people I have known

[beags]

lovin the stories. . . but then again you know that.

Song bird still has her gift and uses it daily.

(I believe it has helped her plenty this year being away from home and all . .. I don't know how to explain it, but it comforts her.)

[doodlebug]

I had to wait another two hours to talk to Anna. When I did, she told me to not look so concerned as the getting married wasn't a hasty decision. She also said she knew success was probably a 50/50 chance but that Indians are gamblers from birth.She felt comfortable going to his mothers place and felt there was a need for her over there anyway. She would stay busy and have the chance to learn from those people,too."Abe also has a job ,working with his Uncle on his farm."
Still, I had a sinking feeling.
After we ate some spaghetti and fry bread and drank another gallon of coffee there was a "doctoring" session for anyone with problems and then a nice campfire to sit around. WE had some songs and drumming for quite a while.After it quietened down I heard,for the first time,the story of fire and the grandfathers from an Old man named Louis.

[doodlebug]

rubberband man. No I haven't. But I can tell you it is a tribe and totally accepted as such by every Indian I know.They think we're all crazy to NOT believe.The thing is ,they are shape shifters and will never be caught. There are many loggers here who have seen them,took pics of tracks etc. But,since no one can catch or shoot one they remain a mystery. I havesome very good friends that told me that two came in a sweatlodge with them and sat down.They sang along with two songs,both in different languages. No, no one was high.Knowing them well, I can think of no reason to think they were pulling my leg. Also,an old Makah man told me that when he was just a kid there was a meeting place,called a long house that belonged to the "Sie-akos"(his tribes name for them) about two miles from my house. He said the forest service burned it down in 1960s.

[doodlebug]

Three years ago(I think it was) my son was in the Mount Saint Helens watershed area looking for shed elk horns.The weather got crappy for a while and he took a break under a small fir tree on a rise.When he got up there he found an oval shaped bough bed on the ground with the limbs woven together. It was approx.9' in length.The wild thing about it,other than it was obviously woven instead of just scatted randomly was the limbs had been pulled straight OUT of the tree.Not broken off. There is no human that has that kind of strength. He said he had that feeling you get when you're being watched by a cougar ( and if you ever have you know what I mean)and down the hill from him an elk was standing dead still giving the alarm cry. He was convinced a squatch had made it and he had spooked it out of it's bed. He searched for hair for over two hours but came up empty handed. This guy has spent the last few years living in the mountains,as in IN the mountains in caves and lean-tos.He can read sign as well as anyone I know.It is not uncommon to hear "woot- woot"sounds out there and there is no critter here that makes that sound.
Just thought I'd throw that in as he just came by to visit and we had opened the bigfoot discussion.

[Jaguar]

Absolutely intriguing. Namaste doods, thanks for the telling. I'm learning a lot and I thank you for that.

[doodlebug]

