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Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024

2:03pm EST

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PORCH PONDERINGS

by QueenNormaJean maybesnow?!

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.

I am the Captain of my ship.
God is my co-pilot.
Often I sail stormy seas,
Am flung onto rocky shores.

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:

Kåre เลียม Enga

Nov 22, 2024 at 11:42am
In response to "Strolling and Trolling"

Plenty warm in Malaysia. Steamy. Met Elycia for lunch. Jet lag and sore leg... but a very good day.

Arrival yesterday had potential drama but it all dissipated.

Kåre เลียม Enga

Nov 12, 2024 at 2:07am
In response to "Crazy Talk"

I'm too focused on my trip. Reservations and aisle seats on the plane. Buttttt... I did find my other pair of shoes.

1 Like

Cubby

Nov 11, 2024 at 10:51pm
In response to "Crazy Talk"

I've been trying to distract myself, too, by watching feel-good holiday movies on Netflix. It's all a bit scary!

2 Like

AnotherDreamer

Nov 10, 2024 at 2:46pm
In response to "So much Drama..."

I acknowledge the fact that you need to consider your health and sanity. Is there a backup plan for the people who you were servicing and who will no longer get service? Can some other local charity be notified and asked to step in temporarily? Will another organization replace the one that is left high and dry. I am just wondering about the clients. No judgement here.

Kåre เลียม Enga

Nov 10, 2024 at 2:14pm
In response to "So much Drama..."

Meals on Wheels is a great program. My neighbor is on it (they deliver up three flights of stairs). Yes, the food is fine... but she needs visitors... as do many on the program.

I only have 10 dazed days to avoid the drama at God's Waiting Room. I may do take out and greet friends as I come and go.

Kåre เลียม Enga

Nov 3, 2024 at 2:36pm
In response to "Update"

I don't celebrate Halloween. I don't do parties and the American version is silly imho. Samhain is different. I don't mind real witches and ghosts (hope to meet a ghost someday... but not too soon). If goblins existed I'd probably chat with them.

I did go to the Day of the Dead and the parade. Took photos and video. Honoring/remembering the dead is okay imho.

Odd how events "work" or don't. Call me crazy but... the churches have been there a looooong time. How could one NOT know. Same with you and Halloween... they don't know you by now?

I don't join groups because I can't deal with the drama.

Kåre เลียม Enga

Oct 28, 2024 at 1:33pm
In response to "Ducks in a row"

Yep. The only cure to falling is not falling in the first place.

Kåre เลียม Enga

Oct 19, 2024 at 4:14pm
In response to "Catching Up"

It helps to have the time and focus to do Octoprep or Nano. This year I have neither. No excuses and I shouldn't feel guilty. I did sign up for "13" but we'll see... so much depends...

...on the white rain on the black chickens...

We did have snow on the mountains. Today is gloomy.

Kåre เลียม Enga

Oct 4, 2024 at 4:16pm
In response to "Equinox Storm"

Our Senior Center goes through cycles of drama. Right now the kitchen is fine. Today's meal was good.

Kåre เลียม Enga

Oct 4, 2024 at 4:13pm
In response to "Chico"

We have various hot springs in our area but busses don't go there.

Will you have fish for dinner or is it catch and release?

I decided to not do Octo-Prep. I have an idea and I started a folder to keep my chapters. That seems to work best for me. I have a basic timeline and theme. I'll just start in one place and go from there (literally, like in my IRL travels) to the next stop and the next lesson my character (me) has to learn. Since the conflict is "discovery" instead of an action-driven arch... I should be fine as long as they logically flow from one to another.

I'll have to return to Thailand and spend time in each location.

November 29, 2024 at 1:31pm

#1080636

Thanksgiving

I pray everyone had a good Thanksgiving. Or if not, at least a peaceful day.

My day was spent quietly. We didn't go anywhere this year. I thought I sent info to hubby, but turns out I didn't. So we didn't agree on where to go or what to do. So we did nothing. I didn't cook. He didn't cook. I spent time in my office area. He spent time in his office area. I did for a walk, a bit chilly but nice. He took his usual walks.

