In the Shadow of God

The funeral of 7 year old Tyler Langley was Monday. Tyler died in a freak farm accident. The church in Absarokee was packed. The service was sad, touching, healing and a Christian witness all at the same time, as Tyler had accepted Jesus as his Savior two years ago. How can one begin to explain the reason for such a tragic death? But God is a steady comfort in the worst of times, as Aaron and Lori, parents of Tyler, can testify. The entire family will be dealing with the scars of this tragedy for a long time to come, but they will be doing so in the shadow of God himself.

Any and all prayers on their behalf will be greatly appreciated.

A Sad Day in Montana

Early this morning I learned that the 7-year old son of friends was killed in a farm accident in northeast Montana yesterday. I cannot even begin to imagine what the family is going through right now. Seven years old. I pray that the presence of God will hold them up at this time when life has suddenly ceased to make sense in so many ways. And I am sure the Langley family, whether you know them or not, would appreciate your prayers also.

Rising with the Roosters (and Grizzly Bob)

I enjoy waking up to the sound of roosters each morning; several of our neighbors have roosters, and at daybreak (or before) their crows echo across the fields that surround our house. Debra, on the other hand, has yet to hear the roosters crow. In fact, she claims - and I have no reason to doubt her - that she has never heard a rooster crow. Of course, hearing the roosters requires rising early in the morning, something she, being an extreme night person and preferring to sleep late, is unwilling (by her own confession) to do.

So I am alone am left each day to enjoy listening to the roosters and watching the sunrise. Well, that's not exactly true - our cat, Grizzly Bob, almost always is up as early as I am (if not earlier; sometimes he makes certain I do not sleep in). Rising with the roosters, I find the dawning of each new day an opportunity to learn or experience something new.

(Today's photo is of the sunrise this morning. Some smoke from distant wildfires still hangs in the Gallatin Valley, providing the colorful sunrise.)

Out in the Fields

In the midst of one of the smokier days I've seen in the larger Yellowstone area (excluding the 1988 Yellowstone fires), life goes on. The wheat combines are crawling up and down hills, the hay wagons are rolling, and just a few yards away from our kitchen our neighbor is working his fields with his Haybine Hyrdostatic (see photo).

Fires are now burning over much of western and south-central Montana. Some are quite large, and there have been many evacuations. Folks flying in the B-17 Bomber touring Bozeman today will not have much a view of the surrounding mountain ranges.

Meanwhile, from the Police Report files in the Gallatin Valley:

* People were shooting cans near Truman Gulch trail. When a woman confronted them, they replied, "This is Montana."

* A deputy on Black Hawk Lane stopped to talk with a man and woman who waved when the deputy drove past. They were simply waving. They said it was nice to see a sheriff's deputy in the neighborhood.

* A person told deputies someone tried to stuff meat into a hole in the front door. The person was afraid someone wanted to poison the dog.

Smoky Days in the Gallatin Valley

How the winds blow makes a big difference in the Valley. Yesterday, with winds blowing west to east, smoke from a fire south of Livingston (named, ominously, the Wicked Fire) remained east of Bozeman while the day was otherwise clear. But overnight the winds shifted and the fire grew, and today everything is a brownish/gray haze. The smoke is so thick that we cannot see the mountains surrounding our house (see masthead photo).

Fire season has been long and hot this year, with eighteen other fires burning in Montana (the Wicked Fire is the only one visible in the Gallatin Valley) and several in Yellowstone National Park. The larger trend of hotter temperatures and more fires in the West during the past decade is attributed to global warming.

The photo above is overlooking Yellowstone Lake at sunrise. Hazy days do make for nice sunrises and sunsets.

Welcome to the Gallatin Valley Montana Journal Blog

Yellowstone Net, my primary Internet business, has been headquartered in the Gallatin Valley since the 1990s, but only within the past year have I taken up blogging. Today marks the beginning of my effort to document various and sundry happenings in the larger Bozeman area - some noteworthy in general, others personal in nature, and still others just plain funny.

For starters, I was recently appointed to the Yellowstone Country Committee of Gallatin County. This is my first foray into public service, per se. Montana, a major tourist destination, is divided into six tourism regions. Yellowstone Country, of course, includes counties located in the area of Montana closest to Yellowstone National Park: Gallatin, Sweet Grass, Park, Stillwater and Carbon. In addition to Yellowstone, there are many other tourist attractions in this area, some of which I will likely comment on in future posts. I look forward to serving on the Gallatin County committee.

But for now, I want to share with you two police reports printed in today's Bozeman Daily Chronicle. The daily police reports, reflecting the small town that Bozeman still is (a booming small town, but a small town nonetheless), often provide me a good laugh (I suspect that some are chosen by the Chronicle for just this very purpose).

From the Bozeman Police report:

* A bird on North Rouse Avenue was injured. An officer picked it up and started to take it to the veterinarian's office, but on the way, the bird appeared to be feeling OK. It was set free and flew away.

From the Gallatin County Sheriff's Office report:

* A deputy on Coral Drive spotted a dog chasing a chicken. The dog didn't harm the chicken. The dog owner was warned.

Yep. Makes me laugh. I'll be listing more humorous police reports in future blogs. But for now, welcome to my blog, and I hope you'll come back from time to time.