New Family History (at least to me)

 

Our grandson Collin, who is one of the librarians at Carroll College in Helena, went to the opening of the Theodore Roosevelt Library near Medora N.D.  He was interviewed by the North Dakota Monitor newspaper and his comments appear about a third of the way in the article.

https://northdakotamonitor.com/2026/07/04/theodore-roosevelt-library-opening-recalls-past-calls-for-civic-engagement/ 

After I posted a link to the article, Jon's cousins, Kay Bush and Mary Burkgart Harris, who grew up in the Silver Valley commented about their great-grandfather, who it turns out was one of Roosevelt's Rough Riders.   His name was Fred Herrig and he came to America from Alsace Lorraine.  Along with being one of the Rough Riders, he also worked at Roosevelt's ranch in North Dakota.  

Later, in 1904, he was appointed by Gifford Pinchot (as requested by Roosevelt) to be the first Forest Service Ranger in Montana.  His posting was at the Ant Flat Ranger Station in the Kootenai National Forest.  Jon's Aunt Naomi was born there. 

The Ant Flat Ranger Station is now a historic site.  

 https://historicmt.org/items/show/839 

Theodore Roosevelt presented a rifle to Fred, which is now displayed in the Roosevelt Museum in Medora. 

The ranger station is about 2 miles south of Fortine, Mt. 

This is all so interesting to me.  I would love to take a road trip to visit both the ranger station and the library.  It would require two trips as Fortine is in the very northwest corner of Montana.   It's on my bucket list.

The logging job.

 We lost a lot of trees during the March windstorm and for several months Jon has been cleaning up his woods.  Our friend Bill did a lot of the sawing as it was a huge entanglement.  We hired Wyatt to skid the logs and then Travis had Russell come up the shale pit road to pile brush and deal with all of the stumps.

As you can see, some of the stumps are huge!

We shipped two loads of logs and while it was sad to see them go Jon says they will be part of someone's new house someday.  

We ended up shipping 7000 board feet.

Scott Peaster was our log truck hauler.

Once the logs were skidded, there was a LOT of cleanup to do.  Brush to pile and stumps to clean up.  Travis and Russell helped us out with that project.

Russell dusting off the stumps.  He is quite talented on his machine.

This is Russell, who is an artist with a skidder.  

Lastly, we hired Levi Servis to use the skid-steer to fill and smooth out the stump holes and also the road.   He did a great job!  There's still the final cleanup to be done because Jon is very particular about what his woods look like.  Let's just say that it's park like.

The wind events we keep experiencing seem to get worse every year.  Climate change is upon us. 

Rylee Marie Burkhart...

Jon and I went to Kalispell last weekend for granddaughter Rylee's graduation from Flathead Valley Community College.  We celebrated by going out to dinner and we got to meet some of Rylee's friends.  The graduation ceremony was filled with the normal multiple speeches about accomplishments and the future.

I always love hearing Pomp and Circumstance played as the graduates march for the processional and recessional. 

I had to look this up:

Pomp and Circumstance was written by Sir Edward Elgar in 1901.  In 1905 Yale University awarded Elgar an honorary Doctorate of Music degree and the song was played as the recessional.  It quickly became the standard music for both high school and university graduations.  (I couldn't resist throwing in a little music history)

She is easy to spot in a crowd with her beautiful long red hair!

This was a special moment since her theater professor was the one who read her name off to receive her diploma.  She loved that and so did he. 

A photo with the proud parents!

This fall she will be transferring to the University of Montana.  

Lady enjoyed the trip as well and was spoiled with new toys from Rylee.  She and Rylee's cat, Mona, had a few encounters.  Mona managed to defend herself and we kept the two apart as much as possible. 

We all had a great time and we're so happy for Rylee.  Graduations and weddings - happy times.

Because I said so.

 When I was growing up I think I probably heard that phrase a thousand times.  Then it was my turn to be a mom and "because I said so" was a go-to phrase.  My mom didn't spend a lot of time explaining why something needed to be done and we had better do it.  Or else.

Today is the day we celebrate moms and I miss mine.  She was a great lady and managed to raise five of us.  It wasn't easy.   

Happy Mother's Day!  

We have a Robin's nest on our front porch.  We're not sure why the mama Robin chose this spot since there's a usually a lot of activity on the front porch.  We have tried to limit going in and out the front door so we don't disturb the babies, etc. 

We're having a very unusual spring this year.  Our temperatures are more like the ones we usually have in late June or July.  The quince bushes are in full bloom, but other flowering bushes and perennials seem like they're on a normal schedule.  My day lilies are up but not as high as they usually are this time of the year.  

I won't complain about this since my back is not quite ready to do the cleanup around my perennial beds this year.  All that bending over is going to have to wait a few more weeks.

 I did figure out that I could get on my lawn mower by using a piece of a 4x4 as a step-stool.  The first lawn mowing of 2026 has happened.

The rhododendron that we planted in a pot last summer has survived the winter.  Now we're trying to decide where to plant it.

Nieman's Floral delivered Mother's Day flowers.  They're lovely and the fragrance is wonderful.  I love to pull the roses out of the bouquet just before they might wilt.  I hang them up to dry so that someday I can use them in a dried wreath. 

Jon found these morels while raking around our cedar tree.  We've never seen mushrooms there before.   We've hunted wild mushrooms for many many years so we shouldn't be surprised that they pop up in unusual places.  

A couple of days later as I was mowing the lawn I saw a few more mushrooms around the cedar tree.  When I finished mowing I went looking for more and sure enough, there they were! 

They weren't quite as fresh as Jon's, but they were still fresh enough to fry and eat.  They were delicious!

I haven't made my trip to the Flower Farm yet, but plan to do that next week.   Here's a few photos from years past. 

 

Miss Lady went to the groomers yesterday and she has her spring "do" now.  

Grandson Ben has a job at the new Lego store in Missoula, Bricks and Minifigs.  Their grand opening will be at the end of May.   It is the perfect job for Ben since he is a Lego expert.

Great-Grandson Jason planting seeds for their garden...

...and taking a break in his new tent swing.

To all the moms out there, enjoy your day!  I'm also thinking of our moms and aunts who have passed.  Great memories of beautiful ladies.   They all shared their wisdom and I grew up along with my dozens of cousins, learning from them. 

The NYT had an interesting article today about momisms.  I will share a few of the ones I remember from our family.

Because I said so.

Don't borrow a jack.

Go outside and play.

As we got older...

Old age ain't for sissies.  

 

The Escape Artist

 I'm thinking of my sister Kathy today who is in St. Pat's Hospital in Missoula recovering from open heart surgery.  She is doing well and hopefully will be going home in a few days. 

I just had to dig up some of my photos of her from her younger days.  She doesn't look too happy in this one, but I'm guessing that it's her birthday and my mom has baked her an angel food cake from scratch.  My mom was really good at that. 

Here she is with her grandson Mitchell in Helmville, Montana.

She's an avid Cornhusker fan and also a Montana Grizzly fan.

Here we are, the trio of trouble.  Yours truly along with my brother Don and Kathy.  I remember my mom telling me that when she would put the three of us to bed at night when Kathy was a baby, she would practically stand on her head to escape from her crib.   I think she's been that way her entire life and it's a good thing.  

Get well soon to my sis!