Thursday, September 10, 2009

Hank Sims got us all.

Anon said;
"Who the f**k does Hank Sims think the hell he is??"
Thank you.


Honestly, I don't know him well, but I think Hank Sims is a lot like myself. He has a better sense of humor than the written word will support.(Notice that I give myself a lot of credit there) I think that all of us were taking him in the wrong way. He was just trying to have a little ironic fun with us, and we leaped at his lure like a trout to the fly. I hope that Hank would visit more often, I admire his wit.

I was suspicious from the start that he knows how to create interest. He admitted that it was his headline, not Jerry Rohde's, in the article in the North Coast Journal about; "The Genocidal Scum that Built Arcata”. Because of that headline, many more people read the issue than would have read it if it had been posted under “The Sonoma Gang”. I have to admit that when that issue came out, the headline caught my eye well enough to do a double-take on my way past the newspaper rack, then a double-back, and then a singular grab for the paper. Then, I immediately read the whole thing and came to a few conclusions of my own. Chances are, I would not have grabbed the Journal with a more milquetoast headline.

The newspaper, magazine, and media-like businesses are in decline, just like most businesses. They need people like Hank to keep their media out there. We don't all agree with his methods. Some wise person once said; “Never pick a fight with people that buy ink by the barrel”. So, I don’t intend to pick a fight, but I would like to give a little advice about what I like to see in a story. My BIG question has always been: WHY?

When I see a newspaper headline that says; “They Ate Kittens!” I want to know -Why- they ate them, not how they ate them, or how they cooked them. That is just wasting my time. My brain is screaming WHY! -Why did they eat kittens?- Was it part of their religion? Were they starving? Had they been attacked by wild kittens and they were getting even? Why!

When a respected historian like Jerry Rohde writes an article that is entitled; “The Genocidal Scum that built Arcata”. I don’t want to know that they killed Indians, I want to know -why- they killed Indians. Some of us, Like Jerry Rohde and myself, know that the Kelseys (the genocidal scum) were part of the Bidwell Kelsey party the made their way across the Nevada desert and the Sierra Nevada Mountains into California. Why did they do that? Maybe they had no opportunity to thrive where they were, or they wanted to live in a new and fertile land, form their own society, and live free, and do the things that we all want to do to succeed, and, take care of our families. Currently, we have many of those kind of people in Southern Humboldt. They were all very young people, and young people do stupid things. Whatever the reason, they did come to California.

On their way to California the small Bidwell/Kelsey group split off and headed directly to California, against sage advice. They hired Indian guides that led them into ambush traps. They eventually stopped trying to get guidance from the Indians, and made their own way into California. Kelsey had to leave his young bride, and very young child behind, while he scouted ahead. The wife and child hid from the Indians, while a raiding party took their provisions. They passed the remains of several immigrant attempts to make it to California, on thesame route that the Kelseys were taking. Immigrants that were looted and killed by Indians. The Indians followed and preyed on the Bidwell/Kelsey group the whole way to California. I don’t know how you would have fared in that same trip, but how would it make you feel to have people openly preying on you, your wife and child and the rest of your family? The whole time not really knowing where you were going… Worried sick about whether, or if, you could really get there…

The only thing that saved the group was their youthful energy, the fact that they were excellent marksmen, and most of all; they were wise enough to have taken more ammunition than they thought that they would ever need. In the end, having plenty of ammunition is all that saved the Kelseys. Otherwise they would have not have been even a footnote in California history. Do you ever wonder who was in the remains of those pioneer emigrants left dead with their bones bleaching in the sun? The ones that the Nevada Indians raided and killed. It could very well have been my ancestors that tried to make their way to the West, while their families waited back east for word from California that never came.

When they came out of the mountains, the Kelseys had an abiding and enduring hate of the Indian people that lasted the rest of their lives. Some of us would call that racism, other might call it post traumatic shock. Some people today just call them “Genocidal scum.” I think that the Journal story should have included some more of the “why”. Hank Sims grabbed our interest with his headline, but he failed to include a little understanding of the “Scum”. I think that he should have insisted upon that.

Footnote: Scum= That which rises to the top.

47 comments:

Steve Lewis said...

