CAPITOLETTER

January 15, 2024

When it’s springtime at Capitol and Tie Creek, it might just be 30 below.

The winter has come to Capitol and Tie Creek. Karen Odell took a look at the forecast, and decided to go in to Wolffy’s at Camp Crook to stock up on some groceries, and to send out her mail. The warning weather prediction was that the temperature would soon drop, drastically. Previously, even up through the New Year, things had been mild, but everyone knew it just couldn’t last, and everyone was right. Early on Saturday morning, the temperature had dropped to 30 below, with a wind chill factor of 57 below. Karen was lucky to have gotten the well house insulated in time, and her water did not freeze. She has been busy painting, reading, writing and forcing herself to do some physical therapy, and the week seemed to condense into a day or two.

On Saturday her family texted to compare cold temperatures. Karen’s inside animals began to get cabin fever and chase each other around the house, so finally on Sunday, she let the dog and a couple of cats outside again, for short jaunts. Cody’s family’s school events had been canceled, and luckily Cody was not on call this weekend, so they were happy to stay home. Jeff and Amanda were on the eastern side of the cold, and it hadn’t gotten quite as cold there yet. Mollie and JD, in Minnesota, were not quite as cold, either, but even Micki and Jesse on the Pacific coast were helping a neighbor thaw water lines. Everyone had been beginning to wish for some moisture to mix in with all this dust, and the small amounts of snow were just what we needed.

Ross Phelps came to Ronda Cordell’s, on Monday, to put in some new lights. Her basement’s old florescent lights got replaced with bright new LED lights. He’s working to replace the plumbing under every sink in Ronda’s house, and the door trim was installed at the calving trailer.

On Wednesday, Tod Dague came to Ronda’s, to haul heifer calves to Belle Fourche Livestock’s Thursday sale. Clint Zolnoski hauled down another trailer load, too, after he finished feeding. Ronda drove to Camp Crook at noon to enjoy Darla Hammel’s hamburger stew and Yvonne Yoder’s corn bread at Wolffy’s. Then, she went on to Jack and Kay Ovitz’s to visit and have coffee.

Ronda left for Belle Fourche early, on Thursday, to get Boozer to the Belle Vet Clinic for blood work, and then she went to watch the calves sell. She was glad the calves had gone down the day before, because cold weather was moving in. It was nine below zero, when she had gotten up. By Saturday morning, it was 34 below zero. A breeze was sifting what little snow that was on the ground, across the meadow, and the air was full of ice crystals. When the sun peeked above the eastern horizon, it was joined on both sides by vivid sun dogs that formed a halo. God does have a way of bringing beauty even in the worst of times. After chores, Ronda searched her sewing cabinet to find a used metal coat zipper. She remembered a down-filled chore coat that was abandoned a couple of years ago, so she used her Bernina sewing machine that had been given to her in 1969, but it decided it was done working, so she studied up on using her newer computerized machine that is only 30 years old, and now she has a warm zippered coat. On Sunday morning the thermometer was at 28 below. It bee-bopped back and forth, until noon, between 28 and 18 below, then gradually rose to four below, for the high for the day. We’ll hope, for the sake of the livestock, that it warms up soon.

Dick and Erma Albert went to the Hills for groceries, on Tuesday. They went to the Senior Citizen Dinner on Friday, but the cold weather kept many people away. On Sunday, they went to church at the Catholic Church. Many people had stayed home to watch the mass online, because of the cold weather. They had lunch at Saloon Number Three with the Erk and the Helms families.

Bobby Cordell helped Alvin Cordell at the Horton place on Monday. Alvin and Marlee Cordell went to Belle Fourche, on Tuesday, to watch the basketball games. Rhys and Gavin Pearson were both playing in a game against Lead-Deadwood. Alvin came home, but Marlee stayed over to have lunch with MarJo Nixon and Becky Burghduff on Wednesday.

The Pill Pool competition has begun at the Corner Bar in Camp Crook. Alvin usually joins in that competition, but had to miss a couple of nights, so he will enter again next year. Alvin has been wishing for an older tractor. The cold weather and the new technology don’t seem to work well together. Ryan came over with his pick-up and bale roller, to do the feeding. He was glad the pick-up would start in the cold.

Doug Davis and Morgan Buck have been fighting the cold. They both grew beards for the cold weather, and they come in looking like snowmen with frozen beards and rosy cheeks. On Thursday, Julia went to work at Buffalo, and then stocked up with some groceries for the predicted cold weather.

Ernie and Rachel Melum are doing ok in the cold weather, but decided not to drive to Baker for church on Sunday. It was best not to drive so far, and leave the animals when it was so cold. They could watch the church service on the internet, so they had church at home. Shirley had seen the thermometer at 40 below zero, down close to the river.

Dorothy and Dawn Padden went to Wolffy’s, on Wednesday, where they had a Diligent Doers Extension Club meeting. Janet Odell was the hostess for the meeting. On Thursday, Bryce, Dawn and Dorothy went to Buffalo for the girls’ basketball games against Sundance. Everyone stayed home for the rest of the week. Bryce’s weather technology had registered 32 below zero early on Saturday with a wind chill of 64 degrees below zero. The next night was a balmy 31 below with 78% humidity. It seems, those down on the river were the coldest, but Karen Odell didn’t need the new technology to tell it was cold. By estimating the rate per second that which her house plants were shivering, then dividing by 12, she knew that there was no logical reason to go outside to see how cold it was.

A fast talker is someone who tells you something that he hasn’t thought of yet.