Bada Boom!

Sometimes if Alex falls a bit too hard all you have to say is Bada Boom! and he won't cry.  Sometimes you don't even have to say anything.  He is just embarrassed to have fallen.  This would fall under the embarrassed category.  Oh, and he doesn't like to get his fingers dirty.  He keeps his fingers up when pushing off the ground. 

So much for superman powers!

Requah

I have written about my Great Grandmother Carrie before.  Back when I did the original blog I did not have a scanner and I did not have as many wonderful pictures of her.  As I mentioned in the original blog she was a school teacher.  In this blog I try to document what little I have been able to find about her teaching. 

One of the schools she taught at was the Requah school in Mayes County. 

Here is a picture of that school.

Of course this is long after Grandma Carrie worked there and obviously after the school had closed.  This photo was shared with me from an old family friend/neighbor.  He allowed me to borrow it long enough to have it scanned.  The family history is that the school Grandma worked at was an Indian school.  But all I had was the name from the fallen sign.  So I got busy looking online to see if there was anything documented. 

 

After much digging I found some photos of this school from Mayes County near Strang Oklahoma.  The photos are in a scrap book that documents some of the area history during the World War II time period.  The school was still active during that time frame and it served a farming population.  This photo is one of several in that scrap book.  The school building is visible in several of them so I was able to confirm that this was the same building as from the closed school from above.   

If you are interested, I have added the location below where I found this wonderful scrap book.  There are several more photos and a very impressive description of how these children did their part to help win the war.  

 

http://library.uco.edu/archives/collections/collection-bray.cfm?sch=Requah_Dist_12_Book_5 

 

 

All I had at this point was the School name and location.  After a bit of digging I was able to find a very interesting story that gave just a tiny bit of information.  That information was from a person that grew up in that area when Oklahoma was still Indian Territory.  It does help confirm the family history that REQUAH was an Indian school. 

 

Here is a portion of a page from the digital libraries at OU from an interview done with Jenks Ross on Sept 5, 1969.  Jenks Ross was a black man.  His father, Joseph "Stick" Ross, was a slave owned by Chief John Ross of the Cherokee Nation and was a well known Freedman. This is from page 17 of the transcribed interview.

 

"A whole lot of thing happened up and down that Grand River."  Yeah.  I used to fish there at the Grand River outside from Strang, Lynch's Prairie.  There's a school that we call Requah School House.  We didn't live far from it.  That's where the Indians went to school.  In all of my traveling, I'm about 87 years old, and I never had any trouble with no body."

 

One of the later pages talks about the fact that Mr. Ross grew up with the Cherokee Indians.  His first language was Cherokee, not English.  Mr. Ross did not attend Requah school he attended an all black Seminary that the Cherokees ran.  The Lynch's Prairie that he mentions was a small Freedman's settlement in the same area. 

 

I find this all interesting because he would have lived there near the time that Grandma Carrie would have been living and teaching there.  I wonder how many of her students also did not speak English as their first language?  Did she speak or understand any Cherokee?  In the 1900 Wyandotte census she was almost 16 years old and still living with her parents.  I haven't found her in the 1910 census, but the 1920 census shows her married and living in Dawson Township.  (Dawson has since been swallowed up by Tulsa and there is little left to show it was once it's own town.  The Elementary school my girls attended and where I worked was in Dawson and the school did teach some of the old town's history.)

 

There is much that I still don't know.  It is difficult to locate history about 100 years old just from sitting at my computer.  The next thing that I am trying to find is when she worked at this school.  I know she married in 1914 in Miami Oklahoma.  I don't know when she started teaching but family history says that once she married she had to give up being a teacher.  

 

    I do have a photo of her from Oct 15, 1909 at the Long School.  The writing on it states that there are 65 pupils enrolled.  Grandma is the adult woman standing in front and just to the right of center with a dark apron on.  Some of the students appear to be as old as her.  I haven't found anything about where this school was located but I haven't spent as much time searching it.

 

This searching takes place in spurts when I have the time and I am moved to dig through page after page of stuff online. 

