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Wednesday, Apr. 30, 2025

4:52pm EDT

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PORCH PONDERINGS

by QueenNormaJean April snowsagin

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.

A poem captured my attention the other day.

Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget 
Falls drop by drop upon the heart, 
Until, in our own despair,
 Against our will,
 Comes wisdom 
Through the awful grace of God.

Aeschylus

What's on your mind today?

Signature for use by anyone nominated for a Quill Award in 2020

Signature for nominees of the 2019 Quill Awards

Show Recent Comments

10 Most Recent Blog Comments:

Cubby

Apr 27, 2025 at 7:39am
In response to "Fire Day"

I should back-in more. I have--a few times--and loved getting into my car the next time and just pulling out.

I have a high respect for those volunteer firemen.

Kåre เลียม Enga

Apr 26, 2025 at 7:57pm
In response to "Fire Day"

Backing-in is common in Thailand. Don't know why folks here don't do it more... except... it takes a minute and everyone is rushed.

One clap of thunder and some rain here today.

1 Like

AmyJo-Spring's finally here!

Apr 26, 2025 at 7:01pm
In response to "Fire Day"

Must have been an interesting day. Sorry the jeep's reverse was acting up. Growing up in rural Michigan, my dad was a volunteer fireman, and there were times that our weekends were disrupted due to an alarm going off. Back then, we had a scanner and also CB's. (did I just "date" myself...LOL).

Hope you are doing well. Thanks for the blog news.

2 Like

Wordsmitty ✍️

Apr 13, 2025 at 1:18pm
In response to "The News"

No one likes the truth when it's about something they should have done. I bet the mayor would be even more furious if the actual quote was published. By the way, are there minutes of council meetings that get published/posted for people to read?

Suggest whatever you ate last night that you don't again. At least it wasn't about cars being towed into your yard.

QueenNormaJean April snowsagin

Apr 2, 2025 at 11:56am
In response to "Trash Meeting"

Well, evidently it pays quite well. $7800 a month set aside for this position. Now, not all goes to the individual. But come on. I'll volunteer to be the caretaker. I'll wear a vest and sit and watch. Heck, I'll even learn to drive a skid steer and fork lift and front end loader and get paid $25 an hour or more. Sign me up.

The county employees there only make $16 an hour.

Wordsmitty ✍️

Mar 31, 2025 at 10:06pm
In response to "Trash Meeting"

A trash caretaker? I'd love to see that job description and the experience required to apply.

1 Like

AmyJo-Spring's finally here!

Mar 31, 2025 at 9:30pm
In response to "Trash Meeting"

I'm so sorry that you had to go through such craziness. I hope everything will work out in the end. Good for you for not just taking it lying down.

Kåre เลียม Enga

Mar 31, 2025 at 6:56pm
In response to "Trash Meeting"

Deduct said itemized amount with a smile. Then make them sue if they contest. Town/county has a lawyer I assume.

It's a rainy day here but snow on the mountains. Dreary week forecast.

QueenNormaJean April snowsagin

Mar 23, 2025 at 9:46pm
In response to "The Survivors Club"

I am rereading this for book club for a science book. A curious choice, but it may work.
So I've gone over the rule of 3's. The current chapter is 'who lives and dies in the ER'. Huh. Well, first off, go to a decent hospital in my opinion. Now this is just me, but the hospital ER in my town is okay for routine problems. Broken bones, stitches- things like that, per my history with them. But they have messed around enough with my care that when I have something really urgent, I head down the road 50 miles to a Level 1 trauma center.

NJ

Wordsmitty ✍️

Mar 19, 2025 at 8:24pm
In response to "The Survivors Club"

The only 3 saying I remember is that "bad things come in threes. So once the first happens you can expect two more soon" - Murphy.

Oh, wait. I may have gotten that backwards. It could have been good things. Like finding money. Did I mention there was a fresh, crisp five dollar bill in my back yard the other day? True!

Have no idea where it came from or why it hadn't blown away. I keep looking for the ten and the twenty, but never arrived. Maybe I was right in the first place.

1 Like

April 26, 2025 at 6:45pm

#1088159

Fire Day

I got a 'HOT' tip yesterday that there would be a big fire event in town today. The DES rep at the county commissioner's meeting told me all the county fire departments were holding a scheduled burn.

