Memorial Day 2001

The Adventure Continues . . .

     So it's Memorial Day again, May, 2001. This must be Red Lodge. Well, it sure was. And what does it do in Red Lodge on Memorial Day? They say it rains. Ah, yes, it does that! And it HAILS. And lightning flashes and thunder booms, and . . . "Lions, and tigers, and bears, oh my!" Oops. That's another time -- another place. (Sorry!) More on that later, but first . . .

     There we were on Friday, wondering what to do. It was my Uncle Hank and me. As I unpacked, I told him about the moose I saw on the way in. I set up my computer. I had some really neat links from Slovenija and pictures that I wanted to show him, but first things first. I had to change clothes. I put on my SLOVENIJA shirt. (You do know the Cestniks are from Slovenija, right? Well, we are.) The shirt was a present from some friends I have from the Motherland. I'd never worn it before. I was saving it for a special occasion. This was it. The shirt has a map of Slovenija with all the places represented by a drawing of some sort. There's Mount Triglav, Lake Bohinj, Lake Bled, the capital city Ljubljana. Lots of real cool places, but Trbovlje isn't on the map. :-( Trbovlje is where the Cestniks come from. But there is a big balloon about where I think Trbovlje would be. It was right over my heart. (All together, now . . . Ahhhhhh . . . ) What better place for your roots than right over your heart?

     I got the computer all set up and started the show. I've been lucky enough to have met some Slovenian friends who passed along a lot of good photos and some fabulous links showing Slovenija in all her beauty and splendor. Then we talked and decided where we wanted to go for dinner. It was really not a difficult choice. The Roberts Cafe in Roberts, MT. It's become a tradition. We go there on Friday night and have Fish and Chips. They're really good. The head waiter, busboy, owner wears many hats. That night, it was "It's okay to flirt with the waiter!" Next night, was "I LOVE Jesus!" It's really quite a place. They put it up for sale. I don't want to wish them bad luck, but I'm not in a hurry for it to change hands.

     After dinner, we went into Red Lodge to get a few things for breakfast and decided to go for a drive. Up Red Lodge hill to the viewpoint overlooking Scotch Coulee, Mount Maurice, Rolly Rocks and the valley down there. As we were watching, a car drove up, passed us, and drove down a road I'd never noticed. "Where does that go?" I queried. "Down by the Brophy Mine where Grandpa died?" The answer, of course, was "Yes!" We talked a few moments about the Cestnik Ranch, down the hill from Rolly Rocks, the Meeteesee Trail and Pony Express, just where Scotch Coulee was on the hill across the valley, and
then we started down the road. Kul! KUL, even. It was probably around 8:00, or later, so the shadows were beginning to lengthen. The Indian Paint Brush were the brightest red I've ever seen. Beautiful!!! We saw Lupine blooming, Daisies, Stone Crop, I think, and something that looked like tiny Beargrass. I didn't think to bring my camera, so you don't get to see any pictures. We drove down the road and saw the sites. Chokecherry bushes were everywhere, for all you berry pickers!!! LOTS of chokecherries. We got home pretty near dark and talked till late in the evening. Then we went to bed and listened to the rain. (Remember it RAINS on Memorial Day in Red Lodge!)

     The next day was pretty quiet. We got up, had breakfast (scrambled eggs, ham, coffee and rolls since you asked), and then walked around the neighborhood and talked with neighbors: Judy and Keith, Jim and Irene. They both have beautiful lawns. I think they work all week, then come to the cabin and work all weekend doing yard work!!! Isn't there and expression of some sort? All work and no play . . . :-) Keith was telling me about this unique rock he has in his chimney. It's a geode, that when it was cut came out in the shape of a black bear--a PERFECT black bear. Pretty kul. (He said it with a straight face, and I didn't believe a word of it!!!) Jim has a fish pond with something like 150 fish in it. Rainbow, I think. He was in the process of building a water fall this weekend. I can hardly wait to see the finished product.

