MONTANA

April 2015

A Monthly Publication for Folks 50 and Better

Tough team to beat

For the love of hockey

A passion for horses and people

Managing the hub of community life
The man behind the curtain

INSIDE
Savvy Senior.............................................Page 3
Opinion.....................................................Page 4
Book..........................................................Page 5
Birding......................................................Page 16

Volunteering..............................................Page 19
Calendar....................................................Page 20
On the Menu.............................................Page 21
Strange but True........................................Page 22

News Lite
Man arrested in courthouse
for missing jury duty 11 times

Big Poppa Tart Donut

SOMERSET, Pa. (AP) A Pennsylvania man who skipped

out on jury duty 11 times in the last two years has been arrested inside a courthouse while attending a child custody hearing.
Somerset County Judge D. Gregory Geary told 32-year-old
Owen Fazenbaker III on March 23 that he found it ironic that
Fazenbaker could find his way to court for that but not for jury
duty.
Fazenbaker promised to serve on future juries if the judge
would not impose a $500 fine and 10 days in jail for each time he
has missed jury duty.
The (Somerset) Daily American reports that the judge said the
Stoystown man could avoid a seven-day jail term if he pays a
$500 fine.

SAN DIEGO (AP) A Southern California doughnut shop

has come up with yet another guilty pleasure gone viral: a gigantic doughnut stuffed with a Pop Tart filling.
Donut Bar, with outlets in Fountain Valley and San Diego, calls
the 1-pound creation the Big Poppa Tart Donut.
Its appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, The Steve
Harvey Show, BuzzFeed and TV news.
The 2-inch-thick square is stuffed with strawberry jam and a
strawberry Pop Tart, then topped with diced Pop Tart, sprinkles
and drizzled jam.
Theres also a second flavor: Smores.
Donut Bar sells about 150 of the doughnuts daily, at $4 each.
Owner-baker Santiago Campa tells the Orange County Register
that the doughnut was supposed to be a one-week special, but its
become so popular he couldnt pull it off the menu.

Live, Love &

Age Healthy
with New West by your side.

AT NEW WEST MEDICARE, WE KNOW YOU ARENT AGING, YOURE LIVING. Our plans always
keep Montanans in mind. That is why we offer low monthly premiums for your health care

coverage and an exercise and healthy aging program in every plan. After all, we are Montanans,
just like you, and we know you are only as old as you feel. Let us make Medicare simple for you.

888.873.8044 TTY 711

newwestmedicare.com
Find us on
April 2015

New West Health Services is a PPO plan with a Medicare contract. Enrollment in
New West Medicare depends on contract renewal. Phone hours of operation 8 a.m.
to 8 p.m. daily. The benefit information provided is a brief summary, not a complete
description of benefits. For more information contact New West Medicare. Benefits
may change on January 1 of each year. H2701_NW#577_9-2014 Accepted

15-NW
New W
Senior
Monta
3.4.15
AD: KM
7.25x4
4-colo

Jim Miller, creator of the syndicated Savvy

Senior information column, is a longtime
advocate of senior issues. He has been featured in
Time magazine; is author of The Savvy Senior:
The Ultimate Guide to Health, Family and
Finances for Senior Citizens; and is a regular
contributor to the NBC Today show.

Simplified Smartphone Options for Tech-Shy Seniors

Dear Savvy Senior,
Im interested in getting my 72-year-old mother a smartphone,
but want to get one thats very easy for her to use. What can you
recommend?
Shopping Around
Dear Shopping,
There are several different ways you can go about getting your
mom a simplified smartphone thats easy for her to use. Depending
on how much youre willing to spend, here are some different
options to consider.

Simplify a used phone

The cheapest way to set your mom up with an easy-to-use,

uncomplicated smartphone is to get her a second-hand android
phone, and install a senior-friendly launcher app on it, which is a
user interface software application.
This type of launcher will turn the appearance and performance
of most android smartphone into a simplified phone with big
understandable icons for commonly used features (phone, text
messaging, camera, contacts, etc.) and no excess clutter. Most
launchers can also be customized to fit your moms needs and
preferences.
There are a variety of launcher apps available today that provide
this type of technology and are completely free to use. Some
popular options include, Necta Launcher (launcher.necta.us), Wiser
(wiser-me.com), Seniors Phone (seniorsphone.mobi), Fontrillo
(fontrillo.com) and Big Launcher (biglauncher.com), which also
offers an upgraded version for $9.
Or, if you have an old Apple iPhone that youd like to convert,
check out Silverline Mobile (silverline.mobi) that converts both
Apple and androids for free.

Purchase a new phone

If youre interested in purchasing your mom a new smartphone,

you have options here too. For starters, you could purchase her a
smartphone thats specifically designed for seniors, like GreatCalls
Touch3 that costs $150 (with no contract) at greatcall.com or 800918-8543. This is an android phone, made by Samsung, that has a
4-inch touchscreen and provides a simple menu list to often-used
features like the phone, text messages, camera, pictures, email and
Internet, along with your contacts and apps.
It also offers a variety of health and safety features like the 5Star
app that would let your mom speak to a certified agent 24/7 that

could identify her location and get her the help she needs. Urgent
Care, which provides access to registered nurses and doctors for
advice and diagnoses. And MedCoach, which sends medication
reminders.
Another way you could go is to purchase her a standard/
mainstream smartphone that provides a built-in Easy Mode or
Simple feature in the phones settings. This will let you convert
the phone into a much simpler mode of operation, that provides
larger, well labeled icons, to only commonly-used functions like
the phone, camera, messaging, Internet, pictures, contacts and her
favorite apps.
Smartphones that offer the Easy Mode or Simple feature
include the Samsung Galaxy phones, which are available through
most cell phone carriers at prices typically ranging between $400
and $850 without a contract. Or, for a more budget-friendly option,
the Huawei Vision 2 and Huawei Ascend Mate 2, which you can
buy as an unlocked phone or through Consumer Cellular
(consumercellular.com, 888-345-5509) for $80 or $225 without a
contract. Consumer Cellular is a top-rated no-contract service
provider that also offers discounts to AARP members.
A nice advantage of getting your mom a mainstream phone is
that if she masters the Easy/Simple mode (or gets bored with it),
and is ready to expand her skills, you can always switch the phone
back to the standard operation mode exposing her to more options.
You can also add any number of health and safety features to her
phone, like what the Touch3 offers, by downloading their apps at
greatcall.com/medical-apps.
Send your senior questions to: Savvy Senior, P.O. Box 5443,
Norman, OK 73070, or visitSavvySenior.org.

Great News for Seniors 62 yrs of Age & Older!

COMFORTABLE & AFFORDABLE APARTMENTS
Accepting Applications for Independent Seniors

Call (406) 248-9117 1439 Main Street Billings, MT

Rent Based on Income, HUD 202 PRAC
Live On-Site Community Administrator
Free Laundry On-Site Parking
Mailboxes on Premises
Electric, Gas, Water, Sewer, & Trash
Included in Rent
Community Room Available for Social
Gatherings & Meetings

April 2015

Opinion

Pick your poison: fat, sugar or salt

OK, you say, Ill eat foods with

low fat and very little sugar. Go
ahead and try. Guess what youll be
eating? Food loaded with sodium.
Hey, something has to make food
with practically nothing in it palatable and salt knows how to fill
that role perfectly. With all that sodium in your body, better keep a blood
pressure cuff handy so you dont
blow a gasket.
So there you are, desperately looking for food with no fat, no sugar and
no salt. Youre pretty much down to
eating air.
There is only one food in the world

Letters Policy
Montana Best Times welcomes letters to the editor expressing opinions on any issue
of a public interest to our readership. But in order to be published, the letters must:
Include the writers first and last name, home address and daytime phone number. Addresses and phone numbers may be used for verification, but only the name
and hometown will be published.
Be kept short and, if possible deal with one topic. Montana Best Times reserves
the right to edit for length, taste and libel considerations.
The address for emailed letters is montanabesttimes@livent.net.

