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Connection to Fort Peck Dam history
A gift of your own grace
Man in motion
March 2016
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March 2016 — 2
Calendar ...................................................Page 3
Opinion ....................................................Page 4
On the Menu ............................................Page 5
Volunteering .............................................Page 12
Strange But True ......................................Page 14
INSIDE
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together.
Homeless gnomes: Pennsylvania state parkevicts tiny houses
NEWPORT, Pa. (AP) — Nearly 40 gnome homes have been
evicted from a Pennsylvania state park after a decision change
sent them packing.
Pennlive.com reports that park management at Little Buffalo
State Park gave permission for Steve Hoke to create the mini,
magical houses in December. Since then, he has made 38 tiny
houses in tree roots, hollow logs and on stumps around the forest
near Newport, about 25 miles northwest of Harrisburg.
He says the houses were a major attraction for children.
Park Manager Jason Baker tells the news site he gave the OKoriginally, but it was later decided the homes could affect wildlife
habitat.
Hoke removed the little abodes after being told he had until
Feb. 29.
Duncannon and Millerstown have both offered to house them
in local parks.
Goat in driver’s seat milks attention, flashes hazard lights
OXFORD, Mass. (AP) — A goat caused a commotion over the
weekend when it was spotted in the driver’s seat of a vehicle in a
Massachusetts parking lot, flashing its owner’s lights.
The Boston Globe reports passer-by John Miller noticed the
horned animal and filmed it with his phone.
Miller posted the video on social media where it was discov-
ered by the goat’s owner, Ashley Robertson.
Robertson says she was on her way home with her new goat
when she stopped at Home Depot. She didn’t think the goat
would climb into the front seat because of its size.Robertson says the goat turned on her hazard lights, drank an
old cup of soda and defecated on the seat.
She says she’s amused and “a little embarrassed” about the
goat’s Internet fame.
News Lite
See News Lite, Page 3
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March 2016 — 3
C A L E N D A R
March 2016— Tuesday, March 1
• National Geographic’s 50Greatest Photos, through May 30, Museum of the Rock-ies, Bozeman
• Painting with Fire and Ice:The thermal Features of Yellowstone, through March 24, MSU Exit Gallery, Boze-man
• Quaker Artists: An Exhibi-tion of the Quiet Faith,
through March 3, Carroll ArtGallery, St. Charles Hall, Hele-na
• The Art of Mosaics: Grow-ing a Glass Garden, through March 30, Holter Museum of Art, Helena
• Peter Hingle Photography,through March 30, Lewistown Art Center, Lewistown
• 17th annual LivingstonCenter for Art and Culture Art Show, through March 19,Livingston
• “From Wilsall to Wonder-land: Trails, Roads andRails,” through March 31,Yellowstone Gateway Museum,Livingston
— Wednesday, March 2
• Organic Gardening MadeEasy, 6-9 p.m. and March 5,1-4 p.m., Broken Ground,Bozeman
— Friday, March 4
• Home Improvement Show,through March 6, MetraPark,Billings
• “Jesus Christ Superstar,”weekends through March 26,Shane Lalani Center for the Arts, Livingston
• Backcountry Film Festival,7 p.m., Roman Theater, RedLodge
• Pour it Up, through April 22,Red Lodge Clay Center, RedLodge
— Saturday, March 5
• Winter Farmers Market, 9a.m.-noon, Emerson CenterBallroom, Bozeman
•
Ice Skating, Bannack StatePark 11 a.m.-5 p.m., Dillon• Winter Carnival, Red Lodge
Mountain Resort, Red Lodge • Yellowstone Rendezvous
Ski Race, West Yellowstone
— Sunday, March 6
• Monster Dog Pull, RedLodge Ales, Red Lodge
— Thursday, March 10
• World Snowmobile Expoand Powersports Show, through March 13, West Yel-lowstone
— Saturday, March 12
• Cocktails and CreativityRaptor Center Fundraiser,Belgrade
— Wednesday, March 16
• Fiddlers, Harps and Sham-rocks, through March 17,6:30 p.m., The Food Studio,Bozeman
— Thursday, March 17
• St. Patrick’s Day Celebra-tion, Downtown, 5:30 p.m.,Red Lodge
— Friday, March 18
• The Park Branch of Ameri-can Association of Universi-ty Women New to You Art
and Antique Sale, 5-8 p.m.,Depot, Livingston
— Saturday, March 19
• Home Expo, through March 20, Brick Breeden Fieldhouse,Bozeman
• The Park Branch of Ameri-can Association of Universi-ty Women New to You Artand Antique Sale, 10 a.m.-2 p.m., Depot, Livingston
— Sunday, March 27
• Happy Easter!
— Saturday, April 2
• Annual Pioneer Banquet, 6 p.m., Park County Fair- grounds, Livingston
Twin Utah moms each give birthto their second set of twins
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Identical twin sisters from Utah
each recently gave birth to identical twins — again.
Kerri Bunker and Kelli Wall delivered twins within weeks of
each other at a hospital in Orem, south of Salt Lake City. Yearsago, they gave birth to their first sets of twins, now 4- and 5-year-
olds, at the same hospital a few months apart.
Bunker’s newest twins arrived Feb. 13. Wall’s youngest twins
were born about three weeks earlier.
Ryan White, spokesman for Timpanogos Regional Hospital,
says some of the twins were conceived through in vitro fertiliza-
tion.
The 36-year-old women say they aren’t just sisters but best
friends, neighbors and co-workers. They say all nine kids will
grow up together.
Bunker also has a 2-year-old child.
Woman’s unorthodox approachhelps her get kidney donor
POWNAL, Maine (AP) — A Maine woman’s unorthodox
approach to finding a kidney donor has paid off.
WABI-TV reports Linda Deming was so desperate for a kidney
transplant that she posted signs along the side of the road and
advertised from her car.
At least 50 people have reached out to her and she eventually
found two matches. The Pownal woman got the green light from
her doctors last week and her surgery is scheduled for next week
Her donor is 37-year-old Amber McIntyre, a married mother of four
from Kenduskeag. The Bangor waitress says she saw Deming’s story
on Facebook. She will meet Deming the night before the surgery.
Deming says she hopes her story will help raise awareness and
prompt more people to become donors.
News Lite, from Page 2
See News Lite, Page 5
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March 2016 — 4
Opinion
Oh, for Montana to play a primary roleIt’s been a pretty exciting presidential primary election
season, much more so than the yawners the country often
experiences.
Thanks in large part to political maverick Donald
Trump, and wondering what outlandish thing he will say
next, people are following debates, caucuses and primaries
— by the way, anyone who has figured out the difference
between a caucus and a primary, come see me — with
uncustomary interest.
We’ve all become immersed in the minutia of knowing
how residents of Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina
and Nevada — and a whole lot more states to follow after
this prints — have voted.
So it will be fascinating to know what effect the vote of
Montanans, and more specifically, we baby boomer Mon-
tanans, will have when our primary comes up.
