Book Status:

• No Change

Currently Reading:

• Journal of a Trapper by Osborne Russell, Edited by Aubrey L. Haines, published by University of Nebraska Press

Truly, this is a bit of a slog. Russell was a Trapper back in the days when Joe Meek, Jim Bridger, Hugh Glass were Trappers. Unlike many of the Mountain Men he was not only literate, he kept a journal, which for the most part is interesting. However, when Haines got his editor's pen on the original manuscript, I wish he'd done just a wee bit more editing. I am currently in the middle of a 14-page long paragraph!

Haines could easily have added a bit of punctuation - at least end of sentence periods - as well as broken it into more manageable and readable paragraphs. What he did was add end notes. Gobs of end notes. Had he made them foot notes they would have become 40 times more interesting because then I could merely glance at the bottom of the page, scanned/read the footnote, and gone right back to the text. Now I have to go into the flipping and flapping of pages, as well as my rant about end notes and how I hope the idiots who invented them spend eternity having to find them!

This is a quote from the middle of the (so far) longest paragraph (14 pages) I've come across, "...We travelled over ground similar to that of the day before shaping our course more Easterly until night Novr. 1st. After travelling about 10 Mls we reached Bighorn river and stopped and commenced setting traps. The river at this place is bordereed with heavy Cottonwood timber with little or no under brush beneath. Towards night a party of Crow Indians came to us on foot armed as if going to war after smoking and eating they told us they were on their way to the Snaks to Steal horses and intended to stay all night with us and leave the next morning. They told us the village to which they belonged was nearly a days travel below on the river and that "Long hair's" village was on Wind river above the mountain but could give us no information of Mr. Fontanell or his party They were very insolent and saucy saying that we had no right in their country and intimated they could take everything from us if they wished. The next morning after eating breakfast they said if we would give them some tobacco and ammunition they would leave us so we divided our little stock with them They then persisited in having all and when we refused telling them we could not spare it one of them seized the sack which contained it while another grasped the Englishmans rifle we immediately wrenched them out of their hands and told them if they got more they should fight for it...." I have copied this directly, leaving in all the punctuation, or lack thereof, and the spellings, etc.

If you like history, and like the history of the Mountain Men, it is a wonderful book, though a bit of a struggle at times.

Projects on which I am currently working:

• Reading the above.
• Getting my winter cards made. I have made them for years - taking the photo, getting them printed, taping them to a card, writing a little poem/sentiment in the card, etc. This year, I'm letting Costco do it. I sent the photo, wrote the poem, and will pick up the cards tomorrow!
• Quilting - I'm almost finished with one more quilt top, have two more tops to finish

From the Mouths of Babes:

I was outside talking to a friend, and his friend's little boy was in the back of their pick up. The boy wanted down, and Dad was busy, so I lifted him down. He's probably three? Anyhow he looked at me very seriously and said, "You look old!" I laughed and told him, "I am old!" Ah, from the mouths of babes;-)

Your old blogger:

Me, reading a short story at a function in October 2009. The plaid shawl is my family tartan, the McBrayer Tartan.

Weather outside:
Cold (42 degrees), cloudy, humid. Bone chilling cold becauses of the humidity. If it was dry, it would be perfect!

Weather inside:
Warm (72 degrees)