April 2015

MONTANA

Before a baby boomer launches a

healthy diet plan, he or she must first
make a basic decision: Do I want to
buy the farm by clogged arteries, morbid obesity or stroke?
What? you say. I thought I would
avoid all three by eating right.
Ah, the innocence of baby boomers
on a healthy diet. Little do they know
what lies ahead.
Heres why it is almost impossible
to eat the way you should:
Lets say you are very concerned
about high cholesterol and the effect
that has on your arteries and your
heart. Fine and good. So you embark
on a mission to eliminate as much
saturated fat as possible from your
diet. There are tasty foods of all kinds
out there especially formulated with a
very low-fat content. So you buy, and
eat your fill, and find that this lowsaturated fat thing is really not so
bad.
But wait. The reason its not so bad
is because the food manufacturers
compensate for the lack of that silky,
satisfying fat taste on your tongue by
loading up low-fat foods with sugar.
Theres enough sugar in some low-fat
products to power a small Montana
city for a year.
So all youve done is dropped the fat
and exchanged it for morbid obesity,
which is just as hard or worse on your
ticker. Way to go.

that meets all the high-falutin qualifications you seek: carrots. This is how
people become vegans. Theyve been
forced into a monk-like lifestyle by the
existential collision of fat, sugar and
salt. A select few have the intestinal
fortitude to live as vegans, but its out
of the question for most of us dietarily
weak baby boomers.
So whats the solution? The compromise all baby boomers have ultimately
settled on: eat carrots dipped in ranch
dressing.
Just not too much ranch dressing.
Dwight Harriman
Montana Best Times Editor

A Monthly Publication for Folks 50 and Better

P.O. Box 2000, 401 S. Main St., Livingston MT 59047

Tel. (406) 222-2000 or toll-free (800) 345-8412 Fax: (406) 222-8580
E-mail: montanabesttimes@livent.net Subscription rate: $25/yr.
Published monthly by Yellowstone Newspapers, Livingston, Montana
Dwight Harriman, Editor Tom Parisella, Designer

Bookshelf
Out Where the West Begins:
Profiles, Visions & Strategies of
Early Western Business Leaders
By Philip F. Anschutz
University of Oklahoma 2015
Hardcover 392 pages 6 x 9
ISBN: 978-0-9905502-0-4

How much do you

really know about
early Western
business history?
By Montana Best Times Staff
We Montanans are pretty well versed in major early
Western events and issues. Battle of Little Big Horn?
Know about that. The designation of Yellowstone as the
nations first national park? Know about that, too.
But how much do we know about western business
history? Hmmm hadnt thought much about that one.
A brand new book, Out Where the West Begins: Profiles, Visions & Strategies of Early Western Business
Leaders by Philip E. Anschutz can do a lot to beef up our
knowledge in that area.
Between 1800 and 1920, an extraordinary cast of bold
innovators and entrepreneurs individuals such as Cyrus
McCormick, Brigham Young, Henry Wells and James Fargo,
Fred Harvey, Levi Strauss, Adolph Coors, J. P. Morgan and Buffalo Bill Cody helped lay the groundwork for what we now call
the American West, says a news release from University of Oklahoma Press, publisher of Out Where the West Begins. These
individuals were people of imagination and courage, adept at
maneuvering the rapids of change, alert to opportunity, persistent
in their missions.
They had big ideas they were not afraid to test. They stitched
the country together with the first transcontinental railroad,
invented the Model A and built the roads it traveled on, raised cities and supplied them with water and electricity, established
banks for immigrant populations, entertained the world with film
and showmanship, and created a new form of western hospitality
for early travelers.
Not all were ideal role models, the release says. Most, however,
once they had made their fortunes, shared them in the form of

cultural institutions, charities, libraries, parks and other amenities

that continue to enrich lives in the West today.
Beautifully illustrated with 57 color illustrations and two maps,
Out Where the West Begins profiles some 50 of these individuals, tracing the arcs of their lives, exploring their backgrounds
and motivations, identifying their contributions, and analyzing
the strategies they developed to succeed in their chosen fields.
Author Philip F. Anschutz has business interests in communications, transportation, natural and renewable resources, real
estate, lodging and entertainment. Among his personal interests
are the study of Western history and collecting paintings of the
early American West. Working with Western scholars William J.
Convery and Thomas J. Noel, Anschutz has brought a unique
perspective to his subject in this engaging book of essays.
Out Where the West Begins is available from online booksellers, in bookstores, and directly from the University of Oklahoma Press by calling (800) 627-7377 or visiting at www.
oupress.com.
April 2015

MT Best Times photos by Steve Allison

Above: The Parker Babes team members are pictured at Parkers Bar in Miles City, recently. From left are Linda Moore, Theresa Esser, Martha Crandall, Linda Walker and Karan Charles.

Miles City Parkers Bar pool team provides avenue for fun and friendship
By Amorette Allison
Montana Best Times

MILES CITY Back in the 1970s,

several women who enjoyed playing pool
in Miles City decided to get together and
form a womens pool league. At its
height, the league had 16 teams with four
to five members each playing. Every bar
in town sponsored a team.
Today, there are fewer teams but there
are still some serious women pool players. One team in particular, the Parker
Babes, who have been playing for Park-

ers Bar for 28 years, serve as an example

of how pool playing can lead to more
than just a few games. It can lead to longterm friendships and adventures.

The team

Martha Crandall, Karan Charles, Linda

Walker, Linda Moore and Theresa Esser
have been playing together for nearly
three decades, frequently winning their
league championships.
Martha, known as MJ to her fellow
players, is a Miles City native who graduated from Custer County District High

On the cover: The Parker Babes team poses for a shot at Parkers Bar in Miles City.
April 2015

School. She attended University of Montana in Missoula before returning to

Miles City and starting to play pool. MJ
also played on the Airport Inn pool team,
where she has worked for many years
when the Airport Inn sponsored a team.
Linda Moore and Theresa Esser, who
are sisters, are also from Miles City and
graduated from Sacred Heart High
School. Another sister, Brenda Esser
Koski, who has since moved to Arizona,
was one of the founders of the original
womans pool league.
Karan Torgerson Charles is another

This year, the Parker Babes won both the league

championship and the league tournament.
native of Miles City and a CCDHS graduate.
The only non-native Miles Citian of the group, Linda Walker,
grew up in Bozeman and moved to Miles City from Ogden,
Utah.
It was the first place I lived without mountains, Walker
said, and she wasnt too sure she would stay. Now she loves
Miles City and cant imagine living anywhere else.

Not just pool

Between games, they also do other things together.

All five women are big fans of professional football. They all
support different teams, which means they go to different cities
every year to watch their teams play. The teams they support are
the Denver Broncos, the Minnesota Vikings, the Dallas Cowboys, the Oakland Raiders and the Green Bay Packers, which
gets them around the region.
In addition to watching football, there is usually some shopping involved.
One year involved a trip to some outlet malls, downtown
Minneapolis and the Mall of the Americas. They were traveling
in Linda Moores Dodge Journey, which has coolers built into
the floor, and the vehicle was so full that, in order to fit everything in, the women put their shoes into the coolers. MJ says
they were packed in like sardines. Plus, they had an NFL helmet they had brought along to be signed that had to stuffed in
somewhere.
The next year, Moores husband gave her a cargo topper
the largest size he could find for her birthday, so the ladies
could shop.

Above: Team member Theresa Esser sports the pool teams

logo on a T-shirt.
Below: Team member Martha Crandall is pictured at Parkers Bar, recently.

Getting good

MJ says she and the others learned to play pool by playing

pool. When she first started, the team she played on was not
very good.
We considered it a good thing if we came in second from
last in league play, MJ said. As the years passed, though, the
players got better.
Another Miles City woman pool player not one of the
Parker Babes who has watched MJ play said she is in awe
of her ability now.
This year, the Parker Babes won both the league championship and the league tournament.

Fewer teams

Crandall noted that the pool leagues, like many other social
organizations, have dropped in membership over the years, and
there are fewer and fewer pool teams.
She gestured toward the half-empty banquet room at the
Eagles Hall, where the end-of-season pool league banquet is
held and said, We used to fill this place up completely.
This year may be the last year for womens pool in Miles
City. Although MJ and her friends are great fans of pool, fewer

and fewer people are playing. While there were six teams this
year, enough to form a league, one dissolved mid-year and
another wont be coming back next year.
MJ is encouraging anyone interested in playing pool to join
up in the fall. As she knows, you dont have to be a good player
to join. Anyone interested can sign up in the fall and start learning the cues.
And, perhaps, form friendships that last for decades and take
up marathon shopping and all the other advantages of long time
good times.
Amorette F. Allison may be reached at mcreporter@midrivers.com or (406) 234-0450.
April 2015

For the love of hockey

Former practice goalie for LA Kings
talks about his life in the game

MT Best Times photo by Hunter DAntuono

Harris Peet hams it up for the camera recently, with a hockey puck in his mouth and a goalies glove and blocker that were
worn by a former Buffalo Sabres goalie.

