PORCH PONDERINGS

Drama

Here it is, April 20 and outside it's 19°. Chilly start today. I am so ready for warm weather to come and stay awhile. Not just visit for a chat and leave.

I've been busy with the museum. It opens on May 1. A group of us have been rearranging, cleaning, and throwing away junk that's been hidden in closets for who know how many years. Egads. Yesterday I spent a few hours just on one closet. It showed evidence of mice, so I cleaned it out, took out about 6 boxes of nothing but drapes. Drapes. Heavens. We don't use drapes on the windows. Why were they stored for who knows how long? And I found an old framed certificate from the Slovenian society. And who knows how long that was in there.

Roundup and the surrounding area was once home to many ethnic groups when it had three active coal mines. Croatian, Slovak, Irish, Welsh, Italian, and other ethnic groups came here to work in the mines. Many stayed after the mines closed and you can see evidence in some names about town.

Today there is a big deal with our first visitor's kiosk in town. This project has been in the works for about three years. Or more. I forget the timeline now since it's been such an ordeal. Anyway, the other day when I was at the quarterly SE Montana Tourism meeting, I was to get the current SE Montana tour guide. A box for the kiosk and a box for the museum. So as we left, I told my husband to grab 2 boxes - they were in stacks by the door. Two different stacks. One has tour guides for SE Montana and one has guides for Yellowstone. Well, he got the Yellowstone guides by mistake. I didn't see the error til we got home. Bugger me.

Then the lady in charge of the kiosk contacts me, "Did you get those guides? Can I pick them up? We need them desperately." Well, now I have to tell her, No, I made a mistake. I can give you some of last year's. So she responds, "No! I'm too busy to pick them up. I need the current ones. I'll just contact SE MT." Okay. So I email my SE MT contacts, ask them to get on the job, Bring some up, mail some, whatever. Then the lady shows up on my porch yesterday afternoon. "Hi, my plans changed." What? She threw me under the bus, then comes all happy and sweet. Oh the drama. She takes last year's guides. Something is better than nothing. And people don't know the difference.

I won't be going to the grand unveiling. I have church. So more drama. The paper contacts me. "Can you go to the kiosk event?" I respond, No, but I have a friend that will go and get pictures for me. He's good with that answer. So I hurriedly contact my friend, "Can you still go and get some shots for me?" Oh sure, and will do. Whew. Again, drama.

Then I wanted to do an article for the paper on an Arbor Day gathering yesterday. The head of the tree board in town, yes - we have such a thing - don't bother. I have someone doing an article. Hmm. I had a good one all written. Drama.

A good way to relieve stress is by doing gardening. I enlisted hubby and we dug up our front flower garden area after all this drama. Flower seeds planted, old growth cut back, leaves raked. Take that you rotten plants. Take that you horrible weeds. Then we had root beer floats as a reward. Stress relieved.

But today is another day. My journey to relief from the hand problem continues. I see an orthopedic doctor on Tuesday.