Montana Senior News Apr/May 2009

April/May 2009 Spring flower photo

by Becky Hart

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Donald Green’s antique tools catch the eye and baffle the mind

Gather the Hidden Eggs Just for fun, we have hidden 12 Easter eggs throughout this issue of the Montana Senior News. Can you find them and mail us a list of the page numbers where you found them? We will award a $20 prize to the person who finds all of the eggs. If there are multiple correct entries, the winner will be determined by a drawing. None of the hidden eggs is located within an advertisement. Have fun!

Article & Photo By Craig & Liz Larcom You might not have thought of wrenches as art, but that is only because you have not seen the antique tools collected by Donald Green, Sr., a retired Malta farmer.

Sure, many of the wrenches have a familiar look, if heftier, more crudely fashioned, and not as smoothly finished as the ones sitting in your toolbox. And the tools, which mostly hail from the late 1800s to the 1920s, tend to wear a gracefully corroded patina of age.

But your eye will surely go to the novel wrenches instead of the familiar ones.

Consider the alligator wrenches, which have swooping lines and a big open mouth lined with teeth, for grasping fasteners and pipes. The interesting lines were quite functional. This unsophisticated tool made a handy wrench for fasteners of many sizes, even if you could not get much torque and you could all too easily round off the edges of the nuts you were tightening.

More handsome yet are the multitasking wrenches from the early 1900s, with elaborate ends that each adapt to several different sizes of fastener. These wrenches have a broad symmetry, and often feature a curving stem that only adds to the artsy look. Functioning like a Swiss army knife, they were a convenient and economical way to work with different nuts. Even the handle might add a couple more functions.

Manufacturers provided these wrenches when a farmer purchased a tractor, a mower, a cultivator, or some other farm implement. Providing the exact tools to handle the maintenance was just part of the deal, and might include a set of four for a single implement.

“I suppose back in those days a lot of people didn’t already have wrenches,” says Green, who lends the best 151 tools in his collection to the Phillips County Museum for display. He has given away many on display boards over the years, and has another couple hundred tools at home.

Green discovered what a conversation piece an assortment of tools could be when his late wife took (Continued on page 61)

PAGE MONTANA SENIOR NEWS

APRIL/MAY 2009

Hearing, and the Solution for the Rock Generation

People often associate hearing loss with the aging process, prolonged exposure to loud noise is a far more common cause of the condition.

In America, around one in six Baby Boomers have hearing loss. There are actually more people aged 45 to 64 with hearing loss than those over 65… and the reality is that more people are losing their hearing earlier in life.

Baby boomers are likely candidates for noise-induced hearing loss, particularly the kind that results from continuous loud noise over an extended period of time (like a 115-decibel rock concert). Factory noise, home power tools, lawn mowers, or the roar of construction sites are also to blame.

“They’re the first of that rock ’n’ roll and DoIt-Yourself generation,” said Shawn Parker from HEARINGLife, “the first to really grow up with loud music, personal stereo systems and ready access to power tools.”

The realization that hearing is no longer sharp can provoke feelings of anxiety about age. Ironically, many people worry that wearing hearing aids will lead them to being perceived as old. However, the symptoms of hearing loss – mishearing people, frustration, feelings of isolation and withdrawing from difficult situations – are more likely to promote the perceptions of others that someone is ‘old’.

This reluctance has motivated hearing aid manufacturers to develop devices to attract age-phobic, style-conscious Boomers. For example, Sonic Innovations has just released the virtually invisible ion400.

“Whenever I’ve referred to my hearing aids, people say to me, ‘Oh, are you actually wearing hearing aids?’”, explains Owen Jacobsen.

Powerful and providing a sound quality previously unheard, it is also fully-automatic.

The ion400 instantly adjusts to changing hearing environments to provide the best possible hearing outcome. So wearers can be reading at home, then head off to a busy shopping center, watch a movie and answer their telephone during the course of a day, without ever having to think about, or adjust, their hearing aids.

Darryl Cockburn is amazed by the changes his hearing aid has made to his life and how others have reacted to his improved hearing – he only wishes he had done something sooner.

“The other day I was at a birthday party for one of my grandkids and I could hear everything she was saying – both good and bad”, he remarks with a chuckle. “She was saying – Pop, you have new ears … and I guess I really do in that situation”.

HEARINGLife clinics are offering FREE road tests and home trials of the ion400 hearing aid at all of their clinics. For your nearest clinic see below.

Kelly Marrinan received her Doctor of Audiology degree from the Arizona School of Health and Science.

All forms of health insurance are accepted including: Medicaid, Medicare, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Worker’s Compensation, Sterling, TriWest, Veteran’s Affairs, Lehrerleut Huetterite Benefit Plan, Lion’s Club, United, and many more.

If you can relate to more than a couple of these symptoms, it is likely that you suffer from hearing loss.

You strain to follow conversations in noisy environments, such as meetings, parties and restaurants Often ask people to repeat what they’ve said You mishear words and sentences Telephone conversations have become more difficult for you You watch peoples’ lips when they talk Small children – who have higher voices – are particularly hard to understand You often feel that people are mumbling, rather than speaking clearly

Research has revealed the costs of hearing loss are significant – hearing loss has been linked to short-term memory loss, fatigue, anxiety, depression, even lower income – on average, up to $11,000 a year less than for their peers who use hearing aids.

Others complain that you have the TV and radio turned up too loud Some sufferers experience a persistent ‘ringing in the ears’, known as tinnitus What hearing aid?

The ion400 is virtually invisible

Hearing loss never sounded so good.

Montana Audiology 1102 Ninth Street South - Great Falls (406) 727-3115

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APRIL/MAY 2009

Sick of health insurance costs?

Then pay attention!

Some in Congress want to perpetuate the power of insurance corporations over our health care and what we pay to get it. There is an alternative. The U.S. National Health Care Act: Expanded and Improved Medicare for All, H.R. 676 could be implemented within 13 months (like Medicare was) and unlike the Wall Street bailout would be funded by eliminating waste while providing a REAL hand up for every American family and business - except the insurance industry.

• H.R. 676 would save billions annually by eliminating the high overhead costs and profits of the private health insurance industry and HMOs. According to the Government Accountability Office, the Economic Policy Institute, and others a single payer system saves enough to offset the costs of providing the health care, about $1.1 trillion.

• H.R. 676 would expand an improved Medicare as the publicly accountable “insurance” payer for all of us. Doctors would remain in private practice providing our care. Patients would be free to seek care with the doctor or hospital of their choice.

• H.R. 676 would cover every person in the U.S. for all necessary medical care including prescription drugs, hospital, surgical, outpatient services, primary and preventive care, emergency services, dental, mental health, home health, physical therapy, rehabilitation (including for substance abuse), vision care, chiropractic, and long term care.

• H.R. 676 has been endorsed by the U.S. Conference of Mayors, Physicians for a National Health Program, 480 union organizations in 49 states including 118 Central Labor Councils and Area Labor Federations and 39 AFL-CIO’s (including Montana).

• H.R. 676, as part of its funding, calls for a modest increase in payroll taxes to replace insurance premiums, and economists estimate that both businesses and individuals would pay less than they do now.

Is there support for such reforms? Oh yes!

In 2008, a National Federation of Independent Business survey found a majority of businesses polled preferred a payroll tax to fund employee health care rather than our current insurance system. Large independent polls also find a majority (64-65%) of Americans support a federally funded single payer approach to health care (AP/Yahoo, CBS News/New York Times, Harvard School of Public Health, and CNN, 2007-2008). People are ready for reform - now for the politicians!

Senator Baucus needs to hear that we do

not need or want a health care plan like the expensive and complicated Medicare drug plan. Ask Senator Baucus to put the greatest public good ahead of corporate profits - ask him to set aside his White Paper and sponsor H.R. 676 in the Senate.

Call him at 1-800-828-0498 or 1-800-332-6106, and come to hear Bob Putsch, M.D., present “Making Sense of Health Care Reform” at the Great Falls Library, Large Meeting Room, on Tuesday, April 21, 6-8 p.m.

Dr. Putsch is a member of Physicians for a National Health Program and Clinical Professor Emeritus of Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine. He currently resides at Canyon Creek, Montana. Dr. Putsch will talk about the Baucus proposal, the workings of a mandated program, and the influence and cost of health insurance programs in this country.

Beth Sirr, Family Nurse Practitioner, Helena healthempowers@yahoo.com

Article Disgusting

I am reading and enjoying the Feb/March Montana Senior News and pledging myself to live healthier, and I suddenly come upon the disgusting diatribe by Frank Kaiser bragging about his sex life.

Then he tells another lie saying, “Nobody talked about sex.” If he’d get out of bed long enough he’d see it everywhere. Not so much love sex but “lust” sex. You can’t even see movie previews or pass the magazine racks in a grocery store with your grandchildren without being embarrassed.

Here you had to run another article by the same sex crazed monster. I then vowed to burn your paper without turning another page, but something urged me on.

Then I found it. On page 36 – “What a difference caring makes…” - I set it out to frame it, but it became somewhat tear stained before I could put it behind glass. Could you run it again please with some nice borders around it? Such an inspirational story deserves special treatment.

W.G. Mangels Polson MSN

MONTANA SENIOR NEWS PAGE

PAGE MONTANA SENIOR NEWS

APRIL/MAY 2009

Spring has arrived in many areas of Montana and it is close behind in the rest. We have new life everywhere we look. Let’s find someone to enjoy this magnificent season of birds, bees, and flowers.

To those who wish to respond to any of these personal ads, simply forward your message and address, phone number, or email address to the department number listed in the particular personal ad, c/o Montana Senior News, P.O. Box 3363, Great Falls, MT 59403.

We will forward your response, including your address, phone number, and/or email address to the person placing the ad. If you answer an ad in this section, there is no guarantee that you will receive a response. That’s up to the person who placed the ad. Please make sure you submit your correct address plainly printed so you can promptly receive responses.

Respond to the ads in this issue and also sit down now and prepare your own ad to run in our June/July 2009 issue. There is no charge for this service and your ad may bring a breath of fresh air to your heart as well. Responses to personal ads appearing in this column can be submitted at any time. However, to place a personal ad, the

deadline for the June/July 2009 issue is May 10, 2009.

I am a 65-year-young, white, woman, and a widow for 2½ years. I am tired of being alone and am looking for a man about the same age who likes the outdoors, yard work, and walks. Must like animals, be a non-drinker, non-smoker, and financially secure. I am 5’5”, 160 lbs, brown hair, brown eyes, and very loving. I live in SW Montana, own my home, and would like to share it with the right man. I will answer all replies. Reply MSN, Dept. 25401, c/o Montana Senior News, Box 3363, Great Falls, MT 59403.

SWF, 68, 5’7”, lives in NW Montana, and was born and raised in Montana. I love to travel, dance, walk, and have fun doing almost anything.

I would like to hear from any nice man wanting to have a good friend or companion. I will answer all who send a letter. Reply MSN, Dept. 25402, c/o Montana Senior News, Box 3363, Great Falls, MT 59403.

I am a widowed male in my sixties, 6’2”, 190 lbs, in excellent condition, and live near the river

between Helena and Great Falls. I enjoy cooking, gardening, and the outdoors. I never pass up an opportunity to travel or eat out. I would like to meet a woman to hike with and enjoy the outdoors.

Reply MSN, Dept. 25403, c/o Montana Senior News, Box 3363, Great Falls, MT 59403.

Happy-go-lucky white male would like to meet a lucky lady. I am 6’0”, 205 lbs, live in western Montana, like to fish, hunt, travel, and just sit at home. Need someone to be happy with me. I will answer all who write. Please send a photo and phone number. Reply MSN, Dept. 25404, c/o Montana Senior News, Box 3363, Great Falls, MT 59403.

SWF, 60s, 130 lbs, 5’2”, lives in SW Montana.

I have my own small home and would like to meet an honest, forthright companion who is still actively enjoying our great Montana outdoors. I enjoy nature, animals, fishing, hunting, hiking, canoeing/ boating, horses, and riding.

I often travel south in the winter with my motorhome or take a trip elsewhere. I visit Hawaii at least once a year to enjoy the ocean, lush vegetation, and the relaxed way of life. I enjoy

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Montana Senior News A Barrett-Whitman Publication

P.O. Box 3363 • Great Falls, MT 59403-3363 406-761-0305 or 800-672-8477 FAX 406-761-8358 www.montanaseniornews.com email: montsrnews@bresnan.net The Montana Senior News is published six times each year in February, April, June, August, October and December by Barrett-Whitman Co., 415 3rd Avenue North, Great Falls, MT 59401 and is distributed free to readers throughout the state of Montana.

The mail subscription rate is $8.00 per year (6 issues). The Montana Senior News is written to serve the reading interests of mature Montanans of all ages.

Readers are encouraged to contribute interesting material.

Views expressed in opinion stories, contributions, articles and letters are not necessarily the views of the publisher.

The appearance of advertisements for products or services does not constitute an endorsement of the particular product or service. The publisher will not be responsible for mistakes in advertisements unless notified within five days of publication.

All copy appearing in the Montana Senior News is protected by copyright and may be reprinted only with the written permission of the publisher. Advertising copy should be received or space reserved by the 5th of the month preceding the month of publication.

Jack W. Love, Jr., Publisher/Editor Colleen Paduano Production Supervisor

Advertising Sales Kathleen McGregor Advertising Sales Angie Erskine Advertising Sales Becky Hart

Graphic Artist Peter Thornburg Distribution Sherrie Smith Admin/Production Assistant Contributing Writers Bob Campbell Connie Daugherty George Engler

Clare Hafferman Sue Hart Kim Thielman-Ibes Gail Jokerst Bernice Karnop Craig Larcom Liz Larcom

Michael McGough

© 2009

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music of all kinds and enjoy dancing to country music. I am curious by nature and like to find out what is of real interest around the corner. I also like to read. Can’t wait to hear from you! Reply MSN, Dept. 25405, c/o Montana Senior News, Box 3363, Great Falls, MT 59403.

I am a 66-year-old happy go lucky lady who still likes to work at my job. I am honest, caring, and very friendly. I like to laugh a lot and like going to movies, travel, camping, and other activities. I have a home close to Livingston and would like to meet an honest forthright companion who still is active and enjoys Montana outdoors. I love all kinds of animals. I am searching for a nice guy with a sense of humor who likes to cook and is fun-loving. If you would like to write and get to know me that would be very nice. Reply MSN, Dept. 25406, c/o Montana Senior News, Box 3363, Great Falls, MT 59403.

I am a single gentleman, mid 70s, 5’10”, 160 lbs, fair looking, good natured, non-smoker, nondrinker, and never uses drugs.

I enjoy walking, dancing, cards, company and visiting, joking and enjoying quiet time with a companion who enjoys the same. I was born and raised on ranches, riding and breaking the same, riding in rodeos and roping, enjoying the out-of-doors, hunting, fishing, and all other outdoor activities. I enjoy spending time with a companion that appreciates cuddling and caring, who is honest, caring, trustworthy, loyal, friendly, fun-filled, and stable.

I would appreciate hearing from a compatible person like myself, who has these same good traits. I’d appreciate a picture of you and will answer all correspondence from a loving, caring companion. Reply MSN, Dept. 25407, c/o Montana Senior News, Box 3363, Great Falls, MT 59403.

Widow in my 70s. I live in NW Montana, can travel, 140 lbs, 5’4”, non-smoker, non-drinker, honest, caring, and trustworthy. I would like to meet a gentleman of the same to share time and companionship with. I like to walk, fish, travel, read, and watch TV. If interested send letter, phone number, and a picture would be nice. Reply MSN, Dept.

25410, c/o Montana Senior News, Box 3363, Great Falls, MT 59403.

Slim, active, country lady, will relocate, enjoys outdoors, camping, walks, traveling, sense of humor, spiritual, warm-hearted, love hugs, enjoys cooking, crafts, and staying busy. Seeking L.T. relationship with a kind, active gentleman, 55-70, fun loving, happy, and easy going. Social drinking okay, no drugs or smoking. Reply MSN, Dept.

25411, c/o Montana Senior News, Box 3363, Great Falls, MT 59403.

Falls, MT 59403.

I know you’re out there somewhere! Perhaps a widow or just a good hearted man who doesn’t care to spend any more time alone. You are spiritual and hopefully waiting for an active, happy, creative gal to help you enjoy life. Perhaps someone like me who enjoys the outdoors, travel, arts/crafts, good music, friends, and a garden?

I am a small part Norwegian, Scotch, English, and Chippewa gal in my young 60s, who also enjoys cooking, writing songs, poetry, painting, photography, and outdoor concerts. Also listen to George Noory on coast to coast AM radio late at night, wear western style as well as citified special wear. But, I am tired and bored with doing it all without a special man by my side. Our senior years are so free and easy to enjoy together.

Could we be right for each other? Please send a photo and letter. I’m still waiting in Montana.

Reply MSN, Dept. 25413, c/o Montana Senior News, Box 3363, Great Falls, MT 59403. MSN

I am an attractive lady, long blonde hair, medium build, and affectionate. I would like to meet a nice, average looking man who is financially secure, considerate, and knows how to treat a lady right. Someone that enjoys talking, movies, going out, and home life. If this sounds interesting to you please write. Reply MSN, Dept. 25412, c/o Montana Senior News, Box 3363, Great

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Do you get lonesome at times and wish you had someone to talk to. I do too. I’m in my 60s, 4’8”, 130 lbs, gray hair. I live in town. I have been divorced for twelve years. Have one boy who lives about 14 miles from me, so I see him on the weekends. I would like to meet a gentleman who can relocate, and doesn’t smoke, drink, or do drugs. I like to fish, hike, camp, travel on day trips, do yard sales, thrift shops, and visit friends.

If you like what you read, drop me a line and picture. I will do the same. Reply MSN, Dept.

25408, c/o Montana Senior News, Box 3363, Great Falls, MT 59403.

Recently retired SWM, healthy body and mind, pro woman’s rights, anti-tobacco, social drinker, no drugs, average height and weight, nice looker, no tattoos, animal friendly, outdoorsy, who lives in western Montana. Missoula, Great Falls, or Bozeman, etc., okay. I would appreciate hearing from a similar lady. Please send a recent

photo, if available. All replies will be answered.

Reply MSN, Dept. 25409, c/o Montana Senior News, Box 3363, Great Falls, MT 59403.

MONTANA SENIOR NEWS PAGE

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APRIL/MAY 2009

APRIL/MAY 2009

By Connie Daugherty The Eleventh Man by Ivan Doig; Harcourt, Inc, 2008 “Every soldier, in the course of time, exists only in the breath of written words. The gods that govern saga have always known that.”

Ivan Doig knows that. His newest book, The Eleventh Man, in a way, is every soldier’s story.

Although the main character, Ben Reinking, is destined to become one of Doig’s less memorable characters, the story of The Eleventh Man is sure to stay with you long after you put the book away.

This most recent Doig novel is crammed with fascinating historic fact - from the football team to the specific, and sometimes less-known, perspectives about living and dying during WWII. With his usual skill and precise prose, Doig weaves fact and fiction together into a smooth patterned storyline so that it is often hard to tell where one leaves off and the other picks up. Only a practiced writer like Ivan Doig could pack so much information and emotion into a succinct story and not leave the reader overwhelmed. The conflict thread that carries the story is subtle throughout the first several chapters, but it is there and it grows as the story grows. That is part of what makes The Eleventh Man one of Ivan Doig’s long remembered novels - discovering as you read that the hints were there all along, if you had just noticed.

It is the story of eleven young men who go from battles on the football field to the battlefields of WWII. The Treasure State University’s “Supreme Team” had an unpredicted, unprecedented winning football season in 1941. Everybody was talking about it. Ben Reinking was on that team. Like many young men in 1942, Ben Reinking joined the military - Army Air Corps in his case - and he was on his way to being the “second coming of von Richthofen” according to his training officer, when everything changed.

“The colonel sprang it then, the Supreme Team coverage for the duration of the war, that Ben’s background singled him out for… a full-fledged

MONTANA SENIOR NEWS PAGE

correspondent.” It is not as if Ben has a choice “between the writing chance of a lifetime and the loss of flying,” once he receives the orders, the decision has been made with or without his input.

He learns to make the best of it. He is, after all, a writer. He was a writer before the Threshold Press War Project colonel gave him the orders, and hopefully, he would be a writer long after the war was over.

Ben’s job, specifically, is to follow his college teammates around the world and tell their stories for the folks back home - personalize the war in a way the newsreels cannot. These Montana boys were heroes on the football field and the war department is determined to make them heroes on the battlefield as well.

So, Ben follows them to the battlefield armed only with a pencil and paper. He follows them home again, wondering why and how he is the one coming home. That is the difficult part, coming home with a dead or injured friend. Attending a funeral, talking to the family, writing it all up afterwards; by 1943 Ben has already had too much of this sort of experience and it’s beginning to wear on him.

He has hopscotched the world and his only prayer now is that the rest of the team survive.

When Ben is not writing about his teammates, he needs to fulfill his duties as a correspondent by coming up with other stories. Stories like the one about the WASPS stationed at the base in Great Falls. That is how he meets Cass. “The figure in coveralls withdrew from the engine and a fetching brunette hairdo and hazel eyes with temper in them came with it.” The problem with their relationship is not her temper, or the fact that she did not like him at first, the problem is that she is married. Now he has Cass to worry about as well as the team.

To escape the war, or at least to focus on a different sort of war, in his downtime Ben is writing a movie about the Supreme Team. “It was a pursuit that enabled him to stand the slow, slow passage of military hours. It was an abiding mystery, the script that promised to reveal itself only in the measured working of his mind (Continued on page 44)

PAGE 32 MONTANA SENIOR NEWS

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2007

If you have difficulty understanding words clearly over the phone, just fill out this form!

You may qualify for free assistive telephone equipment through the Montana Telecommunications Access Program!

The Montana Telecommunications Access Program (MTAP) provides FREE assistive telephone equipment to those who qualify, making it easier to use the phone to do business or keep in touch with family and friends.

Equipment available through MTAP includes: x Amplified (louder) telephones x Captioned telephones x Loud bell ringers x TTYs (text telephones) x Artificial Larynxes x Much, much more!

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PAGE MONTANA MONTANASENIOR SENIORNEWS NEWS PAGE

FEBRUARY/MARCH 004 APRIL/MAY 2009

FEBRUARY/MARCH 004 APRIL/MAY 2009

MONTANA SENIOR NEWS PAGE NEWS

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PAGE 10 MONTANA SENIOR NEWS

APRIL/MAY 2009

Lessons From Lincoln - Surviving Difficult Times

By Bob Campbell Abraham Lincoln’s election as President convinced the southern states that he would not compromise his opposition to slavery. The South seceded from the Union and formed a new nation called the Confederate States of America. Lincoln’s inauguration on March 4, 1861 was followed by a declaration of war 39 days later when South Carolina cannons shelled the federal island of Fort Sumter, which surrendered the next day.

By the time the civil war was over nearly 620,000 lives were lost, close to the total number of deaths lost in all of our other wars combined.

Lincoln is respected as one of our greatest presidents because his strength of character and ability to communicate the need to preserve the union in a war that ended only six days before he was assassinated.

Today we are facing a global catastrophe in a meltdown of our financial systems, widespread drought turning farming lands into dust bowls, increased damage from intense weather, and the realization that humans are exceeding the earth’s capacity to supply us with the necessities of life.

Although the problems of nations vary because of their location, it is clear that those who are only surviving on emergency aid cannot always rely on donor nations concerned about their need to maintain the well-being of their own people.

By living in Montana, we have an advantage over other states less blessed by an abundance of natural resources including a volume of fresh water that other nations would go to war to control. In addition, our geographical size and small population are not under the influence of the problems of any large city.

This is not to say that we do not have problems, but the problems we are facing are not beyond our control. We have a progressive state constitution

that forbids debt, requires honest government, and protects our individual rights. This gives us confidence that our elected office holders are held to a high standard to meet our needs while developing a future that allows our progeny to develop their full potential.

Lincoln was best in hard times. He could break the tension of a depressing cabinet meeting by telling a humorous story about his experiences as an Illinois lawyer, thus facilitating the challenging decisions of the day.

Humor was essential when our country chose Franklin D. Roosevelt to lead us through the uncharted waters of the Great Depression where pain was felt throughout the nation as the unemployment rate topped 25%, banks failed, and our nation was in despair.

Will Rogers was the leading political critic of the day who said, “I am not a member of any organized political party. I am a democrat.”

FDR recognized that humor was essential in facing the crisis and invited Rogers to speak to the nation prior to FDR’s taking his first oath of office and telling us that the only thing we had to fear was fear itself.

Anyone living in Montana knows that having a good sense of humor is essential to meeting the tricks that nature plays on us. The more serious the problems, the more important it is to have humor in times of crisis so we can come to an understanding with others of good faith in dealing with our problems.

As Montanans and Americans, we must remain positive and maintain our sense of humor in the face of our national crisis. In Montana where hope springs eternal, we welcome the return of vernal flowers and the changing seasons give us opportunities to explore our amazing state. MSN

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APRIL/MAY 2009

MONTANA SENIOR NEWS PAGE 11

Free Assessment Tool Helps Families Determine When It’s Time to Consider Hands-on Support for an Aging Loved One

Millions of people each year find themselves wondering how best to care for an aging parent, spouse, or friend. Interim HealthCare offers a free, online independent living assessment quiz to help caregivers determine when it might be time to consider a change in living arrangements. “The sooner you open dialogue with your loved one, the easier the transition will be for them and for you,� says Kathleen Gilmartin, RN, President and CEO of Interim HealthCare (www.interimhealthcare.com).

The company’s interactive quiz guides participants through a variety of topics, from evaluating how easily an aging loved one can complete many routine tasks of everyday independent living to the seriousness of his or her health issues.

Based on each participant’s responses, a personalized report is issued with all recommendations clearly labeled based on four categories: • Helpful information • Seeing a doctor • Home assessments • Safety risk, a category indicating that your loved one could fall, injure him or herself, be unable to summon emergency response teams, or otherwise be in immediate danger.

Interim HealthCare’s independent living assessment quiz can be accessed at https://www.interimhealthcare.com/homestyle/assessment/.

Gilmartin has personal experience providing care for seniors: she cared for her grandmother in her home, and used home health services to help provide long-distance care for her father and mother. She offers some additional advice for families considering in-home or inpatient support to help determine what type of provider is the right fit based on their situation: • If your loved one only requires assistance with light tasks like grocery shopping, transportation, or housekeeping, tap informal networks, like family, faith community, and neighbors, first. However, it is important to recognize when their needs outpace the resources. If the individual in need of care has ongoing health problems, cannot cope with daily tasks such as meal preparation, bathing, dressing, or has difficulty with taking medication, professional home care should be considered. • Ask for recommendations from people you know and trust who have used home GREAT care providers.

