Your Community Builder

Articles written by Karen Odell


Sorted by date  Results 1 - 25 of 60

  • CAPITOLETTER

    Karen Odell|Updated Nov 7, 2024

    November 4, 2024 Tie Creek and Capitol got some rain this week. It was actual rain, and the soft drizzle lasted all day. There were even puddles that the cats stared at, in surprise, and avoided with curiosity. Dick and Erma Albert had eye doctor appointments on Tuesday. Their prescriptions did not have to be changed, but Dick’s scratched lenses needed to be replaced. On Friday, they went to the Senior Citizen Dinner, and were glad to visit with Delores Sperle and some of her family. Church on Sunday was early. It was also t...

  • CAPITOLETTER

    Karen Odell|Updated Nov 1, 2024

    October 28, 2024 Another Indian summer week at Capitol and on Tie Creek. Still we are wishing for some rain. When we saw frost on the windows one morning, we were so excited about having that much moisture. Erma Albert was a little sad on Wednesday when she went to the chiropractor in Buffalo. She knew it was his last day of appointments in Buffalo. He is busy in Sturgis, so he won’t be making the trip out to Buffalo. On Friday, Dick and Erma went to the monthly chicken dinner at the Senior Center. There were a couple of b...

  • CAPITOLETTER

    Karen Odell|Updated Oct 25, 2024

    October 21, 2024 Last week, when Ronda Cordell was coming home from the Methodist Bazaar in Camp Crook, she noticed a car on the Exie Road, but it never came out. Denise had noticed a guy and two dogs that were walking in her pasture. It appeared they were bird hunting since the guy was carrying a gun. Denise had assumed that Ronda had given someone permission to hunt, but she hadn’t. Ronda doesn’t like archery hunting, especially because many animals are hit, but are found later having suffered lingering deaths. She has fou...

  • CAPITOLETTER

    Karen Odell|Updated Oct 11, 2024

    October 7, 2024 Curt, Caden and Carsen Zolnoski and Erik Berglund came to Ronda Cordell’s from Rapid City, last week, to help work on a siding project on the trailer house. The guys stayed with Clint and Denise Zolnoski. They came to “Git-R-Done,” as Larry the Cable guy would say. When they left Sunday afternoon, only a portion of the east side was unfinished. They came back again this weekend to finish the siding, skirting framework and insulation. Erik’s son, Blaz, came along with them, this weekend. When those guys ge...

  • CAPITOLETTER

    Karen Odell|Updated Oct 3, 2024

    September 30, 2024 Well, October comes in two days, but the people on Tie Creek and at Capitol had a temperature above one-hundred degrees, today. Tomorrow’s high is predicted to be forty degrees cooler. We can hope that another big wind is not part of the coming cold front. Dick and Erma Albert had a very normal week. On Tuesday, when they were shopping in the Hills, they picked up some supplies for Bobbie to use for the Senior Citizen dinners. Erma had a chiropractor appointment on Wednesday. They both went to the c...

  • CAPITOLETTER

    Karen Odell|Updated Sep 30, 2024

    September 23, 2024 Tie Creek got about a half inch of rain this week. That is a good amount in a drought summer like this. Capitol got less in this storm, but they had regularly gotten more during previous rains, so it somewhat evened out. Alvin and Marlee Cordell were glad to get a half-inch of rain, on Tuesday. They had bow hunters, this week, from Pennsylvania. They got two antelope, two deer and a cow elk, before going home. On Thursday, Marlee went to the cross country meet at Custer to see Rhys Pearson run. Alvin...

  • CAPITOLETTER

    Karen Odell|Updated Sep 20, 2024

    September 16, 2024 The summer weather has come back to Capitol and Tie Creek. The mornings are cool and productive, but by noon things have heated up. Diane Wear came to Ronda Cordell’s on Monday, and Ronda rode with her to Buffalo, where they had lunch at Blossoms N Brew. Diane went back home with an assortment of vegetables from Ronda’s garden. Ronda took Sophie to the Belle Fourche Vet Clinic for a check-up. Then, Ronda went on to Walmart and the Pizza Ranch until Sophie was finished at the clinic. She stopped to vis...

  • CAPITOLETTER

    Karen Odell|Updated Sep 14, 2024

    September 9, 2024 It was another hot, dry week at Capitol and on Tie Creek. Early mornings were pleasant and beautiful, but afternoons got hot. The sunflowers are a beautiful addition to the landscape, and they have bloomed in profusion since our last rain. The Black Hills have gotten lots of rain, but the clouds seem to pass us by to both north and south. Dick and Erma Albert made a shopping trip to the Hills, on Thursday. On Friday, they joined the senior citizens for a spaghetti dinner. They went to the Catholic Church ser...

