'There I was, Just Minding My own Business...'

You've heard it before, "So there I was, just minding my own business, when all of a sudden..."

Well, just when you thought that it might be reaching the finality of things happening in St. Marie, it happened again!

The residents on the Western leg of Ash street were without water due to a main break for 15 days. Then, on July 18, Water District manager Rob Esaia told us he had to locate and repair another water main break, this time on Country Club.

As of July 23, Rob stated everything is fixed and "so far, so good."

Some have said that it was good that it happened in the summer rather than the middle of winter.

Really!

Well, Rob and his part time assistant, as needed, have to work in the sweltering 100 plus degree heat.

Which is worse?

To add insult to injury, at this time the electricity went off for a few hours on Friday the 16, shutting down the air conditioners in the Western area of Ash and Locust Street.

And, with the sweltering heat it became a wait and see situation.

The Utilities repair man came out and fixed the problem with the electricity and departed only to return about 15-minutes-later as the electricity went off again.

We saw him holding his head as he drove by.

So things happen in threes, right?

Well, this is St. Marie.

So as the sign says as you enter the small community, "Home of the Adventurous." Things just happen here!

As the dust was beginning to settle, the residents were beginning to relax, I know we were.

As folks were turning in for the night on July 17, Saturday at 2 a.m. in the morning, the phone rang with the most frightening warning.

It was our own grand lady of St. Marie, "Madam X" (she does not like her name in the paper) with the warning she had just received a phone call alerting her that there was a very large wildfire heading our way from the east.

Could we verify it?

Well, much awake by now, we called the Sheriff's department and got Sheriff's dispatcher, Eric, who confirmed the fire.

But, to add to the concern for him, he told me he was also a resident in St. Marie. Although the official order to evacuate the town had not been given he suggested strongly that everyone prepare for the worst case scenario.

Since we already have a "Go bag" packed and ready for departure the little fact remains that there might be something of importance that we must locate to save, if necessary.

With the items recovered and packed into the vehicle, we drove through St. Marie and was actually astounded that either the residents were not aware of the encroaching fire and had not been alerted or they decided to ride it out.

As we drove around St. Marie, we noticed MARCO Boeing had all of their lights on and there was activity on the base.

"Madam X" and Hugh Franklin unselfishly took it upon themselves to do the "Paul Revere" thing and alert as many as possible by phone. These two wonderful people also drove around St. Marie!

We departed St. Marie and headed down Highway 24 to see if it was possible to see the actual fire itself and report it. As we headed South there was an unmistaken yellow glow in the Eastern sky.

It was scary, indeed.

There were emergency vehicles at the entrances to the roads that went East.

We did not attempt to go past the vehicles towards the fire and continued to Glasgow.

Unbeknownst to us, former St. Marie Fire Chief Rob Esaias, was out by the lagoon near his home and observed the fire from this vantage point.

As the fire spread, Rob's keen observation kicked in and he noticed that as the fire was coming towards St. Marie, the wind had picked up right before the rain and was blowing the fire in a Southerly direction away from St. Marie.

With the shift in direction and the most surprising rain squall presenting itself at the time, Rob figured that we may have just lucked out, again.

Divine intervention? Perhaps!

Long Run Fire Chief Sara Johnson-Bryan stated that this fire was on very rough terrain and was very difficult to get to, but the rain helped knock down the fire which burned 447-acres.

Chief Johnson-Bryan stated it is believed the fire was started by lightning.

Chief August Aho of Saint Marie firefighters and Long Run firefighters were on this fire.

But, this was not the first fire Long Run had gone to in the middle of the night.

Chief Johnson-Bryan wrote: "The first call came in at 10:09 p.m. for a grass fire northwest of Frazer. Roosevelt County and BIA responded for mutual aid."

Fortunately, we had some rain come through and put most of the fire out, it was 130-acres.

The next fire was reported at 1:23 a.m. for another grass fire northeast of Nashua.

It was a large fire and several pieces of farm equipment were consumed by fire.

Richland and Opheim responded for mutual aid along with several area farmers. And of course the third fire was Saint Marie's.

A big thank you to MARCO-Boeing Fire because they had dispatched a 4,000 gallon water tender to our fire departments, if needed on this fire.

Also, we all should thank the Volunteer Fire Fighters for the time they put in to keep us all safe. These women and men do have day jobs to go to and even when they are out all night on a call, they pull themselves up and go into to work the next day.

To go even further, the MDU utilities group posted that they were going to be shutting down the gas lines for replacement of equipment at that time and that they have requested that homeowners please be at their residents so the workers could relight their gas furnaces and stoves.

So, MDU service tech Jeremy Nickels made his appearance to the area and went around to those that were still at home and re-ignited the gas appliances.

Jeremy is a very personable young man and has taken the place of the retired Mr. Jim Taylor, long time MDU technician and owner of homes in St. Marie.

Jeremy told us he will be available to come back and relight the appliances if notified.

So, as you can see, St. Marie has had a busy week or two, to say the least.

JUSTICE COLE

On another note, last week we wrote about Justice Cole, the little boy who accidentally had a nerf dart lodged in his throat and what he and his family have been going through.

There is an update from his mom Samantha Basil-Darity:

"We had a appointment on Tuesday with the Pulmonologist from Billings Clinic and we decided to readmit Cole.

"The trake that was put in Cole is far too big.

"Along with that he keeps spitting up and we are trying to get that under control along with the storming.

"We still have a very long road. But we have a great team at Billings Clinic. We will be here for a little while longer."

Children should not have to go through such trials and tragedies.

OUT AND ABOUT

• Saint Marie Fire Chief August Aho has asked if we could include a call for volunteers to join our firefighters.

• Come join and train with a team of great firefighters who have always been there for us when we have needed them.

Fire training will be held at the fire station at 6:30 p.m. Friday, July 30.

• There was a Saint Marie Board Meeting July 22 in the Village Hall.

• Saint Marie co-op will be hosting a pancake breakfast at 7:30 a.m. August 21 with the location to be announced.

• I contacted Marie Sugg-Aaberg the other day to see what projects she was doing here and she stated the beautiful displays on 5th Avenue (Main street entering Saint Marie) Marylou Remington had done were being watered by Marie in her husband Jeremy's truck.

She will be helping Marylou with other projects and I will have to check with Marylou on those new projects.

Stay tuned!

Marie also stated that the Thrift Store is thriving and even Boeing has come in a few times to shop!

• Marie also has a small support group of women with addictions and in recovery who get together for fun. Marie stated, "we talk everyday and are there for one another when it gets hard.

"We go do fun things together and even pray. It is a small support group and any other woman that feels lonely and need to talk may come join the group."

A THOUGHT

"I asked an elderly man once what it was like to be old and to know the majority of his life was behind him.

He told me he has been the same age his entire life. He said the voice inside of his head had never aged.

He has always just been the same boy. His mother's son.

He had always wondered when he would grow up and be an old man.

He said he watched his body age and his faculties dull but the person he is inside never got tired.

Never aged.

Never changed.

Our spirits are eternal. Our souls are forever.

The next time you encounter an elderly person, look at them and know they are still a child, just as you are still a child and children will always need love, attention and purpose." ~ Author Unknown

In conclusion, a final thought, respect you elders. They graduated from school without the internet!