News you can use
News you can use
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“I have to say, that is a very nice hat!” I told the man as he passed me on the sidewalk. The man in the snazzy blue fedora had a serious look on his face, as if he was thinking deeply about something far more important than the indigo-blue hat with the red feather sitting on his head. But whatever less-than-cheerful thought had been preoccupying him (the gathering clouds? The declining stock market? His expanding waistline?), it was whisked away when I complimented his dapper...
Montana lost nearly a dozen nursing homes in 2022. The reality is that dozens more assisted living and long-term care facilities are hanging by a thread. They are waiting to see if our governor and state Legislature will take the critical steps necessary to keep essential elder services available across this vast state. Now is the time to make your voice heard on this essential concern. While the governor says Montanans would prefer to age in their homes, and no one would disagree, the reality is that a beloved father or...
My husband, John, and I come from a long line of peasant stock, hellbent do-it-yourselfers, who don’t put a price on our time but feel all the richer for our experiences, skills earned, pennies saved, materials reused and reimagined, and wheels reinvented. No time is wasted DIYing project until money is wasted on buying something new. But it takes a certain mindset to value the homemade and jerry-rigged over shiny new things. Plus, we have had to tolerate some hurtful l...
A lot of commentators are worried about the chaos Freedom Caucus extremists may unleash after all of the concessions they won from their fellow Republicans before OK’ing a new House speaker. Will Republican inquisitors undermine the FBI and other security agencies? Will the Pentagon have enough ships and planes once the budget slashers do their work? Will Ukraine be left to the mercy of Russia? Don't worry too much about any nefarious schemes of a newly empowered congressional right. Worry more about plans standard-issue R...
Dear Most Wonderful, Most Precious, Beautiful and Intelligent Beyond Compare, My Loving Son and Daughter, I am writing to let you know that it is time for you to put your heads together and figure out a plan for elder care. With great sadness I report, it is the beginning of the end. I left a burner on beneath the egg pan this morning. Ate breakfast. Went outside and puttered in the garden. Came back inside to the odor of hot metal and burned butter. Fortunately, the pan did...
As we started the second week of legislative session, things were still a bit unsettled. By Wednesday, I could see where a theme was starting to form. Most of the bills that were being presented were what are called “agency bills.” The governor has asked for a law cleansing, or purge, of outdated language in Montana law. In some cases, the bills cut red tape or more clearly explain the original intent of the law. A good example would be a bill needing authorization every other year. This type of bill would be resolved by a s...
I almost threw away my old lace napkins. They have rust stains on them. In order to cover the stains, I threw them in a pot of green dye and boiled them. The dye was not a success. The napkins all came out in slightly varying shades of green, and the rust stains — while less noticeable — were still there. I used them once and was self-conscious the whole time. “People are going to think I didn’t wash the napkins!” I worried. But I washed them again, ironed them and kept them...
Research says one of the most common lies we humans tell ourselves is the one about how long a project will take to complete, which isn’t an explanation so much about why I don’t have a kitchen sink, but rather an explanation about why I’m surprised that I don’t have it up and running by now. This lapse between intended completion date and actual completion date is so common among humans that it has been studied and given a name: planning fallacy — a bias in our thought p...
A friend introduced me to a new word: epicaricacy. An Olde English word. Means joy upon evil. Like schadenfreude. Like when someone else stubs his toe and stumbles, you gloat that it wasn’t you. Which has more than a sniff of self-righteousness. I know the word intimately. I try to keep it swatted away and like a mosquito, it returns. What strange creatures we are who live much inside our own heads. And what a strange head, speaking for myself. I cannot trust everything I t...
“Aren’t you the cutest dog?” I asked the chubby brindle pit bull mix walking down the sidewalk. Objectively, she was not the cutest dog, I suppose. But there is no such thing as an ugly dog, as we all know. She was wearing a brand-new jacket with colorful pockets and a hood and, to top it off, had matching booties. She looked a little self-conscious — as we all are when we get dressed up for the first time in a while — and I thought she could use a little reassuran...
The first book in the Havre-Hill County Library’s 2023 Winter Reading Series is “People of the Book” by Geraldine Brooks, and is available for checkout now. We will be discussing this title on Thursday, Jan. 19, at 7 p.m., in the Havre-Hill County Library meeting room. Light refreshments will be served, and the next book, “The Book Thief” by Markus Zusak, will be available for checkout. All are welcome to this free event. The Winter Reading Series is a longstanding tradition dating back to the very origins of the Havre-Hil...
Happy New Year from Helena; the 68th Legislative Session has begun. Judy and I moved down last Friday to the same house we have been in for the last three sessions. It takes a bit to get settled in but moving to a neighborhood we are familiar with helps. Everything was ready for us, as the landlords had already left for sunny Arizona. They left us a turnkey, ready to go, place to live. That said, the first week in session was a time for organizing, getting settled, and introductions. We had a bit more turnover in the Senate t...