Directory: FALLS Consult your family doctor, hospital discharge department, local Council on Aging, or the National Association of Home Heading: NURSING HOMES Care & Hospice (www.nahc.org).

CMR/Client #: 189/9600 • If you #:0822 decide to pursue in-home or inpatient care, interview several Publisher reputable, providers.

Art I.D. #:credentialed 18996000428023 “Home care is not a one-size-fits-all-solution – it’s an ongoing relationPub Date: 9.08 ship that needs to respond to your loved one’s changing needs over time,�

Close Date: 6.12.08 Gilmartin said. “Staying involved helps ensure the right care from the right person with the right skills and personality.� MSN

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APRIL/MAY 2009

National Nursing Home Week – Nurturing a Love that Lasts Throughout life, love can come at us fast and stay for ages. National Nursing Home Week begins on Mother’s Day, May 10 and continues until May 16, 2009. Many nursing home residents are the people who planted the seeds that have made our communities grow stronger. They have been the teachers, the business people, the parents, and other central figures who produced all of the good things that we now enjoy. This week gives us a chance to honor these special residents, as well as their families, staff, volunteers, and communities.

This year’s theme is “Nurturing a Love that Lasts” and during this week, nursing facilities throughout our state will be hosting activities and celebrations to highlight residents and give them a chance to shine. These events will feature residents as well as staff and will give a nod to

a bygone era as well as reveal the extraordinary talents of residents.

These celebrations will be greatly enriched by the participation of local people who are asked to join in the festivities as residents and the nursing community take center stage. Beyond creating an enjoyable place for residents to relax and visit with friends and families, these events are a very positive way to celebrate community spirit and appreciation for the residents, staff, and volunteers of these facilities who have given so much.

Take a few moments and contact a nursing facility in your area to get information on the celebrations they are having and how you can participate and be part of residents’ remarkable achievements and witness first-hand the beauty and joy that are the motivating force behind quality long term care. MSN

Wednesdays’ Gorillas

By Dr. Kathleen J. McKay Huge fluffy flakes of snow dance slowly to the ground, in the blue black of early morning. I can hear her snoring and talking in her sleep from the open bedroom door. I look down at the small ball of rising bread dough as the sweet smell of yeast and whole grain mix with that of brewing coffee. I look up and out the kitchen window as snow collects on the branches of spruce trees and I cannot imagine a safer, more peaceful place on the planet.

For the last month, this is how I spend my Wednesdays. Before the woman sleeping in the

other room wakes up, I bake, clean, sip coffee, and study in the little house just north of the monastery.

This house is filled with love, healing, and spirits.

An atmosphere of laughter, tears, and letting go permeates the walls.

This house, which sits on practically donated land and was built with many donated materials and generous labor, is a hospice home. A place designed for end of life care, when all the options have been investigated, when time winds down, and there are no curative measures on the horizon.

It came to be when a few compassionate souls

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noticed a need for this kind of care.

To be entrusted with this type of job, at this intimate time in someone’s life is a privilege that still humbles and amazes me. Currently, we have only one resident in the three bedroom “home” and she happens to be my aunt. Her diagnosis is such that she has lost the ability to articulate well and she cannot ambulate alone. She does not speak clearly and can be challenging to understand. She can however still hear - in fact exceptionally well - and is completely cognizant of all that is taking place around her.

Her irreverent sense of humor is still miraculously intact. Spending one precious day a week with her is a gift I look forward to every Tuesday evening. In helping her to eat, dress, and bathe, she has taught me so much about being alive and grateful just in her being. We have come to a place where what was once sacred, like bodily functions, are something we laugh about without shame.

We laugh a lot, giggle about handsome male nurses, and have deep and profound conversations. We talk a lot about family and when I cannot understand her, she patiently spells things out for me or points to a picture board. To make her laugh, I will start to guess what she is trying to say and will ridiculously suggest, “Sasquatch?” or “Martini?”

One morning recently, she buzzed me in and could not find her picture board so she was pointing under her chair and asking me to get something out from underneath. She slowly repeated it as she pointed between her legs to the under side of her chair. She kept trying to tell me what was under her chair when I could not see anything.

I finally asked her, “What Gorilla?” and she laughed so hard she spit on me. She was trying to say “remote.” I am not sure where gorilla came from, but we eventually found the remote.

Now, when I struggle to understand her, she will giggle and say, “Gorilla.” She can very clearly say “danger” and will say this to me when she feels she has to blow her nose. We have discussed in gruesome detail my strong aversion to anything that comes out of nasal passages and she always laughs hysterically when I ask her if I can, “Please God”, wipe her nose.

I am neither a CNA nor a registered nurse, and now, having been

MONTANA SENIOR NEWS PAGE 13

involved in caring for patients in this way, I have the utmost respect, admiration, and love for CNAs and RNs. When I wake her in the morning, I always tell her how beautiful she is and ask her what she would like to do today. “Scuba diving or Everest?” I say. “Let’s pack up the llamas and hike the Andes.”

She is always very willing to join me in any adventure. As I add cream and sugar to my coffee, I think I will suggest taking a helicopter tour of the Grand Canyon today. While stirring the hot, sugary, coffee flavored cream, something hits me. I have DVD sets of two shows that were on the History Channel and Discovery channel, both featuring the same sparkling host, but on different networks with different adventures. Digging for the Truth aired for two seasons on the History Channel and Into the Unknown currently can be seen on the Discovery Channel. I decide to bring them with me next Wednesday as I hear her buzz me….

Now, each Wednesday, we follow the host, Josh Bernstein, as he takes us away from our rural, snowy home to some of the most amazing, and magical places on earth. He has taken us to see the sacred and the secret, we have been to places in Egypt, Peru, Scandinavia, Mexico, Greece, Turkey, Africa, Ethiopia and many more. I do not know what was more exhilarating, watching him fly in a powered paraglider (gulp!) or watching a mystical glee come over my aunt as she closes her eyes and flies with him. Nor can I forget the way she listened, enchanted, to theories of life on Mars.

In one episode, when he held up a cayman, she cooed as if it were the cutest little thing. I could not help but think that cute little thing probably eats baby bunnies!

Perhaps one day I will get the chance to tell

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APRIL/MAY 2009

Mr. Bernstein what he did for my aunt, tell him what joy and fun he has brought to a woman hungry for adventure, a woman longing to still feel the excitement of discovery, a woman who never stopped longing to see and to learn and who stands at the brink of life’s greatest mystery and adventure herself.

So, we have been diving in Bimini to seek the road to Atlantis. We have taken camel trips, packed llamas, and scurried within the walls of the pyramids. We have gone digging for the truth and have ventured into the unknown, and yes, we have even retrieved lost Gorillas from under a chair. MSN

The Quiet Place On The Couch

By Kathryn Jensen Mother and daughter sit on the couch Two generations side-by-side in a living room with windows They are very close, but not touching.

The old one, pale and silver-haired, looking like an ancient wise woman, Stares straight ahead as if into infinity Her faded, milky green eyes close occasionally Then open slowly as if she is regaining consciousness.

Her bony arms fold around her thin frame.

She appears very cold, but does not complain.

Her knitted shawl rests on her lap.

The younger one, with supple skin and well-defined muscles, Gazes out the window at a distant mountain top, Daydreaming of long vacations on a pristine beach.

Well, this is something we can do together, she thinks We can sit in silence, meditate, and rest...

She looks at her mother’s blue-veined hand Witch-like fingers with swollen knuckles She wants to hold it, but there are many things that need to get done. Soon.

Silence softens the air around them, filling the room with peace.

“I guess I better do some housework,” the daughter sighs.

“Yes, you better,” the mother replies, glad that she doesn’t.

Her smiling, wrinkled face lights up the room.

For a fleeting moment, the history and love between the two is palpable.

The younger one takes a deep breath, rises and walks to the kitchen Her energy is renewed, her body strengthened, her mind is calm The old one slowly closes her eyes and goes back to her own quiet place.

Kathryn Jensen’s, 95-year-old mother, Lilian, has advanced senile dementia and has lived with her daughter and son-in-law, Richard for the past three years. She sweetens their home with her grateful spirit, love, and sense of humor. MSN

APRIL/MAY 2009

MONTANA SENIOR NEWS PAGE 15

Crabby Old Man Submitted by Jack Smith When an old man died in a nursing home in North Platte, Nebraska, it was believed that he had nothing left of any value.

Later, when the nurses were going through his meager possessions. They found the following poem. Its quality and content so impressed the staff that copies were made and distributed to every nurse in the facility.

One nurse took her copy to Missouri. The old man’s sole bequest to posterity has since appeared in the Christmas edition of the News Magazine of the St. Louis Association for Mental Health. A slide presentation has also been made based on his simple, but eloquent, poem.

And this little old man, with nothing left to give to the world, is now the author of this anonymous poem published and read thousands of times on the Internet.

Remember this poem when you meet an older person you might brush aside without looking at the young soul within. We will all, one day, be there, too!

Crabby Old Man

What do you see nurses? What do you see?

What are you thinking when you’re looking at me?

A crabby old man not very wise, Uncertain of habit with faraway eyes?

Who dribbles his food and makes no reply When you say in a loud voice, “I do wish you’d try!”

Who seems not to notice the things that you do And forever is losing a sock or shoe?

Who, resisting or not, lets you do as you will With bathing and feeding - the long day to fill?

Is that what you’re thinking? Is that what

you see?

Then open your eyes, nurse. You’re not looking at me.

And now and again, my battered heart swells.

I remember the joys; I remember the pain And I’m loving and living life over again.

I’ll tell you who I am as I sit here so still, As I do at your bidding as I eat at your will.

I’m a small child of ten with a father and mother, Brothers and sisters who love one another.

I think of the years all too few gone too fast.

And accept the stark fact that nothing can last.

So open your eyes, people! Open and see Not a crabby old man. Look closer. See ME! MSN

A young boy of sixteen with wings on his feet Dreaming that soon now a lover he’ll meet.

A groom soon at twenty - my heart gives a leap.

Remembering, the vows that I promised to keep.

At twenty-five, now I have young of my own.

Who need me to guide and a secure happy home.

A man of thirty, my young now grown fast, Bound to each other with ties that will last.

At forty, my young sons have grown and are gone, But my woman’s beside me to see I don’t mourn.

At fifty, once more babies play round my knee.

Again, we know children my loved one and me.

Dark days are upon me - my wife is now dead.

I look at the future and shudder with dread.

For my young are all rearing young of their own.

And I think of the years. And the love I have known.

I’m now an old man and nature is cruel.

Tis jest to make old age and look like a fool.

The body, it crumbles, grace and vigor depart.

There is now a stone where I once had a heart.

But inside this old carcass a young guy still dwells,

What is a grandparent?

As described in papers written by a class of 8-year-olds.

Grandparents are a lady and a man who have no little children of their own. They like other people’s.

A grandfather is a man, and a grandmother is a lady!

Grandparents don’t have to do anything except be there when we come to see them. They are so old they shouldn’t play hard or run. It is good if they drive us to the shops and give us money.

When they take us for walks, they slow down past things like pretty leaves and caterpillars.

They show us and talk to us about the colors of the flowers and why we shouldn’t step on cracks.

They don’t say, “Hurry up.”

Usually grandmothers are fat but not too fat to tie your shoes. MSN

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APRIL/MAY 2009

Want to Live to 109? Join the Fitness Protection Program

By Carole Carson, Senior Wire Will you live long enough to become one of the growing numbers of vital, healthy centenarians?

Your lifestyle may make the difference between aging gracefully to 109 or stopping at 79, the current average life expectancy.

Obviously, the length of your life is partly a function of genetics and good fortune, neither of which you can control. The life span of your parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents provides clues about your genetic makeup. Another relevant factor is whether any chronic diseases, such as stroke, heart disease, high blood pressure, cancer, or diabetes, occurred in family members before age 50.

Even so, experts assert that simple decisions you make each day have an enormous impact on how long and how well you will live. Based on the longevity test developed by Drs. Robert Goldman and Ronald Klatz, co-founders of the American Academy of Anti-Aging, the Fitness Protection Program considers six lifestyle factors. If you want to age gracefully and healthfully, you need to incorporate these elements into your daily routine: 1. Outlook. Optimists fare better than pessimists do when it comes to longevity. An ability to see humor in the course of life’s difficulties helps. Having a purpose and making meaningful contributions promote a sense of well-being that translates into a longer life. Being connected with others, even a pet, nourishes our spirit. A regular routine, along with vacations and stress management, promotes health.

2. Diet. Eating a variety of foods in modest amounts promotes longevity. Maintaining a reasonable body weight with a body mass index of 18 to 25 is also key to living longer. Including five

or more servings of fruits and vegetables from a rainbow of colors along with high-fiber foods each day is important. Consuming meals consisting of wholesome, fresh food rather than packaged, precooked, or fried foods aids longevity.

3. Physical Fitness. Moving our bodies does not wear them out; instead, it preserves our ability to function. Maintaining physical fitness requires a range of exercises, including aerobic, strength, balance, and flexibility. Sixty minutes a day of vigorous walking or an equivalent form of exercise is a good foundation. Lifting weights builds bone strength, while yoga and stretching improve balance and flexibility.

4. Mental Fitness. Learning new skills and challenging ourselves with puzzles and word games preserve memory, and mental acuity is associated with living longer. Daydreaming and recalling wonderful moments in our lives keep us sharp. Experiencing life on a moment-to-moment basis rather than multitasking unclutters the mind.

Setting goals, keeping a journal, volunteering, and engaging in a hobby also promote mental fitness.

5. Preventive Care. Access to medical care, including a hospital in case of acute trauma, improves our chances of a longer life. Obtaining comprehensive physical exams and blood tests, including scheduled colonoscopies after the age of 50, is important. Women need annual mammograms after the age of 50, and they need to perform monthly self-exams. Men need a rectal or prostate exam yearly after the age of 30.

6. Environment. Living in a high-crime area reduces the odds of achieving longevity, as does smoking or inhaling secondhand smoke. The chances of developing skin cancer, which can

APRIL/MAY 2009

shorten longevity, can be reduced by wearing sunscreen and avoiding excess sun exposure.

Wearing a seat belt and refraining from talking on a cell phone or driving under the influence of alcohol improve our chances of avoiding injury in a car accident.

If the sheer number of these factors for improving your life span seems daunting, here is a simple solution.

According to HEALTHbeat, an e-newsletter published by Harvard Health Publications, four small lifestyle changes added an average of 14

years to the lives of the people studied, even among individuals who were overweight. The healthy behaviors are eating five or more servings of fruits and vegetables a day, drinking alcohol moderately, refraining from smoking, and exercising daily.

To calculate the cost of your daily choices, go to www.hbhealthonline.com/longevity-test.html or enter longevity tests in the Google search engine.

You will find tips on how to add vital, productive years to your life. Armed with information, you can join the Fitness Protection Program.

Support Breast Cancer Research – Support Komen Montana’s Race For The Cure

By Chantel McCormick For the last 15 years, women, men, and children from around Montana have come to Helena on a beautiful Saturday morning to be part of Komen Montana’s Race for the Cure. This year will be no exception. On Saturday, May 16, thousands of Montanans will join forces to walk or run while raising thousands of dollars for breast cancer research. As will all Komen Montana events, 75% of the funds raised will stay right here in the state and will be invested in breast health programs in communities from Havre to Helena, Baker to Bozeman, and Missoula to Miles City.

We are proud that this event has become the premier event of the Montana Affiliate. With hundreds of volunteers and thousands of participants, we can truly say we are the largest event centered on breast cancer in the state of Montana! We look forward to growing the race every year and that can only be done with your help! With the help of our generous state, we raised over $125,000 in 2008. Watch how we put that to work with the statewide grants we funded. We also donated

$40,000 to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure research grant program.

Can’t make it to the Race in May? Out of town?

Got plans? You can register for the Race, get an official Race t-shirt, and help run breast cancer out of town from home or wherever you will be on Saturday, May 16, 2009!

This year, Komen Montana announces Sleep In for the Cure. This alternative fundraising program offers a method of participation in our fight against breast cancer in Montana for people who cannot personally participate in the Race day activities.

Montana’s large geographic size and widespread population centers prohibit many people from active participation. Participants will be encouraged to register and donate via the Komen Montana website at www.komenmontana.org.

With thanks to all who have supported our work to end breast cancer forever, the 15th annual Komen Montana Race for the Cure is surely to be the best year ever. Please visit us online at www.komenmontana.org to support our cause today! MSN

In Women Over the Age of 65, Breast Specific Gamma Imaging (BSGI) Limits Biopsies, Costs for Diagnosing Breast Cancer For women over the age of 65, Breast-Specific Gamma Imaging (BSGI) provides a valuable tool in the diagnosis of breast cancer by confirming when disease is present, but excelling in confirming that cancer is not there.

With a specificity rate of almost twice that of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), BSGI decreases the need for diagnostic biopsy, according to findings presented at the 19th Annual National Interdisciplinary Breast Center Conference in Las Vegas.

“Unnecessary biopsies in women over the age of 65 can be more serious due to a higher risk of complications. The ability of BSGI to effectively evaluate these women at a reasonable cost, without contraindications, in relative comfort, and leading to decreased morbidity is very valuable,” said Dr. Leora Lanzkowsky, Director of Women’s Imaging, CHW- Nevada Imaging

MONTANA SENIOR NEWS PAGE 17

Carole Carson is a fitness advocate and the author of From Fat to Fit: Turn Yourself into a Weapon of Mass Reduction, which chronicles her own 62-pound weight loss and the inspirational Nevada County Meltdown. Visit www.fromfat2fit. com for more information. MSN

PAGE 18 MONTANA SENIOR NEWS

APRIL/MAY 2009

Centers in Las Vegas.

BSGI has comparable sensitivity, but superior specificity when compared to MRI. Specificity refers to the technique’s ability to detect that disease is actually not present. Sensitivity refers to the ability of an imaging technique to detect the presence of disease.

BSGI, a molecular breast imaging technique, is a follow-up to mammography that can see lesions independent of tissue density and discover early stage cancers. With BSGI, the patient receives a pharmaceutical tracing agent that is absorbed by all the cells in the body. Due to their increased rate of metabolic activity, cancerous cells in the breast absorb a greater amount of the tracing agent than normal, healthy cells and generally appear as “hot spots” on the BSGI image.

Lanzkowsky says BSGI is more comfortable for the patient than mammography because it does not compress the breast. In addition, for this age group MRI has a higher degree of contraindications including pacemakers, implanted metallic devices, and renal diseases that place them at risk for nephrogenic systemic fibrosis (NSF), a skin reaction to the Gadolinium-based contrast material used in MRI. According to the study, women over the age of 65 account for 30 percent of the U.S. screening mammography population, and account for 30 percent of breast cancers diagnosed in the United States - and this age group is increasing. “These women are usually under-evaluated with advanced imaging techniques.

This often results in a delay in diagnosis compared to younger patients. In this Medicare-dependant population, a late diagnosis can lead to shortened life expectancy and more

PAGE 26 MONTANA SENIOR NEWS

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How important does a person have to be before they are considered assassinated instead of just murdered?

Why do you have to “put your two cents in” but it is only a “penny for your thoughts?” Where is that extra penny?

Once you are in heaven, are you stuck wearing the clothes you were buried in for eternity?

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expensive treatment regimens. BSGI can change all that,” said Dr. Lanzkowsky.

The Study - Lanzkowsky and her colleagues conducted a retrospective review of 43 patients with 62 abnormalities. An index lesion was present in 40 (93 percent) of the patients. In the additional three patients, the studies were conducted due to a palpable mammography abnormality or due to attending physician request. Sixty-seven percent of the index lesions were indeterminate on mammography (either BIRADS 0 or 3). For patients with positive BIRADS findings sent on for additional imaging procedures, all of them had either heterogeneously dense or very dense breasts obscuring the visualization of the remaining breast tissue on mammography. MRI breast protocol, parallel imaging with a breast coil, and 1.5T Siemens MRI were used, as well as BSGI with the Dilon 6800 gamma camera. All pathology results were confirmed through biopsy, or one-year follow up.

The Results - The results demonstrate a good correlation between BSGI and MRI for the detection of significant malignant lesions. While the sensitivity was slightly less for BSGI compared to MRI (81 percent v 88 percent), the specificity was higher for BSGI (65 percent v 37 percent), PPV (45 percent v 33 percent), and NPV (91percent v 89 percent). The finding of BSGI specificity of almost twice as much as with MRI, is particularly important as it leads to a decrease in the reliance on biopsy.

Many leading medical centers around the country are now offering BSGI to their patients, including Cornell University Medical Center, New York; George Washington University Medical Center, Washington, D.C.; and The Rose, Houston. For more information on Dilon Technologies, please visit www.dilon.com. MSN

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Listen Up, Boomers. Have You Heard This?

By Tait Trussell, Senior Wire Listen up, baby boomers. That is, if you can.

A comprehensive study of young seniors - ages 41 to 60, but skewed toward the 51 to 60 age group - found a prevalence of hearing loss among this group.

Prince Market Research did the survey with a random sample of 458 individuals. It was sponsored by the Ear Foundation, a national non-profit organization aimed at helping the public and the medical profession through research related to hearing loss.

The study wanted to find out how these seniors’ lives were affected by hearing loss.

About half of the baby boomers (53%) said they had at least a “mild” hearing loss. But 18% of those who said they did not have a hearing loss acknowledged that sometimes or frequently they found themselves in situations where people are not speaking loudly enough or clearly enough or where the television is not loud enough or clear enough.

In the study, men were “significantly more likely” to report a hearing loss than were women (62% to 38%).

Only 26% of those with a hearing loss had had their hearing loss formally diagnosed by a medical professional, and 37% had not even had their hearing tested.

Even among those with severe hearing loss, only 42% wore hearing aids.

Most of those who did not wear a hearing aid, even though a hearing professional recommended they wear one, said cost and lack of insurance coverage were the main reasons they did not wear one.

More than half (57%) of these young seniors with cell phones said they had trouble hearing on their cell phone. Those having trouble hearing on their cell phones cite a variety of reasons.

Thirty percent said the problem is their hearing.

Twenty-three percent said the problem mostly was with their network.

Those interviewed who were age 56-60 assessed the incidence of hearing loss as: rarely 19%; sometimes 59%; and frequently 30%.

As for degree of hearing loss: 67% of those 56-60 said the loss was mild; 25% said it was

moderate; 9% said it was severe.

When asked what kinds of products potentially would be helpful, 78% of all participants said hearing aids; 78% also said amplified telephones; while 32% said a personal sound amplifier.

Those 56-60 were aware of hearing aids, but only 5% were aware of amplified phones. Twentynine percent said they were aware of phones that light up when they ring.

As for TV sound amplifying devices, 53% were unaware of them.

Almost two thirds of the participants in the survey had had their hearing tested. Only 8% of those 51-55 and 56-60 had been fitted for a hearing aid. In the same age groups, 8% wore hearing aids. Only 1% of women did so.

Eleven percent in the oldest group said they use an amplified telephone. Twelve percent of the 46-50 age group use an amplified phone.

Some 11-15% of the baby boomers have changed personal habits or routines in some way because of their hearing.

Overall, 26% said they have been diagnosed with a hearing loss by a medical professional.

More than half (54%) of those who were diagnosed with a hearing loss got this diagnosis within the past five years.

Just 9% of the respondents said their doctor or another hearing professional has recommended that they wear hearing aids. Fewer than one fourth that have been told they should wear hearing aids actually are wearing them. Another 30% said they wear a hearing aid sometimes.

A third of those who have been told they should be wearing a hearing aid, but choose not to, said it is because of the cost.

Some 79% of the folks studied said they have a cell phone, but 57% of them said they sometimes have trouble hearing on their cell phone.

A large majority of those with a cell phone use a regular cell phone rather than a hands-free speakerphone or a wire headset.

More than 40% said their hearing loss affects their home life somewhat (39%) or quite a bit (2%). Nearly two-thirds (65%) said they have trouble hearing TV. Some 12% even said they sometimes or often avoid going to church because of difficulty hearing. About the same proportion avoids travel. MSN

MONTANA SENIOR NEWS PAGE 19

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APRIL/MAY 2009

Making Men’s Bones Stronger

In a recent article published in Arthritis Today, men older than 60 that have low levels of the male sex hormone testosterone are more likely to break a bone due to osteoporosis. This according to a new study conducted at the University of Sydney in Australia. Osteoporosis is a disease that causes bones to weaken. Newly released guidelines call for testing bone mineral density (BMD) in all men age 70 and older, as well as in younger men who have risk factors for bone loss. Risk factors include gender, age, previous fracture history, paternal fracture history, alcohol use, corticosteroid use, and the presence of certain diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA). “If a man’s BMD test result is significantly low, we can use the new fracture risk predication model and determine if he should be treated with testosterone or another medication to lower his fracture PAGE 26 IDAHO SENIOR INDEPENDENT risk,� said NOF President Ethel S. Siris, MD, director of the Toni Stabile Osteoporosis Center at Columbia University Medical Center in New York City.

Men age 60-85 with low to normal testosterone levels who had five months *JQJGWFYNSL Y\T ^JFWX TK FI[FSHJI of testosterone-replacement therapy showed improvements in markers of HFWJ NS YMJ 0SQFSI 5TWYM\JXY bone turnover.

Some research findings have suggested that testosterone-replacement therapy may raise levels of low-density lipo-protein, the “bad� cholesterol. e provide advanced Because testosterone may “feed� prostate cancer, men with osteoporosis long-term acute care, often are treated with testosterone-depleting drugs. including critical care for patients who require If testosterone cannot be provided, there are three drugs approved for male additional time to heal osteoporosis: alendronate (Fosamax), risedronate (Actonel), and teriparatide from catastrophic injury (Forteo). MSN

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Research Reveals Another Reason Arthritis Sufferers Should Get Active

Many of the 22 million Americans suffering from joint pain caused by osteoarthritis fear that repetitive motion and weight placed on joints during exercise will lead to further joint injury and pain. A recent study, helps ease those concerns. David Felson, M.D., evaluated the knees of 1,279 people over a nine-year period and concluded moderate exercise does not increase the risk of getting the most common form of arthritis, osteoarthritis (OA).

Dr. Felson’s study also reaffirmed that obesity is a major risk factor for knee OA. Other studies have shown that losing just 10 pounds reduces pressure on the knee by 40 pounds, and that losing as few as 11 pounds can reduce a woman’s risk of developing knee osteoarthritis by 50 percent. “Dr. Felson’s finding is welcome news for people who are at risk for developing osteoarthritis, the most common form of arthritis in the U.S. and a significant source of joint pain and disability,� said Patience White, M.D., chief public health officer of the Arthritis Foundation. “This study reassures us that moderate to high intensity recreational physical activity, with its many health benefits, will not result in increasing their risk of developing painful osteoarthritis.�

While more research is needed in this area, the Arthritis Foundation encourages middle-aged and older Americans at risk for osteoarthritis to consult their physician about beginning a physical activity regimen. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends 30 minutes of physical activity of at least moderate intensity most days of the week.

