It Looks Like Billings Has Some Catching Up To Do

This is something called a Faster Bassett Burger from Great Falls, a full pound! of ground beef with a bun too small by far. This notice comes from the blog Greater Falls. They of course call this the best burger in Great Falls and reserve the title best burger in Montana from some place called Square Butte, which is about 6 miles from Geraldine. The last and only time I've ever been to Geraldine had to do with an exhumation a long time ago. I must go again to check out this "best burger" business. Stay tuned my friends.

You Never Know What You Will Find Surfing the Internet

I don't remember what I was doing when I came across this splendid website on the Internet. Now I know that there are at least two custom hat makers in Montana, both of them located in Billings; and at least two custom coffin/casket makers in Montana, one of them just south of Red Lodge and the other in Kalispell.
The latter is called Sweet Earth Casket Company and the former is called Cowboy Coffin and Pine Box Company. I have written about the Cowboy Coffin outfit before, here and here. Rand Herzberg is still going strong.

The folks at Sweet Earth Casket Company do similar things, though they do offer some ideas on DIY funerals, calculated to stir up our undertaker friends no doubt, and they offer ideas on what to use your casket for in advance of its eventual and final need. The idea that caught my attention was using your casket/coffin as a bookshelf 'til needed. Check them out. They also put on a 4 day casketmaker school.

While I'm thinking about it, have you ever wondered what is the difference between a casket and a coffin? I always thought they were pretty much the same, but when you look them up it turns out that you have a lot of choices: One source says"coffin" is the British term and "casket" is the American term for the same thing, i.e. a container to bury the dead in. But then others say that a casket is a fancy coffin. And this site makes a distinction on shape, that is, the coffin has the traditional wide shoulders shape and the casket is oblong. There are some pictures on the last site mentioned. Come to think on it, the British did usually go for the traditional wide shoulder shape.

Baseball and Back Roads I: September 2009

I guess one shouldn't call Interstate 90 a back road but to tell the truth, there is not much difference between the two lane 'blue highways' and the Interstate, at least here in Montana, though the two lane highways are often better paved. The heavy trucks are probably the reason the interstates wear out so quickly, another reason we need more and faster rail lines. The picture to the left was made a few months ago.

'Blue highways' are in quotes because in the olden days when gas stations would give out highway maps for free the national highways were in red and the state highways in blue. In those days there used to be a difference in that the state highways were more often purpose-built to go from one real place to another, say from Billings to Miles City, and the route usually went through real places, like Huntley Project, and thus on the map they tended to be a little squiggly. The national highways were often boondoggles from on high, an early form of 'stimulus' before we thought we needed 'stimuli,' often going much straighter from say Montana to Denver.

I started from Billings about mid-morning, just in time to tune in to Rush Limbaugh for an hour or so to get my head straight and receive my marching orders, then it gets time for CDs even around Bozeman and Butte. I like driving on the 90 here in Montana and Washington too for that matter though I usually switch over the Highway 2 around Spokane because I like nice two lane highways. I've forgotten what it looks like in South Dakota but I vaguely remember that their speed limit is too low. After some splendid Cantus choral singing, sorry ladies I like these guys, then I switched to some Berlitz German lessons in preparation for next year in München and Oberammergau. I mentioned München because of the unlaut u which is the way our surname was probably spelled before we hit this side of the Atlantic. But why didn't they spell it 'ui' instead of 'ue'? That is what that umlaut u sounds like to my ear.

Did you see that bird's nest on a pole in deep right center in the above picture? Here is a better picture. It looked empty on Wednesday night, but the regulars here told me that during the season one could often see the ospreys flying over the field holding a fish.

Since Billings's summer heroes had done so badly at home I thought it would be worth a couple of days to Missoula and Great Falls to follow OUR MUSTANGS and maybe do a little cheering for them. Oh sorry, after the game at Ogren Park Allegiance Field on Wednesday night I had almost been persuaded that one always yells the name of your home town baseball team and especially the individual players in apocalyptic tones and to never turn your microphone off once you have a captive audience. So I must apologize to the guy who does the announcing at Dehler Park. He is not nearly as bad as the one at Ogren Park.

Where do these clowns, with all due respect, that do the public address announcing for the Pioneer League get the idea that they need to be talking or playing some music or other sound effects every second of the game, between innings, between batters, even between pitches. I guess we fans are tolerant of lots of things besides bad play.

