Flood!

All that snow we got last week is gone.  After several days of extreme cold and record amounts of snow (check out the picture on my previous post), it warmed up quickly.  Then the water started to run!  The whole state is under a flood watch, but we definitely got our share.  The tiny community south of us got a lot of water from an overflowing creek, then Manhattan was blessed from that same creek.

These are pictures from KBZK Bozeman News station.  The woman on the canoe is floating down main street!

The waters took out about a three block area of downtown.  Many businesses and some homes have been affected.  The hardest is going to be our little grocery store.  Just a Mom and Pop business, they are going to be devastated.  Not sure if they have flood insurance-that is extra on your policy and your community has to participate in the national flood program, which our county does.  The mayor is talking to the governor to get it declared a disaster area so they can all get federal aid.

But I have to be proud of my little town-Blackhawk!, a gun accessory manufacturer that just moved to Manhattan about a year and a half ago, gathered up all their employees and heavy equipment and pitched in alongside the emergency teams.  They managed to get all the water pumped out of the park (on the left in the bottom picture) and over to an area that could drain.  Then they drained all the basements.  Now comes the cleanup-today there was a huge dump trailer outside the grocery store and it was heaping full of damaged materials.  A bank that hasn't even broken ground for the branch they are opening here provided lunch yesterday and a dear couple that own the famous Sir Scott's Oasis provided Friday's lunch.  Stan and I are hoping to help out this week, even if it's bringing lunch to the helpers.

Draining water from the grocery store's basement.

The little grocery store. (Where the windows are)

The lady is from Manhattan Bank, probably touching base about cleanup.  Manhattan Bank is very community minded.

Thankfully, our house wasn't touched.  We live on the north side of town, and the railroad tracks prevented the water from coming our way.  It was a little dicey getting home since both roads out of town are on the south side of town.

This isn't a precedent.  I understand the town floods every so many years.

This is a snapshot from the Gallatin Historical Society showing the flood in 1928.  Identical to the picture from Friday except the trees are smaller.

So pray for the folks around the state-Livingston, a small town 50 miles east of here has been declared a state of emergency already and many communities in the eastern part of the state have evacuated.  Summer can come any time.

Salt Lake City

It was a fun little trip.  The driving was easy and uneventful, and we didn't have any trouble finding our way around the city-the streets in the main part are on a grid, so you can navigate pretty easily.  Yesterday we dropped Millie off at the hospital for her checkup and went exploring.  I parked the car back at the hotel and we walked the 2 blocks to the Gateway Center-built specially in honor of the 2002 Olympics.  The three of us had gone there Monday night, too.

Millie and Gracie Monday night at Starbuck's-the coffee house looks out over the Olympic plaza.

Eight years ago, while Gracie was in the NICU, we brought her two big brothers here to the plaza to play in the fountain.  This week we got to take Gracie, something we weren't sure we would get to do back when she was struggling to live.

Then Gracie and I took the train downtown to a brand new mall we heard of.  I told Gracie to pick an activity to take her mom to, since she missed our day's fun, and she picked going back to the mall.

This city has a ton of fountains!

The name of the mall is City Creek and a creek runs through the entire mall, complete with trout!

 We had dinner at the mall-we hadn't ever eaten at The Cheesecake Factory, so that's what we chose.  The mall covers two downtown city blocks and is gorgeous!

We headed home today.  We debated which route to take-the way we went down had been hit with a horrible man-caused wildfire, mere minutes after we drove through on Monday.  Millie kept up with the local news on her smart phone, and found out the road had reopened, so since it's the shortest way home we headed that way.

As of this afternoon, the fire has covered 14,000 acres-quite a jump considering it just started on Monday.  This is the area where the fire jumped the highway and the river.  I took these pictures while driving.  I could have stopped on the road, since there were very few cars going through.

Right up to the road-with lots of active flames.

