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Some of us who have been fortunate enough to have some great dogs: seeing eye dogs, military dogs, comfort companions for folks who live alone, guard dogs and hunting dogs. Stock dogs and kids who can remember growing up with children's best friend. Anyway, I read a story once about a starved pup thrown out of a passing car near an old ranchers' place. They gathered him up and the Misses slowly nursed him back to health. The dog grew to be a first-class stock dog. After a while the wife passed...
When I first took office in January 2011, like most elected officials I had little idea what my position would entail. County Superintendent of Schools is an unusual position. While my duties are outlined in statute, what the job requires on the ground varies widely by county and is certainly different from what principals and hired superintendents do on a day-to-day basis. In my position, I serve as the sole administrator for Sunset School in Greenough and Woodman School on Highway 12....
I want to save seeds from my poppies and hollyhocks. How do I do that? The most important thing is not to cut off the seedpods too soon. When seedpods turn from green to beige, the seeds in the pods will be ripe, but not before. The seeds must ripen on the plant. If cut off too soon, the seeds will never ripen. Some plants drop their seeds near the plant, and hollyhocks are included in this category. The disc-shaped seedpods can be picked off the stem when they are beige colored. The pods will...
Dear Seeley-Swan Residents, I want to let you know about our current client availability for Missoula Aging Services, In-Home Support Services, Personal Care Attendant Program. Missoula Aging Services offers In-Home Support Services in order to provide affordable homemaking, respite and personal care assistance for caregivers. These services and other supports are also available for individuals for their own benefit. A dedicated Personal Care Attendant will come into your home on a regular...
I've often referred to a person's ego as values, beliefs and identity. Now, we can experience ego and these characteristics first-hand in our social lives. Today, there is an enormous divide between people in our society. The divide has a lot to do with ego. At this time, one of the simplest, yet prominent, areas displaying ego in our society is mask wearing. Not wearing or wearing a mask has become a statement, a competition and a behavior for non-mask promoters as well as mask promoters. By...
When I volunteered to write a "commissioners' first year in review" column last summer, I didn't anticipate it would include pandemic, threat of economic collapse or efforts to dismantle structural racism. "Droplet" wasn't in my vocabulary. I couldn't imagine bars, restaurants and schools closing and that many of those still employed would be working from home while homeschooling their children. On my first day, July 1, 2019, the commissioners had a meeting with Chief Administrative Officer...
The predictive meteorologists with the Northern Rockies Coordination Center are expecting above-average fire activity for our region in August and September. Things are heating up out there, and July will be over sooner than any of us would like. As we prep for a potentially bad fire season, and therefore bad smoke season, I have a question: Do you know where your air filters are? Hopefully, last year you stocked up on efficient furnace filters for your HVAC or HEPA filters for your portable air cleaners and you’re ready for this year. If n...
Wishful thinking has been called magical thinking, fantasy thinking, even idealistic thinking. It has never been called realistic thinking. In other words, it is a form of thought that expresses personal wishes, beliefs and ideals, which a person thinks are real. The bottom line is that people think themselves into a magical reality, one that doesn't coincide with actual reality. Clearly, this form of thought is not healthy because a person is not experiencing the reality of a current or future...
Along with our gorgeous summer weather, we in the Seeley-Swan Valley have something to celebrate! Seniors who are 60 years of age and older, residents of Missoula County and meet federal income guidelines (one person household maximum monthly income = $1,968; two person household maximum monthly income = $2,658; three person household maximum monthly income = $3,349) qualify to receive coupons to purchase fresh, locally grown fruits and vegetables at our local farmers markets through the...
What does it mean when the bottom leaves of my tomatoes turn yellow? It means that the bottom leaves are not healthy. If they turn yellow late in the growing season, it means only that the leaves are getting old. Yellow tomato leaves should not be occurring in early summer. There are many causes for yellow leaves (and they usually start at the bottom of the plant) but most yellowing in most of the country comes from tomato diseases. Fortunately, in Montana we can forget about diseases like...
Over 70% of American adults and over 18% of kids are overweight or obese. Here are 6 important things to be aware of regarding extra weight: • Increased weight increases cancer risk: Research shows increased Estrogen (fat cells produce Estrogen), increased Insulin (excess weight often leads to higher blood insulin levels) and Inflammation (excess weight can lead to chronic low-level inflammation) can at least double your cancer risk. • Fat cells are hard to lose: A Mayo clinic study found tha...
Your rotator cuff is a group of 4 muscles and tendons that help keep your shoulder in its socket and allow you to move it in a circular motion. Some two million people a year seek medical attention for rotator cuff problems according to the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgery. Most rotator cuff problems are due to either tears or impingement. While full thickness tears often require surgical intervention, partial tears and impingements can respond to less invasive treatment like physical...
Every 10 years we are asked to do one of the easiest, safest and most important things we can do for our communities: fill out our Census form. It doesn't sound exciting or glamorous, but without Census data, our communities, neighbors and families risk losing out on federal money they deserve. An accurate count determines how all the federal taxes we pay come back here to support our communities. It will determine the funding we receive for everything from planning for wildfires and highway...
