CAPITOLETTER

September 11, 2023

Things cooled off at Capitol and Tie Creek this week. On Sunday, Karen Odell’s furnace came on, so it must be getting close to autumn.

Dick and Erma Albert had dental appointments in Belle Fourche, on Tuesday, so they did some shopping while they were there. On Thursday, Erma had a physical therapy appointment in Buffalo.

They went to pick up Delores Sperle, on Friday, and all of them went to the Senior Citizen Dinner at the Senior Center. The pork and mashed potatoes and gravy were delicious. Erma and Delores stayed to play cards after the meal. They even had a break between games, and had some pudding. Erma took Delores home, and stayed to visit for a while. On Sunday, Dick and Erma went to church at the Catholic Church, and talked afterward with some young men who had come for hunting. It was good to see the visitors in church. Dick and Erma went to Saloon Number Three after church, for lunch, and Father Brian joined them.

Bruce and Lynn Gustafson spent Labor Day at home. They went to Belle Fourche, on Tuesday, to get their pickup from the garage, after it had been repaired. A deer had attacked it as Lynn was coming home one day. Colin and Elizabeth Wilcox, and their girls, had stopped for a visit during the week, and Lynn and the girls had a fun time in the garden picking some tomatoes. They had gotten about two-tenths of rain.

Jane Teigen had gotten about eight-tenths of rain, at their place, early on Sunday.

Doug and Julia Davis had a quiet week. Doug is still finding hay, and getting it cut. Morgan Buck is helping Doug, but with his asthma, he had a difficult time working outside in the smoke from the Canadian Fires. Julia finally made him stay inside, when he came in coughing. Julia got the flu from somewhere, and spent a couple of days getting over that. On Friday, they went to town for parts. In the night, lightning woke them and Doug checked his phone to see the location of lightning strikes. Three had been right near their dam. Then they got wind, and a downpour, and some hail. It had produced an inch and three-tenths of rain at their place.

Ernie, Rachel and Tommy Melum spent last weekend at Trails End Ranch for their Labor Day Weekend Family Camp. It was a great time, and fun meeting lots of new people. Tommy has been busy with school, and Ernie is still haying. On Sunday, they went to Baker for church, and then they all came back to Medicine Rocks for a church picnic. It was a wonderful, cool day to be among the rocks, and eat together. That evening they went to visit Karen Odell, and brought pizza for supper.

Dorothy Padden went to an extension club meeting on Wednesday. Connie Smith came to visit Dawn Padden, on Labor Day weekend. On Tuesday there was a Buffalo junior high football game scheduled, and Dawn was surprised when the game was canceled due to rain. They had not gotten any rain at all. It seems that Buffalo got an inch and a half. On Thursday, Dorothy went with Bryce and Dawn to the junior high volleyball games in Buffalo.

On Saturday the three of them went to Bowman for the Junior High Football Jamboree. It is a great fun time for all the kids, and there were at least eight schools represented. The eleven-man teams, and eight-man teams, had no trouble working together. The number on the field was determined by the team on offense, so it was the defense that had to adjust, and add or remove the number of players. The referees were excellent at giving instruction as the games progressed, and the coaches could go out and help teach the kids, too. The games were timed, and the teams were each given the same number of offensive plays. The kids got to try out new positions on offense and defense. All the kids got to play, and all the kids were the winners, because they were being instructed right there on the field as they played. What a great experience. The weather was cool, and great for the day of football.

On Labor Day, Diane Wear came from Ekalaka to Ronda Cordell’s, and then to go watch the Labor Day Parade in Buffalo, and take in the barbecue.

Diane stayed overnight, and on Tuesday, they left before 6:00 a.m., to go to Spearfish, for Ronda to get blood drawn at Dr. Little’s clinic. They went by Hickory House, where they dropped off a bit of birthday stuff, for Celia Welch, and then got their shopping finished, and enjoyed an early lunch at the Pizza Ranch, before heading home. Ronda made it into Wolffy’s at noon, on Wednesday, for a bite of “Darla’s Delicious” lunch and a bit of visiting, before going on the Buffalo. Diane had come back from Ekalaka, by the time Ronda got home, and they went to pick more plums. When they see such wild fruit, it’s hard to resist picking. These were much riper than the last batch they had picked, and also much tastier right off the tree. Diane stayed over to help with preconditioning and moving cows. Gene Secrest had shown up early, at Clint and Denise Zolnoski’s, to help, too. They couldn’t have had a more perfect day for doing that job, especially after the smoke of the Canadian fires moved out, mid-morning.

Fall is in the air, and Ronda says it feels pretty good to have the heat gone. Ronda received a call from her niece, Sheila Johnston, who said that Ronda’s sister, Beverly Anderson, had passed away in Minneapolis. She died just three weeks shy of her 86th birthday. This year has taken many of Ronda’s elderly friends and relatives, leaving a bit of emptiness here and there. Ronda doesn’t like it, but guesses God knows best. With that, she wishes to “Thank” those that have called, or messaged her on Facebook, the past few days.

On Sunday, Ronda ate lunch at Over the Edge, and mailed some letters. As he was leaving the field on Sunday evening, Clint stopped in to help Ronda redress the wounds on a heifer. She is healing but it will take some time for that. As long as she eats, drinks and is healing, Ronda will keep doctoring.

Karen Odell made a trip to Belle Fourche for an oil change, on Thursday. She visited the bank in Spearfish, and did some shopping at Lueders. She discovered that Moncurs shop there, too, and enjoyed visiting for a while.

On Sunday, Karen went to church in Camp Crook. On the way home, she saw a rattlesnake on her road, and backed up, hoping it had not gotten away in the grass and headed for the house. When she saw it again, she spent some time running and backing over it, until she was sure it was dead. It takes lots of trips across a snake to be sure they aren’t able to come on up to the house, but it was pretty flat after about ten or fifteen minutes of being run over.

Karen visited with Morgan Buck, that afternoon, and that evening Ernie, Rachel and Tommy Melum came to visit, and even brought pizza for supper. Hywel is always glad to have company, and so are the cats. A few have been given away, but there are still many, and some really cute Siamese colored kittens, and barn cats.

This is just a suggestion, but it may be inadvisable to take a sleeping pill and a laxative, on the same night, before going to bed.