Howdy Beaver
By Alkali Springs Correspondent
Can you believe it? This is already the end of January and we don't even have the Christmas decorations put away yet. Well, maybe this year we will turn them all into Easter decorations and be just that much ahead of the game.
This last weekend we did not get much catching up done as we got our driver's license renewed and headed over the divide to Missoula, Lakeside and Glacier.
We think that even though we got around five inches of new snow in our part of the beautiful Bear Paws while we were gone, we still are in a huge drought trough. Not so on the west side of the Rockies.
In fact, about all it did was snow all the time we were there. Headed to Missoula one day and had good weather on the way down there from Lakeside, but were in snow and ice all the way back.
From then on, it snowed each and every day so much, in fact, that we thought we might have to come back to Havre via Missoula and Great Falls. However, the last afternoon we were there we called the Weather Service in Missoula (we know that is not the brightest thing to do), and they told us that if we left very early Sunday morning we might be between storms on Marias Pass and that even though the winds in the East Glacier area were going to be 50 or 60 mph, we might miss them as well if we got up early enough.
So we left before 5 a.m. and did just fine until we got to Columbia Falls. There we were met with a heavy snowfall, and by the time we had gotten to West Glacier we were pushing snow in the front of the car. However, the guys who take care of Marias must have been out all night because the pass was like driving on a table in spite of the snow. We passed four plows as we went over the pass. At about Snowslip the snow let up, but the wind came up and then we knew we were in trouble for it had not let up all night. From the top of the pass into East Glacier we were in the worst whiteout we had ever experienced. Thank goodness we were traveling in the dark because our headlights managed to catch a marker showing us the way. We have never seen snow blowing like that. We would be driving along and all of a sudden the whole car would be enveloped in a white cloud that seemed to come down from above. Just unbelievable! Somehow we managed to get through it and when we got to East Glacier, roads and the sky were bare and dry all the way to Havre. We thanked the good Lord.
As a public service, we will tell you this next story. Be prepared the next time you get your driver's license renewed. Not only did it cost an astounding $32, but we were given the third degree along with it. Now, we will admit that we were not in a good mood to start with, having to fork over the 32 bucks just to get the transaction started. But when the lady told us we must be heavier these days than 200 pounds, we began to wonder. Two hundred and twenty, we said, staring grimly at her.
Then she told us to stand behind the line and she would take our picture, but not to ask her to see it because she wouldn't show it to us.
"That's fine," we said. "We don't care if we ever see one of your horrible pictures."
That was probably uncalled for on our part and undoubtedly caused the lady, in retaliation, to make the next comment.
"Your hair certainly isn't blond these days," she quipped.
"Madam," we roared, "there might be a tiny bit of gray on the sides, but on the top, what little we have left, it is as blond as a palomino pony and don't you dare write anything else in that dratted box!"
We watched her meekly write blond in the box.
After a while, when we were driving home and thinking about the events of the day, we wondered if she could have had a point. After all, a couple of preachers ago at our church, one leaned over her coffee cup and asked us, "What color did your hair used to be?"
So we gave thanks as we drove along. With as little as there is up there these days, how fortunate that folks can wonder about the color at all.