     Then we sort of took it easy. My aunt and uncle arrived from Billings and brought some pictures I had wanted to see. I showed them the Slovenija stuff, and the dirt!!! (Oops. Did I forget to tell you about the dirt?) I have some soil that friends brought me from Slovenija. Real, dirty dirt from my homeland. It's pretty special to me. I planned to spread it on my relative's graves in Red Lodge, Bearcreek and Scotch Coulee. We spent the rest of the afternoon looking at my Grandmother's pictures that my aunt had brought. There are a lot, so it took a long time, ah, and we forgot about eating.

     On Friday night, when we were at the Roberts Cafe, I had decided to have Breaded Veal Cutlets on Saturday! Good choice, let me tell you. :-) Really good choice. Uncle Hank said, "We need to get going. They're expecting us." I said, "Well, let's just look at a few more pictures, then we'll go!" Do you remember me mentioning HAIL? Well, while we were looking at a few more pictures, the clouds came in, big clouds, big, dark clouds with moisture. Big storm clouds. Thunder, boom, crash, flash! "WOW! that was close, just across the street!" "Did you see that?" The rains came. They poured. Then hail. Crash. Boom. Flash! We thought we were going to be late for dinner. They close at 7:00. (But I really think they would have waited for us!!! :-) They knew we were coming. More rain. More hail. Wow. Finally, it let up and off we went to Roberts. On the way there, we saw the road was completely white with the hail. That's a lot of hail in just a few minutes.

     I had my Veal Cutlets, as did my Uncle Hank. Really great. As we were leaving, the lady asked if we had purchased our raffle tickets to the Roberts' up and coming fair. Dancing, singing, belly dancing and local celebrity Patricia Ryan, a fourteen year old yodeling country singer. :-) Since I knew I would not be present to win, I asked if I could use a local person's name. She said it would be okay, so I put down the waitress' name. She was new that night; her first day on the job! With that done, it was back home -- or rather off on another adventure up the Cooke City Highway past the spot of the 2000 Willy Nelson fire up the road. That was a pretty nasty fire. We came home shortly and went to bed early because Sunday was going to be a big day.

     Uncle Eddie was coming! I hadn't seen him for five years, maybe more. He arrived about 10:00 I think. We loaded up his green Jeep with garden tools and headed off to the Bearcreek cemetery. We started on down the road, rounded a corner and I made some comment. I don't even remember saying anthing, but Uncle Hank says I did. So that's final. I said it. It must have been something about a safari, because Uncle Eddie, pulled off the road, and said, "I think I know a short cut!" We turned around and off we went. Uncle Hank said, "As long as we turn right, we'll be okay." Gradually . . . the road turned left! We went on. The road, turned right, then left, then right. Finally, right again and we were going the right direction. But it lead up to a farmhouse!!! It turned left, between two farms, but it was fenced on each side. It was narrow and bumpy. It turned right again. All smiles every where. We were looking straight at Mount Maurice. I remember thinking, "It will probably be a long time before they let the Cestnik boys out alone with a car again!!! We came out right where we were suppose to be. I took the picture above where we came out on top of Red Lodge hill.

     Bearcreek High School goes in before Memorial Day and cleans up the cemetery grounds. It's a pretty nice thing for them to do. They leave the individual graves for relatives to clean. From the pictures above pictures, you can see it's quite a job. We got out the shovel, rake and power weed-eater. We had started the weed-eater at home to make sure it was working properly, but under pressure, :-) it didn't want to start that easily. We had to coax it a little. Eventually, we got it going. As evidenced from the photos above, I obviously did all the hard work!!! :-) That's me (wearing my brand new Slovenija shirt) spreading the soil from Slovenija on my Grandfather's grave. The charcoal stone to my left with the cross on top is my Great Grandfather's headstone. As I sprinkled the soil, I said something like, "This is soil from your native land. I hope you enjoy it." I know they can't hear me or feel the soil, but I hope someday, they can tell me they were watching from heaven and smiled. Now it was off to Scotch Coulee, where my Father grew up. (These are called the Scotch Coulee Chronicles. I have to work in the name.)

