Last month I promised our son that if he passed the test and got his drivers license that I would take him to the 3-D International Restaurant over in Black Eagle for a snack.

Well he passed the test and the next day we were off to the 3-D’s Mongolian Grill. First opened in 1946, the Mongolian Grill at the 3-D is and has been a local and regional favorite for years.

What’s really cool about the Mongolian Grill is that you can pretty much design your own stir-fry. You can select from any number of ingredients — Beef, Chicken, Pork, and Shrimp — Assorted condiments from Sweet-N-Sour, to Soy Sauce, to Oyster, and more. You can add any assortment of vegetables as well, from Water Chestnuts to Broccoli. You load your bowl up with noodles along with your selected meats and condiments, then you hand it off to the cook and he’ll stir-fry it all right in front of you.

The prices at the 3-D Mongolian Grill are fairly modest. $12 bucks for lunch, and $17 bucks for dinner, gets you all you can eat, so going back for seconds and even thirds lets you try different meat, condiment, and vegetable combinations.

I’m sort of a Water Chestnut and Onion kind of guy, so my plate wasn’t nearly as colorful as the wife or son’s plates. Even still, for $12 bucks (we went at lunch) the all you can eat at the 3-D Mongolian Grill is an absolute bargain no matter what.

For those who may not be in the know about the 3-D International, here’s the scoop.

The 3-D International is a family owned and operated full service restaurant and lounge that features the Mongolian Grill food in Black Eagle, MT

The 3-D International menu includes: American Cuisine, Angus Prime Rib, Chicken Dishes, Homemade Italian Cooking, Mongolian Grill, Seafood, Steak, Appetizers including salads, sandwiches, and soups.

The 3-D International also features a full bar, wine selection, children’s menu, and a fully equipped party room for up to 100 guests.

The 3-D International is located at 1825 Smelter Ave in Black Eagle, Montana and they can be reached by phone at (406) 453-6561

The Montana Department of Agriculture is now accepting applications for the Food and Agriculture Development Center (FADC) Grant Program.

Approximately $1,100,000 in funds are available for the two-year period of this grant; MDA plans to award multiple grants from these funds.

Activities must develop Montana’s food processing infrastructure, support emerging agriculture technologies, or enhance opportunities to expand Montana’s agricultural economy.

Please visit the Food and Agriculture Development Network page for a complete list of funding opportunity guidelines and eligibility requirements.

To view the full FADC Request for Proposal, please visit https://agr.mt.gov/_docs/FADC-docs/FADC-Request-for-Proposals.pdf

The deadline for applications is May 1, 2023, at 5pm. To apply on funding.mt.gov, please visit https://funding.mt.gov/index.do to register or login.

The FADC Network helps Montanans innovate and grow businesses that produce and commercialize food, agricultural and renewable energy products, and processes, creating wealth and jobs in our communities and on our farms and ranches.

The centers – located throughout Montana – operate as a statewide network serving community-based businesses.

The Montana Department of Agriculture is serving Montana Agriculture and growing prosperity under the Big Sky.

For more information on department programs and services, visit agr.mt.gov.

I’ve been voting in Cascade County for years.

The last time I voted at an in-person voting location was in 2000 at North Middle School.

Every voting cycle since then I’ve voted absentee. The Cascade County elections office sends me my ballot through the mail, I vote, and then I drop the ballot off in-person.

During election times in Cascade County I’ve always understood that I had the option to receive an absentee mail ballot or to do in-person voting. I chose the absentee voting option because it’s much more convenient for me and I drop off in-person because sometimes I might not have a whole lot of faith in the postal service.

Lately there seems to be some sort of a kerfuffle going on about how our elections systems/processes are being handled at the local level here in Cascade County.

The “original” headline from The Electric stated, “Ballots Not Mailed On April 17″ — whereas KRTV stated, “Cascade County Elections Department confirms mailing of absentee ballots.”

It’s usually always best to wait and see what actually happens instead of having to worry about changing your headline later because you jumped the gun … also, Jane Weber needs to settle down and eat some fruit or something.

Being since I received my ballot on the 18th, I would tend to error on the side of caution here and give KRTV it’s due accolades on being correct with it’s reporting. As a side note, it’s been years since I’ve seen the postal service here in Great Falls deliver mail cross-town in only a day (they must be improving).

When people start to politicize a process things can get murky in a hurry. This whole “he said she said” crap doesn’t really fly around here. I don’t ever recall “everybody” liking whoever gets elected and this whole elections deal here in Cascade County is no exception … it’s all just the usual politics.

The recent story on KRTV that talked about some folks getting more than one ballot for the same thing is also something that could easily be blown out of proportion. Regular normal mistakes can be made on any day of the week, but when you start to politicize the process, those regular mistakes are made out to be something akin to the sky falling. Chances are good that mistakes can be made when you’ve got a bunch of political near-do-wells breathing down your neck when you’re trying to do your job.

Settle down folks … the sky isn’t falling … this is all just politics as usual. All we have is a bunch of people not liking a bunch of other people here in Cascade County because somebody won or lost an election. That’s it.

When my wife went to University over in western Washington state she was required, by Washington state law, to obtain a Washington drivers license due to the length of time she was there. Fair enough I suppose, but in Washington, you get registered to vote automatically when you get your drivers license.

It’s really a rather interesting story actually, in that my wife never voted in Washington and that upon after returning to Montana she got Washington state election ballots in the mail that covered not one, but two election cycles in that state.

She didn’t immediately jump up and call KRTV or KOMO about it and she didn’t go off on any rants about how the state of Washington was stumping for out of state non-resident votes. When she couldn’t get anywhere with the county elections office over there, she contacted the elections commission in Olympia and so far she hasn’t received any other mailings.

I vote, and sometimes my guy wins, and sometimes my guy loses … it’s a fact of life. If my guy loses, I don’t go all off-the-cuff and get my nose out of joint over it.

At any rate, we work with what we’ve got and for all of the political posers, trolls, and grifters we’ve got out there it’s not an easy job. I’ve found that it’s always best to not jump to any conclusions because somebody else might be having a political angst over something.

I received my ballot in a timely manor, just like “always”, so I’ll resign myself to voting for who I think might be best suited to doing the job.

sourced: The Electric (original reference link – https://theelectricgf.com/2023/04/17/ballots-not-mailed-on-april-17-county-staff-volunteers-spent-week-stuffing-envelopes/)

https://thewesternword.com/

Thanks for the read.

Happy Trails