The Blackfoot Valley's News Source Since 1980
The Blackfoot Valley's News Source Since 1980
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Along with the beaverslide stackers and teams of horses, the family milk cows have disappeared into the past. I don't think anyone misses them. The state of Montana initiated brucellosis testing of all the cattle in the state during the late 1950's and early 60's, and a lot of milk cows showed up as carriers. The Brucellosis microbe in the milk can cause undulant fever in humans, plus make some young cows abort their calves. A few milk cows showed up positive on almost every...
Is Coconut Oil Bad for You? Dear Readers, This past week a Harvard doctor referred to coconut oil as “pure poison,” which set off a social media firestorm. What’s all the fuss about? Another doctor was quoted as saying coconut oil is safe to use in moderation. What, exactly, is moderation? This what we know from thirty years of research: Coconut oil is high in saturated fat. A diet high in saturated fat is a risk factor for high cholesterol, which in turn, is a risk facto...
For many years it was traditional for almost every ranch to run 100 – 200 head of sheep. "Farm flocks" they were called. That lasted until to the mid 1970's when the coyotes and prices both got so bad, most ranchers just gave up and sold the ewes. Our father always had a small bunch around the house and corrals. They provided an extra income for our family. I don't know about the present, but in the 1950's and 60's the sheep provided four paychecks a year. We got paid for t...
Dear Dietitian, My fourteen-year-old daughter was recently diagnosed with celiac disease. We made an appointment with a dietitian, and she is doing her best to follow a gluten-free diet. The problem is she still has stomach aches and diarrhea three to five times a week. What should we do? Signed, Mandy Dear Mandy, Today as many as 3 million Americans suffer from celiac disease. As you have learned, gluten is a protein found in wheat, barley, and rye, and triticale (a hybrid...
While writing this today it is currently raining! First time in 40-plus days for this immediate area. And temps are in the 50's. And it is mid-August? What the heck? It is wonderful and may be just what we fisherpeople needed to get the fish back on the bite. It's been a slow month following the infamous spruce moth period where fish were filling up their bellies with those obnoxious little brindle moths. Every day we get hit with the two big questions: "How's the fishing? What are they biting on?" I think I scratched a bald...
Over the past several weeks I have thought a lot about the balance of life principle. Maybe a better way to frame that is so say life is full of uncertainty, both in us and others. So what do we do when things turn upside down and inside out? Do we throw up our hands and retreat to the alcohol cabinet? Or maybe it is the little pill that will soothe our troubled minds? It can be the weight room, shooting range, ATV trails, or the river. But even those things do not really seem to satisfy the deep longings of the wandering...
Dear Dietitian, I had a heart attack three months ago and since then have been more conscientious about my diet. I've been eating more fish and a friend was telling me about fish oil supplements. Are these helpful in heart patients? Signed, Jerry Dear Jerry, Omega-3 fatty acids, or simply omega-3s, have received a considerable amount of attention from the healthcare field and the general public. There are several omega-3 fatty acids, and two in particular have been studied, DH...
Matt stood in front of the mirror knotting the $80 silk tie his wife had given him for his birthday. He called to her, asking, "What time to we have to be at the church?" Liz, his wife, answered, "We'll leave here in a half-hour. The baptism is after the service, so we have a little time." Matt and Elizabeth were going to be godfather and mother to their daughter's first child and their first grandchild. It was a big occasion for everyone but Matt. Matt called back, saying, "W...
Labor Day marks the end of summer in Helmville and most of Montana. The hay is baled and the cattle haven't come home from the native pastures. Children are either in school or about to start. For ranchers, it's a hiatus between haying and the fall work. Over fifty years ago a number of ranchers decided to take their horses to the old rodeo grounds a half-mile from town and spend the day enjoying various contests that included horses and horsemanship. The day was a success...
This past week has been a real enjoyable time for me and the members of the Community Bible Church of Lincoln and the Lincoln Baptist Church, and especially for the 32 wonderful people from South Side Baptist Church in Damascus, Arkansas. We have cut a log truck full of firewood for folks, repaired roofs, done some painting and plumbing work for the church building, and several other projects. It has been wonderful time of relational ministry to the Body of Christ and the comm...
What is it about other people's junk that so enthralls us? I was asking myself that question last Friday as my family and I began our second circuit around Lincoln's annual flea market, eagerly seeking treasure. Flea markets crop up all over the world, bazaars made up of a variety of vendors selling cheap and used items, collectibles, antiques, and specialty food and beverages. The decidedly un-glamorous term "flea market" likely comes from the French marché aux puces, a...
Old habits die hard. The nights are getting chillier, now, and even though I haven't hunted in over twenty years, I still find myself thinking about the coming hunting season. This came from my father, as hunting was his main, if not his only, passion. The season opens near the middle of October, but beginning the first part of September he would start worrying about having tracking snow on opening day. In the 1950's until the 80's, elk were both scarce and wild. Many good hun...
