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Thursday, Apr. 24, 2025

10:01am EDT

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PORCH PONDERINGS

by QueenNormaJean April snowsagin

Rated: 13+ · Book · Biographical · #2198921

Norma's Wanderings around a small section of Montana

Well, hey there!
Welcome to Roundup, Montana! If it's a nice day, we'll sit a spell on my porch and talk awhile.

A poem captured my attention the other day.

Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget 
Falls drop by drop upon the heart, 
Until, in our own despair,
 Against our will,
 Comes wisdom 
Through the awful grace of God.

Aeschylus

What's on your mind today?

Signature for use by anyone nominated for a Quill Award in 2020

Signature for nominees of the 2019 Quill Awards

Show Recent Comments

10 Most Recent Blog Comments:

Wordsmitty ✍️

Apr 13, 2025 at 1:18pm
In response to "The News"

No one likes the truth when it's about something they should have done. I bet the mayor would be even more furious if the actual quote was published. By the way, are there minutes of council meetings that get published/posted for people to read?

Suggest whatever you ate last night that you don't again. At least it wasn't about cars being towed into your yard.

QueenNormaJean April snowsagin

Apr 2, 2025 at 11:56am
In response to "Trash Meeting"

Well, evidently it pays quite well. $7800 a month set aside for this position. Now, not all goes to the individual. But come on. I'll volunteer to be the caretaker. I'll wear a vest and sit and watch. Heck, I'll even learn to drive a skid steer and fork lift and front end loader and get paid $25 an hour or more. Sign me up.

The county employees there only make $16 an hour.

Wordsmitty ✍️

Mar 31, 2025 at 10:06pm
In response to "Trash Meeting"

A trash caretaker? I'd love to see that job description and the experience required to apply.

1 Like

AmyJo-Spring's finally here!

Mar 31, 2025 at 9:30pm
In response to "Trash Meeting"

I'm so sorry that you had to go through such craziness. I hope everything will work out in the end. Good for you for not just taking it lying down.

Kåre เลียม Enga

Mar 31, 2025 at 6:56pm
In response to "Trash Meeting"

Deduct said itemized amount with a smile. Then make them sue if they contest. Town/county has a lawyer I assume.

It's a rainy day here but snow on the mountains. Dreary week forecast.

QueenNormaJean April snowsagin

Mar 23, 2025 at 9:46pm
In response to "The Survivors Club"

I am rereading this for book club for a science book. A curious choice, but it may work.
So I've gone over the rule of 3's. The current chapter is 'who lives and dies in the ER'. Huh. Well, first off, go to a decent hospital in my opinion. Now this is just me, but the hospital ER in my town is okay for routine problems. Broken bones, stitches- things like that, per my history with them. But they have messed around enough with my care that when I have something really urgent, I head down the road 50 miles to a Level 1 trauma center.

NJ

Wordsmitty ✍️

Mar 19, 2025 at 8:24pm
In response to "The Survivors Club"

The only 3 saying I remember is that "bad things come in threes. So once the first happens you can expect two more soon" - Murphy.

Oh, wait. I may have gotten that backwards. It could have been good things. Like finding money. Did I mention there was a fresh, crisp five dollar bill in my back yard the other day? True!

Have no idea where it came from or why it hadn't blown away. I keep looking for the ten and the twenty, but never arrived. Maybe I was right in the first place.

1 Like

Ichabod Crane-writing-reading.

Mar 19, 2025 at 6:38pm
In response to "The Survivors Club"

I heard of the '3's years ago but I had forgotten them.

1 Like

tj wanderlust-words-in-motion

Mar 19, 2025 at 6:34pm
In response to "The Survivors Club"

Sounds very interesting.

1 Like

Kåre เลียม Enga

Mar 18, 2025 at 4:40pm
In response to "The Teacher"

Does the teacher want everything stirred up? A thought to consider. Her family and her history may be intertwined with the drama. If she says no... I'd say, "let it be".

April 14, 2025 at 10:38pm

#1087273

Interesting

Somehow I found this story. It was mentioned on a YouTube video. I've been hooked on watching them lately.

Many of you recognize the author Ursula K. Le Guin. Science fiction writer of renown.

Here is a link to an interesting story. Troubling. Thought provoking. Short enough to read in a few moments. Tell me your thoughts.

https://www.utilitarianism.com/nu/omelas.pdf

Comment

April 13, 2025 at 12:25pm

#1087168

The News

It's been busy here. Lots of activity it seems.
I report for the paper. I am secretary and treasurer for the refuse board. I am in the community theater for the city. Lot of 'drama'.

The latest is the mayor is mad at me. Well, perhaps not 'mad' but upset at what I wrote about the last city council meeting. Especially what I wrote about the public comment portion of the meeting. All I did was write what the person stated. But the kicker is the city and the Sheriff's department are currently not getting along. The city contracts with the Sheriff for services, since the city doesn't have a police department. So there is an agreement. The county pays for the Sheriff. The city pays the county. I know, very convoluted.

So, the the problem, and I think I mentioned this a while back, is the Sheriff deputies went out a while ago and put stickers on cars and other vehicles that were considered abandoned. Now some were, some were not. Got the town in an uproar. Basically because there was no real follow through on this plan. There was no plan by the city on what to be done next. No place to to tow the vehicles. No one contracted to do said towing. Egads.

There is a citizen that comes to every meeting and comments on this. 'Why haven't you figured this out?' is basically his complaint. A valid complaint in my opinion.

Here is what I wrote that got the mayor all in an uproar:
During public comment time,
The falling concrete on Main Street near the Pharmacy was again mentioned. This issue was referred to Lon Sibley. The person issuing the complaint is to discuss this matter privately.
Other comments included the fact that law enforcement does not attend the city council meetings. The city ordered Sheriff’s deputies to put stickers on abandoned vehicles with no followup on those warnings. The Sheriff called his constituents a name, and the council should take action. The person addressing this issue stated that the city attorney should give his legal opinion on the matter.

So the publisher called me, after the mayor called her, and stated she is going to do a retraction in the paper. And from now on, perhaps be more careful about what you write. Take a recorder, which I don't have, so you can listen to it later and get the exact words.

Whatever. She didn't come so far as to say I was in the wrong. And that I could no longer report. But I do know she doesn't want anything in the paper that smacks of controversy in any way, shape or form. Again, whatever. She'll be safe for awhile. The meetings are on Tuesday nights, play practice nights.

This morning I woke up from a weird dream. I'm almost too afraid to check the news. The dream had foreign agents getting stabbed and disembowled. Weird. But then, the entire world is in an uproar right now.

Comment • View 1 comment

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