Sorted by date Results 76 - 99 of 99
After nearly sixty seven years of living on this earth, I have become a statistic. If this statistic had beaten the odds and I won $10 million in a lottery, my smile would shatter my face. However, this unfortunate numerical reality reinforces the fact that I have acquired some age. In early December, while walking my dog, I slipped and fell on a patch of ice and broke my left arm just below the shoulder. In doing some research on falling after this hapless incident, I discovered I had joined the ranks of other seniors my age. It seems that...
I can’t tell you when I last took a good long look at myself in a mirror. I do know it’s been years; the only times I make use of a mirror is to give myself a superficial glance in passing. I know very well what will stare back at me if I look too long or too hard, and I figure life is too short to confirm everything I didn’t want to know anyway about my facial features and the condition of the rest of my body. I’ve always had an uneasy relationship with mirrors. From the time I was old enough to understand that some people looked gorgeou...
Whoever dreamed up the senior meal program deserves a large pat on the back. It makes sense for a variety of reasons, including the obvious ones such as it gets seniors out to socialize with peers while at the same time ensuring they receive a terrific meal for a nominal price. A bonus point of course to the outing itself means someone else cooks the meal and that means a lot as well. For many seniors, that one nutritious meal may be one of the best meals he or she eats all week. I remember...
As we age and the years continue to pass with increasing swiftness, we understand with great clarity that the only constant in life involves change. We grow up and move away from home, our children spread their wings and follow new paths, we switch jobs or careers, we purchase larger houses and then swap them for something smaller as we scale down, fortunes wax and wane, relationships twist and turn, we retire and begin a new phase of our lives. The list of changes never ends, and those changes...
I can't understand people who each year purchase a tree already decorated in one theme or another, all coordinated and cutesy. They place this tree with its meaningless ornaments somewhere in their house for a few weeks, and then discard the tree along with all its ornaments at the end of the holiday season. Where is the meaning and the fun in that? I have received my ornaments, each and every one of them, from family and friends through the years, and these trinkets provide memories of times...
Nothing beats the warmth provided by chunks of wood lazily burning in a wood stove. The heat radiates throughout the dwelling, quickly chasing the damp chill out of the air and replacing it with total comfort. I love wood heat, prefer it to any other method of keeping my house warm. People who say wood heat warms a person twice have never cut wood. It warms multiple times considering the fact that either my husband or I have cut that wood. It warms us when we cut it, warms once again as we load...
It astonishes me how some seemingly insignificant idea or incident can have a huge impact on the way we view life's ups and downs, and how this same little thought works for us through good times and bad. It amazes me even more when that kernel of truth comes not from a great philosopher but from a silly advertisement that people view on TV or hear on the radio. In my case this little gem of wisdom that I use as a guide in my life during both good times and not so good times comes from a TV ad...
I grew up in a household where my father took the responsibility of volunteer firefighting very seriously. He attended every meeting possible and answered all the fire calls within his power to answer. We lived within blocks of the fire hall and when that siren began to scream, begging the volunteers to make haste to the fire hall, my dad dropped whatever he was doing and tore off on a dead run down the street towards the fire station. Calls more often than not came in during the wee hours of...
Nothing beats working to repeat a task that you haven't attempted for nearly fifty years. Time clouds the memory of just what a particular experience entails; one remembers the main points but the little details involved with a task have vanished along with yesterday. In my case, I am speaking of the decision to work as a waitress at the Virginia City Café on the weekends throughout the tourist season. Nothing has changed all that much in fifty years about the art of serving and clearing...
Agriculture production requires a lot of energy to produce results. With over 90% of that energy coming from oil, coal, and natural gas, energy usage costs ag producers a lot of money over the course of a typical year. Fortunately, farmers and ranchers have grown quite savvy in the art of reducing production costs in all areas, including the use of energy. They change production practices when needed, switch crop varieties that have proven themselves as good or better than older varieties in yield, and they use more energy efficient methods in...
Agriculture production requires a lot of energy to produce results. With over 90% of that energy coming from oil, coal, and natural gas, energy usage costs ag producers a lot of money over the course of a typical year. Fortunately, farmers and ranchers have grown quite savvy in the art of reducing production costs in all areas, including the use of energy. They change production practices when needed, switch crop varieties that have proven themselves as good or better than older varieties in yield, and they use more energy efficient methods in...
It's June, the traditional wedding month, which means I see a host of women's magazines on sale at the newsstands with glossy front covers showcasing dewy faced gorgeous young brides wearing extravagant gowns. Featured wedding stories inside the magazine often include such articles as how to hold a reception for under $20,000 or a story outlining this spring's hot fashion colors that the engaged couple's wedding entourage really ought to wear. I used to be slightly offended that the featured bri...
