CAPITOLETTER

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 and Erma went to church on Sunday, at the Catholic Church. Then they went to Saloon Number Three for lunch. The place was packed, with the extra rodeo people in town.

Pete Anderson went to church at the Methodist Church in Camp Crook, on Sunday. He is looking forward to a special sporting event soon.

Doug and Julia Davis had a pretty quiet week. Doug went to the Carol Kalbach funeral in Baker, on Thursday. Julia had caught some kind of flu, and spent a couple of days ‘under the weather.’ By Sunday, she was feeling better, and ready to go to church, but discovered she had shared the disease with Doug, so they stayed home on Sunday, too.

The Paddens have been busy all summer. Dawn and her sister, Michelle Tooke, took a trip together at the end of July. Dorothy Padden requested a fishing trip for her ninetieth birthday, so in August, they went over toward Watertown to do some fishing. Then there was the Days of ‘85 rodeo and fair in Ekalaka, and they took their camper to town. The Camp Crook fair was next, and Dawn got some good pictures at that rodeo. Next they went to Fort Peck where they met Brett and Stacey Padden and Donny and Lynne Brewer, for fishing. Since school has started again, this week became busy with sports. They went to the volleyball games in Buffalo, on Thursday. Dawn went to Bowman, on Friday morning, to see Kanyn in the cross country track meet. Then they went to the football game against Wall on Friday, too. Archery antelope hunting season has started, and they have visiting hunters. Bob and Jerry Ebert came from Ohio. Tim Padden and son, Ryan, and two friends came from Helena. Kevin Olmsted is visiting, too.

Ernie, Rachel, Tommy, Junior and Shirley Melum went to the Carol Kalbach funeral in Baker on Thursday. Tommy played guitar for one of the songs during the service.

Last week, while Karen Odell was discussing the weather with a visiting skunk on her front step, other interesting things were happening on the northwest edge of Spearfish, at the home of Kylie Odell’s Aunt Jenny. In the morning, her Aunt Jenny went out to open up the chicken house and feed the chickens, when she noticed that a window screen was missing. A house cat, nearby gave Jenny a warning that something was wrong, so she decided not to go in. As it turned out, a mountain lion was inside and had killed all of her chickens, proving that everyone loves a Sunday chicken dinner. That hero house cat must have felt like David against Goliath. It didn’t matter if he was saying, “Stand and fight!’ or ‘There is danger!”, or just “Help!” That house cat saved her and is now a hero.

On Tuesday, Karen Odell went to Buffalo on business, and to do some shopping. She visited Shirley Melum, on Wednesday, and went to the Carol Kalbach memorial service on-line from the Baptist Church in Baker, on Thursday. Then on Friday, she made a trip to Belle Fourche, to have the oil changed and air conditioner recharged in her car. The cost was beyond imagination, because the air conditioning had to have a special expensive machine to check it out and see what was wrong. I guess they think the human brain might not be able to detect hot air. Then she was told that using the defroster might use up the conditioning fluid that had just been replaced. On Sunday, she played the piano for the hymns, at the Methodist Church in Camp Crook, where Alan Loken was guest speaker.

They say practice makes perfect, but since nobody is perfect, what’s the object?