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Editor's note: If I did not get your business listed, please let me know, and I will run a correction detailing your business in the next Big Sandy Mountaineer: It is essential to shop at home as it does affect our economy; we must support our local businesses during our Christmas shopping. Indeed, we don't have shopping available like Great Falls or Havre, but we can still shop and fill many of our Christmas lists locally. Gift certificates to local businesses are always a good present to give....
This Christmas 16 families in Big Sandy will be blessed with a merrier Christmas through the work of the Angel Basket Program. Angel Baskets provide families in our area with groceries, a gift certificate, ham and beef roasts, and sometimes (in years past) turkeys. The program is also associated with the Angel Trees, which provide gifts for kids in the families of basket recipients. For children who are not taken care of by gifts through Angel Tree, the basket program purchases gifts. The...
Big Sandy Organics has hired Claude Smith. He recently retired from his other job in Great Falls and is excited to take the reins and help Big Sandy Organics continue to grow. What is exciting is while talking to him, you realize the positive impact that Big Sandy Organics continued development will have on the town Big Sandy. Claude told me currently he is "Designing a new facility along with modern production lines. We are designing a new production facility because we have outgrown this one....
"It's a real country Christmas at a real country store," replied Don Sorensen when I asked what makes their Christmas sale at Virgelle Mercantile special. The event will take place this Saturday and Sunday (December 4th and 5th). It has been held at Virgelle Mercantile since 1976 and typically draws a large crowd from as far north as Canada and as far south as Wyoming. In fact, in the weeks preceding the sale, Don described the shop seeing "trainloads" of dedicated antique hunters scouting for...
6 Golden Triangle Cropping Seminar -Thanks in Advance to MaxAg for Sponsoring Lunch at the Seminar in Fort Benton Seminar in Fort Benton will be on Friday, January 14th Montana State University Extension will host a free, annual cropping seminar series January 10-14th in Great Falls, Choteau, Conrad, Cutbank, Shelby, Chester, Havre, Stanford, and Fort Benton. Speakers will cover wheat stem sawfly management and new research, new crop variety trials, forage management practices during drought, and agricultural law (New Neighbors and New...
Now that the Thanksgiving turkey is now left overs or has been consumed, Christmas lights are starting to pop up everywhere in and around Big Sandy. In past years the Big Sandy Rotary Club has sponsored a Christmas lighting contest to encourage all the Clark Griswold wannabes that are in and around the town of Big Sandy to show off their decorating skills. The 2021 Christmas season promises to be no different. The Big Sandy Rotary Club will sponsor a lighting contest again this year. We hope to have a well lit town for everyone to enjoy...
Chouteau County Cancer Support Group is celebrating its 16th birthday this month. We are so thankful that due to your continued support, we are able to assist those people who have a cancer diagnosis that are Chouteau County residence. We could not exist without your financial support and the volunteers that help us. In the past year we have assisted 45 people with monetary stipends. We sent out an average of $1600 each month. When our group becomes aware of someone with a cancer diagnosis, we send them a check for $200 and a locally made quilt...
Thanksgiving is mostly a time to eat with extended family members. People travel home to celebrate together. Traditionally every family has its meal. Gramma makes something; others make a salad, two or three pies are served. Usually, there are two types of cranberries, the real kind and the jelly kind. Mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, and homemade rolls are on the menu. We always make too much, so there can be lots of leftovers. In Big Sandy, there have already been two Thanksgiving meals...
The American Farm Bureau Federation released its analysis of Thanksgiving meal costs for this year with the total cost of the meal rising around 15%. In particular, the cost of turkey has increased by 24%. Various news sources are running headlines about the increased pressure to the average family's pocketbook. Serious sounding headlines dealing with supply chain bottlenecks, inflation, and even whether or not folks should eat together given Covid concerns. Stack that on top of worries folks...
Frank Lenning is a passionate math teacher and is dedicated to teaching kids to the best of his ability. Anyone looking for proof of this claim needn't look any farther than the teacher's parking area in the school lot, where you will see Frank's van parked at nearly any hour of the day or night. Frank's long hours are a product of his class prep work and availability for tutoring math help. My conversations with our new math teacher quickly turned to teaching and often returned to the subject,...
Christmas Tree Care There are many “tips” to caring for a Christmas tree that propose to make it last longer or stay greener. In truth, all a tree really needs to maintain freshness is adequate water. Longevity is easily achieved by using the proper tree stand and keeping the water level in the stand above the base of the tree. The following tips will help to maintain the freshness and aroma of a live Christmas tree this holiday season. Use a tree stand that holds enough water for the size of the tree. The rule of thumb is one quart of water pe...
With the beginning of the holiday season comes gatherings centered around delicious and anticipated food. Let the focus be enjoying social interactions and tasty morsels of food and not about getting sick from foodborne illnesses. Below is a list of reminders to keep food safe during the hecticness of the holiday season. • Start with clean hands – wash with warm water and soap for 20 seconds before and after handling any food. Not only does this reduce the spread of bacteria, but it is also key to not spreading harmful viruses since vir...
The student Council would like to bring Amberley Snyder, a motivational speaker, to Big Sandy High School. Snyder was in an accident, driving without a seat belt and over-corrected after looking down at a map. She was driving to compete in a horse-riding competition, which she still does today, even though she has been paralyzed from the waist down since 2010. Booster club reported on their activities, already reported on by this newspaper; however, they also said that during the Halloween Carnival at the F. E. Miley school, the sixth graders...
