07.S02.P1 Chapter Seven, Snippet Two - "The Three Forks Song"

"Chewing The Fat in Three Forks", Photo by Susie Rosso Wolf

Special Posting

In celebration of our five year anniversary of making the journey

 to this land of freedom and treasure, I have written a 

special tribute to life in Three Forks, Montana.

The Three Forks Song

Susie Rosso Wolf

Take each day as it comes comes comes

Oh take it day as it comes

Take each day as it comes comes comes

Oh take each day as it comes

Look out beyond the tip of your nose

As far as your eyes can see

See the mountains and the tree tops

And the raging rivers three

Hear the roaring of the wind

Whip through the prairie floor

Grab a cowboy by the hand

And dance forever more

Take each day as it comes comes comes

Oh take each day as it comes

Take each day as it comes comes comes

Oh take each day as it comes

Sit a spell and chew the fat

And don’t forget where your neighbor’s at

Lift two fingers off the wheel

Holler at your pardner as loud as you feel

Tip your hat when the ladies walk by

And you might earn a slice of pie

Ask the fella up the road

To lend a hand with your heavy load

Take each day as it comes comes comes

Oh take each day as it comes

Take each day as it comes comes comes

Oh take each day as it comes

Walk in your waders to catch a fish

Look up at the stars to make a wish

Grab your axe to chop an old tree

Ring the dinner bell and count to three

Throw on the saddles lets go for a ride

No matter what the weather outside

In wind or rain sleet or snow

A Montanan is always ready to go

Take each day as it comes comes comes

Oh take each day as it comes

Take each day as it comes comes comes

Oh take each day as it comes

Let’s go hunting to stock up on grub

And later on we’ll stop by the pub

We’ll dance in circles and sing along

Down the center and back all night long

A do-si-do then an allemande

Come on little lady please give me your hand

The moon shines bright out on the porch

With the romance lit by a flaming torch

Take each day as it comes comes comes

Oh take each day as it comes

Take each day as it comes comes comes

Oh take each day as it comes

The eagle swoops at the rivers bend

His breakfast galore that he knows no end

The sun just rises and the farmer prays

For a healthy crop and more warm days

But soon the snow shall fall and freeze

Then our sleep at night will surly ease

For we are hardy cold weather folk

Forty below and that ain’t no joke

Take each day as it comes comes comes

Oh take each day as it comes

Take each day as it comes comes comes

Oh take each day as it comes

Hard working men for an honest wage

Pounding nails or backhoeing sage

Just three months to grow food for one year

Wife seeds the soil though the freeze she does fear

The churches are filled with God fearing people

No you won’t find one fancy steeple

For we are simple Three Forks kind

The thought of leaving never enters our mind

We take each day as it comes comes comes

Oh we take each day as it comes

We take each day as it comes comes comes

We take each day as it comes

Three Forks takes each day as it comes

Oh we take each day as it comes

We take each day as it comes comes comes

We just take each day… as it comes.

07.S02 Chapter Seven, Snippet Two

New Prairie Woman
Susie Rosso Wolf
Chapter Seven, con't

When April arrived home from work I was quite surprised by her appearance. She wasn’t anything like what I had imagined her to be. She didn’t fit the voice I had grown accustomed to over the phone during the weeks Robert had begun to call me. I pictured April as a girl next door, slight, fine boned woman with a short haircut. The woman who walked in the door was in a word, not that. April was a very large woman on the bottom half with a smaller waist, large bust, and long hair falling down her back that was expertly colored bleach blond with caramel brown low lites. Her hair was beautiful, and it was obvious that she cherished it as her greatest asset. Her face was somewhat unremarkable in its shape and features but the expertise of her make-up applying skills was more than evident. A bit too loud and borderline barrio home-girl for my taste, I was surprised by the bright red lips, thick black lines that were painted across her eyelids and the heavy dark brown eye shadow and layers upon layers of black mascara, all spread over the canvass of her face which was covered in a peaches and cream colored liquid pancake dusted  with powder that all seemed unnecessary, given where they were and where she had just come from; the post office. Dressed in her postal uniform shirt over a pair of tightly fitted maternity jeans, her pregnant belly stood out like a sore thumb. Bone tired from a long day on her feet and then the near hour drive into Three Forks from Bozeman, she was pleased to meet us and very friendly but obviously in need of taking a rest, getting out of her shoes and clothes. Excusing herself, she retired to the master bedroom where she took a bath then changed into a comfortable outfit of pink terry cloth stretch pants and a white short cropped t-shirt that exposed her situation.

Robert barbecued steaks for dinner while April made the side dishes of corn, microwaved baked potatoes and a large garden salad. We all sat at their enormous dining room table made of solid oak enjoying the meal and conversation. During dinner I felt the absence of Brenda’s presence because it was she, who was back in Northridge house and dog sitting for us, due to her insistence. She wouldn’t take no for an answer when she offered to watch the house and look after Cutter, Lilly and Dinky and although it cost us an arm and a leg to fly her from Montana and then back again, it was worth the peace of mind knowing that our precious little family back home was in familiar hands who cared for them. Brenda was so thrilled that we would be visiting Robert she would have done anything to promote the effort, I do believe.

