Nearing the mountains

Moto takes my picture 

Moto takes a break

 

 

Glimpse of the past in a familiar environment near Great Falls

RUSSELL  COUNTRY

Charles M. Russell, is and was, to Montana as Will Rogers is to Oklahoma. He was a national treasure in his lifetime. Russell County, Montana is named for him.

 Of course, Charlie, as the Great Falls home town folks refer to him, was really a Missouri boy. By the time his drifted away from home (at age 14), his values and visions for a lifetime were already set. He took off with his uncle for Montana for the summer,(He was from a wealthy industrial family, the parents believed a summer in Montana would get the western romance out of his system).Charles found his passion there. He stayed. Montana honed the rough diamond into a legend.

I looked forward to one of my two intended purpose for going to Great Falls: to visit the C.M. Russell Museum and see what I could learn from the works of one of America’s eminent cowboy artists. I had seen several of his better pieces in the Hershorn in Tulsa. The second goal was to learn of Lewis and Clark in the northwest.

I arrived in Great Falls on the evening of May 20. It was late. I was tired, and still a little depressed from the Little Bighorn experience. I felt like I did after visiting the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. or days after seeing “The Exorcist” for the first time. Those experiences left me drained and tired.

Well, part of that fatigue may have been justified. I had just negotiated the twistees for over a hundred miles through the Lewis and Clark National Forrest.  Again, beautiful and grand scenery blended with the 30 mph gusts of wind. (Even my friend Moto needed a break (in the photo above). Notice, also, the photo of me, taken by Moto.) I’ve learned to trust Moto in the winds instead of fighting to maintain tight control. The bike is amazingly stable in the cross winds. But I’m still hesitant about turning my camera over to a techno -German for the photo opts. Moto insists on keeping the camera at arm’s length.

Charlie was a self taught artist. When he first arrived in Montana he worked with his on a sheep ranch. There he began to draw and paint, depicting Indian visions he conjured from the books he read as a young man in St. Louis. Sheepery was too dull. After a time, he took a job in a processing plant. Here, he was able to study the anatomy and physiology of animals as they were being slaughtered and processed. He carried the understanding of anatomy into his art.

Eventually, Charlie became a cowboy. For ten years he was a night rider on a ranch operation. Working at night allowed the days for painting and depicting the everyday ranch life. Herding and moving cattle in range country, he eventually befriended members of the Nes Perce tribe. This time allowed Charlie to learn about the true Indian condition of the time.

Charlie documented a disappearing Indian culture. More importantly, during this time he found the theme for his life’s work: documenting a disappearing west and reflecting the conflicts that occur as a modern culture displaced historic western life.

I spent a great day comparing elements of Russell’s west to my memories of Remington and his techniques. The staff gave me personal attention and shared their knowledge of Russell, his techniques, his family life, and the locations of the grand landscapes depicted in the paintings. I felt very special.

First day in the mountains

San Spirito-Family at the Fountain

The view of San Spirito is the obvious topic of this work, however, I couldn’t resist including the cultural element playing out around me as I painted the elevation during the hot, noontime:

One of the men breaks out from his drinking buddies, strips to his shorts, wraps a towel around his neck, shouts “I’m Superman” and jumps into the fountain.

Seeing this the two boys climb into the pool after him, screaming with glee.

 Their pregnant mother is simultaneously giving their father holy hell for not watching the boys. (I’m thinking-this is the real Florence, playing out life’s drama as only a Florentine can.)

 The father continues to set at the edge of the pool reading the newspaper, ignoring the whole episode. I walked over to hear some of the dialog.

 It turns out the family was from Brooklyn.

Born this day:

Amber Hagerman

Born November 25, 1986(1986-11-25)

Died January 17, 1996 (aged 9)

Arlington, Texas

Amber Hagerman (November 25, 1986–January 15, 1996) was a young girl who became a victim of an abduction and murder. On January 13, 1996, she was riding her bike near her grandparents’ home in Arlington, Texas, and was kidnapped soon thereafter.[1] Her murder would later inspire the creation of the AMBER Alert system.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amber_Hagerman

I Own My Vote, PUMA, The Denver Group, Just Say No Deal

Well, many of you may not be familiar with the quaint little town of Hagerman… come to think of it, most of you probably are. However, for those who don’t, it’s a quaint little village, just off I-84, on the old Highway 30. It has a high school, and for the greater part of eternity has hosted such famous events as Fossil Days (in honor of the Hagerman Horse found at the nearby fossil beds park), and Hagermania! Unfortunately, the baseball tournament days of Hagermania have long past, as have some wonderful restaurants in Hagerman.