Well it is Monday morning and it looks to be a beautiful day! I have a fishing expedition to get to with my good friend Jason. But first I have to write this column! Some days it is hard to decide what to “Muse” about. But today it isn’t; I want to share some highlights from the Vacation Bible School we had last week here in Lincoln. There were eight young people who showed up, and two of them were teenagers who also helped us out quite a bit with the kids. Plus there were at least six adults who helped during the week every...
During the loose hay years, we kids would get a respite of four days, and that was the tri-county fair in Deer Lodge. It was the high point of our summer. We were in 4-H, so we always had a project, and the custom was to take it to the fair to be judged. Our father ran a farm flock of about 100 ewes, so it was usual to have a lamb which we had tamed and fattened and groomed. Some took cattle and others took horses, but we stuck with sheep. The fair always occurred about the...
Chris was a "pensioner," as they called retired people back in the 1950's. He lived in a little cabin at our place, and died when I was eight or ten years old. I spent a lot of time with Chris, sitting at his creaky table while he sat in his easy chair. He had taken a liking to me, or maybe he was just lonesome, as he lived a solitary life. When his pension check arrived he would walk the half mile to Helmville, always in a well ironed, immaculate suit, and go to one of the...
The old Helmville school house was an imposing structure. It was two stories high, with a bell tower, and sat on the highest point in town. It was probably built in the late 1800's, and still serves as the county shop, having been moved in the last part of the 1950's, when the new one was built in its place. It had two classrooms – an upstairs and a downstairs. When I started school in 1953, only the lower room was used. World War Two had caused a drop in the birth rate, a...
I am sitting here watching the sun come up. It is a beautiful morning. The snow is gone, grass is green, bluebirds are around, and early summer has arrived in the mountains. I often do not take the time to enjoy this part of the day during early summer as I am busy preparing for or having a Vacation Bible School or camp. The stress and pressure of summer ministry is real and challenging. I know that over the years I have got better at trusting God with these efforts. Because t...
If this Universe has a Creator, she must have been having a good day when she created birds. They are colorful and dull, helpful and ruinous. They eat bird seed, harmful insects, even our garbage. They will also ruin your clean car and carry off your cat at night. They nest in trees, on the ground and even underground. Yes, even underground. A friend called a couple of years ago excited that a pair of burrowing owls had taken up residence in an abandoned gopher hole on her...
When I was in Brazil this last time I was reminded of what our mothers, grandmothers, and those before them must have gone through before running water and electricity. I don't know how they did it. Their work load was immense and never lessened. The men had somewhat regular hours – either because of darkness or a need to rest the horses. The women worked from the time their feet hit the floor in the morning until they got the last child to sleep at night. Many of them s...
During the loose hay era it was this time of year that most ranches got their haying equipment ready for the summer's work. In those days the machinery, except for the tractors, were home fabricated or built by the town mechanic. There was a lot of equipment: usually two buckrakes, two side delivery rakes, a winch, and two mowers, plus the beaverslide stacker itself. Most of the machinery was in a marginal state, having been patched together for years. But it worked. My...
Last Saturday morning we were blessed to be able to sit around our kitchen table and talk with some dear friends from Tennessee who have come to assist us with Bible camp. We first met Doyle and Susan in the winter of 1994-95 when we started attending First Baptist Church in Benton. They became dear friends along with several other families. We spent seven wonderful years in that church family learning and growing together in our faith and friendships. But we moved to Montana...
The trip from Sao Paulo to Orlando, Fla. was the ultimate misery. My feet were swollen and wept and burned the entire ten hours of the trip. Every seat on the plane had a TV screen where the passengers could watch a small icon of the plane as it traveled over the entirety of Brazil and the Caribbean. The icon didn't seem to move and I avoided looking at because I didn't need any more frustration. But a lady in front of me watched it constantly. Every time I came out of my...
For most of my life I've considered myself to be a misanthrope, harboring a soft contempt for my fellow humans. I think that philosophy was a contrivance to protect my own fragile and shallow ego. The events of these last two months proved me wrong in my sour opinion of the human race. I lived in Brazil for the last two-and-a-half years, and about a month ago became quite ill with pneumonia and a few other things. To complicate the situation, I found that a fellow I trusted...
Today is my sweetheart’s birthday. He was born exactly three weeks before me, which puts us both under the astrological sign of Gemini – a personality pairing that astrology assures me is either brilliant, or disastrous. Whether or not you set any store by astrology, it’s still fun to read the occasional horoscope or breakdown of your astrological sign. Because each sign encompasses a number of personality traits, one can usually find some example in their own nature to back up the astrological data. Some of us, howev...
When I arrived at church this past Sunday, there were some there whose faith and emotions had been terribly upended. They had found out about the couple who had lived in Lincoln that had many struggles which resulted in their lives being shortened by death this past weekend. I did not know this couple but my heart goes out to them and their families. I have had similar pain in my life and family. We were all very sad to hear of this, and prayed for the children, family and...
