Norma's Wanderings around a small section of Montana |
I finally got to go on a road trip. I went to a SE Montana tourism meeting Wednesday. But it was in Ekalaka, MT. Yes, that is the name. Far SE Montana. Almost to the ND/SD line. So I enlisted a friend to take me. We left Tuesday, stayed a night in Terry, MT. That little town is only 2 hours away. Ekalaka is 4 hours away. My meeting on Wednesday started at 10 AM. So you can see perhaps the wisdom in being closer a day before. Terry and Ekalaka are both small, Terry perhaps a population of 800, Ekalaka a population of 500. But each have motels. So I guess this BLOG entry will be a tourist blab. The Kempton Hotel in Terry, MT is the oldest continuing hotel in Montana. Pretty cool. Terry is also the home of the Evelyn Cameron Gallery, a wonderful woman who came to Montana from England, a photographer of early Montana prairie life. Excellent. Then on to Ekalaka. It is named after a Native American woman, and Ekalaka has the first county museum in the state. Carter County Museum is one of two federal repositories for fossils in Montana. The other is the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman. Excellent place to see actual fossil of dinosaurs. It's one of the stops on the Montana Dino Trail. Last night in Ekalaka we stayed for a presentation by a native American, Shawn Backbone. He is a member of the Crow nation and talked at Medicine Rocks State Park. Medicine Rocks is a Dark Sky Sanctuary. So Shawn started his presentation at 9 PM. His nephew played the native flute as he spoke to a crowd of perhaps 30 - 35 people that had gathered. For an hour he spoke of the native's connection to the land, to the seasons, his view of life as a Crow tribal member. As he spoke, the flute played, the full moon appeared, then disappeared behind clouds. Suddenly flashes of lightning could be seen behind him, illuminating him for a second as the dark settled in. The clouds dissipated a bit, stars began to appear. All the time Shawn had cedar chips smoldering in a small iron pot, the smoke permeated the space. This was to signify his connection to the earth. On the short drive back to our motel, you could see the lightning in the distance, a male mule deer pn the side of the road. We talked about how spiritual the whole event was. Medicine Rocks - a giant jumble of sandstone castles in the middle of the flat prairie. Etched names from hundreds of years still present. Shawn's talk. The flute's ethereal sound. Ah..... Then we woke refreshed, had breakfast at the little cafe and on the road home we stopped in Miles City. Stopped at Vintage a Rustics, owned by a member of the SE Montana board. Did some shopping, my friend scoped out the place where she used to live. Then a few hours later we're back to reality. I perhaps stated this before. I felt like I was under house arrest for a year. This trip was such a wonder. I came home with joy in my heart. Here are some links of the places we visited: https://kemptonhotel.co https://cartercountymuseum.org/shop https://fwp.mt.gov/stateparks/medicine-rocks https://vintageandrustics.com . . |
So today I got a call from my buddy in Musselshell, a tiny burg about 20 miles from here. Home of the Musselshell Players, my favorite community theater group. Can you be a part of us this fall, Norma? What part do you have for me? Well, you can be a hypochondriac or a taxidermist who killed her husband, stuffed him and keeps him in a closet. Hmm, I chose the hypochondriac. I mean, let’s face it. I’ve done nothing but whine about my health for months now. I’m a member of the O.U.C.H. club. Our Unique Clumsiness Hurts. So I have all the props - a sling, a back brace, a knee brace, and now a splint for my hand. I also called a friend for a favor. I can hitch a ride with her, since she is also in the cast and lives local. I’ll pay her for gas to take me to and from. I’ll also be on deer and elk patrol. I don't really want to take our new ride down that deer suicide highway. And right now I cannot drive a stick, with the shifting and all. I am immediately hopping from one play with 126 lines to another with 85 lines. Piece of cake. Should be fun. Can’t wait to see what happens. |
Okay - yesterday was intense. I was part of a mock jury trial. So, I cannot talk or discuss what happened. But - consider this word: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/monopsony And then think of the expense - 36 people were paid $300 plus breakfast and lunch in several meeting rooms in Billings. In the Doubletree Inn. Plus there were at least 10 people in attendance with the company. My word... |