We were sitting around a nice fire enjoying the night when Old man Louis started talking to a young kid sitting next to him.Everyone was kinda talking and laughing so it was rather noisy.Somehow Louis' voice came across the fire to me like he was the only person talking. I didn't think about it at the moment, but later it was kinda cool to me that it happened like that.He had asked the boy if he knew about the time before fire. The kid said he didn't so Louis began telling him this old story:"Long time ago, none of us had fire. The people ate their food raw and often got very cold in the winter months. They complained to Creator so much that the Thunders were sent to see what all the noise was about along the rivers. The Thunders asked the head man what seemed to be the trouble.' We are tired of being cold and our food is raw' replied this man.The Thunders said,"Oh,well here then." They sent some lightning and made a fire. Right away the people were happy and began to cook some elk and they baked salmon on sticks before the flames. Everyone became full of good food and taking some coals into the lodges, were more warm than they had ever been beneath the heavy robes. Soon however the fire became hungry and began eating.Fire ate trees and berry bushes and all of the game .The trees fell into the rivers as they burned and the salmon could no longer come to give themselves to the people. Then the people began to starve.There was no game to hunt and no food to gather in any direction.Their situation became very bad so they all began to cry."Thunders! We starve. Your gift has eaten everything!" They continued to cry out until the Thunders had to come to see "what is wrong now?" The headman explained what had happened. "we piled some large logs around that fire but the fire ate those and continued eating.Now you can see the damage done!" The Thunders felt sad seeing the mothers crying for their starving children and because they had caring feelings for the people they sent a lot of rain and put out all of the fire. The waters rose and washed the streams and rivers clean so the fish could return. The plants began to grow and the animals returned finding food once again in the mountains and in the grasslands. The people thanked the Thunders for their mercy . It wasn't long though before the people were again unhappy eating their food raw and uncomfortable in their lodges with no fire against the winter cold. The head man cried out once again to Creator over and over until the Thunders came and asked again,"what the heck is wrong with you people?" The head man told them,"we are tired of raw food and our homes are quite uncomfortable. Can we have the fire back and this time will you teach us to keep the fire from eating the Earth?" Thunders said,"oh! Well, here.This will do." They gave the people the Grandfathers.The rocks.They said "these Grandfathers will keep the fire. They will not be eaten by fire and if you show your respect for them, you will be warm and your food can be cooked without threat." Since that time we know that the Grandfathers will protect us like no other and this is why we include these Grandfathers in our ceremonies and give them the place of honor in our homes. When I hear the Thunder I remember to thank them for the fire and for our Grandfathers."
Among my friends you will always see the respect for the rocks and the Spirit of the rocks. They all call them Grandfathers. Grandfathers are not taken for granted I guess you would say. After a sweat it is the custom to put your Grandfathers back into the stream or River so that they can drink and regenerate.

[doodlebug]

I didn't want that particular camp to end. I met several people there that have become wonderful,true friends. It was like having some new family added to my world. I began to share Annas excitement over a new life but hated to see her go so far away. When we parted I gave her and Mad Dog a nice blanket for their new home and she gave me a small elk skin bag that was beautifully beaded that held a small stone that she had carried since she was very young. Her words were simply"Keep me in your prayers,Uncle." and for the first time she said "I love you guys" when we shook hands.

[doodlebug]

The newly weds moved into a "nice" house with Abes Uncle,a widower. Not only did he farm on a small scale but fished walleye commercially and harvested wild rice for a living. The men stayed busy and Anna began' "learning the languages"' of the cows,chickens and pigs. It was all new to her. She learned gestation periods and nutrition and what she could use to treat them when they were sick.She spent time at the elders center when she could, to make the learning easier. Her energy was way up there and she became quite the hit amongst the people. A challenge she embraced was learning the language so she could grasp the '"inside of things."' She called at least once a month and was usually just bubbly like a kid at Disney land.She said Abe was doing well and after he got use to the pace of the life trying to keep up with his Uncle had begun to be a very different man. A man she knew she could love forever. Her own flock of chickens grew and she had two bull calves she was raising that a local dairy farmer had given her as payment for her helping him with a mastidous problem within his herd. He taught her to cut calves to make steers. After rice harvest they threw a feast for the young men that showed up to help them get their firewood in for winter. After Christmas of '92 I heard nothing until almost April except for a recipe that she mailed to the wife for making Zuccini bread.We were very busy ourselves and I tried to just not worry.

[doodlebug]

The end of March Anna finally called and talked my ear almost off. She said she had waited so long because she was doing just that.Waiting. Abe had wandered off the day after New Years to help a friend and his group of guys build a "quick shed." They were to cut some small logs from behind the Bingo Hall that had to be taken out to expand the hall to accommodate dances.Abe's friend was known to be a heavy drinker and Uncle was worried from the get go. He called that group of fellows the "Wino Warriors." He recruited two other older men who planned on supervising the log structure as the young men didn't have a clue when it came to "know how". He figured they'd keep an eye on the doings. The third day into it, all of the old men gave up trying. It was a big party and when the guns came out and people were shooting cans off of each others head with an old single shot .22 they decided it was warmer in the house back home. Uncle never said a word to Anna about that but she felt something wasn't going well if only from his haggard face. She said she decided right then that she wouldn't interfere with her mans plans and would put him out of her thoughts. She started fixing breakfast for the kids that showed up for breakfast at the school.