Here's a big difference between you and Hank, Ernie. This post. Hank is afraid to let his readers read anything written by me. He censors every single letter I've written to the NCJ. I don't have much respect at all for these editors who like to play god with Humboldt County readers and will not let a community activist reach the people. In this role of self-determined community news and views censor, Hank, mirrors the Heraldo team whom also are afraid of ethical scrutiny and censor any and all comments I attempt to post on their Humboldt Herald blog.

Pick a more worthy role model, Hank. That's my advice.

Anonymous said...

I know what scum is Ernie! What I didn't know is what "milquetoast" was! I'll try not to be spineless or timid here but I still like reading your blog but don't like not understanding what y'all are saying. I sometimes think it is a compitition here to be the most literate. I guess I am saying it would be more fun to read if I was educated. The smartest people I have ever known, knew how to get their point across in the simplest terms.
Now, am I being milquetoast?

Oregon

longwind said...

Good thoughts on good history I didn't know, thank you! As I recall, Bidwell became one of the biggest promoters of California emigration before the Gold Rush, but I didn't realize his travel partners were equally avid promoters of the genocide that the Gold Rush unleashed.

Maybe it would also be fair to note that the Bidwell/Kelsey party came West in the mid-1840s, before the Mormons and wagon trains with their thousands of emigrants. The Bidwell party's suffering from Indians was hugely worse than the experiences of the great migrations of '46 and later, when whites were scared and wary, and rustling was the worst that most natives could do against them.

Thanks again for your thoughts, Ernie. Anonymous, I think this is hard for you to to follow because several complicated local issues thread through Ernie's post, and he's assuming you're up on them already.

Robin Shelley said...

You are hardly "milquetoast", Oregon... even at 2:03 in the morning!

Ernie Branscomb said...

Longwind,
It is the mark of an insane person to think that another person understands what he is talking about. I guess that I am guilty.

As for Anon/Oregon; He was born in the Garberville Hospital, he is 5th generation native of the south fork of the Eel, much like myself. Just like Hank, he likes to poke a little fun at me from time to time. He knows what “milquetoast” is. He has it with his coffee every morning.

All people are welcome to comment here. I still speak “The Old Language”, before the newcomers brought us words like” were and whom. I remenber back when a timber faller was a “Faller” or a “Chopper” not a “feller”. A feller was a man, like in “that feller over there”. We had “cricks” fulla water. Not Gravel beds, with a straight shot into the ocean, that were protected like there was a fish under every rock. The river needs cleaning. The redwoods need fire to clear the underbrush…

But, there I go again, thinking people will understand what I’m talking about….

Ernie Branscomb said...

Robin
There is a whole lot that I don't know. The obsidian arrowhead thing would be one of them.

I'm working on a post that covers a lot of stuff like that, but it's a ways off. So, take a real deep breath and hold it.

But, the Pomo didn't like the laytonville indians, and they did most of their trading in "the valley".

The Pomos and the long Valley Indians liked to stick each other with pointy sticks. So it is likely that the Obsidian arrowhead came from a raiding party of Pomo.

Again, I leave a lot out that I just have to assume

Anonymous said...

Robin, that was not me at 2:03 in the morning. I don't get up before 3 AM.
Ernie, I did find obsidian arrow heads at Hopkins Camp. I did hear one time that was a route from the coast to the valley. Hopkins Camp is a couple miles North of Shell Mountain in the Yolla Bolly's and Southeast of Ruth, CA..
I also found some rimfire brass there in the same spot. I'm not sure of the caliber, .41 to .45 though.

Oregon

Robin Shelley said...

I love your "...straight shot into the ocean" comment, Ernie. Lol! Lol! Lol! Stream-cleaning was a particularly sore spot with my fisherman grandfather/feller but, as you've said, who listens to the old timers?

And, Oregon (or Jay-Dot as I like to call him now that he's moved to Washington... Washington?!!), I apologize. That's what happens when one assumes (& we know that's outlawed in my profession!)... although I was a tad surprised by the profane language coming from you... I should have known better... sorry!

I wondered about the "unfriendly" nature of an obsidian arrowhead found (find?) in that area, too, Ernie. Thanks. I shall start holding my breath now.

Ernie Branscomb said...

Robin
I probably agree with your grandfather. The log jambs in the creeks were good. The gravel in the river is bad... It gets complicated.

Ernie Branscomb said...

It just occured to me....

The log jambs in the creeks were a good thing and the newcomers removed them. The gravel in the deep holes is a bad thing and the newcomers protect it...

