The Best Gift-Giving

As I try to remember Christmas (and birthdays) past, it occurs to me that I don't remember the gifts - I remember the people.  As I've already said, I'm not a good gift giver - unless you count the fact that I try to be an encourager.  (Sometimes, when I'm being a mother, I have to be a corrector, but I think most of the time I'm an encourager 10 times for every one as a corrector.)

But back to gift-giving...

If it's a loved one you're trying to give to, truly, all they want is you.  I remember smiles, and relatives trying to get along with each other, and smells, yummy food we would only get on special occasions... I remember conversations and incidents (like my oldest brother reaching across in front of a cousin for food, and the cousin bit his arm!  That's where I learned what a boarder-house reach was - and that it was bad manners, not good practice.)  I remember people and places (like my 40th birthday party Momma arranged at the lake - and the flatbed train cars that we had to stop for carrying Army tanks toward the Gulf War.)  I remember what I think was my last Christmas as a child with my father - he gave lots of gifts, but I didn't see or hear from him again for years.

Isn't a gift supposed to reflect our love for the receiver?  Seriously, do you really think the receiver wants us to stress out over what to give?  If there truly is love, what else is there to give?  What greater gift can there be?  Share YOURSELF!  Share your smile, be an encourager, share a hug or a touch.  And do it all year long, not just during the holidays.  Give of yourself, not your pocketbook.

Give! And it shall be given back, shaken down and overflowing - like Frosted Flakes!  (see last year's Christmas post :-))

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL !!

Gift Giving

I'm not a good gift giver.  Never have been.  Seems I never will be.  One of our daughters-in-law says my language of love is food because I always make sure the kitchen is full of everyone's favorite foods when they come visit.  But gift giving?  No matter how full of love my heart is I never can seem to pick out the right gift - or it's the right thing that goes horribly wrong...

Granpa is on call for the next four days - including Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  If he's in the middle of watching a movie on TV when he is called out, it's just tough luck.  So I thought it would be a perfect gift to get him a TiVo so he could record the rest of whatever he was watching.  I called TiVo and explained our "traveling" and that most places had cable TV (as opposed to satellite or old-fashioned off-the-airway TV).  The technician said not only would this work in our different housings but we could even hook it up in hotel rooms.  Cool!  They had a unit that records up to 45 hours (that would be over 20 movies or 40 hour-long programs!) for just $59.  I'll take it!

Then I get an email suggesting I go ahead and call the cable provider for a cable card that will insert into the back of the TiVo unit.  ???   Ooo-kaaay...  I discover that we have to take the old cable converter box back to the cable company and swap it out for the card.  Hmmm.  That means we'll be without TV until we can get the TiVo hooked up.  I enlist a friend in this Santa project, and he helps me work out the logistics.

Granpa's on call and therefore late getting off because, as usual, they have a Stat Echo right at getting-off time.  But I am SO excited when I pick him up from work!  I tell him on the way home that he's gonna get an early Christmas gift and as soon as we get home he has to, without fussing, sit down and open it.  He can't turn the TV on or go to the bathroom or even get a drink of water ('cause I didn't want him to notice the TV wasn't on or try to turn it on) - and remember, NO FUSSING.

So he dutifully complies and seems very pleased with the TiVo idea.  I knew he would want to wire it to the TV himself (guys are like that), so he gets busy with that while I get supper on the table.  He's running through the on-screen set up and gets to the spot where it says connect to the internet.  I'm like, huh?  Well, we have a wireless hot-spot, will that work?  No.  It says to connect to the land-line phone.  Nope, don't have a phone line.

I knew it!  I knew it!  I simply canNOT give gifts.  Aargh!

We call the 800 number.  Gotta have the phone line or high-speed internet connection to get the programing.  Can we watch TV tonight thru the TiVo cable card?  Nope.  Can't even get out of the set-up until we connect to something.

So that's it.  We have to undo everything I spent the whole day doing - tomorrow, because the cable company is closed for the evening - AND we can't even watch anything on TV tonight.  My gifts aren't just bad, they somehow manage to devolve into TERRIBLE.

Bless Granpa's heart.  He is SO nice to me!  He's sweet and loving the rest of the evening, even laughing at my misery in a warm gentle way.  I suggest he do some on-line research to see if he can accomplish my gift idea through some other technology.  (At least that will give him something to do since he can't watch TV...), and he discovers that there is nothing that a traveler can easily do to record TV without a lot of help from the landlords (i.e. getting a cable card and a land-line or internet hookup).  Maybe we should go back to the the ol' VCR tape recorder??

