The Blackfoot Valley's News Source Since 1980
The Blackfoot Valley's News Source Since 1980
Sorted by date Results 287 - 311 of 466
He would never exchange his solitude for anything. Never again be forced to move to the rhythms of others. Tillie Olsen Tell Me a Riddle (1960) Searching my childhood memories for material to put in this column, I have too few recollections of spending days of play with my siblings (four of the six of us were born in four-and-a-half years). Visiting with my sister, she said that she doesn't remember that I was around very much. We got along as well as any large family can, and...
The past month has been fantastic. I did not win the lottery. I did see the results of many months of preparation as we had our annual five-day Bible camp. It is a great but stressful time. Stressful because there is a lot of preparation. I should not stress about camp because God always blesses my feeble efforts and camp always turns out to be a great time. I did not stress out too much this year. Maybe after 19 years of being involved with camp I finally “get it”! There are...
Dear Readers, Most of you have probably heard of antioxidants and that they are good for you, but what are they exactly? Antioxidant is a chemistry term that simply means prevention of oxidation, which is the transfer of tiny, electrically charged particles known as electrons. Antioxidants protect us from free radicals, which damage our cells and lead to diseases such as cancer, heart disease, and Alzheimer's. Free radicals result from food digestion, everyday cellular...
Dear Readers, For many of us, it's a morning must-have, almost a medical necessity. We just aren't functional until we've had that good-to-the-last-drop cup of coffee. Coffee has hit the news lately. Is it good for you or is it not? Studies are conflicting, which is no surprise. Some reports estimate that Americans spend about $20 a week on coffee and drink an average of 3.6 cups per day. That's over $1,000 a year and more than 1,300 cups of coffee! A study led by Steffen...
During the post-WWII years and into the late 1950s almost every town in Montana had a sandlot baseball team. Baseball was in its heyday with Mantle, Ford, Ted Williams and others all playing, in those days. Even the smallest towns fielded teams, and the larger cities had a number of them. As small as the town is, Helmville had its own baseball nine. All over the nation, young men who had won the war returned with an exuberance and sense of community they didn't have before...
The 4th of July Festivities are over, the crowds have slightly thinned, the weather has been wet and cool, but the fishing remains hot! With all the rain over the last couple of weeks, Mother Nature is keeping the rivers flowing. The levels are lower than normal and are a bit concerning. For instance, as of the day of this writing, the Blackfoot at Bonner was almost half of what is considered the ten year average; despite a cool beginning to summer and a decent snow pack this...
I've been back in the US for over a year, now, and it's time to correct a wrong I left unattended for most of that time. It's embarrassing. I've had the life-long propensity to get myself into desperate situations, then scream to others, begging for help. But with a willing family and good friends who always pulled me out of the mire, life continued so I could do it again. The experience I suffered in Brazil left me emotionally and intellectually catatonic. I gave up on...
Malta has an appealing downtown that includes a state-of-the-art movie theater with surround sound joined by a healthy, self-sufficient variety of other businesses. You can find two lumberyards, a hardware store, three banks, a pharmacy, a new brewery and a farm store, currently under construction. A once-vacant storefront is home to Family Matters, a family clothing store established and successfully owned by community members for over 18 years, spawning entrepreneurism and...
Dear Readers, A few weeks ago, I printed a column on ultra-processed foods. The National Institute of Health (NIH) performed a study and found that participants on an ultra-processed foods diet consumed about 500 calories more per day than the group who consumed an unprocessed foods diet. As I pointed out, the study was comprised of only 20 people, which is too small to apply to the entire population, although the study was hailed as ground-breaking by the media. Another...
Dear Dietitian, I read your last column on calcium where you recommended that we get the mineral in our diet rather than pills. Is it better to get calcium from plant foods or dairy products? Wondering Dear Wondering, Calcium is the most abundant mineral in the body, accounting for 39% total body minerals. Most of us know that calcium is needed for strong bones and teeth, but did you know it is also needed for blood clotting? Calcium initiates the release of blood-clotting...
Emotional weariness and physical weakness are the only things that keep me from foolishness any more. Like I've written, I have the propensity to invent unrealistic and immature acts, then cry to friends and family for help when things fall apart – like the Brazil trip that almost killed me. The BBC said the other day that Brazil and the U.S. have reached an agreement to eliminate the need for a visa from American tourists. This means that passports don't have to be sent to th...
Celebrations can be great fun. I know that most of us today are celebrating the founding of our country. July 4, 1776 is one of the greatest days in man’s history in my opinion. The best one was the day Jesus came out of the tomb and guaranteed victory for all who believe in Him! The second-best day of celebration for me was the day in the spring of 1971 that I accepted Jesus Christ as my savior. I must say it took several decades for me to truly appreciate what that means a...
One of the hottest debates I have witnessed in this part of the country during my lifetime has been on the “re-introduction” of wolves. Please note that I place the term “re-introduction” in quotes, because the wolves that were introduced into Yellowstone National Park in the 1990’s are of the Canadian Timberwolf variety - a subspecies larger and more aggressive than the grey wolves that originally roamed the forests and plains of Montana. According to the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks website, “the gray wolf was extirpa...