Recreation (which means 'play' or 'amusement' according to Webster) takes many forms and brings to mind a huge variety of activities. Some people recreate by exerting themselves through walking or biking, others enjoy reading or reclining on the bank of a pond watching fish steal bait from their line, while yet others like to take excursions in motorized vehicles, even if that little jaunt only means going three quarters of a mile to the county dump. The old adage 'one man's trash is another man...
I love looking at the old barns and outhouses that I see scattered around the country. On the surface it appears that these nostalgic structures have nothing in common, but on reflection, both of these icons of yesteryear represent an earlier life, a time before we thought we had to own a three bedroom two bath house or larger in order to count ourselves a success; a time when people knew how to entertain themselves without the use of computers and smart phones; a time when youngsters could...
Who ever heard of the Windfall Elimination Provision of Social Security? I certainly hadn’t, until I applied for my social security benefits in March. Then I became painfully aware of this grossly unfair Provision, passed in 1983 by Congress, that to my mind steals money from those of us who have worked and qualify for certain targeted pensions other than social security and who have also worked and qualify for social security itself. At the same time it rewards bad behavior as it allows for the payment of benefits to those who have NOT w...
After thirty exceptional years of serving the area agricultural community, the Eastern Agricultural Research Center's (EARC) superintendent and agronomist Dr. Joyce Eckhoff, will retire from the MSU university system, effective May 15. She and her husband will move from the area to begin their retirement years in Dayton, Washington. Throughout her three decades at the EARC Eckhoff never lost her enthusiasm for the work at hand and she dedicated herself to providing outstanding science and...
Moving to a new location always means leaving family, friends, and neighbors behind. This relocation to a new area severs a support system with one sharp cut. The loss of a familiar trusted network of those you rely on never comes easily, and for our mental health we need to develop a new safety net in the community where we have relocated to. It doesn’t matter whether someone has recently graduated from high school and leaves home for further education, or whether a new job calls a person to try a new adventure in an unfamiliar environment. N...
I am not an avid gardener by anyone's standards. However, I do enjoy working the soil, planting vegetable seeds and watching the plants grow and mature, producing something edible in the process. To me, a garden is all about what I can produce in the way of extra food; it is not about having a profusion of flowers. I appreciate seeing the gorgeous blooms that others produce through hard work, but I won't waste limited garden space on something I can't eat. Therefore, I let others have the...
My house means a lot more to me than just a place to sleep and store my clothing. I consider my home my sanctuary, a place of calm that allows me to shed the chaos of the day and to relax and rejuvenate from whatever the outside world chooses to throw at me during the hours I spend away from the place I consider my refuge. Consequently, the idea of renovating my house leaves me cold. Thinking about the furniture that needs moved to the middle of the room in question, or out of the room...
Nothing beats a sister trip. These excursions provide an opportunity for my sister and me to travel someplace different, visit the area for a few days, lounge in a motel room, eat a few meals in a restaurant, and to reconnect and share thoughts about anything and everything. These reflections can range from discussing our fears and worries to comparing reactions about the most recent books we have read. We do not schedule many activities in advance of our sister trip, and we keep the distance...
I really like to eat. I am not fussy, I enjoy a great slice of bread slathered with peanut butter and honey; I also appreciate steaks and chops of all sorts, and of course I delight in my vegetables, salads, fruits, cheeses, wines, hot chocolate, and other assorted tasty food that keeps me well-nourished and content. I often take the food bounty this country enjoys for granted, and rarely take the time to consider how fortunate I am that we do have an abundant food supply. I have all this goodness thanks to agriculture and the efforts of those...
The arrival of March can lift spirits. We celebrate National Agriculture Week to honor and thank agriculturalists of all sorts for providing food and fiber for our use. The spring equinox arrives on March 20, heralding the approach of longer days and warm weather, and we also have the opportunity to participate in St Patrick’s Day festivities if we so choose. Considering agriculture remains Montana’s number one industry, and cow/calves head the list as the top agricultural product in Montana, coupled with the fact that St Patrick’s Day hovers j...
I love to walk and I love to ride my bike. Both forms of exercise not only give me great pleasure, they also serve as therapeutic measures to restore my balance. A good walk or an exhilarating bike ride can often allow me to shed cares and worries, and also provides quiet time to think through problems that have plagued me and for which I can't seem to find any solutions Sometimes after wrestling with a problem or worry, I just get up, take a good walk or a bike ride, and the answer occurs to...
In just a few days, most of us in one way or another will celebrate Valentine's Day. This day has come to symbolize great romance, and lovers of all ages who have sweethearts or significant others in their lives will send flowers or cards, give candy, or in some other way show their love and adoration for their special person. Love comes in many guises. There's the passionate, hormones-raging-out-of-control love of youngsters (think Romeo and Juliet); there's the love born of the desire for...
