Your Community Builder
Your Community Builder
Sorted by date Results 108 - 132 of 1125
This will be my last "Library Corner" for a while, as Patricia Kalstrom will be back in action (with her brand-new hip) as library director starting June 4th. Welcome back Pat! In other exciting news, congratulations to library board trustee, Krista Kerr, and her husband Justin on their recent wedding. We wish you all the best! I need to back up a little bit to April 8th and our Solar Eclipse Party. Unfortunately, the weather was not in our favor for a viewing of the partial...
June 3, 2024 Memorial Day was a little windy, but pretty nice for outdoor programs at Buffalo and Ekalaka. Spring at Capitol, and on Tie Creek, has been fairly cool, and even in the first days of June the night-time temperature dropped into the low thirties. Karen Odell spent the holiday at home. On Tuesday, Jack Ovitz came to check out, and do some electrical work. That night, Tyler Wolff came with a new mower battery, and to take back a mower tire to be worked on. Then, Karen got a little mowing done, before the mower quit...
April, 2024 Help me remember, April shower brings May flowers, right? Looking back on the month of April, lots of wind but no showers! Monday was the first day of the week as well as the first day of the month. The morning consisted of exercises and after lunch the ladies’ played cards. The afternoon winner was Marty Carroll. Tuesday, April 9 Virginia took time for 1 on 1 s with different residents who do not participate in the general activity program. The afternoon was spent playing Po-Ke-No, with Madlon winning most of t...
Summer is the time when I decide to roll up my sleeves and clean out some junk. However, my parents were children of the Great Depression, so I can still hear their voices ringing in my ears when I think about pitching stuff that could potentially have some use in the future--even though it has received no usage within the last 25 years. Marilee Robinson of Billings, Montana sent me her delightful book East Meets West, and one of her essays, which I have abridged this week is...
Hello God, it's me, Mara: You know, Lord, while casually going through some papers, this one popped up, so, just sharing a bit: Psalm 23: "He restoreth my soul." One just assumes that belonging to You, Lord, and being in Your care, we'd never become so disserted in soul as to need any sort of restoration, but, low and behold - such is not the case. When we start thinking that we have "arrived", that is when we're most susceptible to become cast (the verb form), like a sheep....
May 27, 2024 Alvin and Ryan Cordell, and Charlie Casteel, have been busy sorting cows, and moving them to summer pasture. Marlee went to an appointment in Spearfish, on Tuesday. Then, on Saturday, she went down to the wedding of her cousin, Kelly West’s, son. Paul O’Toole stopped in for a visit with Alvin. Paul has a hunting cabin in Camp Crook, and has been coming out this way for hunting for nearly fifty years. On Thursday, Alvin got thirty-five hundredths of rain, and then another three-tenths on Saturday. It had been ter...
School wrapped up this week, and I am proud to say I survived my first year of teaching Family Consumer Science at the high school level. Fortunately, all of my culinary students survived, and no one got cut, burned, or came down with a foodborne illness. In case anyone is wondering, I did not get fired, but I will be leaving the position in Debbie Hathaway's capable hands and returning to my County Superintendent position to embark on my 43rd year in education. What is wrong...
Hello God, it's me, Mara: You know, Lord, it's interesting to take advantage of the beautiful spring weather. A friend, a few hours south of here, wrote that she'd grabbed her favorite glass of Cranberry Iced tea, deciding to stretch out in their back yard, pretending to relax. She mentioned that she had a lounge chair - so spreadeagled there, soaking in the air, soft and sweet having her eyes closed. She mentioned that she laid there for several minutes, surround by the...
As I embark on my second adventure in Ekalaka, I am filled with excitement and appreciation for the many wonderful aspects of Montana and Carter County. My primary goal is to enhance communication with parents and the community. Community engagement is crucial to our school's continued success, and I am dedicated to building on our achievements while addressing areas for growth. I recognize that school cannot follow a one-size-fits-all model. To better prepare our students...
With Memorial Day coming up on Monday, I feel it is important to remember that Memorial Day is about much more than barbecues and a day off. It is a time to remember and honor loved ones and especially fallen military heroes .I love this essay so much that I have to share an excerpt from "Memorial Day: A Time for Heroes" by Nancy Sullivan Geng: I picked up the photo and turned it over. Yellowing tape held a prayer card that read: "Lloyd 'Bud' Heitzman, 1925-1944. A Great...
May 20, 2024 Ronda Cordell spent much of last week getting ready for branding on Mother’s Day weekend. In spite of the inch and a half of rain, they had a good crew, got the branding done, and also moved pairs to summer pasture. It is a relief to have gotten some rain, and the branding done, too. On Mother’s Day afternoon, Ronda went to Belle Fourche to meet Cristen and Jayda Westling. They had planned to have a late Mother’s Day dinner, but Cristen had gone to Kirk, Colorado to pick up a puppy for Ronda on Saturday, and it w...
Hello God, it's me, Mara: You know, Lord, it's not often that in this part of town Meadowlarks are seen/heard, but the other day while outdoors, WHOA! What was that? A small bird flew to the tip-top of a nearby tree and started singing, praising the Lord. Sharing that later with friends, B.J. mentioned that when she was young, while playing in the yard at their country home, she heard one, ran into the house to tell mamma. Her mom asked, 'Well, what did the birdie say?' B.J. q... Full story
May 13, 2024 Well, we did get a little rain this week on Tie Creek, but it seems that Capitol got the bulk of the moisture. Ernie Rachel and Tommy Melum are still calving, but are close to the end of calving season. Tommy has finished his school year, and is a big help to his dad in all his free time. Rachel’s brother, Don Kalbach and his wife, Thu, from Seattle, came out to the ranch to visit for a few days. They had come out for Daniel’s wedding, last week, and stayed to visit a while longer before heading west again. The...