 

I don't know the year of this picture or where it was taken.  I do know that Grandma Carrie is the lady sitting on the ledge.  Everyone in the photo appears to be about the same age.  Is this a school group or maybe a church group?  It is a nice brick building.   

 

This search can be slow to give results but I am learning some very interesting things about Indian Territory and early Oklahoma history.

 

 

 

 

Sumptin just ain't right.......

This will be another post where I take pictures of my grandson playing.  I love watching him try to work things out while he is playing.  He has had this little toy for a long time and has just recently started trying to stack the rings back on the tower in the correct order. 
It takes him a few tries to get it right.  He definitely knows when things don't look right cause he gets the most serious look on his face when he is trying to figure things out.

For now he is just busy piling the rings on.

Hmmm.... This is not the last ring and there isn't anymore room.

Things are better but still not right.......

Nope.  Even if the last one fits things just are not right.

Now that looks better.

Hmmmmm....  Is it the red one or the orange one first?

Are you watching me?   I think I got it.

Yep!  Last one on and everything looks good. 

 

Time to go play with my wagon.

 

 

How to squish your Aunt & swipe a cell phone from your Uncle

 

If you are on the floor then it is dog pile time!

 

 

If I pull on these strings really hard what happens?

 



Foot to the throat

 

 

Rolling over does not save you

 

Oooohhh!  you have sparkles on your bottom!!

Wow that is cool

Can I see it?

 



I won't slobber on it.  Promise!

 

I will bring it right back

 

Now who should I call?

 



West Tulsa

Other small little snips of childhood memories.

Here are a few from when we lived in West Tulsa in government housing apartments.

My little sister won a dollar bill.  I don't remember what it was she did to win the money.  I do know that it was a huge thing to her to win that much money.  My mom took it and bought a gallon of milk.  It broke Lisa's little heart but she shared the milk with us.

I got caught playing doctor in a closet with a little boy.  (Insert wicked smile here)  I was only 5 years old at the most.  So it wasn't like we were having too much fun.

My big brother learned how to sneak out of the house at the of 6.  Yes, 6 years old and he was sneaking out his bedroom window after being put to bed.  He set such a good example and taught me how to do this also.  I would have been 5.  We were both excellent examples and taught our little sister this trick too.  She would have been 3 years old.  Did I mention that my brother's bedroom window was on the second story?  Yep.  We climbed out the second story window.  There was NO way we were gonna stay inside and go to bed when mom put us to bed at 8:00.  It was still light outside and there was still lots of playing to do. 

I remember my mom had a date come over to our house one night.  He had dinner with us and stayed and watched tv.  We did not sneak out the window that night.  We did sneak downstairs and giggle at our mom sitting on the couch with him.  I don't remember if they were kissing or not.

A tornado came through late one summer evening.  Mom hid us kids in the closet under the stairs.  I remember her opening the windows in the apartment.  I couldn't understand why she was opening the windows when it was raining.  Once I got a little older I remember the weatherman telling people to open windows to equalize the pressure in the house.  It was a very powerful storm with lots of lightening and very noisy winds.  Once the storm passed mom let us go outside.  There was damage to some of the other Apt buildings but ours was not damaged.  I remember being fascinated by the green tint to the air outside, that the air was completely still after blowing so hard just minutes before and it also had a metallic taste to it.  I have read that can be caused from lots of lightening. 

I remember riding in my mom's car on interstate 244 going west.  There were 3 very large industrial structures that I though looked like hair dryers.  I always wondered why anyone would need hair dryers that large.  Don't judge me to harshly.  Remember I would have only been 4 or 5 years old. 


 

Little flashes

A little flash of memory from my childhood.

