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Parent teacher conferences are traditionally held at this time of year, but this Covid year many of those conferences will be postponed or held via telephone, Zoom, or Google Meets. The parents of the high achieving kids always show up eager to discuss their child's progress, but the parents that you would really like to meet to give you some insight into their children's behavior are sometimes reluctant to show up. My hat goes off to all of the teachers out there conferencing with parents about their most prized...
With Covid restrictions in place, it is more important than ever this year to remember to honor Veteran's Day next Wednesday, I hope you will take time to honor all of the Veterans in your community. In our Big Timber, Montana community, we have an amazing World War II Veteran, whom I would like to give special honor this week, Virgil Gust. Ninety-nine year old Virgil Gust is the proprietor of Gust’s Department Store on McLeod Street in Big Timber, Montana. Every day Virgil climbs the steep steps to his office in the loft o...
As I sit here tonight looking out at the 20 plus inches of snow coating everything, I have to believe that this might slow the buying frenzy of out of state buyers who have flocked to Montana from highly populated areas. Almost as soon as things began to open up in Montana after the shut down, our state has been inundated by visitors looking to just hang out or buyers snapping up property in our beautiful state. Some of them might be rethinking that decision this week. We have had a couple outbreaks of nasty winter already...
As the election draws nearer, I feel compelled to point out that Joe Biden’s 4 trillion dollar tax plan would raise taxes on all of our households both in life and at death, according to analysis by the Tax Policy Center. Biden has set his sights on all estates including businesses, farms, and ranches, but he is taking a different tack from merely raising rates on wealth transfer. He proposes to levy a tax on unrealized appreciation of assets passed on at death. “When someone dies and the asset transfers to an heir, that tran...
The general season for elk and deer is starting. This means that many hunters are contemplating robbing a bank or at least a convenience store to make ends meet AND stay within the hunting budget their wife has given them. You see, phonier than any hunting or fishing story you have ever heard is the myth that hunting saves money. At our house, the hunters definitely boost the local economy and the economy of several brick and mortar sporting goods stores and a couple online sites. I figure that every meal of wild game we...
I really am not a Tweeter. In fact, I do not have a Twitter account, but I do love to write fake Tweets. In fact, there is a special holiday coming up that positively screams for fake Tweets. Columbus Day is my favorite holiday of the year. It is the perfect holiday because you don’t have to buy cards or gifts for it, decorate for it, cook for the celebration, or even gather all of the family together for it. It is just a day off for some of us. There are no Columbus Day traditions that must be observed. It is a truly s...
I realized the other day that I had a drug problem when I was growing up. I saw a meme regarding this topic on Facebook, and I realized I indeed had a drug problem. We were drug to church, family functions, and community socials. We were drug by our ears and maybe drug to the woodshed if we disobeyed or disrespected anyone. We were drug to the sink for a mouthwash if we used profanity. We were drug out of bed to do our chores seven days of the week. We were drug to the homes of family, friends, the elderly, or the less...
Chris Young had a hit country song a few years back entitled "I Hear Voices", and I think it was written for me! The first line is, "You can say I'm a little bit crazy. You can call me insane." Of course, these things are true, but he goes on to describe these voices of his ancestors in his head. Not only do I have those, but it is fall cattle working season so I am dealing with voices ringing loudly in my ears--despite my suggestion a few columns back that masks would help muffle the sounds of families working cattle. There...
The early rifle season elk hunters headed into the back country this week, and there is a chill of fall in the air. I heard a bull elk bugle last night, and my heart longs for hunting camp, but my "town job" and my aching joints remind me that I probably better leave the wilderness camp cooking to the next generation. Nevertheless, I find myself thinking back over thousands of great memories of almost twenty years of camp cooking for Brett and Julie Todd at the K Lazy Three. Sure, there were ten below nights, getting up at...
This week my heart goes out to those affected by the wildfires burning across our state. When a plume of smoke rises, my heart begins to pound. I have evacuated from six fires and three floods, so I know the indescribable feeling of fear and helplessness natural disasters evoke. The good part is that years later, I can look back on those experiences and see the bright side. We have had four large fires burn through our Musselshell ranch, and we have evacuated twice from our Big Timber ranch. We have lost buildings, pasture,...
I have tried really hard to find the silver lining in living with Covid, and I think I have finally found it! Masks should be mandated for cattle sorting! If the Governor does not mandate masks for cattle sorting, perhaps some organization like Crazy Peak Cattle Women or WIFE or some other women's ag group will recognize the value of ranching spouses wearing masks during fall sorting and begin to promote the concept. Let me explain my rationale for the cattle sorting mask mandate! Pre-conditioning, weaning, and shipping is th...
I am not sure if I have ever seen more floaters on the rivers of Montana this summer. I believe Covid has made camping and fishing the 2020 thing to do. Floating the Yellowstone River is always a fun family outing, but the river demands respect as every year it claims lives. This is a tale of a floating incident that had a happy ending, but it underscores how quickly river accidents can happen. Remember, it is cool to wear your life jacket even when the river is low and slow like it is now. Even if it is not cool, I always...