Oops. Our primary, like that of a handful of other states,
won’t be held until June — June 7 in Montana’s case. That
will be political light years after it’s clear who the Repub-
lican and Democratic nominee for president will be. That
means, as it very often does for Montana, that our primary
votes won’t count for a whole lot (something that happens
often in the general election, as well).
That’s disappointing, because we’d all like to play a role
in this highly unusual primary season.
But who knows, maybe something crazy will happen
and the fate of a party’s nominee all come down to voters
in, say, Two Dot, Montana.
But don’t count on it. In the meantime, keep the TV
tuned up for a wild election season ride.
– Dwight Harriman
Montana Best Times Editor
Dwight Harriman, Editor • Cheyenne Crooker, Designer
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
8/20/2019 MBT_20160301
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March 2016 — 5
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On The Menu With Jim Durfey
In spite of the heading of this month’s On the Menu feature,
your Best Times recipe contributor isn’t a basketball fan. The
“madness” stems from his being madly in love with a new dish
he recently discovered. Thanks to a recipe sharing service calledYummly, the recipe for this dish arrived via the Internet.
A co-worker I shared the recipe with asked me if this sauce is a
pesto. That’s a good question. According to Webster’s Collegiate
Dictionary, it is not. The ingredients in a pesto are oil and grated
cheese, among others, claims Mr. Webster. This dish contains
neither. But it is a meatless green sauce that’s put on pasta, so it’s
very similar to a pesto.
Meatless main courses aren’t ones I usually care to eat. If the
meal doesn’t feature a meat, the carnivore in me gets restless. But
I must admit, this dish was satisfying, and it didn’t leave me with
the feeling that I’d been deprived.
By the way, I forgot to add salt and pepper. I discovered that
omission when I read the recipe after I’d eaten a large helping.But my taste buds didn’t miss either flavor enhancer.
When I made this dish several weeks ago, I added the ingredients
to the blender in the order listed. I would recommend putting the
leafy vegetables in first. When the avo-
cado and the pecans are added later,
they’ll help to force the spinach and
basil leaves toward the blades of theblender. It was necessary to continually
press them down with a small spatula
when the avocado was added first. That
proved to be a bit tedious. Even when
the avocado and the nuts are added last,
it will probably be necessary to use the
spatula several times.
The secret to processing the ingredients is to grind them until
the nuts are quite small. But they should still be big enough to
provide a little crunch. That adds a very nice touch to the dish. So
don’t turn your blender on and walk away from it for 10 minutes.
A nice quality of the dish is that it is not a pesto as noted
above. Since it contains no oil or cheese, it is very low in saturat-
ed fats. While an avocado contains fat, it’s the good kind thatprovides you with heart-healthy monounsaturated fatty acids. If
you eat this dish frequently, you’ll probably live to be 100.
A little March Madness
10 oz. rotini, radiatore or other spiral pasta1 clove garlic
1 avocado, pitted, skin removed1/2 c. pecans
1 c. fresh spinach
1/4 c. basil1 1/2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
3/4 c. pasta waterSalt and pepper to taste
• Cook pasta according to package instructions• While pasta is cooking, add remaining
ingredients to blender and blend until itbecomes a smooth sauce
• Add pasta water and blend again• Add more as needed for desired consistency• Toss pasta with sauce in bowl. Serve
immediately
Pasta with Spinach Sauce
Meerkat expert cleared of assault in spatLONDON (AP) — A former meerkat expert at London Zoo
was cleared Feb. 23 of assaulting a monkey handler in a love
spat over a llama-keeper. Two High Court judges said Caroline
Westlake had not “recklessly” injured Kate Sanders.
In October a lower court found Westlake, 30, guilty of assault-ing Sanders, who suffered a cut cheek from a wineglass after the
two women argued at a zoo Christmas party in 2014. Both had
dated colleague Adam Davies.
Westlake had said she did not remember hitting her colleague
with the glass. Westminster Magistrates’ Court found she had
struck Sanders “recklessly but not intentionally.”
The High Court said magistrates had applied the wrong legal
test for recklessness and quashed the conviction.
Westlake was fired by the zoo after the incident. Her lawyer,
Suzanne Kelly, said that “Ms. Westlake’s life has been destroyed
by something that was no more than an unfortunate accident.”
“Justice has now been served and Ms. Westlake would now
appreciate the opportunity to put this matter behind her and
rebuild her life,” Kelly said.
News Lite, from Page 3
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March 2016 — 6
By M.P. Regan
Montana Best Times
DILLON — You need to be quick and even a little lucky to
catch up with Steve Morehouse.That’s because the retired longtime U.S. Bureau of Reclama-
tion employee is so often out, engaging his love of the great out-
doors — even during late autumn or in the frozen depths of a
Montana winter.
He might be on a weeklong camping trip to hunt elk in the
Centennial Valley.
Or downhill skiing in the Pioneer Mountains.
Or sharing his in-depth knowledge of the Lewis and Clark
Expedition with area schoolchildren.
Or competing in an ice fishing tournament on Clark Canyon
Reservoir with his son-in-law and grandson.
Or giving a talk on hiking safely in bear country to a communi-
ty group near his home in Dillon.
Or cross-country skiing in Beaverhead County with his wife.Or doing a presentation at a college on rafting through the
Grand Canyon.
A generous sharer “It’s a magic place. It’s just fantastic,” said Morehouse of the
Grand Canyon, after giving a January presentation to dozens of
people at the University of Montana Western on rafting through
the majestic Arizona canyon.
“I like the whitewater it has to offer. It’s a real challenge,” add-
ed Morehouse, a veteran of 10 raft trips through the Grand Can-
yon.
“But it’s more than just the river and rapids. There are so many
side hikes and canyons to explore,” continued Morehouse, whoadvised those at his UMW talk not only on how to manage that
raft trip, but also on how to navigate the complicated process of
gaining one of the prized permits to head down the Colorado Riv-
er through the canyon — even if it meant adding competitors to a
crowded field of applicants and lessening his own chances for a
raft trip that he annually applies for.
“Steve is just a great guy, a really generous person,” said Rob
Thomas, a professor at the University of Montana Western in Dil-
lon, where Morehouse earned a bachelor of science in natural
heritage.
“I think he takes enjoyment out of sharing places that he loves
with other people. I think it makes them that much better for
him,” commented Thomas, who attended Morehouse’s recentUMW slide show presentation that took people, step by step, on a
raft trip through the Arizona canyon.
“He has really done a lot for the community, sharing his knowl-
edge of the natural environment, particularly in relation to the
Lewis and Clark Expedition,” asserted Thomas, who got invalu-
able help from Morehouse last decade on putting up 25 Lewis
and Clark interpretive signs in southwest Montana, a project he
managed with fellow UMW geology professor Sheila Roberts.
“I know he’s done numerous talks regarding Lewis and Clark
at public schools in the area,” said Thomas, a leader of the move-
ment to transform the University of Montana Western over the
past decade into a center of “experiential learning” — an
approach to education Morehouse has spent countless hours fur-
thering in his own, instinctive and highly informative manner.
