Today I returned from Central Texas and my hunting episode. It was a good one. I got a big seven-point buck with a 15 and one-half inch spread. He was an old deer. The next day I got my first wild turkey. I shot it with a rifle so there was some damage but enough remains of the breast that we can have wild turkey for Thanksgiving. (One bite each! They probably won't want any more than that)
This lease is in ancient Indian country. One can almost feel the presence of the fierce Comanche a nomadic tribe that moved about Oklahoma and Texas. As I left the lease I saw in the distance a wisp of smoke rising from a hill. Another mesa was higher nearby. I thought of the ingenuity of the Indian who used smoke to communicate. A message could be seen for many miles. Green grass would be used for it smoked more. The location of the smoke conveyed a message, whether or not it came from the top or side or bottom of a hill. These Indians had no way of knowing it, but in ancient China smoke signals were used by soldiers up and down the Great Wall to warn of an impending attack. The Vatican uses a smoke signal to tell of the election of a Pope. Black smoke means failed. White smoke means elected.
As I watched this wisp of smoke and thought of these great warriors and natives of this land I remembered my cell phone lying on the truck bench. It was quiet and useless for there was no signal. Think about that.
Another word about Comanches. During World War II the Comanche Code Talkers saved many lives as they communicated messages not possible to translate by the Japanese code breakers. In the summer of 09' the Comanche Code Talkers are to receive a Congressional Gold Medal of honor for what they did back then. Of couse it comes so late that most of them have died. We are so slow in honoring good deeds.
The next time you see a wisp of smoke drifting to the sky think of those ingenious communicators of long ago. Also the Code Talkers. More on Central Texas next time. Haa Maruawe!