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Greetings and Welcome to The 405 Coffee Break with O.K. Solberg
New episodes tend to air over the local KMMR radio station @ 5 minutes past 4PM each M-F. And have been doing so, nearly every week since Sept 2018.
I'm D.J. Rasmussen, O.K.s friend since junior high, possibly your neighbor & this websites maintainer, whom strives to get each episode's show notes written, the transcript proofed and the audio posted to the internet within a few hours of that days KMMR air time. NOTE: recently been publishing most new releases by 4:30PM.
Thanks for visiting and I hope you enjoy the time we can spend together.
I wanna again welcome you to The 405 Coffee Break. Guys, it's getting warm out there. Find a shady spot and grab a cup of coffee, glass iced tea, or bottle of water. Let's see what's happening.
OK Solberg:Spring wheat not doing a lot. $5.58 a bushel. Did I tell you back in 1974 wheat was $5 a bushel for a period of time? Really? Yes. I told you. 550lb steer calf not moving much now so 9 head of canner cows. 9 head, canner cows, weighing 1,696lbs per head, that's a big cow they sold in PAYS for $1.7325 which equates to $2,938 for a big old canner cow. And a 100lb fat lamb in Billings $3.25 all the way up to $3.35 depending on their quality. But guys, there's more, much more.
OK Solberg:Now guys, if you're like me and listen to the music of the 1960's and 70's, you might have wondered whether America would even make it to its 250th birthday.
OK Solberg:Right? Song after song warned of destruction, of nuclear war, revolution, pollution, and the collapse of society. But two days passed. On July 4, America celebrated 250 years of independence. We are still here.
OK Solberg:Now our family spent it out at Zortman. But like I said, we're still here. The soundtrack of those years could make even the most optimistic person wonder if tomorrow would, well, would ever come.
OK Solberg:Remember in 1965, Barry Maguire sang a song, eve of destruction. Young Americans heard warnings that they were old enough to kill, but not old enough for men of many of life's privileges. Oh, the message was unmistakable. The world was teetering on the edge.
OK Solberg:Only a few years later came songs about protests, riots, about war. CCR reminded listeners that it ain't me, as they protested a system that they believed was unfair. Marvin Gaye asked, what's going on? Others sang about pollution, poisoned skies, burning cities, and governments that had lost their way.
OK Solberg:One I remember distinctly what went just like this. There's something happening here, but what it is ain't exactly clear. There's a man with a gun over there telling me I got to beware. Oh, the fears weren't imagined.
OK Solberg:The Cold War was real. Nuclear missiles stood ready on both sides of the globe. Vietnam divided families around the dinner table. Assassination shocked the nation. Inflation climbed.
OK Solberg:Gas lines stretched around city blocks in some places across America. Every evening news seemed to offer one more reason to wonder whether America's best days were behind her. Many people truly believed the future was growing darker by the year, yet somehow the years kept coming. Children grew up. Families were raised.
OK Solberg:Church bells continued to ring on Sunday morning. Neighbors still help neighbors. Communities rebuilt after storms. The nation argued, stumbled, recovered, and well kept moving forward. Now there's an ancient proverb that says, the steadfast love of the lord never ceases.
OK Solberg:His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning. Now perhaps that explains something the headlines never could explain. Every generation has believed it was living in extraordinary times. Every generation has faced its own fears, wars, diseases, economic hardship, political division, natural disasters.
OK Solberg:Yeah. Every generation has wondered whether the next one would inherit anything of worth at all. And yet, here we are. 250 years after a handful of determined patriots declared that all men are created equal, the American experiment continues. Imperfect?
OK Solberg:Oh, certainly. Challenged? Constantly. Finished? No. Not even close. Maybe the greatest lesson history teaches us is that fear makes loud predictions, but faith quietly keeps building tomorrow.
OK Solberg:You know, guys, I thought about that after the fireworks faded. This morning, I stopped at Horizons Resources, HR as Dan Perry calls it, and I reached into my wallet and pulled out a $5 bill to buy me a Coca Cola. But before I handed it to the cashier, my eyes paused on four familiar words printed above the great seal, in god, we trust.
OK Solberg:I've seen those words a thousand times, But, you know, now they felt different. For just a moment, I stood there wondering after all the wars, after all the predictions, after all the songs that warn destruction was just around the corner, after all the years when so many were convinced we would never make it this far, could it be that those 4 simple words tell more of America's story than all the gloomy predictions that headlines ever printed.
OK Solberg:You know, I paid for my Coca Cola, folded the change into my pocket, and walked out into another ordinary American morning, an ordinary Malta, Montana morning, still free, still hopeful, still here.
OK Solberg:So until next time, as you go out there, remember now, don't be bitter.