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On the evening of August 3rd, from Jordan to Big Sandy and every community in between, combines shut down and balers quit baling. An estimated crowd of between 600-700 farmers, ranchers, and concerned citizens gathered in Winifred for an evening of socializing and fundraising to raise money for the all-important cause of stopping the APR. There were 50/50 tickets, over 100 donated raffle items, live auction items, free-will donation burger fry, corn-hole tournament, and live entertainment for...
Before the Booster Club meeting, the fall sports player/parent meetings were held with new rules concerning Booster club donations to the school. (See Article from Melanie Schwarzbach) The Booster Club met at 8:00 for short, let’s make the important decisions, meeting. President Jeri Roth said she has sent out Corporate Sponsor letters and knows there are at least two new sponsors. Those who are sponsors should be receiving the letters in the mail. Junior High and High School Volleyball girls presented their request for volley practice gear a...

Pies and lemons are flavor favorites across the country. This week is going to be a great opportunity to bake a delicious pie. So, hope you're hungry because August fifteenth is National Lemon Meringue Pie Day! Lemon meringue pie is a dessert usually baked with a simple shortbread crust. There is a white, fluffy meringue on top of lemon curd filling. A lemon curd filling is created with a mixture of ingredients. In a heated saucepan, combined ingredients including lemons and cornstarch are...
Chouteau County Chosen for Exciting New Strength Training Study Chouteau County has been selected as one of six locations in Montana to participate in an exciting collaborative research study, ‘Strong People Strength Training Program: A Community Based Randomized Trial’. In this study, we will be examining the effects of a twice-weekly strength training program on the health, including heart disease and diabetes, as well as the functional fitness of midlife and older adults. We are very pleased to be able to be part of this important res...

Harvest time is in full swing. Early reports are bushels per acre are high, and protein is low....
Big Sandy received the following letter from the State of Montana Public Health and Sanitarian, Staci Evangeline. “Can you tell me what year the Big Sandy pool was built and any years it had major changes? We need to determine what rules apply to it.” “I spoke with the state pool program lead about the turnover rate for your pool. Our recommendation would be to contact a pool technician to assess your situation and determine exactly what the fix might be. If no actions are being taken to address the issue we will not be able to continue licen...

Senior Swimmers who have swum for 13-14 years have their last walk and dive into the pool at half time during the state swim meet. Tyler Schwarzbach is the son of Shaud and Melanie Schwarzbach and has been swimming for 8 years. He wrote in his senior profile at state that his most memorable moment was two years ago when he ate a ghost pepper before his 100 free at Columbia Falls. "I never regretted a decision more than at that moment. He told me, "The best part is the family I got here." As he n...

Drive past Gasvoda and Sons Farm you'll notice that Joan Gasvoda has some beautiful flowers attached to the sign at the entrance of their farm. She told me she drives out to water them every day. The sign was given to Robert (Bob) and Joan as a Christmas present several years ago. Elizabeth (Delp) Gasvoda wrote in the Gathering of Memories, "The spring of 1912 my parents, Robert and Maude Delp, came from Elk Creek, Virginia by immigrant train to Portage, Montana to homestead at Eagleton, Montana...
MSU Agriculture research centers have three test plots for winter wheat in Chouteau County. Research plots are managed by MSU Western Triangle Agricultural Research Center (WTARC) south of the Knees, MSU Northern Agricultural Research Center (NARC) north of Loma and MSU Central Agricultural Research Center (CARC) west of Geraldine. A special thanks to John Miller (WTARC agronomist), Peggy Lamb (NARC agronomist) and Jed Eberly (CARC agronomist) for establishing and maintaining the Chouteau County test plots. The Extension office would also like...
Surveys... surveys...and more surveys! The facility State Survey was completed at the end of June. This survey is conducted by the Department of Health and Human Services and is designed to monitor our Long-Term Care facility. The goal is to assure that we continue to provide safe, effective care to our residents, providing them with dignity and respect in the process. In order to continue to participate in the Medicare and Medicaid programs these surveys must take place at least once very 4 years. The arrival of the survey team is always a...
The 900-20 Archery Only Antelope licenses were drawn with Deer B and Elk B licenses in mid-July. All other antelope will be drawn on Aug. 8. This delay gives local biologists time to complete antelope population surveys that often don’t even start until mid-July, and then to set the final quotas accordingly. On Aug. 12, hunters can buy over-the-counter and surplus B licenses (antlerless) for deer and elk. Also, on Aug. 12, surplus general antelope, antelope B and antelope archery 900 series licenses go on sale. The antelope archery 900 s...

Nothing is scarier than a wildfire uncontrolled. Nothing is more inspiring than a community working together to fight it. The Big Sandy Fire department is well trained and drops everything to help, but close neighbors stop everything as well to help. Larry Ophus, Big Sandy Fire Chief confirmed, "There's plenty of fuel out there." With all of the abundant rain earlier this year, the grass has grown tall, and with the heat, it's starting to dry out. There has already been plenty of fires too. The...

Jaycee Worrall is home and doing well after being bitten by a snake. Calista Worrall wrote, "The girls and I were on a walk at our campsite. We were coming back when I heard them yell "Snake" it was then that we heard the rattle. It was cold, so the snake took forever to slither into the grass." She considered this to be a God-given thing because she was able to see the rattlesnake and know how long it was about, 18 inches. "Jaycee was able to walk back to the campsite and said it only felt...

