Small Town America at Its Finest - Whitehall, MT

I have lived in small towns most of my life – with my longest tenancy of over 20 years being in Whitehall. As I’ve said, I was a military brat who moved A LOT and we were always lucky to find small towns to live in, suburbs or subdivisions, that were just outside the “bigger” cities where my dad was stationed.

I remember growing up knowing a few neighbors here and there, but we were never somewhere long enough to know the whole neighborhood, let alone the whole town. That is, until we moved to Whitehall, which is one of the things I love most about small-town living: everyone knows everyone.

I did not realize HOW MUCH everyone knows about everyone until this past week. If you know me personally, you know I have a (very) large Irish Wolfhound mix as well as a (very) chunky black lab. These two – Lox and Bagel, respectively – are very well behaved, but sometimes get bored of the confines of their yard and decide to take walkabouts around town. This had not happened for several months and then, these past two weeks, multiple times. And each time, rescued by amazing Whitehall folks.

Last week I was in my house doing laundry, having literally put the dogs outside 10 minutes prior, when the phone rang. “Liz, Bagel is outside my yard and I tried to get her, but she wouldn’t come to me,” said the voice on the other end. I did not recognize the voice, but the voice knew me, my pup’s name, and my phone number. When I asked who it was, it was a neighbor a few blocks down who I know casually. Talk about small town love – I know this person by sight – yet she knows my DOGS by sight! I jumped in the Jeep, found the pups (both were out) and got them back home.

Yesterday at the office a friend of mine poked her head in the door, “I think I have your dog in my car!” I laughed. You THINK you have my dog? Gosh, I hope so, otherwise you have a strange dog in your car! And it was, once again, Miss Bagel who had made her escape and was galivanting around town unsupervised. But thank goodness someone had the kindness to pick her up and bring her to me, keeping her safe.

This isn’t the first time either - Patti Reed seems to get Miss Bagel brought to her quite often when she misbehaves - again, I am thankful someone cares enough to take that time out of their day and do a good deed.

We live in a great little town where everyone looks out for one another; this is small town America and its one of the golden qualities Whitehall needs to hang on to.

P.S. My pup Lox will be accompanying me sometimes to the office. When she’s in the office, I will put a sticky note on the door noting she is there and to please open the door slowly. She is a little (giant) love and she loves sitting at my feet while I work, so I’d like to get her accustomed to being in the office.

P.P.S. We are building a taller fence this year to stop these walkabouts from continuing!