Montana: FEMA DR-1996-MT BIllings & Miles City!

I was deployed by FEMA to Montana following a disaster declaration for spring floods as the Community Relations Field Specialist Lead for Yellowstone County, based in Billings. If you've ever wondered what a FEMA Community Relations Field Specialist does, we're essentially the "eyes and ears" of FEMA in the field, meeting with disaster survivors, Emergency Managers, elected and appointed officials, and representatives of schools, religious organizations, community based organizations, and businesses, explaining how disaster assistance works and how to apply. I began working for FEMA in 1998, in Region 2 (NY, NJ, PR & VI), when I lived in NYC, and I now work in Region 3, which includes West Virginia, as we moved to WV in 2002. I've worked in a lot of places, including PR (Hurricane Georges & floods), VI (Hurricane Lenny), LA (Hurricanes Katrina and Rita), New York (upstate and in NYC after 9/11), Michigan, Indiana, and Florida, but I'd never spent any time in Montana before, and this deployment gave me the opportunity to discover at least a bit of the magic and grandeur of that incredible state! I flew into Helena and then drove to Billings, and the scenery on the way was so incredible that I literally pulled the car over repeatedly to snap photos with my Blackberry! (I also pulled over because I am not used to driving straight-as-an-arrow roads for hours at a stretch, and I get "glazed"!) As readers of this blog know, unlike my husband, I was not "born to drive". I got my license at the ripe old age of 42, and while I drive as little as possible at home, when I'm on the road for FEMA as a Community Relations Field Specialist I essentially live in my car for weeks on end! When I turn on the ignition- EVERY time I turn on the ignition- I make a little prayer, for G-d to please, B"H, get me safely through my deployment, and home, safe and healthy, into to the arms of my husband! I do NOT take driving lightly! Happily for me, Montana has lots of nice, wide roads with roomy "shoulders" to pull off onto!
It took me 17 hours of flights to get to Helena, Montana, and I went right to work the next day. Once I got to Billings, I spent two weeks living and working out of my room at the Super 8, and while not the snazziest place in town, the staff was very helpful and very nice, and that makes a HUGE difference! Our hours were 7-7, and on my first day off I literally didn't leave the motel room- I was That pooped! My next day off, a week later, coincided with the last day of the "Crow PowWow" on the Crow Agency, and I had to go! "Crow County" is famous for having more teepees than anywhere else, and it is a pretty fabulous thing to see! It was 110 degrees in the shade, but there was ice-cold lemonade and ice coffee to be had, as well as "Indian Tacos" on fry bread, and the dancing, drum circles, singing and fabulous costumes made it well worthwhile! A special event at the PowWow was a ceremony to honor women US millitary veterans, and their very special guest of honor was a US Navy NCO just back from her tour in Afghanistan. 

Crow Drum Circle

Honor Guard

Crow Indian dancing...

Crow Indian dancing...

Crow Indian PowWow



Crow Festival Dancing

Crow Honor Guard

Crow Agency Teepees

Custer Museum, Garryown, MT

I then drove to Garryowen and found the amazing Custer Museum, which has an incredible collection of Custer and Indian artifacts, uniforms, memorabilia, and paintings, AND adjoins a gas station and store serving gourmet French Roast coffee!

From there I drove to the Little Big Horn Battlefield, and while I didn't have time to really explore it, as I wanted to be back at the hotel before dark (lest I hit a deer on the highway...), at least I got to see the Veterans Cemetery, and wander among the tombstones, many of which mark the graves of Indian Scouts and their wives- a poignant and fascinating slice of history, in a beautiful place... I got caught in a bit of an electrical storm out on the prairie that was a bit spooky, but I got back to the Super 8 at dusk- bone tired!- but SO glad I went! The one thing that made me blue was that Dan wasn't with me to enjoy it all and share it and teach me stuff about what I was looking at! US Army Retired, he is a history buff of the first stripe, and everything I saw would have been 100000% more interesting and meaningful if he had been with me!

Indian Scout, buried with his wife...

Indian Scout, buried with his wife...



Little Big Horn Veteran's Cemetery

The Western Heritage Center in downtown Billings is a truly great museum; oral history is its forte, and it's fascinating to sit and listen to the stories of Montana's settlers...

