CAPITOLETTER

November 20, 2023

It’s been another week of nice weather at Capitol and on Tie Creek.

Ronda Cordell had just been doing a bunch of little odd jobs with cattle, this week. On Tuesday, a load of Muggli cake was delivered, while she was in Ekalaka going over water rights with Wayne Yost. Neil Kittelmann inspected cows for her, on Wednesday afternoon. Then, on Thursday morning, Dell Dague came to haul a few cull cows to the Belle Fourche Livestock Exchange. He was back out there before one o’clock, to load bred cows for St. Onge’s Saturday sale. Clint Zolnoski trailered what wouldn’t fit on the semi. On Saturday, Clint and Abby Zolnoski took Darby to Belle Fourche to play her last basketball game of the season. Denise was entertaining a flu bug, so she stayed home.

Ronda finished making hot mustard and cashew brittle, to take to Cristen Westling, on Sunday. Ronda and Cristen met at the Pizza Ranch in Spearfish, before going to Shirley Blake’s 90th birthday party at the Moose Lodge in Belle Fourche. The party was a well-attended event with lots of visiting going on.

Erma Albert went to play cards at the Senior Center in Buffalo, on Tuesday. She and Dick went to town on Thursday, to pick up a few things. Friday was the special Thanksgiving dinner at the Senior Center, and the place was packed, and more lunches sent to people at home. Dick and Erma went to the Catholic Church, on Sunday, and then they had lunch at Saloon Number Three. Father Brian had a guest for lunch. The guest was from Canada and was taking his own tour of the area. The Erks joined the group for lunch, too.

Alvin Cordell’s hunters have all gone home. He has spent some time up at the Horton place, working on the new shed project. They have calves in the corral for weaning, and one had an accident and somehow broke a leg. Hopefully it can heal. On Friday, Marlee went to Belle Fourche for Kynlee’s basketball games at the Rec Center. She stayed over, and Rhys had two games at Spearfish on Saturday. Then Alvin went down on Sunday to join Marlee, and they went to the Moose Lodge for Shirley Blake’s 90th birthday party. It was a good time with lots of people.

Lynn Gustafson and Linda Matthews made a trip to Bowman, on Monday. They went to the beauty parlor and did some shopping. Then, on Thursday, Lynn discovered that Jane Teigen needed to go to Bowman, so Lynn went back again with Jane. On Sunday, Bruce and Lynn attended church at Little Missouri.

Doug Davis and Morgan Buck have been working on corrals, this week. Julia got all her garden boxes emptied and has things ready for winter. Doug and Julia shipped cows, this week.

On Friday, Clint Zolnoski, Shannon Secrest, Mattie, Morgan and Darren Buck, Jason Latham and Miles Cooper came to help with shipping. Pete Tenold was the trucker. Geoff Stoltenberg, a friend, had been hunting, and he helped, too. With the shipping done, Morgan went in to Camp Crook for an early Thanksgiving with his family. Morgan and Mackenzie will help Mattie move some of her things to Bowman, where she will get an apartment. Since Mackenzie works in Bowman, too, they will have a place to stay rather than travel in bad weather.

Shirley and Junior Melum had a quiet week, but were enjoying the good weather.

Dorothy Padden went shopping in Bowman on Wednesday. The Paddens shipped heifer calves on Thursday, and Bryce, Dawn and Dorothy went down for the sale at Belle Fourche. Dorothy ran some errands in Ekalaka, on Friday. Bryce Dawn and Dorothy went to Belle Fourche again, on Sunday, to join in the party for Shirley Blake’s 90th birthday.

Karen Odell has spent a few weeks trying to figure out where a water leak was coming from. Jack Ovitz came, on Monday, to help, but after much work ridding the basement of water, they still were not sure what was causing the problem that was bringing the water into her basement. It still seemed to be seeping in. She referred to Cody Odell, in Mitchell, who had difficulty with the mystery, without being able to see the problem. It was impossible to analyze at such a distance, but he had a suggestion or two.

Mike Malenovski, also had a suggestion or two. When Ernie Melum came, on Wednesday, he too, was baffled, until he finally dug up a water shut-off valve, just outside the house, that would not shut off. Ernie reattached the shut-off and turned it off. Then Ernie and Tommy removed the water from the basement again, while Karen helped Rachel tear out some old bad flooring under the kitchen sink. A few other minor slow drain leaks were discovered, too, but they had to leave the project for another day. Rachel even went home to bring lunch back to Karen’s, and it was the most delicious meal Karen could remember (and that’s a long string of meals).

When morning came, Karen dared to peek downstairs, and saw that the basement was still dry. Karen and Hywel yelled with joy and danced in celebration (well, Hywel did most of the dancing, and a dog of that size dances where he wants, and Karen at least tried to dance). Now, at last, after weeks of searching, the problem was narrowed to the water line going to the corral. When Karen thought back in time, she figured that line had to be over fifty years old. Ernie and Tommy came back the next day with equipment, and the group decided it was easiest to put in a new line to the corral, rather than dig up the old one. The weather was holding, and everyone was hoping for good weather until the line was in. Karen made a trip to Buffalo on Friday for pipe, connectors, and cat and dog food. Ernie, Tommy and Rachel were going to Ekalaka on Saturday, to help another friend who was in need of help. That’s what I call good neighbors.

On Sunday, Karen thanked God, and went to church in Marietta, Georgia, on YouTube at home, while her Fuzzy cat watched with her (well, at least the cat was there, curled up in her lap to sleep). It’s such a relief to know that the mystery has been solved, and if that mystery can finally be solved, it may actually be possible to move on to solving national problems.

Happy Thanksgiving, and thank God for friends.