Do you think that it is a plot???

Dave Kirby said...

Some years back Roy Heider and I accompanied Mr. Barnum on a tour of his holdings on Sprowel Creek. Much of the creeks length had been cleared of debris and it was pretty much one long riffle in sections. When we got up to the point where the creek turns north, east of the Whitethorn valley, there was a lot of downed trees and debris still in the creek and there were lots of small fish hiding in the shady spots that the debris afforded. Some years after that the Tostens were selling old stumps to the state to put in the river to provide cover.

spyrock said...

i have had a whole bunch of ideas since hank posed as a californio.
most of them center around what the catholic church destroyed in their conquest of the americas. the usual story is that these were pagan people who believed in human sacrifice and that the spanairds saved their souls after much debate as to whether they had one and killed the rest. how many people down there are still practicing the aztec, mayan, or incan religion? if you substitute the word indian for jew, who killed more people? the pope or hitler. we look at the world the way we choose to. according to how we were raised.
the truth, however, is something else again.

Ernie Branscomb said...

Well, it goes against my will to point fingers. But the most Holiest of the Holy of Alta Califronia priests, was father Junipero Serra. During his sermons he would flog himself until he bled profusely,and he would burn his bare chest with a candle. He broke his leg while riding a mule, he wouldn't stay off of it long enough to let it heal properly. He said that it was Gods will for him to suffer in his name, he was crippled for life because of that.

Some would call him a Holy Man, because he did it for his God and religion. I would say that he was just about as insane as anyone could possibly be.

Ernie Branscomb said...

Thanks Kirby.
Just so everybody out there knows. Kirby is one of those “newcomers” that I always give a bad time.

But, I want to say that some of the newcomers are most welcome in my eyes. People like Dave Kirby have taken the time to know the land and the people. They have taken the time to understand how it all works. Roy Heider came here from Illinois. He dove in and started helping the local people from the time his feet hit California. He didn’t start changing things, he just started helping us. Olmanriver is somebody that I couldn’t respect more. He became interested in our history and he did a lot of research. I know that he found a lot of things that he probably didn’t like, but he kept his opinions to himself and simply helped us do the research to find our history. I’ve probably learned more of my history from Olmanriver than I have from my own family. I wish that I could give you his name. I’m glad to know him.

Ben came from out of the area, he got to know us whether he wanted to or not, he worked as a bartender in the last of the Logging days. He is one of our most trusted Indian history researchers.

So there are good newcomers, and there are the bad ones, that don’t care about our history, or they only look at it superficially, and make judgments.

(Just in case it sounds like I don’t want ANY newcomers. I do want a few. Most are okay.)

\ said...

there are two kinds of people --those who study history, and those who make history.

Hank Sims said...

Yo Spyrock! I didn't "pose" as shit, Jack!

Now say 50 Hail Marys and 100 Our Fathers and jog up to the lookout and back 5 times as pentinence.

And the risk of drawing this out to absurdity, I mean ...

Anonymous said...

I can't believe I'm actually jumping into this one, but when you ask "why", I don't hear anything about the obstacles the natives presented to newcomers (in the 1850s) who wanted full reign of the area's resources (which included pasture, lumber, fish, game, women and children).

I know some are looking for a more noble or romantic "why" here, but for some, I really believe it was that simple. Folks came out west looking to start a new life and the natives already here got in the way of their dreams. Period.

The invaders tried using reservations (which functioned as concentration camps), but, strangely, not all the natives were thrilled with being forced from their homes and into a frightening dependency on Indian agents. Others, like the Kelsey brothers, tried to use them as slave labor (didn't work too well either).

Natives that refused to be slaves or concubines, or defended their wives and children, were murdered. I guess you could ask why some whites were able to murder defenseless women and children. To shoot men with no cause. That is an answer that might do us some good.

Ernie Branscomb said...

Lynette
I've been following your blog and I really enjoy your contribution to presenting the history of the north coast. The question that I always get as a Generational Native is “WHY”.

Most of what I write about tries to answer that question. I wrote in as great a length as I could, to explain WHY the Kelseys were the heartless murdering bastards that they were. No argument there. Please get that point...and try to understand it. If you don't get the connection to WHY they were murdering bastards after they ended their trip to California, you never will. I don't like the fact that they were heartless murdering bastards. But, they did end up coming to California. And, I agree that they liked their horses and dogs more than they liked the Indians. You and I, (WE) and nobody else can change what happened in history. You and I, and other students of early California History know more than anybody what we lost when we lost the Indian Knowledge of the north coast.

