from a trip to the Philippines, and China. So, it would have no Treasure on board. All of the American gold that they would be taking back to the Philippines would be shipped out to the south, and in a clockwise direction around the Great Pacific Gyre.
Click on map for larger photo of the North Pacific Gyre.
"there are over 20,000 species of bees in the world, but only 8 or 9 species of honeybees."

I had not thought about America at one time not having honeybees. I think that Robin told us about "Mud Bees" once. I knew that there were all kinds of bee species, but it just didn't occur to me that there was a time when America didn't have beeswax!

It makes sense that the Catholic Priests would need beeswax for their religious Ceremonies. As much sense as anything else that they did back then anyway. I'm not a cynic or anything (Yeah, right!) it's just that it seems like all of the harm and unfairness in the old world came from religion. Which brings me back to what I was talking about in the first place. The Conquistadors.

From Wikipedia:

The stated purposes of these conquests were equally to spread the word of God and to bring civilization to the most obscure parts of the world. It accomplished this goal with astounding ability, quickly expanding its borders far into other territories. On the contrary, the testimony of some indigenous peoples as well as some contemporary Spanish humanists, clergymen and other writers have presented the Spanish Conquest of Americas as a series of unfortunate and morally questionable acts driven by greed for gold and resulted in the destruction of several native civilizations. But the first group of conquistadores that came with Cortes went for the sole reason to find gold in the New World.
Historians have highlighted the short time required for the Spanish conquest of vast populations in the Americas. Exposure of these previously unexposed populations to European diseases caused many more fatalities than the wars themselves, and severely weakened the natives' social structures. The people in the Americas were not previously exposed to several European diseases which resulted in their much higher fatality rate than that of European populations. The diseases moved much faster than invading armies. When the Spanish conquistadores arrived in the Inca empire, a large portion of the population, including the emperor, had already been killed by a smallpox epidemic.
The Laws of Burgos, 1512-1513, were the first codified set of laws governing the behavior of Spanish settlers in America, particularly with regards to Native Americans. They forbade the maltreatment of natives, and endorsed their conversion to Catholicism. In the 16th century perhaps 240,000 Europeans entered American ports. By the late 16th century American silver accounted for one-fifth of Spain's total budget.

Other things that I discovered while looking for wrecked Galleons, was that Spain had already plundered and converted the Philippines. Most of the Pacific Galleons were made out of Philippine Mahogany. Spain was instrumental in moving species of plants and animals all over the world.

Wax on Oregon beach

More shipwrecks. The Frolic

One of the more famous shipwrecks along the north coast of California was the wreck of the Frolic. The ship wrecked just off the shore of the present day Point Cabrillo lighthouse, just south of Fort Brag. She wrecked at 9:30 on the night of July 25th 1850. The Ship was Sailing 6000 miles from China to the Port Of San Francisco with a cargo intended to supply the booming gold rush. According to the book “Through the Eyes of the Elders”, published by the Laytonville School, and Penny Branscomb Comer, Elder Project Coordinator, the ship was “loaded with Chinese porcelain, silk and other exquisite goods”.

The reason that the ship was wrecked on a crystal clear moonlit night was because the charts that they had were not that accurate. That, and the long trip from china put them about one hundred miles north of their destination. After sighting the California coast line, they mistook the fires that the Indians used for clearing the brush and grass for civilization. The flat point of land that is Point Cabrillo was hid by a bank of fog. Unaware that they were right on the shore, they were just about upon the rocks before they could change course. The ship hit a rock with her stern and hung up on the rock. The Captain, Edward Faucon, ordered the ship to be abandoned.

The sailors made their way to shore, some of the lifeboats were wrecked on the shoreline. They were unable to find anybody on shore, and they started making their way south. The Captain and a few sailors took a life boat and started rowing south. The remaining crew walked to Fort Ross. They eventually made it to San Francisco, and reported the loss of the Frolic.