Ok, only one really. Everyone goes to the Snake River Grill, (formerly Frog’s Landing)… so I can’t count it as long past. The big loss was The Riverbank. Good lord… hush puppies, green tomato pickle relish, fried catfish, keylime pie shaker lemon pie. I was a kid, and I remember the food being ridiculous. Enter: Thunderbird.

It kind of came out nowhere, but this place rocks Hagerman’s socks. Seriously…way too hip for the sleepy little town. The café sports a Southwest theme in an adobe house, serving breakfast and lunch with amazing tex-mex food. Burgers, salads, burritos and tacos come flying out of the back of the tiny kitchen, and they… are… GOOD! My personal favorite… street tacos, pork. They come out in warm corn tortillas, with shredded pork, diced cabbage, onions and cilantro. Perfect… slap on a bit of sour cream and some of the T-bird’s salsa, and you are good to go. A side of rice makes it a meal. 

Oh, and get this… Free Wi-fi. Yep. Hagerman. Coffee. Tacos. Wi-fi. It doesn’t get any better than this. If you are ever heading off I-84, or are a local to Southern Idaho, definitely make the Thunderbird a stop. Worth every cent!

Hrm....

A beautiful tacos await

 To view all of the details of a potenial home. See the information below.

Call Housemaster Home Inspection for a home inspection Suffolk/Nassau County 800-805-1122.

This is the trailer for the new documentary, Living with Fragile X. For more information visit http://www.livingwithfragilex.com.  It looks really interesting

Ocean, Papa, Owen, originally uploaded by bill kralovec.

The highlight yesterday was a picnic we had at Hagerman Lake. Hagerman Lake is 586 acres and located near the border of Wisconsin and Michigan. They have a small public beach. It was a cool day with temperatures in the high 60’s, low 70’s all day so we had the beach to ourselves. I packed some sandwiches and drinks and we had a grand time. We played a big game of kick ball with Uncle Jimmer and cousin Tony. We even all got into the water! Once you got in the water was not too bad. You can click on the photo above to see more.

Nadia found out today that she will be teaching kindergarten next year at ISB. It is good that she enjoys teaching and the double income will certainly help us. It does however put a bit a stress on us in finding a quality nanny for Ocean. We visited with neighbors and old friends. Carol Drake and her daughter stopped by, we talked with the Medovichs, Kinneys, and Rivards in the neighborhood.

We are gearing up for Saturday’s 10 kilometer run in Marinette, Wisconsin and we will have a full blog report on the that. The cooler temperatures will continue and after living 9 degrees north of the equator for the past 6 years, we are loving it!

“Lee took longer to learn from his experience that the frontal assault contributed only to attrition without victory than any other field commander in the Civil War.”^[i]

Edward Hagerman covers in detail the practices of the Federal and Confederate armies as it relates to entrenchment. McClellan and his successors employed it masterfully. Lee and his generals came to the practice slowly. Hagerman suggests that the reason may have been that, unlike McClellan, Lee lacked a peer group from the Corps of Engineers in the Army of Northern Virginia. ^[ii] Lee also graduated from West Point before Dennis Mahan (see post here) arrived to instruct cadets on the benefits and “how to” of entrenchment.

An example, despite having the time and equipment to entrench at Antietam (see photo below), Lee did not. According to Hagerman, “his failure to do so suggests that he may have identified with an extreme tendency in American tactical thought opposing all fortifications on the open field of battle, on the grounds that they made green volunteer troops overcautious and destroyed discipline and the will to fight.” ^[iii]

Burnside Bridge (below) taken from the Confederate viewpoint on the
west side of Antietam Creek looking east.

