News you can use
News you can use
Sorted by date Results 1700 - 1724 of 3218
This past week, I attended the Northern Agricultural Research Center tour. All the wagons were loaded and ready to roll when a downpour hit. Everyone ran for the tent and witnessed .6 inches of rain fall in 15 minutes. I have to hand it to the staff, though; they did a rotating presentation in three groups in the offices until 7 p.m. when a steak dinner was served. It was a great meal for around 200 folks. I ran into a number individuals that I’ve either worked with or played with over the past 40 plus years. One encounter w...
When I was ten years old, a tornado came through and wrecked our farm. The three-hundred-year-old Cathedral Pines crashed down all around us, ruining fence lines and clipping the barn. I remember seeing the apple trees my great grandfather planted get uprooted and fly horizontally through the air. No lives were lost, human or livestock, but it took months and months to get back on our feet. Friends and neighbors pitched in all summer long helping with cleanup. That tornado taught me some valuable things about rural, small...
When I was a kid one of the small handful of television networks that our TV would pick up regularly ran reruns of “The Twilight Zone,” and that program really kept us alert because we didn’t know what we were going to get each week — science fiction, fantasy suspense, a good ol’ creepy thriller. The one thing you could rely on, though, was that weird stuff was going to happen, weird and unexpected. Thankfully, this TV program prepared my brain for this week when, apparentl...
Went to the artisans' tianguis (street fair) in Tonala and got me a man. Yep, brought home a genuine Mexican man. Next I wrote to my women friends and you should have heard the response. Oh, my. I had immediate replies expressing everything from shock and outright horror to reluctant caution. They should know me better by now. Not to worry. I'd had my mind on this man from the first time I saw him, three years ago. (Him, or a counterpart.) I even had my picture taken with him...
The Associated Press reported Tuesday that a New Hampshire distillery has created a new bourbon, Eau De Musc, which derives its flavor in part from secretions extracted from a beaver’s castor sacs. Do you remember the coffee bean that became insanely popular (as in costing up to $600 per pound) a few years back because it developed what was reported as a super sweet and complex flavor of plum, tea and rose in a fermentation process? Do you remember this fermentation o...
By the time I got from beneath my covered patio to my front door, a few steps, I was drenched and dripping rain. Already the floor filled with standing water, a shallow lake, half-way across the room. Not even a minute had passed. The sky opened. No warning. Oh, sure, I’d heard a few rumblings from the mountains on the other side of town. Nothing serious. No gentle drops to precede the deluge. Suddenly, the wind whipped in circles and buckets of water fell, whipped in all d...
The U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee released its version of the 2018 Farm Bill June 8, presenting an opportunity for the Senate to reaffirm our national commitment to reducing hunger. Montana Food Bank Network applauds Montana’s Sen. Steve Daines and the rest of the Senate Agriculture Committee for developing a bipartisan bill that recognizes the importance and effectiveness of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Unlike the House Farm Bill, which made harsh and indiscriminate cuts to SNAP, the Senate A...
So great is the loss of Steve Browning to our state and its communities, the flags should be lowered to half-staff and a moment of silence observed across Montana. Steve died May 15, 2018, after a long battle with pulmonary fibrosis. The legacy he created for Montana, however, will never die. While Steve will be remembered for many things — a brilliant law career, his work in Washington, D.C., and, of course, his love of golf — I will remember him most fondly for his passion and work in philanthropy. A common focus of Ste...
Happy birthday to the Antiquities Act, which turns 112 today. What an illustrious history it has, and what amazing gifts it has given to the American people. What does the Antiquities Act do, and why is it important to you? First, the act made it illegal to destroy or remove historic or prehistoric articles from public lands. Section II of the act says: “That the President of the United States is hereby authorized, in his discretion, to declare by public proclamation historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, a...
At one point in the evolution of the North 40’s motherland, we took down some barbed wire fence and put up a one-wire electric fence to temporarily split our two main pastures. I swear we did this for practical purposes. The pain and torture were just a perk. The first thing my horses did was test what they thought was a very flimsy fence. It was a logical response, even by human standards, because the fence had been three strands of heavy, twisted wire with barbs. It was n...
Paradise. Yes, I live in a garden of Paradise. I suppose there is a snake in every garden. My snake is gray. Pure deep gray with diamond shaped markings like fish scales. I’m told he is harmless. Every woman since Eve has heard those words whispered in her ears. I can live with my gray snake. What can I do? He slithers whither he wills. My hope is that he eats rats. Week before last, a rat infested my bodega. Until the evidence appears, One doesn’t know a rodent has set up hou...
Don’t tell me the people lack power. “We the people” is the powerful phrase opening the U.S. Constitution. We the people have been a powerful force throughout U.S. history — and Montana’s history. The Fraternal Order of Eagles at its 1921 national convention voted to make old-age pensions a national priority. At least 10 Eagles from Montana aeries (chapters) attended that meeting. They helped organize a state campaign for old-age pensions. Lester H. Loble of Helena sponsored the bill in the Montana House of Represent...