Montana Beer!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Clark's Graffiti...

Custer camped here!

Horse that I love...

Supper Club, Miles City

Livestock at the Livestock Center

Painting a watercolor somewhere in Montana..

Effective... :-)

Pictographs

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Art at the Women's Prison

The other thing I like to do when I get deployed someplace new is go shopping- especially thrift shopping! Dan and I always find cool things in thrift shops, and we feel good about "repurposing" stuff and having our money do good things for the charities that run them. Among my Billings "scores":  5 new-with-tag $30+ Bali, Olga, and Vanity Fair bras for $2 each, a fabulous new Land's End winter coat for $9, and a Gorgeous pair of new Joneswear violet suede slacks for $2!
Among my fave thrift shops in Billings:
Family Services, Inc.: 1824 1st Ave. North
Society of St. Vincent dePaul:
MRM Bargain Center: 21 S. 29 St.
I love pawn shops, antique, and resale shops, too, and these are some of my Billings faves:
Yellowstone Pawn and Trade (2111 Grand Ave.) Crow beadwork, Indian silver, teepees- this place is part store and part museum!
                   another great pawn shop-cum-museum in Downtown Billings
                   a Great clothing resale place
Yesteryears Antiques (102 N 29th St.) is amazing- tons of fabulous, vintage Western things from ceramics to glassware, to quilts, to toys, to cowboy hats! If you can't find something you want badly in there, there's no hope! LOL (I found a 1917 postcard of Gen. Pershing, Pancho Villa & Patton for my history buff hubs, and a 1950s Billings hotel ashtray with a peeing dog that made me laugh!)
I love "real" stores, too, and because I live in Extremely Rural West Virginia where there aren't any, I only get to shop in them when I'm deployed!  My friend Sue (who I know from 'another life' decades ago when we both lived in Germany) lives in Wyoming- a "mere" two hours' drive from from Billings- and she drove up with her daughter and we did that thing friends do when they get together: go to the mall! I hadn't been in a "real" mall with "real" stores in a LONG time, and I must have seemed like a real country bumpkin as I fondled fabulous and fancy Steve Madden stilettos (this season's shoes, as opposed to last year's on eBay! LOL) and oohed-and-ahhed over bras in Victoria's Secret!
My fave Billings shops:
Lou Taubert http://loutaubert.com/index.php A staple of Billings since 1919 for Western gear, Taubert's has THE most fabulous Western clothes and boots... and great sales! (I scored a gorgeous Pendleton "blanket edged" skirt for $30!)
Praire Blossom http://www.prairieblossoms.com/ sells made-in-Montana art, craft, gifts, jewelry, and yummy jams and sauces- I scored a horn-handled steak flipper & fishing lure tietack for Dan, and Montana "flattop cherry" and huckleberry jam & syrups which should be Great with vodka! :-)
Barjon's Books http://barjonsbooks.com/ has a great selection of books on alternative medicine, as well as herbs, oils, incense, candles, crystals, and art. And yes, I hit TJMaxx, too, and Hobby Lobby for watercolors, so I could go out and paint the prairie!

I also love, as you know, to eat:
THE absolute BEST restaurant I ate at in Billings was, without a doubt Cafe DeCamp : 1404 6th Ave. N, Billings, MT 59101  Tel: 406.256.7285 I like them on Facebook and you should, too! Their Emu Picatta Crepe is a totally delicious thing of which foodie dreams are made, and I drool at the mere thought of it! It was SO good that I took photos with my cell phone and emailed them to Chef Dan!! Everything they make is not only totally gourmet-delicious, it's locally sourced, natural and organic,  from the bison to the emu to the wild mushrooms to the wine, and I had lunch there as often as I could!

Emu Picatta Crepe- SO WONDERFUL!

Other yummy places to enjoy in Billings:
The Farmers Market in downtown Billings every summer Friday from 8 - noon is Great fun- music, food, coffee, fresh lemonade, fabulous, farm-fresh veggies and ranch-raised meats, homemade jams, sauces, and honey...

