Last Best News (https://montana-mint.com/lastbestnews/category/diversions/page/20/)
Over the Christmas holidays last year, Jon Switzer was exhausted. Exhausted, he said, “by my dumb ‘smart’ phone and the constant distractions it brought me.”
So he sat down with an old magazine full of photographs of Montana. He was captivated, he said, but also frustrated because he wanted to go the places pictured in the photos but found little or no guidance on how to find any of them. (more…) Continue Reading →
This story has been updated to include a correction. Friends and family got a sneak peek at the Annex Coffeehouse and Bakery on Monday evening. The new business is connected to the Fieldhouse restaurant, owned by Ben and Krystal Harman, at 2601 Minnesota Ave. (more…) Continue Reading →
Last year, a 2,000-square-foot space on the top floor of a six-story apartment building in the heart of downtown Billings went on the market. The penthouse property, at 300 N. 25th St., across Third Avenue North from the Yellowstone County Sheriff’s Office and the downtown bus transfer station, had once been the law offices of the late Charles “Timer” Moses. But it had been used for storage for many years, so it was basically an empty shell. (more…) Continue Reading →
A couple of weeks ago, I made a grave mistake. A friend posted this message on Facebook: “I just helped my 56-year-old boss catch a Charmander in our shop…” My idiot response: “What the hell is a Charmander?”
At first, for a shiny, short-lived second, I assumed my friend was simply using an obscure common name to refer to a wayward snake or lizard. Thus, I was nearly out the door to aid in what I imagined to be an exciting, around-the-office reptile rescue. (more…) Continue Reading →
Just call her amazing Grace. The 5-year-old sorrel survived at least two months in the depths of the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness, hobbled by a bad leg wound and unable to leave an area thick with deadfall. Kay and Bill Whittle, the Cooke City couple who rescued Grace, surmised that she had been injured crossing the upper reaches of the Stillwater River, then cut loose by the man who owned her, 49-year-old Christopher Shaul. (more…) Continue Reading →
Jerry Kramer is best known for playing with the Green Bay Packers when they won the first two Super Bowls, in 1967 and ’68. The offensive lineman also played a big role in helping the Packers win seven world championships in the 1960s. Any discussion of his career is also likely to include mention of the epic contests Kramer participated in, such as the Ice Bowl (1967 NFL Championship Game), or his interactions with almost sanctified figures like Vince Lombardi. (more…) Continue Reading →
Love it or hate it, graffiti art is slowly spreading in Billings, covering more and more walls either by commission or permission. Probably the best known spot is the “art alley” between the 3200 blocks of First and Second avenues north. It was created as part of a collaboration between the Downtown Billings Association, Sherwin-Williams and the Underground Culture Krew. (more…) Continue Reading →
A week from Saturday, some of the best chefs in Billings will be serving some of their favorite appetizers—more than 20,000 of them. The occasion will be the Taste of Summer fundraiser at the Billings Depot, an outdoor, all-you-can-eat-and-drink event featuring 15 restaurants, nearly 20 Montana breweries, all kinds of wine and live music. (more…) Continue Reading →
For a crippled calf, whose back legs bend sharply underneath her, Willow is relatively lucky. A rancher found the newborn before the varmints did. The longhorn is leading a happy life so far, frolicking with her sheep friends, unaware that she is handicapped and with a future that is increasingly uncertain as her body gains hundreds of pounds. (more…) Continue Reading →
Like most long-established taverns in Billings, the Rainbow Bar has always had a fair number of regulars. It’s doubtful any of them are quite as regular as Linda Jacobson. Besides having run the Rainbow for just over 30 years, she lived in rooms behind the bar as a kid and has spent virtually all of her life in and around the Montana Avenue tavern. (more…) Continue Reading →