Is your warmup hitting a bucket of balls and taking some practice swings? The golf swing is a complex, full body motion that puts a lot of force through your body. Swinging a club without properly warming up increases your risk for injury. Try dynamic activities (one minute each) that increase heart rate to 60% of your maximum right before you golf: • Neck Rotation: Turn head side to side, hold for two seconds. • Torso Rotation: Feet shoulder-width, knees slightly bent. Hold club in front of...
I was think'n again the other day (ya it could be dangerous) about a small blowdown sale I once had on the back side of Owl Loop Road. Some big larch had went down near the edge of a old clear cut. There's a lot of that goes to rot along the edge of some Plum Creek boundaries. Rick Trembath did up some simple paper on it. I paid for it and salvaged 2 loads there don't ya know. Rick was always easy to work with and had good common sense. Steve Feucht was logg'n in the area and sent his skidder...
Did you ever shake a carbonated bottle of water, or soda pop or something similar? Of course, you have. The pressure inside the bottle builds-up. You can't see it but when you open the lid, the liquid explodes outward in a forceful spray. If you were to keep shaking it without opening the lid, eventually the pressure would be so high that the explosion would still happen. The bottle would break, spraying the liquid and pieces of the bottle in all directions, which is an extremely dangerous...
On May 25 our nation witnessed the horror of George Floyd dying with a police officer’s knee pressed into his neck. Mothers everywhere, from Minneapolis to Maine to Missoula, winced hearing a dying man call to his own. This act is but a snapshot of hundreds of years of oppression. Much of the United States was built on stolen land with stolen labor, and these centuries old crimes still echo today, across generations. As your Missoula County elected officials, we share a vision of a just future, yet do not pretend to know the exact path f...
Between work, family/friends and errands, it's understandable why weekend warriors cram all their physical activity into two days. Unfortunately, five days of inactivity, and being active on the weekend, often leads to injuries like hamstring strains, ankle sprains, Achilles tendonitis, low back and shoulder pain. To decrease chances of injury, try to maintain a basic level of fitness through general aerobic activity, strengthening and stretching throughout the week. Here are a few other tips:...
This column picks up where the last one ended concerning the development of the .44 Magnum cartridge. The last column ended with the introduction of the first .44 caliber, self contained cartridge for a handgun that was actually a rim fired cartridge developed for the Henry and Winchester rifles developed during the Civil War. After the war, Smith & Wesson (S&W) built a handgun for the cartridge. The U.S. Army ordered one thousand of the pistols but specified the cartridge had to be center fired...
What is Medicare? Medicare is federally supported health insurance for: • People age 65 or older • Anyone on Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) • Anyone with End-Stage Renal Disease or ALS (Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease) How do you enroll in Medicare? The Social Security office processes Medicare enrollment applications. During the coronavirus public health emergency, local Social Security offices are closed to in-person appointments with the publi...
Q: Would too many pine needles be bad for my compost? A: Poor old pine needles! They often get a bad rap from gardeners, for no good reason. Pine needles have been accused of making paths slippery when it rains. Perhaps, but very few materials are not slippery when wet. Pine needles also have been accused of ruining garden soil by making it acid. The truth is that it is nearly impossible to make alkaline soil acid, or vice versa. Various characteristics of soil can be changed-somewhat, with...
It's almost a reflex these days to pull out our smart phones when we're waiting for someone or standing in a line. But what's this modern convenience doing to our neck? A surgeon-led study assessed the effect surgeons' head/neck posture during surgery-a posture similar to that of smart-phone texters-had on their necks. Each degree our heads flex forward, staring at our phone below eye level, increases neck strain dramatically. When adult heads (weighing 10 - 12 pounds in neutral posture) tilt...
Each of our lives have been touched, reconstructed, impacted, emotionally imploded, all to varying degrees. That is what this support group is about. I would like to offer a support group at no charge, so that our community can recover and strengthen due to the emotional impact of what we are each going through or have been through. Brain science teaches us that processing experiences, normalizing experiences, can help the brain embrace a sense of control, calm and decreased cortisol. In a safe...
From the time I was 15 and bought my first chain saw, that old gear drive McCulloch for $25 with money I earned trapping, I've probably owned every brand of saw made: Lombard, Stihl, Pioneer, Husky, Sacs Dolmar, Solo-super Rex, Whitehead, yup that was a brand. It had a West Bend cart engine, 8.2 cubic inch, chrome-lined jug, what power. Ya could really roar the trees off the stump. Once while buck'n tree lengths at a rail siding with it, I found out come suppertime I could hardly hang onto my sp...
Did you know that 80% of Americans will experience significant back pain over their lifetime? Of those Americans that experience back pain, 54% of them spend their day sitting. Leaning forward in an attempt to get closer to the computer screen puts three to four times more strain on the lower back. The number of spinal fusions has been on the rise. However, experts estimate that fewer than half of them are appropriate and research confirms that the same proportion are successful. A recent 2017...
