After Mainstreet Market burned down, people were suddenly forced to drive the 35 miles to Baker, or farther if they lived out of town, to get most groceries. We relied on lists and hoped not to forget anything. If we missed anything, we generally liv...

Hello, It’s cold. But it’s been colder. I’m willing to bet that you won’t find a farmer or rancher who would hesitate to tell you that this cold spell is nothing like the ones we’ve weathered in the past. But we dang sure got spoiled by the...

I am going to shift from good old neighbors with this article to another family who I knew, but each family member was older than me at the time. This came about when my wife (who loves poetry) came across a poem written by “Cub” Welch. To my...

Hello God, it’s me, Mara: You know, Lord, there’s a cute story about a young couple shopping in a Second Hand Store. The gal was looking for a frying pan like her grandmother had used. They passed several departments. As the gal passed the...

I watch too much television where I see lots of ads for things we don’t need, starting with Home Security systems. Do we need cameras at our front doors to guard against intruders or thieves where we would see them and tell the potential thieves we...

Hello, Maybe I’m just old fashioned, but I will say that the halftime show at this Year’s Super Bowl was the worst I have ever seen. And that is an accomplishment that is hard to achieve. And that is all I’m going to say about that. As I said...

Hello God, it’s me, Mara: You know, Lord, many folks get depressed during the cold winter months. But here’s a good word: did we know that Praise combats depression? It’s been suggested that we count our blessings; let’s give it a try....

This article is about another neighbor, Bonnie Peabody, who also lived across the street and up the hill from us. I would like to share some information about Bonnie, but first I need to go back a generation on the Peabody family. Charles and Mary...

The government of the United States opened up last week (for three more weeks) to solve the problem of border security and the President’s preference for a border wall. Federal employees should get paid. The government had been shut down for over...

Good Morning, To a rancher, this is a great time of year. The mailbox is filled with catalogs for bull sales. You know how your mailbox fills up around Christmas with catalogs from every place you ever dropped a dollar, or in the spring as the...

Hello God, it’s me, Mara: The deer stopped in, they nosed about, we’d not seen deer for weeks! They check the trees because they know, Crabs aren’t on Mountain Peaks. They spied water in near birdbath, they all needed a drink. Twelve deer drank...

In winter one main job is to keep the home warm, whether with coal or wood fires or later with gas or electricity. There is nothing warmer than sitting in front of a blazing wood fire, but that warmth doesn’t travel far; the rest of the house...

Hello, If you watch the news every day, you begin to think that the world is becoming more and more hateful. You don’t see much good news. It seems that “love thy neighbor” has pretty much gone out the window. If we disagree with someone, it...

Hello God, it’s me, Mara: You know, Lord, it’s fascinating when friends share a picture of sunsets, sunrises, and intriguing cloud shapes that they have seen and enjoyed, especially when they entitle it, “View from a front porch rocking...

In days gone by, people would take a team and wagon and travel cross country to Miles City twice a year for supplies - twice a year in good weather. Brice travels to Baker every 10 to 14 days for bananas for me. If you buy too many, they just get bla...

Hello, I always wanted to be a cowboy. And for a time, I thought maybe I had made it. I was riding saddle broncs, albeit poorly, roping a bit, riding on roundups and chasing cows through the willows. I was breaking a colt to ride once in awhile and...

Hello God, it’s me, Mara: You know, Lord, sometimes it just happens that there is a special day, a day when we notice a couple dozen wonderful things to cherish and treasure and enjoy. If we borrow an ingenious word, we can call that list, LIFE...

Here is part three of my four-part series of articles dedicated to providing the you, the community, with information regarding basic estate planning documents, forms, and what to do with the information. In this article, I talk about Powers of...

I have never and will never make New Year’s resolutions. New Year’s resolutions are a matter of promising yourself to change habits. No promises will be made by me, just a best effort to change. By not making any promises, no promises will be...

Hello, I’m not the biggest football fan around. I very seldom watch an entire game. That is unless it’s the Harding County Ranchers junior high team. Then I pack up Gramma and travel across two states to watch future NFL stars. I sit on hard...

Hello God, it’s me, Mara: You know, Lord, we’re already into January but have any of us made resolutions? If that word means to make “a firm decision on something,” how come we frail humans break our resolutions as fast as we make them? Maybe...

Hello, Shirley said to write a Christmas story. And when Shirley says, I write. I think Christmas is over by the time you get this, but I’m writing it before Christmas so just bare with me. And that happens because, unlike ranches, newspapers...

I still have a couple of wonderful neighbors to remember and write about, which I will continue in this article. Across the street and up the hill from us were Francis B. and Alma Freese. Shifting Scenes Vol. III, page 80, has a very short article...

Hello God, it’s me, Mara: You know, Lord, many precious friends and loved ones have been called Home in recent months – it’s almost like we’re missing the party but each departed friend is a magnet that attracts us to the next world. When a...