The Arthritis Foundation offers several exercise programs that follow CDC recommendations and have been proven to reduce pain in people with arthritis. These include: • Arthritis Foundation Aquatic Program • Arthritis Foundation Exercise Program • Arthritis Foundation Tai Chi Program More information about Arthritis Foundation health and education programs is available at www.arthritis.org. MSN

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Stay Hip, Even After 80 For men and women over age 80, hip replacement surgery may still be a viable option, according to a study published in the December 2007 issue of The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery. Patients 80 and older are experiencing hip replacement outcomes comparable to those of their younger counterparts.

More than 234,000 total hip replacements (also known as hip arthroplasties) are performed in the U.S. each year; this number has increased dramatically in the last decade. Total hip replacement is a surgical procedure in which the patient’s natural hip joint is replaced with an artificial one, composed of plastic and metal or ceramic. The most common reasons for this surgery are: • Pain and stiffness in the hip that limit normal activities such as walking and bending. • Pain that cannot be satisfactorily treated with medication or other therapies.

These conditions are most frequently caused by osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, and traumatic arthritis.

The study compared the outcomes of hip arthroplasty patients 80 years and above and those who were 70 years and below, six to seven years after their surgery. Results showed that patients in the 80-year-old group at the time of surgery had comparable strength and function in the replaced hip(s) as did the patients who were 70 years or younger at the time of surgery. “Many older people who could benefit from

APRIL/MAY 2009

MONTANA SENIOR NEWS PAGE 21

hip arthroplasty choose not to have the surgery because of their age,” says Javad Parvizi, MD, FRCS, one of the study’s authors. Dr. Parvizi is director of clinical research and an associate professor at the Rothman Institute at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. “They think the surgical recovery will be too difficult or that it’s just not worth it at their age. There are patients who use wheelchairs because of hip pain, but are afraid to have this surgery.

This study shows that people in their 80s can look forward to an excellent surgical outcome and therefore have a much improved quality of life.”

The study also found that the octogenarians had a similar rate of complications as did the younger group, and no patients in either group died as a result of the surgery. Some patients in the octogenarian group did die from other causes during the follow-up period, and nearly all of them had good hip function at the time.

The most common complication following hip replacement was dislocation, but the octogenarian group had a lower rate of dislocation. Researchers believe that this is most likely because surgeons used a more constraining device in the older patients. In addition, they say, it seems that the medical optimization process to prepare patients for surgery, as well as the close monitoring in the postoperative period, may have been more extensive and stringent for the older patients.

“Patients who are suffering from hip pain should be evaluated to determine whether hip replacement might be a good option for them, regardless of their age,” Parvizi says. “Our results show that age alone is not a contraindication for hip replacement.” MSN Walk-in Clinic for Acute Injury & Illness,

Plan to leave a legacy

By Sandra Cargill, Executive Director, Dawson College Foundation Many people who contribute to Dawson Community College in Glendive get great satisfaction by giving to support its mission of creating and continuously improving accessible and effective environments for lifelong learning. Since the inception of the Dawson College Foundation in 1964, the college and its students have benefited from large and small gifts from those who recognize the impact and value of the college to individuals and the community.

Those who generously include the college in their estate planning help to ensure the programs they care about are provided in the future. Estate planning can be more than planning for the orderly disposition of your assets when you die. There are ways you can plan now to provide for your family, make gifts to causes you care about, and save your heirs’ income and estate taxes. Charitable estate planning will help you give in ways and amounts you might not be able to in your lifetime.

We encourage you to consult with your legal and financial advisors to include Dawson Community College in your estate planning.

The Dawson College Foundation is a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit corporation for the benefit of Dawson Community College. For more information, call 800-821-8320. MSN

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The Montana Warm Line: New Program Helps Montanans Battle Loneliness and Feelings of Isolation For every person choosing to spend his or her life in Montana, there is a unique and individual reason. For some, it is the natural beauty and the quality of people we encounter in this state. For others, it is a connection to the land that has existed for many generations. Those who live in the West are tough and Montanans are known to be hearty and capable folks. However, rural Montanans and particularly seniors face the additional challenge of feelings of isolation.

Loneliness is linked to significant health concerns, both mental and physical. These include depression, with symptoms including hopelessness, helplessness, anxiety, fear, and distrust of people. Other symptoms include loss of enjoyment of activities once highly valued, as well as experiencing a loss of meaning to one’s life. Other effects can include a weakened immune system with less ability to fight off infection, chronic fatigue, and physical pains with no apparent source.

One difficult aspect of aging is the decline in social ties and feelings of value within community and family. If one lives long enough, there is the inevitable loss of family, friends, meaningful work, and responsibilities that have sustained a feeling of connectedness. After leading rich and active lives, many older adults may find themselves trying to shape a new life while feeling alone. While there is great potential to create a new lifestyle of contentment, isolation can make it very difficult.

It can be difficult to reach out in times of need. Sometimes, just a little extra support is all that is needed to maintain good mental health.

Mental Health America of Montana has designed the free Montana Warm Line (1-877-688-3377) to provide support and resources to Montanans, particularly those in rural and frontier areas where no services are available, who are dealing with mental health concerns. It allows people to reach out for support without leaving their home, which is especially helpful to those who lack transportation or who have limited mobility.

The Warm Line is staffed by mental health consumers, or people who are themselves in recovery from their own mental illness. These caring responders are ready to listen, understand, provide resources, and support callers.

The Montana Warm Line is open Monday through Friday from 5:30 to 9:30 PM and on Saturdays from 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM. In addition to the support hotline, the Montana Warm Line offers its website www.montanawarmline. org, which is filled with information, resources, and an event calendar. There are also telephone-based bipolar support groups available, with more groups to come in the future.

Using the Warm Line is an excellent way to get support. Here are some other ideas that contribute to good mental health: • Getting plenty of rest with a full night’s sleep and naps can help calm the mind and give you more energy.

• Exercise, such as walking, helps both physical and mental health.

• Increase social opportunities by inviting friends or family to join in activities. This is a great way to raise your spirits and engage those around you in your life.

• Make the most of leisure time by doing things you truly enjoy, and feel free to say no to things you do not. You may try to indulge yourself with a long bath or a healthy dessert, or exercise your mind by challenging yourself with a jigsaw puzzle, riddles, or reading a good book.

• Trying something new can be a fun and rewarding experience as well, whether it is a new recipe, a new hobby, joining a club, or learning a new skill such as gardening or dancing.

• Volunteering gives you the opportunity to share your wisdom and experience with others in your community in areas that match your interests.

Knowing that you have helped someone else can help you to feel better about yourself. Plus, sharing your time with others is a great way to get out and meet new people.

• And remember, there are resources and people dedicated to supporting you and your mental health! MSN

APRIL/MAY 2009

2009 Governor’s Conference on Aging: Aging in Your Community

By Bernice Karnop “It’s really neat to see the diversity of Montanans,” says Brian LaMoure, Director of the Montana Governor’s Conference on Aging. That diversity on the other hand, makes it challenging to run a Conference on Aging that addresses the needs of everyone. Last year’s three-day conference in Helena, for example, brought together 77 different presenters and multiple tracks.

This year the sponsoring Governor’s Advisory Council on Aging is taking the conference to you. Instead of the three-day event in Helena, you may attend one or more of the two-day conferences held in three different towns.

Beverly Barnhart, Governor’s Advisory Council on Aging Chair, believes the change will make the conference accessible to more people. “I’m excited because of the enthusiastic people working on the conferences,” she said.

“They are doing a wonderful job.” The cost will be less and people will not have so far to travel.

The first day of each conference is sponsored by the Governor’s Advisory Council on Aging and will present national and statewide issues, centenarians will be recognized, and mini-grants awarded. The second day, organized by local Area Agencies on Aging, will feature local presenters on topics specific to the culture, values, and priorities of their regions.

These venues are: • Glendive - May 5 & 6 at the EPEC • Browning - May 7 & 8 at the Eagle Shield Center • Butte - May 12 & 13 at the MAC Center The first day will consist of updates by speakers from the Administration on Aging in Denver, the Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, Montana Silver Haired Legislature, and the state director of the Department of Public Health and Human Services. The first day’s sessions will address medical issues including diabetes, stroke, macular degeneration, and Alzheimer’s. Secretary of State Sharon Richetti will speak on long-term care insurance.

Those who attend the conference in Glendive will get a taste of the old west with an entertaining visit from Cowboy Poet and Songwriter Bob Petermann. This conference will address mineral rights, transfer of property, advance directives, sleep apnea, and more. An informative service provider panel concludes the meetings on Wednesday.

Connie Bremner, director of Eagle Shield Center, member of the Governor’s Advisory Council, and conference organizer in Browning, promises, “We’re going to have a full day.”

She has asked youngsters from the Immersion School to sing Blackfeet songs and converse in the Blackfeet language. Other presenters, all enrolled tribal members, include a Blackfeet historian, a medical doctor, and a dietitian.

The Blackfeet’s highly successful Personal Care Program is a model used by tribes across the nation. It involves training attendants and then assigning them to a client in their home. “I would hope that others who attend would express an interest in starting a PCA program,” Connie says. The Blackfeet Elder Family Care coordinator will address other topics including grandparents raising grandchildren.

Joe Gilboy, Director of Area V Agency on Aging in Butte is planning day two of their conference around topics he hopes will draw people from the community who are not involved with their senior centers. Anaconda will bring a busload, and he hopes Dillon and Madison County will also bus people to the conference. They will focus on practical topics like staying healthy, caregiver support, and how to stretch your dollars in a tough economy.

They also offer a profes-

MONTANA SENIOR NEWS PAGE 23

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APRIL/MAY 2009

sional track with continuing education for local health workers.

Butte will let you try out yoga stretches and line dancing. YMCA trainers will inspire you to stay active. There will be an opportunity to learn what services are available through the Belmont Senior Center and to gather information on heart health from a heart specialist, among other things.

The conference will end with a mini health fair and an opportunity to get legal advice, ask

prescription drug questions, and more, on a one to one basis.

Remember, you are invited to the Governor’s Conference on Aging, in Butte, Browning, or Glendive. The only qualification you need is an interest in aging issues. Costs are reasonable but vary in the different locations, and each one

includes a noon meal.

Registration forms are included in this section of the Montana Senior News. Full agendas and information is available with the click of your mouse at the Aging Services website, www.aging. mt.gov, or you may call Brian LaMoure at 1-800332-2272. MSN

Health Insurance Reform Imperative - Current System Fails

By Judy Fay In December 2008, the Obama transition team asked Helenans about the problems they have encountered with our current health care system and for recommendations for reform. The feedback was compiled in a report delivered to President Obama with the intention of helping shape the health care reform process. The unanimous conclusion of those attending was that a private insurance-based system of payments primarily accessible through employment is the biggest problem in our current health care system. The group endorsed a “singlepayer� or “Medicare-for-All� approach such as HB 676 sponsored by John Conyers. The entire report is available at http://tinyurl.com/acmvan.

My interest in health care and health care reform began long before I was diagnosed with cancer eighteen months ago. However, I have been deeply affected by the stories and experiences of many I have met whose lives have been touched by cancer and for whom their dependence on health insurance, if they had it, was often just one more source of stress. This experience has clarified my

vision and confirmed my conviction that reform is imperative – now!

I have insurance coverage through my husband’s former employment. Since his retirement, we are personally responsible for premiums in excess of $1,000 per month. Even in the face of such high personal cost, we have felt fortunate to have insurance. However, a cancer diagnosis tips the scales and maintaining our current insurance is no longer a grateful choice we make. It has become an absolute necessity. I have joined the ranks of those who are high risk. For us, riders, pre-existing conditions, exclusions, annual maximums, and lifetime benefits are not just insurance jargon - they have become realities demanding that we maintain our current policy no matter the cost.

This fact was emphasized in an American Cancer Society and Kaiser Family Foundation report entitled, “Spending to Survive: Cancer Patients Confront Holes in the Health Insurance System.�

The full report, which is available at www.kff.org/ insurance, found: • High cost-sharing, caps on benefits, and lifetime maximums leave cancer patients vulnerable to high out-of-pocket health care costs. • People who depend on their employer for health insurance may not be protected from catastrophically high health care costs if they become too sick to work. • Cancer patients and survivors are often unPAGE 26 find MONTANA SENIOR NEWS JUNE/JULY 2 able to adequate and affordable coverage in the individual market. • While high-risk pools are designed to help cancer patients and others who are uninsurable, they are not available to all cancer patients and

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many find the premiums difficult to afford.

• Waiting periods, strict restrictions on eligibility, or delayed application for public programs can leave cancer patients who are too ill to work without an affordable insurance option.

The study concludes, “Gaps in the current private health insurance system leave cancer patients and others with serious illnesses vulnerable even when they have coverage. Addressing the holes in the current health insurance system will be key to providing the privately insured with economic security and access to health care in the face of illness.”

Commenting on the report, Don McCanna, M.D. representing “Physicians for a National Health Program,” said, “An excellent test of how well our insurance system is working is to determine how well it serves those individuals who have had the tragic misfortune of developing cancer. This report shows that all too often our current insurance system fails to protect cancer patients from the additional burden of financial hardship, defeating one of the most important reasons for having health insurance in the first place.

“KFF and ACS are to be commended for producing this important report… at the same time, they can be condemned for their timidity in their suggested solution for this tragic problem. ‘Addressing the holes in the current insurance system’

might be the politically safe recommendation, but we have been doing that for half of a century.

Patching holes doesn’t fix a rotten system.”

Senator Baucus is still maintaining his position that he will not support or even consider a singlepayer or Medicare-for-All system. He recently compared our country to a battleship or ocean-liner and tells us, “It takes time to turn big ships.”

Had Senator Baucus been present at the Helena health care reform meeting he would have heard a call for a different nautical maneuver where the “big ship” we are all in together is concerned.

Amid the sounding of alarms, he would have heard that we no longer want to attempt repairs on a ship that is fatally damaged. Prudent and urgent action is to abandon the current “health insurance ship” in favor of a “health care plan” that addresses the health care needs of every American.

A number of single-payer health care advocates in Helena have formed a coalition to work on health care reform. It may seem like a daunting task, but American history is full of examples where small groups have created major changes. If you are like-minded and wish to add your voice to ours, please contact judyfay@bresnan.net.

As President Obama said to the Congress in February, “Health care reform cannot wait, it must not wait, and it will not wait another year.” MSN

Memories From Past To Present

“Grandma, sissy, Jane, got engaged! Tell me about your engagement.”

“I’ll get my box of stuff. Here is a record of our favorite music that we danced to on our wedding day. They played it on a Victrola. Maybe your Dad can put it on a CD so we can listen to it. This is a school dance card. Well, your Grandpa and I were swinging on the front porch when he asked me to marry him. I said yes and noticed Mother peaking out the side window. Here is a newspaper clipping about your Mom’s birth. We never made it to the hospital and could not afford it anyway.

Oh, Grandpa’s death certificate! He’s been gone three years now.”

“Every week we should do another memory of mine and some of yours. You collect items from your room, we’ll take a picture of them, and you can share your memories. Your Dad said he will

video us sharing stories.”

“Who was your Grandpa, Grandma? Do you have a picture? Was he tall or short?”

“He came from Ireland across the Atlantic Ocean by steamship, then on a train to Butte.

He worked 18 hours a day in the mine. He married my mother who was from Sweden and was a schoolteacher. When she married, she had to quit - school rules. This is one of my report cards.

Pretty good, huh? One of your Mom’s, too. Would you like to add yours to the collection?”

“Let’s make a chart of your ancestors beginning with you and showing the countries where they were born. We can mark the places on a map.

You are a mix of six different nationalities. A true American.”

“Grandma what else is in that box of papers?

Oh, there is a wedding picture. Tell me about Mom

MONTANA SENIOR NEWS PAGE 25

PAGE 26 MONTANA SENIOR NEWS

APRIL/MAY 2009

and Dad’s wedding, please.”

“Well, it was in the spring so friends and relatives could come. It was at the little church on the edge of town, where you go each Sunday. On a sunny, windy, Saturday the minister came from Malta. Our neighbor, Henry Jones, put him up. Your Mom and I cooked for days making food for the reception. It was in our house. Your Mom’s sisters picked wild flowers for the table. Aunt May baked the white cake and gave them the pan it was baked in as a gift.

Your Mom wore a flowered cream dress, not floor length, so she could wear it to other events. Your Dad wore a jacket, slacks, string tie, and new gray Stetson - a gift from Grandpa. His work hat was so out of shape and sweaty!

I even have a bit of ribbon from a wrapped gift at my wedding.”

“Let’s make a scrapbook page for each family’s wedding with a picture and story. Here is your parents’ picture. It would have been nice in color as they do now. See the 1930 Ford truck? They went to town in it for one night at the Sanders Hotel. I have pictures of your aunts’ and some uncles’ weddings, but you email them and ask for their memories.”

“I think by Christmas we’ll have a nice collection. We will make a book to give to your parents and a CD to mail to others. Oh, we must remember to include your story and picture of Sam, the Angus bull, you raised for 4-H.” Genealogy is a living history of a family that ties the past to the present. MSN

Yetta Niss Celebrates a Century of Life

By Bernice Karnop As a youngster in Billings, Yetta Niss loved going downtown to the confectionary shop for an ice cream soda. Her taste for sweets has waned, but she did enjoy the huge birthday cake celebrating her 100th birthday on March 11, 2009.

As she reaches this milestone she’s found something sweeter than cake and ice cream. “I’m very happy my children love me,” she says. Her children, their children, and their children’s children all came to Montana for her birthday party.

She’s also discovered that the word family isn’t restricted to kin. “I love Cambridge Place,” she says of the senior residence in Great Falls where she moved five years ago. “The people here are like my family.”

Yetta, who values family so deeply, never met her own grandparents. Her Jewish parents escaped from Russia during one of the pogroms in Europe.

Her mother’s family in the United States sponsored them and sent money for their passage. Her grandparents remained in Europe.

“That was a bad time,” Yetta says. “I don’t know how or when they died.

My parents tried to find out but there was just so much confusion in Russia at that time.”

Yetta was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Her father wandered from place to place, taking the family with him.

“He was trying to find himself, I guess,” says Yetta. When they stepped off the Northern Pacific train in Billings, her mother announced, “This is where we’re going to stay.” And they did. Yetta was six years old.

It was sometimes hard being the only Jewish child in her class but she didn’t consider it a burden.

She excelled in her school work and graduated near the top of her class in 1928. After graduation, she returned to Milwaukee where she lived with an aunt and attended business college. She got a job as a long distance (Continued on page 28)

APRIL/MAY 2009

MONTANA SENIOR NEWS PAGE 27

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PAGE 28 MONTANA SENIOR NEWS

APRIL/MAY 2009

Yetta celebrates a century of life - continued from page 26 operator for American Telep h o n e a n d Te l e g r a p h AT&T. Historically, these were difficult years, but Yetta and her friends had no difficulty having fun. They swam in Lake Michigan in the summer and got together for dances and parties. They had jobs and bought nice clothes from big stores like Boston’s, Gimbals, and Schuster’s. They bought on credit, paying a little each month until it was paid for. Yetta at her tallest was less than five feet tall and wore three and four inch heels. Her shoe size was so tiny she could buy the samples. “There wasn’t a lot of money, but the little money we made went far,” she says.

One day a girlfriend talked Yetta Niss, Great Falls, celebrated a cenher into going to a dance tury of happiness on her birthday in March where she met Morris, a very with family and friends. “I’m a happy pernice fellow. “We clicked off son,” she says, even though she’s lived right away,” she says. They through some difficult times. She keeps courted for a few years and making new friends at her assisted living married in 1933 - during the apartment at Cambridge Place and is an enthusiastic participant in the activities Great Depression.

“Those were hard days,” available there. [Photo by Bernice Karshe states. Morris had a job nop] but her father and brother talked him into leaving it and bringing Yetta back to Montana. They welcomed Morris into the family business, Billings Pipe and Pump Supply.

Yetta thinks now she should have continued working. Then, however, she says, “I said, ‘No matter what he makes, I’ll get along on it.’”

Morris spent two years in the Navy during World War II. They had a son before the war and a daughter after. After the war business got better and, according to Yetta, it was just a different way of life.

Yetta raised her children with the aid of Dr. Spock. “It wasn’t as hard as it is today,” she says. “Children had a freer life as they weren’t always so busy and there weren’t as many bad things to contend with.”

One of the things she’s most proud of is that all her children and grandchildren earned college degrees.

Today Morris is gone, and many friends have passed away, but Yetta doesn’t let things get her down. A favorite saying reminds her that to have friends you must be a friend. “I’ve always tried to be good to everybody,” she says.

Cherie Burg, Life Engagement Director at Cambridge Place, says, “Yetta keeps busy and keeps her mind busy, plus she loves her friends. These are the things that allow a person to enjoy a long life.”

Today Yetta competes in games such as Texas Hold ‘Em, Scrabble, and Trivia. She solves crosswords and other puzzles. She is a regular at exercise class, and loves opera and public TV. She still crochets around fleece blankets for the Rescue Mission, but says arthritis has slowed her down from much of the needle work she used to do.

What are her dreams for the next ten years?

To keep feeling well and to have her children be well. And finally, she adds, “I hope this recession ends.” MSN

APRIL/MAY 2009

MONTANA SENIOR NEWS PAGE 29

Five Simple Steps to Writing A Memoir

By Chérie Newman Have you ever wondered where the time went, what life is all about, or why you matter? If your answers are yes, then you are probably ready to write your memoirs.

I know, I know. You don’t think anyone will be interested in your stories. Wrong. You don’t know how to write. Yes, you do. And, you feel overwhelmed just thinking about the idea. That’s okay.

The old adage “Rome wasn’t built in a day” describes a writing project perfectly. Books come into being one word, one sentence, one page, and one chapter at a time. There is no other way.

The process of writing is like any project. To succeed, you have to break it down into small steps and then take action. You can start with one story – perhaps choose a disastrous family vacation, your most memorable Christmas, or the summer you spent backpacking through Europe before you were married. Then draw a line across a sheet of paper. On this line, write events that happened during that story, in chronological order - like a timeline in history class.

For example, your timeline from left to right might show the date you decided to go to Europe, how you paid for the trip, the three flights it took to get you from Billings to London, when you got lost, your first night at the hostel, and so on. Now underneath each event, write a short description (two days in France, biked barge canal path in Burgundy, a sidewalk café lunch, meeting Dave).

Then transfer each event and a short description to a separate page and add details (Dave fell into canal, we sat in park all afternoon… talking).

Security. Independence. Peace Of Mind.

At this point, do not worry about making complete sentences or paragraphs. Just think about the Your home is more than an address on the street where you live. It is likely the most event and make notes about the details. important investment you made. And a reverse mortgage1 from Wells Fargo Home To review, the steps are: Mortgage can help you capitalize on the equity you’ve built in your 1. Pick a story and draw a timeline 2. Write the events of your story on the timehome to secure financial independence and peace of mind. line Wells Fargo Home Mortgage is the nation’s leading retail originator of reverse mortgages.

3. Write a short description under each event 4. Transfer each event and its description to Julie Okragly Linda M. Bell its own page Reverse Mortgage Specialist Reverse Mortgage Specialist 5. Fill in details Phone: 406-651-5345 2044 Broadwater Avenue You will end up with one timeline page and Toll Free: 1-800-800-2506 Phone: 406-655-4405 several pages of writing, each describing an julie.okragly@wellsfargo.com Cell: 406-670-6618 event that happened during your story. When www.wfhm.com/julie-okragly linda.m.bell@wellsfargo.com you’ve finished writing out all the details, put all your event-pages in order, and, Viola! You have now completed your first draft of a chronological 2044 Broadwater Avenue • Billings, MT 59102 essay.

All you have to do now is polish your writing until it is a tight, coherent, engaging piece. That’s 1. Must be at least 62 years old. Call for more detailed program information. Wells Fargo Home Mortgage is a division easy to say, but just keep working at it. You will be of Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. © 2009 Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. All rights reserved. #63732 03/09-06/09 surprised at how quickly you improve. MSN

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PAGE 30 MONTANA SENIOR NEWS

APRIL/MAY 2009

Helena Youth Need Senior Mentors Four thousand children at risk in Helena need a grandma or grandpa friend in their life. Of the children coming into our program, 63% have experienced or witnessed physical or sexual abuse in their home, 38% have an incarcerated parent, and 75% have substance abuse in their household.

Most of our children are from single parent homes, where mom might have to work two jobs to make ends meet or dad could really use some help from a caring woman to help mentor his girl. The child may be in danger of dropping out of school and experimenting with risky behavior - but having a mentor changes all that!

With a Big Brother or Big Sister children are 46% less likely than their peers are to begin using drugs and 55% less likely to have violent confrontations. Seventy-six percent improve in their attitude and preparation for school, 81% improve in their self-confidence, and 83% improve in their academic performance.

If you cannot mentor a child yourself, please consider sponsoring a child for only $84 per month. Little Moments make Big Magic! Call today for more information at 406-442-7479 or visit www.bbbs-helena.org. Be the change that changes a child’s life! MSN

Older Americans Month 2009 Living Today for a Better Tomorrow May is Older Americans Month, a great time to bring attention to the issues that affect older adults and create community-wide opportunities to help older Americans improve their quality of life. This year’s theme is “Living Today for a Better Tomorrow,” and we, as a nation, must work together to give older adults the tools they need to make healthy decisions.

By 2030, one in every five Americans will be age 65 or older. Although the risk of disease increases with advancing age, poor health is not an inevitable consequence of aging. Many illnesses, disabilities, and even death associated with chronic disease are preventable.

Nearly 40% of deaths in America can be attributed to poor health habits such as lack of physical exercise, poor eating habits, and smoking. Older Americans can prevent or control chronic disease by adopting healthy habits such as exercising regularly, maintaining a healthy diet, and ceasing tobacco use.

The benefits of regular physical activity include weight control; healthy bones, muscles and joints; arthritis relief; reduced symptoms of anxiety and depression; and more. Exercise does not have to be strenuous and is safe for people of all age groups. In fact, it is healthier to exercise than eliminate it altogether. Older Americans can greatly benefit from a regular exercise routine that includes strength, balance, stretching, and endurance exercises.

APRIL/MAY 2009

MONTANA SENIOR NEWS PAGE 31

In addition to a regular exercise routine, good nutrition is vital in maintaining good health. Improving older Americans’ diets can reduce the occurrence of chronic diseases, but most older adults over age 65 do not maintain a healthy diet. Reducing saturated fats and eating a balanced diet of fruits, vegetables, and grains can help older Americans get on the right track to staying healthy.

