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  • Looking out my Backdoor: Spring is sprung

    Sondra Ashton|Updated Mar 15, 2024

    The wolf-whistle bird is back. This sharp-voiced bird returns every spring. It has two very distinctive calls. When I hear its voice, I instinctively jerk my head around to see who is either trying to get my attention (Hey you, over here!) or is teasing me with admiration (Wolf-whistle, I kid you not). Then I laugh at myself. Foiled again! The wolf-whistle bird doesn’t sound anything like a love bird, does it? This avian character sounds more like the kind of birds your...

  • The Postscript: Rod Stewart hair

    Carrie Classon|Updated Mar 12, 2024

    “I like your hair!” a woman at the party said. This is always nice to hear. My hair is my least endearing feature, primarily because there is not much of it. But since my husband, Peter, started cutting it, I worry a lot less. “How does my hair look?” I ask as I head out the door. Peter always pretends to take this question very seriously. (He should, as my hairdresser.) He scrutinizes the top of my head for a long moment. He asks me to turn all the way around. Then...

  • Montana should lead in regenerative agriculture and ranching

    Updated Mar 12, 2024

    We are members of Montana Health Professionals for a Healthy Climate, an organization formed by a broad coalition of health professionals, working together to address climate change as a public health issue, due to the threats the climate crisis poses to the health and future of our communities. The food we eat is a significant contributor to chronic medical conditions, and even death in the US. Despite providing bountiful food, industrial agriculture also yields many products used for highly processed foods which are...

  • Looking out my Backdoor: The uneventful life

    Sondra Ashton|Updated Mar 8, 2024

    “Have an exciting evening,” my daughter wished at me after a phone call over the weekend. “No! No! No!’ I cried vehemently. “Not an exciting evening, Never! Wish me a calm and peaceful and uneventful evening, please.” One never knows what energies one might release with a casual word or two. I’ve had enough excitement in other periods of my life. Today I sit in front of my blank page with absolutely nothing to say. Life is good. Quiet. No waves. No storm clouds....

  • On Second Thought: A serious conversation

    Will Rawn|Updated Mar 8, 2024

    Hilary Clinton warned us in advance against Tucker Carlson’s Vladimir Putin interview. Deploying one of her favorite disparaging epithets, “useful idiot,” against the journalist, Clinton told us he was going to be manipulated by the wily autocrat. Sure enough, as soon as the interview actually posted, every media personality worth a Fox or MSNBC moment chimed in to let us know Carlson had merely channeled the Russian president’s Russian talking points. Next came days o...

  • Not much to speak of

    Updated Mar 8, 2024

    It’s the off-the-cuff speeches that take the most preparation. I’ve never been a great public speaker. Come to think of it, I haven’t even been a public speaker. The last time I addressed someone in public was when I asked what aisle had mayonnaise. But I am undeterred. Perhaps I mean undaunted. Or unhinged. Whatever. You get it. I want to be a good speaker. I have a lot of examples to look up to. Take Daniel Webster. I remember from school that, if nothing else, he was a great orator. He spoke against nullification...

  • The Postscript: What cats like

    Carrie Classon|Updated Mar 5, 2024

    “I’ve been reading about cats,” my husband, Peter, tells me. Peter has never had a cat before. “Oh, yeah?” “Salt is not good for their kidneys. We have to give Felix unsalted fish.” Felix is our adopted street cat here in Mexico. He is coming back to the U.S. with us in a fancy backpack carrier I found online. It has mesh on either side, with one big plexiglass bubble in the back, so Felix can watch his fellow passengers in comfort. He hasn’t flown yet, but...

  • Philosophy rocks

    Updated Mar 5, 2024

    Usually I don’t read anything more complex than the back of a cereal box, but this week — perhaps it was fate, perhaps it was indigestion — I found an essay on Latin America. In it was a sentence like “it was more of an Argentinization of Brazil than a Brazilianization of Argentina. Though one can argue the Brazilianization of Argentina is really the Brazilianization of Brazil.” The essay led me to make a deep, meaningful conclusion. It wasn’t about Brazil. It was about life. I should become a philosopher....

