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The 69th Legislative Assembly began its work on Jan. 6. There are a number of major, controversial measures which will be discussed, argued and voted on including: THE CONTINUATION OF MEDICAID EXPANSION The Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare, contained a provision which allowed states to expand Medicaid coverage to people who had limited or lacked health insurance coverage. Passage of the state law necessary to implement “expanded Medicaid coverage” contained a sunset clause which causes the program to expire in 2025. The 202...
It is that time of year, it being cold and dark and dreary, to amuse ourselves by making resolutions for the new year. My research shows that resolutions suffer a die-off of about 20% a month, so that at the end of the year approximately 1% of our good intentions will still be active. In the practice of medicine, in the presence of such awful results, we would do a “root cause analysis,” which is another way of saying “if we keep this up, we’ll all end up in jail.” Why do only 1% of resolutions make it to the finish line? To begin with, mos...
With colder temperatures upon us, perhaps it’s time to swing by your local library and find a cozy book to enlighten the mind or warm the heart. Your local Seeley Lake Public Library has many new popular titles in both nonfiction and fiction for adults. Your local library also regularly swaps out DVDs, books on CD, large print, adult fiction and nonfiction titles, holiday reads and children’s books. We typically have a puzzle going in-house, which is another great winter activity, as well as free puzzles to take home, including plenty that are...
The rivers run low, flowing slow and cold in winter. It amazes me, every year, that so much life could abound, dormant beneath the seemingly still currents that I see in winter. Even the water that gurgles and trickles over the riffles seems to run slower — although in my mind I know that physically it doesn’t. There will be three, four, five times as much water running in the rivers in the spring when the trout are breaking the surface everywhere to feed on the myriad of bugs that like them now lie dormant, semi-comatose, and still except for...
If I go outdoors at night, I can hear the low-throated cooing of owls, what I now recognize as their mating calls. For years I didn’t recognize what I heard on these winter nights as the love songs of owls. The gently mysterious and lonesome call might be the only sound that pierces the quiet of a winter's night. My sense of it is deepened by knowing that it precedes their mating, nesting and preparing to hatch a brood of helpless little owlets whose survival is totally dependent on the parent bird's soft downy warmth and fierce hunting to prov...
This is a Christmas story, but definitely not the Hallmark kind. If you are a bit squeamish, skip this one. This is known as a trigger warning, seeing how I am an up-to-date, sensitive guy. It was Christmas Eve, and I was on call for cardiac surgery. Pam and I attended a couples get-together, conveniently located just a block from the hospital. I knew the cardiac surgery crew — scrub tech, circulating nurse — were in the cardiac catheterization laboratory standing by while the cardiologists did an angioplasty — opening coronary arteries that...
Christmas doesn’t just begin and end for me. It creeps in, softly at first, barely noticeable, and then grows larger, more present. It’s a gentle presence — despite the noise and clang blaring from the TV set urging us to buy more, spend more, listen to jingle bells one more time every station break. Fortunately I don’t watch much TV. My wife has some favorite shows and I watch football. Not as much as I used to, and that’s a good thing, but maybe a game or two a week if the excitement of the game exceeds my irritation threshold with the inces...
As a boy growing up on the edge of a southwestern desert I took an early - and seemingly out-of-place - interest in hunting and fishing. A friend who was similarly afflicted and I would take our Red Ryder BB guns out into a weedy field and shoot grasshoppers. When the hoppers wouldn't hold still, we took up wing shooting. Ever tried to shoot a grasshopper on the wing with a BB gun? We'd waste an afternoon and a dime's worth of BB's for two or three grasshoppers apiece. That first BB gun was...
The Planning Committee of the Swan Valley Community Council and the Missoula County Planning Department are seeking ideas and input on the future of the Swan Valley. This input from community members will assist us in our effort to update the 1996 Neighborhood Plan and clearly communicate our vision and preferences to our county commissioners. Why are we doing this now? First, it is a requirement of Missoula County’s rural communities to update their neighborhood plan every five years, and secondly, we want to learn from the POWDR/Save H...
I got my first fly tying vise when I was about nine or 10 years old. It wasn't gift-wrapped, and it wasn't Christmas. It was handed to me by my Godfather, who with my dad was one of my heroes. A few weeks before he showed me a box of flies he tied and I was fascinated. I remember the warm half-smile on Paul's face when he gave me that vise. It had been his, and had fine jaws for tying small trout flies. I was awestruck. He knew, then, what would likely unfold, but he didn't know all of it. When...
A headline and a movement may have tipped the election but what does it mean for individuals and families? The U.S. population is not thriving and the numbers are not in our favor. According to the now touted American College of Cardiology and Tufts University study, 93% of Americans are considered metabolically unhealthy. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one in six Americans have a chronic disease. Inflammatory, autoimmune and chronic diseases continue to rise and the number of younger people diagnosed with cancer...
