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Rated: 13+ · Book · Biographical · #2198921
Norma's Wanderings around a small section of Montana


Well, hey there!
Welcome to Roundup, Montana! If it's a nice day, we'll sit a spell on my porch and talk awhile.

"All the resources we need are in the mind.” Theodore Roosevelt, our 26th President of the United States of America.

Another quote I find interesting: "Creativity is intelligence having fun." Albert Einstein

What's on your mind today?





2023 Quill Finalist



Quill Finalist Logo 2022. Signature for use by anyone nominated for a Quill Award in 2020Signature for nominees of the 2019 Quill Awards.



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August 30, 2021 at 9:04pm
August 30, 2021 at 9:04pm
#1016393


I sat on my porch tonight, cruising the internet. I kept hearing this sound, like someone grinding up tree parts down the street. Valid, since I saw someone cutting down a dead tree on my walk earlier. So I went out to the sidewalk to check this out.

The sound was coming from the truck of the woman next door. It was idling, regular noise, loud noise, cycling back and forth. I looked inside and she is sitting in there. Now this has been making a noise for perhaps 15 minutes or so? It's a warm afternoon, perhaps she is cooling off, I think.

My hubby comes back from his nightly walk. I tell him what I observe. "I think I'll wait a few more minutes, then I'm calling the sheriff." So I give it a half hour. I call the non-emergency sheriff number. Tell them this person is sitting in her truck, the truck is running, she seems to be sleeping or worse. No I haven't checked to see if she is breathing. Please come do a welfare check.

So that was 45 minutes ago. Sometime ago the truck stopped running. I don't know if she turned it off or it just ran out of gas or gave up the ghost.

The Sheriff just arrived. He pounded on the truck window, thank God she woke up. Not sure what the story is here. I know this person has had drug and alcohol problems in the past. But I have to tell you, my heart pounded for a few moments as he was yelling at her. I sure didn't want the ambulance to come and take her body away.

Now will she be like the character in the book I just read? Sad something didn't turn out the way she planned?

I'd do the same for anyone else.
August 27, 2021 at 10:47pm
August 27, 2021 at 10:47pm
#1016256


Not much new to report. Now as I type that, there is a sad tale.

I knew this one lady when I went to Physical Therapy a few years ago here in town. She was the receptionist. Sweet lady - and since you don't know her, and neither she nor her family I would hazard to guess are on this site, I will let you know her name is Krissy. I just heard a few days ago that Krissy is now in the hospital, non-responsive.

She is probably about 35-40. She was at a photo session with her daughter, for senior high school pictures. She collapsed, went to the hospital. She had seizures, then she had strokes after an aneurysm. Now she is non-responsive. Those are the facts I've been able to glean from at least three different people.

How sad, for her daughter with her at the time, her other, younger daughter, her husband, the extended family that is now gathering.

An aside, her husband fell off a roof a few years ago, he's in construction. His company did work for us. He said he will never be 100% healed after that fall. I can't imagine the agony he is now experiencing.

One moment you're happy, enjoying your child, discussing life and the future, the next your family is deciding on a future possibly without you.

First of all, this hits home for me. My second husband had an aneurysm and a subsequent stroke. He survived, but was in the hospital for some time and never was the same. It was a time of great emotional and physical stress for me. A time in my life I cannot look back on with any great comfort.

If anything, this recent episode once again points out the importance of living each day as if it may be your last. Don't ever take for granted you will live for another day or hour or minute. Say 'I love you' more often. Call your family more often. Enjoy each day and find fun and enjoyment in whatever you do.

And for us writers, don't procrastinate! Write every day. If you have an idea, get it out there. Don't let that idea die!

*HeartB* *HeartP* *HeartBroken* *HeartP* *HeartB*






August 23, 2021 at 12:35am
August 23, 2021 at 12:35am
#1016006



Hubby and I went to friends for lunch today. They just moved here in the past year from Hong Kong. Like a lot of folks lately, they bought land with a house out in the wilds of Montana.

My church helped them move in some months ago, so it was fun to go back and see the progress they have made. When we first went, they had just moved into what amounted to a shack on top of a hill on twenty acres. Now they've improved that shack into a liveable little house, did some landscaping, and have two full-time jobs. They plan to build a bigger home, or buy a modular and have it moved to the land. The location is great, quiet, but not too far from Roundup.

We had a nice conversation about life. Our lives are quite similar, yet at the same time quite different. Amazing. But one constant is that both couples feel that God led us to this place.