  • CAPITOLETTER

    Karen Odell|Updated Sep 5, 2024

    September 1, 2024 Dick and Erma Albert had a fun week; especially because their son and daughter-in-law were visiting from Texas. On Tuesday, they went to the Hills, where two hiked up Spearfish Canyon, while the other two did some shopping. On Friday, they all went to the Senior Citizen chicken dinner. Then the four visited the Slim Buttes, and did some hiking there. They stopped at the Reva Store on the way home, to get a snack. The kids left very early on Saturday, and had gotten back home in Texas by Sunday evening. Dick...

  • CAPITOLETTER

    Karen Odell|Updated Aug 29, 2024

    August 26, 2024 We returned to the hotter days at the end of this week, at Capitol and on Tie Creek, but no rain was in sight. Pete Anderson has been busy working out at the ranch. On Friday, Pete went to the Little Missouri Church to mow around the church and cemetery. On Saturday, there was a memorial service for Edward Bonefield at the Little Missouri Cemetery at the church. Edward had not lived here for many years, but he was the son of Richard Bonefield. Bruce Gustafson has been doing mostly regular work, this week....

  • CAPITOLETTER

    Karen Odell|Updated Aug 22, 2024

    August 19, 2024 The weather was a little cooler, this week at Capitol and Tie Creek. It was a break from the hundred-degree weather, with highs in the eighties most days. We even got a pretty good rain, on Friday. Dick and Erma Albert had enjoyed having their daughter visit. She and her family left on Wednesday to head home. On Thursday, Dick and Erma went to Spearfish and Belle Fourche to do some shopping. They attend the Old Timer’s Picnic, on Friday, and the free barbecue on Saturday night at the fairgrounds. Alvin and Mar...

  • CAPITOLETTER

    Karen Odell|Updated Aug 15, 2024

    August 12, 2024 Last Sunday evening, Ronda Cordell was up watching the lightning strikes on the radar map. It was very dry and the fire danger was high. She has finally got to mowing and trying to get the yard in shape. With the hot weather, after several sessions of pushing the mower, it didn’t take long to work up a sweat and need a break. Last Thursday, Clint Zolnoski loaded a two-hundred fifty gallon sprayer pump in a pickup and filled it with water. These ‘during the night’ storms that come rumbling through are prett...

  • CAPITOLETTER

    Karen Odell|Updated Aug 8, 2024

    August 5, 2024 This has been another terribly hot week at Capitol and on Tie Creek. Finally, early on Sunday, we got about an eighth of an inch of rain, that instantly soaked up. The grasshoppers have tamed down a little, and we are lucky to have only a few mosquitoes. Erma Albert had an appointment at the clinic in Buffalo, on Monday. She spent the week recovering from the flu. Dick went to church on Sunday, and brought home lunch for Erma afterward. Alvin Cordell had finished haying, a couple of weeks ago. He had two wells...

  • CAPITOLETTER

    Karen Odell|Updated Jul 31, 2024

    July 29, 2024 At Ronda Cordell's, the power was out for a day and half, after the storm. Clint had brought her a generator, on Sunday, to keep the freezers from thawing in the hundred-degree weather. Ronda had seen the TV's severe storm warning of a storm coming from the Jordan, Montana area. Ronda drove up the hill to be able to see the storm clouds to the west. The sun was going down, and the cloud build-up was quite picturesque, with massive, dark, bluish-purple clouds...

  • CAPITOLETTER

    Karen Odell|Updated Jul 24, 2024

    July 22, 2024 Well, last week at Capitol and on Tie Creek, things had gotten more exciting than most people would desire. Karen didn’t write news, couldn’t call neighbors, and couldn’t email the news, because of the storm that came through, on Saturday evening, wiping out the electricity. A bingo night had been planned in Camp Crook for Saturday, and some people enjoyed bingo, but a few had stayed home to avoid the predicted weather. The cool air from the east felt good after the hot day. Then things got completely silen...

  • CAPITOLETTER

    Karen Odell|Updated Jul 11, 2024

    July 8, 2024 Last week, Karen Odell got word that a storm might be on the way with large hail. She and Hywel looked out to the north, and watched the thermometer beside the window drop twenty degrees in three minutes. Then, when she heard a roar of wind, she looked out to see huge tree limbs circling high in the air, but before she and Hywel got through the kitchen, the roar stopped. When she looked out north again, a pile of limbs had landed, and the power line to the well house was under all those limbs. She finally...

  • CAPITOLETTER

    Karen Odell|Updated Jun 27, 2024

    June 24, 2024 Last week, Ronda Cordell went to the Southeast Electric Meeting in Ekalaka, and was lucky enough to win a door prize. On Saturday, on the way to Buffalo, she stopped by at Gardner Lake to see some of the Fishing Derby. At Buffalo, she attended the Stuart and Renee Guptil Fiftieth Anniversary party. Then, in Camp Crook she stopped to visit with Lisa Koranda. Ronda had a dental appointment in Rapid City on Monday. Diane Wear came on Sunday night to do chores for her. Ronda stayed with Cristen and Jayda Westling...

