Even though it was the end of May, it was still a little cool at night. After supper, we sat in front of the fireplace and built a small fire just to take the chill off the living room. They had a beautiful fireplace in the living room; built with a loose rock look that went up to the ceiling. It had bookshelves on both sides from the floor to the ceiling. There must have had at least a thousand books on each side of the fireplace. I asked them, “How many of these books have you read?” and they said, “All of them.” Grandfather said, “Son, all the knowledge you need is in these books. If you read and study them, you can learn anything you want to know.”
“Remember knowledge is power, the power to help you change things to make a better tomorrow for yourself and the people around you. I can only hope that you will read and learn everything that you can to help you out in this life.
“It is bedtime now we have a big day ahead of us tomorrow.”
It was five a.m. when Grandfather came in and woke me up. As I came out of my room, I could smell the bacon and eggs Grandmother was preparing for breakfast and, as I started down the stairs, I could also smell the biscuits and gravy. She sure knew how to cook!
We sat down at the table and Grandfather said grace before we could eat. I never saw Grandfather eat without first thanking GOD for all he had given us. After we finished, we put our dishes away in the sink before we went on our journey for the day. “Grandpa, what are we going to do today?”
“Jacob, we’re going to scout out the woods and the creeks on the mountain, looking for things that shouldn’t be there.”
We grabbed our backpacks and put food and water in them, enough to last for the day.
We walked along the trail beside the river, but the forest seemed quieter today than normal. I asked Grandfather, “Why is it so quiet in the woods this morning?” He told me there is a storm coming our way and that we would have to find shelter, but we still had a few hours before it hit. We walked up the first creek, zigzagging back and forth, making our way to the top of the mountain. As we walked, we came upon a round rock that was about four feet across with a square hole cut into the center of it. “Grandpa, is this what I think it is?” I asked.
“Yes, it is. It’s a hand-carved wheel off an old two-wheel cart. It has been there for several hundred years. Your great-great-grandfather found it. This creek leads to the top of the mountain, but it splits into three branches halfway up. All this is written down in my journal.”
My Grandfather shared many things with me about which path to follow and where they lead. He said, “One day this will be passed on to you when you find my journal, as I had to do from my Dad; as he did from his Dad. This is the way the journal has been handed down for three generations.
“It’s time to find shelter now before the storm hits. There’s a place not too far from here. It looks like it’s going to be a bad one, so let’s get going, Jacob.” We headed back toward the house, but we were going up. It took about thirty minutes to get where we were going. I had never seen this place: It was a room was cut about twenty-four feet back into the mountain and thirty feet wide and the ceiling was twelve feet high. It had a log front that looked like an old fort; the logs ran up and down. Blackberry vines and honeysuckle covered most of the front making it almost impossible to see unless you knew where it was. We got there just in time, too. We had just enough time to gather some dry wood and get it inside when the rain hit. We watched the hail come down ranging in size from a golf ball to a baseball. The wind was blowing so hard the rain looked like it was coming down sideways. The thunder was almost deafening, and the lightning was blinding if you were looking out when it struck. It lasted for the better part of three hours before it let up, it must have rained seven inches or more. When it stopped, the sun came out and the clouds moved on south. We started back home to make sure that Grandmother was okay. When we got home, she was coming out of the storm cellar. Thank GOD she was fine.
After supper, we sat at the kitchen table and talked about the storm, thanking GOD that there wasn’t any damage to the house or the barns. Before you knew it, it was time for bed and another exciting day spent with Grandfather was to be written down in my journal.
The summer went by faster than normal, but I learned a lot from Grandfather, as usual. It was time to go back home and register for college.
I wasn’t sure what I wanted to major in. I thought about engineering or becoming a doctor. So, I took all the courses I needed that were relative to both subjects, along with a couple of classes on philosophy and Native American history. I thought I had to study a lot in high school, but college was ten times as much studying. I started classes at 9:00 in the morning and my last class was over at 4:00 in the afternoon; then I would study until 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning. I couldn’t wait until Thanksgiving break. Boy, could I use it and was I ever thankful when it arrived.
Mom and I went to Grandfather’s on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving in order to help Grandmother prepare for Thanksgiving Day. It was just going to be the four of us this year, but it would be great being with the people I love more than anything on this earth. Grandfather and I killed a couple of wild turkeys with our bows and arrows the day before Thanksgiving. Turkey couldn’t get any fresher than that. We cut it up in strips and deep-fried it. I believe it was the best turkey I have ever eaten in my entire life. After dinner, Grandfather and I went for a long walk along Red River, stopping and skipping stones from time to time. Not much was said for the first hour or two, and then Grandfather stopped and turned toward me and asked me how my studies were going. Grandfather reminded me that life is short, and that today is all you really have, that there is no promise of tomorrow. This moment we are living is a gift from GOD and to treasure it and to seize each day He gives us. “Look at all GOD has given us that we take for granted. Not even stopping long enough to kneel on our knees and say thank you, Lord GOD, for all the many blessings and the people you have guided into our life.” Grandfather showed me the fish traps that were still visible in the river that the Indians had built hundreds of years ago. He knew how to use them, and he taught me how to build them and to use them.
“They placed rocks on top of each other making the shape of a ‘V’ in order to funnel the fish into a narrow stream and they would net the fish when they swam through or spear them. It’s amazing at how simple it looks, but it takes a long time to build one and build it right.” It was getting late, so it was time to turn around and go back to the house. Mom and Grandma were sitting on the back porch waiting for us when we returned.
We went inside and threw a couple of logs on the fire to get warm. It was extremely cold this year, colder than normal for this time of year. Their fireplace in the den was made of river rock of all colors, white, brown, red, and black.
The black rocks were placed together to create the image of a black bear, the red rocks shaped the image of a red fox, the brown took on the appearance of a twelve-point buck deer, and the white that of a wolf. After a closer look, I found that Grandpa’s name was carved into the rocks of the fox, Dad’s name was carved into the bear, and my Great-Grandfather’s name was carved into the deer. I didn’t recognize the name carved into the white wolf: “Catharine.”
I asked Grandpa, “Who is Catharine?”
Grandpa replied: “You will find out someday when the time is right”. The last image was of the bald eagle; it was made from black and white rocks with my name carved into it.
The mouth of the fireplace was about six feet wide and big enough to stand up in. There were bookshelves of solid mahogany on both sides, supported by solid rock pillars with words carved into each one from the ceiling to the floor. The Pillar on the left had “In The Beginning (HA-WI-NA-DI-TL-V) (AD-AL-EN-IS-GV)”, the