After dinner I helped April with the dishes and general cleaning up while Robert and Kurt went out for a walk around his property. We had a nice time sharing about our lives and interests while she put food away and wiped down the table and I dried the dishes she had washed. Eventually we migrated into the den to sit and watch some television while she reclined in Robert’s overstuffed chair with her feet up on the ottoman. I was aware that she was extremely tired so I suggested that she go to her bedroom to take a nap, only to be surprised by her raising her leg up in my direction where I was sitting next to her on the sofa, then bluntly suggesting that I give her a “foot rub.”  Unable to deny the pregnant April of her request and taking into consideration that she was just plain tired and not in the mood for putting on airs for her boyfriend’s visiting aunt and uncle, I gently acquiesced, scooted over closer to her and began to rub her feet. To say it was an odd sensation of mixed feelings running thru mind and body would be an understatement of immense proportions, but, I wanted to please her in a freakish low self-esteem kind of way. While working out the stress and tiredness of her day through the magic of my experienced hands, I came to learn that it was, according to her, April who coaxed Robert into moving forward to “healing the wounds” of our relationship.

“Your family is so weird,” she said. “In my family we don’t hold grudges, we just scream and yell and then make up. You Italians hold onto something for so long it winds up killing you and I told Rob that’s no way to live. I told him he needed to forgive you.” Choking back the tears while swallowing this young woman’s explosion of opinion in my face as I rubbed her feet… was all too surreal. It didn’t take any time at all before my mind grew weary and my heart filled with sadness, so I explained to April that I was quite tired from the trip and retreated to Brenda’s beautiful bedroom to take a rest while Kurt and Robert continued to visit with each other, on their own.                                                                       

07.S01 Chapter Seven, Snippet One

"Mountain Tease"

The Spanish Peaks, Three Forks, MT

New Prairie Woman
Susie Rosso Wolf
Chapter Seven

In all my life, I had never once stepped foot into a manufactured home. Sure, during my days of living with Kurt in Oregon I had visited plenty of friends who lived in single-wide trailers and some of them were quite nice but I really didn't have any idea how much the trailer/manufactured home industry had evolved over the years. The outside of Rob’s new home was built to replicate a log cabin and the inside was open, modern, beautifully appointed, and quite palatial. It was obvious much time was spent furnishing and a great deal of attention was paid to every detail. The interior was based on a western theme with one large collectible framed portrait of John Wayne as the main focal point. Fine art brass sculptures of horses, horse busts, cowboys riding horses, and couples riding horses wearing cowboy hats were placed with great thought throughout the house. The sculptures were beautiful as were the hand carved coat racks and of course, gun racks, and cowboy hat racks made from deer and elk antlers. The hat rack was mounted onto a slab of carved wood that had a dried rattlesnake skin nailed onto it. Robert had been hunting snakes and skinning them ever since I could remember, here he was in snake heaven, with so many rattlesnakes on the prairie.

The den was the first room you entered into from the back door. The living room was the room you walked into from the front of the house that faced the mountain ranges of the Bitter Roots, The Tobacco Roots, The Spanish Peaks, The Bridger’s and far in the distance but visible when snowcapped, West Yellowstone. The master bedroom suite was enormous, fit for a king, with a Jacuzzi bath tub, separate shower room, open his & hers bathroom sinks, two closets, a gigantic nursery area and office space along with the largest area for a king size bed I had ever seen. The vaulted ceilings allowed for interesting architecture of support beam walls that had nook space for April’s beautiful cut crystal collection of vases and sculptures. The room was absolutely lovely dressed in their royal four poster bed of solid mahogany that matched her ten foot long by four foot deep dresser with a spectacular mirror attached that created an atmosphere of pure luxury and class.

Down the main hallway were two small bedrooms. One was appointed to Brenda and the other was for the girls when they came to visit. On that side of the house there was a bathroom with a shower and tub and lovely sink with a beautiful mirror above it that was wall to wall. It was only a medium to small bathroom, beautifully decorated and quite nice. Much attention to every detail was glaringly obvious with raffia tied around the for show not for blow bath towels and hand towels hanging on the towel racks and glass vases filled with dried flower arrangements in addition to antique finished wall sconces and small framed artwork on the walls. Heading toward the living room, at the end of the hall was a dividing wall with more nook openings where several beautifully framed family photos were placed, one of which was of my father with Robert as a child and another of my parents. No sign of Kurt and I or any other Rosso Family members in any frame were presented. On the other side of the wall was the den’s fireplace which, in and of itself, was a showpiece of rustic flavor featuring large river boulders and a uniquely carved mantle. Across from the living room was the guest bathroom, which was the most unique room in the house. It was very small, but built with a loft type ceiling at an angle, set in a space that was actually blue printed as a coat closet but they requested it be built as an additional bathroom so, the manufacturer of the house set in one toilet behind a wall, like one you would find in a school lavatory, and then one old fashioned sink on a pedestal with a mirror hanging over it on the other side of the privacy wall. Its simplicity was elegant and I loved the colors April chose to decorate with in this room; olive green accented with periwinkle. Turn right and you were in the big living room with its four picture windows with a good sized dining room that led to the kitchen. The kitchen was my favorite room with its wide open floor plan, countless cupboards, walk-in pantry with an extra stand up freezer, endless counter space, island cook top stove, built-in oven, broiler and microwave, deep double sink with massive oval shaped windows that spanned the length of the entire counter from one end of the room to the other. This provided a view to both sides of the back property all the way to Old Town Road. Windows galore throughout the entire house gave a feeling of open air living in the rustic extremes of prairie life surrounded by mountains and hills. With four entrances, there wasn’t any area of the house that didn’t lead to the front or back of their two and a half acre lot. The laundry room/mud room was quite large and also led to the back of the house with its own outer door.

After a shower and a little nap, Robert fed us a lite lunch while we sat in the den watching a John Wayne movie on his beast of a television. The heavy wood entertainment center that housed this monster was modern but in very good taste. The sofa was covered in elegant soft brown leather, again, lending to the rustic western theme accentuating the fact that you were standing in the Interior Western United States, the Rocky Mountains in particular. Well, with John Wayne as master and guru, there wasn’t any doubt you were in a western home.