[doodlebug]

In the school kitchen Anna found the food was not really such a great breakfast with the dried egg substitute, imitation dried milk,and buggy pancake mixes. She said she thought about it for a couple of days.Then she went over to the casino and got an audience with the head man in charge. She said I just told him,"I'm no beggar but you're taking all the money like a "wasichu"(one who takes the fat and leaves nothing for the rest.a term usually reserved for White men.) and the children go hungry and have poor winter coats. I want a simple five thousand dollars a month for them and coats enough to clothe every student." There wasn't an argument and an agreement was made by a man who didn't really know what had hit him. Next she went to the ladies bingo game and the quilters association and drafted women to sew good old time mittens and scarves and wool sock hats. Within two weeks more kids were showing up and she had arranged cultural arts classes for anyone wanting them. All of a sudden she was so busy she didn't have time for worry or anything else.
So, time passed and towards the end of March Abe came walking down the road to the house half froze up and very rough looking. Anna watched him approach and tried to think what she'd say. She said "I thought I knew until I actually saw him." Uncle had spotted him too and went out to meet him.Abe turned and went into the milk barn and soon smoke was coming from the chimney out there. Uncle came in and got clean Levis,socks etc. and Abe's "nice pearl button snap cowboy shirt" and walked back to the milk barn without so much as a word.
Anna worked at the stove finishing up the meal she was preparing.

[doodlebug]

After an hour and a half had passed Anna saw Abe headed to the house. He was looking at the ground. Walking through the door he hung his hat on the peg and walked over to the fireplace.Turning around he said,"Anna,I'm sorry. I didn't mean to worry you." Anna said she smiled as big as she could and told him"I wasn't worried.You belong to Spirit first.Where's your horse?" He grinned and said "I left it safely parked in the ditch by the fireworks stand." They ate in silence and when he was done he went and sat on the floor by the fire. Anna watched him as he slowly slumped over and fell asleep. She covered him with a blanket,finished doing the dishes and putting things away."I walked out on the porch, had a smoke and said my prayers. "My last words were thank you Creator though I wasn't sure for what exactly,then I went inside and lay down beside Abe and watched the coals change colors over his shoulder."Then she told me she felt confident that Abe was the right choice for her and she was happy. I told her I hoped the Spring would come soon and "stay in touch." "oh, and give Abe our love."

[doodlebug]

summer of '91 and I was ready for a good camp. For the first time we got it worked out to allow us to do it right. We got a nice spot that was only 12 miles from town and three of us took turns keeping the Antique shop open.The rest of us with a few of my grandchildren taking turns being in camp for a few days each.We timed it perfect so several groups of people passing through on their way to do ceremonies and pow wows could stop in. We kept a large tent well equipped so it was easy for anyone to come up without having to load all of their gear.
The only sketchy thing going on was the bears. While we didn't have any in camp ,yet we had been uneasy at night hearing them up the hill from us every night. Just a bunch of unusual grunts and vocal racket you don't normally hear. We kept the food out of reach and were careful that none of the kids snuck food into the tents.
Anna,Abe and a few friends stopped in right after Sun dance down in Oregon on their way to a large camp that was preparing for "canoe journey" After that it was back to Minnesota.
Abe had "pierced" but Anna had not given any pledge flesh. She had been working with a meth addict who had had a real problem with mersa and Anna didn't want any openings in her skin if she could avoid it. She had tried to talk Abe into waiting for next year just because of the danger. He wasn't worried.She said he had really surprised her in his dedication to learning his own peoples ways on a spiritual level he had never gotten that far into before his first Sun dance. She was very pleased with how things were going. They had been comfortable enough"for a damn injun" she said.We all laughed at that. She had even splurged on a wheel cover for the van that was a picture of some famous Chiefs with the words "fighting terrorism since 1492."on it. Abe was real happy about that.He was finding a balance at last. He still had a militant mind in one way but had finally connected the WHY of it all on a Spiritual level.All I mean by that is while he was willing to sacrifice his life before as a warrior, now he would do it with love in his heart for his relations instead of hate for the white folks. That does make a difference I've noticed in other friends.