By Thomas Watson

Montana Best Times

LIVINGSTON Despite growing up

in New York City and living in Los Angeles as an adult, Harris Peet doesnt
describe himself as a city person, and
says his eight years in Montana have been
eight great years.
Before moving to Montana, however, Peet
had the rare chance to work with the National Hockey Leagues Los Angeles Kings.
Peet had been working in a Los Angeles
night club when, during a sold-out night,
he noticed that one of the people who
couldnt get in was a hockey player. That
April 2015

opened the door for Peet to serve as the

teams practice goalie and equipment
assistant for the next 25 years.
I got him in, and it all just snowballed
from there, he said of how the opportunity presented itself. If you loved hockey,
and you werent going to be able to make
a living playing it, this was pretty close.
You did everything (the team) did except
for play the games. I went on the road with
them a number of times, as well. If you
couldnt get where you wanted to go, close
enough isnt bad.
Peets time with the Kings provided him
not only with chances to get on the ice

with professional hockey players, but also

to create friendships with lasting bonds.
You meet all these people and some of
them are still your friends, and some of
them are people that just passed through
your life. Wayne Gretzky does a fantasy
hockey camp every year, he said of this
years camp, held in March in Las Vegas.
He called me a few months ago and
asked me to come work there. After not
seeing him for many years, and some of
the other players that will be there, it
makes you think, Life does keep going,
but the past does have some value.
Ive lived in Montana for eight years,

so when I think about the 30 years I spent

in Los Angeles, sometimes I think maybe
I made that life up. Maybe its not true.
Then to have Wayne Gretzky call me and
ask me to come to his fantasy camp, maybe that life did happen.
Peet spent 30 years as an adult in Los
Angeles, but he grew up in New York,
where he learned his love for hockey.
When I was about 5 or 6 years old, my
dad took me to a New York Rangers
game at the old Madison Square Garden,
he said. I fell in love with the game. I
found it interesting and exciting, so when
the lake would freeze, we would go play.
When I got older, I started getting
involved with teams and playing in
indoor rinks. Its such a great game, and
such a great game to grow old with. You
can keep playing in some form or another
for as long as you want.
Hockey just grabs you. People who
play hockey really love their sport, certainly as much as anyone else. Its just a
great game, so once it got a hold of me,
there wasnt much I could do about it.
Peet now works with the Livingston Ice
Skating Association from time to time and

Photos courtesy of Harris Peat

Harris Peet, right, jokes with hockey great Wayne Gretzky during a fantasy hockey
camp in Las Vegas in the early 2000s.
plays hockey in and around the Bozeman
area.

Thomas Watson can be reached at twatson@livent.net or (406) 222-2000.

News Lite
Cops: Man left behind credit card
used to jimmy garage door

WEST SUNBURY, Pa. (AP) State police in Pennsylvania

say a trespassing suspect used his own credit card to jimmy open
a garage door, then left it behind when the homeowner suddenly
appeared and startled him.
The important clue helped police arrest 41-year-old Brent Henry, of East Butler, on March 21 in Clay Township.

Police tell the Butler Eagle that Henry used the card to pick the
lock at a friends mobile home.
Police say the homeowner heard a noise and caught Henry,
who ran away but left the credit card behind.
Police say Henry told them he planned to take some gasoline
for another friends car.
Online court records dont list a defense attorney to comment
on the charges. Henry faces a preliminary hearing on criminal
trespass and other charges April 7.

Here are some easy ways to get rid of clutter

By Wina Sturgeon

Adventure Sports Weekly/TNS

One of the drawbacks of getting older is that time brings an

increasing accumulation of things. These things litter all kinds
of spare space drawers, shelves, closets and spare rooms.
Nearly all of it is clutter. Its not stuff you really want, but yet
its hard to figure out what do to with it.
I finally got rid of my vast collection of clutter by hiring a
professional organizer. Organizers are very expensive, but
theyre worth it. At the very least, an organizer can help you get
into a rhythm of clearing away the clutter thats taking up space
in your home. Youll learn a different way of thinking about

your collection of stuff.

For example, my organizer saw a faded stoneware cookie jar
hidden on a shelf in my basement and asked, Why are you
keeping that? I explained that I wanted it after my mother died
as a reminder of all the childhood treats it once held. She said,
If you love it, dont hide it away. Find a way to use and display
it. The cookie jar is now a flour container, displayed on a
kitchen counter. I get to see it every day.
I also found good advice on the site webmd.com in an article
by Gina Shaw. She writes, If you think you dont have time to
clear your clutter, think again. With an action plan from experts,
you can bust the clutter in your home in 15-minute chunks
See Clutter, Page 13
April 2015

A passion for horses and people

Columbus resident
relishes working
at ranch for
developmentally
disabled adults
By Robert Witham
Montana Best Times

COLUMBUS The last 15 years in

my life have been an absolute joy, said
Bob Solie. Doing something for other
people is much more enjoyable than doing
something for yourself.
Solie, now 78, retired from his insurance and real estate career to work instead

I love these
people. Absolute
best people in the
world
Bob Solie

MT Best Times photos by Robert Witham

Horses and a dog at the Special K Ranch in Columbus gather around Bob
Solie, recently.
April 2015

10

with the horses at Special K Ranch in

Columbus. Special K is a working ranch
for adults with developmental disabilities.
The ranch is located between Columbus
and Park City.
Someone had given the ranch a team of
horses to be used in a parade in Billings,
and Solies daughter recommended him to
work with the horses. When Solie was
asked to help with the riding program at
the ranch 15 years ago, he made the decision to retire from his career.
I really believe that God planted me
here, he said.
During the years he has worked at the
ranch, Solie said he has never not wanted
to go to work. Instead he hops out of bed
in the morning.
I love these people, he said. Absolute
best people in the world.

Bob Solie is pictured at the Special K Ranch. Solie, who has trained horses all his life, is a perfect fit for the ranchs riding program.
Solie said it is a privilege for him to be at the ranch.
In the past, the horses at the ranch were for recreation, but
Financial Manager Sharon Flemetis had a vision for a therapeutic
riding program. That program was launched in 2014.
The residents absolutely love the riding program, Solie said. It
is also interesting to see how the horses respond to the residents,
he said, adding that the horses know who is riding them.
Solie has trained horses all of his life. He has owned draught
horses, Morgans, mustangs, quarter horses and Tennessee Walkers.
Theyve always been my passion and my recreation, he said.
Solie was born and raised in Wisconsin, but came to Montana
in 1959 after serving in the Army and attending college in Minnesota. Drafted into the Army and stationed in Louisiana from 1955
to 1957, Solie served in the finance corps, where he computed
payroll for the National Guard.
I got out of the Army and I figured out that winter didnt have
to last for seven months, Solie said of his decision to move to
Montana.
Solie has also had a number of foster kids at his home over the
years. Some were short-term while others were long-term. He
said he has had around 40 over the years, including a woman and
her kids who came to the U.S. from Panama after fleeing from
Manuel Noriega. Solie helped the woman go to college, find a
job, and even find a husband.
I did it because I loved it, Solie said of taking in foster kids.
Solie said he has traveled to a lot of countries, but never
enjoyed doing things for himself as much as for people who need
it.
Reach Robert Witham at reporter@stillwatercountynews.com
or (406) 322-5212.

Discover the advantages of the new

REVERSE MORTGAGE
Sometimes you just want to
meet with an expert.
Reverse Mortgage Lender,
Debbi Royer, is available to
meet with you to discuss your
options. Call Today! 223-8941

NMLS #583044

Your local
Montana Bank
helping local
Seniors.

MEMBER:

1455 W. Oak Street, Bozeman, MT

April 2015

11

Keeping
them
connected

Montana
transplant
manages the hub
of community life
By Kathleen Gilluly
Montana Best Times

JOLIET Once a telecom executive

charged with developing training documents, methods and procedures, Susan
Wolfe has embarked on a second career
with the Joliet Community Center thats
just as challenging, and one in which shes
part of developing a vibrant, multifaceted
community hub.

A home in Montana

Although wed been coming to Montana to visit for years, it wasnt until we
retired that we could make the move, said
Wolfe, 59, a Kansas native who is the
director of the Joliet Community Center.
After making the decision in April 2010,
we were here by that July first, with no
house or jobs.
The Joliet area in the foothills of the
Beartooth Mountains in the south-central
part of the state wasnt even under consideration for possible homesites at the time.
I just knew I didnt want to be in the
Miles City area where my husband had
grown up, Wolfe said. We were visiting
family in nearby Fromberg and took a
drive and saw a house we liked, and decided to buy it.
The move proved a good fit.
We like being close to the mountains
and the city, Wolfe said. While living in
this area wasnt on the radar, it ended up
being a good place to be.

Finding her niche

The former Sprint executive said neither

April 2015

12

MT Best Times photos by Kathleen Gilluly

Susan Wolfe stands outside the Joliet Community Center, recently.

she nor her husband, Evan, had jobs that
were easily transferable. Her position as a
curriculum development director was
exclusive to the telecom industry she
worked in, and he had been with the IRS.
Although the couple had long talked

about making the transition to his home

state, it wasnt until he was several years
retired, and Wolfe just retired that they
made the leap.
Despite retirement, Wolfe has no intention of slowing down,and she never did.

I had just returned from photography school in Missoula when

Evan asked if I still wanted to live in Montana, she said. It was
that simple.
Shortly after the Joliet Community Center opened, Wolfe
became a patron of the library, one of the anchor organizations in
the building. There she heard about the opening for a part-time
director of the center. Shes been at the helm, under the direction
of a board of directors, ever since.
Although Wolfe works from a smaller office than she had in
the corporate world, she enjoys her job. She races around, opening doors for tenants, talking on the phone, showing the hall to a
couple thinking of getting married and having their reception
there, or organizing fundraisers, all while fielding people coming
to the door with questions and serving as the unofficial tourist
director for Carbon County.

tography business.
I like taking pictures of events, Wolfe said. Living here
offers so many possibilities.
Her website, www.susanwolfephotography.com, features photos from gatherings of a cowboy action gun shooting club, the
Montana Territory Peacemakers.
They are all good sports, Wolfe said about the participants of
the club who dress in Old West garb and shoot at a Billings
range. Montana is a just a great place for photography, travel
and living. I know more about Montana than Kansas now.

