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Hello God, it’s me, Mara: You know, Lord, it’s interesting when a friend shares a motivating article or a feeling she may have about what she’s dealing with in life - so here goes. She mentioned the distressed disciples over the predominant blast buffering their boat, and how they woke Jesus and He quickly addressed the raging wind and waves: “Quiet! Settle down”! (Mark 4:39). The storm stopped! ‘E.V.’ continued. “You know what? That translation of Jesus’ words caught my attention. ‘Settle down.’ You know, I first heard t...
I will have been writing a weekly column for 27 years this June. The best part about being a columnist is reading my mail. Sometimes I get “fan mail” that I use to fan the fire in the wood stove, but usually I get really nice comments and fuel for my column instead of the fire. Two such pieces of mail arrived recently. One sweet letter, which came from T.J. Cheetham of Cloverdale Ranch in Redstone, Montana, sorted itself to the top of the pile by explaining that he and his wife of 58 years totally relate to my stories. His...
Hello God, it’s me, Mara: You know, Lord, recently a friend shared how her grandkids helped her discover that she was making no effort at all to express joy and happy feelings when she spoke to them, or even to the rest of her family. She shared that one little granddaughter was so excited when she knew that her Grandma had made them some lemonade to have for lunch. She said that she noticed ‘Mary’ was breathless and so excited, that it even took her breath away! And another day, how happy her grandson was when Grandpa had fo...
We just celebrated Dr. Seuss’s birthday, so it is time for what has become my annual tradition—my Dr. Seuss Whoville poem. Probably every generation feels that the overall moral and ethical state of the world is declining at breakneck speed, but we have two choices. We can either sit and wring our hands, or we can speak out against and fight it! The Whoville State of the Union: The Whos down in Whoville are led by Joe, A man who is senile, incompetent, and slow. Yet Joe has great vision for the masses. Looking through his...
Hello God, it’s me, Mara: Thank You, dear Lord, for our great guys; neighbors, family, and friends. They come when called or just show up –they’ve helped us through our ‘bends’. They’re likable and merry, too, they’re popular and blessed. It’s fun to have them visit us, they care and they’re the best. They’re friendly guys, devoted, too; sensible and supreme, Occasionally, they share a meal and some do like ice cream. Some ‘arty’ ones just love to paint, they’re thoughtful, skillful, good. And some are strong and help a lot b...
The thermometer reads 17 below this morning, but I am in a wonderful mood, because I am fleeing from the tundra of Montana for a few days in Arizona. My torn hamstring has healed enough from doing the spilled dog water splits four weeks ago, and we are sunshine bound. We had previously been banned from going anywhere right before calving, so I am keeping my fingers crossed that the warm up is coming and no calves will come early. The pre-calving travel ban was put into effect five years ago by our son, Bret, who had a...
Many years ago I met this woman, I had drove off the road from Ekalaka Park, Ted and her drove us out to get my yellow pickup back on the road, It was an embarrassing way to meet, but Darlene was a woman of humor, and all was good, we laughed, her’s was such a memorable laugh, Throughout the years she showed genuine care for many, the Alzada Grade School comes to mind, a school teacher like my mother, Those times in Alzada took me back to my childhood, it drenched me with familiarity, it cemented my appreciation for D...
Hello God, it’s me, Mara: You know, Lord, one can certainly be caught off guard if someone asks us, “What has God done for you today?” Our minds freeze, that’s almost like a pop-quiz teachers like to give, right? That question keeps one thinking about You all day, Lord. We notice Your fingerprints, Your goodness and faithfulness or more specific things like a glorious sunrise, lovely colorful sunsets, finding a penny in a parking lot or a favored item on sale at the grocery store, or even a hug from a child. Old or young,...
This year for the first time in 41 years, I will not be a participant in inducing trauma in children. Since I have retired as an educator, I will not be involved in the spelling bee. All across the country, kids are being traumatized not by cyber bullying or the Pythagorean theorem, but for another reason--they are good spellers. Yes, in preparation for the National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. in June, almost every county in every state is hosting a chamber of horrors for their best and brightest. Most adults have a tale...
My last article was on the J.G. (June) Olson and Harry Roberts families and stated how Harry loved baseball as did his son Gary. Gary has contacted me and triggered memories of another homestead family. That family was Charles F. “Chuck” and Maude O. Welch. Lucile (Welch) Venhaus is the author of the article on the family in “Shifting Scenes, Vol II,” page 919. The article shares a very interesting history of them and their children. “Both my parents, Charles (Chuck) and Maude O. Wilson Welch were born in Iowa, grew up i...
I have a love affair with Ekalaka and Carter County. Compared with my entire life I didn’t spend much time there but it is embedded way down deep in my soul. Every time that I go there it is brought back to the forefront of my mind again. What is it about the area that affects me that way? I think that first of all, it is the area itself. We lived in several places near Ekalaka and I really liked all of them. I think that my favorite was what we called the Opechee Park place. Jesse LaBree referred to it once as the Kinsey p...
Hello God, it’s me, Mara: You know, Lord, A silly Calendar has a ‘Know-It-All’ on every single day, so, a glance showed that the other day was ‘Hot Tea Day’. We didn’t even notice that, but Hot Tea is what we had. Then there’s a Gumdrop Day; maybe some grandkids would be delighted in doing that! Pizza Day would be a great day to share some with busy working friends; we might have to check into that, right? A friend suggested that there was probably also a ‘Make A Special Soup Day’. We didn’t look that one up but it was a remi...
