Discrimination, Homesteading, & Goats in the Heartland

This weekend, we traveled to Lincoln and Omaha to introduce Alison to half of her extended family.  The trip was excellent and Alison did a great job!

I also had a lot of fun visiting two smaller National Park Service sites: Brown vs. Board of Education and Homestead.  Brown vs. Board is located in an old school building in Topeka, KS.  They have some excellent multi-media displays that discuss discrimination of all kinds from the 1600's to present.  It served to remind me of how far we've come, but also how recently we've really changed as a country with respect to civil rights.  It also gave me some hope that the discrimination we see today (LGBT rights, religious beliefs, and racial tensions) may someday be a thing of the past as well.

 Brown vs. Board of Education National Historic Site

Photo: Nathan King

Homestead National Monument celebrates the very first 160-acre farm patent issued by the Homestead Act of 1862.  This is the legislation that allowed you to stake out a claim in the vast openness of the United States, live on the land, and eventually be given that land for free.  Seems like a good, non-controversial idea, right?  Wrong!  The very interesting video and displays in the museum did a good job of pointing out how this affected the native populations.  It was also a pretty difficult thing to do as 60% of the families who initially staked claims, never proved up on the land (i.e. stayed long enough to take ownership of their farm).  The best part of this site is the beautiful prairie outside and the brochure and demonstration area about all of the different kinds of barbed wire.  Wow!  My life would NOT have been complete without this knowledge.

An example of 1 of the 500 types of barbed wire

On our trip, Kansas and Nebraska were being, well, Kansas and Nebraska by giving us major crosswinds to contend with on the drive up, allowing tumbleweeds and corn husks to collect in the bumper. On the way home we saw not one, but two trucks carrying goats.

Not that I don't find this hilarious, but I am really looking forward to moving to North Dakota later this month.  That's right, braving perilous snowdrifts sounds more fun than hanging out alone in Larned.  Go figure!

 Photo of a Homestead in North Dakota

Photo: Nathan King

Crazy Things Parents Say

Being a mom has brought out the best...and the worst in me at times.  Despite some trying times, I stay generally entertained by Alison's funny faces and by listening to the strange things that come out of my mouth.  Here is a short sampling from the past two days, just business as usual in the King household now:

"Please try not to pee on me."

"Could you not crash your head into things?"

"Hey, poop on your own time!"

Me: "You look like an earless Yoda!"  Nathan: "Yoda, you look like." 

"Your eye goopies make you look like a zombie." 

[Burp] "Yay!  FINALLY, good burpie!"

"Shut up!  Shut up! Shut up! Shut uuuuuup!" (Something I've really wanted to say in several business meetings.)

"Hey look, it's an arm!  Hand-y!"

10-20-10 - Almost seven weeks!

Kansas, Not What You'd Expect

Kansans don't usually fit their over-religious-everyone-drives-a-tractor-to-work stereotype, but our hometown paper, The Tiller & Toiler, which comes out on Tuesdays and Fridays, apparently didn't get that memo.  Here's a blurb that appeared on the front page of today's paper (reproduced word for word):

"Hi Neighbor" goes out to all the farmers in Pawnee County, and we guess especially to John Dryden.  Jeff Delaney at the Pawnee County COOP tells us that John came in with the record test weight milo the other day at 65.7, where 56 is a common weight. They even made a sign to put up on the COOP door because John thought he deserved a little recognition.  When the sign came down later, John took it home to put on his fridge.  Now Tim Dryden, John's dad came in to the COOP a little later, and was asked if he knew about the great weight, but alas, he hadn't been informed by his son and fellow farmer.  We're guessing Tim's wife Marty might still be in the dark!  That's okay Marty, just go see John's sign on the fridge.  He deserves the recognition according to the folks at the COOP.

So, there you have it!  Kansas, it's not what you expect!