Recent rainy days conjure mixed emotions

It never rains but it pours especially during the fair, it seems.

North-central Montana has been drenched by rain starting Monday, with rain so heavy Thursday night that the Great Northern Fair Midway was shut down two hours early, at 10 p.m.

Blaine County Extension Agent Mike Schuldt said yesterday that the rain has hurt some haying efforts by local agriculture producers, and there has been some patchy hail. Local farmers and ranchers, coming back from three straight years of drought, don't seem to mind, he added.

"They'd rather see the rain than put up hay," he said.

Other areas were not as...