TUESDAY/WEDNESDAY

We haven't had any winter yet, yesterday was sunny and in the 60s,  but there is snow forecast on Sunday across the nation.  I hope it doesn't last long.

Yesterday was a usual Tuesday, manned the front desk at the Senior Centre, listening to the country music.   There are always young people cleaning the Senior Centre and they are doing community service.  There was a young man there yesterday, very polite and pleasant, and when he left I asked Kate if he was doing community service, she said he was. I was surprised at that and said "he looks so HARMLESS!!!!"  She laughed and said he was busted for having a little marijuana.  I told her that in England I never met anyone on the wrong side of the law but here they are all around me.  It seems that lots of people I know have friends or connections with someone going, or due to go, to court (and they are so matter-of-fact about it, like it's a normal part of life).  I don't know if it is the company I'm keeping or the higher incidence of crime.

The headquarters of the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma is about 50 miles north of here at Perkins.  They only have about 700 enrolled tribal members, 517 of whom live in Oklahoma.   They issue their own vehicle tags, as you can see, and operate their own Housing Authority.   They own a truck stop, a gas station, a smoke shop, a bingo hall, an off-track wagering facility, and a casino.  Indians own all the casinos, and they own all the smoke shops and being exempt from state laws they can smoke in their casinos, which is probably just as well, at least I am not tempted to venture in there.   As well as the casino in Perkins they also own one in Chandler, about 30 odd miles from here.  For gamblers Oklahoma must be Heaven, and there's a little slice of it right here in Shawnee with at least two or three casinos.


There are about 30 tribal members who still speak their Chiwere language, a branch of the Siouan language group  - round here their language and culture is part of the Algonquin Indians - Oklahoma must also be heaven for anthropologists and the like studying north American Indians.


One last fact is that in Perkins they have an eagle aviary where they house and rehabilitate injured eagles who cannot be released back into the wild.   The aviary is one of the few in the country open to the public and visitors come from all over the world.


Naturally molted eagle feathers are gathered by the tribe for legally permitted religious use and the tribe is currently raising funds to expand the aviary, since spaces for eagles filled up almost immediately with birds from throughout the United States. 

They believe that the eagle is the only animal that has seen the face of the creator and so honor him with respect and dignity.