This even messes up the popcorn popper I got him...  I'm just NOT a good gift giver.  From now on it's gonna be strictly cash!

Columbine, Colorado

On Thursday, Darrell Scott, the father of Rachel Scott, a victim of the Columbine High School shootings in Littleton, Colorado, was invited to address the House Judiciary Committee's subcommittee. What he said to our national leaders during this special session of Congress was painfully truthful.

They were not prepared for what he was to say, nor was it received well. It needs to be heard by every parent, every teacher, every politician, every sociologist, every psychologist, and every so-called expert! These courageous words spoken by Darrell Scott are powerful, penetrating, and deeply personal. There is no doubt that God sent this man as a voice crying in the wilderness.. The following is a portion of the transcript:

"Since the dawn of creation there has been both good & evil in the hearts of men and women. We all contain the seeds of kindness or the seeds of violence. The death of my wonderful daughter, Rachel Joy Scott, and the deaths of that heroic teacher, and the other eleven children who died must not be in vain. Their blood cries out for answers.

"The first recorded act of violence was when Cain slew his brother Abel out in the field. The villain was not the club he used.. Neither was it the NCA, the National Club Association. The true killer was Cain, and the reason for the murder could only be found in Cain's heart.

"In the days that followed the Columbine tragedy, I was amazed at how quickly fingers began to be pointed at groups such as the NRA. I am not a member of the NRA. I am not a hunter. I do not even own a gun. I am not here to represent or defend the NRA - because I don't believe that they are responsible for my daughter's death. Therefore I do not believe that they need to be defended. If I believed they had anything to do with Rachel's murder I would be their strongest opponent

I am here today to declare that Columbine was not just a tragedy -- it was a spiritual event that should be forcing us to look at where the real blame lies! Much of the blame lies here in this room. Much of the blame lies behind the pointing fingers of the accusers themselves. I wrote a poem just four nights ago that expresses my feelings best.

Your laws ignore our deepest needs,
Your words are empty air.
You've stripped away our heritage,
You've outlawed simple prayer. 

Now gunshots fill our classrooms,
And precious children die.
You seek for answers everywhere,
And ask the question "Why?" 

You regulate restrictive laws,
Through legislative creed.
And yet you fail to understand,
That God is what we need!

"Men and women are three-part beings. We all consist of body, mind, and spirit. When we refuse to acknowledge a third part of our make-up, we create a void that allows evil, prejudice, and hatred to rush in and wreak havoc. Spiritual presences were present within our educational systems for most of our nation's history. Many of our major colleges began as theological seminaries. This is a historical fact. What has happened to us as a nation? We have refused to honor God, and in so doing, we open the doors to hatred and violence. And when something as terrible as Columbine's tragedy occurs -- politicians immediately look for a scapegoat such as the NRA. They immediately seek to pass more restrictive laws that contribute to erode away our personal and private liberties. We do not need more restrictive laws. Eric and Dylan would not have been stopped by metal detectors. No amount of gun laws can stop someone who spends months planning this type of massacre. The real villain lies within our own hearts.

"As my son Craig lay under that table in the school library and saw his two friends murdered before his very eyes, he did not hesitate to pray in school. I defy any law or politician to deny him that right! I challenge every young person in America , and around the world, to realize that on April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School prayer was brought back to our schools. Do not let the many prayers offered by those students be in vain. Dare to move into the new millennium with a sacred disregard for legislation that violates your God-given right to communicate with Him. To those of you who would point your finger at the NRA -- I give to you a sincere challenge.. Dare to examine your own heart before casting the first stone!

My daughter's death will not be in vain! The young people of this country will not allow that to happen!"
    
                                                  - Darrell Scott

Wonderful, Healing Balm

Twas' 11 days before Christmas, around 9:38
when 20 beautiful children stormed through heaven's gate.
Their smiles were contagious, their laughter filled the air.

They could hardly believe all the beauty that they saw there.

They were filled with such joy, they didn't know what to say.
They remembered nothing of what had happened earlier that day.
"Where are we?" asked a little girl, as quiet as a mouse.
"This is heaven." declared a small boy. "we're spending Christmas at God's house."

When what to their wondering eyes did appear,
But Jesus, their Savior; the children gathered near.
He looked at them and smiled, and they smiled just the same.
Then He opened His arms, and He called them by name.

And in that moment was the joy that only heaven can bring,
Those children all flew into the arms of their King
And as they lingered in the warmth of His embrace,
One small girl turned and looked at Jesus' face.

