Hoopfest 2009

hoopfest 2009

Click on above picture for a slide show of tournament photos.

Hoopfest 2009 was a mixed success. Kris's team got knocked out early. She really played well considering she hadn't played in a while and was recovering from gall bladder surgery.

Kim's team made it to the "last game", i.e. the championship game. Unfortunately, they lost that last game. But, second place is pretty dang good considering the number of teams in their bracket. They had beat the team they played for the championship in a previous championship game. But, it was not to be for this game. Both teams are excellent teams and well coached.

After two days of basketball, grandpa was pooped!

Tenth Anniversary

Ten years ago today we were married. I can't find a picture of Rose and me on our wedding day! ;-( However, I did find a picture of us on Katy's wedding day ~ over ten years ago. The second picture was taken last year while we were with Clint and Mad at Morro Bay. It's not fair; I have less hair and am rougher around the edges ~ and, Rose only grows more beautiful.

We have shared life's experiences with shared vision and humor! Although, the vision has been blurred at times. :-) I love her more with each passing day. Happy tenth anniversary, Honey.

Gordon

Father's Day

While at the cabin last week I spent some time pursing past posts I had made to a diary I have in my little office/study area. One entry was about the hardest part for me of accepting my father's old age and resulting need for help. He was an extremely private person and valued his independence. I noted in the diary the occasion when Rose and I responded to Park Place's management that it was time for dad to move to assisted living from independent living. We drove to Billings to find him very disoriented and distressed. He was so glad to see us. Rose and I cleaned the apartment, visited with dad and Janet, and tried to devise an approach to getting his approval for the move to the "first floor" and assisted living. After a few days we eased into a discussion of the move. When I finally said, "Dad, what do you think?" He turned directly toward me and replied, "Son, what ever you think is right." He was handing his independence and well being over to me. How hard it must have been for him. Obviously, I was moved to tears. Tears I have as I write this. Deep down I can only hope "I did him proud".

I have this blog for many reasons; probably the most important of which is to pass on to my daughters and grandchildren stories of my life. Perhaps this is for selfish reasons, i.e. to understand the actions of their father better. But, also I do it to give them all an appreciation from "whence they came", i.e. ranch background, small town values, working for college education etc. Most of the stories/experiences that I write about come to mind as though they occurred only yesterday. They come easy to mind.

Dad and I became very close during the last five or so years of his life. Not that we were not close all of our lives. But during the last years of his life we talked a lot - over a wide range of topics. But during those discussions rarely, if ever, did he talk about his life prior to his high school years. He once told of his and his older sister Phoebe's presence when his father tried to kill his mother; where he and his sister were (under the washing machine), the sound of the gun discharge, etc. In generalities he told of what happened after that, i.e. being sent, along with his brothers, to an orphanage, Phoebe living with his mother, foster homes for the twins, etc. But - no specific stories. Generalities. No references to his father - ever. His memories must have been terrible. And, I know he had a life time quest to prove that he was not his father. God, I hope he finally realized that he was not his father. He was not! He was the best father that a boy could hope for. How, I loved that man. Our cowboy. Our hero.

Happy father's day, Dad.

Skip

transformations

Susan Boyle

Interesting what a "little paint and curtains" can do. :-)

More later on this transformations idea.

G

Brands I have known

Dad had two brands; one for Montana and one for Wyoming. The reverse C was selected because the normal C was not available in either state. C was for Chapman. K was for Kinsfather. Years later it became Chapman minus Kinsfather. :-) The Pitchfork brands were from the first dude ranch Dad and Mom had in Meeteetesee Wyoming, about 75 miles south and west of Cody.

The bar was simply added to denote dude ranch animals.

The 4K brand was the brand of the second dude ranch that Dad and Mom operated, just south of Dean, Montana. Note that the name of the ranch was also the brand. A western tradition, I would suppose. Members of my family were also ranchers, i.e. raised cattle. Uncle Martin's brand to me was always the most descriptive to my way of thinking, i.e. Martin Linse. Tim Mullowney was my Uncle Martin's next door neighbor. The Mullowney family was always considered family by us. The Linse family and Mullowney family shared such chores as branding, grain harvest, beet harvest, butchering, etc.