This one came from one of the times when we were all staying with Grams & Gramps.  I am not at all sure but I think I was about 5-6 years old in this memory.  I know Mom was not locked away in the mental hospital yet. I wish I was able to pin point the time frame better.  It just isn't that big of a memory.  It comes from just a few minutes late one night when I was supposed to be asleep. 
My brother, sister and myself all slept in the back bedroom.  It was not completely dark in the room because of bright moonlight shining in from the two bedroom windows.  I was almost asleep when a noise in the doorway caused me to look that direction.  There in the doorway stood a large dark object with several glowing white spots scattered all over IT.  IT moved only enough to make me realize that what ever stood there was alive and real.  I remember being terrified.  What was IT doing there?  Was IT going to "get" me or my brother or little sister?  What did IT want?  What if IT realized that I was awake and that would cause IT to come "get" me first?  As I kept watching the white spots seemed to float slowly from one side of the door frame to the other.  I was terrified.  I tried to hold as still as possible, barely daring to breathe.  My poor little heart hurt from beating so fiercely.  What should I do?  Should I just keep still?  I think I must have made a noise as my fear continued to build and build.  It was at that moment IT stepped away from the doorway and came towards the bed.  I didn't think my heart could beat any faster or hurt worse but it seemed to double its rapid beat.  Another step closer IT came.  The white spots floating closer and closer to me.  It was all I could do to keep breathing and I don't know if I would have been able to run or if I would have just held still and let IT get me.  Luckily as IT continued to come closer and closer to me IT finally stepped in to a pool of moonlight and I was able to see IT. 
IT was my mother.  Standing in the doorway watching her children sleep.  I guess when she heard me making noises she moved closer to check on me.  She was wearing a blue pant suit that had white velveteen patterns sewn all over the shirt.  There had been just enough light to reach the doorway that had caused the white areas on her shirt to glow.  My poor little girl's mind had made a monster of those glowing spots. 
I don't remember anything past the realization that IT was only my Mother.  I don't know if she soothed me or if once I realized there was no danger I was able to calm myself.  I guess it is the horrible fear that I felt that made this small moment memorable. 
There are other little memories.  I will try to write more of them down soon. 

Dreaming

Dreaming about spring.  Dreaming about gardens, and about fruit trees.  Dreaming about chicken coups and chickens and about having enough outside space. Dreaming about a simpler life where I am worn out from growing food and keeping my home together instead of dealing with the stress of the dark, ugly, or sad choices strangers make.  Dreaming about not having to wake up at 5am unless it is to sooth a baby grandchild.  Dreaming of a day when I don't have to worry about what to wear other than to consider the outside temp.  Dreaming about the day I no longer have to talk to creepy sex offenders.  Dreaming about spending weeks pouring through seed catalogs and trying to find the best tomatoes that will grow in my yard.  Or the best squash, garlic, peas, peppers, beans, carrots, broccoli, cabbage, potatoes, or herbs.  The many types of flowers that I could grow to sooth my soul and encourage bees to come visit my garden. 
Dreaming about not ever, ever, ever having to read another report where a child has been injured or killed.  About never seeing another photo of a person that has fallen to the very end of their road and taken their life.  About never having to find the words to explain to loved ones how to get copies of these types of reports.  About never having to listen to the absolute heart break of a stranger that now faces the choices made by their family members or loved ones.  Dreaming about the day I no longer have to speak to a person that is so angry at the world that the hate seeps from their skin like sweat.  Or to the person that is just simply frustrated from one thing after another that has knocked them down but expects me to smile while they talk to me like shit.  Dreaming of the day I no longer have to answer a telephone unless I recognize the number as belonging to friends or family.  I can't wait for the day I no longer have to put up with the "holier than you" people that think I am not worthy of their regard since I am JUST A PUBLIC SERVANT.  Because we all know that if I was good for anything I would have a much more prestigious occupation.  Beside since they pay my "salary" they can expect special treatment. 
Winter better not last much longer!  I am in pretty desperate need of a positive recharge.  If the cold wind, snow and single digit temps last much longer I might have even more difficulties in stopping long ranting rambles about things that I cannot change. 
Warm air, soft winds, green leaves and flowers blooming would help.  I need a long walk where all I see is God's creations.  It would be nice if some friends or family are along to share the enjoyment with.  I think I need a LONG vacation in a warm spot that has more plants than people.  Then maybe once I have been recharged I could face going back to the job that I have to keep going to so that the bills can be paid. 
Can you tell I get a little bummed out over the winter?