As if He could read all the questions she had
He gently whispered to her, "I'll take care of mom and dad."
Then He looked down on earth, the world far below
He saw all of the hurt, the sorrow, and woe.

Then He closed His eyes, and He outstretched His hand,
"Let My power and presence re-enter this land!"
"May this country be delivered from the hands of fools."
"I'm taking back my nation. I'm taking back my schools!"

Then He and the children stood up without a sound.
"Come now my children, let me show you around."
Excitement filled the space, some skipped and some ran.
All displaying enthusiasm that only a small child can.

And I heard Him proclaim as He walked out of sight,
"In the midst of this darkness, I AM STILL THE LIGHT."

Written by Cameo Smith, Mt. Wolf, Pennsylvania

Evil

Maybe the tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut will make people admit Evil exists, Evil is THE reason. Once they realize that, they'll ask, well, how do you fight Evil. There, of course, is only one answer - Jesus.

Is there Evil in each of us? Well, the temptation to sin is in each of us. We need to admit that Evil exists, and that we are tempted by sinful things. Jesus was tempted, too - but with the strength of the Scriptures, Jesus held Satan off. We can, too.

It's so simple. Realize Christ is the only protection there is against eternal damnation, and the only path to eternal salvation.

Accept Christ's gift to us this Christmas. Invite Him into your homes and your hearts. Show Him through your life.

Find a Christ-filled church (NOT JUST ANY CHURCH) and learn more about this very special Christmas present. Go Sunday morning. Most are having Christmas Eve(ning) services. Go then. Go, and learn that there is a way to prevent Evil and to survive Evil. 

 

Jesus is "the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me."     John 14:6

Newtown, Connecticut

Newtown, Connecticut: The school was supposed to be locked down 10 minutes before the gunman arrived. It's not the gun's fault, it's the lock's fault.  HONESTLY!! Get real!  It is the nature of evil !! Lock's aren't evil, gun's aren't evil. Inanimate objects are not / can not be evil. People who leave their souls open to evil are subject to the Evil One; people who truly give their souls to Christ are protected. Americans have removed Christ from schools - so why SHOULDN'T the Evil lurk there??

Father in heaven, thank you for loving all of humanity, loving us enough to send Your Son to die for our sins.  If we will just acknowledge what You have done to save us from our sinful nature, we can look forward to an eternity with You, knowing Your love more intimately than ever.  I know, Lord, that You may not stop Evil - that is up to US by accepting Your Son, focusing on You and living by Your Word.  Evil made itself evident in Newtown, Connecticut this morning.  I know that You were there, too, with the children and staff, quickly drawing them near to You as Evil took their lives.  I pray that each soul already had a personal relationship with You.  Please let Your presence be felt by each parent, sibling, grandparent and relative.  Please let them know Your peace which surpasses understanding.  Lord, I pray that every person who has had to go into that school today also feel Your love and compassion and mercy.  It is in the name of Your Son, Jesus, that I pray.  Amen and Amen.

Custer Discovers North Dakota's Black Hills Gold!

Before coming to North Dakota, George Armstrong Custer fought valiantly in the Civil War, joined the Seventh Cavalry in Kansas and was court-martialed and suspended without rank or pay for a year as a result of driving his troops to exhaustion in a chase after Cheyenne.  In 1871 he and the Seventh Cavalry were sent to oversee post-war Kentucky reconstruction.  In 1873 they were then sent to Fort Abraham Lincoln near Bismark, North Dakota to protect railroad surveyors and enforce reservation policy.

In an expedition to the Black Hills in 1868, he and his troops discovered gold - on a Sioux reservation.  Uh-oh...

Spotted Tail

By treaty the Black Hills belonged to the Sioux and there were sacred burial grounds in there.  For awhile the army sort of tried to keep the gold diggers out.  A couple of Sioux chiefs went to Washington (Red Cloud and Spotted Tail) in 1875 to negotiate.  They talked about leasing Black Hills land to the government for $400,000 a year, but never reached an agreement.

Red Cloud, Ogala Sioux

Later that year, President Ulysses S. Grant, the Secretary's of War and the Interior, Commissioner of Indian Affairs and Generals Sheridan and Crook decided (un-unanimously) to have the Army withdraw from the Black Hills, leaving the land open to miners.  (Bummer.)  Instead, they ordered non-reservation Sioux to get back to the reservation by January 31, 1876.  (You don't think maybe there was a plan to start them warring and give the government an excuse to force the Sioux to surrender the Black Hills, do you?  Nah.  Government wouldn't do that!!)