School has started here. The weather has definitely changed. It is cooler, the heat is gone. Dare I say we feel the shift toward fall? Hard to believe it wasn't that long ago it was 100° for about a week. Right now I'm sitting in my living room with the little gas heater fired up.

August 18, 2021 at 3:30pm
August 18, 2021 at 3:30pm
#1015822


Guess what kind friends! We actually got that mysterious phenomenon known as rain. Yes indeed. Today is 50° cooler than some days recently. That in itself is quite remarkable. But a cold front blew in last night. A bit of lightning, a bit of thunder. Then today it has actually rained.

So far we've received a 1/4 inch. Now I know that doesn't sound like much, since some of you in the path of hurricanes and such get 5 or 6 inches in a day. But this is the first rain I can remember since June. A long dry spell.

*Rain* Praise be for rain.
August 17, 2021 at 6:24pm
August 17, 2021 at 6:24pm
#1015781


There are high hopes for rain today. It is very cloudy, hazy from smoke but the wind picked up. The fire siren went off about two hours ago. There is a fire out of town.

I am sick to death of this hot weather. 100° yesterday, about 90° today. I know it's summer, but come on! We're now halfway into the hot month of August.

Last night at play practice we chatted with the cook for the dinner we have two nights. We decided on a menu. Then we chatted about the dates for the play. I thought we had it decided, but no! We're pushing it back a week so we can practice more. Whatever. I just let them know the last week of rehearsal I have a retreat already scheduled, for SE M0ntana Tourism. I will not cancel my attendance for that. So that one night, two nights before the performance, I will be absent. Worked out fine with the play the week before. Whatever.

So off I go to watch the sky. If it starts to rain, I'll dash out to cover the plants in the garden. Hail right now would be the end of all plants.

August 15, 2021 at 12:04am
August 15, 2021 at 12:04am
#1015647


It's beginning to heat up again here. Today wasn't too bad, compared to weeks past. Only 92°, but tomorrow, oh brother. Back up near 100° and wind. Fire weather warning is out. Low humidity with wind. Couple that with tinder-dry grass, bushes, trees, and conditions are ripe for wildfires.

But it is the middle of August, so things will be changing in a few weeks. We will be getting colder nights, perhaps some rain. The kids are going back to school next week.

My garden is growing well. There are tomatoes, potatoes, and butternut squash. A small offering this year due to our yard being torn up earlier this spring. The squash are loving the hot weather. Gracious. I'll have to post pictures of these. The tomatoes so far are small. We read that the pollen doesn't do well in the high heat. And it's not just me. My gardening guru at church is having the same problems. But her green beans are gone this year - the grasshoppers ate them all. We've been using some organic grasshopper bait, so ours aren't too bad. Still a nuisance, but not like last year.

We finally finished our school supply drive. Over 70 students got free backpacks and school supplies. All supplies were provided by donations. We received the lists of what each grade needed, then ordered everything in bulk online. Much easier than running to Walmart. Then we also gave everyone a free backpack as well. All anyone needed to do was fill out a form with their child's information. No questions asked. I know some families didn't need the help, whereas some have desperate situations. Mattered not to us.

The free summer lunch program is also coming to a close when school starts. My friend heads that each year. Again, no questions asked. some families just don't want to cook while some don't have the money. You just show up and grab a meal. Breakfast and lunch daily. She served about 100 on some days.

A fun thing yesterday was the library book sale. I always buy more books. Why? Just because you can. They usually have about 4,000 to sell. And at only 25 cents per book, how can you not buy 5 or 6?

One thing about Roundup that I love is the way we take care of each other. Good times or bad times. We all work together to make life better.
August 12, 2021 at 7:10pm
August 12, 2021 at 7:10pm
#1015569

A great day on the porch. We ate lunch outdoors for the first time in I don't know when. Lovely. We watched some birds catching grasshoppers and flies and moths. Pretty sure they were flycatchers. You could now and then hear the snap of their beaks.

Not too much going on today, thank goodness. We had a rather yawn-worthy meeting at noon. Just a lot of discussion about Roundup and the work that needs to be done to make it better. We're headed in the right direction, according to some state of Montana people that attended. I wrote a little piece for The Writer's Cramp about my town.
 
STATIC
Roundup on the Musselshell W/C 390  (E)
Winner! The Writer's Cramp 8/12/21
#2256383 by QueenNormaJeanGreeneggs&vegham
It was a co-winner last night.