  • Thanks for nine decades of Scouting in the area

    Updated Mar 1, 2024

    With February and Scout anniversary month coming to an end it is always a good time to step back and see where we have come from and to appreciate the journey that the Boy Scouts of American has taken. It was 114 years ago that the Boy Scout movement officially began at 11:03 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 8, 1910. This is exact date time that the Boy Scouts of America became incorporated. There have been Boy Scouts of America units in Havre and along the Hi-Line for more than 90 years. That cannot happen without the past and continued...

  • Looking out my Backdoor: Miles to go before we plant

    Sondra Ashton|Updated Mar 1, 2024

    It is interesting to contemplate that a mere 2-month-old baby has accumulated more frequent flier miles than I have in the past five years. The comparison is easy. My mileage is zero. More astounding is that little Marley’s flights cost more than the sum total of all my flights, domestic and foreign, inclusive of but not exclusively: multiple domestic flights, Hawaii, Alaska, Mexico, China, Japan and India. Who could have imagined this farm girl could have visited so many...

  • The Postscript: A borrowed plate

    Carrie Classon|Updated Feb 27, 2024

    My husband, Peter, and I were surprised that two plates were missing. We stay in our little apartment in Mexico and, while we’re gone, all our dishes and glasses remain in the cupboards. We pack away most of our spices, but we leave the vegetable steamer and the pressure cooker and all the art on the walls. We leave it all in the apartment which, we assume, is rented out to other people while we are gone, although it is hard to know for sure because everything is always...

  • Interesting things going on

    Updated Feb 27, 2024

    These past few weeks have been interesting. As the Local Government Interim Committee, we had planned to look into the property tax and appraisals issues. At least that’s what I thought and what made sense to me; that the Tax Interim Committee would address these issues alongside input from folks in local government. Then, as had also happened during and after this year’s legislative session, the administration got involved in place of letting the Legislature do our job. The administration created a special property tax...

  • Montana Energy: Building a Vision

    Updated Feb 23, 2024

    Montana is, and always will be, an energy state. Historically, we were known to be producers that fueled the Industrial Revolution, thanks to Colstrip’s mines and the oil and gas fields. More recently, Montana’s tremendous wind resource is widely recognized as being extremely valuable to the energy transition. In order to continue being an energy state, harness our wind resources, and participate in a growing Western energy market, we must invest in our transmission lines and push permitting reform through local and natio...

  • Looking out my Backdoor: To Tapir or not to Tapir

    Sondra Ashton|Updated Feb 23, 2024

    Michelle called. “I need to take Blue to the vet in Tala tomorrow. Ana can’t come with me because she is overseeing the work crew building our new guest house. Would you be able to come along with me?” “What time do we leave?” Michelle picked me up. Blue, tucked in his kitty carrier, never made a peep the whole trip. Michelle and I filled the air with words covering multiple spectrums. Background: Blue is an elderly cat, not in the best of health. Michelle feared...

  • Medicaid unwind hits older Montanans hard

    Updated Feb 23, 2024

    More than 120,000 Montanans lost their Medicaid and Healthy Montana Kids health care coverage in the past few months. Shockingly, 70 percent of those terminations were due to administrative reasons: failures on the part of the Gianforte administration. The administration’s poorly thought-out, under-staffed Medicaid redetermination process has hurt thousands of Montanans, especially our elders and children. During the pandemic, in the interest of keeping as many people insured as possible, the federal government suspended...

  • Montana tax policy shouldn't favor corporations over workers

    Updated Feb 23, 2024

    Montana families and workers expect our state government to tax people fairly, invest in our safety and future, and give Montanans the opportunity to get ahead in life. Unfortunately, last year Gov. Greg Gianforte and Montana Republicans saddled Montana homeowners with a $200 million residential property tax increase, cut property taxes for large corporations, and then topped it off by providing global corporations a free lunch to lower their Montana taxes. This last tax exploit, while receiving less attention, is every bit...

  • The Postscript: A new life for Felix

    Carrie Classon|Updated Feb 20, 2024

    Last night was surprisingly calm, all things considered. I told my husband, Peter, that he should not plan to get a good night’s sleep. I told him this because Peter has never had a cat, and yesterday, we adopted one. I have had several cats over the years, but my last cat, Lucy, died just a few months before I met Peter, 10 years ago. Peter has had dogs all his life and knows nothing about cats (which means every cat who has ever met him finds him fascinating). So we...