This week, most parents are celebrating the fact that their children are going back to school after the longest summer break on record due to the Coronavirus. The exceptions to these celebrations are usually the moms of kindergarteners and the moms facing an empty nest as their last child heads off to college. Both of those moms feel like they are sending their babies off into the scary unknown, and they usually shed a lot more tears than their offspring do under the circumstances. Kindergarten wasn't a big step for me,...
School bells are about to ring for the first time since March, and many college students are headed off to campus. My thoughts turn to those parents ushering their kids off to college and kindergarten with high hopes, a few hidden tears, and a whole lot of fear of how Coronavirus will affect face to face school. The college bound cars in 2020 are packed with masks, face shields, hand sanitizer, disinfectant wipes, extra toilet paper, and several spray bottles of disinfectant. Digging in the archives, I found this column I...
In a normal year, we look forward to the end of the haying season, because there might be a little opportunity to take a short vacation before school starts. This year the hay equipment is about to get parked in the shed, but prospects of a vacation are pretty slim due to COVID-19. It is starting to look like our family vacation will be donning masks and braving a couple stores in Billings to purchase school supplies and school clothes in the hopes that no impending Covid meteor will fall from the CDC and prevent our schools...
The 4-H Fair, which is this week in our county, is going to look a lot different because of COVID. Spectators are being asked to stay home and watch the fair on live feeds. Perhaps that will make fair a bit less dramatic and more relaxed. I have been asked to run this column about 4-H Moms again, because even though spectators are discouraged, the moms will still be doing their 4-H mom thing. I hope all moms remember there is a fine line between extremely supportive and downright crazy! Having been a 4-H mom, I can tell you...
Until last week, here in Sweet Grass County, we had no COVID cases, but as of my deadline time, we now have two cases. We do not fall under the Governor’s mask mandate yet, but it might be unlikely that we will stay under four cases in our county. If we have four cases in our county, we will be required to mask up; however, even the mandate is confusing because as stated on the Montana.Gov site, it reads, “The directive does not require face coverings in counties with three or fewer active cases or for children under 5, tho...
Western movies often portrayed the camp cook as a cranky drunk. I think this stereotype evolved for a darn good reason, they had to be cranky and/or drunk to survive! Camp cooking is such a fine and pleasant misery that I'd probably do it free gratis just for the adventure. However, that does not prohibit me from complaining about the job--especially now that I have pretty much retired from wilderness camp cooking. The only job description for a back country camp cook I was ever given came from a packer/guide, whom I will ref...
As the COVID numbers rise, so do the fears that we may have to go back to more restrictions. It is hard to put a cork back in an open bottle, so it will be interesting to see if we are faced with trying to do so. Most families are concerned about reopening of schools in the fall. Schools are making plans to open and trying to determine what that will look like. School closures caused a tremendous hardship for working parents. Being a working mother is no picnic. I know this, because I was one for 21 years. Even though it has...
Many readers know the poetry from Sandy Seaton Sallee even if they don't know Sandy or her husband Scott. Sandy and Scott own Black Mountain Outfitters in the Paradise Valley, and they need some prayers and love right now. Just as their busy summer season was starting, the mare Scott was packing to camp spooked hard, ran over his mule, and he landed on a big rock. He was having trouble breathing. Fortunately there was cell service even though they were several miles up a trail, and Sandy's brother was able to call her to...
Summer is the time when I decide to roll up my sleeves and clean out some junk. However, my parents were children of the Great Depression, so I can still hear their voices ringing in my ears when I think about pitching stuff that could potentially have some use in the future--even though it has received no usage within the last 25 years. Marilee Robinson of Billings, Montana sent me her delightful book East Meets West, and one of her essays, which I have abridged this week is called "Throwin' It Out." I love her style of...
As Father’s Day approaches, the rivers and creeks are running high and muddy, which makes all of us happy--except those planning a Father’s Day fishing trip. This summer of social distancing makes camping and fishing the ideal pastime, especially because the fly fisherman has been glamourized and romanticized almost as much as the Gary Cooper/Marlboro cowboy image. Movies like A River Runs Through It have made fly fishing a huge industry in our part of the country, and I am glad because it provides me with a lot of sum...
As the sun sets on the primary elections in Montana this week, and the general election looms ahead, the candidates have had a Covid-19 impacted campaign. They couldn't hold meet and greets, shake hands and hand out brochures, or kiss babies. Having run for public office, I feel their pain. It is not easy to run for office in a normal year, and living in a small community makes it even harder! I remember well the first time I ran for my County Superintendent of Schools position back in 2006. The day I first announced my candi...
To many of us, Memorial Day has become a long holiday weekend that marks the beginning of the summer season, but I hope that at some moment during the weekend, everyone will take the time to think of the sacrifices our service men and women have made and continue to make so that we can enjoy the freedoms we take for granted and also to remember loved ones who have left us. This is an amazing true story that underscores the gratitude we need to remember to express to those who have served or who are serving! It happened every...
As we head into week 7 of crisis homeschooling, we have been informed by school officials that we will not be returning to school this spring. We know that finishing out the year is our responsibility as parents or grandparents, and no one is coming to our rescue. My teacher colleagues tell me that approximately one quarter of their students are struggling with getting work completed. I think we need to spin that positively by celebrating the fact that 75% of our students are doing well under extremely difficult conditions,...
