Calling all ducks
November 25, 2006 at 10:01 pm | In People, Travel | Leave a Comment
It so happened we were rolling through Stuttgart, Arkansas on the same day as the World’s Championship Duck Calling Contest. Not being the type to pass on such an opportunity we joined the festivities. We first witnessed a duck retrieval demonstration involving some exceptionally well trained dogs. The dogs responded to whistles and hand motions to retrieve only the dummy specified by the hunter.
Next, we sat in on the duck calling contest. It was near impossible to differentiate between the contestants. Each contestant had 90 seconds to go through a set list of duck calls. Although all contestants sounded alike to our untrained ears, the judges somehow discerned the best from the worst. What is interesting is that the contest involves unique duck calls that are not the same as those used to attract ducks when hunting.
Kevin came away with a duck call of his own after a short lesson from a pro. Time will tell if he can attract the ducks or not.
Adam: We went to the water fowl exhibition (Where the dog tries to catch something but I think if he gets a plastic duck then he’s out) but mom thought that was the place where the worlds duck calling contest was so she wanted to watch to see what it was like then we went to the worlds duck calling contest. It was really really loud. Then we went back and saw a bull riding thing (It wasn’t real) Caleb and Dad went on it. And Kevin got the special duck whistle (Which is what they use to try to copy the ducks) He said that I could use it out side. My favorite thing was the duck whistle.
Caleb: Today we drove to the town of Stuttgart. According to the people here, if you’ve ever had rice from the USA it most likely came from Stuttgart. According to the same people (meaning the people who write brochures.) this place also has excellent hunting and fishing. We arrived in time for a festival of sorts in which dog trainers and duck callers show off their talent.
Picking cotton
November 24, 2006 at 8:37 pm | In History, Travel | Leave a Comment
Caleb: Today we visited the Plantation Agricultural Museum, basically about farming cotton and all the tools used in the process; they have tools for plowing, making furrows, fertilizing, planting, weeding, and there were no helpful tools for the picking phase so this proved to be the lengthiest stage of all. Black slaves are most often shown in the picking stage although they helped out with all the others. I mentioned there were no tools in the picking stage, that is not technically correct, actually the slaves did drag along long sacks with tar covered bottoms. (so the sacks did not wear out) There was also an impressive display of old machinery outside the museum.
Adam: We went to a cotton museum. I took pictures (It was my first time doing it at a museum) and Kevin did too. They grew a lot of cotton! (I liked taking pictures.) Than we went to the cotton gin.
Mom: I did want to mention that when we visited this museum in Scott, Arkansas, there were 2 very helpful ladies working there. They were Bev Long and Julie Bailey. So if anyone else goes there, I know they can depend on these women to give friendly, helpful advice. Thanks so much Bev and Julie!
College of the Ozarks
November 18, 2006 at 6:55 am | In Travel | Leave a CommentSarah: Mom remarked as we visited the College of the Ozarks campus of the positive environment. They had a small pond with a waterfall and ducks called ‘Honor Lake’, and the roads were named Opportunity Drive, Industrial Street, etc. The entrance way was called ‘The Gates of Opportunity’, and the college had been nicknamed ‘Hard Work U’. Mom explained how the students paid for their tuition by working, and it was a very intriguing idea to me.
We visited a mill where the students grind grain and sell the flour to raise money. There were two students there who were really helpful. One told us about the college and why she went there, and then showed us around the top floor of the mill building, which was for weaving. They had more than a dozen looms up there, and some baskets in the process of being made. I have always been interested in weaving, and it was cool to see the looms and different things you could make. They also had some bead jewelry the students had made. I have been into wire bead jewelry for a while, so it was cool to see the jewelry. They have around 80 different jobs you can do at C of O to pay for your tuition. All students work a minimum of 15 hours each week. Students also live on campus unless over 21, married, or living with your parents.
We left C of O intrigued and I know Kevin at least wanted to go to that college. I thought it looked like a good choice, but want to review my other choices first. Caleb says he doesn’t really see the point in going to a college. I guess we’ll see in a couple years. But for now I want to do some research. Oh, and if you want more info about C of O, their website is http://www.cofu.edu.
Visiting the Chisholm’s in Springfield, Missouri
November 16, 2006 at 11:38 am | In People | 3 Comments
This week was spent with our good friends the Chisholm’s. Dawn is a single homeschooling Mom who recently moved down from Washington just a few months ago. She and her five kids opened their home to us, shared meals, and enjoyed visiting and playing with one another. I doubt Dawn got much work done at her transcription business while we were there. It was great for our kids to have friends to play with and helped relieve some of their homesickness. We were able to park the bus at a nearby church but spent most of our time at the Chisholm household.
This stay also allowed us to get a few things fixed with the bus. I had a part for the furnace sent ahead to Dawn’s and had arranged for a new generator to be installed by a local RV repair shop. I was also able to visit the dentist and have a filling replaced that had fallen out two weeks ago.
It can be difficult attending to things while you’re always on the road. It was a great blessing to be able to spend some time in one place while also visiting our good friends.