Hudderite Girls at the Market

McCormick Cafe 2419 Montana Ave., in downtown Billings (they make a Great hamburger with avocado slices and thick, crispy bacon!)
Siam Thai 3210 Henesta Drive (Excellent soft shell crab!)
Asian Sea Grill 1911 King Ave West (Expensive but Very good sushi)
Lemongrass 2695 King Ave East (delicious and very reasonably priced Thai food, in a lovely, elegant setting)

After several weeks in Billings I was deployed to Miles City, and had the great good fortune to stay at Yellowstone Bluffs Bed-and-Breakfast.

Not only were Dick and Pat Wiseman wonderful hosts who truly made me welcome in their beautiful "Beach Suite" guest room (with a magnificent view) and delicious breakfasts each morning, but their patio overlooking the Yellowstone River was SO gorgeous that on my day off I didn't go anywhere- I simply sat on their patio with my watercolors and an endless cup of coffee and painted the view all day long until it was too dark to see! 

The "Beach Suite"

My "Beach Suite" view!

While in Miles City, my coworker and I got to enjoy some GREAT steaks in several classic, Montana steak Houses: Montana Rib and Chop House (GREAT USA Kobe beef steaks!), The Iron Horse Supper Club (excellent steaks, and right on the tracks of the old train station), Club 519 in the historic 1910 First National Bank building, and The Montana Bar downtown on 612 Main Street!

"Like" our love story and help us win!

Will my few loyal readers do us a BIG favor? The love story of how Dan and I met (in NY, while working for FEMA during the 9/11 disaster response operation), and how we came to have our B&B in West Virginia, is one of the two Finalists in the Wind & Weather "Share The Love" contest on Facebook!
All you have to do is go to:
http://www.facebook.com/ElkhornInnandTheatre and you will see it pinned to the top of our page! Just click ON the photo, and "like" it!
Finalist 2 - Elisse Jo Goldstein-Clark and Daniel Hillery Clark  

Note: if you click under it it doesn't count! You must click ON the photo! :-)

Then, if you can use the little "share" button on the bottom of the photo, and ask your friends to please "like" it, too, it would be wonderful! Voting closes Dec,.27, so please hurry!

It is also posted on the Wind & Weather Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/WindandWeather: Finalist 2 - Elisse Jo Goldstein-Clark and Daniel Hillery Clark 
They have really wonderful garden weather and decor items, and are one of our favorite stores, so please check them out!

The prize is a getaway to Virginia with a romantic hot air balloon ride, and I would REALLY love to win this for Dan and I! We have a Real chance to win this trip IF you all will help!
Thank you!
Elisse

First Tomatoes, Wild Blackberries, & Venison Ragu...

I haven't posted in a bit as I have been working for FEMA as a Community Relations Field Specialist here in McDowell County, WV for last two weeks as part of the Disaster Response Operation for the June floods. This is the first time I've worked for FEMA "at home" in McDowell County, and I am TRULY getting know my own county- and it is HUGE!! For the last 8 years I've basically let Chef Dan play Chauffeur Dan, and ferry me around and around and up and down the narrow, winding mountain roads of our southern WV mountains, frankly because winding Route 52 scares the poopies out of me- even as a passenger! But I, a.k.a. "weenie girl", have just spent the past 2 weeks driving 10 hours a day on Routes 16, 7, 103, & 161, and Route 52 now looks like a fabulous piece of cake!  There are stretches of it where even I can almost make 50 mph! Once you do Those Other Routes, with 12% grades, hairpin "switchback" turns that MUST be taken no faster than 3mph, giant coal tucks that come whipping around those curves at you in your very own own lane, ramps you have to enter from the opposite side of the road (on a curve, no less), guys passing you on a double-yellow because they think they've been reincarnated as Dale Earnhardt, roads with no center line because they're too narrow for one, and entrances to residential areas that literally drop off the highway into seeming nothingness, and do them on patched (& sometimes semi-paved) roads with no "pull-over" space, no guard rail, & a 1000 feet down the mountain, Route 52 looks like a Super Highway!  Whoo-whee, baybee!  So far I've been to War, Davy, Gary, Sandy Huff, Squire, Bishop, Newhall, Cucumber, Coalwood, Capels, and Carswell Hollow, as well as nearby Northfork, Keystone, Eckman, and Welch. I've been to places where the blacktop REALLY ends, kids, with more to come, and by the end of this operation I WILL KNOW MY COUNTY AS WELL AS DAN DOES! I have a prayer in Hebrew that I recite each and every time I turn on the engine, and I say it unfailingly many, many times throughout the day... but, surprisingly, I'm finding (most of) the driving almost fun, and it's certainly an adrenaline booster! But at the end of the day, when I pull into our parking lot, I am Knackered! In addition to this, we have guests at the Elkhorn Inn every day, all month long, so Dan has been pulling "double duty" all day while I am out FEMA-ing; at the end of the day I change out of my FEMA uniform & become the Inn's hostess again!