The center of it all

The Joliet Community Center is the hub of the small Carbon

County community. Opened in 2001, it took the efforts of almost
the entire population of Joliet to raise the money for the building
which now houses a large meeting hall, a commercial kitchen, the
Joliet Public Library, the Joliet Senior Center, Joliet Head Start,
Beartooth Billings Clinics Physical Therapy clinic and the RiverStone Health Clinic.
Besides the various groups residing at the center, the VFW and
Lions Club meet there. Zumba lessons are offered twice weekly.
Everything from Alcoholics Anonymous meetings to a teen Western dance class are on the regular schedule, as are weddings,
receptions and fundraisers.
There are only about 600 residents here, Wolfe said, but
they are the most generous and helpful folks youll ever meet.
People even wrote us into their wills to help support this place.
She also touted their kindness to other community members.
Ive seen them raise $80,000 for someone facing illness, she
said.

Still growing

While the diminutive, blue-eyed blonde has energy to spare

and takes great pride in her work at the center, she also has a pho-

Wolfe is pictured in her office at the Joliet Community Center.

She added that after living here, she finds two-lane roads as
good as any freeway for traveling.
Montana is refreshing for me, she said. We can just take off
and go in any direction.
Reach Kathleen Gilluly at schools@laureloutlook.com or
(406) 628-4412.

Clutter, from Page 9

every day and build yourself an oasis
of calm thats also less of a haven for
dust, dirt, and allergens.
My paid organizer served as my expert.
She helped me set up a daily 15-minute
schedule, with the goal of filling at least
half of a grocery bag with stuff to be
tossed or donated. At the end of each daily session, the bag of discards was immediately placed outside my door. The trick
is, dont just put stuff somewhere else.
Get it outside your home immediately so
its sorted and gone.
That includes what the organizer called
someday clutter. Someday youre going
to read those old magazines and catalogs.
Someday youre going to drop four sizes
and be able to wear those too-small
clothes that have been hanging in your

closet for years. Someday youre going to

find the other sock or the tops to all those
storage container bottoms.
Count on this: those somedays will
never come. Even if you drop four clothing sizes, youre going to want new
clothes, not things that have been hanging
in your closet for years and years.
Many folks need time to make up their
mind about what to throw out, especially
when it comes to stuffed closets. Heres a
great tip to find out what clothing should
no longer be hanging around:
Start by making up about 50 paper tabs,
about the size of a credit card, containing
the days date. Go through all your clothing closets. Take out every hanging garment and string one of the dated tags on
the hanger by poking a hole in it with the

hanger hook. When you wear any of

these garments, remove and toss the tab.
One year later, look for all the clothing
with hangers that still have dated tags. It
will have been a year. Are you ever going
to wear these items again? Be realistic
about everything. If you havent worn it
in a year, sell or donate it.
Another good piece of advice came
from Better Homes and Gardens, with a
tip from Julie Morgenstern, author of
Organizing from the Inside Out. She
wrote:
Problem: Your organization efforts
dont seem to yield results.
Solution: Avoid zigzag organizing.
Scattering your efforts over multiple
See Clutter, Page 15
April 2015

13

The man behind the curtain

MT Best Times photos by Chad Knudson

Ron Conrad, drama teacher at Dawson Community College, urges a student to project her voice during a rehearsal for
the play Greater Tuna, which was performed March 20 and 21.

Ron Conrad loves the challenges that come with producing plays
By Jason Stuart
Ranger-Review Staff Writer

GLENDIVE When it comes to the theater scene in Glendive, Ron Conrad is the man behind the curtain.
Conrad, 69, has been producing and directing plays with Glendives high school and community college students for the past
few decades.
He recently wrapped production on Dawson Community Colleges spring play for this year, Greater Tuna. The college typically puts on two plays per year, one each semester.

Unexpected involvement in drama

Conrad began his teaching career as an English and speech

teacher at Wibaux High School, about 30 miles east of Glendive.
He also began teaching drama in Wibaux because, as he put it,
its typical for English teachers at small schools to be pulled into
teaching drama and directing school plays.
According to Conrad, its something he never expected hed
end up doing when he was younger.
April 2015

14

When I was in college, if youd told me I would be an English, speech and drama teacher, I would have slapped you, he
said.
However, Conrads attitude changed once he became involved
with teaching drama.
I just discovered that it was fun and I had a knack for it, he
said.
It also helped that he had always held an innate appreciation of
the arts.
I have been a supporter of the arts and the fine arts forever,
Conrad said.
After teaching in Wibaux for eight years, Conrad moved over
to Dawson County High School, where he spent nearly two
decades before retiring in 1997. During his tenure at DCHS, the
schools forensics team won nine state championships.
Upon retiring from DCHS, Conrad began working for Glendives Head Start program, where he still works today. He also
started teaching speech classes at DCC as an adjunct professor
immediately after retiring from DCHS.

Teaching drama at DCC

Above: Ron Conrad, right, explains the importance of exaggerated facial

expressions to Dawson Community College sophomore Mason Weidner
during a rehearsal for Greater Tuna.
Below: Conrad shows students helping on the set of Greater Tuna how
to finish painting it.

In 2008, Conrad once more took up teaching drama

classes at the college, and has been doing so since.
I think its a fantastic experience for the students,
and I like teaching students of that age, Conrad
said.
Acting in or helping produce a play can give community college students an experience that will help
them become more well-rounded individuals after
they move on from DCC, according to Conrad.
Give them an audience and let them have that
experience, because thats a tough experience, he
said. If they get the experience of success in front of
a large group of people, thats an important experience for that age.
Producing plays at the small community college
comes with its own set of challenges, however. For
one, Conrad has only two years to work with the students under his charge.
It was actually quite easier in high school, because
you could start a kid as a freshman and have four
years to train them, he said.
It can also be a struggle to get enough students to
sign up to participate in DCCs plays, so Conrads
solution when that happens is to open up the production to community members, which he finds actually
helps students.
I like that, because those kids that want the experience are learning from the other people in the play,
and what a great experience for them, he said.
Conrad added he actually enjoys the challenges that
come with producing plays at DCC, since it keeps the
job fresh for him.
Its a new experience every year, and its kind of
fun, he said.
According to Conrad, the two plays he produces
each year also benefit everyone involved.
I think its just a nice cultural experience for the
community, and I love teaching theater skills to
young students, Conrad said.
Its an experience he doesnt plan to give up anytime soon.
Im healthy and I like it. I want to retire, and I
keep yelling that, but as long as I can manage the
whole thing, Ill keep doing it, Conrad said. Ill be
a teacher until I die.
Reach Jason Stuart at rrreporter@rangerreview.
com.

Clutter, from Page 13

rooms prevents you from seeing progress. For visible, dramatic

results, work one room at a time, one section at a time, completing each area before you move on to the next.
Since my biggest clutter problem is surfaces, I began clearing
one surface at a time, in one room, until most of the tables and
counters were cleared. At first, it was hard. It often took a week
before Id found a place or use for everything or tossed it into
the discard bag. But as I got into the rhythm of clearing off surfaces, it became faster and easier.

Youll find that clearing away the junk you dont really want
or need gives you a sense of freedom, plus a marvelous feeling
of self esteem. Even better, you may find you have a knack for
doing it. In that case, you can set up shop as a professional
organizer yourself, and make quite a good income by helping
others to also clear away their clutter.
EDITORS NOTE: Wina Sturgeon is an active boomer based
in Salt Lake City who offers news on the science of anti-aging
and staying youthful at adventuresportsweekly.com.
April 2015

15

y
k
S
g
Bi
Birding
Terry McEneaney is ornithologist emeritus for Yellowstone National Park, and is the author of three books: Birding Montana, Birds of
Yellowstone, and The Uncommon Loon. He has been watching birds for 50 years and is one of Montanas most experienced birders.

Unique discovery of

wallcreeper
foraging behavior
in Yellowstone
Nuthatches
EDITORS NOTE: Montana Best Times has
been featuring some of the fascinating adventures
Terry McEneaney had when he was Yellowstone
National Parks ornithologist. Following is another excerpt from a new book he is writing, Lucky
Feathers: Adventures and Experiences of a Yellowstone Ornithologist.
The longer the time spent in the field, the greater the chances of making a unique scientific discovery about birds. Oftentimes these discoveries are not planned one
actually stumbles on them by simply paying attention in the field and
being familiar with the life histories of bird species.
The first time I noticed something very different about nuthatch feeding behavior was late July 1987 while conducting Peregrine Falcon
(Falco peregrinus) surveys on large cliffs in the remote southeast corner
of Yellowstone National Park. From that day on and for over two
decades thereafter of traveling mainly alone and by foot in the Yellowstone backcountry, I paid particular attention to observe whether my initial discovery was simply a fluke or more a pattern of behavior
unknown to science.
It turned out to be a repeated pattern of foraging behavior by Whitebreasted Nuthatches (Sitta carolinensis nelsoni) on cliffs, and interestingly enough, only found to date in the volcanic conglomerate rock faces of the Absaroka Mountains bordering Yellowstone to the east. This
nuthatch foraging behavior discovery is probably more widespread in
Photo by Jim Peaco/Yellowstone National Park

A White-breasted Nuthatch is pictured on a tree trunk near Silver

Gate in this file photo from 2006.

