Your Community Builder
Your Community Builder
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Hello, I enjoy looking at pictures. Whether they are in an album, on a smartphone, or in book on the coffee table. I enjoy seeing the pictures of families that come on the Christmas cards we receive. If you haven’t gotten our card yet, don’t worry, for the 48th, or maybe 49th year in a row, they are lost in the mail. I often wonder how many marriages get off to a rocky start because of pictures. You know. It’s 115 above. Hot and humid. The bride and groom are dressed in the most uncomfortable attire. The father of the bride...
When I was a very young child I remember my mom wrapping dozens of packages at Christmas. A big box filled with them went to Kansas where sisters and parents lived. Her brothers moved around with their families before settling in Texas. The presents were never large; men would often get socks, and women received gloves. But everyone received a gift, especially children. One year my mother worked part time at a five and ten cent store, wrapping packages. Those were the years before packaged bows. She learned to make beautiful...
It seems to take a while after sunrise now for birds to gather at the bird feeder by the kitchen window. On winter mornings like those recently, when the temperature struggled to rise much above zero, the chickadees, house finches and English house sparrows didn't show up until half an hour after sunrise. I don't blame them; winter mornings are meant for sleeping in. All animals that spend at least part of their lives in Montana, inside those man-made boundaries we call state...
I haven’t written a story for the Eagle recently and I thought some of you might want to know what I have been up to. My daughter Brenda, recently got a job in Sacramento in the field that she was in before she came up here to help me with her mother’s health. After Joanne’s death, Brenda and I threw our lots in together and we will live together, probably for the rest of my life. She was trying hard, but her online business, dyeing and selling yarn, was not doing as well as it used to so she went back to work. It is hard...
When we lived on the farm, my dad would always cut our tree from a forested hillside. The sizes varied with the years. Our old farmhouse had 10 ft. ceilings, and one year the tree he harvested touched the ceiling. Mom and dad started stringing the lights; they ended up using the larger, outdoor lights closer to the bottom. It took every ornament we had. We only put up the tree on Christmas Eve, and it stayed up well into the new year. By waiting until Christmas Eve, the kids had something to do while their Christmas...
Hello God, it’s me, Mara: You know, Lord, here’s an interesting Bible Verse for this season from Psalm 62:5: “My soul waits silently for God alone, for my expectations are from Him.” As we practice Your Presence, Lord, we can expect. A story is told of a mother who expects: she expects it’s going to be a bright day; she expects to hear from a family member; she expects her lima beans are sprouting and that it will be an early spring; she expects her children to be good. This mother expects the best. June Masters Bacher wrote:...
Hello, I’m too young to remember the good old days. I guess they were in the early 1900s. When you didn’t have snow plows and four-wheel drive tractors. You didn’t have snow blowers and insulated underwear. You didn’t have front-end loaders and sanded highways to drive on. If you wanted to get to your neighbors on a morning when it is –27, you harnessed a team up, threw a scoop shovel on the sled in case the team played out in a drift, wrapped a towel around your face and headed out. Those were the good old days! I am old en...
Here is part two of my four-part series of articles dedicated to providing you, the community, with information regarding basic estate planning documents, forms, and what to do with the information. In this article I talk about Living Trusts and the ways they can benefit you. WHAT IS A LIVING TRUST? A Living Trust is a legal document by which you can transfer your assets to yourself or another person as "trustee," to manage your assets for your benefit, or for the benefit of any person you direct. In most cases, you will...
On Wednesday, December 5, I turned 68. It will be the first year since I was in my early 20s when I won’t get a check, worth one dollar for every year I have lived. (It got better the older I turned). My mother started the tradition when I was 25, and we lived in Australia. First of all, you’re not supposed to send checks to another country, where the bank has to deal with the exchange rate. And if that weren’t enough, she made the check to me, using my maiden name! I explained her errors to the local bank where we had a che...
Yes, I know I haven’t had a “Memories” article since Nov. 2, but let me explain. On Oct. 27 we received a telephone call that our daughter Arlene and her husband were cleaning the eve troughs on their house. The ladder tipped and she fell 12-14 feet onto the basement cement entry. She was taken to the Twin Falls emergency room where they found a head injury with some bleeding that required seven stitches. She was airlifted to Boise, Idaho for more treatment. The head bleeding stopped, but she had two broken vertebrates in her...
Hello, I’ve always been pretty lucky. At least that’s what Dad says. And I realize that more than ever today. On Friday, I had one of those phone calls that you dream of. I was a winner! A big winner. I had a phone call from, listen to this, a phone call from Publishers Clearing House! I was their grand prizewinner! I was a little skeptical at first. But I’m sure it was a legitimate call. The accent definitely was not from North Dakota. And I know their headquarters is not in either North or South Dakota. The caller asked...
Hello God, it’s me, Mara: You know, Lord, the word ‘terminal’ sometimes causes a bit of a shock when we think about our own life…. not that any of us really ever figured that we were going to live down here on earth forever. An interesting article had a graph of weeks for us Homosapiens which generously allowed us the total number of weeks of our life on earth should we be granted the 85 years of life that we might live, should You tarry, Lord. If 18, we only have 3484 weeks. If 28, we only have 2964 weeks. If 38, we only ha...
Hello, A famous quote, probably more famous than Grandpa’s, “Never buy a horse from a guy that sits in the front pew at church,” was Winston Churchill’s, “The only thing we have to fear… is fear itself.” Evidently, Winston did not know Shirley. The Thanksgiving cow sales are over! The sales that men go to while Mom goes shopping on Black Friday. It’s this time of the year that neighbors start meeting at cow sales. Buying a few cows to replace the “opens.” Replacing some of those old girls that aren’t producing the kind of...