The wreck is famous for a variety of reasons. The ship was one of the more famous of the ships back in those times. It was a “Baltimore Clipper”. Baltimore Clippers were designed to make long fast voyages, haul precious cargo, and most important of all, it was designed to outrun pirates. Another reason that it became famous is the ship did not sink right away, and the Indians were able to salvage the cargo. For many years evidence of the cargo showed up in the form of the local Indians being seen wearing fine silk and having china plates. Archaeological digs still find pottery and other artifacts from the wreck. Divers salvaged pieces of iron and other remains of the frolic for years. The museum at The Point Cabrillo Lighthouse has many pieces in their collection.

From The National Park Service:
”Her master, Captain Edward Horatio Faucon was the same man Richard Henry Dana admired and had made famous as the captain of the Pilgrim in his 1840 classic, Two Years Before the Mast.”

“Her hold was packed tightly with ornately decorated camphor trunks, fine-colored silks, shiny lacquered ware, tables with inset marble tops, gold filigree jewelry, 21,000 porcelain bowls, candied fruits, silver tinderboxes, a prefabricated two-room house with oyster shell windows, toothbrushes, mother-of-pearl gaming pieces, ivory napkin rings, horn checkers, tortoise shell combs, silk fans, and scores of nested brass weights used by San Francisco merchants to measure their goods. Everything was made in China except 6,109 bottles of Edinburgh ale, brought along to inspire thirsty California gold diggers. Of all the cargo, the ale had come the farthest, nearly two-thirds of the way around the globe.”

Part of the cargo was jars filled with candied kumquats. Those must have been a very welcome treat for the Indians of that time. In the area of the shipwreck, at the locations of old Indian housing sites, they have found porcelain shards as recently as 1984, . Strangely the artifacts that have been found are some of the few remains of the Gold Rush era. Had they not been lost in a shipwreck, they would not be with us today.

One of the things of note, was that the frolic was well known as an opium runner. Some accounts that I have read speculated that they also had a load of opium on board to be sold to the miners. The ship had rot in it's hull and the new steamships were being developed. Some speculate that the ship was scuttled for the insurance money.

Whatever the reason, the ship went on the rocks with a $150.000.00 cargo. The Indian people salvaged it. The must have been a very wealthy tribe for a while. They have found evidence, far and wide, of their trading of the cargo to other tribes. My cousin Penny tells a story about a little baby that died, and the baby was wrapped in the finest of red silk. It was speculated that the silk was from the Frolic. Maybe she will tell us the story...

My poor memory might have embelished the story a little bit. Anyway, Penny has a story about a baby and some shipwreck cloth.









Frolic Cannon
Found, The Wreck of the Frolic.
The Frolic, 1850

Spinny-Weavy type alert!!

I wish that I had the time to take this in. Just to find out about primitive technology if nothing else. My wife and a friend of hers is going down Sunday. This is one of the finest fairs that you will ever attend. It's not your average, "If you've seen one, you've seen them all" fairs. It is truly unique.