During this last month before calving begins, we are enjoying normal dinner hours and having an actual bedtime as we count down the days until calving starts and that all changes. I love calving season now, because I am pretty much a second string player in the calving barn. Since we have an adult son as a partner on the ranch, I don’t often get called out in the middle of the night or during a blizzard--unless for some reason they are really hard up for help or really tired. Primarily my function has become providing f...
Hello God, it’s me, Mara: You know, Lord, sometimes one sees Love being shared. One day, while waiting for an appointment, an older lady was checking out, a gentleman came in, greeted the guy at the desk, who greeted him, ‘Hey, Joe – I’ll be just a moment’. The manager asked the older lady if he should help her out to her car. Joe spoke up, “It’s icy out there, my grandson said to be careful, so I’ll walk her out, I know where the ice is”. The lady prepared to go, took ‘Joe’s’ arm, and whispered, ‘He’s my grandson.’ Off...
I grew up in the Sun River Canyon northwest of Great Falls and thus Malmstrom Air Force Base. All the years I was growing up, a nuclear war with Russia was an ever-present threat. Our friends, the Mergenthals, who lived right by Gibson Dam had a warehouse full of dry food provided by the USDA in the event of a nuclear war. The Glory Hole (dam overflow) was a bomb shelter. I grew up thinking that some day there might be an alarm that sent us into the Glory Hole of Gibson Dam with all that food in the warehouse to keep us...
This time I am going to share some history on a business, its early time owner and some of his family. Some recent phone calls with Gary Roberts triggered my thoughts for this article. The individual was J.G. (June) Olson, his wife Henrietta and the business, Olsen Drug. Their daughter, Beverly (Olsen) Roberts, wrote their story in “Shifting Scenes, Vol. II,” page 648. “J.G. (June) Olsen came to Montana from Iowa in 1895 with his brother Clarence. He was thirteen and his brother fifteen. They started working at the TD Ranch...
I will have been retired for one month this week, and somehow retirement is not working out like I thought it would. Perhaps the reason is that I retired from the only job where I actually received a salary. My bosses at my other jobs have not acknowledged my announcements regarding retirement. In fact, at my County School Superintendent retirement party, my husband gifted me with a state of the art rechargeable high powered LED spotlight so I will be able to illuminate the entire barnyard while night checking the heifers....
Hello God, it’s me, Mara: You know, Lord, when we were just little kids out on the ranch, far from town or neighbors, Grandpa, then a widower, lived out of state, made trips out to see us. Grandpa usually brought along a small paper or wooden wall-hanging with one of his favorite Bible verses. Throughout the years, the verses from Grandpa hung in Dad and Mom’s bedroom, several in the room for us girls and one in the living room. We were all pretty little back then but Grandpa would hold little sister or our new baby brother a...
Returning to Carter Co. February 21 and February 22 is the Smiles Across Montana (SAM) team! This is a great opportunity to access local preventative dental care for school aged kids. It is open to all home, country, or public schooled students. Already see a dentist? SAM’s work is a way to enhance not replace a dental care relationship. No dentist yet? No problem! Not required or necessary in order to be seen by the SAM team. It’s just about taking care of oral health for kiddos. Check out important details including the dea...
I have gone on record as a proponent of global warming--especially when the thermometer dips below zero. Following December’s storm dubbed Storm Elliott, which brought record low temperatures to Montana and Wyoming, I am starting to wonder if global warming activists like Greta Thunberg, Al Gore, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are so full of hot air that they have mistaken their core temperatures for global warming. We just survived the coldest December temperatures on record with a record low of negative 50 degrees in Elk Park...
Hello God, it’s me, Mara: You know, Lord, that word ‘TIME’ -- now that is an appropriate word for another new decade which, more or less, has already begun, right? Checking out the dictionary, we view lists of numerous definitions. No matter what our status is or what our opinion of the word is, an equal amount the “time” is given to each one of us, every single day. People like to speak of time as ‘spending’ it, as though there is an endless reserve of time; and some of us folks simply like to live that way, right! Your w...
Hello God, it’s me, Mara: You know, Lord, it’s only a few days into the New Year and how fun to snuggle under a nice thick blanket in my quiet-time chair, looking forward to these silent moments with You, Lord, in the wee hours of a, so far, untouched year. The fireplace dances a gentle glow into the room’s darkness. In the dim light, shelves filled with photos, books, mementos and other things, are reminders of an abundant life. Sitting now with You, Lord, it’s interesting to review the year that has just passed. We go over...
This past weekend, I attended a natural cheese making workshop presented by Allison Cooley Agee, and the take-away for me is that cheese making is extremely labor intensive. There are so many steps and so many pitfalls to avoid that my cheeses would have to sell for at least $20.00 per pound to make it a profitable venture. I applaud people like Allison who make amazing raw milk cheeses, but since I am basically lazy, I think I will just stick to buying cheese instead of making it. The experience did remind me of an old...
I am going to continue on the old Ekalaka business places, people and locations. My next business on main street was the Pickard Market owned by Charles and Victoria Pickard. I am going to spend some time on this family which is given in Shifting Scenes Vol. II pages 689-690. If you have this book, read it. Charles was born in England and at age 16 came to the United States. In 1910 he decided to go West and reached Belle Fourche, South Dakota where he found no employment. He...
Technology never ceases to amaze me! Not only have they invented cars which drive themselves (something I am going to need very soon, and my family might argue that I need right now), but drones are going to change the way we live and play. They now have drones which will deliver beer from shoreline bars out to ice fishermen in their huts. The beer is ordered and paid for using an app, and quicker than you can burn your bratwurst on the hut barbecue, your cold beer is delivered right to your hut with the aid of GPS! Long...