Tobacco use increases the risk of heart disease and cancer and is the single most preventable cause of death in the United States. Older adults who stop smoking will gain immediate and long-term health benefits.

While it is important for older Americans to have good physical health, it is equally important that they maintain good mental health. Nearly 20 percent of Americans age 55 and older experience depression and anxiety disorders.

Studies have shown that engaging in social activities within the community can greatly improve mental health. In fact, research has demonstrated a strong relationship between volunteering and mental health and that volunteering provides older adults with greater benefits than younger volunteers.

Benefits include improved mental and physical health, greater life satisfaction, lower rates of depression, and lower mortality rates.

The U.S. Administration on Aging and its National Aging Services Network support a number of successful programs throughout the country that are helping older adults live better today and in the future. These programs keep people independent and out of nursing homes through streamlined access to health and long-term care information and options and provide home and community-based systems of services that include the support for family caregivers. These programs also encourage older people to remain active and make behavioral changes through the increased use of evidence-based disease prevention programs under the Older Americans Act as well as the use of preventive benefits available under Medicare.

Americans of all ages and backgrounds can celebrate Older Americans Month. Contact your local Agency on Aging and volunteer for activities in your area; promote community, state, and national efforts to serve older adults; and find ways to enrich the lives of older adults who touch your life. Additionally, actively search out ways you can involve your community’s older adults in volunteer efforts, allowing them to share their wisdom and energy. By working together, we can improve the health and well-being of our Nation’s older adults and pave the way for better health as we age. MSN

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PAGE 32 MONTANA SENIOR NEWS

APRIL/MAY 2009

APRIL/MAY 2009

MONTANA SENIOR NEWS PAGE 33

How to Find Long Lost Friends

By Jim Miller There are actually many ways to find people you have lost touch with, and thanks to the Internet, it is much easier to do. Here are some tips and good Web sources to get you started.

Remembering - Before you start your search, a good first step is to take a moment and jot down any information you can remember about the person you are trying to find. Things like their full name, age or birth date, last known address or phone number, old email address, names of family members, etc. Knowing details can help you turn up clues as you search.

Web Search - After you gather some information, a good place to start searching is at Google. com. When you get there, type in the person’s first and last name in quotation marks to indicate you are searching for a specific phrase (“John Doe”).

Unless your friend has a unique name, you are likely to get many results, but do not give up. You can narrow your search by adding other criteria - their middle initial or middle name, the city or state they may live in, or even their occupation.

Also, be sure to take advantage of the advanced search feature that is right on the front page. Some other good and free people search sites to try are www.411.com, which also has a reverse phone and address look-up, www.zabasearch.com, www. find-people-free-search.com, and http://people.

yahoo.com.

You can also find long lost friends through public records websites that provide a plethora of searching tools and massive amounts of data.

To start digging, stop by www.searchsystems.net, the largest directory of links to free public record databases on the Internet. Or for a few dollars, you can search sites like www.peoplelookup.com, www.peoplefinders.com, www.public-records-now. com, and www.intelius.com, all of which produce fantastic results.

Back to School - Two sites commonly used to track down former classmates and old high school sweethearts are Classmates.com and Reunion. com. Classmates.com claims 40 million users and offers free registration, but if you want to contact someone, you need to become a member, which costs $15 for three months. Reunion.com claims to have 51 million users and costs $36 for three months. These sites require users to register with them, so if the person you are looking for has not registered, you will not find them.

Another option is to check out your high school’s alumni web page. Not every school has its own site, but many do and you can look for it by going to any search engine and typing in the name of your school and its city and state. You can also do a search at www.alumniclass.com, which is a huge hosting site for thousands of high schools

Kids say some surprising things Submitted by Julie Hollar Children’s children are a crown to the aged, and parents are the pride of their children. - Proverbs 17:6 It was Palm Sunday, and because of a sore throat, five-year-old Billy stayed home from Church with a sitter. When his family returned home, they were carrying several Palm Branches. Billy asked what they were for? His parents replied, “People held them over Jesus’ head as He walked by.”

“Wouldn’t you know it,” Billy fumed, “The one Sunday I don’t go to Church, HE shows up!”

One Easter Sunday as the Minister was preaching the children’s sermon, he reached into his bag of props and pulled out an egg. He pointed at the egg and asked the children, “What’s in here?”

“I know,” one little boy exclaimed, “Pantyhose!”

Little Johnny asked his Grandma how old she was. Grandma answered, “Thirty-nine and holding.”

Johnny thought for a moment, and then said, “And how old would you be if you let go?”

A little boy was in a relative’s wedding. As he was going down the aisle, he would take two steps, stop, and turn to the crowd. While facing the crowd, he would put his hands up like claws and roar.

So it went, step ROAR, step ROAR, step ROAR - all the way down the aisle. As you can imagine, the crowd was near tears from laughing so hard by the time he reached the pulpit.

When asked what he was doing, the child sniffed and said, “I was being the Ring Bear.”

One Sunday in a Midwest City, a young child was acting up during the morning worship hour. The parents did their best to maintain some sense of order in the pew, but were losing the battle. Finally, the father picked the little fellow up and walked sternly up the aisle on his way out.

Just before reaching the safety of the foyer, the little one called loudly to the congregation, “Pray for me! Pray for me!”

One particular four-year old prayed, “And forgive us our trash baskets as we forgive those who put trash in our baskets.”

A little boy was overheard praying, “Lord, if you can’t make me a better boy, don’t worry about it.

I’m having a real good time like I am.”

A Sunday school teacher asked her little children, as they were on the way to church service, “And why is it necessary to be quiet in church?”

One bright little girl replied, “Because people are sleeping.” MSN

across the U.S. If you do not have any luck here, contact your high school to see if they have any resources or recommendations.

If you are looking for old college friends, your best resource is your university alumni association who are experts at tracking people down. If they are not able to give you the contact information, they may be able to forward a message for you.

You may also want to try the previously mentioned sites Classmates.com and Reunion.com, and for help in hunting down old sorority or fraternity members check out www.greekpages.com.

Military Buddies - If you are looking for someone you served with in the military, Military.com offers a free Buddy Finder service that has a database of more than 20 million records. Also, try Militaryconnections.com and Classmates.com.

Deceased Friends - And finally, to find out if the person you are looking for has passed away try www.legacy.com, a site that provides links to obituaries published by the company’s network of newspaper affiliates. You can also do a death search at www.ancestry.com – click “search” - or through the public records sites previously listed.

Send your senior questions to Savvy Senior, P.O. Box 5443, Norman, OK 73070, or visit www. savvysenior.org. Jim Miller is a contributor to the NBC Today show and author of “The Savvy Senior” book. MSN

PAGE 34 MONTANA SENIOR NEWS

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Did You Know???

A cat has 32 muscles in each ear.

A jiffy is an actual unit of time - 1/100th of a second.

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A shark is the only fish that can blink with both eyes.

A snail can sleep for three years.

Almonds are a member of the peach family.

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Babies are born without kneecaps. They do not appear until the child reaches 2 to 6 years of age.

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APRIL/MAY 2009

MONTANA SENIOR NEWS PAGE 35

Royal Tyrrell Museum

By Jack McNeel If you are interested in dinosaurs, used to be interested in dinosaurs, or think you may someday be interested in dinosaurs, you need to visit the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller, Alberta.

Drumheller is a town of 8,000 people on the plains of eastern Alberta yet annually nearly 450,000 people visit this museum of paleontology. The word is obviously out around the world that this is the place to go.

This was originally a coal mining valley and a hundred years ago, it was said some of the best coal ever mined was from this valley. At one time, there were 149 coal mines - but at the same time, they were many dinosaur fossils. One of those was a previously unnamed large skull. Later, in recognition of the province of Alberta, this specimen was named Albertasaurus. Many more have been discovered since.

It does not take long after you enter Drumheller to realize that dinosaurs reign supreme. The “world’s largest dinosaur” stands higher than the buildings and many of lesser size are scattered throughout the community. They are not real but they certainly provide the theme for the town. You must visit the Royal Tyrrell Museum to see the real thing.

The museum opened in 1985 and primarily features Alberta specimens that lived during the Cretaceous era, the period about [Photo by Jack McNeel] 145-65 million years ago. However, the museum has acquired other specimens to illustrate an evolutionary time line from the pre-Cambrian period to modern times.

Cameron White of the museum staff explained that during the Cretaceous period, the area where Drumheller now sits was forested in a semi-tropical style. “We find many examples of petrified wood and find thousands upon thousands of Albertasaurus teeth, especially at Dinosaur Provincial Park, south of here near Brooks.”

Visitors can pick up an audio guide at the front desk, enter a corresponding display number, and listen to a recorded message with sound effects to supplement the written information for each display. These audio guides provide their information in six different languages to accommodate the many visitors from around the world.

The initial exhibit shows a family of Albertasaurus coming up a dried riverbed in a Cretaceous scene. The Science Hall that follows provides paleontological information about earth’s development, different eras, continental Flagg Ranch Resort is centrally located, between Yellowstone National Park, and drift, and other information to provide context for the world of the dinosaurs.

Grand Teton National Park, 55 miles north of Jackson, Wyoming. Our mountain lodge houses an attractive dining room, pub, gift shop and a convenience store with The preparation room is visible through a window, and you can observe adjacent gas station. Stay in one of our cozy cabins or at our full-service campground technicians working on dinosaur specimens. It is slow, time-consuming work with full RV hookups, pull-through sites and tent sites. Step out your door to hiking, to remove all the sand and rock material from around the fossils, leaving just fishing, horseback riding, wildlife viewing and a wide range of other fun activities! the bones of an animal now dead for millions of years.

“For most kids, especially young boys – dinosaurs consume their lives,” Cameron comments. This makes a visit here a family event. Not only are there dozens of dinosaurs of many types, there are also a number of handson activities for the young and the young at heart.

Many displays are interactive with a button to provide more information (307) 543-2861 � (800) 443-2311 � www.flaggranch.com or possibly to test your knowledge. One room allows kids to toss balls into large mock-up flowers that toss them back, simulating pollen bursting from the flowers. There are live cockroaches and scorpions – both examples of current species that also existed at the time of the dinosaurs. At the shark display, you will learn that they first appeared about 440 million years ago, almost 200 million years before dinosaurs.

For most visitors, the main attraction is the opportunity to view the many dinosaur skeletons.

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PAGE 36 MONTANA SENIOR NEWS

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rex we’ve ever found,” Cameron states.

Another tyrannosaurid called Gorgosaurus is also displayed - one of the most complete skeletons of this species ever found. This large predator weighed over a metric ton and walked on large hind legs with just small front legs very similar to Albertasaurus.

A small Ornithomimus, also from Alberta, is displayed in what is referred to as a “death pose” with its head thrown back. It was an ostrich-like dinosaur with long neck, long legs, long tail, and a relatively large brain.

There is also a Dimetrodon, which looked reptilian with legs coming from its side like modern alligators and with a big sail on its back, probably for regulating body heat.

A new gallery opened in June 2008. One specimen, a Shonosaurus sicaniensis is the main feature. This is the largest marine reptile ever found, a

one of a kind specimen from British Columbia that stretches 21 meters long – that’s about 69 feet!

There is a display of an early Devonian reef from the age of fishes and when the first amphibians starting to move onto land. And there is a Jurassic section, a time that precedes Alberta dinosaurs with specimens largely from Utah and Colorado that date back about 150 million years ago.

Finally, there are specimens from the more recent era of saber-toothed tigers and a woolly mammoth - recently compared to sharks and dinosaurs.

So, take the grandkids to Drumheller and view an amazing collection of dinosaurs, beautifully displayed. Try to envision this area at the edge of a huge inland sea millions of years ago with sub-tropical vegetation and let the fossil evidence tell the story. MSN

Iron Horse State Park Recalls the Milwaukee Road

By Cate Huisman For anyone who has traveled by both train and airplane, it’s hard not to have a preference for the former. Of course, planes are faster by far, but if you’re not in a desperate hurry, if you want to be physically comfortable, and if you want to see any of the country you’re traveling through, trains - even the stripped down Amtrak passenger trains of today - are infinitely preferable to the sardine can discomfort of air travel.

It is no wonder then that many people have some downright sentimental feelings for train travel. Thankfully, a new park in central Washington offers an opportunity for them to reminisce. Iron Horse State Park (also known as John Wayne Pioneer Trail) follows the route of the old Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul, and Pacific Railroad (better known as the Milwaukee Road). When the railroad went bankrupt in the early 1980s, the state acquired the rightof-way and has since been turning it into a linear park.

Currently the park extends from Hyak in the west to the Columbia River near Vantage in the east. Another trail follows the rail line to Seattle on the west side. Eventually the trail will also extend east to the Idaho border and connect with other rail trails there. These trails are popular with cyclists in summer. Cross-country skiers, snowshoers, and dogsledders use them in winter.

But the epicenter of the park for railroad buffs is at South Cle Elum, where extensive signs explain the history and functioning of the Milwaukee Road.

The 1909 depot has been turned into a café and museum. The level, graveled Rail Yard Trail takes visitors past the foundations of the water tank that was used to fill steam engines and the brick building that served as a substation when the trains were converted from steam to electric power in 1920.

“Electrification was a revolutionary move in 1917 - on the cutting edge of technology” one of the signs explains, adding that it kept smoke from filling the train tunnels in the mountains and that the technology was so good that it was used right up to the 1970s. Other signs explain the transition from electricity to diesel in the 1970s and why trains no longer have cabooses.

And for those coveting an even more in-depth experience, the privately owned Iron Horse Inn Bed and Breakfast across the trail from the depot gives visitors a chance to stay in the bunkhouse that was used by railroad workers from 1909 to 1974. The building’s 28 bunkrooms have been converted into seven guest rooms - each offering considerable more privacy and comfort than the railroad workers had. Current owners Mary and Doug Pittis have retired from managing a large apartment complex near Seattle to run the B&B. “My father worked his entire career for the Milwaukee Road,” says Mary, explaining why they would take on the challenge of running such a business in retirement. With a smile, Doug adds, “There are 142 fewer toilets than there were in the apartment complex.”

Milwaukee Road memorabilia surround and fill this building like an all-encompassing amoeba.

Out front is a railroad crossing sign with flashing red lights of the sort that many drivers haven’t encountered in many years. Each room is named

APRIL/MAY 2009

for a man who worked on the road and stayed in the building at one time. The two-room Brady Suite is named for a family that consisted of five generations of Milwaukee Road workers. There’s a reading area at the end of the hallway, but railroad buffs are unlikely ever to make it there with a book, as there are so many icons of railroad history to look at along the way.

Another option is to stay in one of four cabooses that have been assembled at the site. These, too, have been converted into comfortable suites with refrigerators and microwaves, and each has its own deck. The cabooses are grouped around a grassy area with a playground, perfect for letting the grandkids run loose for a while.

At breakfast in the dining room, guests eat off the same tableware once used on the dining cars of the Milwaukee Road while model trains and a lantern collection distract them from their eggs and muffins. The adjoining living room is filled with historic photographs and railroad magazines.

Mary Pittis notes that hundreds of former railroad workers and their families have come to visit.

“There are lots of Milwaukee Railroad retirees and

MONTANA SENIOR NEWS PAGE 37

their families in the region. Many times they’ll come by because they have found something in the attic or the basement of Grandpa’s house that makes them curious about his work on the railroad. Iron Horse State Park is sure to help them slake their curiosity.

When you go - The Iron Horse Inn is open year-round, as is the open air museum outside the depot. From I-90, take either one of the Cle Elum exits (84 or 85) and follow signs carefully to Iron Horse State Park; they will take you through town, under the interstate, across the Yakima River, and through a residential area. In summer, visitors can rent bikes at Cle Elum Cyclery or at Roslyn Cyclery in nearby historic Roslyn. In winter, Roslyn Cyclery also rents skis and snowshoes. If you’re RVing, Whispering Pines RV Park is just off exit 84.

The Cascade Rail Foundation, which maintains the historic rail yard and depot, has scheduled work parties for several Saturdays this year.

These will give visitors an opportunity to meet some of the people who have revived the yard, to learn more about the railroad, and to help with its preservation.

[Photo by Cate Huisman] Individuals wishing to volunteer can contact Bruce Reason at 509-674-7647 or bereason@ inlandnet.com or Brian Lee at 509-674-2344 or bhlent99@hotmail.com. Also visit www.milwelectric.org. Volunteers are also needed for the foundation’s major fundraiser, the first annual Rails to Ales Brewfest (RailToAlesBrewfest.com), which will be held at the site on July 12. MSN

North Dakota from A to ...

By Gail Jokerst From its vibrant arts community to its four zoos, North Dakota is a state full of welcome surprises and down-home hospitality. If all you’ve seen so far of the Peace Garden State are the pastoral views from a car window while barreling down Interstate 94, you may want to think twice about getting better acquainted with Montana’s eastern neighbor.

Here and in future issues of the Montana Senior News we will feature some of North Dakota’s attractions from A-to-Z: A - Arne Addicott Capturing nostalgic moments of the old West in bronze has brought sculptor Arne Addicott into the limelight and made his High Prairie Bronze Studio in Stanley a destination for Western art afi-

cionados. Addicott has a wonderful ability to depict subjects such as cowboys at work and wildlife in action. If you admire bronzes with historic themes, you will want to pay a visit to his inspiring gallery.

216 12th Avenue S.E., 701-628-2462.

B – The Blue Rider Bar and Walter Pieh Even teetotalers love this funky smoke-free bar in Minot with its eclectic artwork and taxidermy. It is a place where politicians and police rub shoulders with students and business people. The cozy publike atmosphere and weekly trivia games make patrons feel at home whether they are sipping root beer or micro brews, shopping for artwork, or gazing at the rider and horse painted on the wall by renowned artist Fritz Scholder.

The Blue Rider owes its existence to Walter Piehl, an art professor and expressionistic cowboy

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APRIL/MAY 2009

North & South Dakota continued on page 40 and 41 artist known for his vivid buckin’ bronco scenes. Piehl and his family renovated the old wood-frame building that houses this neighborhood bar and named it for one of Piehl’s favorite periods in art, the German Blue Rider movement. 118 1st Avenue SE, 701-852-9050, www.walterpiehl.com.

C – Carousel rides You will enjoy one of the pleasantest trips you could possibly take down memory lane when you step aboard one of the state’s two beautiful antique carousels (circa 1920s) and go for a spin. Located at Chahinkapa Zoo in Wahpeton and the Red River Zoo in Fargo, these lovely restored carousels are wheelchair accessible and come complete with colorful bobbing ponies, authentic old-time organ music, and brass rings just begging to be grabbed. 701-277-9240, www.redriverzoo. org and 701-642-8709, www.chahinkapazoo.com.

group or if you just occasionally hanker for the creamy cold treat, you will want to visit Dakota Drug in Stanley. This oldtime drugstore with its classic soda fountain is home to of one of America’s few remaining Whirl-A-Whip machines and lures ice cream enthusiasts of all ages to its doors year-round. The 1953 auger-driven Whirl-A-Whip mixes your choice of North Dakota hard ice cream with goodies such as chopped candies, fruits, and cookies to create your very own personalized flavor combinations. 701-628-2255, www.stanleynd.com.

E – Earth-toned pottery Both Tama Smith and Susan Davy produce gorgeous handmade plates, pitchers, mugs, and bowls glazed with colors reminiscent of North Dakota’s countryside. Smith, the talent behind Prairie Fire Pottery, raws her inspiration from the stratified colors of the nearby badlands and from the Northern Lights that blaze across the night sky above her hometown of Beach.

D - Dakota Drug Her vibrant work is so highly regarded, she has been asked If you think ice cream should be classified in its own food to design state awards to recognize achievers in the fields of economic development and tourism. You can visit her showroom and studio year-round though in the winter you will want to call first. 888-229-9496, www. prairiefirepottery.com.

With its subtle hues, the contemporary stoneWhere Friendships and ware created by Susan Davy evokes images of Memories Last a Lifetime! prairie landscapes and skies. This is not surprising considering she burns flax stubble from North Dakota fields to make one of her popular glazes. Aside from the household items you would expect a potter to create, Davy also makes charming earthenware wren houses as well as bird feeders that chickadees and nuthatches cannot resist. You will find a selecto Enjoy tion of her work at quality gift shops throughout the North America’s state and at her Burlington studio. 800-976-8748, www.davypottery.com.

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F – Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park/On-a-Slant Village History buffs will want to make tracks for Mandan and this fascinating state park that takes people back to the 1870s. That is when Fort Abraham Lincoln was considered the most important fort in Dakota Territory and housed the doomed 7th Cavalry under the command of Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer. This living history fort features entertaining guided tours through the reconstructed Custer House and Central Barracks.

The park is also home to On-a-Slant Village, where six reconstructed earth lodges tell the story of the Mandan Indians. These traders had a thriving agricultural lifestyle rich in culture and tradition.

They gained fame for helping the Lewis and Clark Expedition during their (Continued on page 40)

APRIL/MAY 2009

MONTANA SENIOR NEWS PAGE 39

PAGE 40 MONTANA SENIOR NEWS

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North Dakota A thru... - continued from page 38 epic journey west. Next, drive over to downtown Mandan and Five Nations Arts located in an old railway depot. You will find an excellent selection of authentic handcrafted work made by local Native Americans. 701-663-4758, www.fortlincoln.com.

G – Gems and jewelry Anybody with a yen for one-of-a-kind jewelry should stop by Bead Unique in Velva. Here you can choose from a fetching selection of earrings, bracelets, rings, and necklaces already fashioned

by Michele and Danielle Feist and displayed throughout the shop. That is just the beginning of the possibilities. This mother-daughter team also makes jewelry from an international array of beads, gems, and metals hand-selected to suit each customer’s taste and style. If you have ever wanted a piece of signature jewelry designed to your exact specifications, this is the place to go.

701-338-2167, www.beaduniquedesigns.net.

H – Hotel Donaldson The handsomely restored Hotel Donaldson has earned a well-deserved reputation as one of North Dakota’s most sophisticated yet welcoming boutique hotels. Each of its 17 light-filled, exposedbrick rooms is decorated with the works of a different regional artist. The warmth of the furnishings and architecture makes guests feel not as if they are staying at a hotel, but at the home of a friend with a passion for art.

The HoDo, as those familiar with this Fargo hotel often refer to it, also features an innovative restaurant and lounge known for serving regional fare in a relaxed atmosphere. Not surprisingly, this historic downtown landmark has become a favorite with business travelers and locals wanting to stay and/or dine somewhere special for the night. 888478-8768, www.hoteldonaldson.com MSN

Stories Hook Visitors On South Dakota

By Bernice Karnop They say everybody has a story. Jo Lutnes, director of Spearfish South Dakota Convention and Visitor Center, says the animals at the Spirit of the Hills Wildlife Sanctuary also have stories.

There’s Hercules, for example. He’s a Barbary lion that someone bought as a cub and tried to raise as a house cat. They allowed him to sleep on the kid’s bunk bed at night, and during the day they locked him in the bathroom.

“They couldn’t figure out why he ate through the wall to get out,” Jo says.

“Sometimes people are amazing.”

Stories of Rescued Critters - The Spirit of the Hills Wildlife Sanctuary, which moved to Spearfish from Canada seven years ago, rescued Hercules from being killed for his destructive ways.

Other rescues include a beautiful leopard that was used as a jewelry model. Her modeling contract was canceled when she grew older and harder to handle. Jo wants visitors to the sanctuary to know that she still loves to pose.

A white Siberian tiger, named Sahib, would have been destroyed when he fell and hurt his back during a circus act. Dozens of cats, including a mountain lion, tiger, chervil, and ocelot came to the sanctuary when health

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challenges prevented their owners from continuing to care for them.

Resident animals include native, exotic, and domestic animals. The one thing they have in common is that they’ve all been rescued from a life-threatening situation. Those who can safely mingle with humans, roam freely. Others have large enclosures, separated by heavy duty double fencing.

Visitors may walk through this working wildlife rehabilitation center and take pictures of animals in their home. The sanctuary backs up to the National Forest and is hilly, so wear walking shoes. Individuals who aren’t strong walkers may make advanced arrangements to be driven through the sanctuary, currently a limited service, but with plans for expansion.

A Story on Sandstone - Non-natives were late invading the Black Hills. A story etched in sandstone may explain one reason.

It tells the verifiable story of seven Indiana men who came to the hills in 1833 hunting gold, even though whites were forbidden by law and treaty from entering the area. In 1834, the party found gold, but the Lakota saw to it that this gold rush, prior to the ’49 rush to California, never happened.

“All dead but me, Ezra Kind, killed by Indians behind the high hill…,” Kind scratched into the stone.

The mysterious stone was found on the slopes of Lookout Mountain near Spearfish, by Louis Thoen in 1877. A granite marker shaped like a tombstone on the hill above town has all the words from the Thoen Stone carved into it. If you look through a little circle on top of the marker your eye is guided to the place on the mountain where it was found.

Before Spearfish established its own museum, the Adams Museum in Deadwood was allowed to display the Thoen Stone. Visitors may see it there today.

The Story of the High Plains - The High Plains Western Heritage Center tells the story of the Spearfish area and the broader history of South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, and Nebraska. In addition to the displays, visitors see Western art, Indian artifacts, cowboy music, and cowboy poetry.

A Fish Story - It’s no story that the fishing is good near Spearfish, even for those who aren’t equipped with spears. At the D.C. Booth Historic National Fish Hatchery, you’ll hear some surprising tales about how trout were transported by train to this area in the 19th century. Visitors can even see one of the ten fish rail cars ever built.

Although it’s no longer a working hatchery, it is the archival site of the entire federal fish and wildlife system. At one time, fish raised here were sent all over the west, including to Yellowstone Park.

The grounds of the D.C. Booth Fish Hatchery look like a park. It’s just a block from downtown Spearfish, but the grounds abut to Spearfish canyon, and Spearfish Creek runs through it. Jo remembers driving around a corner and seeing half a dozen deer standing in the snow. In the winter, a bronze statue of a man with his granddaughter sports a scarf and stocking cap. “The way the light hits the statue you’d swear they were just walking down from the creek,” Jo says.

“It’s a beautiful, beautiful setting, one of the best kept secrets of the Hills, she says. “I do my best to tell people about it.”

Stories at the Opera House - The Matthews Opera House in Spearfish celebrated its centennial in 2006. It’s been restored to its century-old glory and performances draw crowds year round. Matthews, a wealthy rancher, built it for his wife, who missed the finer things of life when she moved from back east.

Today it hosts shows, concerts, touring companies, and amateurs. There’s a fiddling festival each fall. Other events include young musicians, a brown bag lunch series, and a foreign film series.

An Indian Story: Dances With Wolves - Who can forget the haunting beauty of the winter camp in the movie Dances with Wolves? These scenes were filmed in Spearfish Canyon and you can relive that story at the undisturbed site.

