Wednesday, March 6, 2019 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
The Bunkhouse
Chronicle
Craig Rullman
Columnist
Winter Count
Challenges travel in
packs, and this winter is no
exception.
No sooner had our sec-
ond generational snowstorm
in four years ransacked an
otherwise placid winter,
than one of the dogs ripped
open his shoulder in an
accident and needed medi-
cal attention. Twenty or so
sutures later, a leak opened
up in the master bedroom
in the same place we had
a leak in the winter of 917,
which required some late
night alpinist adventures on
the north face of a precipi-
tous peak, and will require
a second replacement of the
bedroom ceiling in as many
years.
One survival trick, when
stalked by challenges in the
March of our discontent,
is simply to take a deep
breath, which I accomplish
to some degree by study-
ing the Winter Counts.
Winter Counts were kept by
many of the plains tribes 4
Mandan, Pawnee, Lakota,
Dakota 4 usually on hides
(but sometimes muslin or
paper) painted with picto-
graphs. This was a mne-
monic practice: the picto-
graphs recorded one or more
significant events of the year
that spurred the memory
and gave people things to
remember and talk about
during those long, dark win-
ters on the plains.
Lone Dog9s winter count
4 he was a Yanktonai 4
covers roughly the years
1800 to 1870, and gives us
a brief peek into a life we
would not otherwise enjoy
and, if nothing else, fires the
imagination long enough to
draw me happily away from
our series of annoying first-
world complaints:
1825 3 A great flood on
the Missouri River. Many
people were drowned.
1832 3 A white man
killed another white man.
1833 3 The stars fell out
of the sky. The people were
much afraid.
1837 3 Big smallpox.
But even with the fasci-
nating winter counts looking
back at me from the pages of
a book, I can admit to some
cabin fever this time of year.
That9s likely because there
are much bigger storms
stacked up in the atmosphere
4 and try as I might I can9t
see them altering course any
time soon.
1841 3 Feather in the Ear
stole thirty spotted ponies
from the Crows.
I9ve skipped the Cohen
Te s t i m o n y t u r b u l e n c e
because I9ve lost interest in
almost anything that hap-
pens east of the Ohio River.
I9ve essentially <gone to the
mattresses= where politics
are concerned because there
isn9t anyone who works out
there, in that howling integ-
rity wilderness, that I would
trust as far as I can throw my
barn.
Maybe you trust them
4 and I praise those who
keep the faith 4 but from
our lodge, Washington looks
like a tired Broadway anach-
ronism and once respectable
and reliable news organiza-
tions look no better than the
aggressive and often sala-
cious paparazzi hired by
People Magazine.
1852 3 The Nez Perce
came to Lone Horn9s lodge
at midnight and were not
killed. They were lost and
cold.
Still, in America we have
it better than most, even if
the valorization of all things
victimhood too often con-
fuses real issues and obfus-
cates the truth. Sadly, when
that game is played well it
can be lucrative 4 and so
was apparently too much
for television actor Jussie
Smollett, who succumbed to
temptation and ruined him-
self while trying to cash in
on hate-memes.
1851 3 A buffalo cow was
killed and she had an old
woman in her belly.
Smollett earned some
decent jail-time and should
probably seek help from a
mental-health professional,
but I still haven9t heard
enough praise for the oft-
maligned Chicago PD, who
taught the world a lesson in
restraint while brilliantly
navigating the reactionary
media minefield.
1861 3 The buffalo were
so plenty the tracks came up
close to the tipis.
It9s likely that there isn9t
a cop alive 4 since cops
deal with liars for a living 4
who didn9t wince when the
Smollett story broke because
the narrative was hinky
from the outset. For those
assigned to the investiga-
tion it was probably infuriat-
ing. But Smollett, like many
folks, apparently assumed
that cops are stupid and that
somehow his rigorous listing
of every conceivable bigotry
bogeyman made for a con-
vincing tale of woe. It never
did, but there is a strain of
modern activists who rarely,
if ever, examine their own
biases before putting them
out on display.
