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Friday is St. Patrick’s Day. It is a time to visit Butte and see the wonderful parade if you can, to wear plenty of green and to cook up a batch of corn beef and cabbage for the family. I have a very good corn beef and cabbage recipe. It even has a secret sauce for the corn beef and for dunk at the table as well. For the secret sauce you simply need equal parts of yellow mustard and brown sugar. Mix together and it should taste more sweet than mustard. Last time I made this corn beef recipe I used cranberry mustard and that was very good w...
Q: My girlfriend and I are talking about getting married, but we’re reluctant to go ahead because so many of our friends have gotten divorced after only a few years. How can we be sure this won’t happen to us? A: I’m thankful you want your marriage to last—because this desire will be an important part of being sure it will last! Far too many couples, I’m afraid, enter marriage casually or thoughtlessly. But God gave marriage to us, and His perfect plan is for it to be a lifelong commitment of the husband and wife to each other. Jesus said, “Th...
A month and a half before Elvis Presley died, a reporter interviewing him asked an interesting question: “Elvis, when you first started playing music, you said you wanted to be rich, famous and happy. Are you happy?” His response was simply: “I am lonely…” The interesting thing about this response is that Elvis had achieved everything he had ever desired. For that matter, in terms of wealth, success, and the adoration of millions, Elvis’ success exceeded the desires of most people in general,...
SAVE THE DATE! April 27, 2017, we will be offering a Meals in a Jar canning class in Fort Benton in the evening. The class will be hands-on and will include jars of the finished product to take home with you and the recipes so you can make more at home. If you are looking for quick nutritious meal ideas, you will not want to miss this class. It could not be simpler than pulling a jar off the shelf and reheating. Even if you were gone, family members/babysitters could decide on their own what they wanted and then, in the matter of minutes, be ea...
April Horticulture Reminders Below is a list of reminders from the Montana Gardener’s book of days (EB 165), and other writings by Bob Gough, former MSU Extension Horticultural Specialist. • Prune fruit trees, berry bushes, ornamental trees and summer flowering shrubs before bud swell. Always prune to a branch, because a stub will decay and affect the longevity of the tree. • Graft fruit trees just as the first buds on the tree begin to swell. • Apply dormant oil sprays to fruit trees and other plants when the temperature is expected to rema...
Night Feeding or Daytime Calving Information for this article was taken from the February issue of the Cow Sense Chronicle written by Rachel Endecott, MSU Extension Beef Cattle Specialist. We’ve all experienced that middle-of-the-night calving incident that sure would have been easier to manage if it had happened in the daylight. Some ranchers use an evening feeding strategy to shift more cows to calve during the day. A case study comparing two sets of calving data with different feeding times illustrates this phenomenon well (Jaeger, et al. 2...
With many of us in the process of preparing and submitting our taxes, the question becomes “How much and how long do I keep the records?” Or, maybe the other question is “Do I need to have a record keeping system?” Keeping financial records are a vital part of your life. They are a key to your credit standing, essential to help you save money on taxes, and provide a continuing indication of your financial progress. A systematic plan of keeping important papers can save you hours of anxious searching and make it easier to cope with emergen...
Daylight Savings Time starts March 12. It is a pain in the neck for me because I collect old clocks and have to reset them that day. I don’t know about your old clocks but mine are very temperamental and take some adjusting to get them all up and running again after messing around with them twice a year. I have one old coo coo clock that is so old that I have given up running it when I have to fool around with it twice a year. About the time I get it back up to speed so to speak, it is time to reset it once again and I am back to ground z...
We live in a time of unprecedented connection to the people and world around us. Cell phones enable us to have conversations with each other wherever/whenever we want. Email allows us the instant exchange letters. Social media gives us the opportunity to share our lives with people anywhere and to find long lost loved ones. Strangely, we are simultaneously living through an epidemic of loneliness. Through the 70s and 80s, surveys found that between 11% and 20% of Americans felt lonely...
Q: I don’t want to offend you, but why should I bother with God? My life is going along just fine without Him. In fact, He’d probably make me stop doing a lot of things I enjoy doing if I did turn to Him. A: Let me ask you a question: What do you suppose would happen to you if God didn’t “bother” with you? In other words, what would happen to you if God forgot all about you or ignored you or refused to have anything to do with you? I’ll tell you what would happen: Your life would end immediately, before you finished reading this sentence. W...
There are free financial education webinars available through MSU Extension called “Solid Finances.” Every Wednesday at 12:00 pm, they discuss a different topic related to credit and credit worthiness, teaching kids about money, health and finances, retirement and financial awareness and other topics to help you empower you to take control. The sessions are taught by faculty from the University of Idaho, North Dakota State University and Montana State University. The webinars can be viewed from any computer or electronic device with int...
My sister called me one night and said she was in the middle of making some chicken and dumplings. I reminded her that our dad used to make chicken and dumplings out at Clear Creek several times a season and feed it to anyone coming along to his fishing camp. His chicken and dumplings were very good. The dumplings can be made from Bisquick for a very easy application or use the simple recipe included here but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. To make the chicken stew you will need 3 pounds of bone in chicken parts. Thighs work well. 8 cups of c...