We drove by a home that had been leveled-outbuildings, garage, etc.  The only thing left standing was a child's swing set.  Made me want to cry.  Imagine my dismay when, after returning home, I find out that this is the home of my good friend's in-laws!  They lost everything.

Lots of rain is surely needed in the West right now.  Keep praying for a downpour.

Eventually....

Eventually I'll get back to writing about our trip, but we've been tied up with Gramma this week.  We spent the night with her last night, and another sister-in-law will be there all this week.  Then after that we'll have to figure out who can stay for the next go-round.

She doesn't sleep much, and rambles on and on about things from 20 or more years ago.  She doesn't remember me.  She said, "I love you!"  "I don't know who you are, but I love you anyway!"  She called for my father-in-law, gone for twenty years, and today she told me she was fishing and caught a whole bunch of fish.  Later she told my sister-in-law that we had to do something with the fish in the garage so they wouldn't spoil.  A friend who has done a lot of care alongside Hospice told me this is all very typical.  It's kind of like she's rewinding her life.

She loves it when I read Scripture to her.  Her favorite verse is John 3:16-"For God so loved the world that He gave his only son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."  She's got one foot in heaven and is waiting to get the rest of herself there soon.  One time during the night, I was sitting by her bed and she asked me who those people were behind me.  Dreams?  Hallucinations?  Angels, waiting for the signal to take her home?

This really is a privilege to sit with her while she makes the transition.  Just think, she gets to see Heaven soon!

Henry van Dyk, an inspirational poet from the late 1800's wrote this.  This is what it feels like watching her make the journey:

A Parable of Immortality
by Henry van Dyke

I am standing by the seashore.
A ship at my side spreads her white sails to the morning breeze
and starts for the blue ocean.
She is an object of beauty and strength,
and I stand and watch
until at last she hangs like a speck of white cloud
just where the sun and sky come down to mingle with each other.

Then someone at my side says, 'There she goes!'
Gone where? Gone from my sight - that is all.

She is just as large in mast and hull and spar
as she was when she left my side
and just as able to bear her load of living freight
to the places of destination.
Her diminished size is in me, not in her.

And just at the moment when someone at my side says,
'There she goes!',
there are other eyes watching her coming,
and other voices ready to take up the glad shout:
'Here she comes!'

Of Course They're Really Family

A sweet member of my son's family passed away tonight.  Their four-year-old Pug, Daisy Mae, died after having seizures for the last week or so.  She was surrounded by four weeping children and their very sad parents. 

Millie found Daisy on Craigslist a couple of years ago, and couldn't believe her luck since they have always wanted a Pug.  Plus she was free.  She slid right into place in the family, stealing their hearts and attaching herself firmly to Isaac.  When Isaac would get home from school, she would jump into his lap, lean her back against his chest and purr-at least that's just what it sounded like!  She was his dog. 

Might not ever find out what caused her seizures and death, but there is sure an open spot in the family tonight.

Wine With Ice Cubes

Myrna was a sweet, slightly odd little lady.  She was brought here from California in the late 70's by her retired military husband.  He passed away, and she finished raising their two daughters.  By the time she was widowed, there was no one left in California and she loved it here, so she stayed.

She tended bar, she waited tables, she did whatever it took to supplement her husband's military pension.  Along the way she gained many, many friends.  I first got to know her when she was managing the local American Legion club and I waitressed at a small cafe she frequented.  We immediately clicked and had the best conversations.

Years went by-in 2002 she was diagnosed with colon cancer.  Miraculously, even though the cancer was bad, she went into remission and recovered.  She took up her routine again, by this time she was waitressing at a small restaurant by day, and helping out at a couple of bars at night.  Most evenings you could find her at Sir Scott's Oasis, sitting at the bar, sipping red wine with ice cubes in it, and helping out a bit here and there.  Her youngest daughter waitressed there and I think she was glad her mom was close by so she could keep an eye on her.