April 2015

16

Terry McEneaney is pictured after a

successful trip finding Peregrine
Falcons on cliffs on the eastern edge
of Yellowstone National Park in the
Absaroka Mountains of Wyoming.
The cliffs also have White-breasted
Nuthatches.
Photo courtesy of Terry McEneaney

distribution, but was limited in Yellowstone due to late access of remote areas
and the melting of mountain snows.

Makes perfect sense

As most people realize, nuthatches

belong to the family Sittidae known for
being small arboreal or tree-dwelling
perching birds with short tails and rounded
wings and small dagger-like bills. Their
general plumage color is gray or blue
above with either blackish eye stripes, or
caps, and white bellies and/or rusty
breasts.
They normally fly from tree to tree,
landing high on the tree, working the bark
and leaving low in the tree. Their characteristic foot locomotion is to move head
first with jerky hops investigating nooks
and crannies, crevices and holes while foraging for insects, spiders and seeds/nuts
and by almost always descending trees
with their feet, hence down the hatch.
Occasionally, one will find them on the
ground foraging for food, but by and large
they are found primarily in trees.
So to my surprise, they were discovered
foraging on the volcanic conglomerate
cliffs in July and August on many occasions over the years, using a wallcreeper
style feeding or foraging behavior. It so
happens Yellowstone volcanic conglomerate rock, when it heats up from the hot sun

in July and August, is a magnet for insects

trying to stay warm in this cold environment. So it makes perfect sense why
White-breasted Nuthatches take advantage
of this niche and valuable temporary food
resource.

A look around the world

Are there other birds or close relatives

of the White-breasted Nuthatch that exhibit similar wallcreeper feeding behavior?
The quick answer to this would be no, not
in North America at least. But the more
difficult answer lies in the fact that the fossil record for modern nuthatches and related species is quite scant.
There are however, three very similar
families of small scansorial (climbing)
birds that originated out of Asia/Eurasia,
and radiated to other parts of the globe as
we find them today. It appears the nuthatches (Sittidae- 1 genus Sitta; species:
27=worldwide, 4=NA) of North America
radiated out of Asia, the wallcreepers
(Tichodromidae-1 genus: Tichodroma;
species:1=worldwide, 0=NA ) radiated
and/but remained pretty much in Eurasia,
while the treecreepers (Certhiidae- 2 genera-- Certhia: species: 9=worldwide,
1=NA & Salpornis; species: 1=worldwide,
0=NA) radiated out of Asia to current distribution as far away as North America /
Central America and Africa. The Latin

term tichodroma translated into English

simply means wall runner, hence the
name wallcreepers.
But are there any nuthatch species in the
world that exhibit a similar rockcreeper
or wallcreeper foraging behavior? The
answer is yes, and surprisingly, there are
two nuthatch species that forage on rock
surfaces/rock walls in Eurasia that are very
closely related to the White-breasted Nuthatch. They are the larger Eastern Rock
Nuthatch (S. tephonota) and the smaller
Western Rock Nuthatch (S. neumayer),
and they are the White-breasted Nuthatchs closest relatives in the evolutionary family tree of life. Yet the rock nuthatches collectively climb upward head
first, just the opposite of the White-breasted Nuthatch, which climbs and forages by
descending head first.
So if you ever venture into the backcountry of the Greater Yellowstone or
throughout the mountains of Montana, and
you happen to hear a staccato sound coming from a cliff, do not be surprised if the
sound comes from a White-breasted Nuthatch. Yes, that is right, a White-breasted
Nuthatch making its horse-like whinnying
yidididididi call from a rock cliff. But
most importantly you might just recall this
personal account of the discovery of the
unusual wallcreeper foraging behavior
in Yellowstone White-breasted Nuthatches.

More short stories from Lucky Feathers: Adventures and Experiences of a Yellowstone Ornithologist, will be featured in forthcoming issues
of Montana Best Times. In the meantime, enjoy Montana birds! And the Best of Big Sky Birding to you!
Bird watching questions may be sent to Terry McEneaney by writing to 1215 Lolo St., Missoula, MT 59802; emailing terry@ravenidiot.com; or visiting
www.yellowstonewildlifeguides.com or www.ravenidiot.com. If questions are mailed, include a phone number at which you can be reached.

April 2015

17

Want to live past 90?

You might want to hear what a UC researcher has learned from the oldest old

Mindy Schauer/Orange County Register/TNS

Dr. Claudia Kawas, left, and Maria Corrada, Ph.D., both professors at the University
of California-Irvine, are investigating the effects of aging on people 90 and above.

By Megan Nicolai

The Orange County Register/TNS

What prolongs your life or prevents

dementia might not be what you expect.
Claudia Kawas, a geriatric neurologist at
UC Irvine, has been working on a longitudinal study of people age 90 and older since
2003 called the 90-plus study. Kawas spoke
in front of a packed crowd of 200 at the
Newport Beach Public Library Monday
April 2015

18

about what shes found in her research on

what can help a persons longevity and what
can reduce a persons risk for dementia.
In the U.S. right now, two million people
are older than 90. That could hit 10 million
by 2050, according to research Kawas highlighted during the lecture.
Weve got a real burgeoning group of
individuals in this age range and we know
very little about them, Kawas said.
About 30 years ago, USC researchers sent

a 14-page questionnaire to residents of Leisure World, now Laguna Woods. About

13,000 people ranging from age 55 to 100
responded, and also answered four followup questionnaires about lifestyle, benefit
and exercise. About two-thirds were female.
Kawas said the study didnt show much
benefit in taking vitamins A, E, C or calcium for longevity. Tea had no effect, but neither did soda.
On the other hand, people who drank
modest consumption of alcohol from one
or two drinks a week to one daily drink
seemed to live longer on average. People
who also consumed 200 to 400 milligrams
of caffeine per day about one small Starbucks coffee a day lived longer on average.
A persons body mass index also had an
interesting effect on longevity. Being overweight was a negative until 80, but beyond
that age it showed a benefit of a 3 percent
reduction in mortality. And beyond age 80,
underweight individuals had a 50 percent
increase in mortality.
Exercise, even just an average of 15 minutes per day, helped and 45 minutes was the
best. Leisure activities pretty much anything that got people moving also helped.
Kawas said the 90-plus study at UC Irvine
was an extension of the questionnaire that
aimed to look at quality of life in the oldest
population. About 1,600 people older than
90 entered the study, and the researchers
began finding out some interesting details.
Beginning at 65, a persons risk for
dementia doubles with every five years of
life. Kawas research showed that trend continued past 90.
High blood pressure also has an effect on
a persons risk for dementia but probably
not in the way youd expect. Kawas said that
a person who developed hypertension in her
80s or 90s actually saw a reduction in the
risk for dementia by as much as 60 percent.
Researchers dont yet know what causes
that phenomenon it could be the drugs
used to treat hypertension, or maybe older
populations simply need more pressure on
aging blood vessel walls.
Were busily untangling all of this right
now, because we dont really know what the
reason is, Kawas said.
Shes working to figure out what mechanisms cause that trend.

RSVP

Below is a list of volunteer openings available through the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) in
communities across southern Montana. To learn more about RSVP, call 1-800-942-2677 or log on to www.
seniorcorps.org.

Custer & Rosebud counties

- American Legion: Will need volunteer

ticket takers this summer.
- Clinic Ambassador: Need volunteer to
greet patients and visitors, providing directions and more, two locations.
- Custer County Food Bank: Volunteer assistants needed for 8 a.m-1:30 p.m., Mondays,
Tuesdays and Wednesdays, to process donations, stock shelves and more.
- Friendship Villa: Volunteers needed to help
with activities.
- Grammas Ice Cream Shoppe: RSVP will
need help selling ice cream at the Eastern
Montana Fair August 19-22.
- Historic Miles City Academy: Volunteer
store clerk needed.
- Historic Miles City Academy Academic
Program: Assistant and Education assistant
needed to help with personal and professional
development courses/programs.
- Meals on Wheels: RSVP will be delivering
the last two weeks in May.
- Miles City Historic Preservation Office and
City Clerks Office: Clerical help needed.
- Range Riders Museum: Volunteers needed
7 days per week to greet visitors, run the cash
register and more.
- Soup Kitchen: Volunteers needed to greet
(seated position), serve and/or prepare food.
- St. Vincent DePaul: Volunteers to assist in
several different capacities.
- VA Activities: Urgent need for someone to
help with activities.
- VA Community Living Center: Volunteer
with people skills needed to interview CLC
residents on a monthly basis. Must be able to
objectively ask questions, work on a laptop
while doing so, and be accurate. Select your
own hours. People skills and accuracy are
important.
- WaterWorks Art Museum: Volunteer receptionists needed, two-hour shifts TuesdaysSundays.
If you are interested in these or other volunteer opportunities please contact: Betty Vail,
RSVP Director; 210 Winchester Ave. #225,
MT 59301; phone (406) 234-0505; email:
rsvp05@midrivers.com.