“Steve’s been a great contributor to the community and the uni-
versity. He can come in and talk to students about his first-hand
experiences of subjects they are studying,” said Thomas.
“If schools call, I will come in with several boxes of artifacts
and do a hands-on Lewis and Clark program. I really like the
hands-on approach,” explained Morehouse of his Lewis and
Clark presentations, which he has taken to another level for stu-dents at Butte High School in recent years.
“We go out and shoot two buffalo on Ted Turner’s ranch on the
Ruby, and the high school kids skin them with obsidian,” said
Morehouse of the Lewis and Clark program he’s been helping
Butte High history teacher Chris Fisk — a former Sunday school
pupil of Morehouse’s in Dillon — conduct for the last four years.
“On Monday, I go to the high school and set up a Lewis and
Clark campsite,” a scene that according to Morehouse includes
the stretched-out buffalo skins and an approximately
1,800-pound, 28-foot-long canoe made from a hollowed-out log
in Idaho by the Hog Heaven Muzzleloaders — friends More-
Photos by Brayden Mitchel
Above: Steve Morehouse, left, and fellow Corps of Discovery II
member Darrell Martin stand next to the Lewis and Clark
“End of the Trail” statue at Seaside, Oregon, near the spot
where the explorers reached the Pacific Ocean in 1805. Morehouse is wearing a Chinook cedar hat. On the cover: Morehouse
right, and Martin stand on the beach at Seaside, Oregon.
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March 2016 — 7
house made during his work reenacting the Lewis and Clark
Expedition.
Morehouse said he’s paddled that huge log canoe a few times
down the Missouri River with colleagues while wearing buckskin
clothes.
“You should have seen the looks on the faces of the people we
passed who were fishing from the banks,” smiled Morehouse, one
of southwest Montana’s leading authorities on Lewis and Clark.
Exploring the explorers Morehouse’s extensive, in-depth, hands-on research into theearly 19th-century journey led by the famous explorers began
back in his own school days.
“I first became fascinated with Lewis and Clark in high school.
Wearing buckskin, living outdoors, traveling, making your own
clothes and living off the land — it’s a fascinating lifestyle,” said
Morehouse, who was born in Massachusetts but attended high
school in Vallejo, California, during a wide-ranging youth in
which he attended a dozen schools while his father served in the
U.S. Navy and his family moved to numerous locations, from
Guam to California to the Aleutian Islands.
Morehouse’s fascination with Lewis and Clark helped convince
him to move to Dillon in 1980 for a full-time job with the Bureauof Reclamation.
“I was working for National Park Service eight months a year
as a park ranger and I was looking for full-time work. I saw a job
vacancy for Dillon. It was a promotion and a full-time job. And it
was on the Lewis and Clark trail. I came here sight unseen,”
recalled Morehouse, who stayed with the Bureau of Reclamation
until his retirement in 2007.
The allure of Lewis and Clark also led him to serve as a mem-
ber of the Corps of Discovery II, a traveling exhibit that crossed
America in 2003-06 during the bicentennial years of the famous
explorers’ journey, following the same route taken in 1803-06 by
the original Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery.
“I got involved in the planning stages,” said Morehouse, who
began working on the Corps of Discovery II exhibit in the late
1990s, years before he got selected to travel with it.
“I really wanted to travel on the trail. I had my fingers crossed.
Then the Bureau of Reclamation folks said to me, ‘You’ve been
planning this thing and doing Lewis and Clark programs; we
don’t have anybody else who knows what you do, so why don’t
you go on it,’” remembered Morehouse, who called his time with
the Corps of Discovery II the “highlight” of his career.
“There were 21 of us who traveled with it. We were like a big
family,” said Morehouse of the group that made the cross-country
trip starting at Monticello — the Virginia home of Thomas Jeffer-
son, the president who commissioned the original Corps of Dis-
covery led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. The exhibit
eventually headed all the way to the Oregon coast, and then back
to St. Louis.
“We would set up in a community and run for two weeks,
because it was so expensive to set up you couldn’t just do it for a
couple days in one spot,” said Morehouse of the Corps of Discov-
ery II exhibit that, according to federal government estimates,
attracted over a half million visitors.
“It was quite a deal.”
Still on the trail A decade after the Corps of Discovery II packed up for the last
time, Morehouse continues to find ways to explore life in the out-
doors, often engaging the wildlands of the West in about the same
way that Lewis and Clark did.
“I love elk hunting,” said Morehouse, who has lived in a tent
with a wood stove for a week in southwest Montana’s Centennial
Valley during elk hunting season.
“I got an elk this year. I got lucky two years ago and then got
lucky again this season. We were just finishing up the elk meat
from two years ago. So, the freezer is full again,” smiled More-
house, who has arranged for a boat trip in Alaska this spring with
his wife, Sharon, along with his best friend and his friend’s wife.“We’ll spend 10 days on that, do some sea kayaking, fishing,
whale watching, stop at an abandoned Inuit village and an active
one. We’ll sleep on the boat, put out crab pots for dinner and
catch shrimp and maybe get lucky and get a salmon,” said More-
house of the itinerary for the Alaska trip.
“My best friend kind of fell into the opportunity to do it. Then
he called and asked if we wanted to go. He didn’t have to ask
twice,” said Morehouse, who also plans on doing a lot more trips
closer to home.
“There’s a lot I still want to do,” insisted Morehouse, who is
looking forward to doing many of those things with his three
grandchildren, ages 15, 10 and 3.
“I’ve done some easy day trips on Big Hole River and Jeffer-
son River with my grandkids. They really enjoy it. I haven’t run
any rapids or overnight trips yet with them. The 10- and 15-year-
old are big enough, but the 3-year-old is too young,” conceded
Morehouse, who has taken about two dozen nearly weeklong
rafting trips on the Salmon River in Idaho.
“I am looking forward to the day I can take them all down the
Salmon River. I want to take a trip with them all on the Colorado
River through the Grand Canyon,” said Morehouse.
“That would be really cool.”
––––
M.P. Regan is a reporter for the Dillon Tribune. He may be
reached at mregan@dillontribune.com or (406) 683-2331.
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March 2016 — 8
By Eleanor Guerrero
Montana Best Times
RED LODGE — Although Yvonne Archer Jensen’s immediate
family lived in Texas and she grew up primarily in the small Tex-
as town of Seagoville, Jensen has deep roots in Montana that
make for some amazing history.
“I was born in Montana but after leaving as a child didn’t come
back until we retired in 1995,” said Jensen, a Red Lodge resident.
One of those Montana roots help bring to life Fort Peck Dam,
which at the time was the largest earth-filled dam in the world.
Going way back But Jensen’s connection to the state goes much further back
than the dam.
Shortly after his marriage, Jensen’s great-grandfather John R.
Cooley traveled from Wisconsin to Miles City, Montana Territo-
ry. He bought a team of horses and worked for the railroad in
Billings.
On July 4, 1882, John and his brother Bill laid the foundation
for a cabin north of the Musselshell River and west of the future
site of the town of Musselshell.
