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The last of the Christmas cookies have been eaten, and I find myself thankful that it is coverall season, which is also bulky sweater season. If you cannot follow this line of reasoning, then you aren’t one of those people who gains weight every winter! The best part about winter clothes is that they hide weight--at least psychologically. Coveralls are lifesavers. Everybody looks 20 pounds heavier in them, so no one has to feel self-conscious wearing them. You can wear sweat pants in them and be really comfortable. Then the day of reckoning c...
December 25, 2023 December has been a wonderfully mild and beautiful month. Karen Odell wishes to thank all those people at Capitol and on Tie Creek, who have shared their lives with you this year. It is a great kindness to share your days, and experiences. It is thrilling to know that people in far distant places like reading about your daily lives. Although our world is in turmoil, it is especially calming to read about common occurrences, and to know that other lives are similar to our own. I especially want to thank so many neighbors, frien...
December 18, 2023 It has been a quiet week at Capitol and on Tie Creek. The weather has been very mild, so it doesn’t seem like Christmas weather, but no one is complaining, and everyone is still able to get some outside work done. Erma Albert had a doctor’s appointment in Spearfish, on Wednesday, so Dick went with her, and they did a little shopping. They picked up supper at Subway. On Friday, they went to the Senior Center for the Friday meal. Bobbie was not able to come, so Sherry Blankenbaker did the cooking this week. It was a great meal,...
Hello God, it’s me, Mara: You know, Lord, CHRISTMAS is just around the corner! Friend, ‘Linda’, shared that when she was young, she’d been told to hide Your Word in her heart, Lord, mentioning how she loved Hebrews 2:1; “We must pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.” She added that we’re to be alert and attentive in all areas of our life, especially spiritually. Linda then shared what she remembered about what had happened quite some time ago, how a new mom, ‘Mary,’ had tears pouring dow...
According to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, while both male and female reindeer grow antlers in the summer each year, male reindeer drop their antlers at the beginning of winter in late November to mid-December. Female reindeer retain their antlers till after they give birth in the spring. Therefore, according to EVERY historical rendition depicting Santa’s reindeer, EVERY single one of them, from Rudolph to Blitzen, had to be a girl. We should have known... ONLY females would be able to drag a fat man in a red velvet suit all a...
This is a tough time of year for working mothers. I know this, because I was one for 21 years. Now, both of my babies have long since left the nest, but I still remember the perpetual state of exhaustion that is the normal state of being for working mothers. Now I look into the haggard faces of working mothers, and I wonder how I survived all those years. Working mothers do not get a lot of sleep, because there just isn’t time for it. They have to put in a minimum of eight hours at the job site and still plan menus, shop, cook meals, and c...
Hello God, it’s me, Mara: You know, Lord, the month of December usually puts us in a giving mood, right? For some folks it’s typically cash, but it needn’t be cash; clothes, shoes, socks, also toys could also be donated, as well as art, or like one friend we heard about, he gave an automobile to a gal who had lost her car in a wreck. Now and then, just giving ‘time’ is also a wonderful item to give, when thinking about ‘giving something’. Another friend loved making quilts; each year, she’d pick a family member or a friend and give them a qui...
We got a little snow at Capitol and on Tie Creek. The rain that came before it settled the dust, and we really needed that. Ronda Cordell has been making mustard, peanut and cashew brittle and doing chores. At Thanksgiving, she got to see Oren and Arlie Basler. She met Jake Reynolds and Jason Berg at the Wagon Wheel for lunch, before they left for Sioux City to meet with Luke Basler. It’s always great to see grandkids. Last Sunday, Ronda went to visit Cristen and Jayda Westling in Rapid City. She got delayed trying to leave her computer for r...
“It takes a village to raise a child,” is is an Igbo and Yoruba proverb that exists in many different African languages, and we in rural America have borrowed the phrase. This proverb became reality in our village a couple weeks ago when my guest columnist, Gayle Grosfield Callinan, encountered my grandson Jasper on the sidewalk in front of our store. To help her overcome the trauma of that encounter, I encouraged her through my tears of laughter to write it down in the following guest column. As one of my former students, Gayle complied and...
Hello God, it’s me, Mara: You know, Lord, it was most interesting to recently read a devotional about never being forgotten. The gal wrote how her kids wanted her to start playing the piano again; she mentioned that she had not played the piano for two decades. She was surprised, when she sat at the piano, that she even remembered, then feeling brave, she played seven different scales that she’d learned by heart, years ago. She mentioned that those years of practicing so long ago, had imprinted the notes and technique so deeply in her finger’s...
November 27, 2023 Last week, Cody, Kellan and Carson Odell visited at Karen’s, so there was no time for her to write the news. She is hoping to catch up on what was missed, this week. Dick and Erma Albert had a quiet week. They didn’t even get to the Hills for shopping. On Friday, they went to the Senior Citizen dinner, and Bobbie served delicious Salisbury steak. Father Brian had brought a friend to the dinner, too. They celebrated Eileen Westers’s birthday, and had wonderful chocolate cake. On Sunday, Dick and Erma went to the Catholic Churc...
Hello God, it’s me, Mara: You know, Lord, it was interesting reading a blurb about ‘doing our role’, encouraged by 1 Peter 4:10 where it says, “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace.” It unveiled how two little girls wanted leading roles in a play, but they ended up being ‘flowers’, which meant they did vital but not-so-high-profile work but were excited for their friends and enjoyed cheering them on, also sharing in their excitement. It went on to share how helping and enc...
