MONTANA

March 2016

A Monthly Publication for Folks 50 and Better

Man in motion

Connection to Fort Peck Dam history

A gift of your own grace

Calendar....................................................Page 3
Opinion.....................................................Page 4
On the Menu.............................................Page 5

INSIDE

Volunteering..............................................Page 12
Strange But True.......................................Page 14

News Lite
Homeless gnomes: Pennsylvania state park
evicts tiny houses

Goat in drivers seat milks attention,

flashes hazard lights

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 OK
originally, 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.

OXFORD, Mass. (AP) A goat caused a commotion over the

weekend when it was spotted in the drivers seat of a vehicle in a
Massachusetts parking lot, flashing its owners 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 discovered by the goats owner, Ashley Robertson.
Robertson says she was on her way home with her new goat
when she stopped at Home Depot. She didnt 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 shes amused and a little embarrassed about the
goats Internet fame.
See News Lite, Page 3

Stronger
together.
What does it mean to be
a New West Medicare member?

At New West Medicare, we are the only Montana company that is 100% focused on providing the best Medicare
experience for our friends, family, and neighbors. Thats why we offer no deductibles, low co-pays, the ability to
use health care providers you want, prescription drug coverage, and a healthy aging program with a fitness facility
membership in every plan. Plus, we pride ourselves on providing our members with excellent customer service from
right here in Montana. Let New West make Medicare simple for you.
New West Health Services is a PPO Plan with a Medicare Contract. Enrollment in
New West Medicare depends on contract renewal. You must continue to pay your
Medicare Part B premium. Limitations, co-payments, and restrictions may apply. The
888.873.8044 TTY 711 formulary, pharmacy network, and/or provider network may change at any time.
newwestmedicare.com You will receive notification when necessary. The benefit information provided is a
brief summary, not a complete description of benefits. For more information contact
Find us on
New West Medicare. For accommodations of persons with special needs at a sales
meeting call 1-888-873-8044, TTY 711, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily. Benefits may change
on January 1 of each year. H2701_NW#_SP_672-12-2015 Accepted
March 2016

March 2016

 Tuesday, March 1
National Geographics 50
Greatest Photos, through
May 30, Museum of the Rockies, Bozeman
Painting with Fire and Ice:
The thermal Features of
Yellowstone, through March
24, MSU Exit Gallery, Bozeman
Quaker Artists: An Exhibition of the Quiet Faith,
through March 3, Carroll Art
Gallery, St. Charles Hall, Helena
The Art of Mosaics: Growing a Glass Garden, through
March 30, Holter Museum of
Art, Helena
Peter Hingle Photography,
through March 30, Lewistown
Art Center, Lewistown
17th annual Livingston
Center for Art and Culture
Art Show, through March 19,
Livingston
From Wilsall to Wonderland: Trails, Roads and
Rails, through March 31,
Yellowstone Gateway Museum,
Livingston

 Wednesday, March 2

 Sunday, March 6

Organic Gardening Made

Easy, 6-9 p.m. and March 5,
1-4 p.m., Broken Ground,
Bozeman

Monster Dog Pull, Red

Lodge Ales, Red Lodge

 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, Red
Lodge
Pour it Up, through April 22,
Red Lodge Clay Center, Red
Lodge

 Saturday, March 5
Winter Farmers Market, 9
a.m.-noon, Emerson Center
Ballroom, Bozeman
Ice Skating, Bannack State
Park 11 a.m.-5 p.m., Dillon
Winter Carnival, Red Lodge
Mountain Resort, Red Lodge
Yellowstone Rendezvous
Ski Race, West Yellowstone

 Thursday, March 10
World Snowmobile Expo
and Powersports Show,
through March 13, West Yellowstone

 Saturday, March 12
Cocktails and Creativity
Raptor Center Fundraiser,
Belgrade
 Wednesday, March 16
Fiddlers, Harps and Shamrocks, through March 17,
6:30 p.m., The Food Studio,
Bozeman

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 American Association of University Women New to You Art
and 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 Fairgrounds, Livingston

 Thursday, March 17
St. Patricks Day Celebration, Downtown, 5:30 p.m.,
Red Lodge
 Friday, March 18
The Park Branch of American Association of University Women New to You Art

News Lite, from Page 2

Twin Utah moms each give birth

to 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. Years
ago, they gave birth to their first sets of twins, now 4- and 5-yearolds, at the same hospital a few months apart.
Bunkers newest twins arrived Feb. 13. Walls 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 fertilization.
The 36-year-old women say they arent 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.