By October, the cabin was built and 80 tons of hay was
stacked. They had a band of 2,000 sheep acquired on investment
shares with a local doctor. Buffalo still ranged locally and the
brothers reported 35 head in one group.
In the fall of 1882, John’s wife, Car-
rie — Jensen’s great-grandmother —
arrived by train at Custer Junction with
two trunks and two crocks of butter
inside. Custer was the end of the line.
Carrie transferred to a stagecoach going
north to Musselshell Crossing. She was
the first white woman to come to Mus-
selshell Valley. Five children were
born: Mina in 1885, Kittie in 1888,
Edna in 1890, Earl in 1894 and Bert in
1898. Bert died at 11.
Mina was Jensen’s great-grandmother. She was the first white
child born in the area, and an American Indian woman assisted
with her birth. The family used the log home until 1909, when a
two-story, white frame house was built. The house and furniture
are still used.
“He sold horses and sheep,” Jensen said. “He had 1,900 horses
and 3,000 sheep. During World War I, he even shipped some of
his 450 prized Percherons to England.”
Jensen’s great-grandfather John cared about his neighbors.
“He built a dip vat for cattle. Ranchers no longer had to go to
town to get their herd dipped to prevent lice and scabies,” Jensen
said.
Red Lodge resident shares Montana historyHad a strong connection to building of Fort Peck Dam
Courtesy of Yvonne Jensen
Ted Archer, Yvonne Jensen’s father, center, is pictured in this photo of staff at the Wheeler Mess Hall, which served employees
of the Fort Peck Dam project. Archer ran the entire mess hall.
Yvonne Jensen
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March 2016 — 9
He especially helped young farmers.
“They were pillars of the community and greatly respected,”
she said.
The first school was opened in Musselshell in 1895 and the
three Cooley daughters were among the first students. John
donated wood for the box heating stove. The cellar door was
painted and used for the blackboard.
Mina Cooley married T.F. Archer and
they had a son, Ted, Jensen’s father. Mina’s
brother Earl married Vallie Ness by mail
order bride. Vallie lived until 2000, dying at97.
The “new” Cooley house is still there and
occupied.
“It had carbide (acetylene) lights and a
flush potty with a three-story tank next to
the house,” she said.
The ranch’s sheep and cattle were eventu-
ally phased out, with the grass and hay
leased to neighbors. Vallie had a son, John
W. His wife, Mary, still lives in the house
with her four children.
“The two boys are cowboys,” Jensen
said.
Helping build the damJensen’s father, Ted Archer, married her
mother, Thelma, and they lived in Mus-
selshell. Her father was hired to assist dur-
ing the construction of the Fort Peck Dam,
a huge civil service project.
This was a massive undertaking, building
the largest earth dam in the world,” Jensen
said. “Ten little towns had sprung up to support the project. The
family lived in Wheeler. Each town had a population of about
11,000.”
The dam was started in 1933 and was completed in 1940.In 1936, Jensen was born at Fort Peck. She had an older broth-
er, Donald. She doesn’t remember much about those days.
“I was only 3,” she said. “I remember being in a field with a
friend picking weeds.”
It was very cold there.
“One winter it went down to -60 degrees,” she said. “We
stuffed newspapers in all the cracks in the building.”
Fort Peck was a major project of the Public Works Administra-
tion, part of the New Deal. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt
visited the famous dam site. There were mess halls built in each
town for the workers. Jensen’s father was in charge of the huge
Wheeler mess hall.
Life in the small frontier towns sounded a lot like the Bakkenor any old gold rush town. In the first Life Magazine article,
famous photo-journalist Margaret Bourke shot the dam project
for the magazine’s very first cover story, published Nov. 23,
1936.
Bourke wrote, “I had never seen a place quite like the town of
New Deal, the construction site of Fort Peck Dam. It was a pin-
point in the long, lonely stretches of northern Montana so primi-
tive and so wild that the whole ramshackle town seemed to carry
the flavor of the boisterous Gold Rush days. It was stuffed to the
seams with construction men, engineers, welders, quack doctors,
barmaids, fancy ladies and, as one of my photographs illustrated,
the only idle bedsprings in New Deal were the broken ones. Peo-
ple lived in trailers, huts, coops anything they could find, and at
night they hung over the Bar X bar.”
After the dam was built, Jensen’s father had held a few jobs
around the country, and did a stint in the Navy. He eventually fol-
lowed the path of many other former workers on such federal
projects by becoming an employee of the Bureau of Prisons.
‘The hugging warden’ Jensen attended grammar and high school
in Seagoville, Texas, and went on to get a
teaching degree. She became a teacher at
Gelena Park, Texas, where she met her hus-
band, Eldon. He became a teacher there
after serving in the U.S. Army.
They got married in 1958 and in 1960,
moved to Lompoc, California, where Eldon
began his 23-year career with the Federal
Bureau of Prisons. They moved many times
for his work. By coincidence, he pursued
the same field as her father. He was a talent-
ed vocational trainer who had an extraordi-
nary relationship with the prisoners as their
warden.
“They called him the ‘hugging warden,’”Jensen said.
The couple had a son, Marc, and daughter
Wendy.
Wardens didn’t wear uniforms. He was a
“fashionable dresser,” usually wearing plaid
suits, Jensen said.
“He dressed like a used car salesman,”
she laughed.
Similar to officers and their wives in the
service, she said, they had to entertain visi-
tors often in isolated outposts.
“People have always been visiting (federal) prisons,” because
they are big and important facilities, Jensen noted. She saidexperts came from all over the U.S. and England to study the set-
ups.
Being a warden was not always peaceful.
“He never carried a gun,” Jensen said of her husband. “He
could talk them down.”
When a prisoner escaped, Eldon came home with his clothes
smelling like teargas.
“I’d throw them all away,” Jensen said.
Eldon finished his career commuting to Washington, D.C., at
the Department of Justice. He returned to teaching in 1985. After
retiring, the family moved to Red Lodge in 1995. Eldon died in
2009. The Jensens were married for 51 years.
Preserving history Jensen maintains a keen interest in preserving her family histo-
ry for her grandchildren.
She quotes the title of a Montana history book, “A Century of
Ranching,” commissioned by the Montana Stockgrowers Associ-
ation that chronicles her ancestors and other early ranchers and
reflects their spirit:
“The Weak Ones Turned Back, The Cowards Never Started.”
–––––
EDITOR’S NOTE: Eleanor Guerrero is the senior reporter at
the Carbon County News in Red Lodge. She may be reached at
sports@carboncountynews.com or (406) 446-2222.
Courtesy of Montana Stockgrowers Association
Shown are Yvonne Jensen’s great-
grandparents John R. Cooley and Car-
rie Cartwright Cooley in the Montana
Stockgrowers Association’s centennial
book on ranches.
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March 2016 — 10
By Jenny Gessaman
Montana Best Times
LEWISTOWN — My Gift of Grace is classified as a card
game.Really, it contains cards with questions and notepads for each
player to write an answer. The game is a curiosity, and, in some
ways, being a novelty might be what brought it success.
