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Joe and Marj Schallenberger Joe continues his Shifting Scenes article with the statement: “in 1933 Mother passed away and with Floyd and Mildred married and Clyde working outside, he, his dad, and Etola stayed on the ranch.” Hard, tough years: “1934 caught us out of feed both in the stack and on the ground and we along with the majority were forced to sell our stock to the Government. Good cows brought $20.00 each and the poorer ones $16.00. They had to be delivered to the railroad at Marmarth, North Dakota — about seventy...
When our son was in junior high, his English teacher asked the students to write about someone they admired. Any mother would be flattered to think her adolescent son admired her. She might not be so flattered by the title of his essay. In bold print it read, “She Just Sits on Her Butt.” In a humorous way he was telling people about his mother who used a wheelchair. The reason I have spent over half a year now in a hospital is trying to heal those pressure sores that resulted from a bony bottom in a wheelchair. Instead of...
It is time for another Memories article and this time I have chosen a couple and family who were very close and special to Phyl and I. That couple was Joseph (Joe) and Marjorie (Marj) Schallenberger. “Shifting Scenes Vol. II” has an article written by Joe about his family homestead days, early school days, hardships, good times and bad. I found it interesting and it brought to life the changes that have occurred from his childhood until the present time. Also, I have some more information that was given to me before their pas...
It is Dr. Seuss's birthday this week, and it is celebrated as a major holiday in elementary schools across the nation. Though there are those who accuse him of being racist and sexist and every other "ist" there is, he was an amazing writer whose books have taught simple lessons to at least four generations of children. His simple rhymes contained powerful messages, so I decided to honor this great children's author with a poem that I really hope carries a palatable message to consumers and those in the beef industry....
Hello God, it’s me, Mara: You know, Lord, a book of devotions began each month with a three-line verse (author unknown) entitled Gifts of the Season. February’s gift was The Seed. [“Planted in winter’s dark womb, prayer seeds germinate, creating new growth.”] We were to trust You, Lord, working unseen, waiting quietly for answers to our prayers. The Wind is the Gift of the Season for March: (“Touch of Spirit’s breath offers lift to kites and prayers as March winds praise God.”). In March, we’re to pray that this month’s breez...
I heard on the radio the other day that children get their intelligence from their mothers. That might explain what has happened to my brain. Perhaps I drained part of it for the first child and the rest for the second. I can almost buy that theory--except for the fact that I have another theory that makes more sense to me: Susan's Full Brain Theory. I believe my brain is like a computer that has no memory left. My brain is full, and my folders cannot be compacted. In fact, my brain is so full that according to the bathroom...
Hello God, it’s me, Mara: You know, Lord, loneliness is no respect for persons; a group of us gals know that personally, having just met in a Support Group where we shared our thoughts and feelings. It was kind of surprising that even though we all are grieving, we each have a different feeling about loneliness; we each have a dissimilar point of view, but we all know that You, Lord, are there with us and for each one of us. Yes, ‘grief road’ is difficult, but we’re still traveling on. No matter what, many turn to ‘drink...
Hello God, it’s me, Mara: You know, dear Lord, the snow falls fast, Winter is on our mind. Icicles guard, the wind does moan, a warm place the birds can’t find. Sparkle of frost on windowsill recaps our childhood ‘view’; we’d ‘scratch’ frost off to take a peek – we saw a calf, brand new! Sometimes the sky is low and mean, snowflakes might cause a yawn; across the barn or through a rut, debates if it goes on. We’ve all been there, we’ve heard the noise, we know how Winter smells. We’ve seen the ‘look’ and felt the c...
The January 3rd issue of the Eagle had an article about the Montana Greats Project which was recently published in the Billings Gazette. This article invited Ekalaka people to give their opinions on the greatest athletes from Carter County. I contend that this would be very difficult to do correctly because of the different sports and the time differences, I was in Carter County High School from 1952 to 1956. If I had to pick the best five athletes of my era, I would pick, Bob Lasater, Tom McCamish, Buddy Morrison, Milton...
A heart attack is serious business, and time is of the essence. If you think you or someone you know is having symptoms of a heart attack, call 9-1-1 and seek help immediately! The most talked-about symptom of a heart attack is chest pain. On TV, chest pain is often portrayed as an excruciating, crushing pain in the center or left-of-center of the chest. However, chest pain may feel like pressure, squeezing, fullness, pain, or may even feel like heartburn or indigestion, and the pain may come and go. But many people who...
Several years ago, we decided that ranching for fun and not profit was not really working for us, so we decided to lop off a few acres with a view up the creek and down the Yellowstone and make money the old fashioned way--selling the rural lifestyle to folks determined to get out of town and return to their agrarian roots. Believe me, providing that opportunity is easier said than done! In the first year, we spent the $500.00 we had in our life savings account and a whole lot of the bank's money on surveying, consultant...
Since I am not as familiar with the great athletes in all of Carter County, I will focus on the great athletes that were born or raised in the Tie Creek area of the county. In the early years, most every community had a baseball team. For several decades a somewhat organized league of baseball was played. Lute Waterland was a pitcher that played mostly for the Capitol team, I believe. The Waterland family lived near Sheep Mountain. My dad talked about Lute as being the top pitcher of those days. He could put a lot of mustard...
