Big Sky Blog

KULR-8 in Billings is reporting that Vice President Dick Cheney was in Billings today on his way to the Big Horn River to fish for trout.

Wyoming native Cheney knows where the best fishing is, Montana!

If you’ve ever enjoyed the best steak in the world at the Highwood Bar, tucked between Belt and Fort Benton, this will come as sad news: Jack Earl “Piano Jack” Myllymaki, the man who pounded the keys at the Highwood Bar, has passed away at the too-early age of 57. The Trib did a feature on Piano Jack not too long ago, highlighting his love of piano playing, his roots in Great Falls and Belt, and other quirks about this unique man.

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Part of the charm of the Highwood Bar was, of course, the piano-playing of Jack - hunched over the keyboard, wearing his hat, and pounding out all sorts of tunes. And I do mean pounding - he was so enthusiastic in his playing that sometimes you had to nearly yell to talk with someone sitting right next to you. And I mean that in a good way. Here’s Piano Jack, doing what he did so well:

Jack, thanks for being part of a unique experience. You will be missed. My condolences to the family, friends, co-workers, and admirers of Jack’s music.

Today’s edition of The Billings Gazette has some good stories today which are worth reading.

The first is a story about the Japanese community in 20th century Harlowton and the second is of the last Japanese native in Harlowton. The story of Henry Muneta is especially poignant since he is the father-in-law of a Big Sky blogger.

I’ll let you figure out who the blogger is.

The next story is a nice one about the Billings Bluegrass music club which has weekly jam sessions at a local Hardee’s. The Gazette also has a nice photo album to go with the story.

I wonder if the Long Time Lonesome Dogs ever play at Hardee’s?

We have a new Miss Montana: Jennifer Hepner, a student at UM in Missoula, was crowned Saturday night!

I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Miss Hepner; she’s a good kid. She represented Great Falls at the 2007 pageant and the 2006 pageant.

Related: Miss Montana 2007; Miss Montana 2006; and Miss Montana 2005.

I’ll admit that I wasn’t paying too much attention to the Republican primary a couple of days ago, but now that the dust has settled, I’m…uh…surprised that the Republican nominee for US Senate is perennial candidate Bob Kelleher (official site). His nomination has even garnered attention from some of the blogosphere big boys, including the folks over at the Volokh Conspiracy and Wizbang Blog. If you’ve never heard of Kelleher, here’s a little background:

For the last 44 years, Kelleher has run for office 16 times and lost 15. His only taste of victory came in 1971, when he was elected a delegate to Montana’s Constitutional Convention. There, he helped replace the state’s century-old territorial constitution with one of the most progressive governing documents in the nation. Kelleher’s political passion then, as now, is unique - and largely unpopular: He wants to replace the U.S. Senate, House and presidency with a parliament. Kelleher, an 85-year-old attorney from Butte, will challenge Democrat incumbent Max Baucus in November. The new nominee’s views are far from the mainstream Republican party in Montana. He has run as both a Democratic and a Green Party candidate.

If you’d like to see Kelleher in action during a previous election - and see how he compares to former Blue Man Candidate Stan Jones - check out this Comedy Central interview. In other Kelleher news: some Ron Paul devotees want to adopt Bob, and a Daily Kos blogger (from Great Falls) offers some thoughts.

Police need your help; information from the GF Tribune:

Anaconda-Deerlodge police are searching for an Anaconda woman who has been missing for two weeks. Detective Bill Sather says 45-year-old Helena Gracia’s sister reported her missing last Saturday.

Her family last saw her on May 23, when she went to the store to get groceries and fill a prescription for her mother. Police say Gracia was last seen later that day with a man at an Anaconda bar. Gracia’s brother, Mike, says the family wasn’t immediately alarmed, because she had talked about going to Missoula to look for a job. However, when calls to her cell phone went unanswered for days, the family called police.

Gracia’s car was found behind the bar last Sunday. The car was locked, the groceries were inside, rotting, and Gracia’s purse and her mother’s medication were also found in the vehicle.

More details are at the Montana Standard. Note that there are different spellings given for her last name, Gracia and Garcia; not sure which is correct. If you have any information about her whereabouts contact your local police or sheriff’s office.

The first Big Sky Blog button — you’re all invited to add it to your site, or create your own and post it here for us to use! It’s my first button, and it’s probably a bit too big, so scale it down if you need to. EDIT: I changed my button to accommodate the dimensions that Jen indicated.

UPDATE: The second button is from Jen - beautiful! The third one is from Sharon - perfect!

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Sorry, Randy, but this just can’t wait to be posted — this is urgent, because it’s so deliciously humourous, and partially accurate.

SIX THINGS YOU DON’T KNOW ABOUT MONTANA

The weather here in Kalispell - is pretty crappy - you can barely see the mountains that in case this town because they’re in the fog, the skies are grey and rain is constantly coming down in droves.

Today total, we must have had at least 20 minutes of sun and that was around 1:30.

And of course while I write this the rain has calmed down. Thank you rain. Gr. But yesterday, Eureka, where my dad is working on a house (he’s a Sub-Contractor) received a foot in rain for the total day.

Now the rain has almost stopped. That was a good five minutes of fun! I hope it’s sunny where the rest of you are.

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Now the sun is shining. Montana weather works in many of strange ways.

GREAT FALLS - A third person is now charged in last week’s meth lab fire at an apartment in Great Falls.

She is 19-year-old Nicole Leeson, who is charged with criminal endangerment for allegedly having her two-year-old child in the apartment when meth was being cooked.

The lab caught fire in the early morning hours of this past Wednesday.

If convicted, she could face up to ten years behind bars and a 50-thousand-dollar fine. Her bail has been set at 100-thousand dollars.

Officials say 19-year-old Brandy Powell and 22-year-old Nathaniel Leeson have been charged with operating the meth lab.

(From: Chris Grogan, KRTV)

Just a couple weeks ago, in Missoula there was a fire in a hotel room that sent the man to the hospital. How stupid can one person be? This is a serious case for those of us in Montana, it’s our only real drug that “we” make here and send out.

Flathead Valley News:

Going to the Sun Road is now open. So enjoy it before the snow falls.

Kalispell has narrowed its search for city managers since ours left.

01. David Dengel, city manager of Valdez, Alaska.
He’s the executive director of the Alaska Gasline Port Authority, which is trying to build a $26 billion dollar gas pipline that would transport gas south from the North Slope.

02. J. Scott Miller, city manager of College Park, Ga
Miller has an quarter of a century experience of city managing jobs in half a dozen cities and four states.

03. James Patrick, city manager of Vermillion, South Dakota.
He’s been the city manager since 2002 and is a retired Army officer.

04. Fred Rice, town operations manager for West Yellowstone.
Former Missoulian city council member for nine years and took over this post in 2000.

A total of 51 resumes were received, I guess someone cares about Kalispell.

Misc.

I loove peaches! So here’s a recipe:

Peach Pie

3/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 small pkg. vanilla pudding
1 egg
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 cup milk
1 large can of peaches, (3-1/3 cups) save the juice
1 (8 oz.) package of cream cheese
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Combine flour, baking powder, salt, pudding mix, egg, and milk in a large bowl. Beat for two minutes on medium speed. Pour into a 10 inch greased pie pan. Place drained peaches on top, then set aside. Combine cream cheese, 1/2 cup sugar, and 3 tablespoons peach juice. Beat for two minutes until smooth. Spoon on top of the peaches and keep away from the edge–about 1 inch. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of sugar and 1/2 tsp. of cinnamon on top. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes.