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Tue, Jun 3, 2025

4:41am EDT

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PORCH PONDERINGS

by QueenNormaJean Junesun24hours

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?

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Show Recent Comments

10 Most Recent Blog Comments:

QueenNormaJean Junesun24hours

May 14, 2025 at 4:47pm
In response to "The Battle"

Jeff

Small town politics - led by comments by the Sheriff - you do have a right to comment. But you also are on notice to do it peacefully and respectfully. No profanity and no violence.

Yessir.

And most everyone did obey themselves. Even the mayor showed up. Lots of misinformation dispelled.

QueenNormaJean Junesun24hours

May 14, 2025 at 4:44pm
In response to "The Battle"

Kåre เลียม Enga

Nope - no HS bonfires where I lived. But there were leaf fires in the fall. My grandfather next door burnt all the maples leaves.

Yes - people are engaged. Kind of proud of the county commissioner. He got a little spicy. Huzzah!

1 Like

Kåre เลียม Enga

May 14, 2025 at 4:20pm
In response to "The Battle"

Burn baby burn... says no one in Fire Country. Do you remember high school bonfires? Y'know... damp autumn, snow in the forecast? Our HS was built on a swamp.

At least people are engaged, for better or worse.

Jeff

May 14, 2025 at 3:32pm
In response to "The Battle"

Local politics/governance is never short on drama!

QueenNormaJean Junesun24hours

May 13, 2025 at 11:35am
In response to "Dump it"

Thanks for all the comments. Tonight is the night folks. A meeting at 7 PM is public, we've called for a deputy sheriff to be there, along with the county attorney. A member of the board who accused me of being dishonest is not going to attend, he's out of town. But he may do a Zoom call. Another member of the board is also out of town. So we'll see if we get a quorum.

Backstabbing, gossip, and slander. Small town politics reflecting the general mood of the people right now and I am trying not to get myself all worked up about this.

I did find my recorder, so I will take that from now on. I don't know how long it can record, since I don't seem to be able to find the instruction booklet.

I'll try to update tomorrow.

QueenNormaJean Junesun24hours

May 8, 2025 at 7:52pm
In response to "Dump it"

We could actually do the mulch thing and we talked about it. But we'd have to buy a chipper. Have to hire another person. Then have to bag and sell the product. Not happening.
We pay $50k a month for garbage disposal. We don't have a landfill. It's a transfer station. so all trash has to be hauled away.
NJ

1 Like

SandraLynn

May 8, 2025 at 10:54am
In response to "Dump it"

It sounds like the ol' rumour mill is not in danger of closing down any time soon. Too bad those particular wild fires could not burn all the debris refusing to cooperate.

Cubby

May 8, 2025 at 5:46am
In response to "Dump it"

People seem to have a lot more anger these days. I've noticed it the past few years. And perhaps it's just that they show it more in public more than they used to.

1 Like

Wordsmitty ✍️

May 7, 2025 at 11:01pm
In response to "Dump it"

Maybe you should start writing screenplays and sell 'em to TV. This definitely sounds better than most of the stuff on the tube.

Here's an idea: get a giant mulcher for the dump and then give away (or sell) the mulch to residents to use on the gardens and the town & county to have for parks and stuff. They do that here so they can say they are green and not polluting or increasing the carbon in the air.

2 Like

Jeff

May 7, 2025 at 10:59pm
In response to "Dump it"

The Information Age has definitely accelerated people's ability to get outraged and air their grievances, that's for sure! I definitely miss the days where people would give one another the benefit of the doubt, and discuss their concerns rationally before getting offended and gossipy.

1 Like

June 1, 2025 at 11:22am

#1090426

A Big Deal

It's been a very busy time. I had jury duty this past week. Plus my husband left for two weeks to travel back east.

Hubby is watching his grandchildren while the parents are in Europe. Europe on business is what I gathered. Since these are not my grandchildren, and we rarely see them, I didn't want to go and be babysitter and cook and maid for two weeks. And somehow I knew that is what would happen. So, I have two weeks alone. Which is fine, no problem. But now I am getting messages about 'what is my password for this?' and 'what is my username for that?'.

Jury duty was for four days. There were over 100 people summoned. Then they had to whittle that down to 13. 12 jurors plus an alternate. That took the better part of one morning. So I was #12 juror. I found out later from the county attorney he wanted me on the jury so I could argue for certain facts, such as the time it took to walk from point A to point B. Which I did in deliberation.

The case was the state against a little punk of a kid who abused a girl a year younger on Halloween about 3 years ago. He was 15 and she was 14. Turns out, and the jury was not privy to this, he's done this a few times before. So, the jury deliberated for about 5 hours on Friday last. We never could get beyond 5 guilty and 7 not guilty, given the evidence presented. I voted guilty. He presented now, 17+ years old, as a smug kid who never will learn his lesson and keep on doing this to girls unless stopped. And his mother is one of those 'oh my baby would never do this' types.

The victim testified to the act, and had some of us in the jury in tears, as the defense attorney questioned her integrity and every part of her story, which never changed.

So a 'hung jury' if you please. The case will probably not be retried per the county attorney. It is expensive to hold a trial. $20K was mentioned. The judge kept asking us to reconsider and come to a unanimous consensus. But 4 times we came up with the same opinions. Then at the end she asked us, in front of both attorneys and the accused, of our choices. Then she declared that the jury could not decide.

So, in my mind, there was conflicting information from the accused. His story didn't make sense for me. Too many conflicting timelines and too much reliance on phone records.

Now you may be asking how do I know so much about the ins and outs? Well, yesterday the county attorney, who is a friend of mine, and I went to another friend's ranch to dispatch some prairie dogs. Prairie dogs make holes, tunnel between the holes, eat all the grass around their tunnels, and are generally a real nuisance for farmers and ranchers. So we took a weapon, climbed up on some rock formations with a scope and binoculars and started hunting. But along the way, we saw a dead snake (not a rattler), a wolverine, and a coyote. Plus spent some time in the outdoors away from the people and trouble and confusion of the past week.

We talked about the trial, our life histories, law and its applications, and why prairie dogs (gophers) are such a nuisance. Perhaps you heard that big exhale from us both as we enjoyed time outdoors in nowhere Montana.

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