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It's Rendezvous Again

This weekend is Eureka Rendezvous Days. The Eureka Chamber of Commerce has all of the details and schedule of events. As ever, it’s a busy couple of days. It’s worth checking for other events as well, because not everything fits on the poster. For example, the village vendors on Saturday coincides with the Friends of the Library Used Book Sale, though it’ll wrap up a bit earlier (3pm). And of…

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Earth Day Trivia

One of the fun things about earth day is that if you look for the origins of it in google search, google will prompt you to finish your search with the phrase ‘founder composted girlfriend’. Which, yes. Sort of. This isn’t the senator, Gaylord Nelson, who got things rolling in 1970. Girlfriend composter was Ira Einhorn. There’s some debate as to whether or not he actually founded Earth Day, but…

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Rural Communities Face Primary Care Physician Shortage 

by Liz Carey, The Daily YonderApril 22, 2024 A new study from the American Academy of Family Physicians’ Robert Graham Center (AAFP), co-funded by the Milbank Memorial Fund and The Physicians Foundation, has found that communities across the country are struggling to meet the demand for primary care physicians, as well as to retain those physicians in their communities. While it’s difficult all…

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It's Finally Starting to Feel Like Spring

Geese are back, we’re starting to hear the cranes occasionally, and it’s time to look for frog eggs. Enjoy the warmer weather! Frog Eggs and Toad Eggs Spring seems to have finally arrived, and soon the pond will be full of little frogs. As it turns out, frog eggs and toad eggs are different, and far easier to tell apart than the tadpoles. Frog eggs typically form nice clumps. -this years batch…

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I Had Never Handled a Type 38 Arisaka

I had never had a Type 38 in my hands when I got to Trinidad State – remember, I was teaching soil conservation there at Gunsmith U. and, following in places developed by P.O. Ackley, I learned that the Japanese Arisaka was the strongest bolt action he tested.  As I recall, he chambered the 6.5 mm barrel to 8mm Mauser, locked it in the test chamber, and somehow that 8mm bullet squeezed down and…

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And More Graphs for the Week

Some more graphs and charts that I’ve noticed:

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Good Neighbors

Some years ago, we were pleased to make the acquaintance of a man willing to take the coat off of his back and give it to an injured pig. I’ve been reminded again of the quality of our neighbors. I recently made a rather foolish mistake with a laptop, and came away from it with reminders of two realities. The first is that for all the evil in the world and for all the tragedy, there are some…

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European History Led to Our Separation of Church and State

Our Bill of Rights was argued and developed at the end of a period known as “the Enlightenment” – roughly 1600 to 1800.  Even the beginning of the Enlightenment was a time of religious strife – the Thirty Years War, fought between 1618 and 1648, was basically a conflict between Catholic armies and Protestant Armies that killed off about half the population of Germany.  The battle of Breitenfeld…

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Wealthier, urban Americans have access to more local news- Sarah Stonbely

Wealthier, urban Americans have access to more local news – while roughly half of US counties have only one outlet or less New York City could be described as a news oasis – the city’s density and wealth mean there are many news outlets competing. Gary Hershorn/via Getty Images Sarah Stonbely, Northwestern University Is local news readily available in your town? Do reporters still cover your…

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The True Believer

So I ran across an article written by a guy who first encountered Eric Hoffer’s book The True Believer in 2021.  He described Hoffer as a “dockworker” – back in the sixties, when I first read the book, he was described as a longshoreman and a philosopher.  I strongly suspect Hoffer was an illegal immigrant – his personal history pans out more as if he were concealing his past than revealing it.  …

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Will Rodgers Still has a Point

Will Rogers was a Cherokee comedian who died in 1935.  Known for his political comments, I wondered how pertinent, how relevant those observations would be today, almost 90 years after his death.  As I looked at the quotations, I decided two things: Will Rogers observations remain valid and politics has a tendency to run downhill. “There are men running governments who shouldn’t be allowed to…

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Religious Tolerance

In Suriname, I saw the largest mosque in the Americas set peacefully next door to the country’s oldest synagogue.  I was told that the parking lot is shared. While I was there, the Hindu Holi Phagwa was going on – a festival of colors celebrated by tossing colored water and powders at each other.  Knowing it was going on, I dressed in my grubbiest cut-offs and T-shirt . . . I don’t recall any…

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Trego's Most Broken Gun Law

So I’m reading this article in the Daily Montanan: Billings man pleads guilty to illegal gun possession inside school zone and, since my place borders the school, I wonder how the law could affect me. In Billings, the article describes the guy who got busted: “Metcalf was charged and arrested late last August after he earlier in the month, on multiple occasions, was seen pacing his front yard…

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Trego School Board Meeting April 8th

I’m having trouble summarizing this one, not least because I lost my notes. In short: The meeting did discuss prayer, but did not discuss a four day week. About prayer: The discussion was specifically with regards to having prayer on the agenda as a part of each school board meeting. The result- no. Community presence and involvement: High. It was a very crowded parking lot. For as heated a…

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Questions for School Board Candidates -Sam

Since we’re having an election, I’ve written some questions for the candidates, and I’ll be asking them to everyone running. Since I’m running, I thought I’d start. About You: I have more higher education than is really reasonable (two masters, one in education and the other in business), and five-years teaching experience. My family lives near the school, and I expect our son (currently one…

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School Rankings Released

School Digger has released its annual school rankings.  This year, Sunburst (near the Sweetgrass Hills) rated #1 – a small school with only 40 students.  ACT scores were not included in this year’s rankings – a bit of a loss. Our own Lincoln County High School ranked 85th of Montana’s 124 schools.  On the Montana State Reading Test LCHS scored at 52.8% – a little above the state average.  The…

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An Eagle Flew Over the Ducks

As I hauled an armload of firewood from the woodshed, the ducks on the pond got loud.  Stopping to look, I watched the bald eagle fly low over the water, eventually moving to the top of a larch at the base of the hill.  The ducks and geese abandoned the shore and moved to deeper water . . . I guess their assumption is that the bald eagle doesn’t want to swim.  They seem to be correct. Two days…

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