A NEW MONTH

 How was your Halloween?

Against my wishes that the big bag of candy SWMBO bought weeks ago should remain in our possession for us to munch on, she carved a jack-o-lantern out of a pumpkin and turned on the outside lights for a few hours.

We had 10 trick-or-treaters come to the door, the first one of which was a tiny, pretty girl who when I opened the door did NOT say "trick or treat" but rather, being a modern child, said "You got any candy?"

So a slight dent was made in the candy bag, the neighborhood tykes went away happy and so am I.

Yesterday I tried to figure out why a couple of people, at least, have not been getting the notifications I send out whenever I post to this blog.

I MAY have found a solution but we'll see.

Blasted Blogger.

Or Gmail.

Or Google.

November 1st brings a new reason to celebrate a people and, no, it's not the Norwegians.

That's right.

It was first declared by George H.W. Bush back when he was the President, in August of 1990.

Actually he proclaimed it "National American Indian Heritage Month" but it evolved to the present title.

Back when I was a kid we all used to go to the cowboys-and-Indians movies at the local theatre in which the Indians were usually portrayed by Hollywood as bloodthirsty killers and the cowboys or the cavalry or the sheriff were the good guys.

And that's how we played in North Dakota in those days.

I remember one comic book character known as Straight Arrow.

But he was about the only "good" Indian we ever heard about.

In these modern new times, derogatory names of mountains and towns and sports teams have been changed, even my families' beloved Cleveland Indians.

(I'm not sure why they all liked Cleveland nor why I, and only I, was a diehard fan of the Brooklyn Dodgers.)

Now, of course, they'd all be rooting for the Minnesota Twins and the Minnesota Vikings.

WAIT A MINUTE!

Is "Vikings" now a slur on my Norwegian heritage?

Will they have to change their name to something like "the Minnesota Snowballs"?

Well, I have raved on far too much today.

So let's just remember this month the REAL first residents of this land, the Native Americans who were here hundreds, perhaps thousands of years before it was ever called America.