And now as I write this, something else curious just caught my attention. There are Amish around, they own some land out of town. You see the men working as handymen sometimes. The women and children are sometimes in the stores. One of the horse and buggie outfits just ran by my house. Wonderful.




 
~
August 10, 2021 at 9:43pm
August 10, 2021 at 9:43pm
#1015472
So we finally got some rain. But it was only 1/4 of an inch. Not impressive. Not by any means. The more impressive part of the storm was the wind and the temperature change.

I watched the storm march across Montana. Great anticipation for a hum-dinger of a storm. The wind picked up, then from a high of 99° it dropped to 60° in about an hour. Such a wonderful change after the heat of the past few weeks.

This all happened on Sunday and now on Tuesday, it is still below 90°. But tomorrow the heat returns. We've had big wind most of the day. Usually if we get big wind, it means a weather change is on the way.

And since it was nice today, before the wind started raging, I sat on the porch. Suddenly a little friend tapped me on the shoulder. My neighbor friend wanted to come over, with her sister. They were bored, dad was at work, mom needed to work at home, big sister had to work tonight so she needed to sleep, can they come over and play dress-up?

Now, some background. It has been over a year since they've been over. Something about that stupid Covid stuff. Anyway, sure, come over. We went upstairs and drug out all the old props I'd packed away last year. Little sister is quite the actress, we dressed her, she strutted around. Big sister is going to 7th grade this year. She had fun dressing up little sister, being a little artistic by mixing and matching the clothes.

Then their aunt arrives downstairs. She's the friend that brings fresh eggs every week. So she had to come up to see the chaos. She was a bit put-off by their playing, but I find the fact that these two can put aside all the world and pretend quite wonderful. Some of the children of today don't know how to play, how to pretend. I always encouraged my children in free play. Dress up, cars, little figures, go outside and pretend, anything to get the creative juices flowing. It is too easy to sit your child in front of a device or the TV.

Another thing going on in town is the free school supply drive. Every year the thrift store where I volunteer and RSVP partner to provide free school supplies for any family that requests them. No strings, no restrictions. We met two mornings so far to catalog and start stuffing backpacks.
We get the school supply lists each year. Then we supply backpacks and most of the needed supplies. Currently we're supplying up to 75 children. School starts next week.

I had to post a picture of my mannequin. Big sister dressed her in a feather boa and vintage hat. I think she looks fabulous.


 
~
August 6, 2021 at 9:14pm
August 6, 2021 at 9:14pm
#1015246

Well now this is just wrong! I'm sitting on my porch after an afternoon at the museum. The wind picked up, the sky clouded up, the thunder started, and POOF! We had maybe 10 drops of rain. Seriously. Any rain that fell is now gone. Evaporated just that quickly. Amazing.

We had no rain the entire month of July here in Roundup. There was rain all around us, but never here. It was like we are in a bubble or something. Very strange. So the forecast is dire. No hay, no food for animals. The rivers are low. People are tired of the heat. I know I can't think straight, so annoyed by all the hot weather. And now there is smoke in the air from wildfires all around. Today was the first day we really noticed a smell from them.

I drove back from Musselshell on Wednesday after play practice and saw four deer. Glad to say I hit none of them. The last one I saw could have been an elk, it was that big. It was a buck, with antlers still in velvet. It came right beside the car, got ready to cross in front from the right to the left. I slammed on the brakes, honked the horn, and he veered off at the last minute. Gracious. My heart still pounded for an hour after that. I say a prayer before I drive out there and before I drive home that the deer stay away. And that I am safe.

Has anyone watched 'The Queen's Gambit'? I have to say I am enjoying this tale of chess. Interesting storyline. I'm also reading an autobiography, 'Born with Teeth', by Kate Mulgrew. She was on 'Ryan's Hope' way back when and then on a 'Star Trek' series as Captain Janeway. A great actress with a very interesting life story.

So as we head into the historically dry month of August, remember Montana. Pray for us. Pray for rain.







August 3, 2021 at 6:41pm
August 3, 2021 at 6:41pm
#1015095

Finally we got a break. In the heat, that is. The high today was only 80°. What a difference! After weeks of temps over 90° to over 100°, But we have not had any rain. Usually with this change, we get a storm. Not this time. I've been checking the radar all day. Storms all around. In fact, in Cooke City, at the NE entrance to Yellowstone they had so much rain they had a landslide.

https://www.kulr8.com/news/cooke-city-firefighters-respond-to-landslide/article_...

So much rain. We are praying for rain. I know it will happen eventually. Maybe when it starts snowing.

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