Small Town Celebrations

We are enjoying some of the best “summer” weather Montana has had in years!  Our high temperatures have been below 80 degrees with a slight breeze.  While we were in the Bighorn Mountains it rained almost an inch.  We will take it!

This is rodeo weekend in Big Timber, Montana and our social calendar was full–not the Cowboy’s usual mode of operation let me tell you!  Saturday we headed in to town to attend Ullman Lumber Company’s 100 year anniversary celebration.  We are fortunate to have such a fabulous, well stocked building supply business in our small community.  Grandfather Con Ullman started the business one hundred years ago and is the man on the far right in the below photo.  His son Forrest then took over followed by Sox Ullman who was a high school classmate of the Cowboy’s.  Sox and his son Justin now run Ullman Lumber.

The Cowboy and his family lived 22 miles from town.  It was customary for “country boys” to live with town folks during the school year, especially if they participated in sports.  The Cowboy lived with the Ullman family his senior year.  Ullman Lumber hosted a celebration on Saturday providing lunch to a tremendous number of people and it was fun to visit with so many friends.

And isn’t Photoshop a wonderful thing–the current store sits in exactly the same place as the older version of the business in the photo but has a more modern look these days.  And four generations of Ullman’s added to the photo.

Back up the Boulder to spend some time with the needy Emmi then it was back to town for a pre-rodeo gathering at Nancy and Geoff’s.  Again, lots of friends, neighbors and people we had not met before.  And great food!

Saturday morning we were once again on the road–it was Sweet Grass Fest in Big Timber.  Music, vendors, food, a fabulous car show and again, lots of visiting with friends.  McLeod Street and 2nd Street are blocked and the festival fills the space.  At 2pm there is a parade and hundreds of people lined the sidewalks–I love this weekend!  There is the rodeo and later music and dancing Friday and Saturday nights.

Our brand spanking new fire truck!! The company which provides our blazing fast DSL internet service which is often a rarity in Montana!

Our friend Deb recently inherited this Ford from her father.

Cute little cowboy on a big horse!

A busy but super weekend!  Sunday we both managed to play catch up with some of the chores around here–sprayed weeds, mowed grass, and I even managed to quilt a bit.