1865 3 Many horses died
because there was no grass.
There was another storm
in Vietnam last week involv-
ing the President and a dic-
tator, but I9m not sure what
actually happened. That9s
partially because every time
I catch an image of John
Bolton I instantly hear Jello
Biafra singing <Holiday in
Cambodia,= leaving me too
startled to figure out what
was actually accomplished
in Hanoi. Not that the effort
was wasted 4 why not try
to get the homicidal fat kid
to give up his nukes? 4 but
it9s also true that deep snow
would serve as a more con-
vincing image of tranquility
if people would learn how to
drive in it.
1867 3 Many flags given
by the peace commission.
Turning the page, I found
a pictograph that might serve
for our own winter count. It
is an image meant to repre-
sent heavy snowfall to its
contemporaries, but which
to the modern eye looks like
three balloons, trailing their
strings, rising into the sky on
a breeze. This is a valuable
image against our occasion-
ally real, and occasionally
manufactured, despairs.
Plus, on the national level,
balloons are an appropri-
ate symbol for the nonstop
clown show put on by our
alleged representatives in
government.
Thorough, Professional & Honest
“Our experience with Sheila was fantastic. Real estate transactions can be
stressful, but we felt relaxed and confi dent every step of the way with Sheila
representing us. We highly recommend Sheila as an outstanding real estate
agent who will go the extra mile. She genuinely cares about who
she is working with.” — Don & Shannon
Sheila Reifschneider, Broker, 541-408-6355
Licensed Broker in Oregon | sheila@reedbros.com
Coldwell Banker Reed Bros. Realty
291 W. Cascade Ave. | 541-549-6000
New Name New Location
A Partnership
Beyond Your
Expectations
Year-round
(formerly Howells Realty Group)
414 W. Washington Ave., Sisters
FIREWOOD
SALES
— Kindling —
—
—
SISTERS
FOREST PRODUCTS
Stop by and visit with Tiana Van Landuyt & Shelley Marsh.
220 S. Pine St., Ste. 102 | 541-548-9180
541-410-4509
SistersForestProducts.com
On the road to a new
home in 2019?
Let me assist you
in meeting your
real estate goals
CUSTOM HOMES • RESIDENTIAL BUILDING PROJECTS
Serving the Sisters Area Since 1976
541-420-4347
jen@reedbros.com
CCB # 159020
CCB # 16891
Strictly Quality
John P. Pierce • 541-549-9764 jpierce@bendbroadband.com
COOUNTR
TRY Y HO
HOUS
USE E CO
COND
NDO O 54 4 • $ 41
ND
415,
5, ,00
000 0 • ml
mls s 2 01
0181
81 104
0451
51
G eaat viiew
Gr
ews,s, t wo fi firrep
epla
p laace
c s & up
upda
p da
date
ted d with
te
wi i th n ew r oo
oof f an
and d si
sidi
ding
di
ng.
ng
g .
SOUT
SO
UTH
UT
H ME
MEAD
A OW
AD
O 1 3 • $6 624
2 ,0000 • ml
m s 201804470
7022
Grea
Gr
eaat cent
ce e ntra
ral looca
catititon
on. . Welll-m
mai
a ntaineed. .
Jen McCrystal
Broker
Reed Bros. Realty
291 W. Cascade Ave., Sisters, OR 97759
541-549-6000 | reedbros.com
Each office is independently owned & operated.
21
Exclusive Onsite Realtor for the Ranch
Don Bowler, President and Broker 971-244-3012
Gary Yoder, Managing Principal Broker 541-420-6708
Ross Kennedy, Principal Broker 541-408-1343
Carol Dye, Broker 541-480-0923 | Joe Dye, Broker 541-595-2604
Shana Vialovos, Broker 541-728-8354
Open daily, 9 to 5, by the Lodge Pool Complex
541-595-3838 Black Butte Ranch • 541-549-5555 in Sisters
see all our listings at blackbutterealtygroup.com