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Many property owners in Missoula County participate in outdoor burning, whether it is to regenerate a hay field or burn vegetative debris. With those crazy summer windstorms, many people have more tree debris to burn than normal - but you may have to wait until spring to burn it. Fall outdoor burning has different rules than spring burning. This article explains the different burning seasons detailing what is allowed in the fall versus the spring, as well as highlights safe outdoor burning...
When my physical therapist told me her husband had already arrowed an elk this archery season I was overjoyed for him but not necessarily surprised. His dad was an inveterate hunter, willing to track and stalk a trophy animal for miles and days if necessary to make the kill of a lifetime. I've known Drew since he was a kid and his old man's blood runs through his veins. And knowing that, I didn't ask his wife - while she was working the knots out of my shoulders - if he had saved the hide. The l...
Maybe you opened your paper today thinking, I’m pretty sure the Pathfinder’s missing something. Don’t we have a new president? Statehouse representative? You’re probably right. Since our papers are printed on Mondays, it made for a very quiet Nov. 7 paper regarding election details. We sent the paper off to press before Election Day even began. I intend to publish a story online focusing on the statehouse races pertinent to the Seeley-Swan and Blackfoot Valleys on Wednesday or Thursday this week. But in the meantime, there are plenty of othe...
As I pen these words, today is Oct. 31, snow is gently falling and Halloween preparations are in place. Today is also Reformation Day. The day when Martin Luther, an Augustinian monk and professor at Wittenberg University posted his 95 theses on the Castle Church door. This posting of theses on the day before All Saint’s Day (Nov. 1) when all the university would be in the church for worship was typical of Medieval academics as an invitation for debate. It changed the world. In addition, as you read these words, the election is over. We m...
In August my wife Pam and I concluded our seven-month boat journey around the eastern United States and Canadian provinces, a version of “America’s Great Loop.” Our future plans include cruising the “Inside Passage” between Vancouver Island and British Columbia, with the eventual destination being southeast Alaska. We chose our boat, Treasure State, because of its relatively shallow draft — for all the sandy canals of the east coast — for its low bridge height — hundreds of bridges along the way — and its ability to get up and scoot — 32 kn...
When the day temps drop I don't feel like moving around too fast. My favorite winter sport, if you can call it that, is sitting indoors where it's warm and cozy and tying flies. So it's easy for me to sympathize with how a trout feels when it gets cold. They get sluggish and don't move around much as the water temps drop. A trout hanging under the shade of a midsummer foam line will break ranks to chase a minnow several feet in order to eat it. One such day I watched Chris Rockhold throw a sculp...
MISSOULA, Mont. — In Seeley Lake, the Rural Resource Specialist role with Missoula Aging Services (MAS) has been an essential source of support, connection and advocacy for older adults in the community. Now, MAS is seeking a dedicated individual to fill this important position, helping ensure that older residents can continue to live independently and with dignity in the places they’ve called home for years. For older adults in rural Montana, accessing essential services and resources can be challenging. The Rural Resource Specialist has mad...
As winter approaches, gardeners face the challenge of protecting plants from the season’s harsh elements. Unlike regions with milder, consistent climates, our winters are unpredictable, with temperatures that can plummet below -25°F one month and climb to 50°F the next. This fluctuation means that preparing our plants for winter is essential. By following a few crucial steps, gardeners can help their landscapes survive — and even thrive — when spring arrives. Adjusting Watering Habits Gradually reducing watering as temperatures drop allows...
There are certain things that simply aren’t done. Despite the constant flux in society — changing mores, legalized weed, our lives an open electronic book — there are some behaviors and actions that remain unacceptable. For instance, during prayer time at church, you don’t ask the congregation to pray for healing for your monstrous hangover from pounding tequila the night before. You don’t put a large car top carrier on your ride, then try to enter a parking garage. The particular desecration, the abomination, the violation of sacred space, of...
Bookmobile services are beginning monthly in Seeley Lake. We will start on Wednesday, Oct. 30 with visiting Loving Hearts (11:30 a.m. - 12:45 p.m.) and the Senior Center (12:50 p.m. - 2 p.m.). Missoula Public Library’s new Bookmobile service helps connect rural and underserved communities to the library. With the Bookmobile, MPL aims to bring mobile services to new patrons while expanding relationships across Missoula County and throughout the region. If your business or organization would benefit from being on the route, please let us know a...
With all the ads and flyers flooding TV, the internet and our mail, it’s almost insulting that the candidates and PACs think any of it will influence our informed choices. Just because a candidate is a Montana fourth, fifth, sixth generation, doesn’t mean much. Have you ever seen them actively involved with local issues or government? Or did they only take an interest in issues that personally affected them, or were personally invited to attend by one of their public official “friends.” If any of the incumbents gloat about all the federal...
It is the week before election Tuesday. I am pretty sure we are all tired of election fliers. I know I have issues that I hold as values that I judge the candidates by, but I’ll try to keep that to myself. Thomas Jefferson said, “The government you elect is the government you deserve.” I’m not going to say who or what issues in this missive, but I have a few scriptural principles I can share and then leave it to you to make up your own mind. Our challenge is we say we want change and we need something different, yet it seems to me that all the...
