Strange But Real Businesses in Montana

Their logo is: Publishers and distributors of unique postcards, souvenirs, and books, all designed to "Quack You Up!"

They have a unique (!) line of postcards that shows the underbelly of Montana's obsession with trucks, wildlife, fishing and the ridiculous.

And, yes, I think they are hilarious.

The image here is called the Montana Information Highway. A more recent image of the Montana Information Highway is the lone pickup, pulled over to the side of the road. The driver will be on his cell phone, stopped in the one place that gets service.

Go here for more great cards and humor.

Fly fishing is big business and recreation in Montana. A lot of people love to tie their own flies for fishing with. They pride themselves on developing new patterns that will catch really BIG fish. A recent phone conversation that I had with a fly fishing friend about fly tying went like this:

Me: Tell me about fly tying. Isn't it all being done in China these days?

Her: Well, there are a lot of people here who continue to design new flies all the time. They get fame and recognition for it.

Me: (Not believing her and googling fly tying while talking to her on the phone). Why would you need to design new flies? Aren't they all based on the existing bugs that fish eat? Haven't they all been invented already? (Meanwhile, I find this fabulous link to famous fly designers).

Her: The fish get really smart about the old designs and won't strike at them.

Me: Oh, please...fish are smart!???

Her: Well, they continue to come out with new material like the recent Maribou with a jail house stripe that makes for a really great fly.

Me: I know that you use deer hair, rabbit fur, and feathers for these flies but what did you just say??? What's a maribou...is that a cross between a Moose and a Caribou?

Her: (Cackling madly). It's a feather with painted stripes on it.

Me: (Speechless. Why would someone paint stripes on a feather?)

Well, my friend Lexi Sundell who is a fantastic artist, gardener and fisherperson recently created a whole movie around a fly that her husband, Bern Sundell, (also an artist) designed.

He designed this fly to catch really, really big fish because he paints huge canvases of fish. After catching a fish, he places it in a homemade aquarium in the boat, then take photos of it. After that, the fish is released back into the river, where presumably it is now so smart it will never strike at that old fly pattern again.

Their gallery Riverstone Gallery showcases their art.

I'll leave fishing for my next lifetime.

Okay, I grew up on cattle drives. First you round them up from winter pasture, then you separate the calves from their mothers. At that point it becomes R rated. R is for real, very real.

It's a bit gruesome for a kid to watch the calves get "dehorned" and castrated.

But this budding EZE Castrator entrepreneur went to new lengths to develop castration equipment. Whoo...I don't even have the the offending organs and it made me cross my legs.

Here's some of their description:
Castrate year around
Bloodless
No crushing of internals

"The EZE Bloodless Castrator has rapidly become the dominant force in the cattle community. Nothing you have ever used is this powerful and effective."

Ouch, nevertheless.

I told you that fishing is a big industry in Montana. My same fly designing and artist friend, does other things as well, such as marry people.

Check out this Dream Wedding Story on their site, featuring the tale of a couple who floated and fished the river before getting married on the river bank. My fishing minister friend who performed the ceremony also made the unique rings!

We have R rated in Montana (real life 101), and then there is SR rated in Montana. That's right...the surreal.

The Rusty Cowboy is owned by artist, Teri Freeman. Always dressed in jeans, boots and HUGE stetson hat, Teri's logo for her gallery/antique shop is "Where the river meets the rodeo." (Huh??) Teri's knack for words shows up in the title of this painting, "Buffalo Cowboy Rides Again."

In her words:
Don't forget to ask Teri about her dehydrated elk herd (...just add water) and her special on "moose turd" earrings (you probably think we are kidding...NOT!) or the barbed wire bra for the cowgirl who has everything! (no kidding!) And, if you don't find what you are looking for, whether it be a lamp made out of cowboy boots or a dragon named Rex, she'll find it for you.

What can I say...I suffer from those long Montana winters as well.

Her website is fun with a "virtual" gallery.

Large-busted women everywhere have suffered when it comes to recreation and sports. One of my father's more infamous lines when taking out dudes at the family guest ranch was, "That was a two bra ride."

Well, women everywhere get the last laugh on his sexist remarks thanks to Montana resident, Ranelle Braaten. She got tired of her "girls" having a life of their own in physical activity and went on to develop and manufacture the fantastic Enell Sports Bra that has been recommended by dozens of famous women including Oprah. Oprah uses this bra in her workouts and has said, "Once you get yourself hooked into this thing, believe me they're not going anywhere."

The ironic thing is...they use double fabric. That's right...It's a two-bra bra. My dad missed the opportunity of a lifetime with this one.

Other states have cowboy poets but do they have any that also make award winning salsa? I doubt it!

Rusty Feather (no relation to Rusty Cowboy) is a cowboy poet and also sells lots of old-family-recipe salsa (that has won many awards in the food industry). Another fine example of Montana entrepreneurship.

At a recent concert he received this fine recommendation:
"At the end of his performance there was not a person sitting down."

Hmmm...I hope that meant they were all applauding and not stampeding to the door after eating too much fiery salsa.

You can order his CD off his website (link above).

Antlers are collected every spring, after deer, elk and moose shed their antlers. Each year the antlers grow bigger as does the animal.

There are plenty of businesses that turn the antlers into furniture, lamps, salt and pepper shakers and chandeliers.

But Montana boasts one business that is the largest exporter of antlers in the country. Where do they get exported to? Asian countries which grind up the antlers for herbal potions (their natural alternative to "viagra.") And the number one country importing antlers...South Korea.

Check out Antler Designs to see the rest of this business's creative creations with one of Montana's natural harvests.

A very enterprising Sheridan, Montana resident developed the Resident Room Privacy Gate to keep those wandering residents in nursing homes in their rooms, without restraining them.

The website description of this award winning product is:
"The Resident Room Privacy Gate is an effective, safe, permanent, staff friendly, one time cost, passive solution to the complaints facilities receive about the cognitively impaired wandering residents and wandering patients from the cognitively intact residents, their families and facility staff."

This inventor of this product is right up there with the inventor of adult diapers...not very glamorous perhaps, but for the not-so-fun-aspects of getting older, very valuable.

A weird coincidence is that the EZE castrator business is also located in Sheridan, Montana. Are they related, do you think?