OK Solberg: 00:00

I want again welcome you out of The 04:05 Coffee Break. Guys, get in out of that wind. It's cold. Get your cup of coffee, hot steamy cup of hot chocolate, iced tea, maybe bottled water, whatever you like. Let's see what's happen.

OK Solberg: 00:15

Spring wheat $5.42 a bushel. 550lb steer calf, I kid you not. Not even down to Billing. Just 70 miles over to Chinook at Bear Paw Livestock, 550lb sold for $4.94 a pound. That's $2,700 a piece, but don't tell anybody. A butcher hog in Iowa 61¢ a pound, a 100lb fat lamb in Billings $2.42. But guys, there's more, much more.

OK Solberg: 00:50

Okay. Okay. Here's the deal. Several people have made this comment to me over the past years. Hey. Have you written all these stories down? Or they'll say, you need to write a book with all these stories in it. You know, I think that's a good idea. But have you ever had a project that looks so big, so big that you just turn around and find something else to do?

OK Solberg: 01:18

Yes. Some things can seem insurmountable. It reminds me, in the late 80's, I had cut a whole farm truckload of firewood, cut and split and thrown into the back of a farm truck. Now I'm talking a truck with a hoist, not a pickup here. And I believe that truck was owned by Tim Bruckner.

OK Solberg: 01:40

He let me borrow it. It was a 1978 GMC Astro if I'm not mistaken. And it had a 24 foot box. Now imagine how much wood that box could hold. Well, I hoisted off in front of our yard out in Harb, and now we have to stack it inside the yard in the bunkhouse at the Peterson Place and that's about 40 yards away.

OK Solberg: 02:07

Our two oldest children were Stacy and Kenny, and they're about 9 and 7 years old. And I told Stacy and Kenny, we're gonna haul this wood to the bunk house and I need your help. Those kids looked at that huge pile and they kinda groaned.

OK Solberg: 02:26

They said all of it? I said, yeah. We need to get it all. So we started. Those kids were dragging their feet. It was getting done, but it was kinda like pulling teeth. That pile was so big.

OK Solberg: 02:42

So I thought, let's see if I can motivate these young'uns a little. And I had me an idea. I said, Stacy, Kenny, all we have to do for now is we only have to haul a 100 pieces and then we'll go inside the house and have a cookie. We'll get a 100 and then stop. Guys, you should have seen those kids haul wood.

OK Solberg: 03:06

123456789. Those two little kids were walking faster than me as we headed to the bunkhouse. The job had now been cut down to size, and it was actually enjoyable. We got the 100, and we took a break and had a cookie and some Kool Aid. So now back to my request by people.

OK Solberg: 03:29

Have you written all your stories down? You should write a book. Well, they say that and it's kinda like a really big job. It's like looking at that whole pile of firewood and thinking, well, we'll never get it all. So here's what I'm gonna do.

OK Solberg: 03:45

I'll tell the stories one at a time on this program. On The 405 I'll tell one story at a time and I'll have fun. Hopefully, you'll enjoy it in the meantime and we'll get these stories documented. What about that then? I'll do the writing and the reading.

OK Solberg: 04:03

You do the listening. And before we know it, we'll have an entire book of true stories from Phillips County, from Harb to Zortman, from the youth ranch near Whitewater all the way over to Saco on the East. Look at that. We're a pretty good team. Look.

OK Solberg: 04:22

I got one story I already told and it dealt with working with my children and making work fun and it was productive work. Fueled the wood stove all winter long. You know guys, that wood heat feels good on a cold winter day especially when the winds blowing like it is now.

OK Solberg: 04:41

Reminds me of a story in the Bible. You remember when Jesus got arrested and taken into Jerusalem? They're gonna soon take him to the cross. And his disciples followed but they didn't wanna get too close or the Roman soldiers might arrest them too. Well well, Peter, he's watching from a distance and it was getting chilly outside.

OK Solberg: 05:05

Listen what it says in John 18:18 Now the servants and officers had made a charcoal fire because it was cold and they were standing and warming themselves. Peter also was with them standing, warming himself. Oh, yeah. Nothing like a good fire to get yourself warmed up. It already reminds me of two other stories. One happened in 1979, and it was in Henry and Barb Martin's house out South of Saco.

OK Solberg: 05:38

That had to do with a wood stove. And the 2nd one happened in 1982, and I had another farm truckload of firewood from Eureka, Montana. Look at what's happening here. Story after story coming into my mind, but those 2 will have to wait. The story pile is still pretty big, but little by little, I'll get them told.

OK Solberg: 06:00

So until next time, as you go out there, remember now, don't be bitter.