Dawson County

- Local Farm to Table Store: Someone to

help in and during store hours, 11 a.m.-6 p.m.
-Makoshika Visitors Center: Volunteers
needed to assist on Mondays and Tuesdays.Training provided.
If you have a need for or a special interest
or desire to volunteer somewhere in the community, please contact: Patty Atwell, RSVP
Director, 604 Grant, Glendive, MT 59330;
phone (406) 377-4716; email: rsvp@midrivers.com.

Fergus & Judith Basin counties

- Art Center: In need of volunteers on Saturdays.

- Boys and Girls Club: Receptionist and
front desk greeter.
- Community Cupboard (Food Bank): Volunteers are needed to help any week mornings as well as with deliveries.
- Council on Aging: Volunteers needed to
assist at the Senior Center (Grubstakes) and
with home delivered meals and senior transportation.
- Library: Volunteer help always appreciated.
- ROWL (Recycle Our Waste Lewistown):
Recruiting volunteers for the third Saturday of
the month to helpsorting, baling and loading
recyclables
- RSVP Health Fair: Volunteers needed to
host our table, April 25.
- Treasure Depot: Thrift store needs volunteers to sort, hang clothes and put other items
on display for sale.
- Always have various needs for your skills
and volunteer services in our community.
- Current RSVP volunteers are encouraged
to turn in your hours each month; your contribution to the community is greatly appreciated!
Contact: RSVP Volunteer Coordinator Sara
Wald, 404 W. Broadway, Wells Fargo Bank
building (upstairs), Lewistown, MT 59457;
phone (406) 535-0077; email: rsvplew@midrivers.com.

Gallatin County

- American Cancer Society-Road to Recovery: Drivers needed for patients receiving

treatments from their home to the hospital
- American Red Cross Blood Drive: Two
volunteer opportunities available: an ambassador needed to welcome, greet, thank and
provide overview for blood donors; and
phone team volunteers needed to remind,
recruit or thank blood donors. Excellent customer service skills needed, training will be
provided, flexible schedule.
- Befrienders: Befriend a senior; visit on a
regular weekly basis.
- Belgrade Senior Center: Meals on Wheels
needs regular and substitute drivers MondayFriday, to deliver meals to seniors before
noon.
- Big Brothers Big Sisters: Be a positive role
model for only a few hours each week.
- Bozeman and Belgrade Sacks Thrift
Stores: Need volunteers 2-3-hour shifts on
any day,Monday-Saturday 9:30 a.m.-6 p.m.
- Bozeman Deaconess Hospital: Volunteers
needed for the information desks in the Atrium and the Perk,8 a.m.-noon,noon- 4 p.m.
- Bozeman Senior Center Foot Clinic:

Retired or nearly retired nurses are urgently

needed, 2 days a month, either 4- or 8-hour
shifts.
- Bozeman Symphony: In need of volunteer
ushers for the March and April Symphony.
- Galavan: Volunteer drivers neededMonday-Friday, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. CDL required and
Galavan will assist you in obtaining one. Volunteers also needed to make reminder calls
and confirm rides for the following day.
- Gallatin Rest Home: Volunteers wanted for
visiting the residents, sharing your knowledge
of a craft, playing cards or reading to a resident.
- Gallatin Valley Food Bank: Volunteers
needed to deliver commodities to seniors in
their homes once a month. Deliveries in Belgrade are especially needed.
- HRDC Housing Department Ready to
Rent: Curriculum for families and individuals
who have rental barriers such as lack of poor
rental history, property upkeep, renter responsibilities, landlord/tenant communication and
financial priorities.
- HRDC Vita Program: Volunteer Income
Tax Assistance Program: Volunteers needed
to help with paperwork. Training is provided.
- Habitat for Humanity Restore: Belgrade
store needs volunteers for general help, sorting donations and assisting customers.
- Heart of The Valley: Compassionate volunteers especially needed to love, play with and
cuddle cats.
- Help Center: Computer literate volunteer
interested in entering data into a social services database. Also volunteers needed to make
phone calls to different agencies/programs to
make sure database is up to date and make
safety calls to home bound seniors.
- Jessie Wilber Gallery at The Emerson: Volunteers needed on Wednesdays, Thursdays,
and Fridays to greet people at the main desk,
answer questions and keep track of the number of visitors.
- MSU Alumni Association: Volunteers
needed to help with decorations for MSU
graduation and reunion weekend.
- Museum of the Rockies: Variety of opportunities available such as helping in the gift
shop and more.
- RSVP Handcrafters: Volunteers to quilt,
knit, crochet and embroider hats for chemo
patients, baby blankets and other handmade
goods once a week (can work from home).
Items are on sale in our store in the RSVP
office at the Senior Center or on Saturday
Farmers Markets until Sept. 13. Donated yarn
needed for the quilting, knitting and crocheting projects.
-Three Forks Food Bank:Volunteer needed
on Mondays and/orThursdaysto help with
administrative duties, including answering
See RSVP, Page 20
April 2015
19

April 2015
Calendar
 Thursday, April 2
Montana Theatre Spring Film Festival, Miles

City

 Friday, April 3

MSU American Indian Council Pow-Wow,

through April 4, Brick Breeden Fieldhouse,

Bozeman

 Saturday, April 4

Winter Farmers Market, 9 a.m.-noon, Emerson

Ballroom, Bozeman
Mannequin Jump, Showdown Ski Hill, Neihart

 Sunday, April 5

Dog Day Afternoon Cross Country, noon-close,

Bohart Ranch, Bozeman

Bridger Bowl Ski Resort, Closing Day, Bozeman

 Thursday, April 9

Montana Theatre Spring Film Festival, Miles

City

 Friday, April 10

Springfest Family Night, Miles City

 Saturday, April 11

Springfest Dinner and Auction, Miles City

 Thursday, April 16

Montana Theatre Spring Film Festival, Miles

City

 Friday, April 17

PBR Nile Invitational Weekend, through April

19 Metra Park, Billings

 Saturday, April 18
Billings Symphony Orchestra and Chorale:
From Russia With Love, 7:30 p.m., Alberta Bair

Theater, Billings
Bike Swap, Gallatin County Fairgrounds, 9 a.m.,

Bozeman
Winter Farmers Market, 9 a.m.-noon, Emerson

Ballroom, Bozeman
38th International Wildlife Film Festival,

through April 25, Roxy Theater, Missoula

 Friday, April 24

Wilderness First Responder Refresher Course,

through April 26, Lindley Park Center, Bozeman

 Saturday, April 25

Annual Railroad Swap Meet, Livingston Depot,

Livingston
April 2015

20

RSVP, from Page 19

phones and questions, some paper and
computer work. They will train.
- Warming Center: Volunteers are needed for overnight shifts at the center, training is provided.
- Your unique skills and interests are
needed, without making a long-term commitment, in a variety of ongoing, special,
one-time events.
Contact: Debi Casagranda, RSVP Program Coordinator, 807 N. Tracy, Bozeman, MT 59715; phone (406) 587-5444;
fax (406) 582 8499; email: dcasagranda@thehrdc.org.

Musselshell, Golden Valley &

Petroleum counties

- America Reads: Tutor students in the

important skill of reading. Other tutoring
is intertwined with this program.
- Food Bank: Distribute food commodities to seniors and others in the community; help unload the truck as needed.
- Meals on Wheels Program: Deliver
meals to the housebound in the community, just one day a week, an hour and a
half, meal provided.
- Nursing Home: Pianoplayers and
singers neededon Fridays to entertain residents, alsoassistant needed in activities
for residents to enrich supported lifestyle.
- School Lunch Program: Help serve
and supervise children in the lunch room,
meal provided.
- Senior Bus: Volunteers to pickup folks
who are unable to drive themselves.
- Senior Center: Volunteers are needed
to provide meals, clean up in the dining
room and/or keep records; meal provided.
- RSVP offers maximum flexibility and
choice to its volunteers as it matches the
personal interests and skills of older
Americans with opportunities to serve
their communities. You choose how and
where to serve. Volunteering is an opportunity to learn new skills, make friends
and connect with your community.
Contact: Amanda Turley, South Central
MT RSVP, 315 1/2 Main St., Ste. #1,
Roundup, MT 59072; phone (406) 3231403; fax (406) 323-4403; email:
rdprsvp2@midrivers.com ; Facebook:
South Central MT RSVP.

