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Hello God, it’s me, Mara: You know, Lord, sometimes we just need to say “Thank You, Lord” for being so good to us, for always being so loving and kind. It’s a necessity to speak out and tell others that we are redeemed, that we are saved from our enemies. In Your Word, we read how the exiles were brought back from the far corners of the earth. They cried out for help and You, Lord, led them straight to safety and to a place to live. So, do we, in this day and age when all sorts of troubles seem to bombard us every which w...
Hello God, it’s me, Mara: You know, Lord, sometimes when we’re hungry, memory kicks in and a scent seems to drift by us, makes us ‘think’ of our Mommy baking bread. Yum! Our Mom was the best baker in our neighborhood – just ask any of the neighbors! Even when Mom’s sisters would visit us once in a blue moon, they’d tell Mom that the bread she made tasted so good; “Just like their own dear Mother made; so, could I please have another slice?” Miniature loaves of Zucchini bread that an out of town friend brought over to share ...
by Susan Metcalf One of the nicest compliments I receive is when readers tell me that they have hung my column on their refrigerator or mailed it to someone (often anonymously) to try to make a point humorously and semi-tactfully. Since we are going into the holiday feast season, I am often asked to re-run my house rules for holidays that might serve as a gentle reminder of family dinner etiquette. However, this year is like no other year, so these have been adapted for Covid Holidays! Grouchy Grandma's House Rules for the...
Parent teacher conferences are traditionally held at this time of year, but this Covid year many of those conferences will be postponed or held via telephone, Zoom, or Google Meets. The parents of the high achieving kids always show up eager to discuss their child's progress, but the parents that you would really like to meet to give you some insight into their children's behavior are sometimes reluctant to show up. My hat goes off to all of the teachers out there conferencing with parents about their most prized...
Hello God, it’s me, Mara: You know, Lord, good deeds DO happen. Monday at the Post Office, an older chap was limping with a cane headed to the door, a young guy came in, held the door for the older man, asked him if he needed any help. The older man paused, looked at the young guy, smiled, thanked him for holding the door, and said he was doing OK, a lot better than he was ‘last week’. The younger guy watched to see that the older chap got to his car; when around the corner came a gal with a baby in her arms and a packa...
My last article tells of Mrs. Quam, and of the letters she and Ruth received while the four boys were in the service. Now I would like to give you readers more history and information on this family and as stated, seven children were born-- six boys and one girl. Ruth the daughter, wrote the Shifting Scenes article and has an article in the April 8, 1960 Ekalaka Eagle. I am going to use information from both. "Arthur, oldest son, was born in Deadwood and came to Montana as a...
Hello God, it’s me, Mara: You know, Lord, we all need to behave wisely. The word solace [or comfort] is found/described in Your Word, several times in chapters 10-12 of Ecclesiastes. It’s a word that’s meant to bring comfort and relief; sharing a few examples: Quoting from verse 1 of chapter 10: “Dead flies will cause even a bottle of perfume to stink! Yes, a small mistake can outweigh much wisdom and honor. Herein lies wisdom for dear ones, would they but listen, “It is a wonderful thing to be alive! If a person lives to...
With Covid restrictions in place, it is more important than ever this year to remember to honor Veteran's Day next Wednesday, I hope you will take time to honor all of the Veterans in your community. In our Big Timber, Montana community, we have an amazing World War II Veteran, whom I would like to give special honor this week, Virgil Gust. Ninety-nine year old Virgil Gust is the proprietor of Gust’s Department Store on McLeod Street in Big Timber, Montana. Every day Virgil climbs the steep steps to his office in the loft o...
Hello God, it’s me, Mara: Relaxing day with a bit of snow, MORE SNOW is on the way. So, we’ll just wait, putter a bit; shovel another day. Twould be so fun if girlfriends came, but they’d have to fight ice! However, they moved out of town; memory of them is nice. We could think back some years ago, when two gals paid a call. Of course, that day, there was no snow, for it was early FALL! Now those two gals, are all alone, but they know how to share, Their hubby’s left, gone on ahead, these gals know how to care. “Play u...
Hello, It’s been quite awhile since I’ve let you know how Shirley and I are doing. We are both healthy and hope that you are too. In fact, I’m so healthy it is bordering on obese, but that’s another story. I’ve often told you how Shirley cleans up real well, but most days, especially this time of year, I prefer to see her dressed in a stocking cap, Carhart coveralls, Handy Andy gloves, and mud boots. Because we are feeding cows and calves. Last week we had a deal happen that I just had to let you know about. You see, we are f...
Their daughter Ruth has some memories and descriptions of her mother I would like to share. “Mrs. Quam spoke of the times on the ranch when they didn’t know where their next sack of flour was coming from, but they managed to get by. She often told how she would mend clothes and then re-mend them, as there was no money for new things at the time.” Ruth also comments that Mrs. Quam was essentially a home loving person, a fine character with strong devotion to her family. Another memory of the area: Mr. Quam and some of his n...
As I sit here tonight looking out at the 20 plus inches of snow coating everything, I have to believe that this might slow the buying frenzy of out of state buyers who have flocked to Montana from highly populated areas. Almost as soon as things began to open up in Montana after the shut down, our state has been inundated by visitors looking to just hang out or buyers snapping up property in our beautiful state. Some of them might be rethinking that decision this week. We have had a couple outbreaks of nasty winter already...