Several years ago I discovered a hilarious self-published book from Maralee Robinson of Billings, Montana. It is called "East Meets West: Real Dude Meets Real Cowboy: Indoor Plumbing Meets Outdoor Plumbing, and All the Things They Have in Common." The book is a collection of reflections of a city girl who married a cowboy. The book was somewhat longer than the title, and it was so funny I couldn't put it down. Maralee dedicated the book to her cowboy husband, their children,...
Hello God, it's me, Mara: You know, Lord, yup – 'Mother's Day is past, but it's been fun listening to several old and young friends share about the mothers of some of their friends. Take G.L.'s mom for instance. She loved having her daughter's friends pop in for an overnight or a weekend. Seems like she also had a 'few' jobs for them to do while maybe G.L. just watched or went and played the piano while friend 1) ironed, or friend 2) cleaned out a cupboard and washed a DAY'S w...
Celebrating Our Dedicated Nurses: Nurses are often likened to the heartbeat of the hospital, embodying compassion and dedication at the front line of patient care. Our DMHA nurses proudly align with this assertion alongside other team members. Nurse’s week is our time of celebration, and it is celebrated every year the week of one of our historical founding nurse’s birthday “Florence Nightengale.” As we embark on Nurses Week, May 6 to May 12, it is with extraordinary pride and admiration that we extend our deepest gratitu...
May 6, 2024 The weather forecast for Capitol and Tie Creek had been that there would be rain every day. Somehow that prediction was completely wrong. The sun was out every day, and the few clouds dissipated. Sunday was so windy that it was almost impossible to be away from the shelter of a building, if you wanted to stay on your feet. Erma Albert had another attack of the coughing flu. By Wednesday, she was better, and went with Dick to do some shopping in the Hills. On Friday, they both went to the Senior Citizen dinner,...
Hello God, it's me, Mara: You know, Lord, it was special listening to several teens talk about their visit to a Rest Home, visiting a woman named Violet on Mother's Day. They said she smiled as they stopped in to visit with her. The hot, sticky, midday air came into her little group home unabated, but she didn't complain. Instead, she began wracking her mind for a song to sing. Then a huge smile appeared and she sang, "I am running, skipping, jumping, praising the LORD!" As...
Over the 27 years I have been writing this column, I have shared every Mother's Day anecdote from my life that you should be forced to endure, so I decided to research a few Mother's Day thoughts for you. In 1907, Anna M. Jarvis (1864-1948), a Philadelphia schoolteacher, began a movement to set up a national Mother's Day in honor of her mother, Ann Maria Reeves Jarvis. She solicited the help of hundreds of legislators and prominent businessmen to create a special day to honor...
Editor's note: The following was submitted by Eagle subscriber Ginger Harrington. The article originally appeared in "The Scuttlebutt," Spring of 2024 newsletter from the U.S. Orion Veterans Historical Organization. Harrington writes: "Some of us remember the cover of 'Life' magazine. I telephoned Robert and Suzi Huehn, editors of 'The Scuttlebutt,' and asked if I could submit this article to my local paper for reprint and they graciously gave me permission." Carl Muscarello,...
The hardest thing about being a weekly humor/recipe columnist for coming up on 29 years is getting my facts straight--especially when many of the facts are made up on the spot. I write what my family calls creative non-fiction. Some choose to call it downright rubbish. Generally that creativity does not get me into trouble with anyone except immediate family members who only tolerate me for food service and maid service anyway, but I manage to get into trouble in many other...
Hello God, it's me, Mara: You know, Lord, sometimes one comes across some very interesting reading. Author unknown, but mentioned that Craig and Lizzy had a regular 'Joke Night' with their four school-age children. Each child brought several jokes they'd read or heard (or made up themselves!) during the week to tell at the dinner table. This tradition created joyful memories of fun shared around the table. Craig and Lizzy noticed that laughter was healthy for their children,...
April 29, 2024 Capitol and Tie Creek were forecast to have 100 percent chance of rain on one day this week, but suddenly that was changed to 20 percent, and in reality I believe there wasn’t even one drop that day. Then the middle of the country got some mean tornadoes, that they could have done without. On Sunday, we woke to a ground fog, but that didn’t seem to wet the ground either. Diane Wear came from Ekalaka to Ronda Cordell’s, on Monday. She checked through the cow/calf pairs, to see if there were any issues with...
Hello God, it’s me, Mara: You know, Lord, some of us were chatting about our life when we were kids. One friend shared that when she was about 4 years old, her mom’s friend stopped by to visit. She said, “Even at my young age, I was chatty. That is, until Mom’s friend turned to me and said, ‘You have diarrhea of the mouth.’ “She might have said it with a smile on her face, as I don’t think she really meant to insult me, but her words felt like a gut punch – even way back then. I thought to myself, ‘I guess grow-ups want me to...
Another one of my teaching colleagues, Alice Bassett, has passed on to that big school in the sky where there is eternal duty free lunch. Alice's husband, Charlie Bassett, was my teaching partner for 23 years, and I taught with Alice until she retired. Alice was an amazing kindergarten teacher who suffered from very severe arthritis, which forced her to take early retirement. Although she lived with daily pain, she had an indomitable spirit. Before she came to Big Timber to...
