Old Fashion Girl Reading

"I love old books. They tell you stories about their use. You can see where the fingerprints touched the pages as they held the book open. You can see how long they lingered on each page by the finger stains." Jack Bowman quote See how this book's first stamp is showing as November 1959. That was nine years before I was born. Now, on the back cover is a scanning stamp for readers of the present to use and check out. Wonder how many times a year this classic is picked up in this small town?

My kids and I visit the local small town library nearly every week. Last week my daughter, Savannah Rose, brought the book above to me and said, "Mom, you would love reading this book. It is old. It is by a wonderful author. I know you will love it." So on my 12 hour shift last night after everyone in personal care was sleeping, I opened and did not put it down except when completing my duties and morning preparations before leaving work. I tried to read it before going to sleep but my eyes would not let me. So after a sleep of 5 hours, I told the kids I was finishing it before feeding them. They kept asking are you at the end (page 328) yet? My son, Wynston, even took it upon himself to prepare lunch for us.

I did finish this wonderful book by such a well known author, Louisa May Alcott. Recently, I also discovered a DVD on Youtube and could not stop watching it till finished. Come to find out it was based on a book she wrote that was not published till 1997 but originally written in 1849 called The Inheritance. I love the movie and ended up finding it on Ebay and purchasing. It is now one of my favorites to sit and listen to while doing embroidery during my overnight work shifts. So, if you want a good read, check out Louisa May Alcott's works. Girls and women of all ages will enjoy them.

Indian Memorial at Little Bighorn Battlefield

A beautiful landscape of blue skies, fields of green and brown, and natural vegetation surround this monument. The following is from the National Parks website: "Lt. Col. George A. Custer and 262 soldiers, scouts, and civilians attached to the 7th U.S. Cavalry fought at least 1,500 Cheyenne, Sioux, and Arapaho warriors. Custer and all his men died. In 1881 the War Department erected a monument for the 7th Cavalry, attached civilian personnel, and Indian scouts killed in the battle. The U.S. Army also took custody of the site, controlling access and historical interpretation for decades. At least 100 American Indian men, women, and children died, too. They fought in defense of their families, land, and traditional way of life. The Indians’ courageous effort, however, was never formally recognized-until now. In 1991, the U.S. Congress changed the name of the battlefield and ordered construction of a privately funded memorial for the American Indians. "The public interest," according to Public Law 102-210, 'will best be served by establishing a memorial...to honor and recognize the Indians who fought to preserve their land and culture." On December 10, 1991, President George Bush signed legislation to change the battefield’s name from “Custer” to “Little Bighorn” BattlefieldNational Monument and to create the Indian Memorial. The law authorized a national design competition, construction of the memorial, and acceptance of donations. An advisory committee made up of members of the Indian tribes involved in the battle, historians, artists, and landscape architects has overseen the process. The committee adopted the theme “Peace Through Unity” in accordance with the advice of Elders Austin Two Moons (Northern Cheyenne) and Enos Poor bear, Sr. (Oglala Lakota). The theme would help “encourage peace among people of all races,” as required by the law. The Indian Memorial stands 75 yards northeast of the 7th Cavalry monument, a circular earthwork carved gently into the prairie. Visitors inside the memorial see a view of the Cavalry obelisk through a “spirit gate” window. The spirit gate welcomes the Cavalry dead symbolically into the memorial’s circle. For many tribes, a circle is sacred, and it remains open for ceremonial events. The surrounding walls carry the names of those who fell here as well as the words of some who fought in the battle." Here are some photographs of items on the wall. I couldn't help but snap one of everything on it but space does not permit me to enter it all here. If you have an interest in American history and its people, this is the place to visit. I noticed so many different dialects in the tourists. There was thankful enthusiastic talk on getting to see and experience park from one gentleman from a different country while we were in the museum and I marveled quietly at his happiness.

Little Bighorn Battlefield Trip

Wanting to do a little road trip with the family, we decided to visit what I had always called "Custer Battlefield". My aunt and uncle had taken me there as one of my stops at the age of 21 when driving cross country moving to Montana. That was over 20 years ago! It is now called Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument and is a National Cemetery.

A beautiful resting place containing so much history.

We went into the museum and viewed many different relics from Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer

and Sitting Bull.

I found the words of the president at this time in history (Ulysses S. Grant) to be very interesting as pictured here:

Sitting Bull "had a premonition of defeating the cavalry, which motivated his Native American people to a major victory at the Battle of the Little Bighorn against Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer and the 7th Cavalry on June 25, 1876."