About two weeks ago we harvested The First Tomato Of The Season- a landmark event for gardeners the world over, I think:

We served most of it in a salad for Elkhorn Inn dinner guests- who were delighted! We're now harvesting those candy-sweet grape tomatoes, and there's lots of green tomatoes ripening, and little tiny peppers on the pepper plants! The weather has been Gorgeous- 90 degrees & sunny- and I had a day off last week, so Dan & I, in True McDowell County Fashion, got on my ATV, and set out to pick a few early wild blackberries! We got enough to eat our fill and bottle some up in brandy, but most of them need another week or two to hit Blackberry Perfection:

The photo below was taken at the gas station in Welch:

And then I came home the other day to find Chef Dan in the kitchen up to his elbows in... venison. We often pass "road kill" on Route 52- pets, as well as wild animals, who've been hit by cars and trucks- and it never fails to shake both of us up- especially, interestingly enough, US Army Retired Hunter Dan, who one might think would be inured to Everything by now. I passed the body of a car-hit deer on the way home, and then another one was hit just up the road from us. When Dan drove to Welch a crowd had gathered around the animal, who had a broken back and was clearly suffering. When Dan came back, an hour later, the deer was still there, barely alive, and still suffering; apparently no one had the guts to do anything but watch it suffer. Dan called McDowell County 911, but both they and DNR were too busy to deal with it (in other words, to shoot it and put it out of its misery and dispose of it properly), so 911asked Dan if he could handle it, and said that if he could, we could have the meat. And so he can and so he did. It shook him up, because it's been a few years since he'd had to do something like that, but he was able to do it. And then, amazingly, he professionally butchered and processed it, and by the time I got home it was well on its way to becoming venison pate and an amazingly delicious venison ragu sauce over linguine...  The man's skill-set totally stuns me, day after day... 

When you see meat in the supermarket, sterile slabs of red wrapped in plastic that don't look anything like an Animal, you may be able to pretend that you're not really eating a (delicious) animal that was once alive. If you grow up and live your entire life in cities, you may be able to keep pretending that throughout your entire life. But to be truly human we need to periodically jolt ourselves back into reality and remind ourselves that humans are animals too, carnivores who eat other animals, and that our dinners of lamb chops, ribs, bacon, and steak don't grow on the "meat tree" neatly wrapped in Styrofoam trays, and Mrs. Paul's Fish Stix don't sprout fully-formed from the Wal-Mart freezer compartment by magic. That it is wrong to stand around and watch an animal suffer until it dies, and both senseless and hazardous to let it rot on the highway or draw wild animals in to residential areas to feed on it. In other words, to think about it all, at least a bit. As humans who often pride ourselves on being at the "top of the food chain", we owe at least that to the rest of the chain. I have a Real problem with people who differentiate between "cute" animals (deer and lamb, for example) and "ugly" animals (beef and chicken, for example, or birds and fish and shellfish that aren't mammals and don't have those big, liquid Bambi eyes)- professing (usually vociferously, and sometimes violently) that it's wrong to kill one and okay to kill the other. Survival of the cutest? To me that smacks of Nazism and I find it totally sick. Me? I'm a carnivore. I smoke, I drink, I wear fur, I eat meat, and I eat what I shoot.  

Visiting friends in Wyoming, I once commented, as we drove past a particularly picturesque herd of cattle, "How pretty!" "And good eating, too!" was the response. And so they are!