Old Settlers Picnic

There was an old quilt show.  The lady on right is Chris, the book store manager.

Music and readings under the covered portion of the picnic area.

Sarah, an intern, is taking everything in!



The man in the sack race is Reed,the superintendent of the park!

 

Sunday Old Settler's Picnic was held at Devils Tower Picnic area with locals and general public invited.  It included free cake and ice cream, entertainment - music and cowboy poetry reading - and good old fashioned games and an old quilt show.  There could not have been a more perfect afternoon with bright sun and cool breezes and lots of people.

Donkey and Horses Came to Visit

I looked outside and 4 animals from a ranch next to Devils Tower were near our picnic table. They escaped and were enjoying "the grass on the other side of the fence".  Emma thought they were big dogs!  The donkey liked to be petted.

Artist-in-Residence

I have been given the task of getting a program together for October 2015.  It is called Arist-in-Residence and a lot of NPS parks, mouments, etc. have them.  The park offers an artist a place to stay for a time and the artist does a workshop/program during the time they are at the park and donate a work of art from the experience. For now I have been designated the honorary artist-in-the-park this summer.  I set us shop with my easle and talk to people every Wednesday.  I like this idea and have started researching and typing forms for the 2015 artist program.  Nancy, our boss, will be surprised how quickly it will get done.  When given a task I believe in I work quickly.

 

Above is a sketch of the tower from prairie dog town
Below is a pen and ink of the tower

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YUP, lost the camera!

We went back to the rodeo after looking in and searching the motorhome and car.  Sorry, no pictures of the rodeo or parade.  I have another camera that is heavy but takes good pictures.  John will be carrying the camera!

On the Edge of a Tornato

We have noticed that the people working in the park are weather watchers.  There have been violent storms around this area.  When we first arrived, Hulett, a town north 9 miles had hail that left damage to cars and homes.  There have been other quick storms going through. We have not had any problems.  Last night Jess, head of maintenance, who lives in a house right next to us told us of Tornato warnings and her invite to stay at her house.  I ran around closing outside stuff and packed a bag of quick, run if needed stuff.  John was to grab Emma and I the bag.  Well, we never heard a train or saw green ugly clouds but the wind got very wild instantly, we took in our slide and the Weber grill went blowing away.  We were about to make a run for it and it just stopped!  Jessica came out and headed to the maintenance yard.  We noticed three trees down in the field facing our MH and downed large branches so we hopped on our bikes and headed for the public campground. Huge limbs were down everywhere and someone was talking about his car damage.  A lady in a tent was taken to the hospital.  Tents were destroyed! We had been on the edge of a tornado! The lady hurt her leg but everyone else was fine.  The NPS park workers will be getting overtime for cleaning up on a weekend cutting trees and limbs and hauling brush away!

A tree in the field in front of our Motor Home.

John and Emma a  day after the storm.  We survived very well!

This little cafe in the town of Aladdin (Population 15) is my favorite restaurant.
John liked the bread so Cindy sold us a loaf.(bread is not for sale)
Cindy makes pies to die for and the burgers are huge and hand pattied!
Her staff consists of one waitress and a cook, Cindy.

Hulett Parade & Rodeo

On Saturday we went to a home town yearly favorite, the Hulett Parade and Rodeo.  The town is 9 miles from Devils Tower.  It is a town of about 400 people with a school K-12, library, town offices and 4 churches.  The parade was quite long, as long as Woodstock's Memorial Day Parade.  Floats and cars from politicians were a large part of the parade. I guess they are voting soon!  Candy was thrown to kids, pens and pads were given to prospective voters.  Devils Tower had a float with a huge paper mache prairie dog wearing a patriotic top hat sitting in a children's rocker and walking beside it 3 NPS employees in uniform throwing candy. The parade had 2 clowns, the Hulett school marching band, horses, carriages, fire engines and old time cars.  After the parade a rodeo with younger people participating was held. They were great.  They wrestled steers, barrel raced, and rode barebacked on steers and bucking horses. We ate at a wonderful booth serving food including homemade pies.  They sure make yummy pies in this area and sell them everywhere! The one terrible part on a good day was I cannot find my camera with all my pictures of the parade and rodeo events.  It must have dropped in the grass on the way to the car!