About a year ago, I published an update in local papers about the plans by the Montana Department of Transportation to reconstruct the remaining 10 miles of U.S. Highway 2 between Chinook and Havre. This project, known as Lohman East and West, is still on schedule, with a bid letting date in the fall of 2019, and construction expected to begin in calendar year 2020. It remains the most expensive project in Transportation Commission District 3 in a five year period, and will have to be funded in two separate fiscal years....
For all you people who feel like bad things keep happening to you when you’re stressed and overwhelmed by life already, a group of researchers at the University of Liverpool in England offers one more set of data to help prove that it’s not just a feeling, it is a fact and they say you should prepare to get bit. By a dog. To clarify, the study did not say that sad sack, down on your luck, depressed, oppressed or otherwise bluer than blue people were getting bit while they wer...
We didn’t exactly buy it sight unseen. Well, I suppose I did. My half. Unseen. Last winter, Jim, a neighbor here on the rancho, and I began hankering (that word generally precedes a pig in a poke) after a hot tub for pain therapy. We agreed that if we found what we wanted, we’d share the cost, share the use. We made two dread trips into Guadalajara only to find them outrageously expensive. Searches on such sites as craigslist: Mexico, for a second-hand tub yielded no res...
The believers, conspiracy theorists, wanna-bes and want-it-to-be’ers are waiting, as the saying goes, on tenterhooks as a researcher pits modern genome science against the myth of the Loch Ness monster. New Zealand’s University of Otago professor Neil Gemmell told The Associated Press that in June he and a team of researchers will be traveling to Scotland to collect hundreds of water samples from the famed Loch Ness. These samples will come from multiple sites and depths to...
Water rights are the cornerstone of our agricultural economy. Without certainty, protection for existing water right holders, and a plan to define the federally reserved water rights of the tribes, Montana’s water users would be forced to foot the bill for decades of costly litigation and risk losing their existing water rights. That’s why we support the CSKT Water Compact and why we believe it is critical that our Congressional delegation act now to ratify the agreement that was passed by the Montana State Legislature in...
Have you ever woken up with a sense of impending doom — for no apparent reason? That’s my story today. Could be I’m asking for trouble. Could be the shadows I sense hovering around the edges of my life are tricks of light. Could be I’m just an old woman with old woman worries. I cannot put my finger on a thing that is wrong. So why this niggling anxiety? My awareness seems heightened. I strongly sense the incredible beauty which surrounds me. I am in awe of the idyllic...
I was a range management specialist for the Malta Bureau of Land Management field office for over thirty years. After retiring in 2007, I was hired by the American Prairie Reserve. As such, I’ve had considerable professional experience managing range land health and closely observing the impacts of bison on range health in Montana. APR has been and will continue to be held to the same required BLM standards and guidelines as other permittees regardless of their type of livestock, season of use, or grazing system. All of t...
It was recently announced by the leadership at Amtrak that they will be eliminating ticket agent positions in Montana at both Havre and Shelby, citing budget problems and the proliferation of online ticket sales. This move is short-sighted, will further erode customer satisfaction with our nation’s passenger rail service and disproportionately impact senior citizens, the disabled and those in rural areas without access to reliable, high-speed internet. Amtrak’s long-distance routes, including Montana’s Empire Builder, provi...
For the past 70 years, Montanans have supported our state’s public colleges and universities by voting “yes” to renew the 6-Mill Levy that appears on the voting ballot every ten years. This small portion of our state property tax bill currently keeps higher education affordable for all Montana residents and supports a stable Montana workforce and economy. For a Montana family owning a $200,000 home, the 6-Mill Levy costs about $24/year. The 6-Mill Levy will be up for renewal again this fall, and it’s important for voters...
The recent decision to close Shelby and Havre’s Amtrak ticket counter will have huge impacts not only on the passengers that board in Havre, but the Havre and Hi-Line economy. Many people come from all over the region to board Amtrak in Havre. They spend their money in our restaurants, stay in our hotels, and visit our unique attractions and shops. Many of these folks purchase tickets with cash at the ticket counter — often to receive the best deal — or call the agent in the office. The Amtrak spokesperson claims that “90 p...
Unlike most government agencies, which are funded by tax dollars, the Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks is funded almost entirely by a combination of hunter and angler license sales and federal excise tax dollars on guns, ammunition, fishing tackle and related gear. While complicated, this system, which is over 80 years old, has been responsible for the recovery and management of our state’s unmatched wildlife resources. The federal funds that support wildlife management programs within Fish, Wildlife and Parks are a...
Vegetation management for me is almost like the old adage “it’s a blessing and a curse,” but more like both a curse and a curse. If I apply the full weight of my efforts, I cannot get the good grasses and plants to grow, and I can’t get the bad ones to die either. This is both a shame and a frustration, especially on my 60 acres of gravel and gumbo, with little to no topsoil and a tendency toward saline seep, 60 acres that have been used and abused over the last 100-plu...
The delightful musical comedy by the above name is about people in love. It’s not quite the same thing, but my perfect love is my garden. Not a month ago, I said to Leo, my garden helper, “I’ve now done everything I want to do with my garden. It is perfect.” It is. Truly. Leo rolled his eyes and grinned. Last week I met a couple from Seattle at the nearby campground. They wanted to know which house is mine. When I described my location, she said, “Oh, you are the garden....
