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About Siletz news / (Siletz, OR) 199?-current | View Entire Issue (July 1, 2005)
TRIBAL PROGRAM NEWS 2005 First Quarter Incentive Awards 2005 Second Quarter Incentive Awards Melanie Liddell Superior Accomplishments Oscar “Max” Hoover and Tamara Morrow Janet Wicklund Superior Accomplishments Major Acts of Merit Bonnie Petersen, Pam Ben, and Sharon Edenfield Employee of the Quarter Employee of the Quarter Outstanding Service Jody Greene, Nancy McCrary, Arlen Kentta, Debbie Rudy, and Carol Reed Incentive Award Committee Sara Bell, Carol Reed, Katy Kaady, Patricia Valet, and JoAnn Miller The Forestry Crew Outstanding Service Cost Savings or Inventions Kari Burns and the Housing Staff Mari Kramer and Jay Christensen Top: First quarter incentive award winners (I). Second quarter incentive award winners (r). Below: The annual Summer All-Staff meeting included a chance for staff to challenge each other in a battle of Tug-of-War. The winning team was "Not The Wimpy Maintenance Boyz,' (I). Above, the Maintenance Boys are defeated. Walt’s Words of Wit and Wisdom by Walt Klamath A little girl maybe 2 or 3 kinda in spired me this time. Seems she and her dad were walking a trail and she was right behind him chattering away. As they were walking, guess that she quit chattering and her dad looked around. She was 10-15 feet behind now, engrossed in something on the ground. While he was talking to me about her, it got me to thinking, which is a little un usual. In this day and age of computers, TV, and cell phones, I think that we're losing something, losing touch with Mother Earth. There is a whole world out there that we don't take time to look at or appreciate. So let’s take a safari out into the back yard. Pick a rock turn it over. By golly, there is life under that rock. There are bugs that are fascinating to young minds and we who are older have forgotten how we were when we would find bugs. There are bugs of all different colors, maybe not under the same rock because some of them are looking for dinner. There may be worms. Angle worms? To me. that meant fishing. When 1 was a kid. anything to get out of work. But there were all kinds of worms, some big ones, some tiny, some white, some red. Turn over another rock, maybe spiders would scurry around. Another, maybe ladybugs, sometimes several dif ferent types of bugs. Guess they weren't too hungry or at least had learned to get along. Maybe there would be a log or chunk of wood with loose bark and under that bark would be a black lizard of some sort, not a salamander. They may be 2 or 3 inches long. Pick them up; they are friendly. Let them crawl over your hands. Of course, if they were over 3 inches long, they were too big to trust. They might bite, but I don't know because I never took a chance. Then the anthills - watch them do their work, they are amazing. In the wild, they will carry loads much bigger than themselves. They run all over each other and don't seem to get irritated about it. Poke them with a stick and watch the whole colony perk up and become very active. These little fellows can bite too. first hand experience. They have trails a long way from their homes that they travel constantly. Don't know if they have any natural enemies or not, but they will be over 100 feet from their hill. Then the water - a w hole new world. Sit back and watch for awhile. A stick w ill sprout legs and start mov ing. Touch that little stick and like a turtle, the bug will go back into the stick. We used to call them stick worms. They also made good fish bait by taking them out of the stick. Then there were the rock worms that looked like a conglomerate of rocks with legs. They too will pull themselves back into their home when bothered. As one stands or sits watching, it seems the whole stream bottom is alive with something. There are little mudcats maybe half an inch long. Crawdads look for them and probably the worms too. As we ponder, we may see little fish that are less than a half inch long. We won’t see them unless we look for them, but when we spot them there are thousands of them almost invisible. Under the rocks in the stream hide the crawdads, all sizes of them. Some are blue, some are red. and all have pinchers except the ones that have been in a fight and have lost it to the opponent, which eats it and the crawdad too if he doesn't get out of the way. Then move on to the swamp. Now we find these red salamanders. I guess we called them water dogs, many of them. They don't bite and get to be about half an inch in diameter and maybe 5 inches long. They move quite slowly. Then there are the ones I don't know what kind of bug. but they sound like a four- motored plane when they fly, about 3 inches long and hideous looking. I didn't touch them, so 1 don't know if they bite or not. They climb up on the grass in the swamp. Once in awhile when a rock’s turned over, we find a little lizard faster than greased lightening and very inquisitive. They’re al most faster than the eye can see. I think they're called a genki or something like it. The other kind of lizard likes to leave its tail behind for some reason. It seems as if they feel threatened, so they will shed their tail and keep on running. Go out at night, you may see some glowworms. Can’t see them during the day because they're so small, but at night they have a big glow. Sometimes at night after a rain, the old rotted alder stumps will glow because they're the fcxxl for the glowworms. Just about anywhere one looks, there is some kind of life other than the grass, trees, and brush. It seems that it takes a little child to appreciate it. Maybe we should bring out that little child in ourselves and look for the beauty of our Mother Earth and all the gifts that she has for us. just take the time to look. Then there is the little bug called a bee. Now that little fellow commands a lot of respect. They guard their nest pretty well. Some go into the ground like the yel low jackets. some on trees like the hornet, then the honeybee tree. They do get irri tated easily. so it's best not to bother them. They are busy little bees, especially the honeybee. They go a mile or two from their home to gather pollen. July 2005 Siletz News • 9