[doodlebug]

I told Anna about the bears and how it was starting to bother me to a point of distraction. She immediately got up and got some dried salmon out of her rig and asked me where my huckleberry jam was. I got her some jam. She took a piece of Fir bark and poured the jam on it and placed salmon on it. Then she said "come on". we walked up from camp about 200 yards. She sat the "plate" of food on the ground. Then she started singing. She sang for a god half an hour straight. The same song ,over and over. Then she stopped and called out"Cousin, I hope you liked the song. There is food here for you. Please let the humans down there rest. Thank you. All my relations." We walked back to camp and she said they won't bother you now. We never heard the bears again.The camp stayed set up 73 days.

[doodlebug]

if I had any sense I would probably not tell some things.But I have to admit Anna sorta got irritated or maybe impatient with me. She asked me if I was EVER going to get it? I'm all like WHAT?? She said the others on this Earth are your cousins and uncles and aunts and grandfathers and you still view them as something other than that. They are strangers more or less. And look, you are the newcomer. Aren't you? Let's face it,you don't know shit. Their dumbest are ahead of you. They learned to live a long time ago. We humans have mostly forgotten and we require money and stores or we starve.
Start with speaking to them.You may not understand their talk yet but they understand in their own way what you are saying. Sometimes they will help you. Sometimes they'll want your help. That is how it is. They could feed you today and you may feed them tomorrow. It is Creator who decides these things. Then she smiled and says,"Uncle,will you at least try?" After sorta swallowing some pride realizing how very right this "kid" was, I smiled back and said" I'll try." And I have. I can no longer walk into the outside without noticing the cousins.I recognize them and they are always willing to tolerate me as well.I have found that one can far surpass any of their own expectations simply keeping your mouth shut and sitting with the things around you. Maybe that is robins in the park or mice in the garage but everyone has something to teach you.I don't get along with certain animals but that is because of my restraints on THEIR behavior or I move into the middle of their living room. I don't have butterflies and love birds circling my head beneath a rainbow singing joyfully along but I do have good visits on a nicer level than when I wasn't listening. I do have huge bursts of "it's gonna be alrights" when an Eagle flies over my head or a chickadee follows me around chattering about this and that.

[doodlebug]

After Anna and Abe left that time I thought it would be a while before we saw them again. A week later they showed up with a big sack of fresh oysters and she showed me how to eat them. set them in the ashes until they pop open. they're ready.Oh my! Yummy!! dip them in butter and garlic or just straight up slurp them down. They had had a good visit at Muckleshoot and she was gifted with a set of red tailed hawk tail feathers she would hang from a staff she'd make back home for the women's society she was now associated with. That made her heart light and she was very giggly over the slightest thing. We got her tickled with the corniest of remarks.I'd tell her an old joke I know she'd heared before and she'd laugh like it was the first time she heard it. Indians find the most humor in everyday things and remarks about them. Once I was sitting with four older gals who were selling bead work at a market outside of a pow wow. We'd been visiting for a while when one lady says"Doesn't that man over there remind you of old Billy Coyote from out at White Swan?" The next lady says" That was pretty funny about him." And they all laughed at a joke that was a private thing apparently. I decided to be a little rude and asked " Billy Coyote?" The first lady says"Yeah, he chased the women all the time..you know..tee pee creeping...so we all called him a Coyote." then she started laughing as did the other women.Then she said"Sure enough,he moved out on the satus and stayed there." HA HA HA. I still didn't see the funny of it all but then later I saw that they thought between his behavior and their calling him coyote for years, he did turn into one. The Satus is a dry, barren area leading up to Mount Adams from the North, notoriously desolate but supports a large coyote population.

[doodlebug]

We harvested some Prince's Pine( pipsisewa) for her to take home and I helped her get some cedar bark for baskets. Getting cedar was ,for me,a real treat. I learned how much cedar has to give. Cedar has been a good friend and helper ever since that day.I have hats,belts and head bands made from cedar bark that are prized posses ions.I learned to prepare the bark and to weave baskets though right now I cannot for the life of me remember how to do the top"finishing" weave. All I have to do is ask some one but as I'm not making a basket there's no point in asking until I am. I'd just forget. In this area,years ago, most clothing was made from cedar. Capes,aprons, skirts,hats , shoes and belts. Master weavers.There are plenty of people that remember and quite a few making hats and baskets. Some make capes for the canoe paddlers.