The following is from the Ukiah Daily Journal:
Primitive Technology at the County Fair
The Mendocino County Fair and Apple Show opens Friday, and concurrently, the California Wool and Fiber Festival is held at the Boonville Fairgrounds, in the Commercial Building.
Considered one of the nation's premier fiber festivals, fair attendees have the opportunity to take classes and observe demonstrations by wool and fiber artists. Tamara Wilder- a "primitive technologist" and educator who has been teaching ancient living skills for the past 20 years, will be offering a class in knotted net making on Friday, from 1 to 4 p.m.
While attending UC Santa Cruz, Wilder met Steven Edholm, her life partner, who shared her interests and was deeply inspired by naturalist Eustace Conway - the subject of Elizabeth Gilbert's acclaimed biography, "The Last American Man."
The couple found a mentor in renowned ethnobotanist and basketmaker Margaret Mathewson, whose post-doctoral fellowship at the Smithsonian Institute focused on traditional western fiber arts. Through their association, Wilder and Edholm discovered primitive living skills and embarked upon their life's work.
"We were young and fortunate to be living on 300 acres of open land," explains Wilder, and because of their access to the wild, their skills grew exponentially. They began assisting at primitive living workshops.
Primitive technology consists of the first techniques used by humans to assist them with comfort and survival. Using materials found in their
environment, early humans developed skills which form the basis of modern life.
"People who lived 20 to 30 thousand years ago were virtually identical to us," explains Wilder. "We still have the same basic needs - air, water, food, shelter, clothing, energy or fire, and each other. The difference today is that we fulfill these needs by having others provide these resources for us."
Early peoples, says Wilder, would easily survive in today's world. When she teaches elementary school students, she asks what their chances of survival would be if they were teleported back to the Ice Age.
Wilder and Edholm traveled for many years and settled in Mendocino County in 1996. They became expert tanners and wrote what is considered the definitive book on home tanning entitled "Buckskin: The Ancient Art of Braintanning." The couple has been featured on the History Channel's Modern Marvels program demonstrating braintanning, and offers a range of hands-on courses teaching the slaughtering and processing of small animals, creating hides and utilizing an entire carcass to make utilitarian items.
One of the couple's most rewarding projects has been the creation of a school program which introduces children to primitive technologies and helps them understand how ancient people lived. Students are given opportunities to make string from native fibers and try their hand at hunting using rabbit sticks, hand spears, spear-throwers and the bow and arrow. Fire making with a wooden hand drill is demonstrated, and students grind and drill their own soapstone beads.
"The program hits every discipline," says Wilder. "I explain how early peoples used their brains and hands instead of fur and claws for survival. The hunter/gatherer is a universal heritage from our ancestors. I tell students they would not be here today if their ancestors weren't good at these skills."
Learning primitive technology takes time and patience. "This is challenging, hard work that requires intelligent thinking. Thirty thousand years ago, people were very smart," Wilder says.
Wilder sees children demonstrate natural affinities for a tool or skill. "I was teaching students how to throw the rabbit stick. I kept hearing this thunk' and a student ran over to me and said he'd hit the target 15 times in a row. He said to me, This is my tool.'"
Wilder is impressed at the impact the program has on students. "This work hits kids deeply," she said. "They actually ask me if this is real." She ran into one of her students leaving for college. He told her he still had his soapstone necklace he made in the sixth grade.
Wilder's program is presented at Oak Manor School, the Waldorf School of Mendocino County and La Vida Charter School. Other adult workshops include making paint from earth pigments and primitive living skills overviews. Their website features many free downloadable articles, a retail tool and book section, workshop schedules and photos from their museum exhibits and replications.
Friday's workshop will focus on creating a basic, knotted net using cotton twine, a netting shuttle and measure. Net making exists in every culture- for fishing, hammocks, capes, hairnets and more. "People figured out how to loop string together independently, all over the world," Wilder said.
Wilder expertly twists and splices fibrous strands of dogbane, gathered from a Santa Rosa field where people have been collecting the plant for 5,000 years. Using a motion every child understands, she rolls the separate fibers back and forth against her thigh- and almost magically, produces a strong piece of string.
Crediting partner Steven- who is the driving force behind the research and structural components of their workshops, Wilder happily passes this nearly forgotten wisdom to the next generation. "By learning and practicing these ancient skills, we keep in touch with our roots, our independence and our place in the natural world."
For information visit paleotechnics.com or phone (707) 391-8683.

Guest Researcher provides Abundant Knowledge

Important update, 9/17/09. 7:00am:
The following is a complete Docu-comedy. None of it is to be believed. The only thing that is checked for veracity is the spelling, and I not sure about that either.
Sorry folks, something about “Ekovox” gets into your brain and twists it. We had a private e-mail conversation going. He likes to prey on my gullibility, just to see what I will believe. He’s really good and I’m really gullible. So we waste a lot of ink. But, I’m going to leave this posted just for the humor.
I was going to see if I could keep this going until April fools day, but thought that might be stretching it to far.
Was anybody fooled?

As you already know. I don’t have a lot of knowledge about primary source information, but I do have a lot of stories about tales that I’ve heard. So, I look forward to finding out about things that I have previously been unaware of, like Ben pointing out that the “Local Indians did too have tobacco“. ( This is true, question the rest)

A man by the name of Ekovox is a generation native, and he comes from a long line of ancestors steeped in the knowledge of the north coast. Ekovox used to have a very popular and interesting blog called “299 Opine” that he used to keep us informed about historical topics.