As another general season deer and elk season ends, many hunters are contemplating robbing a bank or at least a convenience store to make ends meet AND stay within the hunting budget their wives have 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 consume costs roughly $5,792.68...
submitted by Carter County Public Health Carter County Public Health has teamed up with Pharm406 to bring the NEW RSV vaccine along with the Flu, COVID, Pneumonia, and Shingles vaccines back to Ekalaka on Friday, December 1st from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Event Center. No appointment is needed, just come by during that time. Please be sure to bring your Photo ID and insurance cards. The Carter County Public Health office is open Monday though Thursday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The office phone number is 406-775-6332....
My favorite part of my County Superintendent job was getting out of the office and into the rural schools every week where I found a lot of featured cooks. Several years back for a special holiday column, I decided to ask the primary students of each rural school to tell me how to cook a turkey for the holidays. The following are some of their responses! These students are now hosting Thanksgiving dinners of their own, so I hope that their cooking skills have improved! Wherever and however you cook your turkey, I wish you a blessed...
Hello God, it’s me, Mara: You know, Lord, You give great kindnesses to us, reminding us of one of life’s great realities. You not only deserve our love and worship, You also deserve our thankful hearts as everything that is good in life comes from You. We can read that in James 1:17: where it says: Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. This verse reminds us that all good things come from You, Lord God, as YOU are unchanging and...
November 20, 2023 It’s been another week of nice weather at Capitol and on Tie Creek. Ronda Cordell had just been doing a bunch of little odd jobs with cattle, this week. On Tuesday, a load of Muggli cake was delivered, while she was in Ekalaka going over water rights with Wayne Yost. Neil Kittelmann inspected cows for her, on Wednesday afternoon. Then, on Thursday morning, Dell Dague came to haul a few cull cows to the Belle Fourche Livestock Exchange. He was back out there before one o’clock, to load bred cows for St. Onge’s Saturday sale....
The best part of writing a weekly column is that readers love to help me out. This week I have Bobcat/Grizzly jokes as the cross-state football rivalry looms this Saturday. I am sure you will be able to tell that the jokes were sorted by a Bobcat fan, but of course I will give equal time to Grizzly fans if they send me some great jokes. Albert Einstein met a Bobcat alumnus at a party. He asked the Bobcat if he knew his IQ score. The Bobcat replied, “240.” Albert and the Bobcat had a great conversation about physics and thermodynamics and the...
Hello God, it’s me, Mara: You know, Lord, any day it’s great to ‘watch’ things, like clouds, trees, flowers, traffic, you name it, right? Can’t we just hear a group of kids using that word: “Let’s watch those clouds – they’re really moving fast.” Angie says, “Since we live in a valley, we like to watch the sun rise over the hills, or see the clouds coming up OR going down behind the hills, my favorite is to watch the Full Moon rising over the hills.” Deb adds, “We live on top of a hill, we get to watch those things also, but from a differen...
November 13, 2023 Tie Creek and Capitol are back to moderate fall weather. There were a few sprinkles of rain, and a windy day or two. Dick and Erma Albert had a good week. Erma was glad to go to the chiropractor, on Wednesday. She planned to have pies for Friday’s Senior Citizens’ Dinner, but needed some supplies, so on Thursday, she and Dick went shopping in Spearfish. She got the pies ready for Friday, in honor of Dick’s birthday. There were a few other Senior Citizens celebrating birthdays this week, so some other pies appeared, and there...
Hello God, it’s me, Mara: You know Lord, t’was fun listening to kids talk about numbers. Here’s a bit of what they said. D. J.: “My grandma’s having a hard time trying to remember her cell phone number, but when her phone rings, even in her old age, she’s smart enough to answer it.” Chuckles. Taylor said, “My Dad reminded us that we should remember our house number, P.O. Box number, our area code, probably what size shoe or shirt we wear as well as today’s date.” Sally laughed about that. Eddie added, “Uncle Dick loves play cards, dice, you nam...
This weekend is Veteran’s Day, and while war rages in the Ukraine, Israel, and fifteen other countries around the world according to Wikipedia, we honor the veterans of all wars. The World War II veterans are becoming fewer in number every day, so we have little time left to honor and thank them for their sacrifices. I want to thank all veterans for their service and assure them that their sacrifices do not go unappreciated. There are so many poignant stories that have been shared by combat veterans of the horrors they experienced, but I w...
It turned into an Indian summer week at Capitol and on Tie Creek. The week began with a little snow, but that has all melted into some mud. It is good weather to keep the dust down in the corrals, but some have found it difficult to get trucks in for shipping. Dick Albert had a doctor’s appointment in Spearfish, on Wednesday, and Erma got some shopping done while they were in town. The grocery prices have gone sky-high, with less and less produce in the bags and smaller and smaller candy bars. They went to the Senior Citizen chicken dinner o...
Parent teacher conferences are traditionally held after the first quarter of school ends, and I have to say they are one thing I didn’t really miss about teaching. Now, having returned to the classroom after 16 years off from parent teacher conferences, I find myself facing upcoming conferences with some trepidation. The parents of the good kids always show up, but the parents that you would really like to meet to give you insight into the reason their children are the way they are coincidentally don’t show up. My hat goes off to all of the...
Hello God, it’s me, Mara: You know, Lord, it might be fun to go back in time (for a short time) when life moved at a slower pace. We’ll leave behind: high speed internet, cell phones, telephones, T.V., GPS and electricity. Back then daily chores were milking cows, gathering eggs, cleaning coop and barn, slopping pigs, feeding bucket calves, hoeing garden and plum trees, cooking meals from scratch, and in Autumn, making jams, jellies, canning fruits, vegetables and meat, making soap, making some of our clothes or remaking hand-me-downs. Ah – a...