[doodlebug]

The cedar is "western red cedar" I clarify for the easterners who have aromatic cedars. These trees grow hundreds of feet tall. 800 year old trees are not unusual. For baskets you find a tree with no branches for the first 100 feet or so. You chop a slit in the bark and work the blade under the second layer. Then you pry this out until you can get a hand full. then with a strong jerk you pull up and it will skin the bark a long ways up and rip off. This you have to then work until you separate inner bark from outer.You soak this ,usually in the sun for a few hours to remove some pitch. let it dry and roll into rolls until you are ready to use it.

[doodlebug]

Anna and Abe left and it was fall before we had much contact. Abe got a little crazy on a tractor during harvest and got injured pretty bad. Anna had him to doctor and his part of the work to do. She called hoping we could help her locate Ruben to send him over to help. Finding him was easy enough. He was in Yakima County Jail. He had "found" a car that some one was missing pretty bad. I did however locate a friend of Crazy Marys that lived in Minnesota already and was trustworthy enough to send over. They got the wild rice harvested and the fire wood in. Abe fought infection and came close to losing a foot. I believe without Anna's medicine he would have. He was finally back up right before Christmas. They got things set up so they could come to Washington and Oregon to visit a week after News year. She brought us a nice bag of rice and some canned fish from red Lake. I had her a supply of Prince's Pine and a nice stash of comphrey and a few jars of plantain ointment to use with her young kids at school.Simon had left us several long smudge sticks of white sage and we shared that.All in all we had a wonderful visit and it was a bright spot in the middle of the winter blues. I told her we'd try to get over to their place in early Spring before tourist season started. I had never been to that area and was looking forward to it.
We never made that trip. AT the end of April Abe left us all behind. For a long time Anna did too. The call went something like this: "Abe went like he always hoped he would." I said"HUH??"
"He died a hero." I was floored. She was real quiet and I thought our connection was gone. Then She said "He had joined the local fire department.He disobeyed orders and went into a burning house. Then he went back. Two kids he pulled out. He went back in for the mother who was laying on the floor. The ceiling fell in on them."
what does one say with that news handed them? My heart was breaking in two and I was speechless. I had to hand the phone to the wife.When I gathered my brain cells back into a usable order I asked if she wanted me to come over.When I offered I had no idea how I could do that but it didn't matter anyway because she said "I won't be here."
"where ya gonna be?"
"I'm not sure."" Somewhere I can think"
"Keep me informed, Anna. Please."
"Uncle,this is more than I bargained for when I let myself get surrounded by love."
I don't remember much after that. We were thrown into a circlin' gale of wind in our minds and being the worrying champion of the world I was slipping into a bad place. It didn't help that there was no word from Anna. Uncle would answer the phone and just say "I don't know where she's off to." I guessed Warm Springs but no one had heard from her.I called Arizona,California,Hood River and Celilo.I finally came to a place of peace after a little dream that ended with her saying"I'm fine."

[doodlebug]

the spotted owl is apparently very important. to "save" this owl the govt. closed our economy down. Even today there is a new plan to shoot other species of owls to assure the spotted owl isn't run out of the country. Makes sense to some one. the timber industry took the first hit. long story Short our three shifts of lumber making turned into one then the mill closed completely. Men who work in the Woods mostly moved and took their families with them of course which led to our schools closing.The forest service which employed a lot of full timers and over200 summer temps. closed and they sold the facilities. At the same time the Mount Saint Helens tourist industry closed as it had had it's day. So this little burg became as close to a ghost town as you can get. I had to get out of the antique store.I tried getting back into carpentering but no one here was building anything. I was however addicted to the life of the mountains and had no plan to ever leave. So I adjusted to what ever was left to do. I cooked at a couple of restaurants, spent two six month stints living in a camp ground that the forest service leased to private corp and worked for a Friend doing the maintenance and all the janitor work for his bar/restaurant/hotel.

