This is Stormy. He was yawning after getting the spa treatment. I gave him a good bath. He looked so shiny and cute.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
After A Bath
This is Stormy. He was yawning after getting the spa treatment. I gave him a good bath. He looked so shiny and cute.
Canyon View
Canyon View, originally uploaded by ParsecTraveller.
Looking down the canyon in Las Trampas. I have never seen as much water flowing as there was on Monday. With the rain we had yesterday, the falls will probably be gushing even more.
Battle at Little Bighorn
Sunday, August 28th - - 135 years ago, late in the afternoon of Sunday June 25th, a battle took place here that has been mired in controversy ever since. It was in this area that 210 men in five companies of the Seventh U.S. Cavalry were killed in action by Lakota (Sioux), Cheyenne, and Arapaho warriors.
“Custer's Last Stand” took place on this hillside where 42 of those 210 men, including George Armstrong Custer, lost their lives. There was supposed to be a three-prong attack but the other two columns of soldiers were delayed. In other skirmishes in the area that day and the next, an additional 58 soldiers and Indian Scouts were killed. It was called the Battle of Little Bighorn by the United States and Battle of the Greasy Grass by the Lakota (Sioux), Northern Cheyenne and Arapaho people.
Custer vastly underestimated the size of the Indian encampment in the valley below; it numbered in the thousands though not all were warriors, there were many women and children as well as older men. (Figures I've seen at various websites put the number anywhere between 6,000 and 12,000 Native Americans camped in the valley.) Thinking that his troops had been discovered, Custer felt that the element of surprise had been lost and that the Indians would quickly leave their camps. So he attacked, splitting his troops in an attempt to surround the encampment. Obviously, that didn't work!
In about a five mile stretch, along the ridges and in the gulleys, the spots where soldiers and some of the Indian Warriors were killed are identified with markers, although in most cases, not with specific names.
Many of the soldiers and the Indian Scouts were mutilated and scalped. However, Custer was not. Some say it was because he was dressed in buckskins rather than a uniform; he had been shot in the temple and in the left chest.
At the top of the hill where Custer made his “last stand” is the memorial to the soldiers and Indian Scouts who lost their lives during the two days of fighting. Their names are inscribed on the sides of the monument.
It is estimated that about 60 Indian Warriors were killed in the fighting. The spots where 14 of them were killed have been identified with reddish-brown markers. These two are for Cheyenne Warriors “Hahpehe'Onahe” aka Closed Hand and “A'Kavehe'Onahe” aka Limber Bones who “fell here on June 25, 1876 while defending the Cheyenne way of life”.
The Battlefield is dotted with interpretive signs that help in understanding what took place and when. This sign is across the road from the memorial to the fallen soldiers. The visitor center also has a 17-minute video and park Rangers give a 20-minute talk every half hour or so. The video and talks are quite interesting.
Across the road and a short distance from the memorial to the soldiers, is the Indian memorial, which was authorized in 1991 along with a law that changed the name from Custer Battlefield National Monument to Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument. A large circular area contains the above sculpture as well as a wall of displays embedded in black granite. It was quite impressive and very informative, presenting just a little bit of the battle from the perspective of the Native Americans.
A detail of the sculpture.
Some of the Indian Scouts in the employ of the U.S. Army and with the 7th Cavalry were members of the Crow nation. The Crow considered the Lakota, Cheyenne, and Arapaho people to be their enemies because, among other things, the Sioux tribes were encroaching on what had traditionally been Crow territory.
The panel above depicts the scene of the Battle of The Greasy Grass as drawn by White Bird of the Northern Cheyenne.
On August 10, 1983 a prairie fire swept over the battlefield, burning nearly 600 acres of dense, thick vegetation. For five weeks in May and June of 1984 the National Park Service conducted a systematic archeological survey of the battlefield. They recovered 1,159 artifacts including arrow heads, bullets, cartridges, buttons, coins, soldier skeletal remains, boots, military and horse equipment, and personal items of soldiers and warriors. Archeological evidence, used in conjunction with accounts of the battle participants and placement of soldier bodies help in reconstructing the battle. Additional archeological surveys were conducted in later years and will continue in the future.