Hallelujah! The long wait is over, at last! We now have that vehicle that started to be in our dreams in May of 2023. Over a year. Good grief the grief is over, the angst is ebbing. Hubby drove it back from VA last week. Three days of non-stop driving. But he made it. I had a play, community theater, so I didn't make the trip back to see the in-laws. But that's okay. No problem. With this hand, I would have a hard time on the plane and sitting in a car for 12 hours. Plus playing nice, nice to family. The theater production went well. "Million Dollar Meatballs" was the show. Lots of silly fun. Not too many lines were missed. I actually wrote one on my arms. There is always one, that rotten one, that I cannot remember. The actors are an okay bunch. Not too much in common with them, but that's alright. We had pretty decent crowds. Hard to judge, since they haven't done this in 9 years. So next year we'll have a better idea of what to expect. Plus I didn't have to drive, I walked to the venue. Hurrah! The car we have now is a 2013 Jeep - 4 door. Manual 6 speed transmission. The motor and transmission are completely rebuilt. The tires are new. The exhaust is new. The radiator is new. The front end has an animal catcher/winch installed, actually bolted to the frame, not the fender. We wanted a solid car, not the plastic, easily crumpled ones they build now. We will put up with lower gas mileage to get a safer vehicle. A Jeep saved my life once before in a crash. I like that it sits higher than a regular car. Easier to get in and out of. So, now we can really get our life settled again. No more wondering and waiting when the blasted car will be finished. Tomorrow I have an all-day focus group in Billings. They will pay $300 to people to sit in a hotel conference room and give your opinions. Hmm. I didn't have to think long about that offer. I'll have to let you know how this turns out. Perhaps get out the info so people can contact them. I mean, $300 is pretty good pay for a retired person for a day, and they buy breakfast and lunch. |
A day of highs and lows. As I drove to Billings, a big UPS truck threw up a stone - hitting the windshield of the rental car. Drat! Now there’s a nice starburst in the glass. I fretted and fumed all the way to the orthodontist appointment. But as I pull in, no cars. Hmm. There are always at least 10 people waiting. “Sorry, the doctor had an emergency. Everyone was called last Friday.” Not me. Seems this happened some months ago with a hair appointment. “I never got the call. I came from Roundup. This is really inconvenient.” I live an hour away. “We called or texted everyone.” Well, they didn’t, evidently. But I didn’t give up, I stood there. “I am out of the aligners.” So she scheduled me at the other office across town. “You go to Airport Road then take ……. Well, I kind of knew where she said the office was, and knew I could probably find it. So thanks, and off I went. Hallelujah, they knew I was coming. I had the dentist tell me my time in braces was done, and now I would just need to use a retainer at night. But first, multiple pictures of my mouth, my bite, my mouth in 3D, a scan of my mouth in 3D, and all this to get a custom retainer in about 2 weeks. Now for the first time, probably ever, I have straight teeth. Yippee! Invisalign - highly recommend. On the way home I stopped at the car rental office. I asked about the rock in the windshield. Seems they have a little chart. If it measures within the circle, no problem, So pray it doesn’t get larger than their circle. So the trip to Billings, highs and lows. Then when I was home for a time, I get the message that a man that used to attend church had passed away. Richard had heart problems and had outlived every prediction by at least 10 years. Such a wonderful person. Such a low. Play practice tonight was okay, I guess it was a high. We just ran lines since the auditorium is being used for voting tomorrow. I just wish cell phones were banned from practice. So distracting. Then to top off the day we got a good old-fashioned thunder storm. No hail. No high winds. Just thunder and rain. I misplaced a notebook, an important one that had all my newspaper story info. That’s a low. But tonight I found it. That’s a high. So I think I should pack it in for the day. End on a high note. Highs and lows, good and bad. |
I finally got to take a trip this past week. I went to Butte - 4 1/2 hour drive one way from Roundup. Hubby and I spent two days and one night. I was invited to participate in a tourism event. So, Butte. A town that knew great wealth from copper mining. It was a small mining town, until copper was discovered. From their advertising: Our nickname is “Butte America,” but we also go by, "The Richest Hill on Earth.” Immigrants from Ireland, China, Lebanon, Austria, Greece, Italy, Mexico, and numerous other countries came to Butte to work in the mines, they came to Butte, America. It is said as many as 25 nationalities settled in that town. it is a rough and tumble town, bars, restaurants plus many churches. Even brothels. But now people go to see the old neighborhoods, the abandoned mines, and the former open pit copper mine, the Berkeley Pit. The Pit is the largest Superfund site in the United States. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkeley_Pit The Dumas Brothel (formerly the Dumas Hotel) was a famous bordello in Butte, Montana in the United States. Located in the heart of uptown Butte, the brothel has been proclaimed America's longest-running house of prostitution, finally closing its doors in 1982. I walked inside this place and promptly went back to the trolley. Not impressive at all. We went on a little tour to learn all these facts. Butte - quite a town. I wanted to stay another night, but a winter storm warning sent us on our way. That night it snowed about 8 inches on the pass we had to travel over to get back to Roundup. Yes, snow. This is Montana after all. |