This is a nice park, been open for three or four years: somewhat like Billings' Dehler Park in that the field is sunken and well taken care of. It is in the middle of a partly developed park in a partly developed part of Missoula, which is growing more quickly than Billings these days. Now that I think about it, the sunken aspect is even better than Billings because they have about 13 or 14 rows of seats and the pitch is at least several inches better or steeper than ours. By that I mean that you don't have to look around the lady in the seat in front of you, or ask her to remove her hat, because you can see over her and her hat and the horse she rode in on. Kind of reminded me of the old fashioned theatres that pitch up steeply and you look down, even from the balcony, surprisingly close to the stage. The distances down the foul lines are a little chintzy, 309 ft down the left field line and less than that down the right field line. So they built them up with signs from eager advertisers. Late afternoon sun could bother the right fielder and maybe the right side of the infield though they didn't seem to have trouble this night.

The crowd was said to be around 2400 but that looked like something of an exaggeration. I would have thought that a team that was on their way to the play-offs—they start in Missoula on Saturday with Great Falls their first opponent in a best of 3 game series,—and this was, after all Fan Appreciation Night, that they would have had a few more fans present. Then Thursday morning I saw the paper and remembered where and when I and it was. President Obama had given his final commands to get everyone on board in his address to the Congress—I wonder, did they invite him or does he get to say I'm #1 whenever he feels like it?—so I wasn't surprised that a lot of the yuppies would be glued to their TV sets that night. And some of them do come to a civilized game now and then. But not when their Leader is giving orders. That's right, some of the ballplayers were handing out pictures to the fans entering the gate.

My favorite hotel in Missoula is the Best Western Grant Creek Inn, just off the 90. They take animals and have the best breakfast in town, maybe in the state. And they have a good swimming pool and exercise room too. And it is near to a couple of good restaurants. Last time we were impressed by the new Montana Club, out near the Interstate on Reserve St. This time I thought I would try The Stone of Accord, 'where the Gaelic meets the garlic' according to their menu. See the stone in their entranceway to the right.

The soup was something called Colcannon and was excellent gruelly Irish stuff with potatoes and meat and cabbage etc. Irish spring rolls caught my eye on the appetizer menu, cabbbage and meat and something else too, not sure. Too many for one and very spicy. Of course I started sweating but I liked the contents if not the slightly thick and tough pastry around them. I think this place could be a winner.

The game was surprisingly low scoring. I guess the Osprey had bombed the Mustangs so badly for three nights in a row that either they were tired from swinging the bats or they felt sorry for Billings. They must have some pretty good pitchers as they presented a check from some car dealership for about $3200, which was the total for all the strikeouts of opposing players in Missoula at $10 a pop, and that didn't count the ten or fourteen that struck out on this night. The average number of strikeouts must have been close to ten per game. The Mustangs came up with a run in the top of the eighth on a Tyler Stovall single, and another in the ninth on doubles by Josh Garton and Yen-Wen Kuo; and then our pitchers held their big boppers in the bottom of the ninth to win 3-2. Didn't happen very often this year.

I note in passing that a Mr Bobby Stone, of the Missoula Osprey, rookie league farm team of the Arizona Diamondbacks, I mean BOBBIEEE STONNNNNE, hit his 16th home run of the season. I was a little surprised to find that our Sean Connor actually had hit 6 of them, must have been mainly on the road. A few others on our team had 2 or 3 but nothing to write home about. Did Cincinnati send all of their just-signed sluggers to some other team?

Take Time For Paradise—Giamatti

That big green patch out there is a glimpse of paradise. Those of us sitting in the stands had some closer glimpses in the past and wish we were still there: perhaps a kind of purgatory. This is Denton Field in Miles City Montana.


Go east on the 94 but turn off about 2 hours down the road. If you get to Bismarck, North Dakota you've gone too far. The 90 first turns south into Wyoming and then eventually east through South Dakota.


The river and the railroad and the highway run close together in many places here in Montana. Each was the main thoroughfare at some time or other. The river of course came first, then the railroad, and now the highway. Do the routes in the air follow the same pattern?