Is there anything more delectable than a Cheeto, save a whole bag of Cheetos? It is a perfect combination of salt, crunch (I prefer the fried Cheetos), cheesiness and a triumph of food chemistry. There are at least 30 ingredients, and likely more, as one of the ingredients is listed as “natural and artificial flavors.” Being a Cheetophile is much like being an oenophile (wine lover, for you peasants). There are 21 varieties of Cheetos in North America alone, many more globally (apparently a cream cheese variant in China). Like wine, you begin y...
Oral histories provide us with wonderful experiences from the past with those who actually lived them. Arnold “Smoke” Elser’s memoir, Hush of the Land, covers six decades of his life as an outfitter and a passionate champion of the wilderness. It’s a well-crafted look back, built upon hundreds of hours of interviews. Elser, and his co-author, Eva-Marie Maggie, will present this memoir on Saturday, Dec. 7, at 2 p.m. at the Seeley Lake Foundation Building as part of Alpine Artisans’ Open Book Club. Free. Everyone is welcome. Early on, Smoke kne...
Editor's note: We're revisiting some fall colors and sentiments this first week of December for the Fly Fishing Journal. We hope you enjoy a little throwback. This October I shall go fishing. I haven't done so yet, but I will soon. This is a statement of purpose, not the expression of an idle wish. There aren't many fishing days left. The changes in the weather as we enter October reminds me of that. While it is still a bit sunny, pleasantly chilly, or softly overcast but not too cold, there is...
With colder temperatures upon us, perhaps it’s time to swing by your local library and find a cozy book to enlighten the mind or warm the heart. Your local Seeley Lake Public Library has many new popular titles in both nonfiction and fiction for adults. Your local library also regularly swaps out DVDs, books on CD, large print, adult fiction and nonfiction titles, holiday reads, and children’s books. We typically have a puzzle going in-house — which is another great winter activity — as well as free puzzles to take home, including plenty...
At Partnership Health Center (PHC), we are proud to provide primary medical, dental and telehealth behavioral health services in Seeley Lake. We are grateful for recent community feedback indicating some uncertainty about services available in our Seeley Lake clinic, so we are taking steps to provide more information. Primary Medical Care Also known as family medicine, primary care is available for patients of all ages. A primary care provider is your go-to source for questions or concerns about any aspect of your health including preventative...
Thanksgiving is never complete without my hearing the old hymn that begins with ”for the beauty of the earth.” I’ll play it on my tin whistle if I don’t hear it anywhere else. For the beauty of the earth, For the beauty of the skies, For the love which from our birth Over and around us lies. While our Civil War was at its height of desolation and carnage in 1863, a young Englishman named Folliott Sandford Pierpoint walked to the top of a hill above his village and saw leaves turning color and wildflowers dotting the meadow between him and the...
A venerable log building, a blustery November day in a small country community, the Pledge of Allegiance, the tolling of a bell. A scene repeated hundreds of times across the nation, yet as each name was read the personal, local feel of loss hung in the air. We think of great wars with legions of soldiers, but they are composed of young men and women from Seeley and Condon with moms and dads. Last Monday, Nov. 11 was Condon's ceremony at the Community Center, followed by a lunch prepared by the...
It's a good thing - more like a blessing - that the river is still fishable at this point in November. Especially this November. Maybe God knew we'd need a break, a time to refresh and restore our souls after this election, and so in His divine mercy he extended the days that are warm enough to fish for a couple of weeks after the polls closed. At least that's what I want to think. The river, which in past years has been iced over by now, is still in decent shape. The weather, some days, is surp...
I want to thank all voters and especially those that went above and beyond for our campaign for House District 92. It was an honor running to be your representative, and we truly enjoyed meeting many of you over the last year campaigning. Though gerrymandering made HD 92 less representative of our rural areas, our precinct results shined through. I thank the large majority of our communities from Condon to Potomac for favoring commonsense, and casting your vote for our campaign. I want to congratulate my opponent Rep. Connie Keogh. I hope she...
We're mental health therapists who work directly with students in Montana elementary and middle schools. We love working with kids to support their well-being and academic success. In Montana, making sure kids have access to the resources and services they need to succeed isn't just the right thing to do, it's also critical for the future of our state. One resource that many students need is help coping with stress, trauma, depression or anxiety. Sadly, many students struggle to access mental...
On Nov. 8, 2024, former Montana State House Representative and longtime publisher and editor Reilly Neill (D) officially filed with the Federal Election Commission to unseat Senator Steve Daines. “We need a Senator who cares about our access to healthcare, our agricultural economy, our Tribal neighbors, about our teachers and schools. We need someone who cares about the ongoing housing crisis in Montana as much as upholding the Constitution of the United States,” Neill said in a recent public announcement. “When I’m in the U.S. Senate, there w...
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...
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...