Then at 7 PM, as usual, he retired for the night. Now this goes on all the time. I am left with at least 4 hours before I go to bed. I cannot lie in bed for 4 hours reading with the light on. We tried that. So I spend time alone in my office area puttzing around.

I watch videos, I knit, I get on Facebook, I read, I rearrange the upstairs area, I get annoyed by dogs barking next door. Mercy. I have tried to write, but the angst from drama in other parts of my life gets in the way.

So starting in December, just a few days away, I will make a concerted effort to write more. Get the angst out. The Christmas event in town will be over, and that currently is driving me bonkers. The event's leader finally brought me some long-overdue payments. She had no idea why people paid her, instead of the Chamber of Commerce. She stated, "I guess am the the town celebrity."

Well, I had an urge to blurt out some insult, but kept it inside. She is delusional, to say the least. She is not a celebrity in anyone's mind but her own. We are all celebrities with our families, our friends. But who really is or wants to be a celebrity? Good grief.

I did announce at the last Chamber meeting that on December 8, I will consider myself no longer the treasurer. The next day I will go to the bank and take my name off the account. I will drop off all the records with the bank president - who is also a Chamber member. Adios.

Black Friday today. I will not be shopping. I have too much stuff. I don't need anything except peace in my life and that is not for sale this year.

1 Like • Comment

November 22, 2024 at 11:34am

#1080336

Strolling and Trolling

They keep promising snow. They keep predicting some kind of moisture for our dry area. Really, come on. Quit with the promises.

The old saying comes to mind. "If wishes were horses, poor men would ride...". Seems that's an old Scottish saying. Or I've also heard. "If wishes were fishes, we'd all swim in riches... or we'd all cast nets."

After that big storm in the NW, I thought surely some of that rain and snow would reach us here in this part of Montana. But no, it's going north, it's going south.

Other news. The Christmas stroll is scheduled for December 7. Pearl Harbor day. December 7, 1941 is the day Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in Hawaii and propelled the US into WWII. Just in case no one learned that in History class.

My correlation between the two events that are 83 years apart? Everyone worked together in the US during WWII. Perhaps not 100%, but there was unity. Here in Roundup there is disunity about this little event. I am the one to get the $$ for the vendor spaces. I still have 8 vendors, out of over 30, that haven't paid. And of those 8, 4 paid the event organizer. The event organizer, for whatever reason, isn't passing those fees, amounting to $100, along to me. I've asked her at least 4 times. Hmm. Plus several people have dropped out as vendors because of the organizer.

So as a result, after the event, I am resigning from the Chamber of Commerce as treasurer. This was an ordeal the past few years as well. No more. I have enough stress in my life. This is added pressure, for a volunteer job, I don't need.

Also, the event organizer one day posted that I was hosting the event. WHAT? Without my permission, by the way. I quickly emailed her back, NO, I am not a host. I don't want that title. I am just the money person. I will be working at the museum, one of the event locations. And I will be putting vendor fees in the bank. Because, if this whole thing crashes and burns, I don't want to be one of the 'fall guys'.

Thanks for the venting space. Because we all need to tell those who listen our problems sometimes. Petty as they may be, they are big in our own minds. I wish it was warmer. I need to sit on my porch swing.

1 Like • Comment • View 1 comment

November 11, 2024 at 10:19pm

#1079827

Crazy Talk

There is lots of uncertainty right now in the world. We discussed this after our lunch today. My hubby and I talked of theocracy, monarchy, autocrats, dictators, a Republic. Then we morphed into remembering what we knew of Lenin, Stalin, Mussolini, Chairman Mao, Czar Nicholas who was related to Kaiser Wilhelm, even Hitler. Somehow we talked about Rasputin. Remember him?

Strange talk. Guess I've been watching too much internet news.

All this took place over root beer floats. Such an innocent treat. Then we started to think, how secure is our food supply? We're not preppers in any real sense of the word. We don't have a year's supply of food in the basement. But we do know how to hunt. We do know how to garden. Just the other day we finally harvested this year's potato crop. There's about 25# now in the cold basement storage, along with 10 spaghetti squash.