We also know that the Spanish people had “tamed” most of California for us. The people that don't know the WHY it happened in Northern California, simply don't know the history of California. The Spanish were here LONG before us white folk. (Caucasians?) The reason that we were able to sail our ships into the San Francisco bay, is because the Spanish made it safe for us. We defeated the Spanish by simply out-numbering them.

We defeated the Indian people, for the most part, by simply putting our foot on American soil. The estimated population of the indigenous people varies wildly from estimate to estimate. Just for the sake of discussion, let's say that they numbered around 1,000,000. When Christopher Columbus stepped onto American Soil in 1492, he killed 800,000 Indians. Or to put it differently, he killed 80% of the American Indian people.

The Indian people were not resistant to Old World diseases. Sad, but true! The major wrong that we did was simply to come here in the first place. The illness, death, and dieing from disease killed most of the Indians before they even knew what a white man was. The Spanish Conquistadors gave the California Indian Smallpox. Even worse they gave them religion. But, that's another post. The major salient fact remains that 80% of the Indians were killed by DISEASE.

Now, I suppose that we should ask WHY the Old World came here. I guess at some point you have to know more history than you can ever handle. But, the fact is we came here. Not you or I can Change that. Only this time your ancestors are as guilty as mine. 80 % Death... What can you change?

Some where earlier in this post is was pointed out that if Hitler hadn't risen to power, somebody else would have, and there would have been pretty much the same result. I don't know. But, I feel that most of what happened to the California Indian was unchangeable from the time that Christopher Columbus stepped on American soil. No matter how much we don't like it, we can't change it.

I'm beginning to repeat myself like that endless loop of “Oh The Horror” that I talk about all the time. I am going to repeat myself again when I say we live in one small bubble of time and place were peace is thought of as ideal. We should revel in it.

\ said...

The Spanish Conquistadors gave the California Indian Smallpox. Even worse they gave them religion.

It's more truthful to say that religion was taken from the Indians, not given to them.

spyrock said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
spyrock said...

according to pulitzer prize winner earnst becker, "man is a god who shits" phenomenal power exists in the idea that we are spiritual beings having a human experience. it represents a direct threat to the Ego, which consists of a cluster of beliefs that convince us we have separated from God and are subject to his wrath for committing that original sin of separation. if we, indeed, are not separate at all but totally connected, the Ego ceases to exist. colin tipping, author of radical forgiveness.
in other words, please forgive me hank, i was misled. you are obviously a great teacher and writer. are you a descendant of keroac too? you know, jack. i'm thinking of stealing that name "californio", after all, we were all europeans once and my family's been in northern california 160 years now.

\ said...

if we, indeed, are not separate at all but toally connected, the Ego ceases to exist.

but we are separate or we wouldn't even be talking to each other, duh, and so the ego obviously does exist. Sheesh! And to think that seemingly intelligent people waste their good money on such new-age snake oil.

but Suzy forgives them, for they know knot what a tangled mess weaves what they do.

spyrock said...

if we aren't connected how did you know that i spelled totally wrong (toally) and deleted the first post right after i posted the 2nd corrected post for that reason. you are right on top of things aren't you. but actually i'm talking about an indiginous religion that has been around for thousands of years in this hemisphere.
"It's more truthful to say that religion was taken from the Indians, not given to them."
right from the susie's mouth.
it's knott snake oil if it actually works.

Ekovox said...

"we were all europeans once and my family's been in northern california 160 years now."

Damn Spyrock, at only 128 years in Humboldt County, now you go and make me feel like a lowly newcomer.

You oldtimers must have hated to see us redwood shingle bolt making newcomers arrive. We kind of laid waste to your folks' era of tan bark processors. Tan bark.....pshawww...redwood's where it's at man!

\ said...

those who claim to have no ego have the biggest egos of all
and as the blind lead the blind
the bigger the Ego the harder the fall.

Sorry to burst your bubble Spy Rock but you don't have a clue. It's not an ancient religion that your new-age authors are selling you, its the religion of capitalism... but its all good, Suzy forgives.

Robin Shelley said...

Suzy, I'd like to make an appointment. Do you have an office number?

Robin Shelley said...

