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Rituals surround us every day in small and big ways. In a previous article, I described that our morning and evening routines are rituals. Of course, we never think of our routines as rituals because these ritual behaviors can be so common and familiar. For example, we might exercise at 8 a.m. every day, eat breakfast after exercising, shower after breakfast, feed the dog and go to work. Such behaviors are scheduled in our minds as patterns for our daily routines but patterned behaviors are...
When I first moved West in the 1970s I fell in love with aspen trees. They symbolized wildness and spontaneity, new adventures and breaking away from entrenched paths. My youthful anthropomorphizing aside, it’s hard not to like an aspen grove with its fluttering leaves and tall white trunks. Apparently, many species feel the same. Almost 200 species are supported by aspen groves! Quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) is the widest ranging tree in America. It is in the Willow Family along with cottonwoods, poplars and of course, willows. Entire gr...
The following story is dedicated to the men in my life: my grandpa, dad, uncle, brothers and friends that continue to answer the call the mountains ring out. The same ones that share a passion for a well-matched mule string, a fine lead horse, tidy packs, a campsite next to a stream brimming with cutthroat trout, campfire coffee and the sight of a high, wide and handsome mountain pass stretched out for miles ahead... It's late spring hedging into early summer here. It's that time of year at the...
It's a good beargrass year. The slopes on either side of Highway 83 are filled with their tall, crazy looking flowers. It's worth taking a drive or hiking up a trail to witness how beautifully their white blooms decorate our forest-covered mountains. Beargrass (Xerophyllum tenax) is in the Lily Family. Each stalk has hundreds of flower buds, which start blooming from the bottom of the stalk and bloom upwards to the top. Blooming patches of beargrass light the forest up as if they were torches....
As you drive along Highway 200 through Potomac you can see several purple-tinged fields off to the north. The purple color is camas flowers. Camas, Camassia quamash, is in the Lily Family. The root of purple camas was a main food source for Native people on the western side of the Rockies up into British Columbia. It was a highly prized trading commodity. The bulbs could be eaten raw but were usually roasted in a pit from one to three days, which turned their starches into fructose making the...
After writing columns for 20 years I must take time off. I must thank all of you who read my columns and in so many ways have helped change people and helped save many cats’ and dogs’ lives. We must stay vigilante and always stand tall when it comes to cruelty and abuse of children and pets. I thank you all for supporting our cake sales in many ways and helping The Ed Jackson Helping Pets Fund, which is no more, and the Potomac Animal Shelter. The shelter is always in need of funds and has saved so many abused pets and found them loving hom...
What is paranoia and how can we recognize it? Let's begin with the emotional side of paranoia. In the last article, the emotion of fear was central to the topic of superstition. Again, fear is central to the topic of this article – paranoia. Paranoia brings to mind many different descriptions. For example, you might enter an empty house at night and feel fear, which can then shift to a fantasy or belief that someone is hiding behind the chair or in the closet. Or, in an extreme example, you m...
I didn't fully appreciate how incredible our balsamroot bloom was until we took my mother to the Bison Range. Mom was a flower gardener and had lived back East her whole life so we weren't sure how she'd respond to the drier habitat balsamroot prefers. The flowers were at their peak, as they are right now in the Seeley Swan. From the Bison Range vista point Mom looked out at the endless, overlapping hillsides cloaked in yellow blooms, interlaced with the purples, whites and pinks from other...
I've often found it easy to wax poetic about the mountains of home in western Montana. I've always referred to them as the supermodel of landscapes, so easy to admire with their grandiose perfection in almost every season, the clearest of streams that flow with force and clarity revealing colorful stones that tell of it's geological history and beauty, high alpine basins that offer refuge to an abundance of wildlife and coniferous trees of every variety. The mountains of Montana always seem easy...
The larches that have looked dead for the past six months have not disappointed us. They have greened up! Oh happy day! Our mountains are once again adorned with that incredible praying mantis green. The fact that larches (Larix occidentalis) drop their needles defines so much of their existence. Unlike most conifers that keep their needles year round enabling them to photosynthesize whenever the temperatures rise above freezing, larches can only grow half of the year. They make up for this...
If you take a walk through the woods right now and look close to the ground you'll see tiny, chaotic puffs of creamy yellow at or near the top of what looks like blades of bunchgrass. But they aren't bunchgrass – they are sedge plants. Sedge flowers don't have showy petals so if you move too fast you'll miss them. But go slowly and use a magnifying glass or hand lens and you'll see that those puffs are made up of stamens coated with yellow pollen (the male part of a flower) and clear white p...
Not sure if I had this in my last column so thought I would tell you about my neighbor across the street. He went out early one morning to get his pickup and there stood a moose. I’m not sure who scared each other the worse but he said the moose took off running. Pretty unlikable to happen but it is so. Well as we all know the bears are out and coming out. Remember to put your garbage where it is safe from the bears! Someone didn’t and the small bear got in the garbage and the man shot the little bear. Pretty stupid thing to do in my opi...