I know we’re still in Week 1 of 2023, but I am not impressed — and this is from someone who doesn’t put much stock in the whole new year is a new beginning, to be a new person, to have new goals. It’s a clean slate. Goodbye old year we got a newly swaddled baby year we can raise to be anything we like. A new year is just another day, the significance of which is trying to remember a new number for any references to the date. I appreciate the day off in its honor, but I don’t throw it a party. I don’t make lists for it. I d...
To the citizens of Havre and the Hi-Line: I am Carol Reifschneider, interim Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academics at Montana State University-Northern (MSUN). For the past 27 years, I have proudly served as a faculty member and administrator at MSUN. I am honored to have been asked to fill this position until a new provost can be hired. The search is an ongoing national search which should be completed no later than the beginning of Fall Semester 2023. First, here is the status of the academic programs at MSUN. While the...
“I love, I love, I love my Calendar Girl, “Yeah, sweet Calendar Girl, “I love, I love, I love my Calendar Girl, “Each and every day of the Year.” Thank you, Neil Sedaka, wherever you are. I had to share this ancient song from the last century with you. Now these cheesy lyrics will possess your mind like they possess mine. Why? Well, that is the story. It’s a new year upon us. Yep. 2023. Who’d a thought we’d make it! I like old-fashioned paper calendars. I like to keep mine, a...
In my morning devotion this past week, I came across a quote by A.W. Tozer, which read, "Personal experience must always be first in real life. Knowledge by acquaintance is always better than knowledge by description." Those who are blessed with vision are acquainted with the beauty of a sunset or the grandeur of a mountain landscape; however, these things can only be described to those who were born with the inability to see. The same truth applies to all things we...
A couple of days ago, a friend of mine posted something written by a friend of his on Facebook. This is what she had to say: “I’ve been contemplating what I really miss in life. Why do I feel this empty space? I have not felt completely full in a very long time. I miss the outdoors ... a good hike, fishing or camping. No radio, cellphone, TV, movies or internet. Just the birds, the river running ... just the sound of crickets. “I miss a good, deep, solid conversation about...
Nature and the creatures it mothers think in seasons not days and dates. This weekend we transition to a whole new calendar year whilst, sadly, we remain stuck in the same old winter that we’ve been trudging through since early November which, by the way, made the recent solstice marking the first day of winter a mere ironic moment in Nature’s cold, white season. After about a month of winter weather, though, I start thinking it’s not smart to live here, then last week I rea...
6 ends and on to 2023 and wishing everyone the best in the New Year. On December 31st, my current Senate term comes to an end, and on January 1st, my new term begins. With that, onto the work. This past week, the new legislative district lines are being redrawn by a select committee. In the past, Senate District 14 included parts of Hill County, all of Liberty County, a small part of the northeast corner of Cascade County, and all of Chouteau County except the reservation. In my opinion, it is the best district in the...
And so it goes. We folks with more miles on the chassis put away the old calendar and open the new calendar, 12 blank pages of promise, blank pages of mystery, of wonder whether we will make it through next December. That sounds grim but said above, we older folks. I’m not sure how the younger people measure time. Maybe by that big thing similar to a watch on their wrist — that device that does everything for them. Someone told me it even tells them to “quit slouc...
A new year is coming, and I am focusing on the small stuff. It is popular to make big, sweeping statements in a new year about the things that will change and be accomplished. I noticed a few years back that these grand announcements rarely had much effect. What mattered, if I wanted to live a different kind of life, was the little things I did every day. I take my walk. I write a few words. I do my pushups. I’ve gotten used to watching in amazement how a tiny action, done d...
As Montanans, we care for each other. Across the rural-urban divide, generational divide, and Brawl of the Wild divide. Of all our constituents across Montana, the most deserving are our elderly neighbors who are on Medicaid benefits. They have served Montana well, and at this final stage in their lives seek the promise of compassionate, medically appropriate care. Most of them are out of money, have used up their care options with family members and loved ones, and cannot afford in-home care, which can cost more than...
The solstice arrived with very negative temps giving off a vibe that said “first day of winter” — in a doom-filled sort of “Game of Thrones” way — more than “brighter days are coming, Polyanna,” and, with a current temp of minus 39 just days before Christmas, I keep thinking of some good friends of mine who, on Christmas Day, feed treats to all their animals. Big deal, right? This happens in households all over Santa Country, mine included. It’s one thing, though, to give a...
Last year, I realized I had come to dread Christmas obligations. I like to give to others. But when it becomes an obligation, trying to find that just right small gift for the families on the Rancho, seemed overwhelming. Years ago, my own children and I agreed to not give adult gifts, but to focus on their children. Last year I told my neighbors here at the Rancho, that instead of joining the usual gift exchange, I would give a gift to a family in the community who had...
In the early 1970s, frustrated with the corporate boot that dominated and bullied Montanans, the state’s people rose up. Led by ordinary citizens like Pastor George Harper of Helena, local historian and mother of six Louise Cross of Glendive, and League of Women Voters leader Dorothy Eck of Bozeman, they crafted what is now recognized as a world-renowned Constitution. Among many important motivations was their conviction that in order to free Montanans from corporate dominance at the expense of workers, farmers and o...