Stories on a Sphere - If you’ve ever felt as if you were living like a fish in a bowl, you might enjoy artist Dick Termes’ Termesphere Gallery.

Instead of using a flat canvas, he stretches his canvas into a sphere and paints with a 360 degree perspective.

“It really gives an interesting perspective on life,” Jo says about one that shows the fish’s perspective from inside his bowl.

One of Termes’ favorite subjects is churches.

He’s painted the inside of Notre Dame in Paris, and the Loretto Chapel in Santa Fe. The Termesphere Gallery is predictably round, as are his studio and his home. According to Jo, he loves to have people come in and talk or ask questions.

Termes has gone global with his work, the largest of which is seven feet in diameter and on display in corporate offices in Tokyo, Japan.

More Stories - Even some of the restaurants in Spearfish have a story. Take the English Pub downtown. The “real live English proprietor” from the Manchester area is a Mr. David Potter. He tells everybody he’s Harry’s uncle!

There are more than 750 motel rooms, four campgrounds, and nearly a dozen B&B Inns in Spearfish, so come on over and stay!

To learn more about Spearfish and the surrounding area, log on to www.visitspearfish.com or call the Chamber of Commerce, 1-800-6268031.

MSN

MONTANA SENIOR NEWS PAGE 41

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Let’s go back in time to when vinyl records were our source of music and rock n’ roll was king. Our winning contest is from Julie Hollar of Choteau whose Rock And Roll Memories quiz takes us back in time to when we spun records. Thank you, Julie.

Congratulations to Kathy Sweatt of Ronan who submitted the winning answers to the We Should Know Something About Montana quiz that appeared in our February/March 2009 issue. Thank you, Kathy Two $10 cash prizes are awarded from the “Contest Corner” in each issue of the Montana Senior News. One prize goes to the person who submits the entry that our staff selects as the featured quiz or puzzle in the “Contest Corner” for that issue. Be creative and send us some good, fun, and interesting puzzles!

The second $10 prize goes to the person who submits the most correct answers to the featured quiz or puzzle from the previous issue. When there is a tie, the winner is determined by a drawing.

Please mail your entries to the Montana Senior News, P.O. Box 3363, Great Falls, MT 59403, or email to montsrnews@bresnan.net by May 10, 2009 for our June/July 2009 edition.

Be sure to work the crossword puzzle on our website www.montanaseniornews.com.

Rock and roll memories

Submitted by Julie Hollar Ok, all you cool cats and slick chicks, let’s see how cool you really are. Don’t cheat ‘cause you know that ain’t neat. Write a, b, or c down for your answer to the following questions, then check the answers at the end.

1. When did ‘Little Suzie’ finally wake up? a) The movie’s over, it’s 2 o’clock b) The movie’s over, it’s 3 o’clock c) The movie’s over, it’s 4 o’clock 2. “Rock Around The Clock” was used in what movie? a) Rebel Without A Cause b) Blackboard Jungle

c) The Wild Ones 3. What’s missing? ____ Baby, Earth ____, ____ On My Shoulder. a) Angel b) Head c) Song 4. “I found my thrill...” where? a) Kansas City b) Heartbreak Hotel c) Blueberry Hill 5. “Please turn on your magic beam, ____ bring me a dream” a) Mr. Sandman b) Earth Angel c) Dream Lover 6. For which label did Elvis Presley first record?

APRIL/MAY 2009

a) Chancellor b) RCA c) Sun 7. Who asked, “Why’s everybody always pickin’ on me?” a) Bad Bad Leroy Brown b) Charlie Brown c) Buster Brown 8. In Bobby Darin’s “Mack The Knife” the one with the knife was

named: a) MacHeath b) MacCloud c) MacNamara 9. Name the song with “A-wop bop a-loo bop a-lop bam boom”? a) Good Golly Miss Molly b) Be-Bop-A-Lula c) Tutti Fruitti 10. Who is generally given credit

Across 5. Santa __ 1. Super Bowl winners in 1999 6. Iridescent gem 5. National Championship winners in 7. Mouse giant?

College Football and men’s basket- 8. Triathlete ball in 2007 (goes with 16 across) 10. Goes with dot 9. Winning coach in the NFL gets an 13. Military leave, for short ___ - bath 14. British prince 11. Good enough to win at the 2007 15. Most popular person Masters 17. Nobel prize winner for literature, 12. Oscar winning best actor in 1992 who wrote: “ The Adventures of Au(2 words) gie March” (first name) 16. See 5 across 20. ____ Donna 18. Midday 23. Long time ago 19. Occasional worker 26. Biggest NASCAR winner of all21. Winner’s have this attitude (2 time: ____ Petty words) 27. Song 22. Position of the Heisman winner 30. Big golf winner, Arnold in 2006 31. Usian Bolt’s fellow Jamaican 24. Morning sprinter, Powell 25. Hospital based show 33. __ __ rule 26. Opposite of pobre 34. American Top 40 song that holds 28. Everyone the record for the most weeks at 29. Initials of the Super Bowl winners number one in 2005 37. Star Wars director 31. Every winner must ___ high 38. Sandwich bar 32. Indy 500 champion in 2005, 42. Heisman trophy winner in 2002, Wheldon first name 35. Defunct airline 43. Baseball area 36. Boxer’s weight check machine 44. Gets points 39. Printer maker 45. Mena locale 40. Steven’s Spielberg’s mother who 47. Jacksonville coach last name, gave her last name to the Princess Del ____ in Star Wars 48. Alien who was too good for 41. Succeeded earth 44. Golfer, Sneed 51. Author LeShan 46. Joke 52. One of the best golfers of all 49. “I am the greatest” boxer time, first name 50. Kentucky Derby winner who had 59. Overtime, for short the fastest time ever in 1973 60. To and ___ 53. Ma___, Santana song girl 61. Cut off 54. Wedding agreement (2 words) 62. Arts degree 55. Newport locale 63. TV channel for mysteries, ini56. Two, in Madrid tials 57. Player of golf 64. Oakland baseball team 58. Oriental game 60. Fastest woman in the world (nickname) - still holds February-March 2009 - Page 33 the records for 100 and 200m 62. Put money on it 63. Record breaking home run hitter, Hank 65. Practice box 66. Most well known fable writer!

67. Promotion Down 1. Super Bowl MVP for the Patriots in 2005, last name 2. Protagonist 3. Combat information center, for short 4. Muscle

Answers to “We Should Know Something About Montana”

1. John Steinbeck 2. Abraham Lincoln in May 1864 3. Phil Jackson 4. Mark Twain 5. Jeannette Rankin 6. Chet Huntley 7. 1 percent or 1,658 square miles 8. Marias Pass 9. Lucille Ball

10. About 5,000 lives 11. The Smithsonian Institution 12. Charles M. Russell 13. The dimensions of a grave – 3 feet wide, 7 feet long, and 77 inches deep 14. Gary Cooper 15. Flathead Lake 16. About 1,800 votes

17. Patrick Duffy 18. Helena 19. Snowmelt drains into the Pacific Ocean, Hudson’s Bay, and the Gulf of Mexico 20. 250 days 22. Bobby Petrino 22. 162 23. Dana Carvey 24. Myrna Loy

for the term “Rock And Roll”? a) Dick Clark b) Wolfman Jack c) Alan Freed 11. In 1957, he left the music business to become a preacher. a) Little Richard b) Frankie Lymon c) Tony Orlando 12. Paul Anka’s “Puppy Love” is

MONTANA SENIOR NEWS PAGE 43

written to what star? a) Brenda Lee b) Connie Francis c) Annette Funicello 13. The Everly Brothers are... a) Pete and Dick b) Don and Phil c) Bob and Bill MSN

PAGE 44 MONTANA SENIOR NEWS

APRIL/MAY 2009

Book Review - continued from page 7 and his fingers. And it was something Tepee Weepy could not reach.” He carries the manuscript everywhere with him and as the teammates huddle in bunkers or let off steam in an Officer’s Club, they remember.

Through these memories, Doig acquaints the reader with each character from his background to those fateful college days, to the war in which they find themselves. Their shared history is also the thread that holds the story together and at the same time moves it along to the unexpected ending.

Using the characters, Doig acquaints the reader with WWII on all fronts. As you might expect, he takes us to Guam, a ship in the South Pacific, and Belgium. But he also takes us to Alaska, a

base off the coast of Washington state, and to a forest service smokejumper camp near Seeley Lake. In his way, Doig pays tribute to men and women, to the Navy, the Marines, the Army, the Air Corps, the Coast Guard, and even to the conscientious objectors. He also visits the home front and acknowledges how the family left behind handles it all.

“War mocked the notion of some sort of order in the human race.” Ben Reinking has come to understand that all too well. He has accepted his orders, and continues to “serve… dutifully… during the duration.” But he is eager to “reconstitute [himself] when the peace came in whatever measure.

Get on with the existence [he was] cut out for.”

It is this mocking of the order in the human race that Doig focuses on in The Eleventh Man and it is what makes this novel another hit for one of Montana’s favorite authors. He is the author of eight previous novels and three works of nonfiction.

Doig was finalist for the 1979 National Book Award and one of the nominees worldwide for the 2008 International IMPAC Dublin Literacy Award. MSN

I was just thinkin’…

Submitted by Julie Hollar How is it that we put a person on the moon before we figured out it would be a good idea to put wheels on luggage?

Why is it that people say they “slept like a baby” when babies wake up every two hours?

If a deaf person goes to court, is it still called a hearing?

Why are you in a movie, but you are on TV? Why do people pay to go up tall buildings and then put money in binoculars to look at things on the ground? MSN

APRIL/MAY 2009

MONTANA SENIOR NEWS PAGE 45

These Tips Can Help You Avoid Identity Theft Submitted by Jack Smith Everyone has heard horror stories about the fraud that is committed through the theft of name, address, Social Security number, and credit cards. Taking the following steps can reduce your risk of identity theft.

1. Do not sign the back of your credit cards. Instead, put “Photo ID Required.”

2. When you are writing checks to pay your credit card accounts, do not put the complete account number on the “For” line. Instead, just put the last four numbers. The credit card company knows the rest of the number, and no one who might be handling your check as it passes through all the check-processing channels will have access to it.

3. Put your work phone number on your checks instead of your home phone. If you have a P.O. Box use that instead of your street address. If you do not have a P.O. Box, use your work address. Never have your Social Security number printed on your checks. You can add it if it is necessary, but if you have it printed, anyone has access to it.

4. Copy the contents of your wallet on a photocopy machine. Do both sides of each license, credit card, etc. This way, if your wallet is lost or stolen, you will know what you had in your wallet and all of the account numbers and phone numbers to call to cancel. Keep the photocopy in a safe place. Also, carry a photocopy of your passport when you travel either here or abroad.

The following scenario is an example of what could happen when your wallet is lost or stolen. Within a week, the thieves could order an expensive monthly cell phone package, apply for a VISA credit card, have a credit line approved to buy a Dell computer, receive a PIN number from DMV to change driving record information online, and much more.

But here is some more critical information to limit the damage in case this happens to you or someone you know: 1. We have been told we should cancel our credit cards immediately.

But the key is having the toll-free numbers and your card numbers handy so you know whom to call. Keep those where you can find them.

2. File a police report immediately in the jurisdiction where your credit cards, etc. were stolen.

This proves to credit providers you were diligent, and this is a first step toward an investigation (if there ever is one).

3. Most important of all, call the three national credit-reporting organizations immediately to place a fraud alert on your name and call the Social Security fraud line number. The alert means any company that checks your credit knows your information was stolen, and they have to contact you by phone to authorize new credit.

In the scenario above, it is easy to see how the thieves would have been stopped in their tracks had calls been made to the credit reporting agencies.

If your wallet has been stolen or should you suspect a similar threat, here are the numbers you must contact immediately in addition to your credit card numbers: • Equifax: 1-800-525-6285 • Experian (formerly TRW): 1-888-397-3742 • Trans Union: 1-800-680 7289 • Social Security Administration (fraud line): 1-800-269-0271 MSN

It Is Tax Time and the Rules Do Not Get Any Easier

By Tait Trussell, Senior Wire Carl Shoup had the right idea.

Shoup was a prominent public finance economist who worked at the U.S. Treasury in the early days of Social Security. He was involved in discussions about whether or not Social Security benefits should be taxed.

It was decided that because the benefits would not amount to much money (this was 50 years ago), it was not worth the administrative hassle to tax them. Today benefits top $600 billion. Now, as you know, our benefits are subject to taxation.

Single beneficiaries making more than $25,000 and married beneficiaries with incomes of more than $32,000 have been taxed since 1983. The recession in 1981-82 shrank payroll tax revenues. Also, outlays went up as older people who needed the money increasingly decided to apply for benefits early.

The Social Security Trust Fund tilted toward empty. So, a commission was formed, headed

by Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan, to seek a remedy.

Republicans in Congress wanted to cut the growth in benefits. Democrats leaned toward raising the payroll tax. The Greenspan Commission finally agreed to a combination of choices.

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APRIL/MAY 2009

One was to levy an income tax on 50 percent of benefits above a certain amount. Another decision was to raise the age at which future beneficiaries could collect Social Security checks.

The extra money from taxation went into the Trust Fund, which currently is gradually being depleted.

President Clinton led Congress to an increase again in 1993 so that once the income of beneficiaries exceeded $34,000 for a single person and $44,000 for married couples, the tax jumped to 85 percent of benefits that now have to be included in taxable income.

Because the income thresholds were not adjusted for inflation or wage growth, more and more beneficiaries will be subject to income taxes and the average tax payment will go up in the future.

In the Social Security System, the employer pays half of the payroll tax.

Employees pay the other half. But the employer’s half is tax-deductible.

The employee’s half is not. Is that fair? Maybe not.

Moreover, benefits are set by a formula more beneficial to those who earned lower wages during their working life. Is that fair? Maybe so.

As for retirement savings options, complexity is the case. There are 401ks, 403bs, IRAs, Roth IRAs, SEPs, etc. all with different regulations.

Whether it makes sense or not, many people have more taxes than necessary withheld from their income. They seem to like the discipline furnished by withholding, even though they earn nothing from the amount withheld.

Recent stock market losses are naturally of greater concern to seniors who are well off financially. The lower half of the aging population does not save as much for retirement. Some cannot. So Our clients like they heavily rely on Social Security income. knowing we’re right “The median household over age 50 has 50 around the corner. percent of retirement accounts invested in stock, but declines to 25 percent over the age of 70,” acWe like knowing they cording to Rudolph Penner, writing in the Public trust us to help their Policy & Aging Report of the National Academy family and friends. on an Aging Society.

In January, Congress okayed a temporary Sterling Market Manager, pension bailout suspending the requirement that Edward Kosmos seniors withdraw their mandatory minimum distribution from their IRA for 2009.

“Current estate tax law is most peculiar,” writes Penner. “By 2009 the estate tax exclusion had reached $3.5 million and the top tax rate was 45 percent. The tax is scheduled to disappear in 2010, but then resume in 2011 with an exclusion of $1 million and a top tax rate of 55 percent. Few believe this will happen, and there is likely to be a Wise Choices Begin with a Clear Understanding. compromise before the end of 2009.”

The complexity of the Internal Revenue Code is such that it now takes 7.6 billion hours spent each year preparing Americans’ tax returns.

Pity the poor low-income worker who has to use a 56-page instruction manual to figure out how to get his so-called earned income tax break.

Tax complexities may be blamed for the fact that three of President Obama’s choices for his For years, Sterling Health Plans has helped people just like you get the most cabinet have run into tax troubles. Their failure to out of Medicare and their health care. And we’d like to add you to the family. pay certain taxes, however, cannot be attributed entirely to the complications of the tax code.

We are very proud of the fact that our clients like how we do business.

Incredibly, Charlie Rangel, chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, which writes the We hope we can provide the same caring service for you. tax laws, has tax problems, too. He admitted he failed to pay taxes owed in connection with rental property he owns.

The IRS, in its annual survey of taxpayers just Call toll-free 1-866-217-3666 from 5 am to 8 pm Pacific time. found that nine out of 10 people say it is “not at all” acceptable to cheat on taxes. MSN Hearing impaired persons may call our TTY line toll-free 1-888-858-8567.

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Counting Up the Money

By Jonathan J. David, Senior Wire Dear Jonathan: What is the current estate tax exemption?

Jonathan says: The estate tax exemption amount increased to $3.5 million dollars effective January 1, 2009. Consequently, anyone who dies in 2009 with an estate of $3.5 million dollars or less will not have to pay any federal estate taxes.

Dear Jonathan: The annual gift tax exclusion is $12,000 per donee per year. Does that amount stay the same in 2009?

Jonathan says: No. Effective January 1, 2009, the annual gift tax exclusion was increased to $13,000 per donee per year.

Dear Jonathan: I recently saw a lawyer about drafting a last will and testament. When we met, and after explaining what I wanted to do, the lawyer recommended that I not only prepare a last will and testament, but also prepare a trust for probate avoidance, as well as financial and health care power of attorneys. I came away from the meeting somewhat disillusioned because I did not want to make it that complicated or costly. Was the lawyer selling me a bill of goods?

Jonathan says: Actually, no, at least as to the preparation of the financial power of attorney and healthcare power of attorney, in addition to your last will and testament. As for preparing a trust for probate avoidance, that may have been an appropriate recommendation depending upon your circumstances. If you have any assets that would have to go through probate, i.e., assets that are titled in your name alone at the time of death, and you want those assets to avoid probate, then you might want to consider implementing a trust.

As for the financial durable power of attorney and healthcare durable power of attorney, both of these documents are crucial with any estate plan. Without having these documents in place, upon a person’s disability, someone would have to petition the probate court in the county of that person’s residence in order to name a guardian and/or conservator to act on that person’s behalf.

Having these documents in place ahead of time obviates the need to file for a guardian/ conservatorship on behalf of that individual.

Having said the above, I understand your frustration since in the past I have had clients call me asking what it would cost to have a simple last will and testament drawn. Typically, in those cases, I advise the client of what it would cost to prepare a will, but also tell them that besides the last will and testament there are other documents that are just as important that they should consider implementing.

At least I have advised them of what I think should be done and then they can decide what they ultimately want to do. In your case, there is nothing that requires you to act on your attorney’s recommendations, so if you are not interested in implementing those additional documents, tell the lawyer that you appreciate his or her advice and recommendations, but at this time all you want to do (or can afford to do) is prepare a last will and testament. Good luck! MSN

Kids say some surprising things Submitted by Julie Hollar Six-year old Angie, and her four-year old brother, Joel, were sitting together in church. Joel giggled, sang, and talked aloud.

Finally, his big sister had enough. “You’re not supposed to talk out loud in church.”

“Why? Who’s going to stop me?” Joel asked.

Angie pointed to the back of the church and said, “See those two men standing by the door?

They’re hushers.” MSN

MONTANA SENIOR NEWS PAGE 47

PAGE 48 MONTANA SENIOR NEWS

APRIL/MAY 2009

Thinking back into our past we can all find something we did that provided us with an important lesson. Lured by glitter, glamour, or appearance that frivolous decision we made long ago probably formed the basis for a more prudent and thrifty lifestyle.

Our winning Remember When contributor is Ann Miller of Kalispell whose story Been There And Done That relates the story of an unexpected prize and how she spent it with abandonment. Thank you and congratulations to Ann, the winner of our $10 Remember When prize.

Remember When contains our readers’ personal reflections, contributions describing fictional

or non-fictional accounts from the “Good ol’ Days,” or reflections on life in general. Contributions may be stories, letters, artwork, poetry, etc. Photos may be included.

Each issue of the Montana Senior News features the contributions deemed best by our staff.

The contributor of the winning entry receives a $10 cash prize.

We look forward to receiving your contributions for our June/July 2009 issue. Mail your correspondence to Montana Senior News, P.O. Box 3363, Great Falls, MT 59403; email to montsrnews@ bresnan.net; or call 1-800-672-8477 or 406-7610305.

Been There And Done That

By Ann Miller, Kalispell Memory takes me back 85 years to the 4th of July. I was a 10-year-old country girl, tousle-haired, barefoot, and wearing a faded cotton dress. I was all agog, our impoverished, farm family was actually going to town to spend an unprecedented day doing nothing but enjoying ourselves. And I was wondering if I had courage enough to compete in the foot race, and face my peers, the formidable city children!

Bolstered by my Norwegian background (do or die) I entered the race and to my utter astonishment won the $5 prize. Holding this unheard of wealth in my grubby hand, I knew (woman-like) that there was only one thing to do. Spend it!

Suiting action to words, I flew on my bare, gazelle-like feet and made a beeline for Lena’s Department Store - an emporium packed to the rafters with needs and frivolities to delight the feminine heart.

It was obvious to any observer that I could use a nice dress for $1.75 or a shiny pair of shoes for $1.98, but I never gave these items a glance – I was looking for frou-frou!

With the $5 burning up in my hand, I spent an hour in indecision. I passed up the ribbons,

parasols, Paris scents, and figurines, and finally settled for a bright blue shirred satin purse for $4.98 – where the two cents change rattled forlornly in its depths.

In retrospect, I marvel that my poor, hardworking mother never once scolded or chided me for my foolish purchase - fool’s gold. Is there something in every female heart, whether young or old, that yearns and treasures the beautiful, often unattainables of our mundane world?

Eighty-five years later, I question this long-ago reasoning. As I once more review my circumstances at the time, do we women have to have a reason? First, I definitely needed the dress and shoes, but since I seldom went to town and never had any money, why would I need a purse? Today, backed by the wisdom of the years, I would have opted for the shoes and dress, and then treated the family to ice cream cones with the change.

And that is my two cents worth for July. May there be a safe and happy 4th for everyone.

Fly the flag on high, It’s Independence Day. Enjoy the freedom that is ours In the good old U.S.A.! MSN

Driving The Butte Hill

By Clare Hafferman When fall departs and winter approaches, bags of sand appear in the back of pick-ups, shovels come out of hiding, and studded tires emerge from the garage.

Westerners know that blizzards, whiteouts, rain on top of ice, rock-strewn highways, and drifted shut roads are hazards most drivers who have gripped the wheel know. A conversation with a friend on how both of us had encountered these conditions made me remember how I first learned to drive in the winter.

When I was growing up in a much less populated area, all you had to do to obtain a driver’s license was to visit the county courthouse and pay a small fee. I did this when I was fourteen.

My parents had recently purchased a small

1936 or 1937 Ford sedan. It was in excellent shape because it was one of those cars that really had been owned by a little old lady who only drove it to church or to get groceries. My older sister, Judy, and I were designated to drive our younger siblings to school. On the days our Mom needed the car, we walked, rode a bike, or in bitter weather, hitched a ride in the back of the hay truck when Dad drove it to work at his gas station in town. You can imagine hopping out of a hay truck when you were a teenager. Angst was a word invented for that situation.

My first lessons in learning to drive took place in that truck. Dad had cut and baled the hay to feed our cows and he wanted me to follow him around while he pitched bales into the back of the truck.

His instructions were simple. He drew the differ-

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ent gears in the dust on the dashboard and explained, “Here’s first, here’s second, and here’s third. Reverse is down and over, but you won’t need it.

Just follow me slow, and don’t shift unless you push in the clutch. That’s the important thing.”

Lurching along in sort of a bucking, snorting manner, I learned to drive that afternoon. Slowly but surely and though never being a fan of fast in anything mechanical, I got the hang of piloting that metal behemoth. Around and around I drove, and Dad pitched until he had cleared the pasture.

Later in the year, my Dad had to make a trip to Butte and he took me along to share the driving. Since trips away from home were rare, I was happy to go. It was winter, and the highways were covered with snow and ice.

When we reached the top of the Butte hill, Dad stopped the car and said, “Okay, I want you to take us to the bottom.” I know he did that to teach me to drive winter roads, but my apprehension was justified when I viewed the course. A “mile high and a mile deep” with the twinkling lights of Butte far in the distance I would be driving down a long series of switchbacks that looked slippery, forbidding, and were edged with snow and backed on either side with rocks and huge boulders. Luckily, the road was not crowded and as we descended, I learned to tap the brakes, go slowly, and take my time around the curves. My Dad was a patient teacher and we arrived safely in Butte with me as a very relieved student.

Years later, my lessons came into play when my husband was working for the Park Service near Page, Arizona. He, our three children, and I lived in a trailer park outside of Page, and that December we had a significant snowstorm.

The day before Christmas, I headed out to pick up the presents I had ordered from Sears and that were now at the Post Office in Page, which was at the top of a steep hill. After stowing the packages, I eased out of Page and started back down the hill. However, something had been added to the scene - now two cars were in the ditch on one side and across the road, another one lay sideways in the sand and snow.

I knew I could not stop on the slippery hill and in any case, there was nothing I could do. A look at the cars showed me the drivers had evidently crawled out and gone for help. The vehicles looked dented, but not badly damaged.

After negotiating the hill and the stalled vehicles, I headed for home on straight highway and thought, “Thanks, Dad.” Then checking the mirror for the scene behind me, I added to myself, “It’s obvious none of you people learned to drive on the Butte hill!” MSN

Work is play for sapphire mine’s assistant manager

By Dianna Troyer Just one more. That is the obvious and contagious attitude of people of all ages, from employees like semi-retired assistant manager David Dickinson to customers who are sorting through gravel with tweezers to search for sapphires at Gem Mountain, a mine near Philipsburg northwest of Anaconda.

Looking around, it seems treasure hunters here regard sapphires in the same way that happily obsessed anglers view fish – they’re never enough and never big enough.

As we buy sapphire gravel that David has shoveled into a bucket, we admit we are firsttime customers, so he offers to show us how to wash it and get started.

“I have such a good time here, and I get paid to boot,” says David, 62. Although his jeans and T-shirt are splattered with mud from splashing in water most of the day, he grins. “Most people who come [Photo by Dianna Troyer] here are on vacation, so we want to make sure they have a good time and want to come back to Montana. We get a lot of return customers, or people who hear about us by word-of-mouth.”

MONTANA SENIOR NEWS PAGE 49

Cancer Center Team Care for Colorectal Cancer Billings Clinic Cancer Center’s multi-disciplinary colorectal cancer team, led by Surgeon Scott Dull, MD, collaborates to provide comprehensive cancer care. t Gastroenterologists work with surgeons, medical and radiation oncologists for the best care. t Colorectal cancer navigator Christine Kuehl, RN, educates and coordinates care for patients and their families. t Promising colorectal cancer research trials are available. t Colorectal ultrasound is available for the most accurate staging and treatment – only Billings Clinic offers this advanced technology for our region. t A holistic approach includes attention to patients’ physical, emotional and spiritual needs.

For an appointment, call 238-2501 or 1-800-332-7156.

Read our colon cancer patient story at www.amysstory.com.

www.billingsclinic.com/cancer

Where it all comes together.

