News you can use
News you can use
Sorted by date Results 2240 - 2264 of 3191
Eureka. I’ve just discovered my backyard. That’s not to say I never knew I had a backyard. But I dismissed it. “Dismiss.” Hang onto that word. My first focus, of necessity, centered on my humble casita, on making it fit for human habitation. Next I devoted my time and attention to the front portion of the property, cleaned out the storage bodega, fancied up my patio, built brick bases for potted flowers and herbs. Each evening I surveyed my “kingdom” from one of my rocking cha...
I treasure a postcard from Missoula in the early ’80s. The card pictures an earth-moving business in the background. In the foreground perches a stand from which the proprietor sells croissants. It was pure Missoula. At that time, every convenience-store clerk had a master’s degree and held two or three jobs just to survive. In contrast, a friend forwarded me a look into the future. It sounded like 1984 on steroids. I thought the article painted a bleak picture. Obviously fro...
If a year from now you are in need of a healthy dose of inspiration, drop into commencement ceremonies at Box Elder High School. This is a great time of the year for those of us in the news business. We get to cover graduation ceremonies at school along the Hi-Line. We get to see graduates as they celebrate their success and begin the first step in the rest of their lives. Each service is unique, telling the story of the graduates and the community they come from. But there is something special about Box Elder. I have an...
For the record, I’m not one of those people who thinks her dog is her child, but since this is going on the record I do have to say that my dog is as awesome as any child — even cuter than a good number of them. Cooper is 10 years old, which isn’t remarkably old for a dog, but he’s definitely gotten to his senior years. He’s handling it really well, though. Every once in a while he loses his balance for a brief moment but catches it again in a snap, then he looks at me like, “Did you see that? I still got my cat-like re...
I have been watching a television series based on events and people involved in the American Revolution and it is clear to me that, had I lived at that time in history, the likelihood of my survival to old age would have been roughly nil. First off, it’s unlikely I could have managed to survive childhood and early adulthood. Aimless children prone to daydreaming rather than working were killed either by accident or out of frustration — or flat out to save money to buy food and...
I live in a garden in paradise. I have met the Snake. He is big. He is bad. He is beautiful. And if I eat of the apple from this Snake, I shall surely die. And that is where the similarities to the Other Garden Story end. My garden is lush with bougainvillea, night-blooming jasmine, hundreds of lilies, a coffee bush, palms, grapefruit, lime, oranges, mango, avocado, ferns, geraniums, ivies, philodendron, and a hundred plants I cannot name. My wee brick casita sits smack in the middle of my garden. The perimeter walls are...
When my column-idea machine is locked up and not producing even a widget of an idea, I go straight to the news and start fishing for an interesting headline to land a big tuna of inspiration. No. That’s a lie. When my column-idea machine is locked up and not producing even a widget of an idea, I do whatever is humanly possible to avoid writing my column — pretending that I’m working on developing a legitimate idea — and when that doesn’t work I meander into online news stories and start fishing for an interesting headline...
I attended a social gathering several years ago in the Bitterroot Valley. As the hostess stood nearby, I admired the mountains framed by the tall windows in her home. “The view out my window is the most stunning in the state!” she said. “It’s why we moved here!” I told her I had an ocean view out my window and she looked puzzled. “I thought you lived in eastern Montana?” “I do!” I replied. My genetic roots run deep in the high plains of northern and southeastern Montana. In the early 1900s, when my homesteader grandparents st...
Last Friday the Casa de Cultura sponsored a Folklorico performance for the Etzatlan community. A stage dominated one corner of the square, with rows of folding chairs for the audience. Dance troups, some local, some from surrounding towns, others who had traveled great distances, performed traditional dances. Ah, the regalia. Miles of calico and satin, skirts and flounces, blouses and scarves. Herds of cowhides stitched into vests and pants and boots. The men handsome in...
With the news of Conrad Burns’ passing late last week, Montanans lost a member of the family. From across the state prayers were offered for Phyllis and the Burns family and fond memories were shared. Conrad was a dedicated husband to Phyllis and father to Garrett and Keely, he was an auctioneer, a high school referee, an agriculture broadcaster and founder of Northern Ag Network, a county commissioner, a U.S. senator and always a U.S. Marine — he loved his family, he loved Montana and he loved his country. And on Thu...
Now, when it’s too late to back out of this course of action, I really understand that there is no way that one can build a home without having to shop for things — like, a lot of things. I admit that it seems patently obvious that one must shop for structural materials, fixtures, finish materials and a whole host of stuff that creates and fills a home. Really, you might ask, how else did I expect to get this project done without the funds to hire a personal shopper? Tha...
At last, I have a working sink in the house. No more carting all food preparation items plus dishes before and after meals out to the outdoor sink on the patio. Josue has finished my kitchen cabinets. I’m no stranger to roughing it. Back in the early '60s, when I was newly married and it seemed romantic, I had no sink. Running water meant I carried buckets from the well out by the stock tank and poured it into the water bucket on the wash stand (cold) and the copper boiler o...