Ooops! Sorry, Ernie. I know I'm supposed to be holding my breath...

Ernie Branscomb said...

Robin
I've been way behind in the things that I want to get done, and even further behind with the things my wife wants me to get done. So I'm a little slow in posting.

But, a whole bunch of fresh material just dropped in my lap, so I'm anxious. Keep holding you breath, but it is okay to write.

I tried conjuring Suzy Blah Blah's Number, but it didn't work. Try saying Suzy Blah Blah three times and see if she appears. If she doesn't, she must be buzy now.

She Hasn't been using her parking spot, so something is up.

Anonymous said...

As a youngster, a friend of mine and I found a chunk of obsidian[she spotted it, I was with her] that must weigh 1-2 lbs. It was in the Mattole drainage. Without a doubt the local Natives had a little obsidian, from afar. It was remarkable enough that I'm sure she still has it.

Ernie Branscomb said...

When I was a kid, Eddie Downing had his whole yard lined with large chunks of obsidian glass. Around the flower beds and down both sides of his drivway. I don't know where he got them, but I would think that they came from Clear Lake.

spyrock said...

the big difference is that the indian sees everything as spirit and connected. while others see man as separate from the spiritual life. a separate individual ego so to speak. if that floats your boat, bon voyage, smooth sailing. when i look for quotes, i don't check out whether the guy is good at marketing nor do i care about the bottom line. i look for quotes that illustrate what i'm feeling inside. sometimes my own words can say it. but right now i would rather learn how to talk to the kogi mamas from the universal language place in my heart rather than write or speak a language that no one seems to understand because they've already made their mind up about everything.

\ said...

Suzy, I'd like to make an appointment. Do you have an office number?

Robin, ever since OMR had that unpleasant experience trying to meet me at my office and ended up at the Blue Rooom or Blur Moon or somewhere, Suzy's had to stop giving out my office number for the safety of my clients. But Ernie's right, if you say something three times something might happen, or not. But if you cross your fingers and say it then you can fib and it won't be written in the akashic record so you can easily delete it by uncrossing them or expand it by clicking on the f11 key.

the big difference is that the indian sees everything as spirit and connected. while others see man as separate from the spiritual life. a separate individual ego so to speak.

"the indian" vs "others", and then you turn around and say "were all one" etc. sheeesh gimme a break!! You're stumbling over your ignorant contradictions. And btw, here's another one --fyi, man isn't an ego, duh! man has an ego.

spyrock said...

is the ego like that thing in alien that bursts out of your chest?

spyrock said...

lets get this straight
the indians believe that we are all one.
the catholics believe we are all two.
and the french believe we are all three. menage et twa

spyrock said...

i recently went to the land of shining stones. they call it that because that's where the indians found rocks to make arrowheads with. like salt pits, these stone tool deposits were shared by all the tribes and it was agreed that there would be peace in such an area.
i remember seeing a wall full of arrowheads at the house in spyrock in 1951. some were obsidean, actually alot of them were. there were more arrowheads than rattlesnake tails. but i think there was more deer antlers than anything. i remember finding arrowheads when i was there. i don't know what happened to them. there was stuff all over back then. the indians shared resources. they didn't have a concept of ownership like we do now.

Robin Shelley said...

The "magical/mystical" stuff usually doesn't work for me, Suzy, & now that you've mentioned OMR & his bad experience, I'm even more afraid to try it because... I THINK HE'S DISAPPEARED.

Robin Shelley said...

Do you need some help, Ernie? I'm (obviously) not doing anything.

Anonymous said...

Robin, doing nothing is okay. Not doing anything at 1:30 in the morning is not good.

Oregon

Aunt Janet said...

About 30 years ago, as I was searching in Bear Creek for some nice smooth rocks to line a pathway, I came upon a red chert "arrow head". It might have been a scraping tool, or something like that. It was about 4" long, pointed at each end, and had a hook about 1/8" at one end. When I picked it up, I glanced upstream and "saw" an Indian man crouched in the stream. He disappeared immediately thereafter.

Other friends have "seen" apparitions similar. I'm not very receptive to things paranormal, so this experience was very interesting to me.

I've only had one other such experience. While passenger in a car on back roads of s. hum., I felt that the driver was going to drive right into that lake in front of us. The lake disappeared as we drove into it. I was later told that it was the site of an ancient lake.

