OLD PHRASES AND SAYINGS
By: Stan Jordan
Hi old timer!
Our family was exiting a fine restaurant in Fort Wayne a few weeks ago when the following incident took place:
We a met a man who looked to be around 80 years old with his family, entering the restaurant. I suppose it was his daughter and her husband along with their children, two boys and a girl, just a fine family gathering for a fine meal and grandpa will be glad to pay for the meal.
It was a fine, well behaved family, looking forward to a good time. I just had a fine meal and was in a fine mood as I looked at the fellow and smiled and said, “Hi there old timer” and the conversation started.
The gentleman had on clean blue bib OSH KOSH BY GOSH overalls, neat and clean, folded up one time on the cuffs along with a nice blue flannel shirt.
He gave me a big grin and said, “You’re right there old timer” and I knew that I had found a friend.
He put out his big hand and I could feel the calluses left there from hard work and he had a good firm grip.
He said, “I’m Sam Morgan for Bittersprings, Indiana. Over there is my daughter and her husband and my three grandchildren.”
I told him who my family was and what they do. He said he was a farmer and farmed close to two thousand acres but all grain, no animals. His daughter was an elementary school teacher and her husband, Bill, helps him farm and has his own business.
We shook hands all around and they went on in the restaurant and we went to the car and then on home. But that is the way it is in this area, just shake and howdy with a smile and you met some new friends.
See ya!
By: Stan Jordan
The city boy asked the urban father for his daughter’s hand in marriage. The father said, “No way, no deal, young man. If you take any of her, you take all of her!”
The father asked the daughter if her intended ever talked about her parents. She answered, “Yes, he asked if you were grumpy and hard to get along with and if you had an extra room.”
Buck said to Roy, “ I understand your wife is money mad” Roy replied, “Yes, if I don’t give her any, she gets mad.”
The three rings of marriage are: the engagement ring, the wedding ring and the suffering.
Where is Engagement, Ohio? It is between Dayton and Marian
Sam and Julie were compatible, and then they got married.
A man called the hospital and said, “Send help, my wife is going into labor” The nurse said, “Calm down. Is this her first baby?” He said, “No, this is her husband.”
Our blonde friend took her Mercedes into the repair shop and told the man her car didn’t run right.
Soon he brought her Mercedes around said, “It runs like a top now, crap in the carburetor.” The blonde answered, “How often do I do this?”
See ya!
Just how good is that Carrier deal?
By: Stan Jordan
Here in the tri-state area, our best TV reception is from the Ft. Wayne stations, and we get all of the local news and all of the politics. Now, maybe I didn’t hear all of the statistics, but just how good for the state of Indiana is that deal that President Elect Trump made to keep the Carrier Corp. in Indiana?
Now, I understand the deal was to keep 1400 jobs here in the state, but actually it is for 1000 jobs and some of the other Carrier plants in the area are going to Mexico anyhow.
Now I hear that the state will allocate 7 million dollars tax abatement to Carrier if they keep these jobs here in Indiana.
Now we all want the people to keep their jobs, but will they raise all of their taxes to keep those 1000 jobs there in the state?
But, evidently Indiana needs all of that 7 million to run the state. Just recently they had to close a couple of schools and stop some of the school bus routes for lack of funds. Just this weekend there was talk of raising the state tax on gasoline 10 cents for road and bridge repair and I bet that is needed badly.
It sounds to me like Indiana needed all of that 7 million and more to run the state like they have for a few years, so will the residents have to pay higher taxes to remain the status quo and to keep those 1000 jobs?
Just how good is this deal with Carrier?
See ya!
America’s Black Friday
By: Stan Jordan
Commercial wise, Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving. It is called Black Friday because all the businessmen mark their prices down, have a lot of sales and start operating in the black.
But to me, Friday, January 20th 2017, will be a very black day, as that is the day that President-elect Donald Trump takes over the office of the President of the United States.
