Your Community Builder
Your Community Builder
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My last article told of the Donald family building two houses to accommodate the growing family which now amounted to twelve children. The second house had four rooms built in an "L" shape, built out of hewed logs. Jessie May (daughter) gives information and "highlights" of the Donald life on the homestead in the Ridge community which i would like to share. "My dad enjoyed farming and working with horses. He planted feed crops, oats, and corn. He would tell of the first time...
Hello God, it’s me, Mara: You know, Lord, a little blurb told how a Grandpa developed a delicious jelly using a powdered grape drink. He even won some blue ribbons at the country fair. He sat at the table spreading a half-inch thick serving of jelly on his toast when his wife asked him if he didn’t think that was a little much, to which he replied, “I made it. I guess I can have as much as I want.” Hummmm, we thought, what about those little crabapples out there on that tree, just begging to be made into ‘someth...
Hello, Shirley has been happily married for well over forty years. I know a lot of you realize that she is a lucky woman, but I have to remind her once in awhile. We started producing rodeos the day after our wedding. And we produced rodeos for many years. Amateur, high school, college rodeos, and lots of jackpots. But all things must come to an end. So a number of years ago, we decided to hang it up. We had lost all the money we could. But we had to keep a few of the best old mares around. Then we bought a bucking stud and...
This article is about a couple and family that a few of you knew and maybe a few will remember. I decided to write about George and Elizabeth Donald after he was mentioned in the recent Beltz article. “Shifting Scenes Vol. I” has an interesting and informative article about them written by Jessie May Donald Burns, a daughter, who was married to Richard (Dick) Burns. I feel you will enjoy the history and life of this couple and family. There is enough information for two or three articles so bear with me. Jessie writes: “Georg...
Hello God, it’s me, Mara: You know Lord, it’s time to dig out the comforters tucked away when summer arrived; we’ll fluff them up, air them out and put them on the beds so that we’ll be nice and warm and comfortable. When we were kids at home, Mom made comforters; she pieced tops into lovely designs. Sometimes she used a pattern; sometimes she’d just sew material pieces together. Daddy made a quilting ‘frame’ consisting of four, one by fours on which he tacked narrow canvas strips. These four wooden boards were then placed o...
Hello God, it’s me, Mara: You know, Lord, a long time ago there was a ‘story’ about the local economy in a small-town having troubles so they invited a successful businessman to come speak to them. Picture the scene: the ‘speaker’ places a large piece of white paper on an easel and makes a red dot in the center of it; then asked the group of folks, “What do you see?” One person responds, “I see a red dot.” The speaker said, “Fine, but what else do you see?” Others chimed in, “A red dot.” The speaker asked, “Don’t you see any...
Hello, Did I ever tell you about my military career? If I did, I’m sorry, because you are going to hear about it again. You see, I was in the Guard. The National Guard. A long, long time ago. Back in the day. As cowboys say, “Back when the chutes were wood, and the men were steel.” Bob was, and is, a close friend of mine. Since we were both farm and ranch guys, we often partook in events following drill that made us a bit slow in the morning. I apologize, but it happens. One Sunday morning we were a bit tardy for roll call. N...
Editor's note: The following is the second of a multi-part column written by Thomas J. Elpel, the founder of Green University® LLC in Pony, Montana and the author of seven books. His video "Dugout Canoe Carving: The Story of Belladonna Beaver" has had more than one million views on YouTube. Go to www.Elpel.info to learn more about the expedition and the fundraising effort for the Jefferson River Canoe Trail. June 5, 2019 - "This little fleet altho' not quite so...
Harold reports on some of the winter and spring snowstorms that sheep ranching and other activities can experience. They are remembered forever. I will share a couple of them. “On May 1, 1967 we had a terrible storm. There were 32 inches of snow on the level, I had ewes and lambs scattered all over. Some made it to the shed and some were covered up. A horse couldn’t travel at all. I finally fixed up a pair of skis and wrapped them with baler twine and that way I could get around some. I saved a lot of them and a lot of the...
Hello, Do you remember when that elderly lady from Grand Forks that became an international star because she wrote columns about restaurants? She was a wonderful writer and a delight to listen to. I’ve always enjoyed eating. You know that. And to me, there is no meal that is complete without meat. Usually beef. But sometimes I’ll eat a pig or a chicken. Drummies are good at happy hour. Bacon is for breakfast. But most of the time, it’s beef. In southwest North Dakota, there are not a lot of steakhouses. You can visit the C...
Hello God, it’s me, Mara: You know, Lord, it seems like just about everyone knows that this month and the next three months all end with a ‘brr’ and our friend shivered when she mentioned it. We all know that our weather will soon be getting colder as the days/weeks slip away. It’s great to know that our ‘time’ of days, nights, weeks, months and years are Your invention, Lord, and that the seventh day is for rest. Oh - and the moon - one advent and exit and we could call it the silvery moon circuit. Full moon is coming up a...
Hello, It’s September. September mind you. You put up hay in June and July. Not September. In September, if you farm, you combine. If you ranch, you give calves fall shots. You clean your pens out. You weld up broken gates and line up feed bunks. You pull your bulls from the pasture and practice swearing at them. You don’t hay. Not normally. I’m not a religious person. Oh, I was an alter boy for a lot of years when I was a kid. I still maintain that if it hadn’t been for Schlitz beer and girls, I may have gone into the pri...