It is not a well-known game in younger circles, although it
aims for all ages, and this has a good part to do with its goal. Its
catchphrase is “A conversation game for living and dying well,”
an elegant way of saying, “A way to create a comfortable setting
for facing death’s practicalities.”
Yes, it is a game about final wishes. Yes, this article is about
planning ahead. This next part is the most important:
No, you are not going to die because you read this.
Just a disclaimer: I’m not saying you won’t die at all.
It’s not booby-trapped? For many, planning ahead seems to translate to “planning for
the end, but only when the end is near.”
That translation leads many people, absolute in the fact they
won’t die soon, to label planning ahead as a future need. Others,
certain death is only a decade or two away, see it as an unutter-
able requirement — an “I need to do it, but talking about it may
somehow doom my lifespan” sort of thing.
Craig Buehler’s office is not dark or foreboding, not like the
label “estate planning” can be. His office is on the fourth floor of
Lewistown’s First Bank Building, and features large windows
that filter in sunlight and the noise of noonday life. The general-
practice attorney has been in Lewistown since 1979, and said he
takes any kind of work “that comes in the door.”
When estate planning comes up, one of the first things Buehlersays pulls me into the conversation.
“It starts at your age and it never really ends,” he said. “Your
station in life continually changes.”
I am 25. If planning ahead financially and discussing a will
dooms you to death, we are all done for. And I really wanted to
live longer.
Buehler tries to put the grandiose, antiquated images conjured
by “estate planning” out of clients’ heads.
“It’s trying to just determine what’s going to happen with your
stuff,” he summarized.
Buehler explained for most people, the work would be a simple
will preparation. For others, it can also be setting up gifts and
trusts. For any path, the starting point is an inventory.
According to Buehler, inventories are not just money, but also
assets such as investment properties and life insurance policies.
He said listing everything also puts it in one place, key if any-
thing unexpected happens. This is one reason Buehler encourages
people to start estate planning early: Creating an inventory of
assets as they are acquired is easier than later following paper
trails to rediscover policies, investments and anything else unre-
corded over the years.
This sold me on making a list of assets, even though it is
depressingly small at my age.
“The next thing you need to do is to determine generally what
it is you want to do,” he said.
Photo by John BernardoA group of people share smiles as they play My Gift of Grace, a self-described “conversation game for living and dying well.”
A gift of your own graceHow and why to tackle final wishes
8/20/2019 MBT_20160301
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March 2016 — 11
Buehler explained “what you want to do” applies to more than
post-mortem legalities.
“It’s to also plan for yourself when you get to retirement age,”
he said.
Despite straightforward steps and benefits that kick in decades
before the funeral, Buehler does not see as many estate planning
clients as he would like. He suspects part of the reason is the top-
ic’s mortal reminders.
“How many people want to talk about when they die or when
they get old?” Buehler asked.
He explained that while estate planning ensures a client’s wantsare met, some of those wants can involve other people. Whether
with themselves or with others, he said clients have a hard time
starting the discussion about
retirement and death.
“That is a big stumbling
block for lots of people: how
to open up that conversation,”
Buehler said.
The stumbling block is so
big people have created
games to make it less intimi-
dating. My Gift of Grace is
just one of dozens, all aimingto make the conversation and
the topic more approachable
(my favorite, at least in name,
is “Go Wish”). Unlike some of its competitors, My Gift of Grace
targets a wider age range.
Buehler estimated most of his estate-planning clients were in
there 60s or later. While he does get younger cases, he said the
majority were prompted by the arrival of children. While he did
not have advice on how to start the conversation, he did recom-
mend trying sooner rather than later.
“The danger of waiting too long is sometimes it’s too late,” he
said. “You may not be able to do what you want to do.”
The grown-ups’ ‘monster in the closet’ The hardest part of preplanning a funeral may be its language.
Phrases such as “prearranging” and “final wishes” scatter people,
conjuring images of cheap sconces, decades-old wallpaper and
organ music.
Funeral homes have to fight stereotypes, too.
“People are scared to death to come into funeral homes,” Ralph
Mihlfeld said. “It’s an old thing.”
Mihlfeld is Creel Funeral Home’s owner and mortician. The
business started in 1902, and he has been part of it since 2011.
Mihlfeld spent two years working for a previous owner before
running it for the past three.
He described an invisible and sometimes frustrating barrier thatsurrounds all funeral homes. He said the front door is enough to
separate people from the free information his business offers.
“The big catch is, it’s hard to make yourself do it,” he
explained.
Mihlfeld suggested small steps to start.
“Ask questions — it costs you nothing,” he said. “Become
informed.”
So I did. I found out a pine box is actually pretty expensive, so
if I get buried, I’m opting for cardboard. If I’m cremated, funeral
homes offer pods with seeds so I can be planted into a tree. Quak-
ing aspen or spruce is the only difficult decision there. My Gift of
Grace is not as blunt in its question and answer format. Instead, it
uses sideways questions to generate answers that could be used to
fill in pre-need paperwork.
The game’s website, at www.mygiftofgrace.com, has a video
on the front page, a recording of complete strangers coming
together to play. It shows a round with a group of women, one of
them saying she does not want to be known as a jogger. That title
she clarifies, is kind of an insult to runners.
I imagine the original question asked the players — it’s not
shown in the video — was something like, “What do you never
want to be labeled as?” The question has nothing to do withdeath, but it finds an answer that would shape the woman’s final
needs. And really, the question beneath it all is something every-
one should ask themselves:
“What do you see yourself
as?”
Mihlfeld listed a range of
reasons to preplan, with price
and emotional advantages
coming to the forefront.
“It’s … taking a huge bur-
den off your family by just
having wishes written down,”
he explained. “The day (ofthe funeral) becomes your
hardest decision.”
So why should people pre-
plan? What motivations are socially acceptable?
Dick Brown, owner of Cloyd Funeral Home, encounters people
who don’t have anything more than a birth date for their preplan.
He tells them it is not always about them.
“I tell them, ‘A funeral’s not for the dead, it’s for the living,’”
Brown said.
“It gives a grieving family more time to support each other and
receive support,” Brown added about planning. “There’s less
stress.”
So am I supposed to take on a mess of forms just for my fami-ly? Are other people my sole motivation to start the awkward
conversation about a Cancun retirement and an ashes-on-the-
waves funeral?
The fuel to face the fears
In the My Gift of Grace video, you watch groups of four crowd
around answer cards and notepads. They pull a card, read the
question, write their answers, read them out loud. Everyone starts
outs with thank-you chips, pieces traded during game play as a
reward for answers another player likes.
While the game is not a preplan, some of its questions are more
direct: “What music do you want to be listening to on your last
day alive?”Others are broad but touch on values relevant to planning
ahead: “Think of the last time you got angry at someone you
loved. What did you do?”
People could find it awkward answering the questions with
family, more awkward with strangers. But the 40 participants in
the video never show that kind of tension.
Amy is an older woman, maybe mid-50s, dressed as if she just
left an office job: “This is serious fun. It’s thought provoking, and
it left me feeling great.”