He has been a frequent contributor to my blog on the subject of little known historical facts. Often he turns confusing stuff into mind-blowing science. He has an abundant knowledge of historical artifacts and what they were used for. Some of us recall that I was stumped over the intricately carved log that Ekovox recognized immediately as:


“that object is a flush-end brace bodkin. It's missing the fulcrum piece,though. We knew it as a Currier's trammel hook up in the Klamath-Trinity region. It's used in sluice boxes to hold the screen in place when the water pressure was too great.You're looking at circa-1870's, maybe 1880's. Long after the gold panners had left, the sluice miners came in...just before the hydraulic mining came into popularity. It would make sense if that second attachment was in place.”

I thanked him with my reply:

“Thanks Eko, We don't have much gold mining equipment around here. So, I didn't have a clue... What else is new.”

And another mystery was solved on “Ernie’s Place”. Honestly, I don’t feel that I deserve the mounds of credit that my readers heap upon me. I just provide the forum folks, no adulation is required!

Eko is not only an expert on the north coast, he is an expert on Indian Artifacts, mining equipment, and logging. Recently he pointed out that he had indeed seen “Catskinner Goggles” that I had arrogantly pronounced as being as “rare as frog-hair” In a private email he informed me about the Catskinner Goggles. He not only provided his knowledge, but he included rare photographs of the Goggles. He also included proof of the existence of the matching earplugs that the goggles would be worthless without.

In my excitement that he had provided me with proof, I quickly emailed him back, and asked him if I could have the “exclusive”, and post his information and photos on my blog.

His reply:
“Yes you may....Because I am only speaking the truth and the truth must be told, no matter the horror.”

“No Matter the Horror” is an insider thing with us Generation Natives. He knows that sometimes the newcomers, that start studying our history, find that some of it is indeed horrible. Sadly, they become mired in the emotion and fail to look at the mechanics and details of our unique north coast history. “no matter the horror” is his way of saying that he understands my pain at losing all of that history to “the Horror”… And maybe a little nudge to let me know that, maybe, I go on about it a little too much about it!

In his reply, he even boldly mentioned “the stinging spray that yellowjackets used to emit”. The stinging spray is something known only to woods crews and Generational Natives. We don’t talk about it anymore, because you have to have proof before a newcomer will believe anything that a Generational Native says. (What’s up with that?) The stinging spray in yellowjackets has been diluted by newcomer bees to the point that it is almost unnoticeable today. Some of us natives can still smell it, but it is only an experienced sense of smell that can detect it.

But. I ramble..

Please find below the rare photo’s and proof that “Catskinner Googles” really did exist! I am indeed humbled that Ekovox has allowed be to post this!
“Ernie,
It took quite a bit of research, but I actually found photographs of catskinner goggles. A couple of different sets. One pair is from the Georgia pine forest country. And the next pair is more typical of the Pacific northwest. As you can see, the flatter pair or Georgia Woods Goggles were made for keeping pine needles out while the round pair (or as were known locally as "Gomer Specs") were typical of those used near Laytonville. The round, tight sealing feature kept tanoak dust and other natural toxins out of your eyes. The foul smelling, stinging spray that yellowjackets used to emit would really sting your eyes. Remember that story of the time when the yellowjackets were so thick after being run over by a Caterpiller D9 that they formed a cloud that encircled the crew and emitted a venomous fog that nearly choked the entire logging crew to death. If they hadn't barricaded themselves in the crummy, they wouldn't have survived. It was all the talk for quite a while. I first heard that story one summer from an old woods boss I met while drinking at the Sawblade in Phillipsville. The third photo shows the common catskinners earplugs to keep the noise to a minimum and keep the diesel exhaust from entering into your ear canals..... and finally the fourth photo shows the full catskinner's helmet complete with goggles and earplugs built in. We never saw much use of those style helmets in these parts. Probably from those sissy Canadian catskinners. See and you thought I was full of bullshistory. Well finally, I have proof.”