This was the beginning of the end for Custer and eventually the Sioux.

The Bible doesn't say money is the root of all evil; the Bible says that the LOVE of money is the root of all evil.  (1 Timothy 6:10, 3:3 and Hebrews 13:5)  This is a pretty good example of what that means -- and it turns out badly for everyone!!

 

North Dakota Winter

W-e-e-e-e-l-l, I'm thinkin' winter is beginning to make itself known here in Grand Forks.  We had snow on Saturday - not a lot, but enough to make for huge piles in parking lots where snow plows have been hard at work.

Grace Baptist Church, Grand Forks, North Dakota

This morning was -7 degrees with a wind chill factor of -23.  Sounds awful, huh?  Well, not so much.  Folks in Texas don't faint dead away when it's 115 in the shade, do they?  Of course not.  If they have any brains at all they hydrate, drinking lots of water (but not too much because it IS possible to overdose on water.  Too much washes all of the electrolytes out of your system, and then ALL kinds of trouble start to cascade within your body.)  They dress down, and what clothes they do wear are light colored so as to reflect light rather than absorb it.  They live in air conditioned homes and drive air conditioned cars to work in air conditioned buildings.

Same thing here in North Dakota.  They dress for the weather, layering on clothes until they're wind-proof (because it's the wind that will get you first and worst), and they live in heated homes, drive heated cars and work in heated buildings.

God has amazingly blessed us with a home here that even has a heated garage and the home-owners association gets out every morning before folks go to work and cleans the snow off of all the streets and even out of the driveways!!  Rob and his family are our angels of mercy!

This cold, though, is not to be taken lightly.  I take Granpa to work every morning, so he doesn't even have to walk in from a parking lot.  However,  I make him take scarf, gloves, snowhat and heavy winter coat. He doesn't have to wear them - but he has to at least take them.  That way if the car breaks down or (heaven forbid) we have an accident, he's prepared to get out of the car and do what has to be done.  (One thing I've noticed here:  everyone stops well back from an intersection.  I'm thinkin' that's so if another driver spins out on the ice there's less chance of him hitting them.  I'm trying to train myself to do that by saying to myself, "Stop back from the intersection."  In my mind I sound like that car alarm that says, "Step away from the car."  :)

Nine more weeks here - unless they offer an extension!

Could Texas Really Secede ? Click here to find out!

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/could-texas-really-secede-from-the-union-the-answer-is/

Education

Could Texas Really Secede From The Union? The Answer Is…

Could Texas succeed in seceding from the United States of America?  Here are some very valuable facts on the matter as provided by C.G.P. Grey’s YouTube channel.

Texas was an independent nation for a decade

Photo Credit: youtube

Texas had its own Presidents

Photo Credit: youtube

…and currency

Photo Credit: youtube

If Texas was an independent country today it would be the 46th largest country in the world by population

Photo Credit: youtube

It would be the 13th largest economy in the world

Photo Credit: youtube

…making it comparable with Australia

Photo Credit: youtube

Independence for most states would be a financial disaster

Photo Credit: youtube

Not for Texas, it gives more money to the federal government than it gets back

Photo Credit: youtube

…and could give its own citizens a tax break if it were independent

Photo Credit: youtube

Based on it’s state constitution, Texas could also separate into 5 independent states without the permission of congress

Photo Credit: youtube

But can Texas legally secede?

Photo Credit: youtube

Watch to find out:

Carousel image via YouTube

And Ecuador Makes 40 !

That's right!  We're being read in 40 countries across the world!  Over 22,600 pages views.  Who knew anyone would be interested - much less internationally!  Cool.

United States

Russia

Germany

Canada

Spain

France

Italy

Philippines

Brazil

Colombia

South Korea

Latvia

Malaysia

Indonesia

Saudi Arabia

Singapore

Taiwan

Moldova

The Netherlands

England/United Kingdom

China

Trinidad and Tobago

South  Africa

Austria

Australia

26. Nigeria

27. Mexico

28. Hungary

29. India

30. Turkey

31. Hong Kong

32.  Ireland

33. Sweden

34.  Greece

35.  Belgium

36.  Poland

37.  Qatar

38.  Romania

39. Sri Lanka

40. Ecuador

The Sioux Beliefs, and George Washington

Just as we call ourselves Americans first and then specify "Texan" and then "Tyler-ites," the Sioux was a nation - a group of diverse people connected by heritage - that could be broken down into large groups named Dakota, Lakota, Nakota, and then into more specific groups:

Hunkpapa (Campers at the Horn)
Minneconju (Planters beside the Water)
Sihaspa (Blackfoot)
Oohenopa (Two Kettles)
Itazipcho (Those without Bows)
Sicangu (Burnt Thighs)
Oglala (They Scatter their Own.)