Hello God, it’s me, Mara: You know, Lord, as the season rapidly changes into Autumn, we notice that the birds are preparing to leave. A friend reminded me of a story she had heard about a bird’s nest under the railroad tracks. She remembered in the story that the mother bird was sitting peacefully on her eggs and appeared undisturbed by the roar of the fast trains above and around her. Friend D. L. then recited the little verse she recalled that had gone along with this ‘story’; author is unknown. “Said the robin to the sp...
Continuing on with memories on the Frank, Harold, and Ken Beltz families In 1928 Harold went into the ranching business for himself when he leased the Red Porter place next to his dad, bought four work horses and put in a crop of oats for hay. Shortly after he went to work for J.O. Brownfield building fences. Yes, as you would guess, it was all by hand labor digging holes and whatever was needed. He went home to put up his hay but returned and worked for Brownfield until fall. This brought about buying 20 head of calves from...
Editor's note: The following is the first of a multi-part column written by Thomas J. Elpel, the founder of Green University® LLC in Pony, Montana and the author of seven books. His video "Dugout Canoe Carving: The Story of Belladonna Beaver" has had more than one million views on YouTube. Go to www.Elpel.info to learn more about the expedition and the fundraising effort for the Jefferson River Canoe Trail. May 30, 2019 - "We are now several hundred miles within the bosom...
Sorry it has been so long since I have written a memory article, but the summer has been filled with unexpected activities. I will not bore you with them. This article will be about two early Carter County homesteaders, their families, places of residence, raising livestock, cattle trailing, winter storms, etc. My information is taken from “Shifting Scenes Vol.1” and was written by Harold Beltz who has a couple of pages about his dad’s family, his life, and other family activities. I will start with his dad. Frank Beltz...
Hello God, it’s me, Mara: It’s back to school for young and old, a happy day for some! Buy needed things, supplies and clothes, which is the rule of ‘thumb.’ They tackle fear which some kids have but most know school is fun! Good thoughts – good sleep; take it easy – then you’ll know that you’ve won! School buses came to help parents, ‘round ‘bout 1915. Bright yellow was the ‘color’ choice, and ‘Keep the busses clean’. Imagine keeping cars off roads, some ‘millions’ every year! That sure saves folks some ‘bucks’ on gas – you...
Hello, I'm not sure how this will go. I'm writing on a borrowed computer and sitting on a box. So if somewhere in the middle of this article, I drift off and don't get it finished, so be it. I'm not very techy. If that is even a word. I never was a real techy guy. When I was much, much younger my friends were a lot handier than I. They would talk about car stuff. They would talk about 4 barrels and dual exhaust. They would talk rpm and gear ratios. I could drive a 4 speed pickup or a 2 ton truck with a load of grain. And I...
Hello God, it’s me, Mara: You know, Lord, sometimes the wind moans and groans and whistles as it gently flaps the curtains at the open window which we like to have open a bit during this Summer Season. We know some older folks who in fact seem to know how to read the moods and moans and sighs of the wind – but for sure, that talent didn’t get to all of us. Uneven heating of the atmosphere by sun energy causes wind or air, which makes for circulation – that’s what one ‘guy’ in the know mentioned. That was most interesting!...
Hello, If you’ve been reading my column over the years, you know how I appreciate county fairs. Not the big State Fairs. The little county fairs where you can see who in the neighborhood has the nicest garden, the best welder, the coolest photographs, and which 4-H club has put in the most work. The two county fairs I still love to attend are the Harding County Fair in Camp Crook, SD., and the Slope County Fair in Amidon, ND. We attended the Harding County Fair this past weekend. And I have to brag a little. Our grandkids d...
Hello God, it’s me, Mara: You know, Lord, it was surprising to discover that some of us have incorrect blinking habits. There are even exercises designed to develop correct blinking so that the fluid movement of the eyelids prevents dry eyes. That’s when ‘time’ or seconds become real. One learns correct blinking as in: relax, close eyes, count three seconds, open eyes, count two seconds, repeat. Another exercise is: shut eyes, flutter the lids but don’t OPEN your eyes, flutter and count slowly to 100. The Devotiona...
Hello, You can feel Fall is in the air. Oh, I know we’ve had some hot days. And the summer thundershowers have been rolling through the Dakotas at a pretty steady pace. But the nights have been cool and we had one morning in the forties this past week. It will get hot again, but you can see fall is getting close. Now, with fall getting close, you have kids getting ready for school. I think football was invented to make young boys more anxious to go back to school. Especially if you live in Harding County, South Dakota. The R...
Hello God, it’s me, Mara: You know, Lord, now and then ‘things’ just happen that are very pleasing to the eyes – well, maybe pleasing to all of our senses. One can’t help but pause and simply stand in wonderment about Your creation. It really is a shame we don’t notice the happenings daily, or even hourly, but we don’t. We take things for granted; as though they were our ‘due’, and are ‘there’, specifically for our well-being. Lately, several such days and special events passed before us; let’s call them actions or special...
Depending on your point of view, the summer is either beginning, half over or nearly done. Recent graduates of both high school and college probably wish summer would never end and people would stop asking them what's next. Neither will happen, of course. A graduate's next step is getting a career, a job or a clue. The following is a tutorial for anyone who has thought working in the fish, wildlife and parks field would be just swell. Coulees don't look steep until you are at...
Hello, I don’t often make mistakes. Well, actually I do. I’ve been making mistakes for seventy years. Some grievous, some not so bad. I made a mistake a week ago. I figured I was done haying. I’ve been haying for several weeks. I put some hay up too wet. I put some hay up too dry. In between I baled up a few bales that were probably just right. I don’t know which ones they were, but I’ll bet the cows eat every bale I feed next winter. They aren’t fussy when it is twenty below and a brisk wind blowing. I mentioned to a friend...