This baseball park has been here a long time. My guess is that it was built some time in the 30s as parts of it have that Civilian Conservation Corps look but I couldn't find any cornerstone to prove it.


In a small town you can't specialize too much. This field does at least double-duty, serving as a football field for the Miles City Cowboys in the fall. The dimensions of the outfield are a little odd as a result: Centerfield is 438 ft away, while the right and left field corners are only 321 and 312 ft. away. The infield is a little dusty here. I have the feeling that if too much water is used it might turn to gumbo. The American Legion State Tournament is being played here from 25 through 29 July: two Billings teams, Bozeman, Miles City from the east and Kalispell, Missoula, Lethbridge and Medicine Hat from the west. How is that for diversity? Two teams from Canada in the Montana state tournament! We are thin on the ground around here. I imagine the folks from Helena feel a little hard pressed right now.

This is a diverse crowd though as you can see mostly European. They are all cheering on different teams and different players. Some put flowers on a monument.


Hard to believe that it's been six years since this tragedy: he was a pitcher for Miles City struck in the head by a batted ball, and died soon thereafter. Baseball in Miles City has not been the same since. They were "mercifully 10-runned" in both their games in this state tournament. After the third day of the tournament there are 4 teams left, three with a loss and one, Bozeman, thus far undefeated.



Miles City is a nice little town, less than 10,000 souls I'm sure. It remind me of what those of us from small villages in the 40s would call a big town. We would probably go there for Christmas shopping or to buy a truck. It has a community college, a reform school, a nice historic district, both downtown and residential, and lots of agriculture surrounding it. Below is a view out of the front door to the historic Olive Hotel in downtown Miles City.



There is actually part of a new town out by the interstate, which then gives way to the outskirts of a real town and then finally to the center of the town itself. I saw a number of buildings from the 1880s and some very nice houses from that same period, late 19th—early 20th century. The Legion baseball teams won some state tournaments in the 30s and 40s. This town was a lot more prosperous at some time in the past.



In case anyone is interested they have some great appetizers at the Rib and Chop Place out near the interstate. These are fried green tomatoes. The gumbo soup was excellent too. The Riesling tasted of apples and pears and the Chardonnay was just right, a little warmer than the just right cold Riesling.


The only discouraging word I heard or saw on this trip was at one of the rest stops. I wonder if this sign is as effective as the signs in our national parks saying that wild animals are not to be closely approached.

Montana Makes Wall Street Journal

This morning's op-ed page of the Wall Street Journal has an article by Andrew Biggs: Public Pensions Cook the Books.

The administrators of a couple of Montana pension plans want one-handed actuaries and are specifying how they want their books cooked, though I'm not sure whether that would be described as rare or well done.

Are our public servants becoming more confident or arrogant or what?

Day Trips from Billings I

I think it might be a little safer and probably quicker to use the highways rather than the rivers. Some suggestions for July when a couple of our grandson's arrive for their Montana adventure.


This place is only about 90 minutes east of Billings. Something nicely done for a change by our federal government. I mean the battlefield memorial now being run by the National Parks, not the foolhardy Custer and his brave followers.

Another great place not far from Billings. Kind of a mini-Grand Canyon according to this picture.

Of course, we will keep Yellowstone National Park and Virginia City in reserve and maybe a little fishing too. Then there is Cody and Red Lodge. I wonder if a month or two is long enough.

What Does This Mean?

Another Good Thing About Montana

You can advertise your purpose, profession or your passion on your license plate.




I remember a few years ago I was walking to my car in the doctor's parking lot [yes, Virginia, we did have a separate parking lot at one time] along with a friend who cashed in his chips way too early, from a melanoma ironically enough. He was a plastic surgeon.

We commented on the neurosurgeon's plate, Brain, and the pulmonary physician's plate, Chest. And then he thought for a few seconds and said: "I'm going to get a plate for myself, Tits."

What To Do On Sundays In October In Billings

You could go to Briarwood, excuse me, I mean The Briarwood, for lunch. See above. Not many playing today as it was a little chilly and it was the opening day of the deer season in Montana.

I had an excellent Reuben and Carol had an unusually good burger. The latter featured Angus beef of course, just like at Hardee's. The ambiance is a little nicer than Hardee's.

You could go to Albertson's for food if you were still hungry or to buy a costume for Halloween. See above.