Q: My wife gets after me because of my bad language, and I admit I probably swear more than I should, but what difference does it make? No one thinks much about it anymore, as far as I can tell. A: Sadly our society has changed in the last 50 years or so; it seems like it’s almost impossible to read a popular book or watch a program on television today without encountering vulgar or profane language. What difference does your speech make as far as you and your wife are concerned? First, it obviously makes a difference to your wife, and if f...
A pastor friend of mine often tells a story about a man and a woman approaching a building at the same time. When the man notices the woman, he rushes ahead to open the door and hold it for the woman, who was a stranger to him. As she entered the building, she stopped turned to him and said: “Are you holding this door for me because I am a woman?” He responded: “No. I am holding it because I am a gentleman.” Almost every instance I heard this story told by my friend was in the context of work...
Winter Bull Management Protection from inclement weather is a critical factor in winter herd bull management because of the very real concern of frostbite of the scrotum. While mild frostbite generally has a good recovery rate, severe frostbite can leave a bull infertile. Scarring from frostbite can hinder a bull’s ability to raise and lower the testicles for proper temperature regulation. This regulation depends on coordination of three structures: the tunica dartos muscle in the walls of the scrotum, which relaxes when hot and contracts w...
Getting the most from your credit card (taken from the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System website) 1. Pay on time—Paying on time will help you avoid late fees as well as penalty interest rates applied to your account. It helps you to maintain a good credit record which leads to a higher credit score, thus helping you qualify for lower interest rates. If the due date falls at a difficult time such as before you get paid, contact the credit card company to inquire if they will change the billing cycle. 2. Stay below your credit l...
I love the winter. Let me preface that remark by saying I love winter when I do not have to go anywhere in it and when I am in a house I can keep warm and most important of all, one that has a full larder. Even when living in town, it is still so good to have a pantry that lets a person fix just about any kind of meal wanted. I stock in with dried soup mixes for a starter. Even though I love to make my own soup from scratch, these dried soups make very good soup too and lots can be added to make them even better. Take this noon. After writing...
For the last couple of months, my family has faced some challenges as a result of illness. These challenges have put us into a position where we have strained a bit under the basic tasks of life. Perhaps the best thing that has come of this time in our life has been that folks have rushed to assist us. Last night, a couple of friends from church, while visiting, took the time to clean my kitchen and wash dishes. In addition, brothers and sisters in Jesus have brought us prepared meals, helped ou...
Q: Why does God say we’re guilty when we do something wrong, since He already knows that we’re not perfect and we’re going to make mistakes? I think He ought to overlook our sins instead of making us feel guilty. After all, this is the way He made us. A: Let me ask you a question: If one of your children does something wrong (or even dangerous), do you simply smile and say, “Oh, well, it doesn’t make any difference. We know they’re not perfect”? I doubt it—because you know what is best for them, and you know you need to teach your children t...
Most anyone who knows me at all knows that the Patriots and the Seahawks are my two NFL teams. I have written again and again how the Patriots got the shaft with Deflategate and how quarterback Tom Brady should not have had a four game suspension at the beginning of this season and how the Patriots should not have been fined a million dollars and lose two draft picks. And yet, there was always another thought running around in my head and that is that will owner Robert Kraft, coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady be so mad that...
Super Bowl 51 will be played in Houston on February 5 and might just end up as a battle between two quarterbacks, Tom Brady of the Patriots and Matt Ryan of the Atlanta Falcons. The teams are unevenly matched if looking at this season’s wins and losses. The Patriots record 16 and 2 winning nine consecutive games and have not even trailed since November 27. Atlanta’s record is 13 and 5 and they have won the last six in a row. That is what each team is facing going into Super Bowl 51. However, folks from all over know that a Super Bowl is muc...
One of the hardest things to think about having to do is making the decision of what to do when a loved one is dying. Perhaps you have had to make the decision in the past. You know the reality of how difficult the decision is to make but also wonder if it was the right decision and was it was your loved one would have wanted. Under the Montana Rights of the Terminally Ill Act, Montanans have the right to complete a declaration, another name for advanced directives. This allows an individual to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining treatment...
Super Bowl Sunday is just around the corner. Maybe this would be a good time for a couple of recipes for a couple of good dips. The first one, a shrimp dip, comes from my mother and if you are having many people in for Super Bowl Sunday you will need to make a double batch of this one. It is very good. You will need three quarters of a cup of mayonnaise 1 can baby shrimp, drained with a tablespoon of the liquid reserved 1 tablespoon sugar 1 small onion diced in a tiny dice 1 8oz package of room temperature cream cheese. A dollop of hot sauce Th...
Many years ago, I had a coworker that I could not stand to be around, though our jobs required us to work with each other in a variety of settings. This resulted in frequent conflict. In fact, there were several occasions when work devolved into shouting matches. Needless to say, this made my work environment miserable, and that misery often leaked into other areas of my life. I often left work angry and spent my evenings stewing over some insult or altercation. After many months of this, I...
Q: I know you’ve said that God sometimes answers our prayers with a “no”—but if that’s the case, then why bother to pray? A: Yes, it’s true that God sometimes says “no” to our prayers—and with good reason, because He alone knows what is best for us. Just as a loving parent sometimes says “no” to their child’s demands, so our loving God sometimes says “no” to our demands. But sometimes God also says “yes” to our prayers—and that’s certainly one reason why we ought to keep on praying! But we don’t pray only to get things from God. Not only would...