A four mile drive along the ridges of the battlefield provides some idea of the extent of the battle and the challenges wrought by the terrain.
The markers for an Interpreter Guide “Neesirapat” aka Bloody Knife and two Indian Scouts “Hukos-ta-rikus” aka Sgt Bobtail Bull and “Naahukoos Ciripaslt” aka Little Brave who fell here “while defending the Arikara way of life”.
Much has been written about the Battle of Little Bighorn with various interpretations of the events leading up to the battle and of what actually occurred during the battle – just do a search for it and I'm sure you'll come up with quite a variety of websites! It seems that History is always open to new interpretations, so regardless of your own feelings and ideas of what happened here I'm also sure you will learn something new - I know I did!
“Custer's Last Stand” took place on this hillside where 42 of those 210 men, including George Armstrong Custer, lost their lives. There was supposed to be a three-prong attack but the other two columns of soldiers were delayed. In other skirmishes in the area that day and the next, an additional 58 soldiers and Indian Scouts were killed. It was called the Battle of Little Bighorn by the United States and Battle of the Greasy Grass by the Lakota (Sioux), Northern Cheyenne and Arapaho people.
Custer vastly underestimated the size of the Indian encampment in the valley below; it numbered in the thousands though not all were warriors, there were many women and children as well as older men. (Figures I've seen at various websites put the number anywhere between 6,000 and 12,000 Native Americans camped in the valley.) Thinking that his troops had been discovered, Custer felt that the element of surprise had been lost and that the Indians would quickly leave their camps. So he attacked, splitting his troops in an attempt to surround the encampment. Obviously, that didn't work!
In about a five mile stretch, along the ridges and in the gulleys, the spots where soldiers and some of the Indian Warriors were killed are identified with markers, although in most cases, not with specific names.
Many of the soldiers and the Indian Scouts were mutilated and scalped. However, Custer was not. Some say it was because he was dressed in buckskins rather than a uniform; he had been shot in the temple and in the left chest.
At the top of the hill where Custer made his “last stand” is the memorial to the soldiers and Indian Scouts who lost their lives during the two days of fighting. Their names are inscribed on the sides of the monument.
It is estimated that about 60 Indian Warriors were killed in the fighting. The spots where 14 of them were killed have been identified with reddish-brown markers. These two are for Cheyenne Warriors “Hahpehe'Onahe” aka Closed Hand and “A'Kavehe'Onahe” aka Limber Bones who “fell here on June 25, 1876 while defending the Cheyenne way of life”.
The Battlefield is dotted with interpretive signs that help in understanding what took place and when. This sign is across the road from the memorial to the fallen soldiers. The visitor center also has a 17-minute video and park Rangers give a 20-minute talk every half hour or so. The video and talks are quite interesting.
Across the road and a short distance from the memorial to the soldiers, is the Indian memorial, which was authorized in 1991 along with a law that changed the name from Custer Battlefield National Monument to Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument. A large circular area contains the above sculpture as well as a wall of displays embedded in black granite. It was quite impressive and very informative, presenting just a little bit of the battle from the perspective of the Native Americans.
A detail of the sculpture.
Some of the Indian Scouts in the employ of the U.S. Army and with the 7th Cavalry were members of the Crow nation. The Crow considered the Lakota, Cheyenne, and Arapaho people to be their enemies because, among other things, the Sioux tribes were encroaching on what had traditionally been Crow territory.
The panel above depicts the scene of the Battle of The Greasy Grass as drawn by White Bird of the Northern Cheyenne.