Congressman John Lewis of Atlanta says that Trump’s election is illegal. I don’t know about that but in that election there was a lot of shenanigans and hooliganism. I, myself, have never seen such downright, sickening actions of a man who transpires to be our great leader.
He has already gotten into trouble with some of the other countries leaders and he isn’t in office yet. So far that man has not showed that he has the characteristics to be the leader of the great nation of three hundred and fifty million.
As I understand, John Lewis and 25 other congressmen will boycott the inauguration, something never done before.
I am old enough to remember Hitler and Mussolini and how they got their start and how they led their countries down the path of rack and ruin.
That same thing could happen here, I certainly hope not.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt in his speech of the Japanese sneak attack on the American Navy at Pearl Harbor said, “December 7th, 1941, a day that will go down in infamy” and it certainly has.
The date of January 20th, 2017, might also be a date to remember.
Sam Rivers, Indian Agent Chapter 16: The Buffalo Hunt
By: Stan Jordan
I haven’t written for awhile because everything was quiet at the agency.
The bridge builders changed their minds and made a bridge wide enough for wagons to use—not to meet on it, just one lane traffic. That is sure a blessing to all around here.
The Lieutenant, the bridge crew and our four soldiers all went back to the Fort around the first of July.
I sent a full reprint of everything around here to the General. I hope he has time to read it all.
Moe was in the other day, he is our runner and General Kearney sent him over to see how things are here. I was glad to see him and I prepared a letter to the General and Moe took it back a couple days late.
It is now October 1, 1852 and I asked the General to send over those four boys and the new plow and we would clear up the garden and plow out the pastures and cut the hay crop.
Well, he did that and the boys arrived early last night: Farmer, Hunter, Mo and Slim. It rained during the night and we couldn’t work in the garden so the soldiers slept in. Then they came over to the store and played a card game called Euchre. They had a ball—we did too, listening to them.
We worked in the garden all day. Farmer plowed out all of the potato rows and they also brought a wheelbarrow and that was a big help, to get the produce to the barn.
Farmer kept out some good looking plants for seed for next year. Then he hung them up in the barn.
It took about all of one day to cut the hay and put it in the barn. We even raked up all the vines and burned them and Farmer plowed the garden area for next spring. It has been a very busy week here and we will took one day to get ready for the trip to the Lakota Camp.
We took all three wagons over the new bridge to break it in. Boy, what an improvement! Those boys did a good job!
We got to the Lakota Camp in the middle of the afternoon. So, we rested and sat around and talked the rest of the day. All of the folks who had a lot in the garden have already picked all the produce.
We had to plow out all the potato rows and husk all the corn. Half Moon, the Indian head gardener, took charge of everything. He picked out what he wanted to keep for seed. The wheelbarrow was a big help here in the potatoes and corn.
The natives had already cut the wheat down and harvested it. They sort of threw it up in the air a few times and got rid of the chaff. I think they sort of allotted some out to each family. It took a couple of days to cut the hay and pile it up for winter use. The horses will be sort of penned up on the remains of the hay field and anywhere else where there is any grazing material.
The nights are getting pretty cold now and we don’t sit out by the fire too long. The natives came and brought their new blankets.
Little Beaver had spotted one of the buffalo herds the other day and reported it back to Limping Buffalo. He asked me if the soldier boys could go on a hunt and use those rifles and hit enough buffalo for the winter meat.
Well, I couldn’t see anything wrong there. The rifle could drop a buffalo a lot easier and quicker than the arrows. So plans were made to take all three wagons, a number of natives and horses, some men and women in the wagons and all with skinning knives.
We left at first light and had to find the herd, we knew it would be five or six miles away and it was more like eight or nine miles.
We got up fairly close and the soldiers shot four at once. Well, that started the herd moving in a hurry. One wagon and all the natives stayed in that area and started to skin the animals out. The other wagons went on and the boys got six more and two calves. One for them and one for us at the agency.
See ya!