  • CAPITOLETTER

    Karen Odell|Updated Jun 20, 2024

    June 17, 2024 The drought lives on, and so do the grasshoppers, at Capitol and on Tie Creek. We had hoped for a little rain, on Sunday morning, after the 100 degrees on Saturday, but even with no moisture, the cooling off was a great relief. Buffalo had gotten some hail, and we were wishing some of that hail had landed on our grasshoppers, but no luck. Dick Albert was picked up for a fishing trip, on Tuesday, by a friend and his son. It was a good trip but the fishing was not very good. Erma had a physical therapy...

  • CAPITOLETTER

    Karen Odell|Updated Jun 13, 2024

    June 10, 2024 There was a tiny shower of rain near Tie Creek on Sunday morning. The multitude of grasshoppers at least calmed down a little, and the morning was very cool. Last week, Ronda Cordell took time out to go to the Quilt Show in Buffalo. There were many outstanding quilted items filling the Rec Center, and a good lunch, also. Last Monday, Mindy Yates and Kendall Shepherd came to Ronda’s to do bull testing. It’s always a question as to how those critters will be, to bring in and have in the corral. Diane Wear, Gen...

  • CAPITOLETTER

    Karen Odell|Updated Jun 5, 2024

    June 3, 2024 Memorial Day was a little windy, but pretty nice for outdoor programs at Buffalo and Ekalaka. Spring at Capitol, and on Tie Creek, has been fairly cool, and even in the first days of June the night-time temperature dropped into the low thirties. Karen Odell spent the holiday at home. On Tuesday, Jack Ovitz came to check out, and do some electrical work. That night, Tyler Wolff came with a new mower battery, and to take back a mower tire to be worked on. Then, Karen got a little mowing done, before the mower quit...

  • CAPITOLETTER

    Karen Odell|Updated May 29, 2024

    May 27, 2024 Alvin and Ryan Cordell, and Charlie Casteel, have been busy sorting cows, and moving them to summer pasture. Marlee went to an appointment in Spearfish, on Tuesday. Then, on Saturday, she went down to the wedding of her cousin, Kelly West’s, son. Paul O’Toole stopped in for a visit with Alvin. Paul has a hunting cabin in Camp Crook, and has been coming out this way for hunting for nearly fifty years. On Thursday, Alvin got thirty-five hundredths of rain, and then another three-tenths on Saturday. It had been ter...

  • CAPITOLETTER

    Karen Odell|Updated May 23, 2024

    May 20, 2024 Ronda Cordell spent much of last week getting ready for branding on Mother’s Day weekend. In spite of the inch and a half of rain, they had a good crew, got the branding done, and also moved pairs to summer pasture. It is a relief to have gotten some rain, and the branding done, too. On Mother’s Day afternoon, Ronda went to Belle Fourche to meet Cristen and Jayda Westling. They had planned to have a late Mother’s Day dinner, but Cristen had gone to Kirk, Colorado to pick up a puppy for Ronda on Saturday, and it w...

  • CAPITOLETTER

    Karen Odell|Updated May 16, 2024

    May 13, 2024 Well, we did get a little rain this week on Tie Creek, but it seems that Capitol got the bulk of the moisture. Ernie Rachel and Tommy Melum are still calving, but are close to the end of calving season. Tommy has finished his school year, and is a big help to his dad in all his free time. Rachel’s brother, Don Kalbach and his wife, Thu, from Seattle, came out to the ranch to visit for a few days. They had come out for Daniel’s wedding, last week, and stayed to visit a while longer before heading west again. The...

  • CAPITOLETTER

    Karen Odell|Updated May 8, 2024

    May 6, 2024 The weather forecast for Capitol and Tie Creek had been that there would be rain every day. Somehow that prediction was completely wrong. The sun was out every day, and the few clouds dissipated. Sunday was so windy that it was almost impossible to be away from the shelter of a building, if you wanted to stay on your feet. Erma Albert had another attack of the coughing flu. By Wednesday, she was better, and went with Dick to do some shopping in the Hills. On Friday, they both went to the Senior Citizen dinner,...

  • CAPITOLETTER

    Karen Odell|Updated May 1, 2024

    April 29, 2024 Capitol and Tie Creek were forecast to have 100 percent chance of rain on one day this week, but suddenly that was changed to 20 percent, and in reality I believe there wasn’t even one drop that day. Then the middle of the country got some mean tornadoes, that they could have done without. On Sunday, we woke to a ground fog, but that didn’t seem to wet the ground either. Diane Wear came from Ekalaka to Ronda Cordell’s, on Monday. She checked through the cow/calf pairs, to see if there were any issues with...

Page Down

Rendered 11/08/2024 14:30