     Out the Cemetery gate, unto the highway, down past the Bearcreek Downs, where they have pig races, up the hill and there is the Coulee. Looking up the road, you see Mount Maurice. (Hey, is it just my imagination, or does Mount Maurice have a similar profile from just about everywhere? It sure seems like it to me!!!)

     We drove up the road around the curves past the houses, past the old car and I wanted to see if I could find where the house was. I saw the lilacs on the left side of the road! I knew what they were. I knew who planted them! The photo to the left is a picture of a lilac bush planted by John and Rosa Cestnik. It must have been in the 1920s!!! They are still there some 75 years later. Pretty hardy stock I'd say. They still bloom and smell beautiful after all these years and have had little care. Actually, NONE!

     From a previous visit to Scotch Coulee for Memorial Day, I knew about ticks. Last time I got covered with them. I walked carefully. I stepped high. I watched my step. I made my uncles check me over very carefully. I wore WHITE (I did mention my brand new Slovenija shirt, right)!!! Using the lilac bushes as a guidemarker, we found the Vincent Cestnik family homesite with ease. Uncle Hank has placed a cross there. And flowers from last year's Memorial Day. We placed the flowers again for this year and I scattered more dirt from Slovenija!

     My Father died in 1985 and we scattered his ashes at the homesite. My Mother died ten years later and my sister and I took her there to join Dad. So now Dad has the soil too. Mother is English, Irish and German, so maybe the soil doesn't feel quite as good to her, but I know Dad is happy. If Dad is happy, Mother is happy!!!

     As my faithful readers know, my cousins and I have been mapping out the Scotch Coulee area with the families, buildings, swimming holes and other features. Obviously, since we're all Cestniks, it features our family, because we know more about us than other families. (No, I'm not telling any family secrets.) But I had this idea to ask my uncles about what the Cestnik house looked like. Cool idea, huh? As far as I know, I've never seen a picture of it. Certainly not the inside any way. I got them together and we drew up a little diagram. When I get it finished, I'll put a link to it right here. So keep checking back! :-)

     In the mean time, on the way down the hill, I started snapping pictures. (If you don't have one, a digital camera is great. I get 80 pictures before I have to download. I get four or five good pics from each shoot, but I'm not worried about film. Pretty cool.) I took photos of the remaining buildings and structures on the hill. Most of the houses have been moved to other areas. There are some root cellars, and mine buildings still around though. When I get them identified, I'll put them elsewhere, probably off the map site and Scotch Coulee Family pages.

     In the photo to the right, you can see the Smith Mine #2, the bath house and shop building. The little house at the top of the hill is the air shaft. The Powder house is to the right. I don't think I see it in the photo.

     Then it was off to Red Lodge Cemetery, where my Uncle Vincent is buried. We missed the turn and had to look for his grave, but placed the two flower bunches and scattered his grave with soil from Slovenia. I think he sleeps better now, too. :-) It was back to the cabin, download the photos, catching up on e-mail and a family reunion it seems. There were two cousins and their family that I haven't seen for over fifteen years. Brautwurst ???, Kielbasa, barbecued chicken, fried chicken, cucumbers, beans, macaroni salad, potato salad, cole slaw and probably some other stuff that I forgot. Sorry girls. :-) After dinner, I helped clean up with my two cousins. We got a chance to talk and catch up on fifteen years or more.

     Then the work began. Uncle Eddie went home and I started quizzing Uncle Hank again. (He LOVES it when I do that!!!) We now have a map and listing of the Scotch Coulee families that lived there in the 1920s and 1930s. Now I want to know something about them. I asked my uncle to tell me one thing about each family. Even if it was only the wife's name or that they were a miner. It's a start. I've got that in note form, now I have to work on that for reading form. :-) So here it is. Mary Horn sent this bunch of stories. Thanks Mary!

      So that's it for this exciting chapter of the Scotch Coulee Chronicles. Stay tuned for more.