But first of all there is a choice of churches. That is the sanctuary of Mount Olive on 24th St above. And below is the steeple of Saint Patrick's downtown.


So then, to Saint Patrick's at the beginning of the day, well, of course I mean the 10:30 Mass because that is when the choir sings; and at the end of the day too for a lovely concert. See below. The High Plains Chamber Singers are some of the best singers in town, often teachers in and around Billings. We are lucky to have them get together in public several times a year. It is true of course that they are individually very good but even more true that together they sound super wonderful, maybe even heavenly. Why is there so much really good religious choral music?

A Quick Trip To Butte America

On the way to Butte America



The original settlers apparently couldn't see the rocks lying just below the surface dirt. Some of these pictures were taken from a moving car.


Our Lady of the Rockies, the BVM, broods over Butte.

The former downtown Butte is now the uptown Historic District. It has a way to go before it is ready for prime time.

This is the Mike Mansfield Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse. Another hideout for our masters in government, this one in uptown Butte. There was a certain amount of unpleasantness here. Somehow the jury managed to put up with it, probably like many of us put up with our political masters' TV ads.

October Snowstorm in Montana

This is what we woke up to this morning. Last night it was just cold and rainy. I almost got stuck backing out of my driveway. This blog entry will serve as a Warning to friends and relatives in the Mid West.

The View From My Driveway

When I turn to the right at the bottom of my driveway on Ramada Drive in the late afternoon of September 2008 I see these stones, partly covered by trees, the latter seemingly not requiring much dirt to grow in. They are called rimrocks. They remind me of Alain Botton's wisdom:

“In beholding old stones we may feel our anxieties about our achievements–and lack of them–slacken . . . Vast landscapes [and seascapes] can have an anxiety–reducing effect similar to ruins, for they are the representatives of infinite space, as ruins are the representatives of infinite time, against which our weak, short-lived bodies seem no less inconsequential than those of moths or spiders.” Alain de Botton in Status Anxiety






This is what I see when I turn to the left. They are called rusty pheasants and a mailbox. They will probably last longer than I will. I forgot who the artist is. Sorry, I know he was from Laurel MT. The picture below came from a website I stumbled upon when looking up artists and sculptors in Laurel Montana. It looks like it was take somewhere just west of Billings on I90.

Descriptive License Plates

Montanans are fairly nice people, coming in 2nd or 3rd behind Minnesota and maybe a few other places. They are long-suffering, always expecting their elected officials to behave themselves and actually do what they are supposed to do.

As a reward for living in a state with not many people in it and where car licenses and registrations are very expensive, there is a fair chance that you can get your own distinctive message on your plate. Perhaps you can guess what kind of vehicle and to whom it belongs after you see the above license plate. Here is the answer below.

Sailing East On The 90

I am sorry. I took this picture while driving at about 70mph down the 90 heading toward Billings. My camera is easier to use than my cellphone.

This picture was too much of a temptation. At 70mph I thought it said "Bears Exit Now," which I thought fairly funny. Only after seeing the picture did I see the whole message, "See Grizzly Bears Exit Now." I promise to not take any more pictures at 70mph.

Around and About Billings: A Few Days in July 08

Above is the inside of McCormick's Cafe on Montana Ave with special attention to the ceiling. The menu is on the wall. Below is a view of Montana Ave and the McCormick sign sticking out from the Cafe. I'm not sure that sidewalk trees will ever work for very long. They are mainly for looks while they are immature. And a little lower down are some old and recent signs on the side of old buildings down in this historical part of town. "Ghost signs" I think the cognoscenti call them.



I'm not sure what the Stillwater Stage is, but I will try to find out. Meanwhile, watch this space.

The front of a scorecard from a Mustang's game at Dehler Park, above left; and above right are the blooms on our catalpa tree. It is looking better every year.

Just above left are members of the 329 Club out in left field at Dehler Park. They are discussing important matters of the day while watching a ball game. Further right is a regular at the corner of 24th and Central, discussing even more important things on his loudspeaker. I'm not sure those in the passing cars can hear him.

The summer season is in full swing in early July most years here in Billings MT. Maybe that is when you know you are no longer living in a small town, that is, when so many things are going on at the same time that no one person can actually keep track of all that is going on, nor would anyone want to. This is a small sample of what we are up to in Billings, Montana.