A barbecue fundraiser to benefit the planned Lincoln Skatepark drew an estimated 200-300 people to Hooper park Saturday, June 29 to support efforts by Lincoln school students to build a skate park for Lincoln. Employees from the Lincoln Ranger District, working on their own time, spent their free time over the last four weeks coordinating the event after Jarel Kurtz, the District's fire management officer, heard about the project during an Envision Lincoln meeting he...
U.S. Highway 191 climbs a steep grade out of the Missouri River bottoms north of the bridge at the James Kipp Recreation Area. As it gains the upper extent of the river breaks, a far-reaching, high plains landscape sprawls toward Canada 125 miles to the north. The Little Rockies rise directly ahead, and a rough, rolling prairie flows off to the east. From here, you will experience the vastness of the prairie, seeing firsthand why Montana received the nickname of "Big Sky...
The summer before my eighth grade (1960), my mother, who still had hopes for me, got the idea that I would do well to attend my last year of grade school in Deer Lodge, where I would be going to high school. I was all for it. Living with our grandmother and entering into the Deer Lodge elementary school society was exciting - and a year earlier than expected. Maybe I had a future, after all. The school population was accepting, of course, and I was quickly absorbed into its ra...
Dear Dietitian, I am sixty years old, and I've always been health conscious. I eat right and exercise three times a week. Recently, I've read that too much calcium may increase your risk of heart attack. Is this true? Also, how much is too much? Mary Dear Mary, How many times did you hear, "Drink your milk" when you were a child? Milk is a good source of calcium, which is needed for healthy bones. Our bodies will build bone until about age 18, then we must consume adequate...
As kids, we were always anxious to help our fathers (it was always the fathers those days) in their work. We were participating in the adult life, plus we learned new and fun things. The work was enjoyable until we were old enough to be paid; that's when it became misery. One task that became an annual project for us as children was helping to roll the old barbed wire left by the homesteaders' when they abandoned their claims during the drought years of the late 1920s. Old...
Well, according to some “experts” the dynasty of the Golden State Warriors is over. They were dethroned by the Toronto Raptors in six games. I must confess I am not an NBA fan by any means, but I was sure hoping that the Warriors would get whupped! It is not that I “hate” them but I do get sick and tired of hearing how great they are, when in fact five years from now no one will remember what they did, or who played for them during their fabulous run of five straight NBA fin...
Dear Dietitian, My daughter is on a health kick and complains that I use too many processed, convenience foods. She insists these foods are unhealthy and claims that studies prove it. Do you agree with her? Signed, Overworked Mom Dear Mom, One day while working in the hospital, I whipped out a frozen dinner and popped it in the microwave. A co-worker snarled and said, "Ew, that's bad for you! It's processed food!" Aside from the annoyance, which I'm quite sure was intended,...
In the early 1980's I attended a lecture by Dr. Timothy Leary, the professor and LSD advocate. He said that the world has gone through a number of "ages:" the Iron Age, to the Industrial, and then to the Atomic Age. Leary said that we were already in the "Information Storage and Transfer Age." And some years ago I was visiting with a friend, when we came to the conclusion that the transistor will make the deepest and most radical changes in world culture than have ever been...
Dear Readers, A few weeks ago, I wrote a piece on nutrition myths. There were some myths specific to cancer, one of which read: Myth: An-all vegetable diet helps cure cancer. There was a patient in the hospital that revealed she had followed an all-veggie diet for cancer and exclaimed, “I lost 30 pounds, and it was all muscle!” A vegetables-only diet will leave you malnourished and dissatisfied, and on no uncertain terms, will not improve a cancer diagnosis. This drew cri...
Throughout my life, the only recurring nightmare I ever had was that of me, huddled in a corner, surrounded by an angry crowd screaming accusations. I still remember it - all too well. It eventually happened, but without the crowd. The accuser owned a convenience store on the highway at Big Sky, and work was slow that month, so one morning we were visiting and he asked me if I wanted to work a few hours a week. I accepted his offer on a whim and went to work the next evening....
This week’s column is going to be a bit different. I must admit it is hard to focus as I have so many frustrating thoughts running through my brain. Over the past decade or so we often hear about a “war on women”. Well I just read something that actually supports that. From 1970 to 2017 the number of missing baby girls in the world from sex-selective abortion is estimated to be 23.1 million. That is a horrifying and mind-numbing number. It is hard for me to comprehend that...
Dear Dietitian, My son is in the fourth grade and is beginning to form unhealthy eating habits. He eats junk food while sitting in front of the computer. He is getting chubby, and I worry that he will get in these patterns for life. Can you help? Signed, Worried Mom Dear Mom, You are wise to start acting now. Behavior patterns are easier to modify when they are "nipped in the bud." According to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), the obesity rate...
