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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

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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

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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

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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

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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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