View From The Bridge 9/25/13

“VIEW from the BRIDEGE”
BY Muncie
9/25/13

FALL
Summer was very long wasn’t it?  The two and a half months of extremely hot weather almost did me in.  After you read this View, there will be only five more days of September left (my favorite month,) and then we are into full time fall.  I love fall and the only thing I do not like is that it is getting dark sooner and sooner each evening.  I love being outdoors and the early darkness ends any puttering in the garden or flower beds.

This coming week will mean the turning off of the sprinkling system.  It means having to deal with falling leaves.  It means watching the trees across the Missouri turning yellow.  It means the first frost will be coming on soon and jackets and sweatshirts will replace sweaters and t-skirts.  It means changing the clothes closets from spring/summer to fall/winter clothing.  It means putting on the beds your heavier blankets or electric blankets/sheets.  What it boils down to is actually a lot of extra work and with the thought that we have to deal with another winter. 

Try to enjoy the smell of the cool, crisp air, football games, the harvest moon, and all the holidays.  Once we reach Valentines Day, it is all downhill to spring.  Hang in there and as sure as the sun rises every day, there will be green leaves on the trees before you know it.

My daughter, Jennifer, often deals with out of state people in her job.  Their first question about Montana is usually, “Isn’t it really cold in the winter.”  (That question is also asked at the Fort Benton Visitors Information Center.)  Her reply is, “Well, you can hardly tell the difference between 20 below and 30 below.”

HOBBIES
Our hobbyist this week is Mrs. Crafty Hobby herself, Edna McSweeny.  She actually began her craft making seriously about a year ago when she moved from the Sunrise Bluffs to the Missouri River Medical Center.  She had done crafts for years but used them herself or gave them away.

When you walk into her room you are greeted by an array of colors never seen before at MRMC.  I am sure that she has the prettiest room and it is all done with her beautiful colorful wreaths.  She has other crafts like small bird houses and other small items but for the most part, the wreaths dominate.

They come in every color imaginable and mostly for the holiday closest at hand.  Edna is now working on a Christmas collection and will be having a “Christmas Craft Show,” as soon as she completes her schedule of the number of pieces to show.  Edna has held several Craft Shows at various locations.  Those would be at the Sunrise Bluffs and at the MRMC activities room.

One of Edna’s Red, White, and Blue wreaths has hung on my entry door since Memorial Day until Labor Day.  I think of her every day and know how much she loves doing her crafts.  She pours a lot of love into them.  “Keep Busy,” is her motto and her work shows it.  We’ll see you sometime in December Edna and watch this column for the date and time.

MONTANA TRIVIA
On a recent trip to Spokane, I purchased a fascinating paperback for Wally for a little something as a remembrance gift.  A remembrance gift is something you buy so someone knows that you were thinking about them while you were having a great time away.  It is sort of a, “Sorry you couldn’t be with me,” present.

It was written by Janet Spencer and somewhere in the back of my mind, I remember going to a restaurant somewhere, and the book was on every table.  Perhaps one of you readers can remember where that was in Montana.  I am going to do a trivia a week and I hope you enjoy them as much as we have been.

Entertainment question:  The building that now houses the Myrna Loy Performing Arts Center in Helena formerly housed what?  (Answer at the bottom)

SPOKANE
Thinking about my trip to Spokane in the trivia above, made me remember to ask if anyone is driving to Spokane, please let me know.  My number is in the book.

MEMORIAL BENCHES/TABLES
The other day when I walked, I again stopped at every bench and table to read the plaques.  What a wonderful tribute we have to the loved ones of people that lived in Fort Benton and Chouteau
County.  I hope that you do the same when you are on the Levee Walking Trail.

It is also exciting news that was in the River Press last week about the Levee Trail being extended.  Congratulations to the Mayor and Council for the work they did to get that job done.  It will be such a beautiful addition to our now very popular trail.

WM. SWENSGARD
A beautiful story came into the River Press this past week intended for me.  Tim forwarded it and I am going to pass it on to you.

“Bill was in my class in high school.  He was a nice kid: lots of energy and a good athlete.  We sometimes ran around together.  In those days he was smaller than the rest of us.

In the fall of 1963, after football practice, several of us went to Hankin’s reservoir to swim and water ski.  Water skiing was accomplished by hooking the ski rope to a car bumper (my Chevy on that day,) and speeding along the reservoir bank while towing the skier.  It was lots of fun and no one got (badly) hurt.  I remember that Tom Tope, (also deceased,) and Don Kelly were there that day too.
After pulling them all on skis (and getting my turn,) I decided to accept a dare to swim across Hankin’s reservoir.  Now, not having seen Hankin’s Reservoir in almost 50 ears, back then we thought it was approximately the size as Holter Lake and swimming across it was not for sissies.  Well, halfway across I got a let cramp and was in trouble…real trouble.  I yelled for help and the smallest guy in the group, Bill Swensgard, swam out to save me.  It turned out that Bill was trained in water safety and hauled me to the bank without any trouble at all.  The others thought that I was just joking about needing help; but I surely wasn’t.  It was a close call.  I remember I bought Bill a milkshake at the Taste Freeze that evening.

I was so sorry when I heard he’d been killed in Vietnam.  I owed him!”  Larry Krumwiede.

FALL SOCIAL
There will be a fun time for Fort Benton Woman’s Club members just to get-together as a social gathering...  It will be next Tuesday, October 1st from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 at the Ag Center.  There will be hor’doeurves, drinks, and a short meeting about Woman’s Club activities.  There will be childcare for those two hours for moms in need.

Please RSVP to Jenna Giese at 868-6866 a.s.a.p. and if you have any questions.  If you can bring along a new member, please do so.  The Woman’s Club meetings are generally business meetings and we women do not have much time to interact.  Now is the time that we can meet new members and socialize with our old friends.  See you there.

POW/MIA FLAGS
I want to thank all who either rented or purchased POW/MIA flags.  It is very much appreciated and is a National Observance.  It was a rude reminder to see them flying last Wednesday and will continue to remind us until the 30th of September.  My heart aches for those families and loved ones left behind.  It seems to me that there is never any closure.  Keep remembering them even when the flags are no longer flying.

GOD BLESS AMERICA, OUT TROOPS, and WEAR RED ON FRIDAYS.

The answer is, "A.  Prisoners--it was the county jail.