CAPITOLETTER

We got a little snow at Capitol and on Tie Creek. The rain that came before it settled the dust, and we really needed that.

Ronda Cordell has been making mustard, peanut and cashew brittle and doing chores. At Thanksgiving, she got to see Oren and Arlie Basler. She met Jake Reynolds and Jason Berg at the Wagon Wheel for lunch, before they left for Sioux City to meet with Luke Basler. It’s always great to see grandkids. Last Sunday, Ronda went to visit Cristen and Jayda Westling in Rapid City. She got delayed trying to leave her computer for repair, and had to fight the traffic in Rapid City after dark. When people saw her dirt-covered, twenty-year-old Lincoln, she thought those people thought they’d better watch out for her. Diane Wear had come to the ranch to do chores and take care of the dogs. Ronda got in some shopping before her dental appointment on Monday morning. Cristen met her at the north Pizza Ranch to have lunch, and Ronda got home from Rapid City at just about dusk.

Ronda took the windiest day to go to Ekalaka. The road was icy and snow packed, through the pines on Highway 323. She had lunch at the Wagon Wheel, and stopped at the museum to buy a book for a Christmas present. She had gotten a copy of ‘Cowboys of Carter County’ before, and felt it was an excellent book of phenomenal photos of people, scenes and animals. After having lunch at Over The Edge, on Sunday, Ronda wrapped presents, and squeezed some Cashew brittle and a popcorn cake in a box to ride to Missouri.

Clint Zolnoski took the old Cam-Am to Baker to catch its occasional ride to Riverside in Miles City. Today, Gene Secrest helped him begin installation of a new winterized watering system in the corral. Ronda’s house water had failed on Saturday night, and probably needed a new pump for the house and barn area. When Clint went back to switch the water back on, he discovered the pressure tank had failed, so Ronda is relying upon the old spring water. Maybe tomorrow will be better.

Erma and Dick Albert had a short bout with the flu or something, last week, but are feeling much better now. They went to the Hills on Tuesday, where Dick got a haircut, and they did some shopping. They got to have lunch with some friends at the Stadium. Erma had a chiropractor’s appointment on Wednesday and that made her feel much better. It was on Friday, that they felt bad and decided to stay home. By Sunday, they were well again, and went to church at the Catholic Church. They stayed for the pot luck lunch, and for the Bible Study afterward. Father Brian had just recovered from the flu also.

Last Saturday, Alvin and Marlee Cordell went to Spearfish for the funeral of Roberta Engasser. Last Sunday, they headed out to find and cut a Christmas tree. On Monday, Alvin helped Ryan and Tawni with preg-testing. Mindy Yates came to help. That afternoon, they went to watch Kymber play basketball at Buffalo. Alvin and Ryan got a crew together to do some work on the new shed at the Horton place, on Thursday, but Friday was too windy and snowy to get much done. On Friday evening, grandson Gavin Pearson, had his opening basketball games on the Belle Fourche team against Spearfish, and Alvin and Marlee got to see that.

Bruce and Lynn Gustafson went to church at the Little Missouri Church, and then went to the Diligent Doers Extension Club Christmas party, on Sunday, at Dorothy Padden’s. The Little Missouri children’s Christmas program will be next Sunday. They will also have a Christmas Eve service at four o’clock.

Doug and Julia Davis went to Rapid City for the South Dakota Grasslands Meeting, on Tuesday, and enjoyed hearing a great speaker. On Thursday, Doug traveled up to Dickinson to get all he needed to set up his solar water pump. Julia went to work in Buffalo each day. On Saturday, they went to St. Onge to buy some replacement cows, and the saw lots of people to visit with. On Sunday, Julia went to visit at Denise Zolnoski’s. Linda Hannah was there also, and they had fun making fudge.

Junior and Shirley Melum had a little snow, but most enjoyed the rain that came first. Shirley is still making large piecework wool Christmas stockings. Ernie Rachel and Tommy Melum went to Baker for church on Sunday. There will be a Christmas program at the Baptist church in Baker next Sunday morning.

On Monday, Bryce, Dawn and Dorothy Padden went to Buffalo for the junior high basketball games. Dorothy had about a tenth of an inch of rain before it started snowing, on Friday, and she was glad for the moisture. On Saturday, Bryce, Dawn and Dorothy went back to Buffalo for the high school basketball games. This time they saw four games of both boys and girls teams against Lead-Deadwood.

On Sunday, Dorothy, Dawn and Ashley Padden hosted the Diligent Doers Extension Club Christmas party. They served a complete Christmas dinner, with ham and turkey, for the members and their entire families. They had their Secret-Sister gift exchange, and then drew names for next year’s secret-sisters. It was a great meal and good afternoon for everyone.

Ernie and Tommy Melum visited Karen Odell a couple of times this week. On Friday, Karen had planned to go to Baker for a conference. It was snowing and blowing very hard, so she decided to take the gravel north of Camp Crook. The temperature was just below freezing and the highway was going to be questionable and icy. The wind was blowing her around. Finally, just as she was reaching North Dakota, and back on the pavement again, she heard Scott Bachmier on the Baker radio, saying travel was not advised. She decided it was not a great idea to try those icy roads, so she turned around.

As she came back, the wind was not so much against her, but still she was relieved to be back home. She got her conference finished on the phone, and that saved her the trip. She had also hoped to go to Rapid City for the huge wrestling tournament at the Monument Civic Center. Kellan Odell, Karen’s grandson from Mitchell was going to wrestle there, but she decided that was not a good idea, either. Karen still got to see Kellan wrestle on her computer on YouTube. She was clapping and jumping up and down when she saw her grandson win one match, and her dog, Hywel, got into the excitement, too.

On Sunday, Karen went to the Methodist Church in Camp Crook. She had looked on Facebook, but there was nothing about having church. Since it was the second Sunday, she went to see if anyone was there. It was good that she went, because the kids had planned a Christmas program, and it was lots of fun. Sam Cordell and Tonja Hansen led the service, and they enlisted a few other adults to play parts along with the children. Tyler and Lynnette Wolfe played the parts of Joseph and Mary, and Baby Jesus was played by the newest Arledge baby, who played the part perfectly. The Methodist Church will have a Christmas Eve service on the 24th at four o’clock. Hope everyone can come.

Little boys are good judges of modern art. One observant little boy said “If that’s supposed to be a cowboy and his horse, why ain’t it?”