Latest
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Understanding Algae
So far this year, I have lots of water and no need to manage algae in the pond. By the end of August, I expect to lose the top several feet of water, and things will warm up, and the nitrogen resulting from the cute Canada Geese will encourage algae. I have techniques of controlling the algae – but I’m becoming less physically able to do the jog. Trump’s only a little older than I, but he has a lot larger labor pool for algae control in the reflecting pool than I do. I still plan to do my best…
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One of the rewards of working at South Dakota State University was getting to know Bob Mendelsohn. Bob was our deviance instructor – and it says something about the normalcy of a sociology department when the guy who specializes in deviance has been married to the girl he dated in high school. Bob studied deviance…
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Tonight wasn’t just about pizza. It wasn’t just about raising money. It wasn’t just about filling stomachs. It was about filling a future. As I sat watching neighbors gather under a simple canopy, children running around, conversations flowing from one chair to another, pizzas coming off the grill, and volunteers serving with smiles, I realized…
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Yesterday she had me completely convinced. Every sign in the dairy cow handbook seemed to be there. She was restless. Swishing her tail. Looking uncomfortable. Laying down… getting back up… staring off into the distance like she was contemplating life choices. She’d have what looked like a contraction, then shift around, and I’d think, “This is…
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There are days on the homestead where you question every life decision you’ve ever made. Today was one of those days. After what feels like weeks of rain, cold weather, and Mother Nature laughing at my plans, I finally got my chance to move the bees into their permanent hive. Picture this… Me, looking like…
local
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We started the Mountain Ear (both times) because we wanted better coverage of local news. There are so many board meetings, and all of them are important. The Tobacco Valley News faces the same problem we do- not enough people and too many meetings, and their focus is on a larger area. So we started…
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An emergency meeting of the Trego school board was called again on May 4 at 4 PM to update the community on the methamphetamine contamination of the school grounds.. Although the meeting was poorly noticed, there were nearly 40 community members in attendance, these included parents, teachers, former students and teachers and interested community members.…
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Earlier this week, a meeting was held to formalize the existing long-term relationship between the TFS Community Hall and the TFS Fire Department. Tables were set to form a circle, and the meeting began with introductions. It was a joint meeting meant to prevent future problems, without any reason to expect them. The issue: an…
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An emergency school board meeting was held at the TFS Community Hall, Saturday at noon (which coincidentally is the time the Rendezvous Parade in Eureka began). The board acknowledged that they failed to provide adequate (48 hours notice) on the meeting, and cited the requisite MCA code allowing it in the event of an unforseen…
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When I went to get some repair work done, the person I was consulting advised fixing the structural issues and then putting the same ancient dilapidated siding back on the building. The rational? Property taxes. Last summer, we joked about how much the nice flowers my mother had on their porch raised their taxes. They…
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I spent most of a year away from the school after I finished my term. I attended a couple of board meetings because I was asked – on one hand, there was, at the least, the appearance of an unlawful board meeting . . . unlawful because it appeared to violate Montana’s open meeting law.…
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Historically, independent voters, and voters for minor third parties, do not get a large percentage of votes. Often, they’re considered “spoiler” candidates, who lose the election for someone by dra4wing critical support away during a close race. Or their thought of as simply “protest candidates” with no chance of winning. In Montana, for the presidential…
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Not many years ago, if you were faced with a cluster of unacceptable clowns on your ballot, you could write a name in and cast a protest vote. Hell, I guess you still can – the thing is, your write-in protest vote won’t be counted or reported. With the elimination of subsection 7 last year,…