Facing the inevitable

I took the above picture because the thunderhead was so large and so beautiful. It missed the town of Denton and I think it probably kept moving east and north. It made me think of the large thunderheads we see in the southern states which usually means severe storms and/or tornadoes and hail. I don’t think this cloud had any of that. And, a cloud like that usually puts on a tremenous light show – this one did not. It was good to see a reminder of the summer storms, though.

Now, the pictures I’m showing you next are the trees that I mentioned in an earlier posting. These are the 100 year old trees that the town of Denton is tearing down for progress…new sidewalks, curbs and highway.  When they’re gone, it will give the town a whole different look!

Along main street, there is an old bank. Jim’s been inside and told me I should go back in when they’re open and take a good picture of what it looks like. For now, I took a picture through the window:

Our trailer sits on the west edge of town. We walked to the farthest east edge of town to the football field. I’m guessing that’s a little more than a mile. The geese are flying-heading south. I think they must be stopping in the fields around here for something to eat. When we got to the football field, an older gentleman was outside of his home with his dog. We stood there for quite some time visiting with him and listening to his life story. Very interesting! We figured he was probably about 80 after thinking about dates he talked about. This town is full of the nicest people! Jim just says it over and over again how nice everyone is. By the time we got back to the trailer it was getting pretty dark.

This morning, we decided that we’d better take a trip to Geraldine. A friend of ours had suggested we go there and talk to a person about whether or not it looked like we could find more acres there to cut before heading home. So, we loaded up in the dually and set out. Geraldine is near Square Butte and the scenery was gorgeous. The next two pictures reminded me of the badlands of South Dakota (you can click on the pictures if you’d like to look at a larger photo):

When we arrived in Geraldine, it took all of five minutes to scope out the town. I happened to see the Geraldine Train Depot but didn’t say anything. We found the place we needed to go ask about wheat acres. Jim found out there wasn’t much going on and what little spring wheat there was, was still a ways off from being ripe. Didn’t sound like the news we were hoping for. I asked Jim if he’d take me by the depot so I could get a couple of pictures:

After leaving Geraldine, we got back on the highway and headed south again. When we got to the “town” of Square Butte, I wanted to read the historical sign that was along the highway. After reading it, we decided to see if we could get closer to this jail the sign was talking about – which we did:

After looking at the jailhouse, we opted to take a tour of Square Butte, population of less than 100. We drove by the school house and I could just hear the chaos of the kids and the fun they would have had in that yard. The date above the door is 1918. It looks like it has been turned into a place you could stay. Possibly for hunters? I tried the door but it was locked.

The white building looked like it could have been a business at one time. The town of Square Butte sits at the base of the landform also named Square Butte. Square Butte (the landform) juts 2,400 feet above the surrounding plains and can be seen 70-80 miles away.

After our tour of the big town of Square Butte, we got back on the highway and headed south again. Now, these next couple of pictures were the source of a little spat between me and Jim – which NEVER happens…yeah, right 🙂 I wanted to take a picture of the railroad bridge with Square Butte  in the background. Ok, so he didn’t stop when I said for him to stop. Since there was absolutely no one on the highway, I figured he’d back up and let me get the picture I wanted. Instead, he went forward. Ok…forget it, I said, just go on. Nope, he was going to make sure I got the picture I wanted so he turned around. This is the result of the spat: Now, off to the right of the above picture, you can see a rock that sort of looks like it’s sticking up off the track. Jim was intrigued with this rock formation so we got off the highway and took a few pictures of it:

“Now what?”, I ask. Jim says, “Now I’m going to take you to Lewistown”. Well, I’ve been married long enough to him to know if he does something, it’s usually because HE wants to do it. So, I said, “Ok, but what are we going to do in Lewistown?” If you know Jim well enough, food is something that’s on his mind quite often…AND…it was nearly lunch time. So, he says, “we’ll have lunch and whatever else we want to do”. Well, I figured if he wanted to go to Lewistown, that was ok with me cuz we’d been in the trailer house for the past two days hoping someone would call wanting us to cut more wheat. Guess what else we got to do while in Lewistown – we went to Don’s Sporting Goods and checked out their line of guns and then to the pawn shop across the street. Went to Pamida, got gas and ice and headed north towards Denton. I figured that was the end of our excursion, but I was wrong. Since we were here last year, I had heard that driving to the top of Judith Peak was something we should do. So, he decided today was the day he was going to take me there. I knew it was something he probably really didn’t want to do because he doesn’t like to drive on gravel roads any more than he has to, but he did it. It WAS worth the trip:

There were several places where the road had washed away from the flooding they experienced this spring. In one spot the road was completely gone – nothing but a hole where there must have been a bridge or culvert.

The view from the top of the peak which has an elevation of 6,400 ft.

In the 1950’s and 1960’s the U.S. Air Force operated a radar station on top of Judith Peak. We also went by the buildings that would have once been a military area. Seems a shame they’re all sitting there empty now.

A fun fact…the Judith River was named by William Clark of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. He named it after his distant cousin, Julia (Judith) Hancock, whom he had met years before the expedition. He married her 16 months after they returned. I am related to Julia on my dad’s side of the family. I’m assuming the Judith Mountains were named after the river which flows near here.

The final picture I have is the red dog house that sits at the corner of the intersection of the highway south of Hilger, MT (which goes into Lewistown) and the road that goes east to the Judith Peak. I don’t know if I’m going to tell the story exactly right but I’ll try. According to the story, someone dumped a dog off at this intersection. It stayed there waiting for its owner to come back and get it. There is a home near this intersection. The people who live in this home fed and watered the dog and eventually built the dog house so he would have a place to go. After the dog died – probably of a broken heart – the landowners left the dog house on the corner. I think Paul Harvey did a story about this but I couldn’t find it on the internet.

Now, to explain the title of this post. We will not be cutting any more wheat this summer and I must face the inevitable – going home. Jim said he had some minor repairs to do on trucks, some servicing and he wants to clean everything up at a leisurely pace. So, the feelings I explained in my previous posting will begin and will continue until we’ve got everything “home home” and the new “normal” begins.