During Public Comment, Lorrie Merrill informed the council that it would cost $380 for each main street user to use a camera to look and see if there are any issues with their sewer. They recommend doing it closer to the spring because any makers they would make now would not be visible in the spring. Lorrie said she would get the contact information to everyone along the main street. There will be a significant donor visiting Big Sandy this week to consider a pool donation. Wendy also fixed the bookkeeping accounts to make sure we were in...
For some reason, I always cry at the Veteran's Day Program. I thought it was because my daughter and her husband are veterans, but they have moved from Big Sandy. And I still found myself crying. It's deep within me; I guess that soldiers deserve so much more from us than a short day of honor. I think of my family's generations of involvement in serving. I often wonder how serving affected each person. I know when you do, you are changed. I believe that the Big Sandy High School Choir does a...
Veterans Day was last week. The holiday always lands on the eleventh day of the eleventh month in recognition of Armistice Day, which was the day World War I ended in 1918. Woodrow Wilson announced the end of the war to the nation, and the holiday, Armistice Day was established. The day was later changed to Veterans Day, when we honor the men and women who serve in our military. Researching our community's history this week, I discovered that The Mountaineer ran a front page story on the...
Sampling of hay is essential to livestock management. Hay sampling is best accomplished with a hollow core probe consisting of a stainless-steel tube and a sharp cutting end. The Chouteau County MSU Extension office has a hay probe available for check out. One core should be sampled from at least 20 bales from a lot of hay. A lot of hay is defined as hay harvested from a field of uniform maturity within two days. A lot should not exceed 200 tons. Poor sampling techniques and an inadequate number of samples (less than 20) are the largest...
The city council met to have a work meeting for Ordinance No 20021-1, Community Decay Ordinance. Besides the city council members, five residences attended and expressed their opinions about having such an ordinance. The next action the council is taking is sending the ordinance one last time to the Chouteau County attorney, Steve Gannon, and to the town of Big Sandy’s attorney, Jennifer Forsyth, in Havre. The ordinance itself is five pages long, and it will not be published in its entirety. It is also crucial that you understand the words p...
Veteran's Day is nearly upon us, and it is important to take the time to remember the men and women who served our country, ensuring our freedom and safety. "Freedom isn't free. That has been my mainstay ever since I was a young lad. My dad was in the military. He was a Corpsman in the Navy. Since he did that, the Navy was my ultimate goal," explains Dale Morey in response to my question about his thoughts on the day. Dale served our country for forty years between his active duty and reserve...
Sonata Tramontana -- “across the mountains,” Perhaps you have heard the saying by the old composer? “If it ain’t Baroque, don’t fix it!” This joke may be a groaner, but the upcoming free concert by Baroque Music Montana is sure to bring smiles and applause. The concert is Friday, November 12, 2021 at Big Sandy United Methodist church at 7:00pm. All are welcome. For everyone’s health, the church requires masks to be worn during the concert and can provide them at the door. Refreshments will follow the concert. Carrie Krause, playing the B...
Grain Storage Inspections Should Begin Close to Thanksgiving Inspecting grain bins for pests on or before Thanksgiving is a great rule of thumb for Chouteau County producers. The Lesser grain borer Rhyzopertha dominica is one of the most injurious beetles known to attack stored grain. The Lesser grain borer belongs to the Bostrichidae family of beetles, which are mostly wood boring insects. R. dominica causes major physical and off-odor damage to grain in storage. Identifying Characteristics: Adults are dark reddish-brown to black in color,...
State health officials continue to urge Montanans to get vaccinated The Department of Public Health and Human Services (DPHHS) has released a new report that ranks COVID-19 associated deaths as the third leading cause of death in 2020 and will likely hold the same ranking for 2021. State health officials note the death record information for 2021 is considered provisional information and will be finalized later in 2022. Also, it’s possible the 2021 leading causes of death rankings could change as death certificate data are finalized. The r...
A recent “Getting By” article included information about accessing your free annual credit report. There are some important things to look for when reviewing your credit report. One of the first things to check is your personally identifiable information, such as names, addresses and Social Security number. Next, check to make sure you recognize all of the accounts and loans listed. Incorrect or unrecognizable information is concerning. Businesses, potential employers and other parties you have submitted applications to are making dec...
With the arrival of fall the air begins to fill with the signs of the season: crisp frost, the smell of fireplaces in the morning, and the odor of skunks wandering through town. This year is no different, as locals begin smelling and seeing the unwanted neighbors more prominently than normal. Lianna Heimbigner spotted one a few weeks ago outside her home: "(He) came by just after dark when I was letting the dog back in the house from the back door. One of the cats was still sitting outside, when...
The Big Sandy Theater will be putting on a production of “OZ” (a comedy drama) the first week of December this year. The community theater production returns after taking last year off. Tickets will be $2 and are available at the door on the day of the shows. Dianna Upham Keane, one of the directors, explains: “We have a fantastic cast and crew of all ages who are working hard to put on an entertaining and lively show… We hope the audience of all ages will laugh, be entertained, and be challenged.” The show, written by Don Zolidis, is a diff...