Womans unorthodox approach

helps her get kidney donor

POWNAL, Maine (AP) A Maine womans 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 Demings 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.
See News Lite, Page 5
March 2016

Opinion

Oh, for Montana to play a primary role

March 2016

votes wont count for a whole lot (something that happens

often in the general election, as well).
Thats disappointing, because wed 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 partys nominee all come down to voters
in, say, Two Dot, Montana.
But dont count on it. In the meantime, keep the TV
tuned up for a wild election season ride.
Dwight Harriman,
Montana Best Times Editor
MONTANA

Its 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.
Weve 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 Montanans, will have when our primary comes up.
Oops. Our primary, like that of a handful of other states,
wont be held until June June 7 in Montanas case. That
will be political light years after its clear who the Republican and Democratic nominee for president will be. That
means, as it very often does for Montana, that our primary

A Monthly Publication for Folks 50 and Better

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

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

On The Menu

With Jim Durfey

A little March Madness

In spite of the heading of this months On the Menu feature,

your Best Times recipe contributor isnt 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 called
Yummly, 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. Thats a good question. According to Websters 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 thats put on pasta, so its
very similar to a pesto.
Meatless main courses arent ones I usually care to eat. If the
meal doesnt feature a meat, the carnivore in me gets restless. But
I must admit, this dish was satisfying, and it didnt leave me with
the feeling that Id been deprived.
By the way, I forgot to add salt and pepper. I discovered that
omission when I read the recipe after Id eaten a large helping.
But my taste buds didnt 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 avocado and the pecans are added later,
theyll help to force the spinach and
basil leaves toward the blades of the
blender. 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
dont 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 saturated fats. While an avocado contains fat, its the good kind that
provides you with heart-healthy monounsaturated fatty acids. If
you eat this dish frequently, youll probably live to be 100.

Pasta with Spinach Sauce

10 oz. rotini, radiatore or other spiral pasta
1 clove garlic
1 avocado, pitted, skin removed
1/2 c. pecans
1 c. fresh spinach
1/4 c. basil
1 1/2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
3/4 c. pasta water
Salt and pepper to taste

Cook pasta according to package instructions

While pasta is cooking, add remaining

ingredients to blender and blend until it
becomes a smooth sauce
Add pasta water and blend again
Add more as needed for desired consistency
Toss pasta with sauce in bowl. Serve
immediately

News Lite, from Page 3

Meerkat expert cleared of assault in spat

LONDON (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 assaulting 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. Westlakes 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.

Great News for Seniors 62 yrs of Age & Older!

COMFORTABLE & AFFORDABLE APARTMENTS
Accepting Applications for Independent Seniors

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

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

March 2016

By M.P. Regan

Montana Best Times

DILLON You need to be quick and even a little lucky to

catch up with Steve Morehouse.
Thats because the retired longtime U.S. Bureau of Reclamation employee is so often out, engaging his love of the great outdoors 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 community 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

Its a magic place. Its 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. Its a real challenge, added Morehouse, a veteran of 10 raft trips through the Grand Canyon.
But its more than just the river and rapids. There are so many
side hikes and canyons to explore, continued Morehouse, who
advised 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 River 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 Dillon, 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 Morehouses recent
UMW 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 knowledge of the natural environment, particularly in relation to the
Lewis and Clark Expedition, asserted Thomas, who got invaluable 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 hes done numerous talks regarding Lewis and Clark
at public schools in the area, said Thomas, a leader of the movement to transform the University of Montana Western over the
March 2016

Photos by Brayden Mitchell

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.
past decade into a center of experiential learning an
approach to education Morehouse has spent countless hours furthering in his own, instinctive and highly informative manner.
Steves been a great contributor to the community and the university. 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 students at Butte High School in recent years.
We go out and shoot two buffalo on Ted Turners ranch on the
Ruby, and the high school kids skin them with obsidian, said
Morehouse of the Lewis and Clark program hes been helping
Butte High history teacher Chris Fisk a former Sunday school
pupil of Morehouses 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-

Steve Morehouse rows

through calm water
during one of the 10
rafting trips he has
taken on the Colorado
River through the
Grand Canyon.

Photo by Taylor Farnum

house made during his work reenacting the Lewis and Clark
Expedition.
Morehouse said hes 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 Montanas leading authorities on Lewis and Clark.

Exploring the explorers

Morehouses extensive, in-depth, hands-on research into the

early 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 its 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.
Morehouses fascination with Lewis and Clark helped convince
him to move to Dillon in 1980 for a full-time job with the Bureau
of 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 member 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, Youve been
planning this thing and doing Lewis and Clark programs; we
dont have anybody else who knows what you do, so why dont
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 Jefferson, 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 couldnt just do it for a
couple days in one spot, said Morehouse of the Corps of Discovery 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 outdoors, 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 Montanas 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 Morehouse, who has arranged for a boat trip in Alaska this spring with
his wife, Sharon, along with his best friend and his friends wife.
Well spend 10 days on that, do some sea kayaking, fishing,
whale watching, stop at an abandoned Inuit village and an active
one. Well sleep on the boat, put out crab pots for dinner and
catch shrimp and maybe get lucky and get a salmon, said Morehouse 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 didnt have to ask
twice, said Morehouse, who also plans on doing a lot more trips
closer to home.
Theres 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.
Ive done some easy day trips on Big Hole River and Jefferson River with my grandkids. They really enjoy it. I havent run
any rapids or overnight trips yet with them. The 10- and 15-yearold 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.
March 2016
7

Courtesy of Yvonne Jensen

Ted Archer, Yvonne Jensens 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.