See A gift of your own grace, Page 13
Photo by John Bernardo
8/20/2019 MBT_20160301
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March 2016 — 12
Custer & Rosebud counties - Annual RSVP Soup Supper: Cookies
needed by March 10, please call to help.- CNADA: Needs a volunteer to answer
phones and other receptionist duties. Youchoose the hours and days.
- Clinic Ambassador: Need volunteer togreet patients and visitors, providing direc-tions and more, two locations.
- Custer County Community Table – Vol-unteers needed to serve meals, wash dishesand greet the public at the Soup Kitchen.
- Custer County Council on Aging: Vol-unteer commodities clerk needed.
- Custer County Food Bank: Volunteerassistants needed for 8-1:30, Mondays,Tuesdays and Wednesdays, to processdonations, stock shelves and more.
- DAV van: Drivers needed to providetransportation to veterans to medicalappointments.
- Eagles Manor: Volunteer exercise classleader needed, 1-2 days a week, you pickthe days and the exercise for residents.
- Historic Miles City Academy: Urgentlyneed volunteers at the thrift store and inother ways.
- Miles City Soup Kitchen: Desperatelyseeking servers and greeters Monday-Fri-day; pick a day of the week you would liketo serve.
- Relay for Life: Person to pop popcornneeded one day per week, two hours in themorning, at MCC.
- St. Vincent DePaul: Volunteers to assist
in several different capacities.- VA Activities: Urgent need for someoneto help with activities. Application packetavailable at VA Activities Director’s Office.
- WaterWorks Art Museum: Volunteerreceptionists needed, two-hour shifts Tues-day-Sunday; a volunteer also needed in cat-aloging the art collection, one to assist withhistoric research of the permanent art col-lection, and a volunteer to assist in kidsclasses.
If you are interested in these or other vol-unteer opportunities please contact: BettyVail, RSVP Director; 210 Winchester Ave.#413, Miles City, MT 59301; phone 234-
0505; email: rsvp05@midrivers.com.
Fergus & Judith Basin counties - America Reads: Recruiting volunteers
to read with elementary students.- American Red Cross: Seeking to build a
Fergus County Disaster Action Team toassist during local emergencies.
- Art Center: Need of volunteers on Sat-urdays.
- Central Montana Fairgrounds: Seekingclerical support.
- Central Montana Youth Mentoring:
Seeking clerical support.- Community Cupboard (Food Bank):
Volunteers are needed to help any weekmornings as well as with deliveries.
- Council on Aging: Volunteers needed toassist at the daily Grubstakes meal and withclerical help during the busy lunch hour.
- Library: Volunteers always appreciated.- ROWL (Recycle Our Waste Lewis-
town): Looking for volunteers to join teamsbaling recyclables.
- Treasure Depot: Thrift store needs vol-unteers to sort, hang clothes and put otheritems on display for sale.
- Valle Vista: Multiple opportunities tovolunteer with the elderly residents.
- Office of Veterans Affairs: Seeking cler-ical support.
- RSVP always has various needs foryour skills and volunteer services in ourcommunity.
Contact: RSVP Volunteer CoordinatorSara Wald, 404 W. Broadway, Wells Fargo Bank building, (upstairs), Lewistown, MT59457; phone 535-0077; email: rsvplew@midrivers.com.
Gallatin County - American Cancer Society-Road to
Recovery: Drivers needed for patientsreceiving treatments from their home to thehospital.
- American Red Cross Blood Drive:Three volunteer opportunities available —Blood Drive Ambassador needed to wel-
come, greet, thank and provide overviewfor blood donors; Team Leader Volunteersneeded to recruit, train and schedule DonorAmbassadors and Couriers; CommunityOutreach Specialist to seek out locations toset up sign-up tables for prospective volun-teers and/or blood donors. Excellent cus-tomer service skills needed, training will beprovided, flexible schedule.
- Befrienders: Befriend a senior; visit ona regular weekly basis.
- Belgrade Senior Center: Meals onWheels needs reg. and sub. drivers Mon-day-Friday, to deliver meals to seniorsbefore noon.
- Big Brothers Big Sisters: Be a positiverole model for only a few hours each week.
- Bozeman and Belgrade Sacks ThriftStores: Need volunteers two- to three-hourshifts on any day, Monday-Saturday, 9:30a.m.-6 p.m.
- Bozeman Deaconess Hospital: Volun-teers needed for the information desks in theAtrium and the Perk, 8 a.m.-noon, noon-4p.m.; volunteer to escort patients throughthe hospital, must be able to be on your feetfor long periods; volunteer needed at theCare Boutique in the Cancer Center to helpcustomers and to keep merchandise in order.
- Bozeman Senior Center Foot Clinic:Retired or nearly retired nurses are urgentlyneeded, two days a month, either four- oreight-hour shifts.
- Bozeman Symphony: Volunteers togreet patrons, check tickets and hand outprograms; ushers to guide patrons to their
seats; someone to set up the UnderwriterRoom, and treats for the musicians areneeded.
- Bozeman Symphony Sunday Mati-nees: Need volunteer head of concessionsto set up and tear down concessions areasand keep them clean during the concert,must be able to stand for long times andable to lift no more than 50 pounds.
- Cancer Support Community: Volunteerreceptionist needed for the last two Tues-days of the month, 10 a.m.-1 p.m.; positionwould be shared with another volunteer sothere could be flexibility of schedule.
- Galavan: Volunteers needed to makereminder calls and to confirm rides for thefollowing day; also need a volunteer formorning dispatch to receive phone calls/messages and relay information from cli-ents to staff as required; drivers need-ed Monday-Friday, 10-2, CDL required andGalavan will assist you in obtaining one.Volunteers also needed to make remindercalls and confirm rides for the followingday.
- Gallatin Rest Home: Volunteers wantedfor visiting the residents, sharing yourknowledge of a craft, playing cards or read-ing to a resident.
- Gallatin Valley Food Bank: Volunteersneeded to deliver commodities to seniors intheir homes once a month. Deliveries inBelgrade are especially needed.
- HRDC Housing Department Ready toRent: Curriculum for families and individu-als who have rental barriers such as lack ofpoor rental history, property upkeep, renterresponsibilities, landlord/tenant communi-cation and financial priorities.
- Habitat for Humanity Restore: Belgradestore needs volunteers for general help,sorting donations and assisting customers.
- Heart of The Valley: Compassionate
volunteers especially needed to love, playwith and cuddle cats.- Help Center: Computer literate volun-
teer interested in entering data into a socialservices database; volunteers also needed tomake phone calls to different agencies/pro-grams to make sure database is up to dateand make safety calls to home boundseniors.
- Jessie Wilber Gallery at The Emerson:Volunteers needed on Wednesdays, Thurs-days and Fridays to greet people at themain desk, answer questions and keep trackof the visitors.
Below is a list of volunteer openings available through the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) incommunities across southern Montana. To learn more about RSVP, call (800) 424-8867 or TTY (800) 833-3722;or log on to www. seniorcorps.org.
RSVP
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March 2016 — 13
- Museum of the Rockies: Variety ofopportunities available such as helping inthe gift shop and more.