PAGE 50 MONTANA SENIOR NEWS

APRIL/MAY 2009

He pours gravel into a 12-inch square sluice box. My husband, our daughter, and I watch how he washes it in a water trough, gently agitating the box up and down and side to side to get the sapphires, which are heavier than stone, to settle in the middle.

As the water sloshes, he tells us about Montana sapphires. Geological forces blessed the state with sapphires of all colors, instead of mostly blue sapphires as in other parts of the world.

“Montana sapphires are prized for their wide color range from blues and greens to yellow or pink, all the colors in the rainbow,” David says. “Impurities in the stones create the colors. Iron produces yellow; iron plus titanium make blue; and chromium creates pink. People find some rubies, too.”

Satisfied with the washing, he finds an empty table and quickly turns the box upside down. There in the middle he points out some sapphires, which resemble small pieces of tumbled glass.

As we sort, he tells us about the first miners at Gem Mountain. They were searching for gold - not gemstones. The sapphires kept clogging up the sluice boxes, until one curious miner sent a sapphire away for analysis.

“He got a check back for $400, which made him

rich at that time,” David says. The sapphires soon became more prized than gold and were sold for watch jewels and fine instrument bearings.

Like early miners, Gem Mountain owner Chris Cooney, who wanders over to see how we are doing, was lured into the sapphire trade more by chance than choice.

“I do riparian rehabilitation projects, and the previous owners were selling the business and had equipment I needed,” recalls Chris who bought the mine in 2000. “I never intended to have a retail sapphire business.”

Like those early miners afflicted with gold fever, David says he can understand why some people get sapphire fever.

“Sapphires are considered a precious gem, in the same class as a diamond. You can find something quite valuable here and be the first person to see it. Having jewelry made from a sapphire you found is more personalized and meaningful for a lot of people than buying jewelry at a store.”

With the sapphires he has found, David says he has had earrings, necklaces, and rings made for his wife, Linda.

Today, visitors to Gem Mountain can find sapphires as large as the ones historically found.

“We’ve had people find numerous stones up to 14 carats, about the size of a small marble,” David says. “The biggest one I found was a blue 10-carat sapphire. We’re still deciding what to do with it.”

As we sort through the gravel with tweezers, David points out a sapphire we nearly missed, then tells us how he came to work at Gem Mountain.

In November 2001, when he retired after working 40 years with Safeway, he and Linda were living in Coeur d’Alene. The following summer, they decided to visit Gem Mountain because they had fond memories of previous experiences there.

Chris, the owner, noticed David, a self-described rock hound, was there so often that he offered him a job.

“I was 55 at the time and needed a little income to supplement my Safeway pension,” David says.

“I told Chris I wanted a job outside, because at Safeway I was a produce manager. It is a reversal of anything I have done before, because I had always been indoors. There are some similarities to my previous work because I’m still dealing with customers and working with people.”

Since 2002, David has been supervising a crew of 15 teens, who shovel and sell buckets of gravel to customers from throughout the U.S. and foreign countries.

“The buckets can weigh up to 25 pounds, if the gravel is wet,” says David, who works four 10-hour days from May to October and often goes rock hounding elsewhere in Montana on his days off.

“One day, I shoveled 800 buckets. I was so tired, I couldn’t even eat supper that evening. Working here is really physical, so it helps me stay active and shed my winter weight gain.”

Eventually, the Dickinsons sold their home in Coeur d’Alene and became full-time RVers. “We park our fifth wheel here, and I can walk to work.

When the season is over, we travel south for the winter. It’s the best of both worlds.”

After about two hours of washing and sorting through four buckets of gravel, David encourages us to take our sapphires to the office for analysis.

Inside, a half-dozen employees sit at long light tables where they evaluate and grade the gems.

To make a sapphire into jewelry, it should be at least one carat or larger. Our treasure hunt yielded 11.34 carats of gem quality stones and about 33 carats of small or flawed stones. Heat treating the sapphires to clarify the color, faceting them and setting them into jewelry can take several months.

Mud-splattered and grinning, we leave the office to head home. We say goodbye to David, who is back at the water trough enthusiastically demonstrating yet again how to wash the gravel to help another novice sapphire hunter find “just one more.” MSN

I was just thinkin’…

Submitted by Julie Hollar

Why do doctors leave the room while you change? They are going to see you naked anyway.

Why do toasters always have a setting that burns the toast to a horrible crisp, which no decent human being would eat?

If Jimmy cracks corn and no one cares, why is there a stupid song about him?

If Wile E. Coyote had enough money to buy all that ACME stuff, why didn’t he just buy dinner?

If electricity comes from electrons, does morality come from morons?

Do the Alphabet song and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star have the same tune? Why did you just try singing these two songs?

Why do they call it an asteroid when it is outside the hemisphere, but call it a hemorrhoid when it is in your behind?

Did you ever notice that when you blow in a dog’s face, he gets mad at you, but when you take him for a car ride, he sticks his head out the window?

Why do we press harder on a remote control when we know the batteries are getting dead?

Why is it that no plastic bag will open from the end on your first try? MSN

APRIL/MAY 2009

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Chuck Richards Is A Businessman With a Big Heart

By Connie Daugherty chased the would-be thief for several blocks. “I “I always thought I’d like to have a store, but was right on him all the time.”

I never thought I would,” says Butte’s Chuck Finally, unable to shake his pursuer, the Richards. However, when the opportunity came young man stopped and returned the shirts with to fulfill his dream, he made it happen. That was an apology. Chuck took the shirts and walked in 1956. And, Chuck has owned Richards & Ro- back to his store. “I would have given him a shirt chelle Men’s Store ever since. This soft-spoken, if he had asked,” Chuck says, “but I wasn’t going elegantly dressed man with the ready smile is as to let him steal them.” Integrity, generosity, and much an institution of determination seem to Butte’s Uptown as is his be innate traits for this shop. gentleman.

Today, as he counts Chuck was born th down to his 88 birthday, Ernest Charles RichChuck still goes into ards in 1920 in the north work five days a week Butte neighborhood of - he recently started Centerville. Although he taking Wednesdays off was an only child and which pleases his wife showered with attention, - and he cannot imagine he was never indulged doing anything else. In or spoiled. He was ex1980 at the age of sixty, pected to contribute to he bought out his former society and earn his way. partner and now operIt was this expectation [Photo by Connie Daugherty] ates the store with his that led him to his job son. Most mornings before they open their store, at Spier’s in 1936. Jim Spier was a Russian born you will see them walking along Park Street. They tailor and he hired Chuck and other young boys walk from the store to Montana Tech, about a to help clean up around his shop. three-mile trek up and down hills. “I think keeping While working for Mr. Spier, Chuck developed active is what keeps me young,” Chuck says. an interest in business in general and in the clothOne summer afternoon about six years ago, a ing business in particular. Therefore, after he twenty-something found out just how active Chuck graduated from high school he attended the Butte could be. He was just retuning from the dumpster Business School. Then, like so many young men, out back when he spotted a young man sneaking Chuck found his path redirected by World War II. around the corner and up the alley. “When I saw In 1942, he joined the Marines and spent eighhe had shirts, I took off after him,” Chuck recalls. It teen months in the South Pacific. “I was fortunate,” was an instinctive reaction - he did not even think he says. “The Lord was with me.” He recalls some twice. Chuck, the eighty-something shop owner of his experiences with a sigh and obvious desire to

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leave them in the past. Although he left the war and its unpleasant experiences in the past, he never left the Marine Corps behind. For several years after his discharge, he continued to serve as a Reservist and today is a member of the Southwest Montana Marine League.

In 1945, he married his sweetheart, Stella, and in 1946, after his discharge from the Marines and after considering other job offers, Chuck and Stella returned to Butte. Chuck went back to work for his old boss, Jim Spier - this time as a salesman.

“He wanted me to come back,” Chuck explains.

“That and because we had family here is why we came back to Butte.”

Obviously impressed by his young protégé, Mr. Spier promised Chuck a first option to buy the business when he retired. That is how Chuck’s dream of owning a store became a reality in 1956.

But, it was not a gift and it was not easy.

“I didn’t have any money,” Chuck says remembering the day when his boss made good on his promise. Chuck had a wife and two young children.

He also had a friend.

“I walked across the street to Al’s Photo Shop where he was working and asked if he wanted to go into business.” Chuck’s friend, Remo Rochelle said yes and the rest, as they say, is history. The two young men scraped together enough money to buy out Mr. Spier.

“We didn’t have any money to actually open the store,” Chuck recalls of his first day as a storeowner. He did have some savings set aside for his children and that became the first day’s cash.

When Chuck and his partner opened the doors of Richards & Rochelle’s there were about a dozen men’s stores in uptown Butte. Today there are two. Shopping mall department stores have drawn people away from Main Street. Big box stores like Wal-Mart with low prices attract others. Over the last few years, the internet has become a factor. Some of these places carry the same or similar clothing lines. However, none of them provides what Chuck and his son Ernie do - personal service.

There is just something so inviting about walking into that long, narrow building and being greeted by a smile and a friendly, “How can I help you?” Go back a second or a third time and you will be greeted by name. Quality suits line the back walls. They take the time to find just the right shirt to go with the slacks you just bought. They talk to you about the weather and local happenings. They recognize you the next day when you see them at an uptown restaurant. Shopping is fun. You feel like a very important person, not just a nameless body to be rushed through the checkout line.

As a small business owner, Chuck has a stake in the community in which he grew up. As a former Marine, he has a stake in the well-being of the country. Although his fighting days are long behind him, Chuck continues to battle alongside fellow Marines in a different way.

Since 1991, Chuck has been in charge of the Marine’s annual Toys for Tots drive. Every year he arranges for collection bins to be placed around town. Every year he makes space in the basement of his store for toy storage. Every year he coordinates with the Salvation Army and the Butte Human Services Department to be sure that disadvantaged children have a gift on Christmas Day. Moreover, all this takes place during his busiest time of the year - during the time of the year that many business owners do not have time to focus on giving.

Although Chuck downplays his role in this endeavor and insists on sharing the credit for its success with others, the shiny plaques of appreciation that line the wall of his office tell a different story. It is clear that Chuck is appreciated by those who know him and can thank him, and by those who do not even know of his existence. Recently he received the Non-Rotarian, “Best Citizen” award from the Butte Rotary Club, an award of which he is particularly proud because it came as a complete surprise and from one of the civic organizations.

It is clear to all of Butte that Chuck Richards is a successful businessman because he is a successful human being. MSN

MONTANA SENIOR NEWS PAGE 53

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Celebrating Chinese New Year in Butte America The noise starts slowly at first. As the crowd gathers around the steps of the Butte Silver Bow County Courthouse on a recent mid-afternoon in February, children are throwing “snaps” – tissue wrapped bundles of sand coated, impact-sensitive material – to the ground.

Many revelers have brought their own noisemakers – pots and pans, whistles, and firecrackers – from home in order to join in the annual parade billed as Montana’s shortest, loudest, and often coldest. However, today is unusually warm for a winter afternoon in Butte and by the time the president of the Mai Wah Society board steps up to the microphone to begin the festivities, the crowd has swelled to include a couple of hundred people of all ages.

The Mai Wah Society has hosted Chinese New Year (also known as the Lunar New Year) celebrations since 1998. The parade includes an authentic parade dragon donated to the people of Montana by the Taiwanese government and the lighting of 10,000 fireworks as the parade winds through several blocks of Uptown Butte to the Mai Wah Museum and Gift Shop on Mercury Street.

“Butte is well known for its melting pot of immigrants that congregated here from all over the world to work in the mines. While Butte’s Cornish, Serbian and, of course, Irish heritage is well known, around the turn of the previous century Butte also boasted a vibrant Chinese population,” explains Robert Edwards, President of the Mai

Wah Society. “This event honors those Chinese men and women who contributed so much to Butte and to Montana.”

Education is a key component of the Mai Wah Society’s mission, but it is the Mai Wah and Wah Chong Tai buildings that are the heart of the volunteer organization’s effort. The buildings are the last remaining vestiges of the once thriving Chinatown District. Now home to the Museum and Gift Shop, the building houses exhibits, and artifacts that tell the fascinating story of the Asian experience in Butte, Montana and the West.

“The parade is an amazingly unique experience, which is why every year there are people that travel from all over Montana and all over the World to be here,” says Edwards as he lights a string of fireworks during the parade. “This year we have visitors from as far away as Montreal who wanted to experience Butte’s Chinese New Year. So, while Butte is still best known for its St. Patrick’s Day celebration, it’s also becoming the ‘place to be’ on Chinese New Year!”

The Mai Wah Society is a 501(c)(3) not-forprofit organization established in 1991 to preserve and interpret the history, culture, and conditions of Asian people in the Rocky Mountain West. The Society collects and preserves artifacts, preserves historic buildings and sites, presents public exhibits, and supports research and publication of materials of scholarly and general interest.

The Museum and Gift Shop are open Tuesday – Saturday from 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. from June – September. For more information on the Mai Wah Society, the Museum, and the parade visit www. maiwah.org. MSN

APRIL/MAY 2009

The Friends of the Butte-Silver Bow Public Library The Friends of the Butte-Silver Bow Public Library is a non-profit group providing funding for programs and activities at the Library, focusing on children and young adult programs. Some of those programs include summer reading, Battle of the Books, monthly evening story hours, and monthly young adult programs. The Friends purchased four thousand dollars worth of new books for the young adult section.

The Friends provide a copier for public use. Every spring the “Friends” provide programs for adults that include a one-person Chautauqua, music, and general interest topics. The Friends are working on the reclamation of a large stained glass window from the original 1899 Butte Public Library. The Friends funded the retrieval of the stained glass window from Oregon and look forward to having the glass completely restored and hung in the current Library for the enjoyment of all.

Membership dues for the Friends group are reasonable and donations are always welcome. The Friends’ annual book sale is held in the spring.

Donations for the book sale are accepted year-round.

For more information about the Friends of the Butte-Silver Bow Public Library, please call the library at 406-723-3361 extension 6300. MSN

Preserving Butte’s Past

By Kim Thielman-Ibes “This is a labor of love,” says Bob McMurray with a wistful smile, “Because the history of this town is something else!” McMurray is one of four Butte residents who have been working on unearthing, chronicling, and sharing Butte’s rich and bawdry past through the Old Butte Historical Adventure’s guided walking tours of our nations’ largest historic landmark district.

“If you stand on Granite Street, in front of the Montana Standard Building and turn in a 180 degree arc, every building you’ll see is more than one hundred years old, many dating to the 1870s with a couple to the 1860s,” says Denny Dutton a Butte history buff and guide for the tours. He adds, “There are historical districts all over America, but Butte is the only urban historical district that is completely intact. This is what makes Butte so unique.”

Dutton notes that there was a time, during the 1960s and 1970s, when the mining company planned to demolish this historic downtown core and have it become part of the Berkeley Pit, moving town further down the hill.

“That’s why there were so many fires during this time,” he says, adding, “There were sixty-three buildings lost in total, all to fire, and most of them from arson. Not one person was convicted. Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed before it all burned.”

McMurray works alongside Dutton, Dick Gibson, and Pat Mohan to untangle, clean up, and preserve artifacts, architecture, and memories lurk-

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APRIL/MAY 2009

ing beneath Butte’s collapsed underground city, hidden within the crumbling walls of these historic buildings or, locked away in a tin casually tossed and forgotten with time.

“I can’t tell you what this means to me to preserve a wonderful piece of America,” says Dutton, “Here you had the poorest of the poor and the richest of the rich and you would find them rubbing elbows at the bar together.” Dutton and Mike Burns founded Old Butte Historical Adventures in 2004 and have since sold the business to Bob McMurray. The two started by providing evening walking tours within Butte’s historic district. One day, an old-timer’s story about a 1920s speakeasy in the basement of the historic Rockwood Hotel, caught their attention. Burns got permission from the owner of the Rockwood Hotel to check out the rumor. The speakeasy they unearthed, cleaned, and preserved turned out to be the most ornate west of the Mississippi with its terrazzo-tiled floors, sculpted architectural motifs, secret entry beneath the city, and its two-way mirrors to keep out miscreants and cops.

From the proceeds of these tours, they began working on more of Butte’s lost treasures. “Nobody had seen a lot of these places for eighty years or more,” adds Dutton, “Much of it was underground or up on abandoned second floors. The most interesting second floor we have cleaned out was the Dellinger Law Offices, abandoned in 1938. They’d cut the stairs out and there were more than 700 dead pigeons and fourteen inches of pigeon poop that I cleaned out.” They found thirteen linear feet of lawyer’s case files and the office doors still had their original painted glass windows. The law offices belonged to Charles Juttner, an overweight communist who would weigh himself daily at Woolworths. His offices are now part of their historical walking tour.

Gibson, a geologist by education, guide for the historical tours, and bucket hauler when work needs to be done on new projects, has always been interested in history. “I’ve always taken the broad view as a geologist, though I was used to looking at 150 million years or more not 150 years. Butte is what does is to you. We like to say that Butte doesn’t need any embellishment, all the stuff we tell is the truth.” What he loves most about his involvement is continually discovering new things.

For Gibson, working with McMurray, Dutton, and Mohan has been a huge plus. “We learn from each other continuously and we get really excited when we uncover new things,” says Gibson. “It’s not so much about the particular places we go but

[Photo by Kim Thielman-Ibes

things about the area. Bob (McMurray) discovered a tiny café that seated four and was famous for being the smallest restaurant in the world. Then there was a riot in 1895 on another part of Broadway Street. In researching the riot I figured out where the Maguire Opera House was that Mark Twain performed in the year before.” Sixty-yearold Gibson notes that this is the most fun he has had in a long time.

Of the four men, Mohan is the only Butte native. He met Dutton while touring the speakeasy and their conversation naturally turned to historical buildings that his family owned. “I told them about the tin shop my grandfather built back in the early 1900s and about the Cabbage Patch Shanty Town that became home for immigrants, a miners-slum, from 1880 through the 1940s. They did the research and found what I’d told them to be true. I helped clean these buildings up and they are now part of the historical walking tour.” Mohan, twice retired and now works with A.W.A.R.E. in Butte, was not told until he was in his forties that rooms upstairs from the tin shop were used as a brothel.

There are many more buildings and memories just waiting to be restored by this ambitious group.

They have managed to save much of Butte’s past.

What was once under threat of being destroyed by neglect, lack of interest, time, and money is now

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available for all to enjoy.

“I didn’t always like history,” says McMurray, “But I’m a carpenter and when I got involved and saw all the old woodworking I wanted to know the history behind that. Now, I love history.”

McMurray, Dutton, Gibson, and Mohan all share a passion for history, but not just any history.

Theirs is a passion for the rich, colorful past of the Richest Hill on Earth. They continue to unearth

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more of Butte’s interesting mysteries and are digging out bucket-by-bucket a portion of a sidewalk that once snaked beneath the city of Butte covering a ten-block area.

For more information about these history buffs and their Old Butte Historical Adventures visit their website at www.buttetours.info or call Bob McMurray at 406-498-3424. MSN

Don’t Miss the National Folk Festival in Butte, America

By Connie Daugherty It is summer fun at its best. Three days of non-stop music, arts and crafts, and food galore. And admission to all events is free! The 71st National Folk Festival returns to Butte, July 10–12, 2009. This traveling festival got its start in 1934 during the great depression. It was a way to come together and celebrate the music that is uniquely American. Folk music that immigrants brought with them and adapted to their new home. The festival moves to a different place every three years and this three-year run in Butte is only the second time the festival has been west of the Mississippi. Each year is different featuring different musicians and a unique theme.

I went last year - all three days and nights - and loved every minute of it. It’s exciting, invigorating, and just plain old-fashioned family fun. The only disappointing part was that I didn’t get to see everything.

What I did see was an acre of lawn covered with chairs and blankets. Babies in strollers, teenagers with cell phones, and grandparents with canes all laughing, singing, and dancing together. Friends and strangers greeting each other. The smell of barbeque and hot dogs and stir-fry was everywhere. And completing it all was the music - music, music, and more music!

With seven stages hosting up to 250 performers there is definitely something for everyone.

The stages are situated throughout historic uptown Butte and many of the streets are closed to through traffic, which in itself helps to set the atmosphere. The main stage is set up under the head frame of the Original Mine and must

be experienced to truly be appreciated. The Park Street stage includes a plank dance floor.

A shuttle operates from downtown parking locations and hotels as well as between stages for those who would rather ride than walk. Music traditions include Celtic, Cajun, country, Acadian, rockabilly, bluegrass, blues, mariachi, polka, western, and African American gospel.

There is a family activity area where the children can play instruments and learn arts and crafts. There is also a market place for traditional arts and crafts and a separate First People’s Marketplace that showcases Native American crafts.

This year’s theme is the Culture of the Horse in Montana and the American West. There will be a horse parade and a rodeo in addition to all the other activities. While there are several corporate sponsors and individual donors, the work of organizing and putting on the festival is done mostly by volunteers. Admission to all events is free, but that does not mean there are no costs involved. The main expense is the cost of bringing musicians to Montana from all over the country.

Last year approximately 75,000 people attended the three-day event and organizers expect even more this year. Hotels in Butte and as far away as Dillon were full for all three days.

Several people who attended last year made reservations and plans to come back before they even left town. This year promises to be even bigger and better so come early; stay late; enjoy!

For additional information visit http://www. nationalfolkfestival.com. MSN

Proud to be a leading provider of disability and mental health services to Montanans in every stage of life.

Please visit www.aware-inc.org

PAGE MONTANASENIOR SENIORNEWS NEWS PAGE 58 MONTANA

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MONTANA SENIOR PAGE 59 MONTANA SENIOR NEWS PAGENEWS

Little Virginia Lived in a Big House!

Enjoy a look back to the early days of Billings with a tour of the Moss Mansion Musem.

This elegant mansion features many of the original family furnishings set in an eclectic mixture of decorating styles.

You’ll be delighted by this informative history-filled, one hour guided tour.

We welcome group tours with special rates when applicable.

Call for more information

Special Exhibit Billings Weaver’s Guild March 17 - May 31 THE MANSION IS AVAILABLE FOR WEDDINGS & SPECIAL EVENTS

ANSION

914 Division Street Billings, MT 406-256-5100

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Stop in Rudyard to See Vintage Vehicles, Vintage Artifacts, and the Old Sorehead

By Bernice Karnop One day in the summer of 2006, Clifford Ulmen and Bonnie Terry watched as several motorcycles roared up to the Depot Museum in Rudyard.

“Here comes trouble,” Bonnie groaned.

But the motorcyclists weren’t trouble. They loved the museum and Cliff and Bonnie warmed up and showed them how to use the homestead artifacts. Michael Fleissner from Munich, Germany, took particular interest in the old tractors, cars, and trucks, all of which can be fired up and driven. Cliff took Fleissner’s camera and recorded a score of pictures with Fleissner behind the wheel.

The visitors went downtown for a sandwich.

An hour later they returned. Fleissner said, “We stopped and looked at the old stone building in the middle of town. A guy across the street told me who owned it and I’m going to talk to him about buying it when I’m in Great Falls.”

Curt Phillips built the stone building in 1947 for his Minneapolis-Moline implement dealership, which he operated for some 45 years. The rock walls were topped with a rounded roof, giving it a distinctive look.

Sure enough, Fleissner called back the next day to say he’d bought it. “If I give you some money to fix it up, will you at the museum help me take care of it?” he asked. He explained that he wanted them to have a good place to show off their historic vehicles.

Today the museum, which is open from Memorial Day through Labor Day, is filled with vintage cars. Some are on permanent exhibit, but local car restorers have lent many for a season.

“We have so many people in this area who restore old cars we figure we can go four years without having the same cars in the museum,” says Lila Redding. Lila, by virtue of being Cliff’s daughter, is the go-to-gal for the museum.

Cliff’s favorite vehicle is the shiny black 1928 International truck that was sold from the dealership in Rudyard that same year. It’s not just the historical connection. The Hi-Line Vintage Motors Museum received the truck in pieces and Cliff and his friends spent at least two winters reassembling it, getting it painted, and restoring it to working condition. Since then it has hauled grain for thrashing demonstrations and been featured in parades in Havre, Gildford, and Shelby.

He’s also fond of the 1921 Cadillac and the 12-cylinder 1937 Packard. One could wish these cars could talk as they would surely have some exciting tales to tell.

The Rudyard Historical Society began in April, 1994, when a bunch of coffee drinkers learned they could buy the local railroad depot

for $1. Someone said, “Let’s do it and start a museum.” It cost $5,000 to move it to a permanent location, but, as Lila says, that was minor.

They began right away to fill it with stuff from their attics and garages. Their goal was to preserve both the written and physical history of the hi-line towns of Joplin, Inverness, Rudyard, Hingham, Gildford, and Kremlin.

Cliff Ulmen, one of the coffee bunch who helped get the Depot museum started, naturally had to help set up the sister-site downtown in the rock building, which they call the Hi-Line Vintage Motor museum.

Even then the little town couldn’t stop.

In 2004 a Gyposaurus, a type of duckbill dinosaur was discovered at the Museum of the Rockies Field Site on Lila and Dan Redding’s farm north of Rudyard.

“He’s complete, laying just the way he was when he died. We decided to keep him at home,” explains Lila.

This decision led to a third attraction. The Dino museum opened in May, 2006. It is affiliated with the Museum of the Rockies and has excellent permanent and changing displays.

The museum counted 1,000 visitors that first summer.

Every dinosaur they dig is given a name.

Since travelers have giggled for years at the sign that says Rudyard has 596 nice people and one old sorehead, the Rudyard Gyposaurus just naturally became Rudyard’s Oldest Sorehead.

The town has since shrunk to about 250 people, according to Lila, making it even more impressive that it supports three outstanding museums. You don’t have to worry about finding the museums, she explains. The town is only six blocks square. Just ask anyone on the street.

“Not in my wildest dreams did I imagine what the museum would become,” Cliff says. He’ll be 90 this summer and still volunteers. “I may not being going strong, but I’m still goin’,” he quips.

And why wouldn’t he.

“I enjoy the people who come and see the museum. They enjoy it and I enjoy showing it to them. A lot of them give me a hug for showing it to them and that’s the greatest gift I can ever have.”

The museums are free although people are welcome to donate. Lila says they’re given enough donations to pay the utilities every year and that’s all they care about. Children enjoy the museums as much as the adults.

The last Saturday in June, Rudyard hosts its annual Ingathering. Lila calls it a little museum celebration. They provide music and entertainment in the mornings and a barbeque in the evening.

“People just come and sit in the yard and visit,” she said.

For more information call Lila Redding at 406-355-4356 or visit their website at www.rudyardmuseum.com. MSN

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History Comes Alive In Havre Havre’s Tourism Committee would like to give visitors the opportunity to learn about area history by experiencing it during Havre’s first annual Living History Weekend June 6-7. The excitement begins at Havre Beneath the Streets on Saturday June 6 where Havre’s underground tunnels are their own unique attraction - a museum underground. Tours run from 9 am to 4 pm.