Park County

- Big Brothers Big Sisters: Mentor and

positive role model to a boy or girl, one
hour a week. Also needed is a Community Program Mentor, who matches children and adults to find that perfect fit for
both.
- City of Livingston: Needs volunteers to

help with mailings and other work stations that do require standing and walking.
- Fix-It-Brigade: Needs volunteers of all
skill levels for 2 hour tasks on your schedule to help seniors or veterans with small
home repairs, such as changing a light
bulb, shoveling snow, or weatherization.
- Links for Learning: Help needed with
1st-5th graders, one hour a week on Tuesday or Wednesday, after school, with
reading, homework, or playing games.
- Livingston Health and Rehab: Activity
volunteers needed weekends for bingo
callers and movie showings; Monday-Friday 9-11 a.m. for coffee and reading the
local news; Tuesdays and Thursdays 7
p.m. movie night.
- Loaves and Fishes and/or Food Pantry:
Many volunteer opportunities available,
including cooking.
- Meals on Wheels: Needed substitute
drivers to deliver meals to seniors in their
home.
- RSVP Handcrafters: Volunteers to knit
and crochet caps and scarves for each
child at Head Start, also as gifts for children of prenatal classes, Thursdays at 1
p.m. at the Senior Center.
- Senior Center Main Streeter Thrift
Store: Someone who enjoys working with
the public. Come help greet customers,
ring up purchases, tag and hang clothes
and accept donations.
- Shane Center: Friendly volunteers
needed to greet, answer questions and
show people around the center on Tuesdays and Fridays. Also a need for volunteers to research the old East Side School
building, collecting stories and finding
pictures of past teachers, students and the
building itself.
- Stafford Animal Shelter: Volunteers
needed to play with the cats and kittens,
and to walk the dogs.
- Transportation: Volunteer drivers needed to help patients keep doctor appointments. Some gas mileage assistance may
be provided.
- Yellowstone Gateway Museum: Volunteers needed for a variety of exciting projects.
- Various other agencies are in need of
your unique skills and help in a variety of
ongoing and one-time special events,
including help with mailings needed.
Contact: Deb Downs, Program Coordinator, 111 So. 2nd St., Livingston, MT
59047; phone (406) 222-2281; email:
debdowns@rsvpmt.org.

On The Menu

With Jim Durfey

Perfect thing for dinner invite

Some very good friends of ours have invited us and several
other couples to their ranch for Easter dinner. Because just
about everyone wholl be there is an extra special friend, I want
to bring something extra special for the occasion.
I found the perfect thing deviled eggs on a website I
recently discovered. The address of the website is www.thekichn.
com/recipes. I cant testify youll find every recipe on that site,
but its come through for me in half a dozen attempts.
I cant wait to see the reaction of the dinner guests when I
unveil the deviled eggs, which are pink on the outside. People
will no doubt ask why the eggs are colored. Because I have a

Beet-Pickle Deviled
Eggs
6 eggs
1 can or jar pickled beets
1 c. apple cider vinegar
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 tbsp. peppercorns
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
1 tbsp. mayonnaise
1/2 tsp. curry powder
1 tbsp. vinegar
2 tbsp. olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Fresh rosemary for garnish

Hard boil eggs. When cool enough to

handle, remove egg shells. Set eggs
aside. For brine, pour jar of pickled
beets into large mason jar or bowl. Add
cider vinegar, sugar, peppercorns and
salt. Stir mixture. Carefully lower hard
boiled eggs into brine, cover and let sit

warped sense of humor, Im going to

claim that there were holes in the egg
shells, so when I dyed the eggs, the dye leaked inside. That
will be a good way to determine which dinner guests are gullible.
Just about anything tastes good on a toasted piece of baguette
bread. The strawberries and spinach combination screams
spring to me, so I expect the Easter feast attendees to react the
same way.
The recipes below have been changed somewhat from the
online version.

for at least 12 hours, up to two or three

days. The longer theyre in the brine,
the more sour and pink theyll be.
Sixteen hours will give the eggs good
color and a nice tangy flavor. If left for
three days the flavor will be intense
so will the color.
When eggs have been in brine long
enough, cut each egg in half and scoop
out yolks. Place yolks in medium-sized
bowl, along with mustard, mayonnaise,
curry, vinegar, and olive oil. Mash until
smooth. Add small amount of water to
mixture, if too stiff. Salt and pepper to
taste.
Use pastry bag or plastic bag with the
corner cut off to pipe yolk mixture into
pink eggs. Sprinkle with chopped
rosemary and season with salt and
pepper.

Toasted Baguette Slices

with Baby Spinach

Leaves and
Strawberries
1/2 c. sliced strawberries
1/2 c. baby spinach leaves, stems
removed
1/4 tsp. Balsamic vinegar
3/4 c. ricotta
1/2 tsp. grated lemon zest
15 (1/3-inch) slices cut from a baguette
2 tbsp. olive oil
Flaky finishing salt
Freshly cracked black pepper

Preheat oven to 375. In small bowl,

combine strawberries and Balsamic
vinegar. In a separate small bowl,
combine ricotta and lemon zest. Arrange
baguette slices in a single layer on a
baking sheet and brush both sides with
olive oil. Bake until toasted, about
10-12 minutes. Spread each toast with
ricotta and top with spinach leaves and
strawberries. Sprinkle with salt and
pepper and serve.

News Lite
Stolen vehicle driven to State Patrol office
BELLEVUE, Wash. (AP) Washington State Troopers
arrested a 36-year-old man who they say drove a stolen car into
their parking lot at a district office.
KOMO-TV in Seattle reports that a driver recognized the stolen vehicle from a post on a motorist club Facebook post and
spotted it in the Issaquah area.

Troopers say the witness captured video of Micah Hatcher

behind the wheel of the car and used his cell phone to report it.
The witness followed the car from Issaquah to Bellevue, about
11.3 miles, and then into the State Patrol parking lot.
Detectives say it was the easiest auto theft arrest theyd ever had.
Authorities say Hatcher had been arrested earlier on outstanding warrants and drug charges and was contacting troopers to
retrieve belongings taken during his initial arrest.
April 2015

21

By Bill Sones and Rich Sones, Ph.D.

Send STRANGE questions to brothers Bill and Rich at strangetrue@cs.com

Speed bumps
... and

Beyond

Q. How fast can you hit a speed bump

and survive?

A. Speed bumps are designed to slow

people down, with a 5-mph hit resulting in a
gentle bounce, 20 mph delivering a sizeable
jolt, says former NASA roboticist Randall
Munroe in What If? Serious Scientific
Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions.
As medical journals attest, people are
occasionally injured, especially if in a hard
seat in the back of a bus on a poorly
maintained road.
Two things generally protect car occupants:
the tires and the suspension. No matter how
fast you hit a speed bump, unless the bump is
large enough to hit the frame of the car,
enough of the jolt will be absorbed by these
two systems so that you probably wont be
hurt. Yet absorbing such shock may well
explode the tires or do other damage.
The typical sedan has a top speed of about
130 mph, enough for a typical 3- to 4-inch
bump to cause the driver to lose control and
crash. A quite different scenario involves a car
going so fast it starts to generate lift, which
can rapidly become substantial. Among
NASCAR fans, theres frequently talk of a
200-mph liftoff speed if the car starts to spin,
followed by a spectacular backflip. Look out!
The bottom line is that in the range of
150-300 mph, a typical sedan would lift off
the ground, tumble and crash... before you
even hit the bump. If you kept the car from
taking off, the force of the wind at those
speeds would strip away the hood, side panels
and windows. At higher speeds, the car itself
would be disassembled and might even burn
up like a spacecraft reentering the
atmosphere.
Q. What makes coffee the worlds most
popular drug?
A. Coffee bean genes help foster the
drinks winning flavor, but its not just genes,
says Penny Sarchet of New Scientist
April 2015

22

magazine. Coffees will taste different

depending on where the beans are grown (El
Salvador coffee farmer Alisandro Martinez)
and how the bean is roasted (James Hoffmann
of Square Mile Coffee Roasters of London).
As Hoffman explains, bean moisture content,
roasting temperature and the color of the
ground coffee all factor into taste quality and
consistency. Even the water used in the brew
is critical, explains Christopher Hendon of the
University of Bath, UK, with calcium and
magnesium ions bringing out the flavor better
and bicarbonate ions killing it (Journal of
Agricultural and Food Chemistry).
Ordinary coffee purchased at the local cafe
is usually a mix of arabica for flavor and lessflavorful robusta for the high-caffeine kick
customers have come to expect. Tweaking the
robusta genome could produce a tastier coffee
by allowing for a reduction in the robusta and
an increase in the arabica making for a
mix that tastes better without losing its
punch.
Tweaking could also produce new flavors
of specialty coffees. For instance, around 5
percent of a coffee bean is chlorogenic acid,
which doesnt taste very nice, Hendon
explains. Getting rid of it could result in a
coffee that would be incredibly sweet and
very floral. And, says Hendon, That would
be cool!
Q. Scarecrows are one way of doing this,
farmers swinging brooms is another.
Whats a newer, high-tech way that can be
both longer lasting and less deadly to the
pesky birds?

A. Those avian intruders can cost the U.S.

a couple of billion dollars a year in crop
losses and damage, reports Leah Shaffer in
Discover magazine. Now researchers at the
College of William and Mary are using sonic
shields to set up a sort of nonstop noise that
interrupts the conversation among birds in
the area. The shield employs speakers to send

out a directional buzzing noise that interferes

with the usual vocalizings about predators
and food sources, forcing the birds into timeand energy-consuming vigilance and leaving
less time for crop crashing. Gone are hightech pyrotechnics and poisons.
Acoustician Mark Hinders likens the effort
to the old cocktail party problem, where
theres so much talk in so many directions
that individual conversations become hard to
follow. By crashing the birds party, as Shaffer
puts it, the sonic net could save lots of aviary
lives, not to mention vulnerable crops.
Q. How smart can a smartphone get
when you take it into the loo?

