News you can use
News you can use
Sorted by date Results 1353 - 1377 of 3218
I live out in the country with my dog, cat and horses, visited daily by deer, birds of all timidness and ferocity, and mysterious predators that slink through in the night, but this ain't a Disney movie out here. We have the creepy and disgusting creatures too, and thus far in October we've had encounters with two of them. As you can see from the title, I'm going to call this column Part 1 of a two-part "Ewww" series, because the protagonist of this part 1 was our resident...
One of the most important civic duties Montanans will participate in next year is filling out and responding to the 2020 U.S. Census. At just nine-questions long, the questionnaire might not seem like a big deal, but it is. It’s the census, done every 10 years, that’s responsible for deciding how much federal money comes into Montana. And in a small state like ours, every dollar matters. It’s estimated that Montana receives more than $2 billion each year as a result of the census. Annually, Montana’s public schools receive...
Ever have a day when everything you touch turns to mud? For one thing, it is raining. Tropical Storm Priscilla hovers off the coast in a direct line up and over the mountains to the west. Not far in a straight line but not even airplanes fly ruler straight; certainly not proverbial crows. Nevertheless, storms bring clouds bring rain. Rain is a good thing. Rain is precious. I like rain. It’s just that I’d made outdoor garden plans for today. Be flexible, right? Shifted gea...
My parents live in a cabin deep in the north woods. I know this sounds like the start of a fairy tale. Sometimes it seems a bit like one. There are bear in the woods. Deer run in herds. The seasons are far more pronounced and extreme than those I am used to. After a day of glorious autumn sunshine on my bare arms, I woke in the middle of the night and saw, in the moonlight, that snow had covered the ground, turning the green grass white. “It won’t last,” my mother assured everyone within earshot. “There’s still a lot of ni...
I know firsthand that farming and ranching has never been easy. My wife, Sharla, and I still run our family farm outside of Big Sandy on the same land my grandparents homesteaded more than 100 years ago. For our family and producers across Montana, working the land that’s been passed down for generations has never been about just making a buck — it’s a way of life in rural America. But the reality is that this business comes with real, sometimes overwhelming, uncertainty. This administration’s trade war hasn’t made it any ea...
Language is both a science and a mystery. I am not here today to bring some kind of resolution to the issue, but I do want to add my perspective to the mix. Plenty of studies have been published to tell us that language is both inherited and learned. Basically the findings boil down to this: 1) Human brains are genetically predisposed to language and human bodies are genetically influenced through traits like voice tone and how our bone and muscle structure create...
Editor's note: See Festival photos at www.havredailynes.com. October is the sweetest month, well, unless one is up to one's hocks in snow, and not the first snow of the year at that! Betrayed by September, that generally docile month. October, sing raptures of October. Hay is stacked, grain is harvested, garden largess fills rows of jewel-toned jars in the cellar. Yearlings crowd trailers on the way to market. Bank account is fat. Whoa - don't forget to sing flip side of that...
When my husband, Peter, and I met, we each had a dog. Peter had a collie named “The Pretty Boy,” (Yes, “The” was part of his name) and I had a pound puppy, part golden retriever, part border collie mix named “Milo.” The Pretty Boy died shortly before we were married, about five years ago, and Milo died just over a year ago. We talk about getting a new dog, of course, but all the good reasons not to have a dog prevail. Extended travel — actually travel of any kind — is enormous...
It happened again for at least the third time since 2014. The Hill County Park Board or the Hill County commissioners have squashed an effort to secure an up-to-date natural resources assessment for the Beaver Creek watershed or Beaver Creek Park. This time it was voted down to even look into arranging some support to do an assessment. The reason offered this time seems to be fear of undefined “strings attached” or “free money.” Yet, Beaver Creek Park regularly goes after grants and funds for infrastructure and other project...
The weather in all four of the counties I represent has been just a bit marginal, a point you all have clearly witnessed. For the rural folks, clean-up and road repair has come very slowly as Mother Nature has not cooperated. So, please slow down and give the county road crews the opportunity to get caught up. As an Education Committee member who has listened to presentations on the subject of bullying for a number of bills, I assumed I knew what bullying is. Come to find out, the Office of Public Instruction has now...
I thought that this era — when all our embarrassing, stupid stunts get filmed, posted on the internet and commented on by uncharitable strangers — was enough to make me glad that I grew up in another age, but now I’ve discovered the new Halloween tradition of “trunk or treating.” I don’t know if I could possibly be any sadder for all the little candy grubbers of modern America. Trunk or treating — for those of you who don’t know, as I didn’t until this week — is a Halloween...
When one lives in a tiny community, little things can tend to balloon into huge importance. When I say “small community,” I don’t mean a place numbered in four digits, where you might recognize a couple thousand through ordinary daily contact: That young man with the ponytail works at the glass repair shop, the woman with red hair and big glasses clerk at the IGA and that over-dressed couple walks around the park every day with their dog, Riley. A place where you might know 20...