On August 10, 1983 a prairie fire swept over the battlefield, burning nearly 600 acres of dense, thick vegetation. For five weeks in May and June of 1984 the National Park Service conducted a systematic archeological survey of the battlefield. They recovered 1,159 artifacts including arrow heads, bullets, cartridges, buttons, coins, soldier skeletal remains, boots, military and horse equipment, and personal items of soldiers and warriors. Archeological evidence, used in conjunction with accounts of the battle participants and placement of soldier bodies help in reconstructing the battle. Additional archeological surveys were conducted in later years and will continue in the future.
A four mile drive along the ridges of the battlefield provides some idea of the extent of the battle and the challenges wrought by the terrain.
The markers for an Interpreter Guide “Neesirapat” aka Bloody Knife and two Indian Scouts “Hukos-ta-rikus” aka Sgt Bobtail Bull and “Naahukoos Ciripaslt” aka Little Brave who fell here “while defending the Arikara way of life”.
Much has been written about the Battle of Little Bighorn with various interpretations of the events leading up to the battle and of what actually occurred during the battle – just do a search for it and I'm sure you'll come up with quite a variety of websites! It seems that History is always open to new interpretations, so regardless of your own feelings and ideas of what happened here I'm also sure you will learn something new - I know I did!
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Tombstone Tuesday :: Harlow and Hazlette Burns
BURNS
DAD / HARLOW / 1880 - 1952
MOM / HAZLETTE / 1885 - 1977
Scott-Keister Cemetery, Etna-Troy Township, Whitley County, Indiana
photo taken July 14, ..
Hazlette Ann Wise was born on October 10, 1885 in Whitley County, Indiana. The youngest of the four children of William P. Wise and Sophia Dunfee, she is a sister of my great grandmother Maude Wise Brubaker Yontz. Hazlette was named after her great-grandmother Sophia Elizabeth (Hazlett) Dunfee.
On October 10, 1911 Hazlette Wise was married to Harlow Asher Burns, an up-and-coming farmer of Troy Township. They lived their entire married life on their farm in Troy Township. Harlow passed away on June 15, 1952. At the time of her death on October 9, 1977 (at the age of 91) Hazlette was living in a nursing home in Fort Wayne.
They were the parents of two children: Maurice Wise Burns, who died in infancy, and who is buried near Harlow and Hazlette, and Thagrus Asher Burns who passed away in October .. at the age of 91. This picture of Thag is one of my favorite family photos.
As a teenager, I remember "aunt" Hazlette attending family dinners and gatherings that were given by my grandmother. Aunt Hazlette was a woman of short stature who had, so I've been told, an "iron will" and great determination.
A Good Idea Gone Wrong :: But, I've Done It Before...
If you don't publish a Blog and you don't use Blogger you may want to skip this post... I'm venting...
I did what I've done for the past couple of years. But this time a change made to Blogger (probably when "New Blogger" came on the scene) has caused extra work as well as a little frustration on my part.
A group of posts was created a few years ago that I call "Index Posts" and they list the blog posts that have been published for a given surname. As new stories are posted for a surname, the Index Post gets updated with links to the new post and periodically the date of the post will be changed. The date is changed so that when someone does a search on the blog for a specific surname or clicks on a surname label at the bottom of a post the Index Post will be displayed near the top of the search results.
Maybe I should have known better, but, in the past, doing what I've done did not cause any problems. But what I learned today means I won't be doing the same thing again!
You know that thing called a permalink, aka the url for a post? Well, contrary to it's name, it isn't a permanent link. At least, not if you click on the button that says "Revert to Draft" while you are editing a blog post AND you change the publication date of the post. If you've done that and you then re-publish the post or page, the permalink (url) could change. That's not good. Especially if you have linked to that post within other posts. It's now a broken link.
So, I had updated all of the surname Index Posts (19 of them!) before I discovered the error of my ways. And then it was too late. I tried to change the url by using the "custom url" but that didn't work. It only allowed me to enter the last portion of the url (the part after "kinexxions.blogspot.com/../12"). If a post had previously been published, say in July .., the beginning portion of the url would have been "kinexxions.blogspot.com/../07". When I changed the date, Blogger changed the date portion of the url to "../12". And therein lies the problem.