George Washington Carver
November 12, 2006 at 9:20 am | In History, People | 1 Comment
“The finite mind of man can never grasp the mysteries of the infinite. It is the highest wisdom, as it is our great happiness, to accept our limitations, to use what we have, and leave the rest to God.” George Washington Carver
Editor: Carver’s story is one of inspiration. He overcame great obstacles to become a great man of influence. He was born into slavery and was rejected admission into colleges because of his race. Once he established his laboratories at the Tuskegee Institute, his services were greatly sought after. He declined salaries in excess of $100,000 (over $1M in today’s dollars) from the likes of Thomas Edison and Henry Ford. Although primarily known for his work with peanuts, his inventions also included numerous advancements in cosmetics, dyes, paints, and synthetics. His inventions for synthetic rubber helped solve a rubber crisis during WWI and is still in use today. He never personally profited from his inventions and died with little to his name other than his legacy. If you’re looking for a hero in today’s culture, George Washington Carver would be an excellent candidate.
Sarah: Carver was born in 1864 in Diamond, Missouri (where the national Monument is now) and was raised as a slave. He and his mother were stolen by outlaws and only George was recovered. He was raised by his mother’s owners, the Carvers. We saw the location of the cabin where Carver and his mother lived, the woods through which he roamed, and the stream from where he drew water to lug up the hill to the cabin. As he grew up he would search the woods and bring back plants for his secret garden in the woods. He had such a ‘green thumb’ that he became known as the plant doctor and when peoples’ plants were dying he would take them and tend them until they were green and flourishing again.
Carver was hungry for an education and left at the age of ten to attend a black school nearby. He went through high school in Minneapolis, Kansas, and did one year of college at Simpson College in Iowa. He did many sketches of plants and flowers, and his art teacher said he should be a botanist. He then enrolled in Iowa State College of Agricultural and Mechanic Arts and graduated with a degree in Botany and Agriculture. Most of the time when he was in school he would stay at a family’s house and earn money by doing laundry, chores, or teaching botany to some students. Then George got an invitation from Booker T. Washington to head the Tuskegee Institute’s agricultural department (in Alabama). He was 32.
When Carver arrived in Tuskegee, he had to construct a laboratory (which he did out of thrown-away bottles, wire, tubes, pots, etc.) since the only thing the agricultural department had was a barn, a cow, and some chickens.
Carver discovered that since farmers were mainly planting cotton they were depleting ‘nitrogen’ from the soil. He advised them to rotate their crops between peanuts and cotton, since peanuts would add nitrogen to the soil. This advice proved true, and as many farmers began to produce peanuts, the price for them dropped. To prevent farmers from switching back to cotton he began to explore the different ways in which peanuts could be used. He discovered over 300 uses. He also discovered 100 different uses for the sweet potato and the pecan. Out of these 500 different products, George only filed 3 patents. He credited all of his ideas to God. He said, “God gave them to me, so how can I sell them to someone else?” All of his inventions, products, ideas, and successes George Washington Carver gave the credit to the one who he served: God.
Oh, and Mom said she thought he should have tried to discover a use for the Osage orange.
“Selfishness and self are at the bottom of a lot of troubles in the world. So many people fail to realize that serving God and one’s fellow men are the only worthwhile things in life. It is service that counts.” George Washington Carver
Will Rogers
November 11, 2006 at 4:00 pm | In History, People, Travel | Leave a Comment[Claremore, Oklahoma] The Will Rogers Memorial Museum is a multimedia experience and focuses primarily on his prolific film career. You could spend hours watching his 71 movies in one of the side theatres. There are also individual displays focusing on events such as the plane crash in Alaska that ended his life at the age of 55.
He grew up in Indian Territory before Oklahoma had become a state. His career in entertainment started as a trick roper where he performed tricks that have never been replicated. If you see nothing else in the museum, don’t miss the film of his rope tricks. He was able to throw three separate lassos around the rider, the horse’s neck, and all four legs of a running horse.
What furthered his career was his running commentary as he performed his rope tricks. Over time he progressed into a humorist, radio commentator, film star, syndicated newspaper columnist, and author. He befriended six presidents and was invited to speak during Hoover’s presidential address to the nation during the Great Depression.
His popularity came from his humble attitude and his ability to espouse insightful common wisdom with a humorous but inoffensive manner.
Five Civilized Tribes
November 10, 2006 at 9:04 am | In History, Travel | Leave a Comment[Muskogee, Oklahoma] This is a great museum for understanding how the U.S. treated the Indians residing east of the Mississippi. During Andrew Jackson’s presidency, Congress approved the Indian Removal Act of 1830. This self-sanctioned the US Government to move Indian tribes off their native land to Indian Territory (what became Oklahoma). Tribes moved to Oklahoma included the Cherokees, Chickasaws, Choctaws, Creeks, and Seminoles. Some interesting facts include:
The Cherokees had their own nation that included an elected house of representative and senate. Nonetheless, they were treated like any less civilized tribe.