Likewise at the Battle of Fredericksburg, where Lee assumed “a tactical defense where doctrine called for fortification of his front,” Lee again failed to entrench. “He had his troops construct only a few minor earthworks at scattered positions. This despite Antietam and despite the fact that the rifled musket, with its greatly increased range and accuracy, was now in general use in the eastern theater.” ^[iv]

Longstreet (above) finally broke the tactical pattern, not Lee.

“Although he occupied one of the strongest natural positions in the Confederate line, Longstreet ordered ditches, stone walls, and railroad cuts occupied and strengthened with rifle tranches and abatis. The Federal assaults against his positions on Marye’s Heights never got within a hundred yards of the stone wall. Behind the wall were four lines of infantry armed with rifled muskets, supported by sharpshooters in rifle trench, and entrenched artillery that directly covered and enfiladed the wall from the two terraces that rose behind it. Their fire cost the Union troops 3,500 dead to their own loses of 800 men.” ^[v]

Watching the battle with Longstreet, Lee (finally) ordered fatigue parties to entrench the heights as soon as the fighting stopped. ^[vi]

————
[i, ii] Edward Hagerman, The American Civil War and the Origins of Modern Warfare: Ideas, Organization, and Field Command (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1988), 123.
[iii] Ibid., 116.
[iv, v, vi] Ibid., 122

I am in need of another page on which to collect notes about weapons. I’ve begun it here. First entry…

Cylindroconcoidal Bullet ["Minié ball"]

• Invented by a Captain Norton of the British army in 1832. [TACWOMW, 16]
• Perfected by Claude-Etienne Minié (right) in 1843, a captain in the French army. [TACWOMW, 16]

“Previously too slow to load, the rifle became a practical weapon on the battlefield. The Minie ball could be dropped down the muzzle of a rifle almost as easily as if it were round. T he net result was additional range, velocity, and accuracy.” [TACWOMW, 16]

Photo: Minié Ball design from Harpers Ferry. Source; Wiki commons.

————-
[TACWOMW] – Edward Hagerman, The American Civil War and the Origins of Modern Warfare: Ideas, Organization, and Field Command (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1988).

The little zapper got to go to a free movie thanks to the generosity of Ron and Gloria Hagerman of the Broadway Twin Theatre.  For a donation of a non perishable food item the kids got to see Enchanted free of charge.  Nice job Ron and Gloria!  This is a real treat for so many kids in Yreka.  We look forward to it every year.

In the meantime, Scotty and I went to check out the Yreka Healing Arts Fair.  Now we are not really into metaphysics by any means, but we did find the experience pretty interesting.  We learned a little about flower essences and were shown how to determine which essences are beneficial to you personally at any given time through the use of a pendulum. 

We had our chakras read – again, using a pendulum.  It was a ‘chakring’ experience! hee hee   Actually, it was interesting and the interpretations would fairly accurate.  I was thinking about this experience this morning as I was getting ready to go to church.  The pendulum is interesting but I believe there is a better source, THE source – the one who created us, created our energy, and our spirits – Jesus.  I’m not being critical.  I appreciate the information gained from the pendulum; however I realized it’s like going to ‘middle management’ when you could just go straight to the ‘President’.  I dig Jesus!  I dig the gals down at Yreka Healing Arts too!   

THEN – the little zapper and I went to the Kanybl Kaow concert at the Greenhorn Grange.  I really didn’t know what to expect.  I had checked their website and the lyrics to their music – just to be sure the little ears would not be hearing stuff that was in the ‘official nazi mom dictionary of bad words’.  They passed that test.  Even though Kanybl Kaow paint a kind of ‘dark’ image of themselves on their website, in person they are clearly a group of girls that have pulled together an identity that defys those preconceived notions of what an alternative rock band should be, ie:  screaming, angry and defiant.  These girls sing about what is important to them, simple truths that are both deep and uncompromising and sometimes just silly.

I had the great pleasure of meeting their mom.  A tiny lady with a sweet and friendly demeanor.  She came right over, asked if we were enjoying the show, told us all about her girls, their progress, and their plans.  So far Kanybl Kaow has only held free concerts to benefit local fire departments and tonight to benefit Breast Cancer Research.  They are working on their second CD.  I can’t help but want to see them do well.  They are just darling! – Really!  I hate to admit it, but I have to say, this concert was more fun and wholesome than the “christian” concert that was put on at the YMCA for New Years!  Now that’s an interesting commentary, huh?   The volume was tolerable, the lights were left on and the audience was full of families and friends!  I’m so glad we went. 