The Sioux, as did most if not ALL Native Americans, believe in the Great Spirit.  He is a big god, in all things, in all people, very present all the time and very involved in their lives.  The Sioux believe in Controllers - powerful good spirits and less powerful evil spirits.  The Sioux believe that through the power of the Great Spirit almost anything is possible.  His power comes to a few easily; to some with great difficulty; to many, never.  (Almost sounds like Christianity, huh?)


This may explain a re-telling by Indian chiefs of a George Washington encounter during the French and Indian War:


In this specific battle the Indians specifically targeted Washington because he was on horseback and appeared to be a leader of great importance.  And yet, Washington survived.  No big deal.  Unless you consider the fact that there were 1300 men fighting with Washington in that battle, and by the time the Indians rested every other officer on horseback was dead and only 30 Englishmen remained alive!



It was July 9, 1755 in the area of what we now know as Pittsburgh (Fort Duquesne then) at the Battle of Monongahela.  The English were fighting as they always had: in great long lines marching across open fields.  The French and their Indian allies fought guerrilla style like, well, Indians!  Washington was 23 years old, an officer, and in this battle, a messenger - which is why he was on horseback.

According to David Barton's book, "The Bulletproof George Washington," one Indian warrior testified that he had shot at Washington 17 times. The Indian exclaimed that "Washington was never born to be killed by a bullet!" Another Indian, Red Hawk (of the Delaware tribe I think), had shot and missed him 11 times. He had not missed a shot before, and became convinced that Washington was being supernaturally protected by the Great Spirit. In 1770, fifteen years after the battle, an old Indian told Washington in person that he had sought out to meet him. He had been fighting in the battle that day, and he had told all the Indians with him to shoot at him, and make sure that he died. When they all missed, he told them to stop. On that evening, he predicted that Washington would never die in battle, and would be "the founder of a mighty empire."

The old Indian was right. George Washington never was even wounded in the battles that he fought. During the American Revolution, Washington once again seemed to be supernaturally protected. In 1779, a British Major who happened to be the head of the British sharpshooters, was about ready to shoot an American officer at close range. He felt a strong impulse not to shoot. The officer that he failed to shoot was George Washington.

Perhaps the Indian god is, after all, our God, too!

Native American (Indian) Traders

I thought even children understood "cowboys and Indians." 

Then I began to ponder that thought.  No.  No, as a matter of fact, no, I don't think that.  I grew up with a WHOLE bunch of TV shows about cowboys and Indians:  Roy Rogers, The Lone Ranger, Wanted: Dead or Alive, The Rifleman, Maverick, Bonanza, Gunsmoke, The Virginian, Daniel Boone, High Chaparral, Little House on the Prairie ... just to name a few off of the top of my head!  My grandfather is even part Native American.  MY generation has "known" about Indians all our lives.

But, today's children?  Na-da.  There are not hardly even any movies about cowboys and Indians.  I wonder if I could get my grandchildren to write down for me everything they "know" about Indians...  Probably not.  I don't think I could even get my children to do that for me.  But I suspect I have forgotten more about Indians than they know!   By the next generation, cowboys and Indians may be more myth than reality.  How heart-breaking.

Since I decided to start this blog for my children and grandchildren and even great-grandchildren, I guess I should ... what? share my fascination with Indians?  Yuppers!!

Ever wonder what Indians did for money?  Nothing. They didn't buy and sell things like Europeans did.  They were traders, barter-ers.  What's really interesting though is that they didn't trade "even-Steven."  They were really good businessmen; they always wanted to accomplish a 100% "profit."  Interesting, huh?

Before Europeans showed up, the Mandan and Hidatsa traded with the Cree, the Assiniboin, Crow and Cheyenne.  They all lived off of the land, but they all specialized in different things.  The hunter tribes traded furs (for the desperately cold North Dakota winters) and dried meat with the gatherer tribes for corn, beans, and other agricultural crops.  The plains Indians would trade hides with forest Indians for dried fish.

In this way, trade goods made their way across the continent east to west and west to east. Archeologists working Native American sites in North Dakota have uncovered seashells from both coasts and the Gulf of Mexico.  Conversely, flint (crucial for making fires) from the Dakotas has been found in Canada, Pennsylvania and Colorado.

