North Fork society news
The smoke continues from areas south of us, but so far the North Fork has escaped any major fire. We do continue to carefully watch the fire to our west near Eureka; and the lower Grave’s Creek Trail Creek Road to Eureka remains closed at the Whitefish Divide. Thanks to Lynn Ogle we receive a daily report on that fire and it poses no threat to the North Fork at this time. Nevertheless, fire conditions remain extreme and it is very, very dry. We are all dreading the possibility of lightning storms or worse, some stupid, careless human starting a wildfire.
In the meantime, social activities continued unabated. Karen McDonough won the crazy hat contest and then she and everyone else had a great time square dancing at the Hall on Saturday evening. On Sunday, Don Sullivan officiated at the next-to-last church service of the year which was followed by a tremendous potluck prepared by congregation members.
Sunday afternoon over 30 North Forkers gathered at the Ogle-Wilson Photo Studio for a combination photo, rummage sale and chili feed. Buy of the day was a beautiful china cabinet acquired by the McDonoughs from a neighbor for $25 which was tied by a tremendous grizzly bear photo taken by Pat Cole. There were many other good buys and happy sellers. Only disappointment was my failure to sell the Majestic wood cookstove which I thought was the biggest bargain of all.
And the fun continues as summer winds down and summer residents prepare to leave for the winter.
That means a flurry of dinner parties and final dinners at the Northern Lights or Home Ranch or both. Sales of baked goods continues to be brisk and the summer employees are becoming good at identifying locals and locals can now recognize them too. The summer employees are mostly young folks with friendly smiles that help brighten the North Fork.
I started writing this column just as the eclipse of the sun began. As it has progressed it has definitely gotten cooler. In fact I started out sitting in the shade because it was so warm. Now, I have moved into the sun where it is almost chilly, but also looking a little more like evening as more and more of the sun is blocked by the moon.
Such an event makes us realize how small we humans really are and what a short time we live. I have now seen a total eclipse of the moon and a near total eclipse of the sun. No such event will occur again in my lifetime. That is something to think about.
What do you think?
Larry Wilson’s North Fork Views appears weekly in the Hungry Horse News.