The surgery on my hand is done. I'm now in the post-op phase. I currently have this huge bandage covering the entire hand. My thumb is covered, while four fingers are free. So far, so good. Pain has been virtually non-existent. So curious - the surgeon injected the site with "exparel". This drug acts Iike novacaine - but will last perhaps five days. It was developed to lessen a patient's need for opioid pain relievers. He did carpal tunnel surgery plus took out a bone in my thumb joint, inserted a screw and two pins. So without pain relief that all could be quite painful, to say the least. A problem I have now is itching, annoying as crap. And there is no way you can scratch under this huge bandage, nor should I. I'll post after the bandage comes off, and I get a look at my reconstructed digit. |
Finally someone got smart and rented us a car for a month. Hmm. No, not me. My husband finally did this. "Do you need a car after your surgery? I may fly back to VA to get our car and then drive it back." Let me tell you, I thought about for micro-second. "Yes, of course. I cannot drive the one we're borrowing. It's a manual transmission." Why did there even need to be discussion on this, and why did it take a year to come to this conclusion? The other night I got upset again. I have a seminar coming up. It's in Butte, MT. That's about 4 hours from here. I will be driving the rental car and staying overnight. It's all arranged. It's about a week after my surgery, so I think I'll be okay. But NO! Seems a friend of my husband told him I should not be doing that. Now perhaps it's because I feel that I've been stuck in the house for a year. Not literally, we have gone to Billings for shopping. I did go to a SE Montana meeting in Billings. But that's it. No trips of any kind anywhere. No just going somewhere for the fun of it. So my husband and I argued about semantics. "You were not stuck in the house. You went places." "I feel like I've been stuck in my house. Don't discount my feelings." "Your feelings are not valid." Hmm. Still a little upset about someone discounting my feelings. I still feel like I've been trapped for a year. Car accident, hurt knee, knee surgery, and then a broken hand. And now surgery again. Mercy. At the risk of whining more, I want to go far, far away. Perhaps to a desert island. Sun, sand, water. Or hike to a favorite spot near Yellowstone. Lots of trees, lake, wonderful mountains. So instead I'll walk down to the Musselshell River, check it out. We've had rain for three days. Not as bad as the Bozeman area where people got stuck on the freeway, over a pass, for 2 days. My life right now is pretty boring, and mercy sakes do I hate boring. So let me spice it up with that walk to the river, writing for the paper, ironing some antique aprons for the museum, making lunch, a meeting at 4 PM and then play practice at 6 PM. That should keep me entertained for the day. |
Nothing but drama. I should be given an Oscar for the longest dramatic role in a tragedy. It continues my friends. I saw a hand surgeon the other day. He agrees that I do need surgery. And he will also fix my poor arthritic thumb at the same time that he releases the pinched nerve in my wrist. He mentioned that I should have been seeing a hand specialist since December for all this pain I've been having. {the actress tears up at this} He starts moving digits about. {actress again cries} Yowza. He sure knows where to poke to get a pain response. Yep, that's the place. Reminded me of that EMG test I had a few weeks ago. So, May 15 I have surgery. I should expect to have a 6 month recuperation. My wrist will be better, my pain should be relieve. My thumb will be rebuilt, and probably never as good as before, but better than it is now. Probably will be a pin inserted, perhaps a metal rod. But the kicker to all this great news, on the way home from this, the car we are using gets a new noise. And today as we do Meals on Wheels, the noise gets louder. So hubby takes it to the owner, who has a garage and fixes cars. Wheel bearing is going out. Great. I have appointments in Billings on Monday. Will the car be fixed by then??? Well, hmm. No way to know. So now I have to find a ride there. {cue actress for more drama} Hubby now calls his son in VA who is supposed to be repairing and fixing up the car he bought for us in May 2023. Yep - May 2023. Last we heard, he worried about the compression in the engine. Turns out the valves were in backwards. Great. That was 2 weeks ago. Nothing has been done since. Now he has until Sunday to get it repaired or take it to a shop and have it done. And I stated that he should pay for that repair, not us. So now I am really earning that Oscar folks. I am mad, I am upset. I am ready to well, never mind. The tension is thick, it's like fog in this house. I have three options, the first one had something else to do Monday. I have two more options to pursue tomorrow for a ride to Billings Monday. I think I just may stay awake tonight. All this drama is making me crazy, and now I cannot sleep. Unlike the spousal unit who is asleep at 8 PM. I wish I could forget everything that easily ... |