Montana Range Days

MONTANA RANGE DAYS

BOOSTER CLUB

DATE: May 16, 2015

TO: Montana Range Days Boosters

FROM: Amber Nordahl, Booster Club Chairman

RE: 2015 Range Days and Booster Club

What are your favorite things? Do you have a list? Want to read mine?

Rain, coming straight down and steady. An early morning long run about 45 degrees, calm winds. Seeing the sun come up. Checking the cow’s water on a hot August morning and the tank is full. Going out to look at that heifer that was going to calve and the calf is up and eating. The finish line of a marathon. Putting the cows into a new pasture and the grass is high enough to rub their bellies. Having it be so wet we have salamanders on our county road. The bulls all testing good. Answering the phone and it is one of our boys saying “hi Mom”. Driving to town in the pickup with my husband listening to an old George Strait CD. And of course Montana Range Days, and more rain. 1 more, a whole year of no surgeries for Al. I hope you make a list and put it where you can read it every day. I hope it makes you smile.

Last night I remember hearing rain on the roof and it woke us this morning. It has rained most of the week off and on with some fog mixed in. Fog is good – it means more storms on the way. Hope it rained at your place too. Our grass was trying to grow, so this rain will surely help out. They say we are behind average for moisture. What the heck is average? At our house we either have lots or we’re short. There is no “average” year for rainfall. That is a statistic where they counted up the inches for rain for 10 years and divided by 10. And who knows what month we get our average in. Might be February, April or August. You better come to Range Days so you can be prepared for the 2015 average year.

Yep, this is your Booster Club letter. I thought I better fill you in on what’s coming up and what happened since last June.

39th Annual Montana Range Days

Harlowton, Montana

June 15 – 17, 2015

Last year for Booster Club, we ended up with 67 members, 36 are members for more than 10 years and 7 are past Top Range Hands. We raised enough to pay for 3 of our $1,000 scholarships. It was a successful year and we thank each of you for helping out.

This last year we handed out our first Top Range Hand scholarships. That scholarship is $1,000 and we fund it after we receive the student’s 1st semester college transcript. We did 2 of those, then still awarded our usual 3 for $1,000 each.

You see, besides our grasslands and prairies, Montana Range Days takes care of our young people. From 4 years old to college students, there is a place for them to come, learn and participate at Range Days. And you Moms and Dads should bring them, because there is a place for you too. Go to our website: www:montanarangedays.org and you can register online as well as get the brochure and schedule. It has all the details. Read the part about the workshops and the tours, and the meals. Yes, we feed you too. What a Vacation!

We sponsor our 1st place team to attend Old West Range Judging Contest, Wilbur Ellis has matching jackets for each of them, as well as Soil judging competitions. We help with expenses to attend and speak at the Society of Range Management winter meeting if a student has the opportunity to go.

At Range Days, there are cash awards for the Illustrated Talks and the Montana Weed Control Association pitches in the prize money for the winning plant collections containing a certain number of noxious weeds.

We have ryker mounts now for most all of our plant anatomy examples in the practice room and the MRD manual in on Met Net for the FFA teams to use.

Now for the fog: 90 days after a fog we are set for another storm. From my calendar that is June 17 and 18. You won’t want to be putting down any hay the Monday or Tuesday of Range Days since we are in for rain Wednesday and Thursday. So just park that swather and head for Harlow. We would like to see you there, visit, catch up on projects you are doing or looking at starting. Our instructors are the best from around our state. The knowledge they have is 2nd to none. Bounce your ideas off of them. Come, learn, eat as you like, dance if you want and test your knowledge with the contest. Bring the kids and if it doesn’t rain, you can mention that too.

See you in Harlowton. Call if you have any questions. (406) 669-3193

My email:

And don’t forget your Favorite Things List. What brings out your smile?

______

MONTANA RANGE DAYS BOOSTER CLUB DUES $25.00

Donation to MRD Permanent Endowment Fund ______

Total Contribution ______

We would appreciate your dues by June 30, 2015

You can mail it in the enclosed envelope

or bring it along to Range Days

Mail to: Montana Range Days Booster Club

c/o Amber Nordahl

2033 Columbus-Molt Road

Molt Montana 59057