BTW I'm also a generational native of northern CA, but more the San Jose area. Though my ancestors did spend some time up here. I'll have to get out my family text book and see where we were inserted in Humboldt.

Also have some native american blood of my own. I'd love to know more about my Cherokee great grandmother. DH and family are part California natives, as well. They participated in the divide and conquer trick of paying off people with native blood. He and each of his siblings got $1000 back in the '70s. None of them has ever participated in Native business or culture at all. Neither have I for that matter. I've always wanted to. Oh, yes, I did get to go to some of the native basket gatherings in the King range. That's about it.

Ernie Branscomb said...

I got very concerned about "Olmanriver" because he hasn't been adding his wit and wisdom here lately, so I e-mailed him to check on his welfare.
He has been enjoying our fine Southern Humboldt weather and getting in his winter's fire wood. He is quite well, hale, and hardy.

But, he has a lot of nerve to "have a Life" beyond blogging.

\ said...

Duality doesn't mean opposition, it can be an interweaving. Listen to your heart, it beats one one one one, and sometimes it beats one/two one/two one/two one/two . . . Listen to your own drum. A master basket-maker weaves the one and the two together to gather knowledge.

Meditating on a hand woven basket that sits in Suzy's lap. Who wove the basket and who wove the one who wove the basket and why did the original weaver weave stitch one, and why two, etc.

The master asked the monk, "what's the sound of one hand clapping" ie oneness. The monk laughed in the master's face and left the monastery forever.

Duality equals knowledge. Oneness equals ignorance --and ignorance is bliss. This new-age 'oneness' that's been sold to certain people is basically the same load of crap that the Christians tried to sell to the Indians, ie it's the same BS line about the tree of knowledge being taboo. And from there follows the idea that you're guilty for just being born (for being separate) and the phony need for redemption ie the need to be one with God, not separate. Which equivocates to the phony doctrine of Oneness, and all about how the new physics proves that the mystics were right which can be yours if you just plunk down your $39.99 .
.

\ said...

When I picked it up, I glanced upstream and "saw" an Indian man crouched in the stream. He disappeared immediately thereafter.

While passenger in a car on back roads of s. hum., I felt that the driver was going to drive right into that lake in front of us. The lake disappeared as we drove into it. I was later told that it was the site of an ancient lake.


Thank you for sharing these exceptional and marvelous experiences.

spyrock said...

aunt janet, for a moment your spirt left the space of your mind and entered the place in the heart where inner vision and universal language is possible. a kogi mama spends the first 9 years of her life in darkness so she can develope this inner vision that can see into the past and the future. seeing through the heart used to be common with all humans. before babal. so some of us still have experiences that seem paranormal after all this time. because you have cherokee blood, that ability is still in you because your recent ancestors had it. that scares some of us, others not so much. most of us are so into babaling that this probably sounds like a bunch of new age crap to them.
paypal is accepted.

spyrock said...

i talked to river back at the first of the month. he's finally burnt out doing the local history. so he's got himself a rumi with a view somewhere and visions of sugarplums are dancing in his head. my take on the local history is a bit different than his because i have a whole strand that disappeared back in 1872 with the deaths of my great great grandmother and great great grandfather. like the indian children river was bloging about, their 7 children went to live with other white families. my great grandmother was sent to live in covelo at age 7. the youngest was adopted by the applegates, but the others grew up separately and their history is pretty much unknown my me, the family researcher.

spyrock said...

it was river that turned me on to radical forgiveness by colin tipping that upset suzy so much.
my take on river is that he is too much of a nice guy and trys to please everyone all the time. which is impossible. he reminds me of don quixote. he's probably on his donkey finding a path around all those locked gates out there in the forest.

Ernie Branscomb said...

Sheesh, Maybe we should do a post on Olmanriver.
I have had the oppertunity to meet him, talk to him, exchange books and a few history stories. My impression of him is not so much that he is forgiving, but that he doesn't place blame, or shame, in the first place.

I think of him everytime I chide the "newcomers", because my dipiction of the typical newcomer doesn't fit him at all. He is a very kind and openminded person. Just like all newcomers there is a lot that he doesn't know. but he has taught me much, more than I can probably ever repay.

I guess we will just have to refer to him as "Saint Olmanriver" until he comes out of his Walkabout.

\ said...

seeing through the heart used to be common with all humans. before babal.

LOL!!!!!