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? |
Still no news about my missing grandson. In case you didn't read my previous posting, my Marine grandson has been missing from his post since April 22nd. Nothing yet about what happened. Truly a mystery. We pray daily for some news. Good or bad. Just to know what happened. And then we are still dealing with the car accident. The car was declared a total loss. So now we are borrowing a vehicle from a friend. We may get a Jeep. But an older one. We want a vehicle that is sturdy enough to stand up to these animal collisions, not crumple on contact and be unfixable. Then more bad news it seems every day. The stress just keeps coming. The son of a friend, coincidentally the friend that lent us the vehicle we're now driving, passed away unexpectedly. He had been in the hospital with some heart issues and died on the way home. Jerry was in his late 40's. Such bad news. Other people I know have been sick or have had other accidents. I am just so exhausted by all the problems. But then the other day the bank told us someone had changed our bank password. So we travel down to Billings to open a new account, since the compromised account was on hold. By the time we are almost done, we find out the password was changed by someone in their accounting department. Oops. So not only did we waste 3 hours of our time, driving and all; we wasted an hour and more of the bank employees time since she now had to undo all the work she just did. Arrghh. Right now I really don't feel like writing. Anything. Even writing in this Blog seems onerous. I pray it gets better. |
It's been a winding-down time. Winding down from that adrenaline rush of the accident, dealing with insurance, uncertainty of what to do next. And then we discover that the rental car's registration/license plate expired in November of 2022. Hmm. Well, we called them. I won't mention the company. And they are really not that all concerned. We are, because all these what-if's come into our mind. So, sure, drive the car back. Well, no, that is a 4 hour trip one-way. I think not. It's your mistake, you bring US a new car with current, legal plates. We are still waiting. I don't know about all of the rest of you, but we try to obey the rules. We don't try to do things contrary to government regulations. That is a slippery slope we don't want to go down. And on top of all my car drama, my grandson is still missing. No word on him. Two friends have been in the hospital for various reasons. Another friend has a son in the hospital after a heart attack. Yet another friend who is raising her granddaughter is dealing with the fact this child ran off to be with her boyfriend. Egads. A lot of bad news. But on the plus side, warmer weather is here. Yay! |
I planned to go to a conference - on tourism. I planned to stay in Gardiner. That's a small town at the north entrance to Yellowstone, perhaps you remember that we managed a motel there for about 8 years. I was going to stay there a few nights. I asked hubby if he wanted to go, 'No, what would I do?' I told him, 'Go fishing in the Yellowstone River. You always liked to do that.' Well, he said no. Then the other day, he asked when WE were leaving for that trip. Hold on. WE? So, change of plans. WE left on Wednesday morning for Gardiner, leaving about 8:30 AM to get to Gardiner early, check-in, then I was going back about 20 miles up Paradise Valley to the conference. It was going to be fun. Because we also found out some old friends were also staying at the motel. These friends are photographers we met while managing that motel. We'd arranged a dinner date for Thursday night. We needed to catch up with Betty, our old boss, and Don and Deb, our old friends. WELL.............................. We were 21 miles away from our destination when hubby says, but not too loud, DEER! I stomped on the brake. Both air bags blew up in our faces and I pulled over. Blast it all. Another deer suicide. Our car is toast. Again. The same corner that got hit a few years ago. Someone stopped, called 911. He waited while someone from the Paradise Valley volunteer fire department showed up. That only took about 5 minutes. Then the sheriff showed up. Then another volunteer showed up, this man stayed by my side the entire time. Then the entire PVFD showed up. A county highway truck cruised by, then picked up the deer, came by us, 'Do you want the animal?' (There were 3 dead deer in their truck.) I said, 'Which one is ours? I want to kick it or punch it!' An ambulance was called, then sent away. The Montana Highway patrol came and the Sheriff left. We really weren't hurt, except for a decent bruise on my hand from the air bag. And a crying jag I had for about 15 minutes about being so sorry for it all. Bugger me. Hubby called Betty at the motel. Betty finally showed up. She loaded us up in her car, as our car was loaded onto the wrecker. The highway patrol gave us an accident report. The highway patrol and the wrecker both left as we made our way down to Gardiner. Our friends, Don and Deb, met us at the motel. Everyone was so worried, upset. It was like going home again. Hubby insisted, and Don and everyone agreed, I was to be checked at the hospital. Brain surgeries, let's be sure. So back in the car we go. Back up the valley 50 miles to the hospital ER. Don takes us, bless him. He drives to and from the hospital 35 - 40 MPH. Deer, elk and bison line the sides of the road. I kid you not. We counted at least 30 on the way back to Gardiner. I was fine, no problems. Thank you God. Yesterday we spent fishing, walking to where the flood of 2022 washed away the road in Yellowstone near Gardiner, and then had a nice little picnic with Deb and Don. The motel folk gave us a little flower arrangement, so sweet! Then this morning we left at 7 AM as Don and Deb drove us 80 miles to Bozeman to pick up a rental car. Again, 35 - 40 mph through that valley. Oh. I never did go to that conference. I emailed the chair of the group that sponsored me. Gave my regrets. He understood. So now we're home. We're wondering what will happen to the car. Totaled or fixable. What do we do? We have to wait. But one thing we know for sure. We know we have people who care about us and love us. There are still good, decent people in this world. From the unpaid volunteers to the sheriff to the patrolman to the wrecker driver. And then our dear friends. Each and every one of them. This is why I live in Montana folks. |
Things are tough, Spring is still knocking around, the museum is trying to attract visitors. I need to get back to writing I find. My grandson is still missing from the Marines. No word still, going on three weeks this coming Saturday. Continue to pray for him. I won't write more about this now because I will descend into a pity party. So I need a distraction. I planted potatoes in the garden yesterday under a threatening sky. Ominous black clouds and loud thunder. So I hurried, threw them in the holes I had dug, scurried into the house to await a storm. Drat, it went north. But the first of the garden is in. You usually don't plant around here until Mother's Day which is soon upon us. Andre's Banana Bar has a fun challenge running now. I think I'll take part. Always fun to chase that monkey about. |