It’s a shame that after the biggest week in Elm Springs so far this year, there was no ESN. Apparently either the Good Lord or the Other Guy didn’t want it written, because there simply wasn’t time in the week to write it.

And so, before this week’s news, an insufficient treatment of last week’s;

Most of the kind citizens attended the Wasta Centennial Celebration Monday, which was without a doubt a stunning success. The Linns, the O’Rourkes, the Pauleys, the Gravatts and the Wilsons, not to mention the Elm Springs Fire Department, were all in the parade. The Wilsons took over the Old Hotel at Wasta for a family reunion, and looked to be having a grand old time of it. There were Wilsons from near and far, hundreds of them, wearing different colors of the same shirt to denote tribal affiliation. Philip, Kenny and Patrick Wilson gave almost the entire bunch a ride on one of their three motorcycles.

Arrivals to the celebration from the eastbound lane of I-90 had second thoughts about attending at all when they encountered Matt Trask at the off-ramp, beaming and grinning and confusing everyone with vague directions to parking spots. By now, no one wants to hear how Matt cleverly arranged to park his pickup at the Laura Jean Gunn residence, so that he just happened to be there for both breakfast and supper.

We must move along even though it is not right to do so. Suffice it to say that the people of everyone’s favorite town and their helpers from the surrounding area should be congratulated until they fall over.

And then on Saturday, our Prince Charming, Al Trask, was wed to the lovely Bridget Madrid in Columbus OH. For the purposes of this narrative, the “Upland Trasks” can be conveniently grouped into two categories; the “Up Trasks,” who flew to Columbus, Pat, Nick, Julie and the Three Little Boys, and the “Land Trasks,” who drove to Columbus, RoseMary, Matt, Steph and the Three Little Girls. The “Land Trasks” left Wednesday, making fairly steady progress out of cow country and through corn country, while the “Up Trasks” drove to Sioux Falls on Thursday, staying overnight at the Wade Eberhard residence before boarding their plane Friday morning. The “Up Trasks” and the “Land Trasks” arrived at the Patrick Madrid residence in rural Hebron OH within ten minutes of each other and began a crash course in Madrid family nomenclature, with help from Prince Charming, who was already there.

After the rehearsal, the “Upland Trasks” and the Madrid family ate supper at a table that was easily 75 feet long at a place called the Amazon Grill. Steph and Julie Trask spent Saturday night at the Madrid residence, while the rest of the “Upland Trasks,” including Al, stayed at a nearby hotel.

The next morning, while the girls were doing pre-wedding girl stuff, Pat and his six boys and family friend Ted Rhodes of Gettysburg, PA who brought his family to the wedding, had breakfast at a Cracker Barrel Restaurant before preparing for the wedding.

At two pm at St. Patricks, a large beautiful church in downtown Columbus, the wedding began. There were eight bridesmaids, eight groomsmen, four altar servers, three flower girls, two priests and two ring-bearers, and a partridge in a pear tree. RoseMary Trask, the mother of the groom, looked radiant in her green dress, and Pat, who ditched the t-shirt and pliers holster for a tuxedo, made quite an impressive figure. Prince Charming distinguished himself from the groomsmen by wearing a white Windsor tie while the others wore black. And the bride looked like a princess in a storybook in her elegant white wedding dress and veil, with an impressive train following behind her.

After the wedding, which went off without incident, the wedding party began a whirlwind tour of Columbus OH with the wedding photographer, before returning to St. Patricks Hall to party like a bunch of Catholics into the night. It should be noted that through the entire two days, RoseMary’s cousin Mike Bucher of Indian Head MD, as the only member of the grooms extended family present, was paraded amongst the Madrids and shown off like a trophy.

