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| Peggy and Sherry at Peg's benefit |
There is no better feeling in the world, as far as I’m
concerned, as the one you get helping someone else. I have learned over the years that the best
way to make yourself feel better is to make someone else feel better.
Sherry and I managed to pull off Peggy’s benefit
fantastically, if I do say so myself. We had a blast together doing it,
too. Thursday, we were flying all over Sheridan , getting the
last minute stuff and I think there was a special bounce in our steps, knowing
that we were actually doing something worthwhile. Sure, we were tired as heck, we’ve been
working on this for a month, but every time one of us would start complaining,
we’d remind each other that we weren’t the ones who’ve been dealing with
constant pain and extreme financial uncertainty for months and months and this
would end for us in a day or two but not for Peg.
I really gotta hand it to Sherry. She has a lot of her own difficulties to deal
with, she lost her dad this year and had to convince her mom to move into town
from the ranch she’d lived in for 60 years. That may not sound like a lot, but
there’s so much involved in all that. She’s been through a whole lot lately but
she was the one who came up with the whole idea of the benefit for Peggy. For
the past month, she’s been working all night at the Senior Center
We went down Friday during happy hour and set up all the
silent auction items in the back room of the Moose. Sherry had gotten some festive tablecloths
and it really put the icing on the cake for the presentation of the items. We ended up with about 50 items for the
bidding, exceeding even our expectations! After we got all the stuff laid out
all pretty and the bidding sheets lined up next to every item, the folks who
were there partying for happy hour asked if it was okay if they could go ahead
and start the bidding! Heck, yes! Before
we left, we already had some items that had $100 bids on them! Talk about taking the pressure off! We also
had several people there who pressed money into our hands for Peg because they
weren’t going to be able to join in the festivities on Saturday!
Saturday, we got there about two hours before the benefit
was to start and brought all our salads we made. Sherry brought a fabulous tropical fruit
salad with yogurt and two huge pans of brownies and cookies that she and her
niece, Shelby had made. I brought a
pasta salad, several veggie trays and a big ole bowl of fresh watermelon. Ladies started streaming in with other
wonderful stuff and before we knew it, it was time for Sherry to go round up
all the donated chicken. She picked up
chicken from DJ’s, Duffy’s Bluff and the Dash Inn and boy, did that make the
Moose smell good!
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| Melody played her heart out for us!! |
Melody Larsen (Donahue) was the star attraction,
though. Boy, can that woman sing and
play an acoustic guitar! She volunteered
her time and made the benefit really special and I don’t think I’ll ever be
able to repay her. She has an amazing voice and a great variety of music she
plays. She also was our announcer for the 50/50 raffle and for the winners of
the auction items, tirelessly staying until the end, even offering to help
clean up, which we didn’t let her do. I imagine she had enough work to do the
next day, clearing out her equipment! There’s a special place in Heaven set
aside for that girl, let me tell ya!
The whole thing went just awesomely! Lots of people showed up and we even had a
few bidding wars on some of the items. Peggy and John came around 3 p.m. and
everyone was just so happy to see Peggy out and about for once. Peggy, of course, spent most of the day
weeping on someone’s shoulder. I think she was a bit overwhelmed by the
outpouring by her friends. Word of mouth had spread to her friends in Story and
Sheridan so
there was a huge crowd there all day. Everyone had their fill of food and we
even had leftover chicken and salads to send home with Peg and John.
The 50/50 was a hit.
I was selling them for $1 a piece or an arm’s length for $10 and I don’t
think there was a single soul that didn’t get an arm’s length. I was having fun
with the measurement (only one wins, right?) and really giving everyone a lot
of tickets. Terry Ahern ended up winning the other half of the pot but as she
said, she donated it right back because she also bid on a lot of the auction
items.
All in all, I think we raised over $3,000 for Peg on
Saturday. I’m still not sure of the
exact total because there’s a few people who won items that had already left
and I have to go retrieve that money today. We made sure that Peggy didn’t
leave the bar empty handed, though, giving her the cash from the 50/50 and the
cash donations from dinner before she left. She was really having a hard time
accepting all this from everyone and asking us how she was going to “repay”
us. Silly girl….I told her to just say
thank you and move on. Things like this
only happen once in a blue moon and we know she’d be right there for us if we
needed her so….just say thank you, get your life straightened out financially
and get to healing!
Speaking of the generosity of this fine town, the fires are
pretty much put out that are closest to us. The Cato fire is still being fought
but it’s mostly in the mop up stages, with a few flares still trying to wreak
havoc out by Clearmont. The Otter Creek
fire on the other side of the mountain outside Tensleep is finally getting
under control, too. Last week, everyone here was donating supplies for the
firefighters and it got so that they had to tell us to stop, they were getting
overwhelmed! The last few truck loads ended up going up to Montana and over to Tensleep to help those
firefighters. There was even enough
donated vitamin water and other non-perishable supplies that our firefighters
have a reserve that’s been placed at the firehall in the event that we have
another catastrophe. Yep, we take care of our own around here! Remember, too,
folks, there’s only about 4,500 of us here in Buffalo , but when there’s a crisis, you’d
think we were 45,000. Unfortunately, there’s a new fire down by Wheatland,
right near where my dog breeder lives that’s getting out of control, too. I
hear they have mandatory evacuations going on as of last night. Gosh, this is going to be a nightmare of a
summer, I fear.
We are already under a total fire ban, as of today, both in Johnson County Big Horn Equestrian Center
in Sheridan is
going ahead with theirs, I hope that’s not a foolish decision. And, I’m telling
you right now, if I’m driving around and I see someone lighting off fireworks,
I WILL call the cops. We’re in such a dangerous situation right now and I don’t
think someone’s need for pretty sparkly stuff is worth the risk. Wait til next
year, when it’s hopefully not so dangerous. I know I don’t want to be the idiot
responsible for burning down the mountain or the town over a few fireworks, do
you?
Well, I hope you all have a fantastic week. We all need to be extra nice to each other
right now. The heat is taking it’s toll on the whole country, but that doesn’t
mean we can’t greet each other with an encouraging smile…..
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