  • Looking out my Backdoor: Here a little, there a little

    Sondra Ashton|Updated Feb 16, 2024

    Why do the little changes take up so much space? I should qualify that with an addition, “in my head?” Really, most changes hardly make a dent in my consciousness. Change is constant. My favorite bowl slips from my fingers and shatters on the tile floor. Blip — gone. The rubber tip on my cane wears out. I replace it. Lola The Dog celebrates her birthday (OK, I celebrate her birthday). I notice she has quite a few more white hairs. Change, like a river, always moving....

  • The Postscript: Donuts in the middle of the day

    Carrie Classon|Updated Feb 13, 2024

    While a person may buy a cake here in Mexico seven days a week from early morning to late at night, getting any other kind of dessert is more challenging. There is a bakery I walk by every day. Everything is fresh and in bins. Customers pick up a metal tray and tongs and select what they want, then bring it up to the counter. The tray is returned to the pile. The tongs are hung neatly with the other tongs. It is a great system, except that the tray holds a lot of baked goods...

  • Let's keep our communities stable, safe and healthy

    Updated Feb 13, 2024

    In 2015, when the Legislature expanded Medicaid to cover another 100,000 Montanans, it sought to guarantee that all of us — our families, kids, friends and neighbors — would have access to health care. Expanding Medicaid was a significant bipartisan accomplishment: the bill was carried by a Republican senator, passed on a bipartisan vote, and signed by a Democratic governor. And no wonder: It reflected our common conviction that we all — particularly kids — should have access to medical care when we need it.  But now...

  • A lesson from Sven and Ole

    Updated Feb 13, 2024

    Some readers, especially those with Scandinavian heritage, may be familiar with the stories of Sven and Ole. I grew up hearing them from my late grandfather. One story comes to mind in the context of our current political climate. Sven and Ole, were two farmers with neighboring farms who had always been very competitive. Ole’s father had always been a Ford man, and the bigger the better, especially the F-350s. So, of course, Ole grew up as a Ford man, too! Sven’s father had always been a Chevy man, and he loved those big...

  • Setting the record straight

    Updated Feb 9, 2024

    Plain and simple — people get sick. Right now, more than 250,000 predominantly low-income Montanans get help with health care through Medicaid — a state-federal partnership. Montana has overall and primary responsibility, while the feds pick up most of the costs, averaging 80% (of total Medicaid spending). In 2022, the federal government provided $1.8 billion to cover health care for Medicaid-eligible Montanans who live in every county across the Big Sky. Remarkably, two-thirds of Medicaid recipients live in our rural com...

  • Looking out my Backdoor: All my noisy neighbors

    Sondra Ashton|Updated Feb 9, 2024

    First things first. Our Baby Marley is home. She is home, ready for the hard work of getting healthy and growing and looking at everything around her with those big eyes. We are so grateful. And we are so grateful for all the friends and strangers who cared, who in small ways took our baby in their arms and into their hearts and helped her heal. Thank you. That dog of mine has put me into the habit of greeting the rising sun on our first walk of the day. Believe me, before...

  • The Postscript: A piece of cake

    Carrie Classon|Updated Feb 6, 2024

    My husband, Peter, and I landed in Mexico again, and we did what we have done in the past. We bought an enormous cake. It’s nice to have a cake in the house. I have discovered it is not necessarily a good idea to eat cake every day, as it eventually makes my clothes too small. But I do like cake, and I especially like Mexican cake, and more than anything, I like giving cake away. We love the folks who work at this hotel. When I say “hotel,” you might be thinking of some...

  • Setting the record straight

    Updated Feb 2, 2024

    Plain and simple — people get sick. Right now, more than 250,000 predominantly low-income Montanans get help with health care through Medicaid — a state-federal partnership. Montana has overall and primary responsibility, while the Feds pick up most of the costs, averaging 80% (of total Medicaid spending). In 2022, the federal government provided $1.8 billion to cover health care for Medicaid-eligible Montanans who live in every county across the Big Sky. Remarkably, two-thirds of Medicaid recipients live in our rural...

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