Hello God, it’s me, Mara: You know, Lord, sometimes friends share interesting things that they’ve found on the ‘net’; take for instance, a penny. Who’d have thought that there was a day to celebrate a Lost Penny, which is the 12th of February. And who among us has not lost a penny or two – let alone found a penny somewhere, even in the grocery store parking lot. That was a special time as the ‘box boy’ was totally amazed when asked to pry it out of the frozen piece of ice. Did he ever smile when he heard: “See a penny – let i...
I share the copy machine at work with the Sweet Grass County Extension Agent, Marc King, so one day I found an interesting email mixed in with my pile of papers off the machine. It was a bulletin from MSU about a biomarker study of the effects of calving operations on osteoarthritis. Even though it wasn't my mail, I decided to read it to see what it was all about. Long story short, you can sign up to have your biomarkers for osteoarthritis checked before and during calving season during an on the ranch visit that tests your...
Hello God, it’s me, Mara: Horses were the means of transportation 80 years ago. A family with four girls had a big white horse named Daisy. These little girls loved all of their farm animals but especially Daisy as she was their means to get to their rural school, 3 ½ miles North of their home. Picture them, youngest to oldest, astride Daisy. Occasionally baby sister Donna got to visit school, too, rider number one on Daisy’s back. Prairie scene, besides various grasses, flowers, birds, it might include coyotes, gophers, badg...
February is American Heart Month! Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States. Every year, the deaths of 1 in 4 men and women are caused by heart disease. The term "heart disease" actually encompasses many different conditions – heart defects you are born with (congenital heart disease), coronary artery disease (plaque buildup in arteries), heart rhythm problems, weak heart muscle, diseases of the heart valves, and others. Heart disease, especially in t...
As the poets and pickers headed home from the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko Nevada this past week, I was sent a poem perfectly timed to the upcoming calving season. Trent Nelson is a cowboy poet who was born and raised in northeastern Colorado in the agricultural community of Yuma. He has worked in farming and ranching his whole life from the Rocky Mountains to the sand hills of Nebraska. He currently resides outside his hometown where he works on a large farm/yearling grazing operation. This poem puts cows and...
Hello God, it’s me, Mara: You know, Lord, the Bible states that GOD knows our purpose on this earth before we were ever born. In this age of options, opportunities, choices, and more, You Lord, of all creation, made us for a specific purpose and reason, so, in one sense, we can’t be just anything that we want to be. Now that is ‘food for thought’ right? We were formed and set apart for YOU. Part of our journey here on this earth is not to create our destiny, but to discover it. As we choose to connect with You, our maker, we...
Although the Green New Deal seems to have been abandoned, there is still a lot of talk on the 2020 election trail about other brain flashes such as student loan forgiveness. I marvel at this concept. I grew up frugal and green, because my parents were 40 years old when they got around to having me, so they were children during the Great Depression. When I went off to college, I worked at every job I could find both on and off campus. I borrowed very little money, and I asked my parents for very little money. We lived...
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is closely monitoring an outbreak of respiratory illness caused by a novel (new) coronavirus (named “2019-nCoV”) that was first detected in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China and continues to expand. Even though the 2019-nCoV represents a severe public health threat, the risk to individuals is dependent on exposure. For the general American public, who are unlikely to be exposed to this virus, the immediate health risk from the 2019-nCoV is considered LOW. Coronaviruses are...
Hello God, it’s me, Mara: You know, Lord, sometimes it’s pleasant to think back when we were just little kids and remember, now and then, how we’d pretend to be asleep, and watch for or wait for Mama to tiptoe in to check on us or just watch us as we slept. Every so often, one of us might have been ill and if that happened that we were sick, Mama would come in to check on us, or just sit and pray for us, telling us that she was joining the Lord as He watched over us as we slept. As we grew older, sometimes night time prayers...
I will continue on as reported in my last article. In 1910, the Scruggs family came to Ekalaka and filed on 320 acres on Rammey Creek about fourteen miles south of Ekalaka. After a couple of hard years, a house was built and then enlarged, wells and cellars dug and chickens and a milk cow bought. Teams that plowed gardens and did farming helped create abundant garden produce for the family and some to the neighbors. More land was acquired and cattle were raised. Also, the family increased as Mary, who came with them from...
I just love those helpful hint columns and books full of tips on how to remove every stain known to man or cure anything from warts to arthritis with a home remedy. Sometimes though, I have to question the effectiveness and efficiency of the remedies and helpful hints. I have actually had less than miraculous results with many of those tips. A tomato juice bath is supposed to be the cure-all for skunk spray. Do you know how much a tomato juice bath for a small boy costs? It was $92.00 cheaper and much less stressful just to...
I am going to start this article a little different by presenting names of a few individuals who I received cards, Christmas letters or phone calls from during the Christmas season. I felt these names may bring back special memories of school mates, relatives or long lost friends to you readers. See if you can remember some of them: Kay (Schnieder) Brown, Harlen Wash, Harlen Yates, Judy (Yates) Grismore, Marlee (LaBree) Askin, Tom Tooke, Don & Tunk Pulse, Mary Ellen (Townsend) Samola, Marlene (Figg) Tesch, Willard Padden,...
The most challenging cooking jobs I have ever had were my many years of wilderness camp cooking in the Scapegoat Wilderness for Brett and Julie Todd. Every time I rode out of camp, I would marvel that I had kept all those people fed under extreme conditions for a week with no opportunity to restock supplies. You see, at home I am one of those people who goes to the grocery store every day. One morning while I was cooking biscuits and gravy in the Meadow Creek Camp, one of the guides recounted a tale about my camp cooking coun...
