Red Ants Pants Music Festival – Under the Big Sky

By

-

June 25, 2023

The three day Red Ants Pants Music Festival hosts 16,000 people annually, with the proceeds going to the Red Ants Pants Foundation.

Festival opens on July 27th and wraps up on July 31st.

Visit https://redantspantsmusicfestival.com/festival-info/ for all of the details/pricing/tickets

See the video:

In 2006 Sarah Calhoun moved to the 900 person town of White Sulphur Springs to start an apparel company.

Workwear for women was a product that previously didn’t exist until Sarah came along and recognized the need.

The company’s name came naturally. In colonies of red ants, “women do all the work.”

As excitement and momentum gathered around the company so did the scope of it’s goals.

The Foundation gives out grants to women’s leadership, working family farms/ranches and rural communities, all of which parallel the mission of Red Ants Pants.

For more info please visit: https://www.redantspants.com

Scotland boasts the highest percentage of natural redheads

By

Alan

-

June 23, 2023

Red hair first appeared as the result of a genetic mutation with the first documented case of natural-born redhead occurring in Scotland.

Less than 2% of the world’s population have red hair.

Scotland boasts the highest percentage of natural redheads while Ireland comes in second.

Natural redheads are rare — the gene is recessive — meaning both parents must each be carrying the recessive gene for their child to have red hair.

Natural red hair is less likely to go gray.

A redhead’s ability to produce a pheomelanin also allows them to have a higher resistance to pain.

Although red hair is frequently associated with Scotland, Ireland, and England, people of color can also be born with natural red hair.

For example, places like Morocco and Central Asia have higher proportions of redheads.

In fact, some research suggests that the first redheads were from the Steppes of Central Asia more than 100,000 years ago.

It was caused by a mutation in the M1CR gene which caused hair to turn red, but in return, this mutation is what allowed red-haired folks to be more efficient at absorbing much-needed UV light.

These pioneers from Central Asia eventually migrated throughout Europe and to the British Isles during the Bronze Age.

Science shows that given the small percentage size of the recessive red hair gene out of the world’s population, it could at some point become extinct.

Also, with climate change causing warmer conditions throughout the world, redheads in places like Scotland someday might not need to absorb as much Vitamin D as previously needed.

For now though, redheads continue to be genetic anomalies with a secret gift for thriving in winter.

So for all those natural redheads — you are extremely rare!

The third annual Touch A Truck in downtown Great Falls

By

Alan

-

June 23, 2023

Hosted by the Junior League of Great Falls (https://jlofgf.org/learn/), this family-focused event brings the big trucks and machinery that every kid loves to their fingertips.

This event is scheduled to happen on August 26th between the 100-600 blocks of Central Avenue in downtown Great Falls from 9AM to 2PM.

Children can climb on, touch, and admire vehicles and machinery up close.

Refreshments will be available to purchase from your favorite food and coffee trucks, as well as other kid-friendly/family focused features.

To learn more about this event simply visit https://www.facebook.com/juniorleagueofgreatfalls to get in on all of the details.

We’ll see you there.

Cookies and Cowpies Visitor Stats

By

Alan

-

June 18, 2023

Well here we are, it’s the middle of June in the middle of 2023 and Cookiesandcowpies.com just keeps plugging right along.

I often times find myself providing bi-annual reports for managed client sites on our servers this time of year and this time I sorta thought … what the heck … I’ll do a bit of selfless promotion with regard to this site.

I thought I’d show off some numbers too — You know, of how busy this small back woods website might really be — So here they are:

These numbers are actually pretty small when you stack them up against some of my other sites, and even other sites I manage, but they are great when you look at just how small Cookies and Cowpies actually is by comparison.

I moved the blog off of the WordPress platform back in 2011 because the service was just so limited. I couldn’t self host videos and it was tough to get guest postings.
As it is now, I have one full time author and several others that venture in to provide a guest post on occasion.

Cookies and Cowpies screenshot — Cookies and Cowpies 2011 (tap or click image to enlarge)

I like that Cookies and Cowpies just sort of wanders all over the board. I also like that it doesn’t have any kind of square footing on politics like so many other blogs these days have.
It’s sort of an off-the-cuff blog that doesn’t land in any one single place for very long.

One of these days I’m going to have to sit down and pull up all of the posts from 2006-2009 and see what goes. I kind of think it would be fun to look at just how much has changed over all of those years.

At any rate, I’m somewhat surprised at the numbers so far for 2023 as far as the stats are concerned, and I think I’ve got all of you guys to thank for that.

Thank you all for popping in on occasion for a look.

The 2nd annual Montana Multi Cultural Fair

By

Alan

-

June 18, 2023

Scheduled for Thursday, August 17, 2023, from 5pm until 8pm on the 400 and 500 block on Central Avenue in downtown Great Falls, so be sure to mark your calendars.

Last year the Montana Multi Cultural Fair was a pretty big hit, and I’m guessing that it might have an even greater attendance this year.

This Great Falls MT’s showcase event is being hosted by Rotary Club of Electric City.

Last year over 22 food samples were created by 16 passionate ethnic cultural groups. There were Hula Dancers, Latino singing & dancing, Scottish Bag Pipers, and the local Little Shell Tribe that all put on great performances.

I can hardly wait to see what’s in store for this year.

To get more info, or to volunteer please visit https://mtmcf.com/volunteers

To become even more involved or if you are a vendor please visit https://mtmcf.com/planning#aa6da315-a6df-47d5-8310-a98c9cb840a1

I’m looking forward to seeing you there.