[doodlebug]

The second summer I was living in the Rangers house at La Wis Wis campground was when Anna showed up. She had asked around Packwood and found out where I was. She came in with a couple of other ladies and we set them up a camp close to the cabin. Around a fire I heard her story. She said she had followed Abes Spirit into the dry country of Arizona for the first winter. She stayed away from people and got to know the life of that strange country. Once again the Coyote became her comfort and taught her things to eat and places to find water.She learned the song of the hummingbird there and came "that close" to grasping flight. When winter ended she wandered into the Selway/Bitteroot wilderness area between Idaho and Montana. She found places where other spirits meet and had great and informative discussions and best of all ,a path for Abe to cross all the way over. While this brought on a temporary loneliness she felt his relief. She stayed there ,living in a cave and found ways to doctor the animals she shared the Earth with there. I was curious as to many aspects of just staying alive.She learned if you stay away from heat you get to a place of not needing it as much. She was careful to never get too artificially warm.Her shelter beneath the surface was enough to keep her comfortable and the only time she felt cold was after being around fire for more than long enough to use it for cooking the few things she did cook. Over all she said memory of much of that time was lost to her. She knew it was time to leave when a group of Nez Perce came through on horseback in late Spring. She got the longing to rejoin the humans.She followed them out,staying at a distance until they crossed the Lolo trail and were dropping into Whitebird canyon.There,they disappeared into thin air. She said that made her laugh pretty hard cause "what fool runs around following Ghost people anyway??"
Her plan now was to go to Hawaii with these women she traveled with.They were part of a "weavers exchange" A program some one cooked up where women from different cultures and countries visited each other and learned techniques of weaving and the different materials they used.They was representing weavers of cedar and mountain goat hair. As soon as they got to Seattle they'd be flying out of Seatac and a group from Hawaii would land over here and be housed at Nisqually for two weeks. It all sounded great to me and I tried to imagine her running around on the beaches in grass skirts eating coconuts!
We had a wonderful visit, though I have to admit I wondered at an odd look in her eye I'd not seen in her before now. Like a person that's been "some place "different and didn't bring all of herself back.I've seen it in men from the Viet Nam war and a couple of Army rangers that were in the Granada battles. Hard to explain.
We parted and three weeks later I got a package from Hawaii that contained a "purification salt" that the natives get from some ancient Sacred caves on the sea, with instructions as to use. When the ladies returned to the mainland Anna stayed behind.She simply disappeared again but left a note saying" I'll catch up later.Goodbye." All I could get from our Friends at Nisqually was "You know, that girl was fascinated with the sea life."
A bunch of years have now gone by and I expect to see her one of these days. Maybe flying. I just don't know.

[doodlebug]

Uncle Garland wasn't my uncle.He was an uncle though and from Yellville, Arkansas to Alaska many people knew him that way .I met him in Sunnyside ,Washington at an auction.I was bidding on a Springfield .45-70.It was in the middle of my "nez Perce" stage. I was very much engrossed in the Nez Perce War. This Springfield and the original "Spade bayonet" played a large role in the Indian wars.All I really wanted to do was buy it,go shoot it and then resell it.Simple enough plan. It had gotten down to myself and one other man. Garland stepped around a guy behind me and came close and said"You're bidding against a shill." I didn't even look to see what this man had said to me,I just quit bidding.They got no other bids and the shill who was working for the owner of the weapon was stuck with it.So, the owner had to pay the commission to the auctioneer plus still had his rifle. As for me, I had really gone over it's worth as it was. That was the only item I was interested in so left the building. Garland is in the parking lot standing next to my pick up smiling. As I walked up he laughed and told me "that gun owner is mad at me but he can't say anything without looking like a crook. Now THAT is funny. So, when are you coming down to our place. We don't live 2 miles apart,you play guitar and I play fiddle." WE talked a while and After he told me where he lived things made sense.He drove past my house every day.He knew I played guitar because he saw my brother and I out in the grass playing one day. Then he did a bunch of asking around until he figured we should meet.Two things were the deciding factors. One,the guitar. Two ,he found out I could carve spoons having looked at a couple over at the LaPiere place.
Garland was a fan of what is termed "old time fiddle" music.He had been building and repairing fiddles his whole life.In the Ozarks he use to make them from wooden cigar boxes and banjos out of ground hog hides on oak rims.At the point he had reached in his life his only real need was to find someone to pass on the trade to and all the many tricks he learned by trial and error. His only son built instruments, but on a different level,l plus he was impossible to be around and they rarely saw each other. Dave was the most possessed perfectionist I ever met and I hope I never have to talk to anther. You CAN take things too far.
Anyway, Garland also taught a couple of generations of valley residents to play fiddle. He had his own technique and had short tests before you started to see if it was really something you'd be able to do. Some folks just can't play a fiddle.Others have learned to play with their feet having no arms. Garland could tell. The beauty of his teaching skill was he allowed a person to make a mistake,offered "here's another way,if yours doesn't work" ideas without making you feel stupid.
After our first visit I was more than eager to learn from this guy just because I saw his shop and his work. Living that close also made it a simple thing to do and I could take the whole family or just the wife over with me and everyone felt welcome and had as good of a time as you would in your grandmas house. We ate together,played cards till midnight and turned little piles of crushed fiddles into wonderful instruments. I met a lot of people at his table and found out some of my friends had known him all their life.
Humor was his drug. He had something to say about most situations that showed you the humorous side of what was going on.He simply was tuned in to look for it. you most often find what you're looking for if you look for it. Sounded simple to me. I still forget though.
He believed that everyone has there spot. If he needed something fixed on a car,it went to a mechanic. He didn't try to buy legal help from the barber. He fixed fiddles.