This morning, Brice and I were remembering a particular Thanksgiving 32 or 33 years ago. In Billings I had been able to buy a fresh turkey, delivered to my door by a turkey farmer. The birds were very tender. In Ekalaka, Doug Bonsell raised turkeys. I ordered a small one, 12-15 pounds. When it came to the house it had grown, grown to 21 pounds! It had to be washed in the bathtub! Would it even fit in the roaster or the oven? It got wedged in the roaster, and with all the other racks removed, set on the lowest rack in the...
Hello, It seems to me that the world is spinning faster than it used to. I suppose that happens as you age. You just write about the fourth of July and it's Veteran's Day. Then finish an article and it's Thanksgiving. Then Christmas pops up. I think I'm going to fly off! I had an interesting week. Was invited to read a few columns and give a little talk at a nursing home in Garrison. I haven't been to Garrison since the late sixties I would guess. And as they say, if you remember the sixties, you weren't there. Anyway, I...
Hello God, it’s me, Mara: You know, Lord, this month [on the 22nd] the full moon is called the Beaver Moon and according to folklore, that’s when the beavers become active while preparing for winter. A friend also mentioned that November’s Full Moon might also be called the Frosty Moon and some years that is for sure, but we’ll wait and see for this year! In the still of the evening, the blue of the sky is as no artist can capture. The moon peeks through naked trees and seems to wink and grin as a long, slim cloud wipes a...
Hello God, it’s me, Mara: You know, Lord, a recent devotional suggested that we be bold to intercede, asking on somebody’s behalf, for answer to their special needs and prayers, based not on our worthiness, but only on You, Lord. Residents in the ‘Pear Tree’ subdivision were accustomed to the sight of their neighbor, ‘Mr. Bartholomew,’ taking his daily walk. They didn’t know that he was not walking for his health, he walked for others. As he walked by each house, he prayed for the family who lived within. The nurses in a M...
Everything has a life expectancy, from vegetation to animals, humans included, to mechanical devices. Two of our electrical appliances reached the end of their lives. The first was our dishwasher. It died last fall, and our daughter told us to replace it before Thanksgiving. We did; we just never had it installed. It sat in our shop and Brice washed dishes every morning; in a little over an hour everything was sparkling. If we host a holiday meal, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, New Year’s Eve, or Easter, our daughter and her hu...
Hello, A few days ago we celebrated Veterans Day, to honor those who served. It signified a war that ended on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. I hope you gave our veterans a little of your time on that sacred day. Whether it be with a prayer, a silent salute, a phone call, or maybe just a moment of silence. Veterans Day is about more than buying a mattress on sale. That is really dumb. My column is going to be just a little different this week. I guess maybe it is the time of the year. But, with Thanksgiving...
Hello God, it’s me, Mara: You know, Lord, as we’re out and about enjoying lovely weather, we can’t help but notice that the season of autumn is changing. The weather is a bit chillier, snow ‘might’ be on the near horizon, but meanwhile, we become aware of falling leaves and notice that our grass is dying! That just might remind us once again of how short our lives are. Several friends are computer experts and they certainly like to remind some of us older folks that there are advancements in technology that ‘beat’ anything an...
Hello, As you are aware, Thanksgiving is getting closer. That’s the holiday where all the relatives come and you compare families. You admire the others’ kids and grandkids and comment on how much they’ve grown. You take out pictures of your grandkids that couldn’t be there and compare them to other grandkids. Oh, you don’t need to wait until Thanksgiving. With the advent of smartphones, we all have pictures of our kids or grandkids. We have pictures of their first step. We share pictures of their first horseback ride or v...
As a very little girl, I remember my mom listening to baseball games on the radio. She would be doing the dishes while the radio sat on the refrigerator. Didn’t everyone’s radio reside on the refrigerator? I only started following baseball after our move to Ekalaka and my meeting Dave Williams and Marshall Shelden. During baseball season they always had small wagers on the fate of the Chicago Cubs; Williams backed the Cubs, Shelden backed their opposition. Marshall Sheldon won more often, but once a Cubs fan always a Cub...
Hello, To many of my readers, this time of the year is a great time. Pheasant hunting is open, you can blast those ducks that are heading south, and deer season is right around the corner. Coyotes are nearing prime and prairie dogs are enjoying wrecking the prairie and standing above their dens and bragging about it. But, thinking of hunting, reminds me of a couple of stories. One involves a good friend who passed away a several years ago. Jerry Linseth. He had a ranch west of Grassy Butte on the Little Missouri. He loved...
I will continue this week with memories of our neighbors, Frank and Clara Nies. My last article told of them getting a years supply of coal and wood from their own place, taking a month to fill the coal house. One day while uncovering the coal Clara had this experience to tell about. “Frank was handling the scrapper while I drove the horses. I stood on the double trees and this one time the scraper caught on something with a sudden stop and the first thing I knew I was flying through the air over the horses. Frank thought i...
I have not submitted articles to The Ekalaka Eagle for a couple of weeks. What’s that old saying? “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.” That’s my excuse. I just had nothing to say. Last week was our first use of the Carter Charter. Brice had checked it out to see that the wheelchair could load easily. And it did. In addition, the driver helped guide and secure the wheelchair in the van. We traveled to Miles City for my 12:30 p.m. appointment. The visit took 45 minutes, then we picked up two Subway sand...
