This thread Will never die!

The dog must've eaten the guy who was trying to cut off her right breast.

 

I was reading the Iron Monkey thread about Bear. A bear has always been a kind of totem symbol for me. It was the nickname my grandmother gave me when I was a boy. I was remembering how it came about and wanted to share the story but I didn't want to hijack the thread. So decided to post it here.

I am part Native American, I belong to the Chahta tribe (Choctaw). My Mom's side of the family are very proud of their heritage and still speak the language and carry on many of the practices and traditions. When I was a young boy our parents would take myself and several of my male cousins to stay with my grandparents for the summer to help work the farm. My first year to go I was probably 11 or 12. My older cousins had great fun poking, prodding and teasing me that summer. I am known for being very easy going and mild mannered. Slow to anger. But I am like a tea kettle. I simmer, and the more the heat increases, the more the pressure builds up until it finally releases in a burst. And it isn't safe to be nearby when it does.

My grandmother gave me the nickname of Nita (Knee Tah) which means bear in the Chahta language. My grandmother was always an astute judge of character in people. And like most Native American women she never openly chastised her children. Rather she would use legends, stories and parables to teach life lessons.

One night after a long day of farm work we were all gathered around the supper table. Grandmother says "I want to tell you boys a story." She said there were these young boys who were out in the woods one winter and came across a cave. They went inside and were exploring the cave and came across a bear asleep for the winter. They started to run away but one of the boys said not to be afraid that the bear was sleeping and wouldn't harm them. He picked up a stick and started to poke the bear with it. The other boys picked up sticks and started poking the bear too. They flicked his ears, put the sticks in his nose and jabbed him in the tail. They were having great fun. But eventually all the poking woke the bear up.

She picked up her fork and went back to eating. One of my cousins couldn't stand the suspense any longer and said "Grandmother, tell us what happened when the bear woke up!" She looked at him and said "He ate those silly boys of course!"
Then she looked right at me and said "Pass me the potatoes, Nita"

That was what she called me from that day on. And the teasing from my cousins stopped that day also.

Sorry for the jaunt down memory lane but I hadn't thought about that in years. I can't wait for my son to be old enough that I can tell him the story. My wife already calls him Nakni Nita (little bear).

 

We had our Christmas church service today which was 85 percent music sets..... awesome presentation.....love this time of year.

 

Are you taking that statement back yet @NotSoSneaky ???

 

Not so sure about that one @VisuTrac
Out here in my neck of the woods, union electricians when laid off, are waiting almost a year and a half to take another call out....
Currently in just the Seattle local, there are over 700 sitting on book one. And there are two other locals within 50 miles or so with worse conditions.... whoever said the economy was recovering lied (duh).

Our local economy is one of the stronger ones in the nation.... I can not imagine how it is in other areas. And we have a current government that gives a hill of bean's if people get back to work....

 

So they won't take a travel card?

 

Some do...some don't. But if they do not sign the book at lay-off their unemployment will be denied. You know how it goes.....

 

I just heard this weekend: Portland's electrician's hall is empty - jobs are open. They need help. If you're willing to relocate - give 'em a call.

 

No worry Tracy, I have a gig... I was relating the unemployment picture for our area in my industry... Things have a long ways to go before the employment nationally is good again in general. I heard today that the labor participation rate is the lowest it has been since the 70's. The numbers the gov is showing are all fiction as they only reflect the folks working or recently unemployed.... more people are losing unemployment insurance and falling off the roles, getting welfare and disability...than good old fashioned jobs. And that bodes bad for all of us as it is just one more indicator to where the economy is going overall (way south).... and the debt is sitting squarely on it's shoulders compounding the recovery if it ever happens. I suspect we have entered the new "norm" for our society... the have-nots, outnumbering the have a job and paying tax folks. And that is a scary proposition as that have-not group, gives the lib's their power base.

Oregon has very stringent rules making it tough to get a call as a traveler in the past. You used to have to be able to prove Oregon residency and you had to take the Oregon exam, as they would not recognize even their neighbors licenses...
Wonder if they have relaxed their rules a bit. Google and a few others have fatty jobs down there. There is an national board to see where the jobs are. If the electricians ignore work in other regions...doom on them I suppose.
YMMV