The Indians were smart traders with an eye to the future.  They might trade with one tribe for things they would rarely use, knowing that there was another tribe on their other geographical side that would trade handsomely for things they would use.  That's how they made their "profit."

The Europeans introduced horses, beads and metal into the trade cycles.  It seems that, no matter how metal came to them (guns, sheet iron or whatever), the Indians reshaped it into arrowheads or tools for processing their hides.  It makes sense.  What good was a gun with no bullets or gunpowder?  But an Indian could fire off arrows faster than Europeans could fire - reload - fire their guns.  Indians, rightly so, found arrowheads much more valuable that guns!  The hunter Indians wanted to shape tomahawks and axes, too.  Once, as the story goes, a Mandan was given a metal corn mill for grinding their grain.  The European thought it a wonderful gift because the Indians ground their corn by crushing it between two rocks.  Sometimes the rocks would end up getting ground into the corn, too, causing chipped teeth.  The Mandan studied that corn mill for awhile, then he broke it into pieces and fitted the small ones onto the end of arrows for arrowheads and used a bigger piece to shatter bones to pieces and get at the marrow!  Beauty is in the eye of beholder, eh?

So, kids, did you know all of that?  Did you know that my great-grandparents (your great-great- great grandparents) were half Indian?

North Dakota Organized

HISTORICAL CENTERS

Camp Atchison SHS (State Historical Site)

Ronald Reagan Minuteman Missile SHS

Maple Creek SHS

Fort Ransom State Park and SHS

Gingras Trading Post SHS

Fort Totten SHS

David Thompson SHS

Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site

Fort Mandan Historic Site

Fort Clark SHS

Fort Union National Historic Site

Double Ditch Indian Village SHS

Menoken Indian Village SHS

Killdeer Mountain Battlefield SHS

Fort Dilts SHS

Chateau De Mores SHS

Writing Rock SHS

Whitestone Hill Battlefield SHS

Menoken Indian Village SHS

Huff Indian Village SHS

Fort Rice SHS

Cannonball Stage SHS

 

INDIAN RESERVATIONS

Spirit Lake Reservation

Turtle Mountain Reservation

Standing Rock Reservation

Fort Berthold Reservation

WILDLIFE REFUGES

Upper Souris National Wildlife Refuge

Camp Lake National Wildlife Refuge

Audubon National Wildlife Refuge

Lostwood National Wildlife Refuge

Lake Ilo National Wildlife Refuge

Arrowwood National Wildlife Refuge

Sully's Hill National Game Preserve

Chase Lake National Wildlife Refuge

Slade National Wildlife Refuge

Long Lake National Wildlife Refuge

Lonetree Wildlife Management Area

J. Clark Salyer National Wildlife Refuge

Upper Souris National Wildlife Refuge

Des Lac's National Wildlife Refuge

STATE PARKS

Turtle River State Park

Little Yellowstone Park

Icelandic State Park

Beaver Lake State Park

Doyle Memorial State Park

Graham's Island State Park in Devils Lake

Fort Stevenson State Park

Sakakawea State Park

Little Missouri State Primitive Park

Sullys Creek State Primitive Park

Lewis and Clark State Park

Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park

OTHER LOCATIONS

Carl Ben Eielson Memorial Arch

Sibley  Crossing

Clausen Springs

Pembina State Museum

Pembina Gorge

International Peace Garden and Music Camp

Geographic Center of North America (continent)

North Dakota Heritage Center

McDowell Dam Recreation Area

Sitting Bull Gravesite

Schnell Recreation Area

Four Bears Memorial Park

Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center

North Dakota Heritage Center

The Enchanted Highway

Burning Coal Vein and Columnar Cedars (?)

White Butte - Highest Point in North Dakota - Elevation 3,506 ft

Camel Hump Dam

Theodore Roosevelt's Elkhorn Ranch

Missouri Yellowstone Confluence Interpretive Center Fort Buford SHS

Maah Daah Hey Trail (connecting the two Theodore Roosevelt National Parks)

Theodore Roosevelt National Park North

Theodore Roosevelt National Park South

What Is There To Do In North Dakota?

What is there to do in North Dakota?  We've asked that question of everyone we encountered since discovering we were coming here.  The only thing everyone could come up with is the two (yes, two) Theodore Roosevelt National Parks.  (That's it?  In an entire state?!)

Last week I got online and found the North Dakota tourism site ( www.ndtourism.com ) and requested a state map and their 2012 Tourism Guide.  I haven't had a chance to look through the Guide (John captured it), but the map reveals a lot.