Visitors can take the tour and see the Old West at its best in the Sporting Eagle Saloon.

Shop at Gourley Brothers Bakery and purchase a tasty fresh homemade pastry. If you are hungry after the tour, get a sausage sample from Havre’s Meat Market, or if you need to satisfy your sweet tooth, try the old-fashioned candy at Holland and Son Mercantile. Tour participants will get a free ice cream and soda at Boons Drug Store.

On Sunday from 9 am to 2 pm, get a personal

tour of Havre’s unique Buffalo Jump – one of the few Buffalo Jumps where you can go over the jump and see the bones in their original state. This tour also provides an exclusive chance to learn how to throw an atlatl.

Next head over to the Clack Museum, located in the Holiday Village Mall. The museum will be open for free tours during Mall hours. What better way to learn history than to experience it hands on.

From June 5-7, don’t miss the free North Central Montana Antique Enthusiast Show at Havre’s Great Northern Fairground.

For additional information on Havre’s Living History Weekend, call 406-265-6417 or Becky at the Best Western Great Northern Inn 406-2653656. MSN

Hi-Line Tool Man Donald Green - Continued from page 1 some in to her job at a Malta hardware store long ago. Just guessing at the purpose of some of the tools was fun for customers, so each summer she brought in a plywood board displaying various tools.

“Guess-the-purpose-of-the-tool” is a game 81-year-old Green still enjoys playing with the tools he has lent to the museum - which include the same displays that his wife used to bring to the hardware store.

He points to a machete-like tool with an 11-inch rectangular blade, complete with a nearly 3-inch hook at the top.

“Do you know what that is?” he asks.

He waits for a shrug and then says, “That’s for harvesting sugar beets.” His arms imitate the sweeping motions of a worker using the beet hook to pick up a beet with the spike and then chop away the crowns and leaves from the root. “That was hard work,” he comments.

The rasp to file a horse’s teeth and the barrel stave bender are just a couple of other seldomguessed tools.

The hog holder has its name stamped right on it, but that does not mean many people can figure out how it was used. A cast iron tool composed of a handle connecting two generously sized hexagons, the hog handler is one of the largest tools exhibited. Green says when you place the hog’s snout in the properly sized hexagon; you can lead him around with ease.

Green cannot remember what motivated him to start collecting antique tools, but they were easier to find decades ago. He would find discarded tools in old barns or lying around in the brush. Later he would give his grandkids a quarter for each one they would find.

His best bargain was an entire pickup-load of antique tools that he got for $35 at an auction in Cut Bank.

“Unbelievable. I remember it vividly,” said Green. Many of the tools in the Phillips County Museum came from that purchase.

Now antique tools have caught on with collectors, and prices have gone up accordingly. Green even stopped collecting for a time. Tools were going for $30 and $40 apiece at auctions. “That was too high for me. At one show they wanted $125

for a wrench,” says Green.

But Green could not set aside his hobby forever. He has collected another 100 or so wrenches in the last three years, and when he recently returned from a 6-week trip, he brought home two dozen antique wrenches he had purchased in Dodge City, Kansas.

“I’m pickier now. I’m not trying to buy those real expensive ones,” Green says.

Wrenches are his favorites, and that’s the tool featured on the display board he gave his grandson, Michael Green. The attorney displays the tools in a glass case in his Helena office and reports that it gets a lot of interest.

Another grandson, a mechanic in Scobey, has a display of Ford tools.

Green has had reason to use many of the antique tools on another project of his, restoring a 1929 Model A truck. With only windows and a bit of cosmetic work on the cab left to do, he has nearly finished his yearlong project. The aah-ooogah horn is already in place.

“I’m not a professional but I’ve gotten a lot of compliments on my work,” he says.

Among its admirers are his 6- and 9-year-old grandsons of Dodson. Green often picks them up in the Model A, and takes them out for ice cream in Malta. “They think grandpa’s alright,” he says with obvious understatement.

Whether it’s wrenches or Model A’s, it’s clear Donald Green enjoys tooling around.

You can view Green’s tools at the Phillips County Museum, 431 Highway 2 East in Malta, which is open year round from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Monday through Saturday, and 12:30 to 5 p.m. on Sunday. For more information call 406654-1037 or visit www. phillipscountymuseum. org. MSN

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Companion Planting

By Clare Hafferman Since half the fun of gardening is experimenting, I want to tell you about one method that will let you experiment during the entire growing season.

It is called “companion planting” and supposedly has been practiced for as many years as people have tilled the soil.

Companion planting is not based on scientific theory. It is basis is anecdotal – gardeners’ observations are passed along in print or by word of mouth. It is also an organic type of cultivation that consists of putting plants near each other for mutual benefit. It includes plants that fix nitrogen in the soil, and some plants that are capable of repelling insects, plants, or other pests through the chemicals in their roots or by their scent. The best-known example of this is the common marigold, credited with repelling nematodes, which are thread-like worms. French marigolds are best because their roots make the soil inhospitable to this plant pest.

This was illustrated by ancient vases and grave furniture excavated in Ecuador and Peru by archaeologists who found paintings of the marigold minuta next to pictures of the crops that people cultivated for food. Farmers in pre-Inca times grew corn, tomatoes, beans, and potatoes on the same ground, without crop rotations for many years, by fertilizing with bird guano and fish waste and by planting Marigolds among their crops.

We do not have access to their ancient methods of fertilization, so now it is suggested that gardeners use diversified plantings to resist insects’ damage and mix aromatic herbs and some flowers between vegetables. Some vegetables and herbs enhance each other’s growth and an equal number of plants do not get along at all. The gardener who decides to do this should keep a journal. For example, plant peas by carrots, interplanted with chives, versus planting them by fennel or dill, where supposedly they will not grow well at all.

The versatile herbs that do double-duty to ward off insects and help growth enhance your cooking. They are basil, thyme, chives, garlic, marjoram, fennel, dill, oregano, parsley, lemon balm, tarragon, and sage. The flowers used for certain advantages are Hyssop, Nasturtiums, Foxgloves, the

Marigolds, and Larkspur.

Basil attracts bees and repels aphids, fruit flies, whiteflies, and houseflies. That should be enough to recommend it to anyone, and it makes a good border plant for tomatoes since it makes them more disease-resistant. Other bee favorites are thyme, lemon balm, hyssop, lavender, mint, rosemary, and sage. There are 60 different kinds of thyme grown in the U.S. The most common are the variegated, lemon, and creeping thyme. This herb needs good drainage, so add some washed sand to the soil, and do not over water it. Grow thyme by cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, kale, Chinese cabbage, and turnips. Mint, oregano, and hyssop will also stave off the egg-laying butterflies among cabbages.

Clumps of chives have long been used in rose gardens or next to individual bushes to defend the plants against aphids. Their purple flowers are attractive. As an odd concoction, a tea made of ground chives and horsetail, then strained and used as a spray, is supposed to inhibit apple scab. Then a planting of nasturtiums, foxglove, or marjoram, around the base of an apple tree, will improve the tree’s growth.

Nasturtiums are also credited with telling

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aphids to move on and if grown in a greenhouse will protect plants against the pesky whitefly. Allowed to wander down a vegetable row, their flowers produce oil that attracts insects.

Every garden also needs garlic - if you keep it away from peas, beans, cabbage, and strawberries. However, in a group of herbs or in its own plot, it keeps mosquitoes away. Crush four bulbs with some hot peppers, add this to water and some Ivory or Fels Naptha soap, blend the mixture, strain it, and you have a spray to ward off ants, cabbage worms, aphids, and maybe even the neighbor’s dog.

Another useful flower used in companion planting is Yarrow, both the wild white variety and the hybrids in yellow, rust, and pink flowers. Yarrow is an ancient wound healer, but in this case it attracts beneficial insects and if you add it to the compost pile, it has copper in its leaves and stems. Like chives, you never witness any evidence that bugs eat either plant.

Larkspur is sometimes used as an insect deterrent because its leaves are poisonous to most insects, including aphids and thrips.

Knowing these helpful herbs and flowers is a beginning. The rest is planting vegetables that accommodate each other and avoiding those that

do not want to share bed space.

You can begin planting radishes, carrots, loose-leaf lettuce, and spinach as soon as the soil can be worked. A bad frost can damage carrots, so plantings in May might do better. From April 12 to May 1, you can plant peas, onion seeds and sets, lettuce, radishes, Swiss chard, spinach, leeks, broccoli, Brussels sprouts and Savoy cabbage.

Cabbage appreciates being next to beans, beets, potatoes, mint, thyme, sage, rosemary, and dill.

Spinach grows well by a strawberry bed and Swiss chard can be next to beets and onions. Cauliflower likes to locate by beans.

Two weeks before the last frost, you can consider planting potatoes, beans, cucumbers, corn, more carrots, and squash. Keep an ear on the weather report and have an old sheet handy for covering.

Planting by Memorial Day, you should be safe putting in tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, and pumpkins. Remember that tomatoes like parsley, carrots, chives, basil, and the marigolds.

With this much information in your arsenal, you should be able to just shoot out that door and begin planting in a different manner. You might just be the “companion” your vegetables have been waiting for! MSN

Tips Today For A Cool Tomorrow (NAPSI) - Taking a few steps now can improve the odds that your air-conditioning system will be able to deal with warm weather and humidity.

Begin by clearing the area around your outdoor compressor, removing leaves, twigs, and other debris that may have accumulated over the winter, and providing clear, uncluttered space around and above the unit.

Next, check the system’s filters, typically located along the return duct. Dirty filters can block airflow and reduce system efficiency, so it is important to clean or replace them regularly, preferably every month.

Holes or separated joints in

the ductwork can also affect airflow and efficiency, so turn your system on and make sure air is flowing properly through the vents. If you suspect a leak in the ductwork, hire a professional to make the necessary repairs.

Use this time to caulk and weather-strip around doors and windows. This often-overlooked step will help keep cool air inside your home during warm summer months and warm air outside.

It is also a good idea to add insulation around air-conditioning ducts when they are located in unconditioned spaces, such as attics, crawl spaces, and garages.

Finally, contact a certified technician to do a preseason check of your system. MSN

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Vintage Tonka Toys Galore Star at Winifred Museum

By Craig & Liz Larcom Undoubtedly, the little town of Winifred, northwest of Lewistown, has more Tonka Toys per person than any other community in the world. In fact, the numbers work out to about 21 Tonkas per person, and that’s without counting whatever the children have in their closets and yards.

The high number is because former resident John Thompson lends a collection of over 3,000 dump trucks, snowplows, fire trucks, cranes, boats, airplanes, military vehicles, and other Tonkas to the Winifred Museum, which opened in July 2005.

Visitors who see the rows of tall, custom-built glass cases are clearly transported to their sandbox days.

“That’s the model I used to play with!” is a common sentiment here.

Considering that only ten or so models are missing from the company’s prime years, this isn’t so surprising. If Tonka made it, it’s very likely to be here. The toys were so popular that just about every visitor has a Tonka to look for. Back in 1969, at least one Tonka could be found in 90 percent of households.

Tonkas were fairly expensive. Made of pressed steel, just like real trucks and construction equipment, the brand was known for rugged durability and detailed styling. True buffs today, and there are thousands of them, know all about those details. Year-to-year changes for some of these toy vehicles might amount to little more than a bigger headlight, raised lettering on the tires, and lug nuts that

Tonka toys in top condition, like this front end loader and dump truck, are displayed at the Winifred Museum. [Photo by Craig Larcom] are below the hub rim’s surface.

Most visitors won’t be able to tell one year’s model from the next, but they’ll have no trouble identifying a hard-core fan when they see one.

Such fans spend hours at the museum, tend to take many photos, and may even return the next day.

After all, this is among the world’s largest Tonka collections on display.

No one’s keeping track, but Minnesotan and visitor Lloyd Laumann, a former Tonka employee who rose to vice president of manufacturing and co-authored the book Tonka, guesses that the museum might be “the most comprehensive collection of Tonkas in the early years.” He adds, “John probably has the largest collection of ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s toys.”

The over 3,000 models at the museum take up much of the floor space. Each is the best example of a particular Tonka that John Thompson owns, which means that he still has a couple thousand duplicates back home in the Seattle area.

What prompted him to lend the collection to the museum?

“Believe me, the collection takes a lot of space,” says Thompson by phone. He goes on to describe his 36 by 48-foot double-decked pole shed that had been full to overflowing.

Fortunately, another former Winifred resident, Norm Asbjornson, was creating a community center with space for a museum, so the need for exhibits matched Thompson’s need for a place to house his collection.

Thompson’s 36 years of collecting all started

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with a simple visit to a toy show. When he saw all the playthings, he was won over at once.

“I started collecting everything, but I soon learned that wasn’t practical,” he recalls with a chuckle. “We always bought our boys Tonka when they were kids so I decided to go with that.”

Tonka, now part of Hasbro, has changed over the years. “The ones today are plastic. They’re not real Tonka Toys,” Thompson says.

Laumann, the Tonka expert, said that a surprising number of the old toys are in excellent shape. It turns out many of the toys were only used indoors.

And sometimes toys were purchased as a future gift, and then forgotten in the attic.

A toy at Winifred exemplifies the extreme case, a Tonka still in its unopened corrugated cardboard box. The most valuable item in the collection, the unopened 3-in-1 Highway Service Truck 1957 Regular Model 44 is a truck with three options -- a dump truck, a snow plow, and a dozer.

Another notable holding is from Tonka’s first year of manufacture, the 1947 Regular No. 150 crane with a clam shovel.

A few examples of Tonka’s forays into other toy domains, such as a doll and party hats, also sit on the shelves.

Retired curator Jim Arthur says adults are more interested in the toys than the kids are. “They’re bringing back childhood memories. Ages 5 to 15, well, it’s a little slow for them. They’re not really that excited about it.”

Kids home in on another museum display instead. From baskets up front they can take home one free item, their choice of a fossilized oyster shell from the Judith River Formation, a chunk of petrified wood, or a fossilized brachiopod. The choice can be agonizing, Arthur reports.

As for Thompson, he keeps on trucking. When he finds a Tonka toy from the classic years, one of the few he doesn’t already have, he buys it. Then he brings it along on his next trip to Winifred.

The Winifred Museum is located in the Winifred Community Center at 210 Main Street and is open April through November, Wednesday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.. Call 406-462-5425 for more information. MSN

Don’t Miss the Magic City Singers Magic City Singers’ Spring Show “Summertime USA” is scheduled at the Alberta Bair Theatre in Billings 7:30 p.m., April 25, 2009. Call the box office at 406-256-0115 for tickets. There will also be a performance at Red Lodge Community Church April 19, 2009 at 2 p.m.

This show is presented by one of Billings’ most popular and accomplished choral groups that has been performing in the Billings area for 28 years.

Magic City Singers has been Tuney winners sever-

al years in a row as Billings’ best vocal group. With choreography, great songs, beautiful harmonies, and outstanding voices, this show promises to be enjoyable for music lovers of all ages. For more information, or for tickets, call Bill at 406-598-5658 or Rosalie at 406-652-2970.

Magic City Singers is comprised of 24 talented adult vocalists of all backgrounds and occupations, with Dr. Chris Sheppard of MSUB as director and Carolyn Peters as accompanist. MSN

Blaine County Wildlife Museum Zeros in on Montana Animals

By Bernice Karnop As we pulled into a viewing area in Yellowstone Park last spring a dark animal that looked like a dog with an odd gait, crossed the road in front of us and disappeared over a snow bank. We tried to follow but all we found were tracks leading to the West Gallatin River. From the tracks, we could tell it was an otter. We were excited to have seen an otter, but in reality, we did not see much.

Our experience is common. We are thrilled to see Montana’s amazing wildlife, but often the sighting is from a distance and lasts only as long as it takes the animal to see us.

Some folks in Chinook have eased that frustration by building the Blaine County Wildlife Museum. Tucked in beside historical attractions such as the Bear Paw Battlefield and the Blaine County

Historical Museum, it adds a welcome dimension to the story of Montana.

According to Chair Sheri Nicholson, the vision of the board of directors is to display all the Montana animals in their natural habitat. Mounts of the animals done by Montana taxidermists hold still so you can see their fur, feathers, and fins. Acorn Displays from Minnesota reproduces habitat with rocks, mountains, ponds, and rivers. Trees, stumps, grass, and other foliage blend with painted murals to complete the look.

The Blaine County

MONTANA SENIOR NEWS PAGE 67

EVERY DAY IS EARTH DAY AT GOOD EARTH MARKET 3024 2nd Ave North, Billings, MT 59101 (406) 259-2622 • www.goodearthmontana.com

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Wildlife Museum is opening for the first time this summer although hundreds have already visited.

The Historical Museum conducted tours through the work-in-progress, and phone numbers are painted on the doors for people to call if they want to get in.

Shari boasts, “It’s awesome. Everyone who comes through is just totally amazed by how good it is.”

You can see right into the beaver house on the wetlands display and you can see the fish beneath the water. The Buffalo Jump takes you back to when these great beasts were free and gives you a front-row seat to how native people lured them into their cooking pots.

The Peaks to Plains exhibit gives you a bird’s eye view of the animals that live in the different ecosystems from mountain sheep and goats at the top right down to the antelope, pheasants, and gophers on the prairie. Along with the big charismatic species, you can see small birds and even insects.

This summer, visitors will watch the grizzly bear and moose displays emerge.

The museum is located in the renovated Blaine Theater in the middle of town. Open house events keep local people aware of the progress on the non-profit project, which was started in 1991.

They receive no county funds but Sheri says local

[Photo courtesy of Blaine County Wildlife Museum]

people have been supportive. Fundraisers are held annually and supporters can adopt an animal.

No animals are harvested to put in the museum. The mounts come from Fish, Wildlife, and Parks and other sources.

Admission is $3 for adults and $2 for children 15 and under. The museum will be open every afternoon from Memorial Day to Labor Day. For information on the Blaine County Wildlife Museum or to contribute, visit www.chinookmontana.com/WildlifeMuseum.html or call Sheri Nicholson at 406-357-4246. MSN

Where Are They Now – George Chakiris?

By Marshall J. Kaplan The 1961 classic film, West Side Story, is remembered as much for its music as it is for its stars. One in particular was actor George Chakiris, who played the role of “Bernardo” - leader of the Puerto Rican gang, the Sharks. For his role, he won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar. Where is he now? He is still singing and dancing on stages across the world.

The handsome dancer and actor was born on September 16, 1934 in Norwood, Ohio to Greek parents - not Latin, as one might think.

He began dancing at a young age, eventually heading out to Hollywood in 1951.

After arriving in Hollywood, the seventeen-year-old Chakiris found his talent getting him jobs in musical films - always in the chorus. For the next ten years, George danced in the background of films such as The Country Girl (1954 with Grace Kelly and Bing Crosby), There’s No Business Like Show Business (1954), White Christmas (1954 with Rosemary Clooney

and Bing Crosby), and The Girl Rush (1955 with Rosalind Russell).

Discouraged with never achieving fame, George moved to England where he was spotted by choreographer Jerome Robbins who gave him a supporting role in the London production of West Side Story. When the play was to be made

APRIL/MAY 2009

into a film, George was given the Bernardo role.

With his tough, suave looks and rhythmic, limber dancing, George stood out and, along with the film’s success, finally became an overnight sensation. He cherishes the Academy Award that he won for his role.

After West Side Story, George graduated to dramatic film roles, usually playing another version of Bernardo. Film highlights include Diamond Head (1963) and Kings of the Sun (1963,

with Yul Brynner). Again, George headed out to Europe and for the next ten years, continued to make films, however all the films (with the exception of 1966’s Is Paris Burning?), did not fair well at the box office.

George returned to Los Angeles and began appearing in numerous made-for-TV movies.

Although he appeared for a year in 1985 in a recurring role on Dallas, and a few guest roles on such shows as Murder, She Wrote, he was

Submitted by Julie Hollar

Why do banks charge a fee for “insufficient funds” when they know there is not enough money?

Why does someone believe you when you say there are four billion stars, but check when you say the paint is wet?

Why do they use sterilized needles for death by lethal injection?

Why doesn’t Tarzan have a beard?

Why does Superman stop bullets with his chest, but ducks when you throw a revolver at him?

Why do Kamikaze pilots wear helmets?

Whose idea was it to put an “s” in the word lisp?

If people evolved from apes, why are there still apes?

I was just thinkin’...

MONTANA SENIOR NEWS PAGE 69

virtually forgotten by motion picture fans.

For the past twenty years, George has maintained a residence in Los Angeles. He continued to make television appearances as a supporting actor, and returned to the stage as more of a headliner all until the mid 1990s when he decided to retire. He currently spends his time making and selling silver jewelry – a long time hobby of his. MSN

Why is it that no matter what color bubble bath you use the bubbles are always white?

Is there ever a day that mattresses are not on sale?

Why do people constantly return to the refrigerator with hopes that something new to eat will have materialized? MSN

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Looking For Volunteers Volunteers are the backbone of Fish, Wildlife and Parks, especially in north central Montana, and now is the time to sign up as a volunteer for 2009.

“We need new volunteers because of the events this spring and summer,” says Carla Corbally, FWP’s volunteer coordinator in Great Falls. FWP’s volunteers lead tours of Giant Springs State Park, the Region 4 visitor center, and fish hatchery, and answer questions.

“The greatest need is for tour guides in Great

Falls,” Corbally says. “We have many school groups in the spring and summer and we train people who haven’t done tours before. The students are pre-school to high school.”

Volunteer training will begin 10 a.m., April 15, at FWP Region 4, 4600 Giant Springs Road, Great Falls.

To sign up as a volunteer or for more information call Carla Corbally at 406-454-5844, or stop by during regular business hours. MSN

What's Up with Parkways and Byways? Are They RV-friendly?

By Bernice Beard, Senior Wire As RVers travel and read maps, they notice routes designated as national parkways or scenic byways and may wonder about these special titles.

Here is what they are about.

National parkways provide scenic views in a landscaped, two-lane passageway, free of billboards, high speed limits, and heavy commercial traffic. A parkway includes the road plus land paralleling it, and it connects sites of cultural, historic, and recreational interest.

In 1938, the National Park Service said that a parkway differed from usual roadways in at least eight ways: 1. It is set aside for noncommercial, recreational use.

2. It seeks to avoid unsightly buildings and other roadside facilities that mar ordinary highways.

3. It requires a wider right-of-way with an insulating strip of parkland between it and adjacent private property.

4. It eliminates frontage and access rights and preserves natural scenery.

5. It preferably bypasses towns and avoids congestion.

6. It aims to make accessible the best scenery being traversed.

7. It eliminates major grade crossings.

8. It has entrance and exit points spaced at distant intervals to reduce interruptions to the main traffic flow.

According to Mark Hartsoe, of Park Roads and Parkways of the National Park Service, six national parkways are administered by the U.S. National Park Service: • Blue Ridge Parkway. This 469-mile roadway follows the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia and North Carolina. It offers hiking, photography opportunities, historical and cultural demonstrations, and ranger-guided walks and evening programs. RVers should know that the parkway has 26 arched tunnels. To see a chart of tunnel heights and to plan your visit, go to www. nps.gov/blri/planyourvisit/index.htm, or call 1-828271-4779.

• Natchez Trace National Parkway. This 444mile road follows the historic route used by Native Americans and early settlers between Natchez, Mississippi and Nashville, Tennessee. It offers camping, biking, ranger-led programs, and historic exhibits. It is RV-friendly with most pull-offs offering either pull-through or circular drive access. More information is available at www.nps.gov/natr/planyourvisit/index.htm.

• George Washington Memorial National Parkway. This roadway connects historic sites from Mount Vernon to the Great Falls of the Potomac.

It links parks that provide a variety of education

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and recreational opportunities, such as the Clara Barton National Historic Site and Glen Echo Park.

The parkway is narrow and winding, and rush-hour traffic occurs on weekdays. To plan your visit, go to http://www.nps.gov/gwmp/planyourvisit/index. htm.

• John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Memorial Parkway.

This parkway runs the length of Grand Teton National Park in northwestern Wyoming. It offers historic sites, mountain climbing, fishing, boating, and guided walks. For a trip planner, go to http://www.nps.gov/grte/planyourvisit/trip.htm. For campgrounds, go to http://www.nps.gov/grte/planyourvisit/campgrounds.htm.

• Suitland Parkway. This parkway begins at the Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge in the District of Columbia and runs 9.35 miles to Maryland Route 4 at Andrews Air Force Base. It is a limited-access scenic roadway used by travelers heading to Washington, D.C. from the east. It provides habitat for native and migratory birds. See www. nps.gov/archive/nace/suitlandparkway.htm.

• Baltimore-Washington Parkway. This 29-mile scenic highway, also known as Route 295, connects Baltimore, Maryland with Washington, D.C. Adjacent is the Greenbelt Park campground, www. nps.gov/gree. For more information, see www.nps. gov/bawa/planyourvisit/index.htm.

Where parkways are planned, landscaped roadways, byways are side roads not regularly used by people or traffic. The term America’s Byways include 99 National Scenic Byways, 27

All-American Roads, and 18 multi-state Byways, a total of 144 in 44 states. Byways designations begin as grassroots applications and successfully negotiate the Federal Highway Administration’s program requirement that the roads must offer a truly exceptional experience as follows: • A National Scenic Byway must possess at least one of six intrinsic qualities (historic, cultural, natural, scenic, recreational, archaeological) and be of regional significance.

• An All-American Road must possess multiple intrinsic qualities of national significance and contain one-of-a-kind features that do not exist elsewhere. The road must also be considered a “destination unto itself” (the primary destination for a trip) and must provide an exceptional travel experience.

For a complete list of byways, go to http://www. byways.org/explore.

Both parkways and byways can be destinations in themselves when RVers take the time to visit historic museums, hiking trails, and archaeological digs, view natural phenomena along these roads, or participate in sporting or recreational activities nearby.

Bernice Beard is the author of the At Your Own Pace series of RVing books, including 301 Ways to Make RV Travel Safer, Easier, and More Fun. For additional information and tips that make life on the road more carefree, visit www.rvatyourownpace.com. MSN

Does Golf Reflect Values?

By Lois Greene Stone, Senior Wire What do we teach our children and grandchildren about values? And what sport is different as an individual calls a penalty on him/herself.

Seems too many politicians lie and cheat, play ignorant when caught or put blame on another. As long as figureheads can get away with such tactics, the idea spills over to the average citizen attempting to stretch the truth or feign ignorance.

My younger son, David, decided at age 15 he wanted to learn to play golf. He had been successful with school and summer camp activities, and we wondered why he would take up a game that offered humiliation as easily as excellence.