- RSVP Handcrafters: Volunteers to quilt,knit, crochet and embroider hats for chemopatients, baby blankets and other handmadegoods once a week (can work from home);also need volunteers to tie and finish quilts.*Donated yarn needed for the quilting, knit-ting and crocheting projects can be droppedoff at the RSVP office upstairs in the SeniorCenter.
- Seniors: You may qualify for $192-$600a year for grocery and food assistance.
- Three Forks Food Bank: Volunteerneeded on Mondays and/or Thursdays tohelp with administrative duties, includinganswer phones and questions, some paperand computer work. They will train.
- VITA: Volunteer at the CommunityCafé to serve as the first point of contact forcustomers, set a friendly and welcomingatmosphere, monitor site traffic and sign inprocedure, Monday, Wednesday and Fridayafternoons noon-3 p.m.
- Warming Center: Volunteers needed fora variety of different shifts, 7 p.m.-7 a.m.;training held every Tuesday at the WarmingCenter. Please call for more information.
- Your unique skills and interests areneeded, without making a long-term com-mitment, in a variety of ongoing, special,one-time events.
Contact: Debi Casagranda, RSVP Pro-gram Coordinator, 807 N. Tracy, Bozeman, MT 59715; phone 587-5444; fax 582 8499;email: dcasagranda@thehrdc.org
Musselshell, Golden Valley
& Petroleum counties - Central Grade School: Needs volunteertutors to encourage children with their read-ing skills in the America Reads program.Also volunteers needed to assist youngerstudents with lunch, clear tables and servefrom the salad bar.
- Drama Camp: Volunteers needed forpositions of director and assistant director.
- Food Bank: Distribute food commodi-ties to seniors and others in the community;help unload the truck as needed.
- 4-H Fair: Volunteers needed to sit at thetable in the art building.
- Nursing Home: Piano players and sing-ers needed on Fridays to entertain residents,also assistant needed in activities for resi-dents to enrich supported lifestyle.
- RIDE: Volunteers needed for sellingtickets at the night shows.
- Senior Bus: Volunteers to pick up folkswho are unable to drive themselves.
- Senior Center: Volunteers are needed toprovide meals, clean up in the dining roomand/or keep records; meal provided.
- The Trade Show: Volunteers needed toserve at door prize table.
- Dinner Theater: Volunteers needed forcooking and serving the meal.
- RSVP offers maximum flexibility andchoice to its volunteers as it matches thepersonal interests and skills of older Ameri-cans with opportunities to serve their com-munities. You choose how and where to
serve. Volunteering is an opportunity tolearn new skills, make friends and connectwith your community.
Contact: Shelley Halvorson, South Cen-tral MT RSVP, 315 1/2 Main St., Ste. #1, Roundup, MT 59072; phone 323-1403; fax323-4403; email: rdprsvp2@midrivers.com;Facebook: South Central MT RSVP.
Park County - Big Brothers Big Sisters: Volunteers
needed as positive role models to children,only a few hours a week.
- Chamber of Commerce: Needs a volun-teer a few hours a week for on-going posi-
tion of running a copy machine and makingup visitors packets.
- Food Pantry: Volunteers needed to helpon Tuesdays and Thursdays.
- Fix-It- Brigade: Volunteers of all agesand skill levels needed to help with smallhome repairs such as mending a fence,shoveling snow, or something as simple aschanging light bulbs. You will be helping
seniors or veterans for a two-hour or lesstask, on your time schedule.
- Handcrafters: Join this group on Thurs-days 1-2 p.m. in making crocheted or knit-ted caps and scarves for children at HeadStart. Also making gifts for the prenatalclasses and baby hats and afghans for thehospital newborns. Sewers needed to makesimple pillowcases for soldiers overseas.
- Links for Learning: Needs volunteersafter school 3:45-5 p.m. at any of the three
elementary schools listening to childrenread. No experience necessary.
- Loaves and Fishes: Volunteers needed toprepare a dinner meal.
- Mainstreeter Store: Needs someone whoenjoys working with the public. Help greetcustomers, label and hang clothes andaccept donations. Volunteer 4 hours a weekand get 50 percent off your purchases.
- Meals on Wheels: In need of substitutedrivers to deliver meals to seniors in theirhomes.
- Senior Center: Volunteers needed to cutunsold clothing into rags Thursdays, 1 p.m.
- Senior Center Foot Clinic: Volunteersand nurses needed twice a month to help theseniors with foot care.
- Stafford Animal Shelter: Gentle com-passionate volunteers to socialize and playwith the kittens and cats and walk the dogs.one-hour safety training provided.
- Transportation: Drivers needed to helppatients keep their doctor appointments inLivingston and/or in Bozeman. Gas reim-bursement may be provided.
- Yellowstone Gateway Museum: Volun-teer needed to man the front desk and helpcatalog and label items.
- RSVP: Has many one-time events,
including mailings and fundraising eventsthat require volunteers. Your unique skillsand interests are needed, without making along-term commitment, in a variety of on-going and special one-time events.
Contact: Deb Downs, Program Coordi-nator, 111 S. 2nd St., Livingston, MT 59047; phone 222-2281; email: debdowns@rsvp-mt.org
A gift of your own grace, from Page 11
Torrie is young, blond with tight, curly hair and a comfortablebut trendy T-shirt.
“It is absolutely the most connecting game that I think I have
ever stumbled upon,” she says. “It’s funny, because it’s about thistopic that most people try and avoid talking about, but it opens upa window, an avenue for you to actually be able to talk aboutyourself in a way that expresses your values, expresses your prin-ciples. It kind of lays out who you are as a person.”
Table after table, the video shows groups of four sharing storiesabout their values or their childhoods or their families.
Part of the success My Gift of Grace has enjoyed may well bedue to novelty. I like to think part of it is due to design: The gamesets up questions and an environment that encourage stories. Asthe video plays, and the people play, preplanning becomes sec-ondary. It’s the aftermath to learning about yourself and your fel-low players, just a coincidence that, at the end, you have some
answers for planning ahead. For example, don’t call a runner a jogger.
I think that is the reason I have started planning. The financial
benefits, family benefits and the way planning ahead can ease lossare all advantages, but I want those stories. I lost my mother threeyears ago, and her stories went with her. I want my sister’s stories,my boyfriend’s stories, even my stories, before they’re lost too.
So here is how far I’ve gotten: I want to retire before 70, mylist of assets is tiny and I kind of want to be a tree after I die. AndI’m planning to take My Gift of Grace to the next family dinner(I’m glad my boyfriend’s family already like me.)
What stories do you have? ––––– Jenny Gessaman is a reporter with the Lewistown-News Argus
She may be reached at reporter3@lewistownnews.com or (406)
535-3401.
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March 2016 — 14
By Bill Sones and Rich Sones, Ph.D.
Send STRANGE questions to brothers Bill and Rich at strangetrue@cs.com
Q. If you’re not too “bugged” by big numbers, consider
10,000,000,000,000,000,000 — that’s 10 quintillion, or 10followed by 18 zeros. What’s this all about?