After a few choice words, and thinking about it for a while, I edited the "Master" Index Post to update it with the new links. And then edited the two "Pages" for my Maternal Ancestors and Paternal Ancestors, as well as the links along the sidebar that list the surnames that I am researching. Those are the obvious links.
The "problem" now is that I know there have been times when I've linked to an Index Post from a another blog post. I don't think I've done it very often but, in my opinion, one broken link is one too many. For one thing, it leaves a bad impression. And for another, it's irritating to the reader.
If I had thought about it, and if I had kept track of the date the posts were last published, I could have edited all of the posts a second time and then reverted back to that publication date. I think that would have worked and I wouldn't have the broken link problem. Each of the Index Posts does have the date it was last updated, but that isn't necessarily the date of last publication. In other words, I may not have changed the date when the post was updated.
I've spent all afternoon and evening working on this. I'm irritated. I'm frustrated. Mostly at myself but also with Blogger. So,I'm going to "sit" on this for a few days and think about it some more, then decide if it is important enough to go looking for broken links to the various Index Posts.In the meantime, if anyone has any great ideas regarding this, please let me know. Oh, and if you come across a broken link, please notify me. I won't yell at you. I promise.
I did what I've done for the past couple of years. But this time a change made to Blogger (probably when "New Blogger" came on the scene) has caused extra work as well as a little frustration on my part.
A group of posts was created a few years ago that I call "Index Posts" and they list the blog posts that have been published for a given surname. As new stories are posted for a surname, the Index Post gets updated with links to the new post and periodically the date of the post will be changed. The date is changed so that when someone does a search on the blog for a specific surname or clicks on a surname label at the bottom of a post the Index Post will be displayed near the top of the search results.
Maybe I should have known better, but, in the past, doing what I've done did not cause any problems. But what I learned today means I won't be doing the same thing again!
You know that thing called a permalink, aka the url for a post? Well, contrary to it's name, it isn't a permanent link. At least, not if you click on the button that says "Revert to Draft" while you are editing a blog post AND you change the publication date of the post. If you've done that and you then re-publish the post or page, the permalink (url) could change. That's not good. Especially if you have linked to that post within other posts. It's now a broken link.So, I had updated all of the surname Index Posts (19 of them!) before I discovered the error of my ways. And then it was too late. I tried to change the url by using the "custom url" but that didn't work. It only allowed me to enter the last portion of the url (the part after "kinexxions.blogspot.com/../12"). If a post had previously been published, say in July .., the beginning portion of the url would have been "kinexxions.blogspot.com/../07". When I changed the date, Blogger changed the date portion of the url to "../12". And therein lies the problem.
After a few choice words, and thinking about it for a while, I edited the "Master" Index Post to update it with the new links. And then edited the two "Pages" for my Maternal Ancestors and Paternal Ancestors, as well as the links along the sidebar that list the surnames that I am researching. Those are the obvious links.
The "problem" now is that I know there have been times when I've linked to an Index Post from a another blog post. I don't think I've done it very often but, in my opinion, one broken link is one too many. For one thing, it leaves a bad impression. And for another, it's irritating to the reader.
If I had thought about it, and if I had kept track of the date the posts were last published, I could have edited all of the posts a second time and then reverted back to that publication date. I think that would have worked and I wouldn't have the broken link problem. Each of the Index Posts does have the date it was last updated, but that isn't necessarily the date of last publication. In other words, I may not have changed the date when the post was updated.
I've spent all afternoon and evening working on this. I'm irritated. I'm frustrated. Mostly at myself but also with Blogger. So,I'm going to "sit" on this for a few days and think about it some more, then decide if it is important enough to go looking for broken links to the various Index Posts.In the meantime, if anyone has any great ideas regarding this, please let me know. Oh, and if you come across a broken link, please notify me. I won't yell at you. I promise.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Exit Thursdays Gritscone ..
