OK Solberg: 00:00

I wanna again welcome you to the 04:05 coffee break. I think it's Friday. I know it is. Get your cup of coffee, glass iced tea, bottled water. Let's see what's happening.

OK Solberg: 00:09

Spring wheat, $5.61 a bushel, way down from the $6 mark. Must mean harvest is here or almost here. It does it every year. 550 pound steer calf, $3.97 on the top end. A butcher hog in Iowa, 54¢ a pound, and a 100 pound fat lamb in Billings is worth $2.18.

OK Solberg: 00:34

But, guys, there's more, much more. All week long, I've been sharing things from the past. See, I found an article online that stated you might be older than you think if you remember these things. Well, it's Friday, and I didn't yet complete the list, so I better play a little catch up. But first, a Bible verse that I feel is fitting.

OK Solberg: 01:01

I need to get on with it and share the entire list of items from the article, so listen to Ecclesiastes eleven four. He who observes the wind will not sow, and he who regards the clouds will not reap. Yep. Waiting for perfect conditions leads to inaction. So I'm gonna get her done.

OK Solberg: 01:25

The article continues, you might be older than you think if you remember handwritten report cards and chalkboard erasers. Oh, I remember them both. I didn't do it always, but on the report cards we had, they sent them home every six weeks and needed to have one of our parents sign it. Remember? Well, what I did sometimes, first, I'd get my mom to sign it.

OK Solberg: 01:54

The next time around, I'd get my father to sign it and so forth. And you looked at the back, and it was just rotating. Eva, Mrs Ingewald Solberg, Mr Ingewald Solberg. It really added class to the back of my handwritten report card. That was better than looking at the other side where all the grades were.

OK Solberg: 02:14

Now the chalkboard erasers, everyone remembers dusty and fun to throw at a classmate if the teacher was out of the room. The next item is you might be older than you think if you remember collecting S&H green stamps. How about it? Any of you out there collect green stamps? Did you have fun looking through the catalog to see what lovely item you'd get when you took your books in to redeem?

OK Solberg: 02:45

Now personally, I remember seeing them. I remember being at someone's house that was pasting them inside a book. But honestly, I didn't actually do it myself. Now the final one on the list of 10 things from the past is, you might be older than you think if you remember lining up at the ticket booth for a Saturday matinee. Oh, I know Theo did.

OK Solberg: 03:15

I know you probably did as well if you're old enough, but I can honestly say I never did. Nope. Nope. Wasn't allowed to go to movies. What's the deal there anyway?

OK Solberg: 03:28

Oh, well. It's behind me now. I refuse to be bitter. But I do have a story about lining up waiting for the Saturday matinee, and that story is from right here in Malta, Montana. Gary Fado's my friend.

OK Solberg: 03:43

And Gary told me this story. He was a young boy, and the Saturday matinee cost a dime. Well, Gary had his dime, and he's going to the Palace Theater right here in Malta. Don't believe me? Go right beside Arts Furniture.

OK Solberg: 03:58

Look up. The Palace sign is still there. Well, it's cold outside, and there's snow on the ground, and Gary has that small dime clutched in his hand. But as he stood waiting in line, trying to keep his hands warm, he fidgeted, and he dropped the dime in the snow. Oh, he looked, and he looked, and he got his hands even colder, but that dime was nowhere to be found.

OK Solberg: 04:27

Now Gary was born in 1939, so judging from his story, I think this took place in about 1945, about the winter before World War two got over. And little Gary lost his dime in the snow, and he started crying, wouldn't you? I know he did because he told me, Gary is standing in that line outside the Palace Theater, and he's crying. Well, this nice lady asked him what was wrong. And, of course, Gary told her, you know what, guys?

OK Solberg: 05:01

That lady, I wish we had a name, but we don't. That lady opened her purse and pulled out a dime and gave it to Gary. Again, he was a happy boy. He went to the matinee. But now Gary wasn't just a happy boy.

OK Solberg: 05:15

He was a thinking boy. And he thought, if he had dropped a dime in the snow, probably others had too. So he knew where the city of Malta piled the snow removal. And in the spring, after the snow melted, he went and searched. And he didn't just find a dime, he found a dollar and 40¢.

OK Solberg: 05:41

Like Jimmy Murdoch once said, I like that story. It has a happy ending. I too like that story. And now I have to run the weekends near. So until next time, as you go out there, remember now, don't be bitter.