[doodlebug]

Uncle Garland got me addicted to fiddle repair before I even knew it.True to his way the first fiddle he sent me home to work on was a 1920s Villaume, a french made violin and pretty rare. The top of some are shaped different than say a strat style.my job was to take the top off ,remove the sound bar and make another out of air dried spruce. The shape of this piece was complicated. I was to also remove some material from four areas of the top. Looking at it with a light behind it he wanted to see kinda like a butterfly of light. For a first project it wouldn't make sense to most. He had already decided I would do it right. He had more faith than I. I removed the top without damaging anything including the finish.I spent a lot of time making the bar to be glued into lace and removed what I hoped was enough wood. I got the piece glued in and was feeling pretty dog gone proud. before putting the top back on I took it to Garlands house for viewing. He looked it over and showed off my work to Edna.They both thought the shaped piece was perfect. Then He said,"I've never seen it done like that but it might work."he said it like he meant it. I asked him what he was talking about. He told me the grain of the spruce was "sideways" instead of running "with" the grain of the fiddle top. I had given no thought to that. SO, I take it home ,removed it and started carving another ,this time with the grain turned proper.In the end it sounded like a totally different instrument and he was happy. He insisted I make a paper label to glue inside with rebuilt date and signature. After that though,we discussed my approach to a job and he would make the same remark if I was going to make things bad for myself or the fiddle." Maybe it'll work better that way." I knew he had tried it before and it didn't work out. His opinion was based on his experience,having made a million mistakes. That is part of being self taught.

[doodlebug]

time spent around him was full of stories,mostly funny things that he'd seen or experienced, many as a child growing up in the great depression.That time in history shaped his ideas in many ways. He didn't trust banks and buried his money in the ground. He always had a lot of food,mostly canned ,dried or smoked.He dried large burlap potato sacks full of dried apricots.He stored potato's and carrots and cabbage in the root cellar. He composted and had more worms there than any I ever saw.He had a good little business selling fishin'worms.He did a lot of trading. He traded for eggs and raw milk as he couldn't handle how a milk cow made you stay home too much and chickens we too much trouble in the long run. His gardens were huge though and he loved to wander around in it whistlin' fiddle tunes.

[NancysSummerSip]

I feel better now. I got caught up to Doodlebug's story.

I would love to turn this into a book. What an amazing thing this is.

[doodlebug]

Garland had a brother a couple of years older named Frank. When they were 9 and 11the depression was on. People in Arkansas were leaving their farms and wandering west looking for work in the orchards,hops and sugar beet farms of Washington. They were losing their farms and houses.One day a neighbor came over to Garlands parents place and told him and Frank they were leaving.He ran his hogs in the woods like everyone else so they could forage on acorns and he had rounded his sows and the young ones up but never could catch his big boar.He said they were welcome to hunt him down and harvest the meat which they could sell at the local store.This was a gold mine for the boys if they could do it. They traded some eggs for a few .22 shells from the man that ran the store and a promise to bring the meat to him if they got it.

[doodlebug]

It was fall and every day after school they came home ,changed out of their good overalls,got their little squirrel dog, Lucy, and went hunting the boar. Several times they got on his trail but he managed to escape as he knew every holler and hill around. Frank carried the rifle cause he was the oldest.Finally, after a couple of weeks of races with the boar Lucy ran him up a high hill that they knew ended in a sheer limestone cliff face. Now he was trapped and couldn't possibly get by them unseen. Garland said he could practicaly smell the bacon in the pan. When they reached the top with Lucy in front barking to beat the band, they discovered they didn't have the boar cornered. It was instead,a black bear.As soon as the bear saw his "perdicament" and the two boys he charged back at the boys, slapping Lucy out of his way. He ran right over the top of Garland and he and the bear went tumbling down the oak leaf hillside all tangled together, both trying their damdest to get away from the other. When they hit the bottom, the bear ran off leaving Garland sitting in a heap. When Frank got to Garland,he looked up at Frank and screamed at him."why didn't you shoot? You have the gun!" Frank said" heck, I coulda hit the bear or I mighta hit you!" Garland told him" It wouldn'ta mattered which,we were both needing help!"

[Deleted]

Doodlebug: publish! Oh, please, please publish this. It's not just a story; it's a collection of great stories.

[ՏՇԾԵԵʅՏɧ_LԹՏՏʅҼ]

I suggested the same thing a while back, MissR. I'm fascinated by the story/people.

[doodlebug]

Every fiddle player that is able goes to Weiser,Idaho for the National Championship contest held every year since the 50's. Garland and Edna never missed one.He always entered but in his division he said his highest place was like 68th. He'd then say "of course there was 68 players." He did o.k. for local jams but just never was great.His pleasure was watching his different students win first several times.
During Weiser they set up on the tail gate of his rig and he and Edna re haired bows. this made them enough money to take care of expenses and buy a busted up fiddle or two that he could repair and sell. Weiser was his vacation. He had a fiddle painted with white "piano varnish" that he collected autographs of winners ,not only there but at regional and State contests. This came about because of Mark O'Connor the world known violin master. Mark was the son of a man Garland knew from the Hanford project that they both worked on.When they'd visit, Garland would take Mark out either duck or pheasant hunting. This was a treat because Mark was a child musical genius and where ever he went it was always"Mark ,play something." The kid never had a child's life. He was ridiculed at school because all he did was play one instrument or another for hours on end. Even the teachers made fun of him. Then on weekends he was practically worshiped among the musicians he would be around or competing against. He won first place in adult fiddle and flat picking guitar contests before age 14.
Anyway, He had placed a fiddle in a chair(this is a no-no as in NEVER do it) and his dad had sat down on it just tearing it to pieces. Garland put it all back together but because of the incredible amount of split lines showing it was plain old ugly. Mark had the idea of the white varnish and it became his trademark for several years. He too collected autographs. So,Garland copied the idea and made his own. It looks pretty cool and has over two hundred names on it including Marks written in huge letters across the back,just like he did his. As I write this,it sits in the corner in its case 12 ft. away. Mark and Jerry Douglas,the Dobro Master, were buddies and were both playing sessions in Nashville behind almost anyone who made a record during that period.They were getting around a thousand a session then and doing 30 sessions a month and they were both at it by age 14.Great players!

[doodlebug]

Two musicians that got Garland riled up were Charlie Daniels and Willie Nelson. He said there was no excuse for Charlies bow to be in such horrible shape every time you saw him and he knew Willie could afford to get that hole in his guitar fixed and if not he'd do it for free if he would bring it over. AS far as listening,he could appreciate what went in to making every kind of music but he didn't care for anything but the old fiddle tunes. He had the gift of being able to listen,hours on end,to a kid learning to play no matter how horrible the screeching got.His enthusiasm was contagious and when a kid would play everyone would act like it was simply wonderful whether it was or not. He was a builder of good spirits. When a child talked he listened and insisted on you listening too. And children loved him like no other except maybe Santa. If you wanted to play and needed an instrument he would see that you got one.
To work with him was pure pleasure and always entertaining!