PORCH PONDERINGS

Water as it pertains to Melons, Swimming, Fire

We are dry in Montana. No rain for some time. So some yahoo east of town decides to use his chainsaw. Now normally that is not a problem. But when the grasses are dry, the air is dry, the wind is blowing 15 to 20 MPH, perhaps you should reconsider using a tool that could cause sparks.

So a fire started. A small fire, manageable under normal circumstances. 15-20 acres. But in a few hours it was 250 acres. The fire siren sounded at least 4 times yesterday. All hands on deck! The volunteers, the state fire people, the federal fire people all converged on this one fire. All because this person used a chainsaw.

Last night I was checking my Facebook page and saw that my friend Cheryl was asking if someone was going to Billings. If they were, could they pick up 20 watermelons. Well, that got my attention. She was cutting up watermelon for the firefighters. Watermelon is hydrating finger food. She had purchased about 20 here in town and needed more. So I sent back a message, 'what else do you need?' Cheryl called me in 2 seconds.

Come on hubby, we're going over to cut watermelon for the firefighters. We walked to the senior center and cut watermelon into chunks and put into them into 120 baggies. Enough for that night's meal. Then we cut more for the morning. We butchered at least 25 melons. A messy job that 5 of us did in a few hours. Then we had bags of watermelon rinds. What to do with them? Shame to dump them. So we called a lady with chickens. 'Come and get these.' Which she did. Happy chickens for sure.

Today we met again and cut up 10 more melons with the caveat that we may be needed later. The Catholic Church is doing the main meals, but Cheryl thought the senior center could at least do this. Then just a while ago she called and released us from further melon mauling. But maybe tomorrow more cutting is needed. No worries, we can help.

Another event this weekend in town is the swim meet. Roundup has a children's swim team. This weekend is a meet with several other teams. There are dozens of RVs and tents set up near the community pool. Big doings.

There was also a Constitution and Freedom of Speech gathering Friday night near the pool and city park. We have a very nice stage the community can use. Several pastors spoke, along with a gentleman from the Montana Family Foundation. It was an interesting discussion about the US Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and Freedom of Speech as it pertains to Christians.

Small town Montana. Always something happening. Some good, some bad. But all are involved somehow.



Queen NormaJean II GreenEyes