The start of a new season

I’m finally getting back to some normalcy. After my surgery, it seemed like I couldn’t get with it and some of my yard work and gardening suffered. Maybe as you get older, it takes longer to bounce back, but I feel I’m 90% better now and I truly appreciate all the concern. I don’t like that kind of attention so I will try to stay healthy as possible and if that means not ever going to the doctor then so be it.


I was able to do some yard work this weekend such as mowing and some clearing and I tilled my garden yesterday. My tators (I abbreviate this cause I’m afraid I might not spell it right like Dan Quale) are growing good, along with my onions. This week I will plant my corn. This old Indian lady told me once to plant corn on May 10th, but my trusty farmer’s almanac says May 3 and 4th is a good time, so I will try that, plus you have to plant when it is dry and the most important thing is to get it into the ground before the rains come.  I will also plant some more stuff the next couple of days, green beans, squash and the Metwe favorite: watermelon. I almost cut back on my garden, but now I’m glad I didn’t. I was pretty tired after this yard-work, but damn I’m glad I don’t have to depend on others to do my work for me. I hope I don’t reach that stage.

Speaking of yard work, gasoline will be pricey this summer! Can you imagine what it will cost people who make a living mowing? It, again, will be the consumer who will absorb the cost of this national nightmare.

My grandson Pat ko shuk is playing soccer with a team in Holton and I try and catch most of the games, but sometimes I have other obligations. He likes to play and wants to get into tackle football. My wife is adamant about not letting him play but he keeps at her so it will be worth watching to see who wins out. She saw me suffer for years with knee problems and go through three knee operations , which is the main reason she don’t want the boy to play the game. I would let him play, but I’m leery too. He will play though because I see some determination and desire and that oughta count for something.

Pow-Wow season is upon us with ours coming up in June. I will be there provided my yard is mowed first. I go and look at the stands, but hardly buy anything except food. Also in the summer, the Farmers Market opens in Topeka and we make a point to go buy this and that and this works for us until our crops come in. The Gathering is in Michigan this year, but I don’t think we will go – the drive is much too long. A few years ago, it was no big deal, not now though. I went to the Senior Site today for lunch and this guy said he was looking for somebody to help drive to Portland, Oregon. I told him “going to Shawnee County is too much for me anymore.”