You can probably look out your window right now and tell more about the weather than I can as I write this. Same with river reports. I trust them almost half the time. We don't know exactly what the next couple of weeks will bring for weather. We could be looking at wind, rain and downed trees - always a hazard. If you're going out, be careful. The coming week calls for broken weather - clouds, rain showers, sunshine peeking through and temps in the mildly cool high 40s on down into the low...
We have news that we are anxious to share with you. The Seeley Lake Community Foundation wants to do more for our community, more for the people and this valley we all call home. Over the past 20 plus years we have endeavored to be one of the leaders in our community. To be a centering place. Through our programs, we have worked to enhance the viability of the many organizations that must rely on donations to survive and prosper. For instance, we established the Change Your Pace Challenge. Both full-time and seasonal residents of our community...
Calling all conservatives to register and vote early avoiding possible Election Day problems that may inhibit voting. Some elections were determined by just a few hundred votes, so your vote definitely counts. We are morally obligated to vote as not voting can promote evil. Even if we despise our party system, distrust politicians and have better values than the candidates, we are morally obligated to vote for whoever best advances the good. No one is perfect, but we must persevere, however slowly, overcoming evil by advancing the good for the...
Folks who live in our Seeley-Swan Valley fall into several categories: old timers, newcomers, “medium timers” and people who returned after many years. One person who returned after many years was Mabel Stilwell. Born Mabel Lundberg in the Swan Valley in 1917, she may well have been the first baby of white settlers born in these parts. Let’s take a closer look at the Swan Valley during these years, and where Mabel’s life took her. During the years around Mabel’s birth, the Swan Valley had homesteaders moving in, drawn by the beauty and amaze...
It has all come full circle. For the past six years, through all types of weather and against all odds, the Seeley Lake ROCKS team repurposed a former baseball diamond at the elementary school into a weather dependent, night lit, fully functioning skating rink, complete with free skates, helmets, nets and changing benches. Given the fickle nature of Montana winters, maintaining and operating an outdoor rink is no small task, and we depended on hearty skaters to pick up a shovel or a broom to sweep the ice from time to time. Countless Seeley...
Why do the people of the world stand in jeopardy? Because they cannot be saved without their families and their associates. They will continue to stand in jeopardy until the gospel is taken to them in such a way that they are willing either to receive it or reject it. These things of eternity pertaining to the spirit world and the hereafter were on the mind of the Savior when He was crucified. This is reflected in His statement to the repentant thief, which has puzzled many people: · And one of the malefactors, which were hanged, railed on him,...
Author's note: Some of you have asked, at various times, whether I'd reprint some favorite columns from previous years. For those of you who asked, and for those who missed it the first time around, here's an updated version of a favorite. Enjoy! Sunday afternoon found me with an almost desperate need to go fishing. I felt winter closing in, and in some ways it seemed as if summer didn't really happen as I approached Jan about going fishing. "I'll be ready to go by 2:30," Jan announces. That...
It’s the definition of insanity, doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Since Joe Biden and Kamala Harris took office, grocery prices have climbed 21.5%, rent has increased by 22.5% and electric bills have skyrocketed by 30.7%. Those are national averages, and in Montana, we’re feeling it a lot more. Electing Kamala Harris and other radical left Democrats to fix the economy they tanked sounds a lot like doing the same thing and expecting a different outcome. With that in mind, I encourage Montanans to ask the...
Jon Tester tries to project the image of a local Montanan fighting against the bureaucrats in Washington D.C. It is interesting that during Tester’s last election cycle, he did not carry the county in which he lives. Seemingly, those are the people that know him best. At this time, the Democrats hold a razor thin majority in the Senate. Out-of-state donors have contributed tens of millions to Tester’s re-election. Tester’s vote has been key to enabling the Biden-Harris administration to pass woke legislation and policies relating to borde...
We are writing to endorse Connie Keogh for House District 92. She brings years of personal and professional experience to this race including leadership skills, teaching experience and the “can do” attitude honed from years of hard work on the south-central Montana ranch where she grew up. Keogh has been our representative in HD 91 the past three legislative sessions. Due to redistricting, she is now running to represent HD 92. We were extremely pleased with Keogh’s representation when she served HD 91. We found her to be an extremely dedic...
So many topics, but my heart grieves for events locally. As happens in every community, we have had some sad events in our community. A couple of Saturdays ago, a guy was driving erratically, passing in no passing zones and shooting randomly. Leading to a police encounter and ending with him taking his own life. Then the next day, two gals and another couple were involved in a collision just south of our town. There were fatalities and others went to hospital. Of course, it is life in a small town, so the gossip is flying, the rumors are...
The first company to mass-produce the TV dinner was the Swanson company that sold 10 million trays in 1954, its first year of production. Following the lean casseroles of the 1930s of the great depression and the wartime meatloaves of the 1940s, American families welcomed progress and prosperity with frozen meals, canned foods and cereals. With the advent of the television, the family substituted the round-the-table family dinner with TV trays. We may blame our expanding waistlines, poor metabolic health and addiction to the screen on the...
Sunday was one of those crisp, clear, Indian Summer days I had been longing for since the smoke cleared. Like a lot of people I feel robbed of summer. Now its counterpart, and always my favorite time of year, is here. Our neighbors recently invited us to pick MacIntosh apples from their trees. Jan picked the apples and will make a pie. The leaves on our trees turned color and just as soon started blowing off. For just a little while longer, everything is glorious and alive before the onset of...