At a summer camp in the Adirondacks, a plaque proved his camp record for swimming 2.5 miles non-stop. He sailed alone after he earned the American Red Cross certification, and played basketball, baseball, volleyball, and ping-pong, and water-skied with ease. In high school, he ran track and cross-country. Winters he bowled and played indoor tennis, and emerged with the Class Champ Cup from an indoor tennis clinic.

We explained the rules he would need, the etiquette required, and then hoped he would not measure success around indifference to both.

One does not know about one’s self until challenged, and we hoped he would have integrity.

Golf. People laughed at him when he posted his first nine-hole score that had three digits. He counted every stroke, missed hit, penalty, and a few of his playing partners thought he was crazy.

An ego trip of lies was less important than an accurate record. The first time he had two digits for eighteen holes, he knew it was not an automatic expectation as golf is a humbling game.

So he opened himself to embarrassment, frustration, and fleeting exhilaration, in a sport where an angled thumb could change a swing’s

arc and become failure. His sister and brother, who did not play golf, probably thought he ought to stick to the sports that were fun and not often frustrating.

My husband and I were quietly amazed at David’s personal growth as he found out about self-standards, honesty, his need to play by United States Golf Association rules, self-esteem, and the ability to accept each hit as his own error or effort. He saw ball movers and stroke droppers, heard peers use the sun-was-in-

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my-eyes excuses, and was willing to face ridicule from other players rather than join with their methods. He became more comfortable golfing with my husband and me than with guys his age, but we kept telling him that not everyone makes up his own rules.

Knocking his ball into a hazard was an aggravation, but testing his ability to emerge from it and occasionally successfully landing on the green had him smile and say, “I’m on.” He certainly was as a teen, and still is to this day.

David’s son, Kevin, is 16. He recorded his first nine-hole round at age 14 with a smile of accomplishment having played completely by the rules.

He shrugged off smirks from those people whose egos took preference over correct play and chuckled that he actually would post such a big number.

Kevin entered an 18-hole Junior Championship in late August 2006 even though he had played no golf all summer having been in camp in the Berkshire Mountains, and was a new golfer besides. Some of the participants had handicaps already in the teens, while Kevin’s was too high to compute, and the event was total strokes and not handicapped. But Kevin, with his innocence and good manners wanted the experience.

Like his dad, he has learned about his own integrity, honesty, need to play by USGA standards, accepting a whiff as a stroke and not a practice swing, and his understanding that each hit was his own error or effort. Not concerned with a number identifying who he is or what he is capable of, he completed the round tired and happy with himself, and did not resort to the No-Card that adult golfers tell the pro when they feel their score would be mocked. We did not know if he was naive or courageous.

In the summer of 2008, my husband, son David, and grandson Kevin made up a foursome. There is a cliché about apples not falling too far from the tree. When Kevin blasted out of a sand trap, after counting the several attempts with the dimpled sphere still stuck in the grains, he grinned and exclaimed, “I’m on.” We knew from the way he sees golf as a mirror of his personal standards that he will be “on” for his entire life. MSN

Signs of the Times Sign In a podiatrist’s office: Time Wounds All Heels.

On a septic tank truck: Yesterday’s Meals--on-Wheels.

At a proctologist’s door: To expedite your visit, please back in.

On a plumber’s truck: We Repair What Your Husband Fixed.

On another plumber’s truck: Don’t sleep with a drip; Call your plumber!

On a church’s billboard: Seven days without God makes one weak.

At a tire shop in Milwaukee: Invite us to your next blowout.

At a towing company: We don’t charge an arm and a leg - we want tows.

On an electrician’s truck: Let Us Remove Your Shorts.

In a nonsmoking area: If we see smoke, we will assume you are on fire and take appropriate action.

On a maternity room door: Push. Push. Push!

At an optometrist’s office: If you don’t see what you’re looking for, you’ve come to the right place.

On a taxidermist’s window: We really know our stuff.

On a fence: Salesmen Welcome! Dog Food Is Expensive!

At a car dealership: The best way to get back on your feet? Miss a car payment. MSN

APRIL/MAY 2009

Are You Ready For A Little Competition?

Try Montana Senior Olympics Yes, spring is here and you know what follows - it is the 24th Annual Montana Senior Olympics for men and women who are 50 and older. Here is an opportunity to compete in any of twelve different sports including Archery, Bowling, Basketball, Cycling, Golf, Horseshoes, Racquetball, Swimming, Tennis, Table Tennis, Road Race, and Track & Field.

This year’s games will be held in Kalispell on June 11-13 under the supervision of Director, Ron Tjaden. Gold, silver, and bronze medals are awarded in five-year age groups (50-54, 55-59, 60-64, etc.). There is plenty of time to make new friends and renew old acquaintances at the Pasta Buffet on Thursday evening or the Banquet on Friday evening. Both of these meals will be held at the Eagles and are reasonably priced. This activity is designed for all ability levels. Competition is friendly. There will be entrants from all over Montana, surrounding states, and Canada.

Entry fees are minimal thanks to support from the sponsors such as: Humana at the Platinum Level; Blue Cross/ Blue Shield, Sterling Health Plans, and Kalispell Regional Medical Center at the Silver level; Big Sky Winddrinkers and First Interstate Banks at the Bronze level; and Mountain West Bank at the Patron Level.

“We want everyone to be able to afford to participate and these fine sponsors allow this to happen,” says Kay Newman, State Director. “Our objectives include providing opportunities for people to compete in a variety of activities that improve endurance, strength, and agility and that lead to a healthier life. Our participants seem to reap many healthful benefits and derive satisfaction from the preparation and participation in our games. We stress that it is never too late to begin. After all, age is only a number. Staying active is the secret to a longer healthier life.”

If you would like to learn more about Montana Senior Olympics, call 406-586-5543; email kayjn@imt.net; write MSO, 2200 Bridger Dr, Bozeman, MT 59715; or visit www.montanaseniorolympics.org. MSN

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Summer Driving in Montana

By Ella Mae Howard Summer in Montana means it is time to get the map out and find a new road to travel. Unfortunately, when you’ve lived in Montana for more than sixty years, it is difficult to find a paved road that you haven’t been on before. So with the map in my lap, I peruse the state, looking, imagining, thinking about the landscape, the critters, the deep washes, the solitary tree maybe with a magpie nest in it, the craggy peak, and the twisting creek. Where should I go - what road should I take?

Freeways are not an option in this trip because I do not like being constantly interrupted by cars and trucks flying past me at eighty miles an hour. I want to drive at a leisurely pace, wave at oncoming folks like they are my best friends, and stop wherever by the roadside to fix a sandwich or to make a hearty breakfast on the camp stove. I want to drive long stretches and not meet a soul or be passed by one. I want to drive long stretches and see only barbed wire fences and antelope.

Highways 24, 13, and 16, running north and south in the northeast corner of the state, are good choices for a summer drive. Drive north on 24, turn east at Opheim, drive to Scobey and take 13 south. Or, at Scobey continue east to Plentywood and then turn south on 16. These highways take you through a land of dreams. Dreams of people who homesteaded this country in the 20s

and 30s, hoping the land would repay them for their efforts. In most cases, it did not, and the people left, broke, discouraged, and beaten by long hot summers and cold, windy winters.

Between Opheim and Plentywood, there is a pot full of towns - most are now just denoted by a sign and a few old buildings. There are Glentana, Richland, Peerless (off the road a bit), Four Buttes, Madoc, Flaxville, Navajo, Redstone, and Archer. With Four Buttes, Redstone, and Flaxville, it is easy to conclude where the name originated. Look to the northwest of Four Buttes and you will see the buttes. Flaxville had to have come about because of the flax grown there. And without a doubt, Redstone got its name from the red shale visible in the nearby landscape.

I like to stop in at one of the watering holes in Plentywood and inquire where the name Plentywood came from. With any luck, there will be someone in the bar who will know the story.

Several cowboys were trying to start a fire with buffalo chips when a fellow by the name of Old Dutch Henry suggested they go up the creek a ways to where there was “plenty wood.”

And then there is the country drained by The Big Muddy River as it do-see-dos through this land like a cowboy guiding his girl around the dance floor on Saturday night. It starts in Canada and eventually makes it way to the Missouri a few miles west of Culbertson. Although its present day name is much more fitting than the one Captain William Clark gave to this creek in 1805, I prefer Clark’s name “Martha’s River.” It’s the intrigue of Clark’s name. Who was this woman and what did she mean to the young red-haired Virginian?

Besides the many tales about this corner of Montana, some of which have a touch of truth in them about the past, I like the landscape - wide-open vistas that fill the eye like a small town server filling your first cup of coffee in the morning. I like the early dawn rays that highlight the land’s rolling up and down. I like the rugged badlands around Redstone and Plentywood. I like the being-alone feeling when I stop the pick-up to look.

It is a good idea to plan at least two days, preferably three to make this loop. Pioneer Town in Scobey is worth a half day, and I like to swing down to Circle and visit the McCone County Pioneer Museum - it is a good one. But, mostly, I just like to drive and look.

MSN

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Pete Thornburg helps provide dignity to older adults through sponsorship

By Bernice Karnop When most people think of sponsoring someone in a developing country, they think of children.

Pete Thornburg sponsors a woman that’s 65years-old.

Celina lives in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. She has a monthly income equivalent to about $5 in U.S. currency. The roof on her home is sagging, it has a dirt floor, and her water comes from a community well. Celina can neither read nor write. The information on Celina says, “She is a quiet lady who likes attending the Christian community and visiting neighbors.”

Pete’s sponsorship makes a huge difference for Celina and her letters, written by someone in the project, are filled with her appreciation.

Sponsoring has not changed the Great Falls man’s lifestyle [Photo by Bernice Karnop] much, although he says he would cut back if he needed to. “I think of all the things we spend money on that we don’t have to have in a years’ time and it comes to a heck of a lot more than the amount we spend on sponsorship,” he says.

Pete considered sponsoring for a long time before he actually took the step. One thing and another came up that he needed to pay for, until finally he decided that if he was going to do it he had to act on the matter instead of making excuses.

About that time a priest from Riverside, California, visited his church and told the congregation about the Christian Foundation for Children and Aging. It is an agency you can trust, he said. Only a small percentage on the cost is overhead.

On a table at the back of the church, Pete found brochures telling about the individuals who needed a sponsor. There were children, middleaged people, and older adults.

He thought about sponsoring a little boy, but instead decided to sponsor an older Mexican woman who had had barely enough to survive for most of her life.

After a few years, she passed away and he accepted another older person. She also died, and he now sponsors Celina.

Pete believes that in order to end the cycle of poverty, individuals must step in rather than depending on governments to help. “Officials know less of what’s going on than the people out there doing the ground work know,” he says.

The Christian Foundation for Children and

Aging works in 25 countries helping families put food on the table, sending their children to school, providing access to health care, and more.

It is a lay Catholic organization but anyone can participate, Pete says. “It’s like the Soup Kitchen at St. Ann’s. The Soup Kitchen started in the church, but without all the other volunteers and contributors it wouldn’t be doing as well.” The Soup Kitchen, as the name indicates, provides a free meal to anyone who shows up. This local charity is closest to Pete’s heart.

“I put in most of my time down at the Soup Kitchen,” he says.

Pete grew up in Indiana and credits teenaged friends back there for “helping me reach a R.R. 1 Box 1082 • Box Elder, MT 59521 certain level of respect(406) 395-4875 • (406) 395-4836 FAX ability.” He went back Stone Child College is a tribally controlled college on the Rocky Boy’s Indian and visited them four Reservation. Located in Rocky Boy, Montana; home of the Chippewa Cree Tribe. years ago - the first time Stone Child College is an equal opportunity junior college offering both educational he had seen any of them and technical programs. The college has been reaffirmed for Accreditation by the for 35 years.

Commission of Colleges and the Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges.

Peter transferred Degrees Offered: with Bell Telephone to Associate of Arts Degree Great Falls and worked General Studies Human Services until they shut the doors Associate of Science Degree here about 25 years Business Computer Science ago. Since then he has Applied Science worked part-time jobs, Certificate Programs including delivering the 1 year - Construction Technology, Customer Relations, Accounting/Information Management, Business 2 year - Pre-Engineering Assistant Montana Senior News.

For more information contact the college or visit us at www.stonechild.edu Pete’s wife, Jo Ann, grew up in Great Falls, “Making our Dreams Happen with Academic and works as a nurse at Excellence, Culture, and Commitment.”

Peace Hospice.

Pete is committed to sponsoring older individuals through Christian Foundation for Children and Aging. “Celina is just so appreciative of everything,” he says.

For more information or to sponsor a child or older adult through the Christian Foundation for Children and Aging, call 800-875-6564, or write to them at One Elmwood Avenue, Kansas City KS 66103. Information is also available at www. cfcausa.org. The organization, which started in 1981, helps 310,000 children, youth, and aging persons. MSN

STONE CHILD COLLEGE

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Explore American Culture At New Mexicoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Chaco Canyon

By Jack McNeel A visit to the southwest would not be complete without seeing Chaco Canyon. Located between Albuquerque and Farmington in northwestern New Mexico, Chaco Canyon is now Chaco Culture National Historic Park and a U.S. World Heritage Site. But, a thousand years ago, it was a center of the Anasazi culture with a collection of multistory buildings and a road system that extended its sphere of influence over hundreds of square miles.

For nearly 400 years, Chaco Canyon was a gathering place where far-flung groups of people met to trade, to share ceremonies, and to exchange

knowledge. It was abandoned long before the first Europeans reached this continent, but its remains are still honored by native people of the southwest and provide wonderment to all who visit.

Modern roads allow motorists to drive to Chaco Canyon. Modern to the extent they were constructed with bulldozers and road graders, but the 35 or 40 miles of gravel washboard surface challenge the term modern.

The ancient roads were extensive, covering more than 400 miles and were much more than simple trails. They were planned and engineered, requiring incredible amounts of labor. Even double and quadruple road segments have been located near some of the great houses. This was all done long before they had horses or other beasts of burden to aid in construction. Wide stairways are still visible, carved into the canyon walls leading from the valley bottom to the mesas far above.

Precisely why these roads were constructed has not been determined. It certainly facilitated travel and commerce, but may have equally been for religious and ceremonial reasons reflecting their perception of the world.

Pueblo Bonito is the largest structure remaining at Chaco Canyon. It stands four stories high and contains approximately 600 rooms and 40 kivas used for ceremonial and religious purposes.

Construction began in the mid-800s and was planned in advance, rather than just being added to as needed in subsequent years. This pueblo, like some others, is shaped like the letter D with a curved wall around the backside and the front being a straight line. An illustration in the Park Service information leaflet shows how it may have appeared during its height; a magnificent structure even by todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s standards.

Pueblo Bonito is still very visible today, nearly 800 years after it was abandoned. Some of the walls have fallen and wind and moisture have taken their toll, but it is still impressive and makes one marvel at the people and culture that created it. Some huge boulders have broken away where visitors can look down on the rooms and kivas from a high vantage point. It is stunning from any angle, but that first view from above astounded me.

People with a masonry background will be intrigued with the ability of these people working with stone tools. Earliest structures were but one stone thick and were held together with mortars of mud. Later and higher structures employed thick walls with inner cores of stones faced with thin veneers of sandstone. The bases of these walls were

often about two feet thick, but tapered as they rose to higher levels. That workmanship is very evident today but a thousand years ago, those walls were finished with a coat of plaster.

I was struck by how intact many of the poles and logs remain that were used in construction, logs that were cut all those centuries ago with stone tools and hauled here by a society that still didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have horses. Horses came several hundred years later when the Spanish arrived from the south. It is estimated that 225,000 trees were required for buildings in Chaco Canyon, all carried dozens of miles from mountain forests.

Pueblo Bonito was only one of a number of pueblos here although it was the largest. Chetro Ketl contained about 500 rooms and 16 kivas and here the ancient Chacoans created a raised plaza.

Chaco Canyon became a National Monument

Photo by Jack McNeel] in 1907, was named a National Historic Park in 1980, and received the title of World Heritage Site on December 8, 1987. A modern visitor center offers an extensive book section dealing with the area, a small museum complex and a 25-minute movie that all should view to understand the significance of Chaco Canyon before venturing out either on your own or on a guided walk with a Park employee.

We sat in the shade at a table near the visitor center enjoying a picnic lunch. It was mid-April but already temperatures were near 80. Birds chirped nearby and whitetail antelope squirrels would literally climb on your shoulder for a handout. The elevation is over 6,000 feet and little shade exists, so go prepared with plenty of liquids and enough food to get you through. Summers can be excessively hot and heavy rains at times can make the road impassable, but it is worth those possible discomforts to see, touch, and walk through these pueblos constructed so long ago.

When the Chacoan people, the Anasazi, left here they moved south and east to settle along the Rio Grande and on the Hopi Mesas, becoming the Pueblo people of today. Chaco Canyon still holds special meaning to them. MSN

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MONTANA SENIOR NEWS PAGE 77

Any time of year Ogden is a fun place to visit

By Cate Huisman Ogden, Utah, will most likely sound familiar to fifth-graders and former GIs. The youngsters encounter it in American history - it’s where the eastern and western approaches of the transcontinental railroad came together and the Golden Spike was driven in 1869. Their great-grandfathers will remember passing through Ogden on World War II troop trains, and they might particularly remember the pleasures and pitfalls of 25th Street, the wide avenue that stretches away from Ogden’s historic train station. For western taxpayers, the name may be vaguely familiar too - we sent our checks to Ogden for decades.

Whether you’re going by yourself or taking the grandkids, Ogden is a fun, diverse family destination with attractions for visitors of all ages, interests, and tastes – all at a modest cost. The town sits just west of the Wasatch Front, a stark, north-south escarpment rising east of the Great Salt Lake. A narrow, scenic pass through the front east of Ogden leads to Pineview Reservoir, which is surrounded by mountains, creating a haven for outdoor activities in all seasons - hiking, horseback-riding, boating, fishing, golfing, and mountain-biking in summer. Winter activities including ice-fishing can fill the colder shorter days.

Other outdoor attractions include the nearby Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge and the Ogden Nature Center, where you can meet numerous avian characters including Gidget, a tiny saw-whet owl, and Einstein, a pelican whose head feathers are reminiscent of the hairdo of his famous namesake. For those who prefer more ancient animals, the George S. Eccles Dinosaur Park and Museum has eight acres of life-sized dinosaurs and a working paleontology lab.

History buffs can visit the Golden Spike National Historic Site, where replica steam trains run daily in summer, and the ceremony that was held to join the railroad is reenacted on Saturdays. Also nearby is the Hill Aerospace Museum, which has dozens of aircraft spanning the entire history of aviation, including a replica of the Wright brothers’ 1903 flyer. On Saturdays in the fall and winter, well-known aviators - who may have participated in anything from World War II to the current Iraq war - speak at the 1 pm “Plane Talk” sessions.

Ogden’s three ski areas have much to offer during both summer and winter seasons. Winter visitors with adequate nerve can ski the race courses that were used for the 2002 Olympic downhill races, although most would probably prefer the wide variety of other terrain. Snowbasin has the steepest slopes and the most elaborate facilities, including lodges with Italian glass chandeliers, European marble bathrooms, and gourmet food.

Powder Mountain has more basic lodge amenities, but a huge area of terrain, powder stashes still waiting ten days after the last snowfall, and delicious chili in its unassuming cafeteria. And for families just wanting to get started, Wolf Mountain is a small, inexpensive, friendly place to learn, with almost all its facilities housed in an old barn.

Cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, ice-skating, and tubing for the grandkids are also popular winter activities. Others will enjoy riding in the enclosed gondola cars of the Needles ski lift at Snowbasin, which whisks visitors 2,300 vertical feet to a beautiful mountain cirque where there is a lodge with a restaurant and picnic area - not to mention amazing views.

One of the nicest things for families visiting Ogden is that many attractions are very modestly priced, so even when you are taking the grandkids, admissions don’t provide the sticker shock that they do in many other places. The Golden Spike Historic Site and the Hill Museum both offer free admission, as does the tiny interactive museum in the basement of Earl’s Lodge at Snowbasin, where you can get an introduction to local plants and history.

Two adults and two grandkids can explore the Eccles Dinosaur Park together for less than $20, and the same group can explore the four museums now housed in Ogden’s Union Station for even less than that. These include a railroad museum that

has a real caboose the kids can explore, a natural history museum, a collection of antique cars, and the Browning Firearms Museum, where hundreds of weapons designed by John Browning and others are displayed in cases that enable viewers to see them from all sides.

From the station, families can fan out along 25th Street, which is reawakening from the torpor caused when airplanes took over and the town lost the business that the railroads had brought.

Everyone will enjoy exploring the numerous small antique and collectibles shops, where there are items of interest to grandparents and grandkids alike. After the shops, the youngsters can head around the corner to The Treehouse Children’s Museum, which has a two-story tree house at its center, while the teens head to Ogden’s new recreation center across the street. Called the Salomon Center, this facility will open June 15 and feature video games, 18-hole mini-golf, a bowling alley, bumper cars, a climbing wall, a surfing simulator, and even a skydiving tower.

If you’re downtown on a weekend, be on the lookout for one of Ogden’s mounted police officers. They wear jeans with their uniform shirts and cowboy hats (black felt in winter and white straw in summer). Their main function is community relations, although they do enforce laws, patrol events and parades, and have even run down a robbery suspect on horseback. Look for their corral on the north side of 25th Street.

When everyone is hungry, 25th Street offers Greek, Italian, Japanese, and Chinese restaurants as well as classic comfort food at Karen’s Café.

Several other fun places are a little further from the historic center. Alpine Pizza in Eden, near Pineview Reservoir, has a wild selection of pizzas, from cheese-only options for the kiddies to chicken Alfredo for the gourmets and even a spam-andpineapple pie that owner-chef Jim Haley whips up during the annual visit of a group of Hawaiians.

A couple of steakhouses also provide entertaining experiences. At the Prairie Schooner, each group eats in its own covered wagon, and at the Timbermine, you’ll think you’re dining in a mine.

Where to stay? Ogden sports the usual selection of chain lodgings in several price ranges, as well as a couple of unique lodges and B&Bs, and there are several campgrounds around Pineville Reservoir. Wolf Mountain, the ski area, is part of a much bigger resort development that has numerous rental homes that would be a good base from which to explore the area. All are family friendly, with attached garages, washers and dryers, and numerous TVs with satellite connections only your grandkids will be able to figure out. That will keep them busy while you rest up for tomorrow’s adventures.

Many attractions are closed on Sundays.

Check times and prices at www.ogden.travel, from which you can link to individual attractions. Also, call the Ogden Convention and Visitors Bureau at 877-TO-OGDEN (877-866-4336) or 800 ALL UTAH (800-255-8824). MSN

Heard On The Links

Submitted by Carol Ofsthun Golf is best defined as an endless series of tragedies obscured by the occasional miracle, followed by a good bottle of beer.

Golf! You hit down to make the ball go up. You swing left and the ball goes right. The lowest score wins. On top of that, the winner buys the drinks.

Golf is harder than baseball. In golf, you have to play your foul balls.

If you find you do not mind playing golf in the rain, the snow, even during a hurricane, here’s a valuable tip: your life is in trouble.

Golfers who try to make everything perfect before taking the shot rarely make a perfect shot.

The term “mulligan” is really a contraction of the phrase “maul it again.”

A “gimme” is best defined as an agreement between two golfers, neither of whom can putt very well.

An interesting thing about golf is that no matter how badly you play, it is always possible to get worse.

Golf is the only sport where the most feared opponent is you. MSN

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APRIL/MAY 2009

MONTANA SENIOR NEWS PAGE 79

Make Yourself Aware Of Employment Resources

By Jim Miller The financial strains of retirement and the reality that 20 or more years of total leisure may not be all that satisfying is drawing millions of retirees back into the workforce, and is shaping the retirement views of many baby boomers. Here is what you should know.

New Trend - Recent surveys show that more than three-quarters of baby boomers plan to work after retirement, but many want to change careers, and only about 5 percent want to work full-time. Whatever your reasons for working longer – you need the money, or you just want to stay active and involved – the benefits can be significant. Researchers have found that people who work (at least a few hours a week) during their retirement years live healthier and longer than those who do not. And, by working just a few extra years, you can make a huge difference in your retirement nest egg.

What to Do? - Looking for interesting and rewarding work opportunities after retirement, but are not sure what to look for? Here are some resources that can help you find your niche and maybe even a job to boot: • Career One-Stop Centers: There are more than 3,000 career centers located around the country that provide free resources and services to help people plan their next career, locate training, find a new job, and much more. To find a center near you call 877-348-0502 or go to www. servicelocator.org.

• The Next Chapter: This outreach initiative offers programs in dozens of communities nationwide to help people nearing retirement figure out what is next. Visit www.civicventures.org/nextchapter - click on “Directory.”

• My Next Phase (www.mynextphase.com): A retirement counseling firm that provides a personality test as well as coaching, seminars and web-based programs to help retirees find their passions.

• Vocation Vacation (www.vocationvacations.com): This company lets you test-drive different careers that interest you by matching you up with existing businesses. They currently offer two and three day immersions in more than 125 unique careers, through around 300 expert mentors.

• Career counseling: Another option is to see a certified career counselor. These trained professionals can help you clarify your interest, abilities, and goals. You can find a counselor at www.ncda.org.

Online Resources - Whatever your working interest – full-time, parttime, temporary, or seasonal – there are a variety of free online employment networks that can connect you with companies that are interested in hiring older workers. Here are some good ones to check out: • Seniors4Hire.org: A job-search site that offers job seekers (age 50 and older) access to thousands of U.S. based jobs from businesses that actively recruit and hire older workers and retirees.

• RetirementJobs.com: Another job-search site that brings together mature workers with companies who seek them. You can also post your resume online for companies to find you.

• RetiredBrains.com: A job-listings and resume posting site for older

workers and retirees.

• Employment Network for Retired Government Experts (www.enrge. us): Matches retired government employees with private companies seeking to fill contract jobs in all kinds of fields. You post your resume on their site where a large pool of potential employers can review it and contact you if interested.

• YourEncore.com: An online recruitment firm that hires retired scientists, engineers, and product developers and connects them with companies that need contract employees for projects.

• ExperienceWorks.org: A national, nonprofit organization that offers training, employment, and community service opportunities for lower-income seniors.

Start a Business - If you are interested in starting your own business but need some help getting started, turn to the U.S. Small Business Administration. They offer tips, tools, and free online courses you can access at www.sba.gov. Also, see www.bizstarters.com, a company that (for a fee) provides materials, coaching, and training to people over age 50 who want to strike out on their own. And, visit www.score.org for free business advice for entrepreneurs.

Savvy Tip - AARP also offers an excellent resource for choosing a career and job searching at www.aarp.org/money/careers.

Send your questions to Savvy Senior, P.O. Box 5443, Norman, OK 73070, or visit www.savvysenior.org. Jim Miller is a contributor to the NBC Today show and author of “The Savvy Senior” book. MSN

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APRIL/MAY 2009