A glorious little flower found early in the spring among the sage and bunchgrass is the yellow fritillary or yellow bell, Fritillaria pudica. It's a member of the Lily Family (Liliaceae) and it blooms in the grasslands and ponderosa pine country. You can tell it's in the Lily Family because the veins on its leaves all run parallel and its flower parts are in threes - three petals and three sepals. But the sepals, which in most plant families are green, leafy structures that protect the flower in...
We might ask if superstition is actually related to psychology. The answer to this question simply requires an understanding that everything a person does, thinks and feels is related to psychology. Psychology is the foundation of human nature and experiences. So, superstition and psychology certainly are related. Superstitions can be simple or complex. For example, one person might place a horseshoe above a doorway to summon good luck to enter. Another person might avoid stepping on cracks. An athlete might wear the same hat, or shirt,...
Springbeauty started blooming in the grasslands of the Seeley Swan Valley in early April and its bloom will gradually work its way up in elevation. It is in the Purslane Family (Portulacaceae). One of the coolest things about this tiny plant is its ability to move through its life cycle quickly and successfully. In the fall, when the growing season is done, Springbeauty starts growing from its tiny bulb. Its sprout continues to grow during the winter to just below the soil surface. By doing...
Every spring, we embark on long, arduous adventures crammed in a truck in search of replacement horses and mules for the ranch. This is a family tradition, and one we ALL do together. It's an opportunity to shake off the winter blues and pass along a little knowledge to the next generation; even if that only means knowing what kind of licorice to buy Grandpa at the one convenient store stop we get along the way. This spring was no different, as my folks ventured east of the divide to Havre,...
Lately it seems as if the Internet and television have been flooded with new recommendations regarding Hepatitis screening and this has sparked many a great conversation in the clinic. So, what's up with these new recommendations? What is hepatitis anyway, and why should I be worried about it? Don't we get immunized for hepatitis? Why should you be screened? Hepatitis simply means inflammation of the liver. This can be caused by exposure to toxins, drugs, infections and certain diseases. When...
Have you ever found yourself performing a particular behavior and immediately repeating it, or thinking about something that was followed by a specific behavior, and repeating the combination at different times during the day or week? Or maybe there is a special routine that you perform to help you overcome anxiety or difficulties. Most people experience one, or more, of these behaviors in their daily lives. For example, you're leaving the house to meet a friend but the woodstove is full of...
I believe five foot tall Lizzie Kate Longstreet (Hunter) Rich, my great, great grandmother, with her dark, raven hair is my guardian angel. Here's why... The stories of Grandma Lizzie have always intrigued me. She came west with her family on an oxen train in 1864 from Missouri and settled in Montana where she met her husband Frank Rich. It was always said Lizzie was a crack shot and a helluva horsewoman, breaking her last colt at age 76 while riding sidesaddle. One of the stories my grandpa C.B...
Condon, a great and thriving community, has just added another reason to visit Condon, a DOG GROOMER! Yes, a business which is so needed. You can message Brenda Phelps Mitchell on Facebook or call 406-590-3935 for an appointment. I visited with Brenda on the phone and she was very accommodating in answering my questions. Give her a call. We have needed a groomer for years. While waiting for your dog to get groomed visit other businesses, places and people. Becky of All Decked Out, has a new puppy named Oden. He gets to go to the shop with her a...
With winter gripping Montana, let us point out that the national record for cold in the lower 48 states – 70 degrees below zero – was documented right here in Montana at 2 a.m. on Jan. 20, 1954, on the west side of Roger's Pass near Helena. It's also worthwhile to mention that the chilliest time of any day is just prior to sunrise, so there's a good chance that by 6 a.m. it was significantly colder, but minus 70 was the thermometer's lowest mark. So we were close to and may have even have tied t...
There are several common answers to this question. For example, an older person is mature. Or, a person who is wise is mature. Another common belief is that a moral person is mature. Although there is some value to these answers, none of the answers are accurate enough. Don't we often see or hear people who are older making immature statements and behaving childishly? And, isn't the news full of moral people doing immoral acts? So, the question remains: What is maturity? There isn't a maturity...
The following post is dedicated to and written for the Montana Cowboy Hall of Fame. “The idea is not to live forever. It is to create something that will.” ~Andy Worhol As I was driving home yesterday, we passed our neighbor’s teams of black percherons standing together in the corral. It was said to me, “that is something I could never get into or find the fun in.” And I thought about that, and it hit me hard how much the world has changed into a fast and so-called improved pace of life. And I slowed down and I smiled to myself thinking,...
Well the birds are coming back already. I have the usual winter ones but I also have a couple of little wrens. I bet they wonder why they came back so soon. They like the seeds and suet feeders so they will be fine. The big cats are out so please watch your dogs while they are out and don’t leave them out alone while you are gone unless you have someone to watch them. Also people are again stealing dogs, especially purebreds. There were two reported in Missoula and there is a Brittney Spaniel missing in the Grant Creek area. There is a $...
Many people see behavior, or the way we function in life, as an answer to all our problems. In other words, if we change our behaviors, we can change our concerns or problems. Of course, there is some truth to this statement but behavior is only the tip of the iceberg. Even though we walk, talk, join groups, argue, play sports and perform many other behaviors, people often don't consider that these behaviors are associated with other parts of human nature. Another part of human nature is our...