A. When youre wearing a device like

Google Glass, thats fine for you but not in a
public loo when the Glass catches strangers
on camera in private moments theyd rather
keep private, reports New Scientist
magazine. Enter a team from the University
of North Carolina that taught smartphones to
detect automatically when the user had
entered a restroom. The phones microphone
searches for sounds that are similar to other
bathrooms, like echoes from tiled floors, and
shuts down the devices picture or video
apps. This research was presented at the
International Symposium on Wearable
Computers in Seattle in October 2014.
Now isnt that a loo-loo of a smartphone!

Q. Consider the number 0.99999.... Does

it equal a number very close to one, or does
it go on forever and therefore actually
equal one? Many people are not convinced
that it equals one. How might you prove
that it does?
A. Start by supposing that x = .99999...,
says Ian Stewart in Professor Stewarts
Incredible Numbers. Next, multiply both
sides of the equation by 10, which yields 10x
= 9.9999.... This means that 10x = 9 + x.
Now, subtracting x from both sides of the
equation gives you 9x = 9, and further
dividing both sides by 9 yields x = 1. Thus,
infinity aside, .99999... = 1. Incredible indeed,
Professor Stewart!
Q. Frankly put, whats in that county
fair favorite, the corn dog?

A. Lets start with the trimmings or

skeletal meat left over after the prime cuts are
made that comprise most of the dog, says
Lucas Reilly in Mental Floss magazine.
Unless its marked all beef, it may contain
a whole barnyard: cows, pigs, turkeys and
chickens. It may also include tongues, snouts
and lips, not to exceed 15-20 percent,
according to the UNs Food and Agriculture
Organization, which further requires that the

product be free of gristle sinews, bone and cartilage. Ground up like hamburger meat, the
pudding-like batter is then pumped into casings.
For nearly 6,000 years, these casings were
made of animal intestines but more likely your
frank was wrapped in trees, that is, cellulose
derived from wood pulp. Liquid smoke that
flavors the cooked dog comes from burning
wood chips whose vapor is condensed into a
liquid. For the coating, the eggs are mostly
from leghorn hens, the corn in the corn syrup
from bushels of corn soaked in seven-story
tanks of hot water for two days, then processed.
And on it goes, until finally the coated frank
is put on a stick made from Canadian white
birch trees, fittingly flavorless and odorless.

Let the eating begin!

Q. So what if large numbers of raindrops are breaking the speed limit?

A. In breaking the speed limit, drops fall
faster than presumed terminal velocity up
to 1.3 times as fast, says atmospheric physicist
Michael Larsen of the College of Charleston,
as reported by Thomas Sumner in Science
News magazine. As skydivers well know,
terminal velocity is the speed at which air
resistance cancels out gravitational pull. As for
falling raindrops, the air pushes back harder
and harder until the forces balance out and the
drops thereafter fall no faster. Larger raindrops with diameters more than about 0.5 millimeters reach terminal speeds of several
meters per second. Smaller drops are limited
to velocities under a meter per second.

Only recently did scientists detect many

tiny drops falling seemingly too fast and thus
throwing off meteorologists estimates of drop
sizes and total rainwater volume of storms. In
studying this issue, Larsen and colleagues
assembled 22 instruments that every second
snapped more than 55,000 images of falling
raindrops and monitored six major rainstorms
for a total of more than 23 million drops. The
results showed some 30 percent of the smaller
ones falling faster than predicted. Why? Perhaps because larger raindrops shatter as they
fall or break up from midair collisions, with
the newly formed smaller droplets continuing
to move at least initially at the larger
drops higher speeds.
Note: A word to the wise meteorologist!

Ask me about the This auto and home insurance is designed exclusively for AARP
members and is now available through your local Hartford
AARP
independent agent! Call Today for your FREE, no-obligation quote:
Auto & Home
Now available in your area! 406-652-4180
InsuranceProgram KAYE DUNCAN, DARNIELLE INSURANCE AGENCY
from The Hartford.
1320 28th St WPO Box 21300Billings, MT 59104 www.darnielle.com

The AARP Automobile Insurance Program from The Hartford is underwritten by Hartford Fire Insurance Company and its affiliates, One Hartford Plaza, Hartford, CT 06155. In Washington, the Program is underwritten
by Trumbull Insurance Company. AARP and its affiliates are not insurance agencies or carriers and do not employ or endorse insurance agents, brokers, representatives or advisors. The program is provided by The
Hartford, not AARP or its affiliates. Paid endorsement. The Hartford pays a royalty fee to AARP for the use of AARPs intellectual property. These fees are used for the general purposes of AARP. AARP membership is
required for Program eligibility in most states. Applicants are individually underwritten and some may not qualify. Specific features, credits, and discounts may vary and may not be available in all states in accordance
with state filings and applicable law. The premiums quoted by an authorized agent for any Program policy include the additional costs associated with the advice and counsel that your authorized agent provides. 107995

Crossword

Across

1 City on the South

Saskatchewan River
12 Its about 5 mL
15 Over
16 Cut (into)
17 Factor in cold waves
18 Boomers offspring
19 Put in
20 Senseless
21 Jazz duo?
22 Answered back
24 Drivetrain component,
perhaps
26 Southwestern
language
28 Brawn
29 Sign of shock
33 Diamond shape
35 Star movers
37 Runs through
39 Take time to answer
41 Mail
42 Save for later, in a way
44 City southwest of
Bayeux
45 Woodstock performer
before Sly

47 Ecua. rejoined it in
2007
49 Hail Mary
51 Charges for rounds
56 Newspaper section
57 Goyas La __
vestida
59 Washington portraitist
60 Star Wars letters
61 December-to-May
fruit
63 RBI producer, perhaps
64 Outlet worker
65 Stick-__
66 1623 Shakespeare
work, with The

Down

1 Blues
2 Waterworld orphan
girl
3 Strikes out
4 Apple purchases
5 Mexicos Sea
of __
6 Journalist Kupcinet
7 Krypton relative
8 Ancient Italian region

9 Opposite of stand
10 They multiply by
dividing
11 Drive handle
12 Like churches, as a
rule
13 Common abrasive
14 Intrinsically
21 The Marx Brothers,
e.g.
23 Deceive

25 Bug but good

27 Home in the woods
29 Meas. of course
performance
30 Brand with a
Jumpman logo
31 Meaning
32 Fine points
34 Letters sometimes
seen before a phone no.
36 Nestls __-Caps

38 Cheat
40 1924 co-defendant
43 Court
complaint
46 Horn of Africa native
48 Cousins of clam
diggers
49 Western ring
50 Expert
52 Jerk, say
53 Patty Hearst alias
54 __ bloom: pond
vegetation
55 __ Bag: eponymous
70s designer label
58 Old, in Oldenburg
61 Additional
62 Legend on ice

April 2015

23

DISCOVER

and Experience the

Miracle-Ear Advantage.
We invite you to
discover why millions of
people have entrusted
their hearing to
Miracle-Ear.

It all adds up to the

Miracle-Ear Advantage.
No wonder Miracle Ear is
Americas most recognized
hearing aid brand!
THE PEACE OF MIND that comes with a
satisfaction guarantee, plus a 3-year limited**
warranty and 3-year loss and damage protection
A LIFETIME OF AFTERCARE at no extra
charge, including hearing aid checkups, cleaning

LEADING-EDGE TECHNOLOGY Our newest

and adjustment

products featuring GENIUS provide high

MORE THAN 1,200 LOCATIONS across the

definition digital sound

country, assuring you of outstanding care and

65+ YEARS OF INNOVATION in hearing

service wherever you live or travel

technology, starting with our introduction of the

A COMMITMENT TO COMMUNITY through

worlds first all-in-the-ear hearing aid

the Miracle-Ear Foundation, which partners with

100% INVISIBLE AND DISCREET models of

local Miracle-Ear representatives and dotnors to

hearing aids, so you can hear your best and live

provide free hearing aids and services to eligible

your life with the utmost confidence

adults and children

Call Today to Schedule Your FREE Hearing Test** and In-Store Demonstration
Billings, Miles City, Glendive and Wolf Point - 1-800-340-3720

Hearing aids do not restore natural hearing. Individual experiences vary depending on severity of hearing loss, accuracy of evaluation, proper fit and ability to adapt to amplification. *If you are not completely satisfied, the aids may be returned for a
full refund within 30 days of the completion of fitting, in satisfactory condition. Fitting fees may apply. See store for details. **Audiotone Pro not included. Studies conducted at the University of Northern Colorado (2014) and Oldenburg
Horzentrum (2013) showed that Speech Reception Thresholds (SRT) in cocktail-party situations improved up to 2.9 dB for wearers with mild to moderate hearing loss using GENIUS with Directional Focus, compared to people with normal hearing.
This corresponds to over 25% improvement in speech understanding.
2015 Miracle-Ear, Inc. 15914ROPA/FP4C