Marriage experts say that one of the keys to a long and successful marriage is to keep a little surprise, some mystery, in your relationship: My husband, John, surprised me Saturday morning by having what could best, and most respectfully, be described as a conniption fit. I had carried three long 2-by-4 studs, slung onto my shoulder, for a short jaunt of about 70 yards. John felt that it was detrimental to my health to carry a load of wood in this fashion, and he expressed...
I walked around my coffee bush, checking out the blossoms and emerging beans. Actually, although I lust after it, the bush belongs to the neighboring property, now sitting empty. It doesn’t sooth me that this towering bush is dead ahead in my line of vision when I sit at my keyboard, looking out my window at my lilies and geraniums, my view framed by the bougainvillea on my left and the grapefruit on my right, orange trees in the distance. About three weeks ago when b...
U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-Mont. Being a Conservative and being a conservationist are not mutually exclusive. It’s actually my conservative principles that drive my commitment to conservation. Whether one believes our Earth was created by God or not, nobody can argue the fact that it is the only one we have. It’s our responsibility to be good stewards and ensure our children and grandchildren’s children enjoy the same outdoor opportunities that we have. When you sent me to Washington, protecting Montana’s public lands was, and r...
Drama and complications are two different things. Drama I actively work to avoid. Complication seems to be second nature. It started with a simple statement: “I need to get the horses locked up for the summer to let that pasture grow.” How hard is it to lock three head of tame, broke horses into an already-fenced area? I don’t even have to get halters. I just need to grasp a half of a handful of mane on one horse and lead it into the small pasture. The others will follo...
Some days, despite all the good things in my life, I wake up and would rather crawl back into bed and pull the quilt over my head. Pity party is another word for the feeling. Party, well, yes, party. I woke up with an ugly thought, “Today is my birthday.” Seventy-one seems a number without much pizzazz. Seventy or seventy-five or one hundred — now those numbers have class. Milestone numbers. My number seems rather in-betweeny. How old are you? Mumbley mumble. Then Teresa walke...
(The following is a letter to the chief executive officers of three major health care organizations in Havre from Amber Spring, chair of the Hill County Mental Health Local Advisory Council.) To: Bullhook Community Health Center, Cindy Smith, CEO Center for Mental Health, Sydney Blair, CEO Northern Montana Health Care, David Henry, CEO From: Amber Spring, Hill County Mental Health Local Advisory Council (LAC), Chair Montana has consistently ranked in the top five for suicide rates in the nation for the past 30 years. Mental...
The rafter rats have returned, and where there’s a pigeon there’s pigeon poop, and where there’s pigeon poop there’s the potential for histoplasmosis and psittacosis. I looked it up. And I know only one preventative medicine against both the fungal and bacterial diseases, and it starts with the source. One clear, calm morning as I was preparing to open the gate to the barn (aka searching for a spot to grab that wasn’t whitewashed), I heard two of the winged varmints cooing in...
I’ve always liked the story of the shoemaker and the elves. In the evening, before he retired, the old shoemaker cut the leather and prepared his work bench to stitch the shoes in the morning. In the night the elves came to the shop of the good shoemaker and stitched the shoes, the most beautiful shoes. When I had my shop in Poulsbo, Washington, often I cut fabric for the following day. Each morning I entered with eyes of hope. The elves never came. Here in Etzatlan, Leo is m...
Made-in-Montana energy means good Montana jobs that on average pay two to three times more than the state average. Montana’s ability to create more good-paying energy jobs is immense — in fact, our state leads the nation in coal deposits. We are the nation’s fifth-largest producer of hydropower, with 23 hydroelectric dams across our state, and fifth in wind energy potential. Montana is at the center stage of the national energy debate and provides the nation a template of a true all-of-the-above energy portfolio — we have co...
I don’t mean to make light of a literally deadly topic, but latest evidence on the mosquito-borne Zika virus shows that my grandmother was psychic in her prediction of this disease invasion. Apparently, even a squat, stern farm grandma can channel the future through a crochet needle. No kidding. The Zika virus, which can cause illness in children and adults and, more significantly, the birth defect microcephaly, has been in Brazil and French Polynesia for years. The virus i...
U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-Mont. Terrorism-related deaths are up 800 percent in the past five years according to a new report. That’s nearly 30,000 people who are killed per year by terrorists. While suicide bombers and gunmen have been killing civilians around the globe almost constantly, it was last week’s coordinated terrorist attacks by ISIS in Brussels that violently shook the world awake. I believe in the power of prayer for the victims and their families, but I also believe in the power of U.S. leadership against thi...
Years ago, a builder said to me, “Paint covers a multitude of sins.” I didn’t need convincing. When I was a senior in high school, mere days before graduation and marriage, I rescued and painted a small wooden dresser. I don’t know how many years it had sat neglected in our farm dump, that place through the woods and near the river where we discarded very little. I think it might have come from the labor house, used only during sugar beet and potato harvest. Nor do I remembe...
Psychologists love, love, love their theories, and the one I find most refreshing is called the horizon of possibilities. This says that given all the factors in our lives from boring facts like age, physical attributes, finances, location and internal drive, we have a certain number of things we can do or be. It’s a vast number, but it’s not infinite. For example, I am 50, not in particularly good shape, don’t feel much like putting in the effort to change that shape and I’m a touch claustrophobic, so my odds of being a...