She loved to go to funerals.  She knew people from Three Forks to Livingston and thought nothing of driving 50-60 miles to attend the funeral of someone she had known.  She preferred to go by herself-she told me she wanted to be able to come and go as she wanted, not relying on her ride to dictate when and where.  At the restaurant she worked at during the day, she set herself up at the end of the counter with her coffee and newspapers.  She would sit and visit with whoever was seated next to her, periodically getting up to make milkshakes, clear tables, and pour coffee.  The funny part about her job there was that she had quit in 2000 but still showed up every day, helping out the waitresses totally without pay.  She rarely even accepted a tip, only when one of the waitresses would insist on it.  She just needed something to do.  When she felt her job was finished, she would gather up her papers, catalogs, and her fuzzy scarf and slip quietly out of the cafe.  We joked that she was just a little angel, slipping in and out as was needed.  She discovered those rocker-soled shoes, the ones that are supposed to slim your legs, and collected several pairs.  Pretty soon that was all she wore, tottering around town spreading her own quiet brand of warmth.

Around the first of November, she had a disagreement with the cafe owner and quit showing up.  I started losing track of her-sometimes I would see her green Honda parked in front of the local convenience store.  She would buy a coffee and sit at the Subway, visiting with anyone who happened by.  I joined her a few times, but then her trips there became rather infrequent.  Then I really lost track when I went to work again.  I kept looking for that Honda but to no avail. 

On Christmas Eve day, I was in the local grocery store.  I heard my name called and when I turned it was Myrna's younger daughter Michelle.  She told me her mom had had surgery two weeks before and had just gotten home from the hospital.  She said Myrna wanted to talk to me and gave me her phone number.  I went right home and called her.  Neither said the "C" word, neither talked about a prognosis, but in my heart I knew we were going to lose her.  She asked me not to visit quite yet-she got too tired and wanted to regain her strength.

Time rolled by-6 weeks came and went like lightening.  I kept thinking of her and looking for her car, hoping she had recovered enough to get out and about.  The grapevine said she was dying.  I decided that next week I was going to ignore her no-visit request and go see her.

Yesterday morning I opened the paper and there was her obituary.  She had died 5 days before and few of us knew.  Tears blinded me, and I sat there thinking about my loss-our loss.  A town's loss.  The loss of a gentle spirit who never asked for acclaim, never craved the spotlight.  An extremely private person.  She was just Myrna.  Myrna with her wine and her shoes and her fuzzy scarf-laughing at something somebody said.  Listening to all the stories, not judging-just listening.  She was mom to countless young people who didn't have loving parents, but they knew they could count on Myrna to listen.

There's a great big hole here in Manhattan, Montana now.  I know she loved her Jesus and she is with Him now, but doggone it-we weren't finished with her yet.

Get the coffee on, Myrna-I'll take the stool next to yours someday.

Seven Without You

Mom, this is the seventh Mother's Day I've had to celebrate without you.

My kids were awesome and cooked me a gourmet dinner last night and cleaned my kitchen afterward while I played with the grandkids. Today we got together with Stan's siblings and had a beautiful dinner with his mom.

But there's still a part missing.


Hope you're smiling down from Heaven.

We Lost One

Today we lost my cousin. He was driving late at night to his remote home in the woods, when his truck went off the road into a creek. Soaking wet, he climbed out of the truck and started walking. He almost made it, but he fell 200 yards from the house, hitting his head. He crawled for another 50 yards but died so close to home because it was 30 degrees below zero.

Jim was a teaser, a jokester, a lively guy full of fun. He was too young-not even 65 years old. I think the thing that bothers me the most is that the way he died must have been so cold and lonely-his last hours were not surrounded by his loved ones, but on the ground with his house in view. No one even knew he was out there.

Pray for Jim's wife Jan and his kids: Jenny, Robert, Eric, and John; as well as a bunch of grandkids.

Jimmy, you'll be missed.