Kanybl Kaow’s new fan!  Girls ROCK!!!

Good morning everyone,

We have a very busy day today.  Rachel has a soccer game in 15 minutes.  Lauren has a solo & ensemble competition after that.  Then we are going to have lunch as a family (hubby is home sick with pleurisy).  Ater lunch I need to go to the library and I promised the kids that we would buy Halloween costumes today so we will be off to Walmart.

Mary Beth posted her October article.  It is on research.  Enjoy

*  *  *

Unfortunately this ran AFTER October 5 and the editor left the reference “as this year’s National Fragile X Research Day approaches” after the column stated the day is celebrated each Oct 5.  Ah well!

Also wanted to share, Ted’s birthday was Wednesday and a colleague of his put together a Coin Toss for Fragile X at Eastern Michigan University (where he works) which was advertised there in a few ways.  I don’t have the count yet, but any coins tossed into an EMU fountain for a day will be going to FRAXA for the Buffett Challenge and toward FX research.  May not be a lucrative fundraiser, but I thought it was creative and very nice of a colleague to pull together!

COLUMN NAME: X-tra Special Advice

HEADLINE: Research Rockin’ the Fragile X Arena

COPY: In 2000, two days were named to bring awareness to the little-known Fragile X gene. First, then-Senator John Edwards spearheaded the Senate’s naming of National Fragile X Awareness Day, now celebrated each July 22. Then, not to be outdone, the House of Representatives championed National Fragile X Research Day, which we acknowledge each October 5.

It is appropriate, as this year’s National Fragile X Research Day approaches, to share the exciting Fragile X research news of 2007.

In early 2007, FRAXA Research Foundation received the wonderful news that Doris Buffett, sister of financier Warren Buffett, and her Sunshine Lady Foundation, was going outside of the usual realm of grant giving to award a $500,000 grant to FRAXA for distribution for Fragile X research. Even more exciting was the news that Doris had issued a challenge: if the FRAXA family could raise $500,000 of new money by November 1 – donations above and beyond previously given by their donors – Doris would match that new money with another $500,000 from the Sunshine Lady Foundation.

The FRAXA family was energized. Could we do it? Absolutely. By August 28, FRAXA donors had met the challenge. Excited by the energy of the Fragile X community, Doris has issued an amazing addendum to her challenge. She will match any amount of new money given to FRAXA by November 1. So the Buffett Challenge fundraising continues in the FRAXA community.

As if that all wasn’t exhilarating enough for the FX community.

Recently, the largest single federal grant to date toward Fragile X research was awarded to principal investigator Paul Hagerman, MD, PhD, of the School of Medicine at University of California, Davis and the M.I.N.D. Institute. Hagerman and his team of researchers at UC Davis will work in collaboration with researchers from four other institutions – Erasmus Medical Center of Rotterdam, The Netherlands, University of Washington, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center and Scripps Research Institute.

The $21.8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will support research on the Fragile X gene, relating to Fragile X-associated Tremor Ataxia Syndrome (FXTAS) with broader research effort to include other issues of those affected by an expansion of the Fragile X gene – both Fragile X carriers and those affected by Fragile X Syndrome.  The grant has helped to establish NeuroTherapeutics Research Institute (NTRI) at UC Davis. Information from NTRI states “it is our expectation that the understanding gained through the study of FXTAS will be broadly applicable to the other neurodegenerative disorders” such as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease.

Interested in learning more about how the Fragile X gene can affect a family? Read the story of The Weather Channel’s Storm Tracker Jim Cantore and watch his Public Service Announcement at fraxa.org.

For more information on the Buffett Challenge, visit fraxa.org.

For more information on Fragile X and the NTRI grant, visit fragilex.org or www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/ntri.

Grosse Pointe residents Theodore G. Coutilish and Mary Beth Langan created this column to share experiences from their journey as parents of a child with Fragile X Syndrome [fragilex.org]. Send your questions or comments to mblangan@hotmail.com or ted.coutilish@emich.edu.