It's funny, but around here if we were to say "hay" everybody would know what it is. They would know it's made up of dried stems and leaves of a variety of plants. We know it is used to feed animals during the cruel frigid winter months. City folk may not know, and they definitely don't know what it takes to get it in. MSU Extension writes, "Harvested forages are critical to Montana's billion-dollar livestock industry. Most livestock operations in Montana rely on rangelands - about 70% of our...
It is recommended to allow a minimum of 30 days between the last harvest and the first killing frost in the fall to allow alfalfa plants time for sufficient carbohydrate accumulation. It is important to know the average date of the first killing frost in your area when determining the last harvest date. Frost-freeze dates for Chouteau County are estimated with 90% accuracy. Big Sandy is September 21, Fort Benton and Geraldine are September 24, Loma is September 22, and Iliad is September 18. It is equally important that a stand is healthy,...
With the recent temperatures exceeding 90 degrees, it reminds us of the dangers heat can have on our bodies and health. The same holds true for our pets as well. Here are some safety tips to keep in mind for pet safety during the heat. - Provide ample shade to protect them from the sun and heat. Tree shade and tarps are great because they allow air flow where a doghouse holds the heat and does not provide relief from the heat. Pets with white or light-colored ears are more prone to burning and/or developing skin cancer. - Provide lots of fresh...
The Chouteau County Fair is nearly here on Friday August 16 through August 18. It is time to get those entries made. You can find a wide variety of chances even for children to enter on the internet access chocofair.com. The following information was given to the Mountaineer by the Chouteau County Fair Board. To enter items in the open class-Fine Art and Home Arts Departments, Floriculture, and Agriculture Departments the following is printed: To begin the Open Class entrants will go to: http://chouteaucountyopen.fairentry.com and click on...

The Mountaineer has opened a new chapter in its history. Last week, Lorrie Merrill took over as Editor and owner of the 110 year old Mountaineer. Previous owners, Keith and Keri Hanson bought it from Linda Rettig in 2009 after Jim's passing. They have ran the Mountaineer for 10 years. Making improvements to the business over the years. They still own the Blaine County Journal in Chinook. Lorrie Merrill started writing for the Mountaineer, part time about two years ago. She was also very busy...

The School Board held their meeting at the usual time. All school personnel and board members were present except Brad Weaver. Maintenance this summer includes new flooring at the FE Miley Kindergarten Room and the 1st and 2nd-grade classrooms. At the high school, the resource room is getting a new paint job, but all the old paint needed to be removed first as it is peeling. There was also some cement work required. During some strong rainstorms, there were some water leaks in the football room...

Georgia Baxter says, "there are roses, and then there are flowers." I drove past her home and noticed she had a beautiful rose garden. She informed me she has 50 different roses. She doesn't remember when she started loving roses, but some of her roses are 30 years old, so at least 30 years. Her mother didn't like flowers, but "my gramma loved flowers." Her gramma didn't have any roses, however. Out of the 50 roses, her favorite rose is called the "Veterans Honor." It is a vivid red, her...

Georgia Wortman, the organizer of the last blood drive, said, "The American Red Cross Blood Drive on July 16 went great! I had two first-timers (Riley Genereux and Tyler Schwarzbach) and one milestone (Alma Terry; 2 gallons) with thirty-two donors in total." "The Big Sandy FFA (and parents) donated blood and food. Crystal Geyer, Savannah Weaver, and Amy Sibra for donating their time to help me throughout the day. I was very thankful." "There is always a need for blood, so keep your eyes peeled...
• Water trees three times a month in addition to watering your lawn. • Deep watering to a depth of 12” inches below the soil surface is recommended. Saturate the soil around the tree within the “dripline” (the outer edges of the tree’s branches) to disperse water down toward the roots. • For evergreens, water 3’-5’ beyond the dripline on all sides of the tree. • The objective is to water slowly, dispersing the flow of water to get the water deep down to the trees roots. Watering for short periods of time only encourages shallow rooting whi...

The City Council met on Thursday, July 11th with everyone present except Mayor Shaud Schwarzbach Leslie Gregory reported the Big Sandy Swimming Pool Inspector showed up for a surprise visit and inspection. Historically, the pool was grandfathered for not meeting the requirements at the beginning because of the age of the pool. We are required to maintain an eight-hour water exchange; which means the water in the pool must all be taken out of the pool every eight hours. A couple of years ago we...

They start with a celebration of community with a potluck on Saturday night, Don provides ribs, beans, and salad. And it was more than just a time to buy from each other. Jimmy Griffin said, "it was a magically fun day!" There were over 20 vendors. One that had a 45-foot trailer with antique with a western flavor. Don Sorensen told me that vendors kept calling, and he would have accepted them even if the called on Sunday morning. "If people show up they'll just put them somewhere." It was an...

The tournament was a huge success! We had 22 teams register and it took about 4 hours to play through the bracket. It came down to an intense and close game with the team "The Hole Enchilada" Mica Griffith and Andy Verhasselt, winning the day and taking home the $200 prize. The second place team was the team "Mint Bar, Larry Jappe and Ryan Harber, $100 prize. $50 prize to the third place the team "Airmill." Jase Stokes and Nate Rismon. We were able to raise roughly $5000 and are very grateful!...