Mike, Tim's son, of course is like a brother to us all. His brand, too, is very descriptive, i.e. MM for Mike Mullowney. However, I don't believe he still holds the brand. He does, however, still hold his dad's brand.


I have no idea where the brand of my Uncle Walt came from, i.e. what's with the P for Kinsfather? I'm sure there is some significance that I'm not aware of. Maybe maiden name from Wisconsin. Sure wish I knew, though because it is a very old brand. I remember the brand being displayed on the side of Uncle Walt's barn.

My best friend Sonny Kinsfather (Uncle Walt's oldest son) who died of lung cancer at a very young age, had the L slash 6 brand. Where in the heck that brand came from I guess I'll never know. ;-( We all knew that some day Sonny would be governor of the state of Montana. He loved the political scene and was very active in Montana politics. President Reagan sent him a get well letter while Sonny was in the hospital. He died at age 41. What a loss. I miss him to this day.

Barry Kinsfather, Sonny's younger brother, has the inverted triangle K brand. This seems to make more sense to me than his dad's brand. At least it has the K for Kinsfather. Barry still farms the home place, i.e. the place my mother always thought of as being "home". During one of my last conversations with my mom, she said that she had talked with her dad, John, about coming home. Home was the "Evergreen Farm". She is home now.

I'll leave it to the reader to figure out Dad's neighbor's brand. If you can't figure it out, leave me a comment!

I suppose brands have little meaning to non-westerns. But to those of us who were raised on ranches, brands represent a way of life, family, friends, and recollections of times gone by. I see these brands and I think of "place"; an important concept to those of us raised in Montana.

A thank you to Mike for helping me remember some of these brands.

Gordon et al

High expectations

Speaking of Louie and Stevie in a prior post got me to thinking of my childhood friendships. I recall another friend, who's name escapes me, who was about the same age as myself, but through the difference in birth dates was able to start school a year earlier than me. We both more than anything looked forward to learning to read ~ this was before the day of universal kindergartens and the "push" for teaching reading in the home. I forget how I happened to be in their home on the day this kid went to school the first day. But, I do remember being "bawling mad". I was pissed about how unfair it was and could not control my crying. To sooth my feelings, I remember the kid saying, "Don't cry, Skippy. You be here this afternoon when I get home from school and I'll read you a story." That really made me mad and I really started bawling!

We stand on the shoulders...

On my trip to the lake I took this picture of a a cedar sapling growing out of an old cedar stump. I had in mind three "sayings"; We stand on the shoulders of those that precede us ~ How soon we forget ~ and Dust to dust. It was really cloudy that day and the picture didn't turn out as I had hoped. But, you get the idea.

I remember saying to Rose right after my bladder surgery, "some alley cat is probably eating my bladder as we speak'!

I guess what I'm trying to say is the re-composition of our molecules can be a beautiful thing. Although I'm not too fond of alley cats!

Dad/Gordon/etc.

Tribute to the girl on the corner

When I was six years old I had a special friend who lived in the corner house. She was special for a couple of reasons. First, she was a girl and at age six she was the only girl I knew other than my cousin Jeannie. Second, she hit me on the head with a large stick and put an inch cut on my scalp ~ a scar that I carry to this day ~ the first of many scars, some seen, some not so seen, that I carry from a life of encounters with members of the opposite sex. She was my kinda girl; carry a big stick and use it!

During the summer of 1945 when I was six years old, the city imposed a city-wide polio quarantine. Children were not allowed to leave their yards and no friends were allowed to visit. I remember how hard it was and how afraid I was , but I survived the boredom of that summer.

As soon as the quarantine was lifted I remember rushing to visit my buddies Louie and Stevie. I remember then going down to the corner to visit my other friend only to be told that she was no longer there. Shortly thereafter her mom, dad and older brother moved away. My first broken heart.