Working outward from Grand Forks on the map I find:

Turtle River State Park (Turtle River is the name of a Native American tribe)
Carl Ben Eielson Memorial Arch
Camp Atchison SHS (State Historical Site)
Ronald Reagan Minuteman Missile SHS
Sibley Crossing
Maple Creek SHS
Fort Ransom State Park and SHS
Clausen Springs
Little Yellowstone Park
Icelandic State Park
Pembina State Museum
Pembina Gorge
Gingras Trading Post SHS
Spirit Lake Reservation
Graham's Island State Park in Devils Lake
Fort Totten SHS
Arrowwood National Wildlife Refuge
Sully's Hill National Game Preserve
Chase Lake National Wildlife Refuge
Slade National Wildlife Refuge
Long Lake National Wildlife Refuge
Beaver Lake State Park
Doyle Memorial State Park
Whitestone Hill Battlefield SHS
International Peace Garden and Music Camp
Turtle Mountain Reservation
(How about this!) The Geographic Center of North America (continent)
Lonetree Wildlife Management Area

Now to the WESTERN half of North Dakota:

Menoken Indian Village SHS
North Dakota Heritage Center
McDowell Dam Recreation Area
Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park
Huff Indian Village SHS
Fort Rice SHS
Sitting Bull Gravesite
Standing Rock Reservation
Cannonball Stage SHS
Schnell Recreation Area
J. Clark Salyer National Wildlife Refuge
Upper Souris National Wildlife Refuge
Des Lac's National Wildlife Refuge
Lostwood National Wildlife Refuge
Upper Souris National Wildlife Refuge
Camp Lake National Wildlife Refuge
Audubon National Wildlife Refuge
Four Bears Memorial Park
Fort Berthold Reservation
Fort Stevenson State Park
Sakakawea State Park
David Thompson SHS
Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site
Fort Mandan Historic Site
Fort Clark SHS
Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center
Double Ditch Indian Village SHS
Menoken Indian Village SHS
North Dakota Heritage Center
Little Missouri State Primitive Park
Killdeer Mountain Battlefield SHS
Lake Ilo National Wildlife Refuge
The Enchanted Highway
Burning Coal Vein and Columnar Cedars (?)
White Butte - Highest Point in North Dakota - Elevation 3,506 ft
Fort Dilts SHS
Sullys Creek State Primitive Park
Chateau De Mores SHS
Camel Hump Dam
Theodore Roosevelt's Elkhorn Ranch
Missouri Yellowstone Confluence Interpretive Center Fort Buford SHS
Fort Union National Historic Site
Lewis and Clark State Park
Writing Rock SHS
Maah Daah Hey Trail (connecting the two Theodore Roosevelt National Parks)

But, hey, there's nowhere to go or anything to do in North Dakota... 

Who ARE the Indians?

Today, they are accurately called Native Americans - but I can't stop thinking of them as Indians because what would a cowboy be without an Indian to go along with him?  What would the Lone Ranger be without Tonto??

But, just to be sure we all get it, Native Americans are not all one people, using one language, nor do they live their lives the same way.  What Europeans discovered as they arrived and spread across the North American continent was that some Native Americans were gentle and receptive; other Native Americans would just as soon slit your throat as look at you.  The more intrusive Europeans became, the more negative the Indians would become.

In North Dakota, as I said in an earlier blog post, the Europeans found the Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara, and Chippewa, but also the group of Indians known as the Oceti Sakowin.  Individually you might recognize their names:  Lakota, Nokota, and Dakota - the great Sioux Nation!

Each of these tribes got to North Dakota by different routes and for different reasons:

Mandans - as early as the 1200's came here by traveling up the Missouri River.  (Wait a minute!  I thought the native Americans got here by crossing the land bridge between Russia and Alaska?  Oh. That was thousands of years ago.  By the 1200's they had spread across the North American continent to the east coast and were now in the process of migrating back toward the west.  And don't think of the United States yet - it didn't exist for another 500 years.  North America was, uh, north America, so mentally erase the U. S. Canadian border.) The Mandan were an agricultural based society living in fixed earthlodges.  Until the smallpox invaded they were receptive to Europeans.

Hidatsa - came to the Missouri River Valley from the east 2-300 years after the Mandans in three different groups (Awatixa, Awaxawi, Hidatsa Proper) .  The Awatixa passed the Mandan and settled upriver from them with the Hidatsa Proper coming a hundred years later.  They also lived in fixed villages and traded their crops with other tribes in the area.