A. That’s the number of insects alive on Earth at any giventime, according to Harvard entomologist Edward O. Wilson, as
reported by James O’Donoghue in “New Scientist” magazine.
You can make that more than a billion (1,000,000,000) insects for
each person on the planet.
One million insect species make up three-fourths of all
animals, with several million yet to be discovered. They’re on
every continent, whether in air, land or water. “They even live on
us — lice evolved as soon as there were hair and feathers to set
up home in ... and are the most successful group of animals that
has ever lived.”
So are all of these insects a bane or boon to humankind? On theone hand, they spread the deadly malaria and typhoid, destroy
crops, bore into wood and can make life miserable. But on the
other hand, insects are prime pollinators of four-fifths of the
world’s crops, control pests, fertilize soil, scavenge waste and
have even been instrumental in medical breakthroughs. And “they
are packed with protein, which could one day feed the world.”
Q. During the middle of the last century, a circus act called
Noell’s Ark Gorilla Show offered this unusual challenge:
“Wanted, athletic men to earn $5 per second by holding an85-pound ape’s shoulders to the floor.” What was thegimmick?
A. No gimmick at all. The apes in question were juvenilechimpanzees, forced to wear “silence of the lambs” masks (to
control biting) and large gloves (to prevent them from
maiming faces),” notes Joseph Henrich in “The Secret of Our
Success: How culture is driving human evolution,
domesticating our species and making us smarter.” Beefy
linebacker types, eager to impress the crowds at this star
attraction, lined up to give it a try. But during the show’s
30-year run, no man ever pinned a chimp for more than five
seconds. “The organizers... were wise to use young chimps,
because a full-grown male chimpanzee (150 pounds) is quitecapable of breaking a man’s back.”
Henrich concludes that, from the standpoint of pure physical
strength, humans are wimps. But he offers consolation: “If you
are challenged to wrestle a chimpanzee, I recommend that you
decline and instead suggest a contest based on (1) threading a
needle, (2) fast-ball pitching or (3) long-distance running.”
Q. Can you identify the “third-degree murderers” thatravaged the Atlantic Ocean region from 1963 to 2012,committing 59 offenses?
A. According to the American Meteorological Society,
hurricanes killed 1,803 people directly and another 1,418indirectly, as reported in “Science News” magazine. “Hurricane
reports typically include only the deaths directly attributable to a
storm’s physical forces, such as drowning in floodwater or being
struck by airborne debris.”
But they miss the bigger picture, scientists say. Going by
new studies, indirect deaths often outnumber the direct
deaths, accounting for close to half of all human fatalities:
falls, fires in residences with open flames, electrocution,
carbon monoxide poisoning, vehicles striking a tree, vehicle
accident during evacuation, or cardiovascular failure during
evacuation, plus hundreds more that could not be easily
categorized.
What does 10,000,000,000,000,000,000
represent?
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Crossword
March 2016 — 15
Having the right insurance should bring that peace of mind andallow you to focus on the other important things in your life!Contact our experienced team to discuss how best to protect
yourself, your family, and your business.
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1320 28th Street West • Billings, MT406-652-4180 • www.darnielle.com
Across
1 Spot for a ride?
6 Floored
10 Pinking sound
14 Meteorological prefix
15 "United States of Tara"
Emmy winner Collette
16 Corsair's syllables
17 Colleague of Charms teach-
er Flitwick
18 Fly, commonly
19 "Bring a Torch, Jeannette,
Isabella," e.g.
20 Masters home
23 Chef's staples
24 Shimmering South Ameri-
can denizens25 "Earth still holds __ her
gate": Thomas Nashe
27 Juvenile
28 Man in black
32 Harvard's motto
35 They'll put you down
37 2000s Vienna State Opera
conductor
38 Joelle Carter's "Justified"
role
39 Geriatrics concerns: Abbr.
40 Canterbury tales subject
45 Jet Tila and Mario Batali
48 Not as much
50 Stop on the Turin-Genoa
railway
51 Pad __
52 Place to find an argument,
perhaps
53 Best selling point
54 Smokescreen
55 Myrrh, e.g.
56 Get in on the
deal
57 Goes (for)
58 Lifted
Down1 Condominio, por
ejemplo
2 __ mirabilis:
wonderful year
3 When Star Wars
began
4 Shot container
5 Inflicts on
6 Land down
under?
7 Hurt, as feelings
8 All ears, say
9 One cutting in the kitchen
10 Abstract
11 2007 #1 hit for Alicia Keys
12 "It's been said ... "
13 Exit __
21 31-syllable Japanese poem
22 "Dandy for your teeth"
toothpaste
25 Lacto-__ vegetarian
26 Candy created in Austria
29 K-Cup competitor
30 Fantasy lit initials
31 Sancho's "steed"
33 Sentence opener in many
teens' stories
34 Parisian fruit pie
35 Where to see some kites
36 Scold vigorously
38 Apprised (of)
41 1961 Lenin Peace Prize
recipient
42 Keep from spreading
43 Spelling experts?
44 Get-go
45 1953 A.L. MVP Al
46 Trouble greatly
47 Mail lead-in48 Spanish morsel
49 Newcastle's river
These third-degree murders have classically been ignored in
the fatalities count.
Q. What language do most of us first learn as infants, on
our way to becoming fully communicative adults?
A. It could be any of the world’s 7000 languages but most of
us get a social start by learning “parentese” from Mom and
Dad, says early childhood learning specialist Patricia Kuhl in
“Scientific American” magazine. It’s exaggerated talk, you
might say, using high pitch, slower tempo and exaggerated
intonation.
When given a choice of various audio clips, infants chose these
over other recordings by women speaking to other adults. “The
high pitched tone seems to act as an acoustic hook for infants that
captures and holds their attention.”
Though once criticized as counterproductive, Kuhl’s studies
have shown that parentese most likely helps infants commit these
sounds to memory. In fact, one year later “these infants had
learned more than twice the number of words as those whose par-
ents did not use the baby vernacular as frequently.”As Kuhl emphasizes, “learning for the infant brain is not a pas-
sive process. Social interaction is an essential prerequisite for
mastering a language.”
Q. You’re no doubt familiar with the family of the five basic
taste senses — sweet, sour, salty, bitter and--the latest addi-
tion--savory, or umami. But have you heard about a possible
sixth sibling, dubbed “oleogustus”?
A. Purdue University researchers C.A. Running et al. report in
“Chemical Senses” that humans can also detect foods that are too
oily or fatty, says Teresa Shipley Feldhausen in “Science News”
magazine. When some 50 volunteers were asked to distinguish
among 15 taste samples, most could sort out some fats from theother five substances, even with plugged noses. For example,
nearly two-thirds of tasters identified linoleic acid found in vege-
table and nut oils as distinctive, even when processed to give the
same mouth feel as the others.
Though pure oleogustus is unpleasant-tasting, when mixed
with some of the other five tastes, it may end up in palate-pleas-
ing products like doughnuts and potato chips.
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