So ~ I've been thinking again

Education at all levels is in budget crisis mode once again ~ still. Society is sorting through priorities. And it ain't doing a very good job of it, in my view.

My family is a family involved in professional education, i.e. Rose - college instructor, Katy - early head start, Jennie - middle school math, Skip - retired accounting professor, Candy - program assistant EWU, Brad - fallen management professor and Uncle Charles - retired college president ~ and a great grandfather who owned a private boys school in Great Britain. My friends are for the most part involved in higher education, i.e. Ed Bump, Paul Graul, Chris Harvey, Paul Dierks, and more. Most of my friends are University educated. We understand education; the process and the intent. We live it. It's in our genes. Perhaps it's an isolated world in which we live (my friends and I). Perhaps we think of ourselves as elite. But I prefer to think not. We have worked hard and value knowledge.

Given the world I live in, a dream I had a couple of nights ago really disturbed me. The essence of the dream was learning to live in a universe without higher education; certainly not higher education as we know it. It was a very realistic dream ~ one of my better ones, intellectually. Why? Because that is, in my view, where we are headed. My dream gave me glimpses of what to expect. It bordered on being a nightmare! :-)

Society seems to be saying let the "free market" prevail. Let the private sector teach the technical "stuff". They are better at it; besides in the technical areas practice is ahead of the academic environment. Universities are no longer the bastions of innovation. I even recognized this "bastion phenomena" in my farewell address to the Washington Society of CPA's. I pleaded with the professional accountants to help in this arena and I asked the academics to accept this help. I fear it fell on deaf ears. The practitioners have no time. And, the academics have turf issues. ;-) I prefer to think of both sides as being selfish and lazy. How's that for being blunt? If they are not careful some outside venture business will step in and provide the education for "profit" motives - to the detriment of both the practitioners and the academics. And, chances are the new education business's are going to preach the use of technology (Internet basically), preparing one for a "job", the "ease" of obtaining an education and the quickness of obtaining an education. I, of all people, worry about the implications of our current world on the teaching of the "liberal arts" curriculum. For years I fought the battle of protecting and promoting the professional programs in the University environment where the liberal arts were dominant to the point of arrogance.

Fast forward to today. The emphasis is on obtaining the technical skills for a "job" to the exclusion of the liberal arts, i.e. don't teach any of the liberal arts. The idea that the liberal arts do not add skills that are appropriate to a job/profession is absolutely wrong, but only appreciated ironically if one has a liberal arts background. This misconception along with the increasing cost of higher education does not auger well for the University. Increasingly, the benefit of a university education is a class issue, i.e. only the well off can afford it. So what happens to enrollments. They go down. As General Motors and others have recently found the buildings and equipment owned simply become sunk costs. Some in our society, the far right, would even say that even the research efforts of the research institutions could be better accomplished in the "private" sector.

Now I am as in favor of technology as the next guy. But I'm afraid in large degree our nation and society has the "wrapper mixed up with the hot dog". The tail's wagging the dog. We are so enamored with the technology and its glitter that we are forgetting such things as the English language, communication skills, math skills, critical thinking, ethnics, historical context, politeness, art appreciation, spirituality, ethic differences, interpersonal skills, and the list goes on. Most of these concepts/skills are learned on the liberal arts side of the University. And, I should add that the technical skills taught on the professional schools side of the University are taught within the context/blend of the total University environment. If we are not careful we are going to forget that a University education is supposed to prepare the student for future changes and to be a "thinking member of society". Balance is necessary. The private sector wants well prepared professionals. Society wants a well informed and educated populace. They need not be exclusive concepts if we stop and think! Are we thinking. I'm worried that we are not. Our nation has become so divided that one side will not even listen to the other. I sense another division in our nation relative to the benefits of a University education. The approach we seem to be taking is simply going to isolate us one from the other even more.

My rant for the day. Other than that things are great here in lake woe be gone.

Gordon

p.s. Yes, I am a grumpy old man.