So I dutifully got ready to go. In the car. Camera and notebook. Time was ticking, that burn would start soon.

I have the worst time now getting our Jeep in to reverse. It's a manual transmission and the ratio is somehow off. So today it didn't want to back out of the garage. Now I was HOT. Oh bugger me. I tromp back in the house. Get my husband to do the reverse out to the garage.

But all is not lost, I did get down by the fairgrounds to see the men in action. Big bonfires being set to do a cleanup of old dead trees, tree stumps, dried grass. It was also a training day for the firemen.

Wildland fires happen every year in the west. I talked to one fireman. He remembers a year when there were 90 fire calls in 90 days. All the fire departments are volunteer. There are no paid fire departments in Musselshell County. So if the fire siren goes off, they have to leave their homes or their jobs and report.

Got some good pictures. But unfortunately, too big for this site. I'll use them for the paper.

So the rodeo people that use the fairgrounds are happy now, the fire people hope. The fire will burn most of today, then die down overnight. At least that is the plan. The firemen got training, the brush and dead trees got removed, and that land will hopefully be used during rodeo time for people to ride their horses, away from all the people and RVs and horse trailers.

We do have some 'weather' forecast for the next few days. Rain here, snow in the mountains. Yep - that's right, snow.

I did park in the garage with the car in reverse gear, that I was finally able to engage. So next time I won't be - well, you know.

Comment • View 3 comments

April 14, 2025 at 10:38pm

#1087273

Interesting

Somehow I found this story. It was mentioned on a YouTube video. I've been hooked on watching them lately.

Many of you recognize the author Ursula K. Le Guin. Science fiction writer of renown.

Here is a link to an interesting story. Troubling. Thought provoking. Short enough to read in a few moments. Tell me your thoughts.

https://www.utilitarianism.com/nu/omelas.pdf

Comment

April 13, 2025 at 12:25pm

#1087168

The News

It's been busy here. Lots of activity it seems.
I report for the paper. I am secretary and treasurer for the refuse board. I am in the community theater for the city. Lot of 'drama'.

The latest is the mayor is mad at me. Well, perhaps not 'mad' but upset at what I wrote about the last city council meeting. Especially what I wrote about the public comment portion of the meeting. All I did was write what the person stated. But the kicker is the city and the Sheriff's department are currently not getting along. The city contracts with the Sheriff for services, since the city doesn't have a police department. So there is an agreement. The county pays for the Sheriff. The city pays the county. I know, very convoluted.

So, the the problem, and I think I mentioned this a while back, is the Sheriff deputies went out a while ago and put stickers on cars and other vehicles that were considered abandoned. Now some were, some were not. Got the town in an uproar. Basically because there was no real follow through on this plan. There was no plan by the city on what to be done next. No place to to tow the vehicles. No one contracted to do said towing. Egads.

There is a citizen that comes to every meeting and comments on this. 'Why haven't you figured this out?' is basically his complaint. A valid complaint in my opinion.

Here is what I wrote that got the mayor all in an uproar:
During public comment time,
The falling concrete on Main Street near the Pharmacy was again mentioned. This issue was referred to Lon Sibley. The person issuing the complaint is to discuss this matter privately.
Other comments included the fact that law enforcement does not attend the city council meetings. The city ordered Sheriff’s deputies to put stickers on abandoned vehicles with no followup on those warnings. The Sheriff called his constituents a name, and the council should take action. The person addressing this issue stated that the city attorney should give his legal opinion on the matter.

So the publisher called me, after the mayor called her, and stated she is going to do a retraction in the paper. And from now on, perhaps be more careful about what you write. Take a recorder, which I don't have, so you can listen to it later and get the exact words.

Whatever. She didn't come so far as to say I was in the wrong. And that I could no longer report. But I do know she doesn't want anything in the paper that smacks of controversy in any way, shape or form. Again, whatever. She'll be safe for awhile. The meetings are on Tuesday nights, play practice nights.

This morning I woke up from a weird dream. I'm almost too afraid to check the news. The dream had foreign agents getting stabbed and disembowled. Weird. But then, the entire world is in an uproar right now.

Comment • View 1 comment

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