Hello God, it’s me, Mara: You know, Lord, sometimes when several of us gals gather together, depending on the season, or the reason for our gathering, we usually chuckle when we share, when we ‘remember when’. Some younger gals don’t recall when or IF Grandma OR Mom hung clothes upon the line, but they thought this was a good poem to share; so here we go, a poem about ‘way back when’; author unknown, but a few of us DID remember when. POEM: A clothesline was a news forecast to neighbors passing by. There were no secrets you c...
As the election draws nearer, I feel compelled to point out that Joe Biden’s 4 trillion dollar tax plan would raise taxes on all of our households both in life and at death, according to analysis by the Tax Policy Center. Biden has set his sights on all estates including businesses, farms, and ranches, but he is taking a different tack from merely raising rates on wealth transfer. He proposes to levy a tax on unrealized appreciation of assets passed on at death. “When someone dies and the asset transfers to an heir, that tran...
Hello God, it’s me, Mara: You know, Lord, Fall is certainly in the air - just enough to make our blood strum; so, we know that it is time to tidy up for the coming winter. Town or country, cabin or mansion, postage-stamp garden or farm year. Reading from Eccl 3: 1-11a, we discover that: 1. There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: 2. a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, 3. a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to b...
The general season for elk and deer is starting. This means that many hunters are contemplating robbing a bank or at least a convenience store to make ends meet AND stay within the hunting budget their wife has given them. You see, phonier than any hunting or fishing story you have ever heard is the myth that hunting saves money. At our house, the hunters definitely boost the local economy and the economy of several brick and mortar sporting goods stores and a couple online sites. I figure that every meal of wild game we...
Hello God, it’s me, Mara: You know, Lord, the wind! Is it forever the Wind? It’s hard to have an excess of praise as the windy air crisps the skin and cracks the lips. It’s not quite that bad right now, but one day it surely felt like the foehn wind that came right out of the book, “Wolf Willow’ by Wallace Stegner, which we quote: “The wind that hundreds of miles to the west started up the mountains warm and wet had dropped its moisture on the heights and then came down on our side, totally wrung dry….dry and gaining tempe...
I really am not a Tweeter. In fact, I do not have a Twitter account, but I do love to write fake Tweets. In fact, there is a special holiday coming up that positively screams for fake Tweets. Columbus Day is my favorite holiday of the year. It is the perfect holiday because you don’t have to buy cards or gifts for it, decorate for it, cook for the celebration, or even gather all of the family together for it. It is just a day off for some of us. There are no Columbus Day traditions that must be observed. It is a truly s...
I realized the other day that I had a drug problem when I was growing up. I saw a meme regarding this topic on Facebook, and I realized I indeed had a drug problem. We were drug to church, family functions, and community socials. We were drug by our ears and maybe drug to the woodshed if we disobeyed or disrespected anyone. We were drug to the sink for a mouthwash if we used profanity. We were drug out of bed to do our chores seven days of the week. We were drug to the homes of family, friends, the elderly, or the less...
Hello God, it’s me, Mara: You know, Lord, ‘Twas exciting to discover, after reading various excerpts from GOD’S CALENDAR, written by William A Quayle, some very interesting opinions and viewpoints about the month October – so fascinating, just had to share, therefore, here we go! “The month of October is called the Aster month, Indian Summer month, wan/pale month of dimmed sky and drooping eyelids and leaf-a-flutter, falling but loath to fall – chaste/faithful October, with thy starry aster fields in tryst with Thee. “Aste...
Hello God, it’s me, Mara: You know, Lord, during this Pandemic time, the passing away of dear ones just ‘feels’ different than it used to, a long while ago. As we grieve for friends who have recently passed on, it was truly most interesting to reread 2 Cor 5:1-10, to ‘learn’ a bit about our future! We read: “For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. 2 Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dw...
Chorus: The jaws of a beast, One looked at when entering. The man who created it, Marshall Lambert - small town genius. He only walked to work, striding away. Mr. Lambert was a true American. I sat up front, In Sophomore science class. Talk of early horses, Two toes or three, Fossils in the County, Mr. Lambert knew. Chorus: The jaws of a beast, One looked at when entering. The man who created it, Marshall Lambert - small town genius. He only walked to work, striding away. Mr. Lambert was a true American. He had twin boys,...
Chris Young had a hit country song a few years back entitled "I Hear Voices", and I think it was written for me! The first line is, "You can say I'm a little bit crazy. You can call me insane." Of course, these things are true, but he goes on to describe these voices of his ancestors in his head. Not only do I have those, but it is fall cattle working season so I am dealing with voices ringing loudly in my ears--despite my suggestion a few columns back that masks would help muffle the sounds of families working cattle. There...
The early rifle season elk hunters headed into the back country this week, and there is a chill of fall in the air. I heard a bull elk bugle last night, and my heart longs for hunting camp, but my "town job" and my aching joints remind me that I probably better leave the wilderness camp cooking to the next generation. Nevertheless, I find myself thinking back over thousands of great memories of almost twenty years of camp cooking for Brett and Julie Todd at the K Lazy Three. Sure, there were ten below nights, getting up at...
After learning that ‘Tony’ Quam and his wife Maria both came from Norway, I learned that they got married in Yankton, South Dakota and moved to Deadwood, South Dakota where Tony worked for the Homestake Mining Co., in the shops. A strike by the union shut down the work and after information from Peter Sjoblor to Anton and two friends, they decided to check out the homestead land near Ekalaka. Oh yes — June Olsen and his wife Henrietta, his daughter Beverly and son-in-law Harty T. Roberts ran the Drug Store until 1955 when...
