Column: A big pink boot

When I first made a trip to Whitehall to look a purchasing the newspaper, I visited during that strange time when the wind was not blowing.

After growing up in Southwest Wyoming where the wind never seems to stop, I thought to myself if I move to Montana it is not only going to be so great to get some beautiful scenery, but also to a place with not as much wind.

I was so right about the scenery, but I think I just so happened to visit on the only two days of the year when the wind wasn’t blowing. Growing up with wind I’m used to it, but I will never ever say that I like it.

When I hear the wind howling, I will often times look at a window of my house or at the office and see a variety of things blowing down the street. On garbage day it’s not uncommon to have to run down the street to pick up my trashcan. It has been really windy as of late and when I pulled up to work last Monday I was not surprised to see something was in our tree. This wasn’t the first time I have seen something in the tree, so I planned to just go take it out and throw it away.

After closer examination I was shocked to see that it was a gigantic pink boot. Melissa quickly knew what it was and where it came from.

It was a boot probably familiar to many. It sits in front of Tona’s Treasures on Legion Avenue.

After grabbing it out of the tree, it was a little bit heavier than I thought so I wasn’t quite sure it was the wind. My thinking it was probably someone who had a little fun at the Mint Bar, decided to take it, realized they had made a bad decision and put in my tree before they walked into the bar at Legends.

When I went to return the boot, the wind was in a frenzy and I thought maybe, just maybe, the pink boot had somehow blown over and made it down the street. The wind was whipping from the west so I’m not sure how logical that is, but I’ve seen it come from the East before so anything is possible in Whitehall.

I’m just glad the boot is home. There were several people who came into the office and wondered why in the world we had a really big pink boot just sitting here. It certainly was a talking point, but this office is too small for two people, let alone a big pink boot.

As I write this on a Wednesday morning trying to get stuff done to go to the State Basketball Tournament, the wind is howling again. When I get back to work on Monday I would not be surprised to see something in our tree. Hopefully it’s not a boot, person, or anything that has to be returned.