With our fearless leader Sammy out of town, we still had three people ready to go. Like previous weeks, we were to meet at the Park and Ride at 5pm. I arrived with Amy already waiting in the lot. After a few moments, she got a call from Greg stating he was stuck at work. She talked to her friend Dave to see if he was coming and he stated he would be arriving later after picking up his buddy.
Amy and I headed out with the intent of choosing an area en route and then relaying that information to Dave and Greg. We decided to go to the Gritscone since we did not have a guidebook. We knew the routes there and that they could easily be top-roped.
When we got there, we set about climbing the 5.7 route (So Funny I Forgot to Rope Up) on the far right to warm up. Amy and I both led it and then went to the left side to climb the 5.6 and 5.7 over there. I led the 5.7 (Snaffle Baffler) and Amy followed. She then led Lucky Arms (5.6) and I followed. By this time Dave and his friend arrived. They started with Chica Rapida (5.10a) and worked their way through the harder routes.
Amy climbing 99Grit
Amy and I went right again and did the same, although through lower grades. We both led Pete's Possum Palace (5.7) and then I led 99 Grit (5.9) and Amy followed. To finish the evening, I led Chica Rapida where I had to hang a bit on the third bolt to figure out the following moves. Amy followed the route and we called it a night.
Cleaning the anchors on Chica Rapida
It was nice to get out again on Thursday evening. It was interesting to get back to the Gritscone. I had climbed there only once before, and that was when I first started to lead. So I got to do a whole bunch of routes that I hadn't done previously and remembered why it isn't so fun to climb at the Grtiscone. Lots of dirty, mossy, pine needled holds. Being in the trees, it also does not lend itself to climbing in the evenings as it is already a darker place. While I lead 5.9 and 5.10 in other locations, last night marked the first time where I have led a 5.9 or 5.10 at Exit 38. I finally think I am overcoming the difficulties I have with climbing there.
Amy and I headed out with the intent of choosing an area en route and then relaying that information to Dave and Greg. We decided to go to the Gritscone since we did not have a guidebook. We knew the routes there and that they could easily be top-roped.
When we got there, we set about climbing the 5.7 route (So Funny I Forgot to Rope Up) on the far right to warm up. Amy and I both led it and then went to the left side to climb the 5.6 and 5.7 over there. I led the 5.7 (Snaffle Baffler) and Amy followed. She then led Lucky Arms (5.6) and I followed. By this time Dave and his friend arrived. They started with Chica Rapida (5.10a) and worked their way through the harder routes.
Amy climbing 99GritAmy and I went right again and did the same, although through lower grades. We both led Pete's Possum Palace (5.7) and then I led 99 Grit (5.9) and Amy followed. To finish the evening, I led Chica Rapida where I had to hang a bit on the third bolt to figure out the following moves. Amy followed the route and we called it a night.
Cleaning the anchors on Chica RapidaIt was nice to get out again on Thursday evening. It was interesting to get back to the Gritscone. I had climbed there only once before, and that was when I first started to lead. So I got to do a whole bunch of routes that I hadn't done previously and remembered why it isn't so fun to climb at the Grtiscone. Lots of dirty, mossy, pine needled holds. Being in the trees, it also does not lend itself to climbing in the evenings as it is already a darker place. While I lead 5.9 and 5.10 in other locations, last night marked the first time where I have led a 5.9 or 5.10 at Exit 38. I finally think I am overcoming the difficulties I have with climbing there.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Babysitting a Puppy
This little Stubby Tail Heeler cross got to stay with us this weekend while her owner had an unexpected stay in the hosptal. Her owner is fine and home now. She had been offered to us when they first found her, but we decided we had enough critters and I'm glad I didn't take her as her owner is in love with her now. She is a good pup for that family. 
Ziva and Tuffee loved playing with her and missed her when she had to go home.
Even the cats excepted her.
Ziva and Tuffee loved playing with her and missed her when she had to go home.
Even the cats excepted her.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)