Thanks again Eko, I pity indeed the newcomers that don't have our vast collective knowledge of the north coast. Not only would they not have the roads to get here, without our deep knowledge they would be floppin' around like trout flipped on a crick bank.

Ben teaches us something.

Nicotiana_bigelovii

(Synonym Nicotiana quadrivalvis)A large distinct annual with white tubular flowers and a distinctly old cigar-grass clippings smell. Can be smoked if you don't care about lungs, dates or life. We've included it because it is so common from L.A. to Oregon at elevations up to 4000 ft.


Ben said:
"Ernie... The local Indians and actually all Indians in this part of the country did have pipes and tobacco. Tobacco was the only plant actually cultivated by local Indians. They used Nicotiana bigeloveii which is quite strong and rather rank. The seeds were sown on a pile of oak ashes in the spring and the plants were fenced from deer (amazing that deer would eat this stuff, but they do) with a ring of brush.
The pipes were straight and some quite beautiful with abalone inlay. The tapered stem is usually ash or elder as they have a pith that is easily bored out. The bowl is carved from soapstone and fastened to the pipe with the salmon skin glue used for bows. The pipe and tobacco were carried in a deerskin bag and Indians would often stop on the trail for a smoke. Smoke was blown to the directions and to the earth and sky and a short prayer might be said. Tobacco was a very big deal for the Indians and the Yurok culture hero Pulekukwerek was said to live only on tobacco to illustrate his purity. Harrington's "Tobacco use among the Karuk" is the classic reference and I'm sure it's on anthrohub.com".

Ben, there is never a time that I would not bow to your sage wisdom and knowledge, but in my whole life I've never seen a plant like that in the wild. I know that you said that they had to be cultivated.

My cousin Penny tells a story about an Indian Lady that was shown a "tobacco tree" when she was a kid, and she always wanted to go back, but never did. I was always curious what the Cahto Indians called tobacco. I don't doubt that the Yuroks had tobacco. Do you know if the Cahto had it? I always thought that the White man brought tobacco from the east, and taught the local Indians about it. Maybe we can all learn something here. I know that I'm often wrong in the stories that I've heard.

I find some vague reference to the plant on Red Mountain, but have been unable to find anything definitive.

Artifacts For Sale.

I don't really know how I feel about genuine Indian artifacts for sale. Maybe one of the people that knows how to feel about it can tell me. Just as a side note; I have found Indian artifacts and have given them away. I found a pestle when I was about six years old and I gave to a girl that found the grinding bowl that went with it. I sill have one pea green jasper arrowhead that I found at the very top of Reed Mountain. It's in the attic somewhere. I'm not sure where, because my wife likes to move things. It seems that nowhere I put things; "It doesn't belong there" and she immediately moves it to somewhere else that it doesn't belong. So, someday I'm going to go arrowhead hunting in my own attic.

I probably won't sell it though. It's Mine. finders keepers. But if the average arrowhead sells for $350.00, some people that I know are very rich. Or very lucky to have them. Depending on how you feel about such things.

The Arrowhead above authenticates at approximately 6,000 years old. But, it's for sale if you want it. See below:

Bill Jackson-Authentic Indian Arrowheads, Pottery, Artifacts, and COA's: "CP 007-'Dalton'-Measures 2-7/8' long. Literally perfect condition. Made of a very pretty Gray and Cream Fossil Chert. Found by Homer May between 1907 - 1940 on one of his farms in either Arkansas or Kentucky. This fantastic Early Archaic piece would make a treasured addition to any quality collection. Supplied with a full color Jackson Galleries COA.
Price $375.00 *Contact: Colin Przygoda"

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I just had a friend from an old Garberville family stop in. He had heard that I was buying up genuine Indian artifacts. He showed me this pipe (above) that he says his Grandfather dug up on the back of the ranch a long time ago. He said that he would take $1,200.00 for it. He says that if I'm interested he can get a lot more. I think that he is a Grave Robber, what should I do???