So tonight I decided to distract myself from all this gloom and doom. So I'm watching some favorite old shows while I knit. Project Runway Allstars.

Now that is some drama. Sew a ball gown in 8 hours.

4 Like • Comment • View 2 comments

November 10, 2024 at 2:08pm

#1079769

So much Drama...

Silly me, I thought drama in my life was over. OctoPrep finished and it did well.

But no! Now it's the Roundup Christmas Stroll that is consuming energy. Gee whiz. You would think people would cooperate. Is it so hard to make sure things get done in a timely, orderly manner? Seems like it is.

There is a charge for vendors for this event. Crafters pay $25 per table to show their wares. The $25 is due now. I won't consider any vendor as paid until I get their payment and the payment is in the Chamber of Commerce bank account. I am the treasurer for the Chamber. The leader of the event is now holding on to some payments. Why? Who knows. So people are telling me, "I've paid - my mother gave the check to my aunt who gave the check to...." You get the problem.

This same thing happened last year. Another person led the event for a time, and held on to monies for a few weeks. Then she insisted that because she had the payments in hand on a certain date, those vendors got to be first in line. She got upset and quit the whole event when I told her, "No, that is unfair to others who followed the rules."

The current leader of the Stroll is notorious for not contacting people, not following up with people. So annoying. It's becoming a real 'cluster ****' So much so that I am now going to resign as treasurer for the Chamber after this is all over. I don't need the aggravation of this volunteer job.

When you have been taught that when you do a job, no matter how small, you do it to the best of your ability, but others you have to work with don't share that ethos, it is hard to proceed. It makes life so difficult.

Another change we did recently is resign from volunteering for the meals on wheels program. There is again, so much drama going on. The head of the program is not doing her job, and has had so many complaints about her performance. Not to mention a legal case against her now, plus a bad background check come back. And I do stress the 'bad'. Why she got hired I have not a clue. But perhaps it is because she is a good friend of the chairman of that board of directors. Again, drama I don't need in my life. So we discussed this for a few weeks and decided to quit this volunteer job. And we are not alone. Many others have also quit.

Ah life. Fun and games.

2 Like • Comment • View 2 comments

November 3, 2024 at 11:50am

#1079441

Update

It's over! OctoPrep is finished, and it went well, I think. My records show 31 writers finished within the time limit, plus 4 went over the time limit but finished the assignments. So 35 writers did all the work and are now on to NaNoWriMo and are busy with their novel writing projects, I pray.

There were some good ideas and I hope they develop into viable books.

Things here in Roundup are relatively quiet. Halloween is always a big deal, but not for me. I think it's a waste of time and money on my part, not to mention my faith doesn't think kindly of the witches and goblins, but that's my belief. Lots of folks don't worry about that, and that is their decision. The paper wanted me to cover the Halloween parade, the 'trunk and treat' thing, which is now some kind of big deal. When did that come to be so hot? Well, anyway, she was a little miffed when I said, no, I wouldn't do that. I didn't even hand out treats this year. I will do just about anything else, but not Halloween.

So now the emphasis shifts to the annual Christmas Stroll. The town gets vendors lined up for one night of shopping and events along Main Street. This year the organizer has grand plans. She wants shopping to start at noon and run til 9 PM. I argued the case that it's too long, and people sometimes have to drive at least an hour home. So, fine, we changed it to 8 PM stop. Then she wanted people to start organizing their booths at 8 AM. Well, another problem. The Catholic Church is a venue and they have a Mass that day plus confession and are busy til 11 AM. Another venue, the Baptist church, has an event each Saturday morning til at least 11 AM. So, that isn't available till after that time.

Her grand plans of a 'Hallmark holiday' night are slowly being crushed back to the way it has always been done. Tradition is something you don't want to mess with sometimes. Now I am, as treasurer, having to deal with people all wanting to be in one location. Not paying their booth fees. Not giving me their information. Not getting up-to-date information from the event leader.

Gracious sakes. It will all work out. Somehow it always does. But come January, I have already decided I will no longer be treasurer for the chamber. Enough is enough.

3 Like • Comment • View 1 comment

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