Chippewa (or Ojibwa if you're in Canada) seems to have migrated west with the French fur traders.  They fought with the Sioux (using firearms from the French) for what is now Minnesota's (Land of 10,000 Lakes) abundant fur bearing animals for almost 100 years.  That's how the Lakota branch of the Sioux tribe became Plains Indians - the Chippewa pushed them south.  How bad were the battles between the Indian tribes?  They actually went to the American government in 1804 and asked THEM to establish tribal boundaries to end the warring!  The Chippewa were traders rather than hunters or crop growers for food, though when they also got pushed onto the Plains, they depended on the buffalo as much as the Lakota for so-o-o many of their daily needs.

The Great Sioux Nation - probably originated in North Carolina, moseyed west and ended up hundreds of years later in what we now know as Wisconsin and Minnesota.  (Hey!  John and I went across the river into Minnesota just last weekend to shop at Cabela's and see a movie!)  This is when the Sioux split into the Lakota, Nokota and Dakota.  As the Chippewa pushed the Lakota, the Lakota pushed the Cheyenne - farther west and south.

The Lakota both hunted game and grew crops, but were more into tent-camping than living in fixed housing.

A-l-l Native American tribal society was organized along family lines, relied on their elders to pass on their individual oral histories, were very spiritual, very flexible in that they had to adjust to new homelands as circumstances moved them geographically, and finally, they were all impacted by the white man's incursion on their lives and lands.  (But how was that different from the Chippewa incursion on the Sioux?)

Simply transitioning tribes from the east to the west changed their diet from wild rice, fish and forest game, to buffalo, and to access the buffalo the tribes had to become more nomadic, their lodges transitioned from permanent wigwams to moveable tipis, the canoe was given over to horses, breakable pottery gave way to skin pouches which were lighter, easier to pack, and essentially unbreakable, soft-soled moccasins were uncomfortable on the plains and so they evolved into hard-soled moccasins.

The endless flow of Europeans onto the North American continent literally overran the Native Americans, brought epidemic diseases and death, booze that was maybe as devastating, and ultimately forced Native Americans onto cramped reservations.  Those reservations still exist.  We have traveled through a couple of them during our travels; those reservations are not pretty places...

Dakota Jackpot !

For days and days I've searched for information on the history of North Dakota.  I've picked up some pieces and parts here and there.  I even searched for a book store here in Grand Forks.  I found a used book store in the mall (of all places) and the University of North Dakota campus bookstore.  Not much I could use in either place.  But today, today I hit the mother lode.  It's a awesome website: ndstudies.org.  It tells me the things I want to know - and me want more! 

I already told you that Varennes was the first white trader into the area. Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, Sieur de la Verendrye (1685 - 1749) was given all of the fur trade west of Montreal by the King of France. By 1738 he had reached the Mandan and Hidatsa villages on the Missouri river in what is now North Dakota. That was thirty years before the American Revolution!  The fur companies required their people to keep detailed records, so we have our first documentation of the tribes.  Can you imagine being born in the 1600's in France and ending up in the American West?!

Geographer David Thompson (1770 - 1857)  (that's from before the American Revolution to after the Civil War!  What a phenomenal time to live!!)  Thompson was the first to map the huge lands southwest of Hudson's Bay.  He began in 1797 when he was twenty-seven years old.  He became known as "the greatest practical land geographer of all time" because he not only drew maps but he kept journals, too.  Those journals weren't found until years after his death - and not published until after the turn of the century - 1916.  Mmm-mmm-mmm, how I'd like a copy of that!

Alexander Henry set up a permanent trading post at Pembina (which is two miles south of what is now the U.S.-Canadian border, and it exists to this day!) in 1801.  He journaled about the Chippewa , the Red River Valley, and the Hidatsa chief, Le Borgne.

In1804 we had the Lewis and Clark Expedition.  We all know about it and it's documentation.  It's interesting how many men on that expedition could read and write, and it seems that they all kept journals.  Besides Lewis and Clark, Charles Floyd, John Ordway, Patrick Gass, Joseph Whitehouse, and Robert Frazer all kept journals, and all but Frazer's were published.  (I want copies of them, too!)

Francis A. Chardon detailed daily life at Fort Clark, an American Fur Company outpost, between 1834 and 1839, including the dying words of the Mandan Chief, Four Bears, condemning white people for the treachery of disease that came with the white man.

Then came the great American Civil War and folks began to move west in search of healing and peace and escape...