Tuesday, April 17, 2012

“VIEW from the BRIDGE”
By Muncie
4/18/12

ANNA MAE
Another beautiful, kind, and well-loved woman has passed away. A large number of family and friends turned out for the funeral to celebrate her life. Most of us did not even know of her illness and so it was quite a shock to hear the news. I knew Anna Mae because of her attendance at all the Longhorn events. I also knew her from our rural mail-route. She and her husband Gene were not on the route when I became Wally’s assistant. However, it was not too long when they requested that their mail be delivered to their home instead of picking it up at the post office. It was only a mile turn to the right at the Elim School house.

My grandson Bryan, 4 years old at the time, was staying with us because his father (my son-in-law,) was very ill. Anna Mae often had goodies for Bry in the mailbox and she arranged for him to climb up on their huge tractor. He was so excited about that. He always waved to them if they were outside and liked to go up to the door with a package that did not fit in the mailbox. Anna Mae would fuss over him and give him a treat.

Her happy, smiling face will be sorely missed. So long for now Anna Mae McKeever.

WEATHER OR NOT
Can you outguess the weatherman? I’ll bet not. I watched the Saturday 10:00 p.m. local news report about today’s (Sunday) weather and did not believe it. Who would after the beautiful 70-degree weather we had on Saturday? Then, sure enough, we awoke to a small amount of snowfall that did melt in a few hours. It is a little after 3:30 p.m. and my satellite thermometer registers 40 degrees. The weather service reports in the newspaper today that it will be in the 50’s tomorrow however, whom can you believe?

REMINDER OF PIE DAY
Yes, Pie Day is Friday and how quickly it seems to roll around. Having changed the time from10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. seems to have attracted more “Pie Enthusiasts” to the Golden Age Senior Center. Last month I enjoyed a piece of Choke Cherry Pie and it was awesome. I got the last piece because I was a few minutes late and the word had gotten around. Five people ahead of me were already enjoying their slice of that pie. I hope the pie baker gets this message before Friday. Mark the day and time on your calendar that it is always the 3rd Friday of the month. See you there.

PLANTER
More work will be accomplished by the City Crew on the planter in front of the Old Bridge. The junipers were disposed of a couple of weeks ago and the telephone poles magically disappeared. (Yes, they actually were telephone poles and cost nothing 30 years ago.) Skip said that they would probably be able to work more on this project this coming week. I am taking pictures as the project progresses. Take notice that the project will be accomplished with granite rocks. If you check along the Levee Walking Trail, you will see the many monument bases that are made of granite. The Lewis and Clark Memorial, the Shep Memorial, the WWII Memorial, the Cowboy Memorial (George Montgomery’s,) and the Thomas Meagher Memorial are all placed on granite rocks. The granite is obtained from the Square Butte area.

FISHING POSSIBILITIES
We had a houseguest for four days last week from Missoula. He came to this area to catch a fish but chose an uncooperative week. It was very windy on Wednesday and rained all day Thursday. He floated from Carter to Fort Benton on Wednesday, enjoyed the scenery, but did not catch a fish. He fished off the shore at several places around Loma but the water was too muddy from the rain. He went back to Missoula without fish in hand and stories that there are no fish around Fort Benton area in the Missouri River. That may be a good thing as that leaves more fish for our local anglers. Our friend plans to return in May or June for better fishing conditions. Perhaps, because he is our friend, you anglers could leave him a couple of walleye. On a 1 to 10 (fish) scale, that would be a 10.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
Thanks to anonymous for e-mailing this to me. “Life is not always wrapped in a bow, but it is still a gift.”

AROUND TOWN
There is not much going on around town that I am aware of. If you have an item of interest, please contact me. Chris Halko did tell me that his yearly April “Jimmy Buffet Day” will be held in May this year. That event is a fun time and if you have never visited the Pharmacy during that celebration…do it this year. It is “a dress for it” affair, however if you do not have Hawaiian clothing, you can come anyway. Just tell Chris that I said so.

GOD BLESS AMERICA AND OUR TROOPS