Sunday morning, the “Upland Trasks” once again divided forces, with the “Up Trasks” catching an early morning flight back to Sioux Falls and arriving in Elm Springs Sunday night, while the “Land Trasks” attended an outdoor mass and brunch at the Pat Madrid residence, bid fairwell to the newlyweds, on their way to the island of St. Thomas, and crawled into their van and the vehicle Al had driven out for the drive home. Sunday afternoon they experienced mechanical difficulty with Al’s vehicle outside of Veedersburg IN. They were helped immensely by gracious local farmer Ed Hettrich, who towed the vehicle to his place for the night. The next morning, after staying all night in Danville, IL RoseMary and Matt took the vehicle to Discount Tire and Lube (regionally pronounced “Discount Tar and Lube”) in Veedersburg, but eventually had to go to Bergners Automotive, also in Veedersburg. They left Veedersburg Monday afternoon, with a working vehicle and some new friends. The “Land Trasks” returned to Elm Springs late Tuesday night.

And now this weeks news;

The devil is winning the weather wars here in Elm Springs, and gloating over his victory at that. The heat has been indescribably oppressive, as the humidity has sunk to record lows. Sunday was the hottest day in Elm Springs since Jean Linn started recording the weather in 1988. So far there have been no fires here in Elm Springs though.

Many disrespectful remarks have been aimed at the Red Hat Ladies in the ESN, but they earned our admiration by going to the un-air conditioned Black Hills Playhouse on Sunday to attend a performance of “Fiddler On the Roof.” True Grit Red Hat Ladies included Sandy Fields, Carolyn Anders, Jean and Kellie Linn, Dorothy Anderson, Norma Pellegrin, Natalie Termes, Paula Eisenbraun, Kay Johnston, Norma Oldenburg, and Myrna Smith.

Clyde Arneson on Saturday accompanied Ryan and Chrissy Elshere and family to a rodeo in Casper, WY in which Ryan competed.

And Lonnie Arneson hosted Bill Tines Wednesday morning, and Clint Hammerstom and the Andy Linns Saturday.

Lawrence and Doris Burke returned Thursday from a trip to Texas, where they visited Lawrence’s sister Jonell Fawver in Lubbock, and visited Lawrence’s brother-in-law Johnnie Cates and attended Doris’ family reunion in Floydata. They also enjoyed the cool weather while in Texas.

Lance Fuegen and girlfriend Heidi dropped Madi and Steele Fuegen off at the Larry and Peggy Gravatt residence over the weekend.

Cary’s sister Billy Jo Winkus and her three kids of Pennsylvania spent a few days at the Sam Johnston residence. Saturday, the Johnstons attended a 4-H rodeo in Faith, where the kids did well.

Andy Linn and his kids went tubing down the Belle Fourche River, from the Huddleston Bridge to the Lonnie Arneson residence Saturday. Later in the day, Kellie, thinking they should be done tubing, went to the Lonnie Arneson residence to see what had become of them. She ended up visiting with Lonnie and Clint Hammerstrom while she waited for her exhausted and happy family to appear around the riverbend.

Mark and Mick Trask joined cousin Mackenzie Trask for a few-days stay at the Mike Heathershaw residence near Quinn.

Since returning from Columbus, the “Upland Trasks” have been keeping a rather low profile. They entertained Robert Campbell of MacIntosh Thursday, and Pat went to Rapid City Friday. Sunday, after dinner in Wall, they stopped at the Big Green Trask House before going to visit Milton Trask and Lois Shearn in Phillip.

Coby Tines stopped briefly at the Cary Tines residence Saturday. Sunday, Ty and John Tines and Amanda Humphrey visited the Cary Tines residence to relax.

Kent and Jo Wilsey of Edmund, OK arrived at the Jim Wilsey residence Wednesday. They left Saturday, taking Zach and Zara with them.

Melvin and Dorothy Anderson attended a birthday party for Nick Caspers at the Tyler Caspers residence in New Underwood Tuesday. Saturday, they attended a 30^th wedding anniversary party for Gene and Carla Jobgen.

Everyone is invited to the “out here” wedding reception for Al and Bridget Trask, this Saturday, July 22^nd starting at 5 pm at the ranch. Enjoy hamburgers, drinks, the company of the “Upland Trasks” and all your friends and dance to the “Classic Country Band,” the same band that entertained the crowds in Wasta on the 3^rd of July.

The kind citizens wish Al and Bridget a long and happy life together.