The Seminoles moved to Florida in the 1700’s to avoid slave traders. They later provided a refuge for Negro slaves in the 1800’s. Andrew Jackson used this as justification for sending troops to subdue the Seminoles and acquire their land.
The US Government forcefully marched the Indians to the reservations resulting in many deaths during the journey. This is known as the Trail of Tears.
The tribes also made use of black slaves, and there were also free blacks who lived with the Indians. Black’s rights as Indian citizens varied from tribe to tribe. However, after the Civil War, all blacks received tribal citizenship.
The government later took back portions of the reservations and then gave that land to European settlers. This resulted in the land rush of the 1890’s.
It is not difficult to be appalled by the actions of the US during this time in history. The only redeeming fact was that all Indians and Freedmen were given individual allotments of land when Oklahoma became the 47th state in 1907. Oklahoma was the only state where slaves became land owners.
Oklahoma cowboys
November 8, 2006 at 8:54 am | In Travel | Leave a CommentWhile in Oklahoma City we visited the Oklahoma City Memorial (the federal building bombing by Timothy McVeigh), National Cowboy Museum, and the Oklahoma National Stockyards.
The destruction from the Timothy McVeigh bombing was immense. Being there in person made me realize how extensive the damage was to lives and property. It helps one to realize how vulnerable we are to acts of terrorism.
The National Cowboy Museum is a elegant building containing outstanding cowboy art including sculptures, paintings, and leather items that you’d never put on your horse. It includes sections for art, western movie history, and an overview of rodeo stars and events. It had little in the way of our true western heritage and so did not compare to the museums we’d seen on Lewis & Clark, the Plain Indians, U.S. expansionism, etc. Personally, I’d label it a glamour art museum (no offense to CM Russell); but I did enjoy the rodeo section.
The stockyards are a stark contrast to the cowboy museum. No glamour here! The tours are self-guided now – you wander where you please as long as you don’t end up down with the cattle. There’s a long high catwalk over the hundreds of cattle pens that takes you to one of the auction rooms. It’s rickety, just wide enough for two people to pass, and you already know what it smells like. In the auction room I almost bought a bull when I scratched my face. A bidder may move their hand only a fraction and a typical bid will go back and forth and be over in about 15 seconds. I can’t imagine the thousands of cattle they run through in a day. We were only there for a quarter hour and I was in a hypnotic state by the end. It’s an antiquated system that still works today and keeps the auctioneers employed. Cowboy hats and an Oklahoma drawl are part of the dress code. Some of the cattle rounders still ride horses. If you want to see the cowboy of today, skip the Cowboy Museum and visit the stockyards.
RV troubles at Arcadia Lake
November 6, 2006 at 8:44 am | In Bus, Travel | Leave a CommentWhile in Oklahoma City, both our furnace and our generator went on the fritz. The two should be unrelated since one is AC and the other DC current. Is this just a coincidence? My best guess is a short in the generator caused feedback through the inverter and blew the circuit board on the furnace. For the time being we’ve moved from Wal-Mart to a campground at Arcadia Lake so we can plug in. We can still heat the bus using heat strips built in to the air conditioners though they’re not effective if it gets much below 45 degrees. I’m spending time getting faxes from PacWest RV in Sultan, WA and troubleshooting components on the generator and furnace while checking on parts in the local RV shops.
Cannot complain too much as Arcadia Lake has a beautiful campground. We’ve been able to fish in the lake, play on the beach, and setup the badminton net. The water is too cold for wading any further than the kneecaps but the weather is warm in between a few rain storms. Citizens are celebrating the rain as they’re suffering a bad drought here.
Kevin is eleven!
November 4, 2006 at 2:08 pm | In People | Leave a Comment
Caleb: Today Kevin celebrated his birthday! We woke up to a breakfast of sausages and eggs which was cooked by our beloved father (who by the way is giving me an hour of computer time for every blog entry posted.) Did I mention that Dad’s also handsome? After breakfast we had a drawing contest, I was the judge since my artistic skills have never gone beyond stickmen (although I have probably taken stickmen to a whole new level of art!) Kevin won first place with a battle scene, Adam came in second with a jungle drawing, Mom was 3rd with a skiing scene, and Sarah 4th with a pictorial landscape and Dad was 5th with a Jackalope. After some more family games we went to Pizza Hut (guess what we ate!) Kevin unwrapped some of his presents and then we went rollerblading. Since I’m what you could call a “less than average rollerblader” I just took pictures, then back home to the bus where we had a coconut (after drilling and bashing it open.) We ate a delicious dinner of salmon cooked by our incredible chef Dad. We watched Chicken Little and unwrapped the rest of Kevin’s birthday presents, at the end we had a coconut cake to complement the day.
Adam: We had breakfast which was sausage and orange juice and eggs for Kevin’s birthday. Then we had a drawing contest. Caleb was the judge. I got 2ent place. We took showers. Then we played blink. Have you herd about it? After that we went to pizza hut. Then we went to a rollerblading place. My favorite thing was the drawing contest.
[Editor: Every aspect of Kevin's birthday from the schedule to the food was planned in advanced by the birthday boy himself. I would lable him as type A.]
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