Peter and I are packing for our annual trip again. My husband, Peter, is retired and I write, so we are able to travel now. Getting married late in life, this might have posed some problems because Peter is exactly the opposite sort of traveler I used to be. "I'm packing two separate bags - one for Spain and one for on the way there," Peter informs me. "This will mean some duplication, but it will simplify things when it's time to fly!" Peter is obviously pleased with...
Is our park board being unduly influenced by animal rights advocates, especially when it comes to Beaver Creek Park? After attending several meetings and listening to representatives of animal rights groups and a sympathetic park board member, residents of Hill County should be concerned. The Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks oversees the management of Montana’s wildlife, fish and parks. It uses scientific studies, ethical and humane methods to do this. Montana counties rely on committees and boards to m...
Anticipation and Dread are like fraternal twins separated at birth, one raised by well-adjusted and supportive parents to think positively, and the other raised by well-meaning, but vaguely clueless people who mistake stillness and silence for maturity rather than the terror and general malaise it represented. Anticipation confidently looks forward to things happening, expecting positive outcomes — or at least expecting to be able to formulate and execute solutions that will o...
Stand on the curb of any street in any town in Mexico and look up. No, not that high. Those are just the ubiquitous buzzards, turkey vultures, also fondly, tongue in cheek, called the Mexican Eagle. Yes, lower down, that’s what I want to show you, the leftover-spaghetti-mess of wires criss-crossing overhead, connecting each habitation to power, cable, satellite, internet and phone services. When I lived in an apartment on a busy street In Mazatlan, for entertainment, I w...
I’ve recently finished my first month as the new executive director for the Montana State University-Northern Foundation, and it’s an amazing time to be a part of all that is happening at MSU-Northern. While, technically, I am not an employee of the university — the foundation is a separate non-profit organization with the mission to support MSU-Northern students and the University’s strategic goals —my office is on the MSU-N campus and I, and our team, have direct daily interaction with faculty, staff and students....
My garbage can is overflowing with paper and cereal boxes and why can’t we recycle all this stuff anymore? Well, from my understanding, commodity prices are always fluctuating and with shipping costs in Montana prohibitive due to long distances — it just doesn’t make sense from a business standpoint. One large recycling facility in the Pacific Northwest reports that in the last few years, the price for a ton of paper has gone from $140 to $30. I get it. If something is costing you more than its value — why mess with it? That...
I realized that I might be a late bloomer — a little late, naturally. I love hearing about proteges: the 5-year-old drummer or the 16-year-old activist. I love hearing the 9-year-old who sings like an old soul and reading about the 14-year-old who just completed a master’s degree. I marvel at all these amazing accomplishments. I am impressed with the laser-like focus of these children and teenagers that enables them to change the world in awe-inspiring ways. I was never one...
The weekend’s success would not have been obtained without the continued support from the many volunteers and willingness of the many different entities of the community to come together on this third weekend in September to throw a community celebration for all to enjoy. Our many thanks go to the numerous volunteers, the businesses, community organizations, the vendors and our Festival Days sponsor partner Montana State University-Northern for helping the Chamber make the weekend a huge accomplishment. It takes a c...
Winter is coming. It’s all everybody can talk about. This weekend’s storm is going to descend from the frozen Arctic wasteland of Canada’s hinterlands, envelop the Rockies in snow, roll it down the Rocky Mountain Front and sucker punch us right in the middle of autumn. And just like that, winter is coming. Then it’s going to sit around all week, astraddle of our prone bodies, poking us in the chest like it’s trying to type a letter to grandma. Sure it’s cool when winter come...
Across Montana, thousands of students are headed back to school to begin a new year of learning and growth. Unfortunately, many students in rural Montana remain at risk of falling behind due to the lack of broadband access in their communities. Broadband internet has become indispensable both in the classroom and at home for students to become prepared to compete in the 21st Century economy and complete and submit their assignments. A top priority of the Montana Rural Education Association is to ensure our rural schools and...
After two weeks at a beach resort in Mazatlan, I wanna go home! Not that I don’t love it here. I do. I do. What is not to love? Fantastic balcony view. Comfortable room. Staff who treat me as though I am special. A city I know well. I sleep to the rhythmic sea-song of surf pounding the seawall. But … oh, that trickster little word … but. I must make a decision. Nothing momentous. This is a small thing. Nothing to do with the fate of nations. An unfortunate aspect of my psyche...
"The septic guy can't find the cover, call him," was the message. I've been getting a lot of messages like this since I decided to put my 100-plus- year-old farmhouse up for sale. I haven't lived in the farmhouse for years now - not since I moved out to go to graduate school and become a writer, met Peter, married Peter, and moved on with my life. The farmhouse was where I lived for many years with my first husband and then, for a while, after our divorce. The farmhouse is...
I’m not much into Them and They or Us and We, but the struggle between Them and Us and They and We has been growing in the last decade. I heard it in town last week, a conversation about Them. The conversation, which did not include me, by its volume did not exclude me either. It filled the room with talk of They and Them as opposed to Us and We, and about how a grown man, one of Us, might become one of Them by virtue of proximity to too many of Them. The problem with Them i...