Also honored which I had not seen during my first visit over 20 years ago was the following:

My next blog will have the Indian Memorial at Little Bighorn Battlefield which was newly established in the early 1990's.

Toto We Are NOT City Folk Anymore

I had to go out with my husband and take a picture of the creepy crawly beast that terrified me. Also to just confirm that it truly was a rattle snake. This is from the Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks online site: "Of the ten snake species that live in Montana, only the prairie rattle-snake is venomous. Also known as the western rattlesnake, the prairie rattler is found in open, arid country and ponderosa pine savannahs. It often dens on south-facing slopes in areas with rock outcrops. Rattlesnake bites are extremely rare. Of the hundreds of thousands of hunters, hikers, and backpackers traversing Montana each year, only five or six report being bitten, according to the Rocky Mountain Poison and Drug Center in Denver. The center also notes there was not a single death among the 45 reported prairie rattlesnake bites in Montana during the last eight years. The prairie rattlesnake is a medium-sized species with venom glands that harbor only moderate amounts of venom. Nevertheless, prairie rattlesnakes have the ability to deliver a dose of venom lethal to an adult human. That's why anyone who spends time outdoors in Montana should have at least a passing awareness of snake-bite first aid. Rattlesnakes are shy, retiring creatures. If left alone, they won't bother people. But if a rattlesnake thinks it will be stepped on or otherwise harmed, it may bite. These snakes are armed with a pair of hollow, hinged fangs that fold back against the roof of the mouth. A rattlesnake strikes most often on the hand, calf, or ankle, leaving one or two small fang marks. When bitten, a person will likely feel intense pain at the bite area. Other symptoms may include difficulty breathing, nausea, vomiting, swelling, and gangrene." So to conclude from my last post, this creature was at the corner of my rental house, next to a lilac bush I had taken some clippings from earlier in the day. I walked past him and spotted part of his body going over a wooden fence rail after I had crossed in front of him a minute before. While the Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks says we should leave them alone and observe them from a distance, I felt he was too close to our house and children. I had my husband take care of him. Wishing this was my last encounter with snakes, but since this incident I have seen 2 more snakes. Thank goodness these are non-poisonous and called garter snakes. Still I jump and run when seeing anything slithering and crawling around me. So Toto I don't think we are City Folk Anymore.

Snakes Alive but Better to Me DEAD

I usually post pictures I run outside and shoot as the sun is going down or coming up or when the storm clouds gather. Montana is truly spectacular and a vision of a masterpiece. Yesterday however, I experienced a first (and hopefully last)of coming very close to a creature I have truly feared in my mind since a child. A snake . . . but not just any snake, the one that rattles. I didn't get to hear rattles as this was one huge critter and part of his body is still under the brush in the corner of the yard at a piece of picket fencing. Don't know if I want to be the one to remove him from his resting ground, but he has got to vacate the premises. Once I spotted part of his body going between the rails on the picket fence I ran into the house and called my husband to come see. He went back into the house and got his shotgun and put a bullet where it was needed.

As a youth in Tennessee, my foster family had a weekend getaway trailer on a piece of property on Signal Mountain. Within walking distance was a fishing pond where we walked to and then blazed a trail through a little thicket (trees/brush) to get to its banks. I never went alone as my brother (11 months younger than me) was my traveling buddy. We had fun and even some minor injuries as I pierce his ear once with a fishing hook (all the way through) and then tried to catch his backside. But what ended my trips was when we spotted two large water moccasins in the water coming close to us. I refused other trips after that. The experience never deterred Robert from continuing trips there and through the woods. Then we also had a distant foster relative as a youth bitten by a copperhead on his finger a little later. He required steroid treatments for years to combat the poison and it changed his body dramatically over his teenage years. I remember always being fearful of opening drawers in the trailer because stories had been told of how snakes can get into a house and like to get into drawers. Even had a foster aunt that went to open her front door after an outing only to have a black snake fall on her head that had been resting on the door frame. Don't know how she managed not to have a heart attack as Aunt Myrtle always seemed old an fragile to me. Then my final snake tale other than yesterday's experience, is a dream I had a few weeks ago. My family had been to see a place that is for sale just before the dream. The living room inside had the darkest forest green carpeting that looked almost new. Well, in the dream I was inside this empty house again standing on the green carpet and a cobra (as plain as watching a movie) was coming at me when I startled awake. I told you snakes bring fear in me!! I didn't forget that dream. Don't know how to interpret it or if interpretations of dreams are even real, but this was a nightmare I don't want to have or live again. So to me Snakes Alive but Better DEAD. Don't know if I want to have these on a dessert either -- candy snakes