Red Lodge resident shares Montana history

Had a strong connection to building of Fort Peck Dam

By Eleanor Guerrero

Montana Best Times

RED LODGE Although Yvonne Archer Jensens immediate

family lived in Texas and she grew up primarily in the small Texas 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 didnt 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 Jensens connection to the state goes much further back

than the dam.
Shortly after his marriage, Jensens great-grandfather John R.
Cooley traveled from Wisconsin to Miles City, Montana Territory. 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
March 2016

brothers reported 35 head in one group.

In the fall of 1882, Johns wife, Carrie Jensens 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 Musselshell Valley. Five children were
born: Mina in 1885, Kittie in 1888,
Edna in 1890, Earl in 1894 and Bert in
Yvonne Jensen
1898. Bert died at 11.
Mina was Jensens 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.
Jensens 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.

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, Jensens father. Minas
brother Earl married Vallie Ness by mail
order bride. Vallie lived until 2000, dying at
97.
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 ranchs sheep and cattle were eventually 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.

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, Jensens father had held a few jobs
around the country, and did a stint in the Navy. He eventually followed 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 husband, 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 talented vocational trainer who had an extraordinary relationship with the prisoners as their
warden.
They called him the hugging warden,
Jensen said.
Helping build the dam
The couple had a son, Marc, and daughter
Wendy.
Courtesy of Montana Stockgrowers Association
Jensens father, Ted Archer, married her
Wardens didnt wear uniforms. He was a
Shown are Yvonne Jensens greatmother, Thelma, and they lived in Musgrandparents John R. Cooley and Car- fashionable dresser, usually wearing plaid
selshell. Her father was hired to assist durrie Cartwright Cooley in the Montana suits, Jensen said.
ing the construction of the Fort Peck Dam,
He dressed like a used car salesman,
Stockgrowers Associations centennial
a huge civil service project.
she
laughed.
This was a massive undertaking, building book on ranches.
Similar
to officers and their wives in the
the largest earth dam in the world, Jensen
service,
she
said, they had to entertain visisaid. Ten little towns had sprung up to support the project. The
tors
often
in
isolated
outposts.
family lived in Wheeler. Each town had a population of about
People have always been visiting (federal) prisons, because
11,000.
they are big and important facilities, Jensen noted. She said
The dam was started in 1933 and was completed in 1940.
experts came from all over the U.S. and England to study the setIn 1936, Jensen was born at Fort Peck. She had an older brothups.
er, Donald. She doesnt remember much about those days.
Being a warden was not always peaceful.
I was only 3, she said. I remember being in a field with a
He never carried a gun, Jensen said of her husband. He
friend picking weeds.
could
talk them down.
It was very cold there.
When
a prisoner escaped, Eldon came home with his clothes
One winter it went down to -60 degrees, she said. We
smelling
like teargas.
stuffed newspapers in all the cracks in the building.
Id throw them all away, Jensen said.
Fort Peck was a major project of the Public Works AdministraEldon finished his career commuting to Washington, D.C., at
tion, part of the New Deal. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt
the Department of Justice. He returned to teaching in 1985. After
visited the famous dam site. There were mess halls built in each
retiring, the family moved to Red Lodge in 1995. Eldon died in
town for the workers. Jensens father was in charge of the huge
2009. The Jensens were married for 51 years.
Wheeler mess hall.
Life in the small frontier towns sounded a lot like the Bakken
Preserving history
or any old gold rush town. In the first Life Magazine article,
famous photo-journalist Margaret Bourke shot the dam project
Jensen maintains a keen interest in preserving her family histofor the magazines very first cover story, published Nov. 23,
ry for her grandchildren.
1936.
She quotes the title of a Montana history book, A Century of
Bourke wrote, I had never seen a place quite like the town of
Ranching, commissioned by the Montana Stockgrowers AssociNew Deal, the construction site of Fort Peck Dam. It was a pination that chronicles her ancestors and other early ranchers and
point in the long, lonely stretches of northern Montana so primireflects their spirit:
tive and so wild that the whole ramshackle town seemed to carry
The Weak Ones Turned Back, The Cowards Never Started.
the flavor of the boisterous Gold Rush days. It was stuffed to the

seams with construction men, engineers, welders, quack doctors,

EDITORS NOTE: Eleanor Guerrero is the senior reporter at
barmaids, fancy ladies and, as one of my photographs illustrated,
the Carbon County News in Red Lodge. She may be reached at
the only idle bedsprings in New Deal were the broken ones. Peosports@carboncountynews.com or (406) 446-2222.
March 2016
9

Photo by John Bernardo

A gift of your own grace

A group of people share smiles as they play My Gift of Grace, a self-described conversation game for living and dying well.

How and why to tackle final wishes

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 deaths 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: Im not saying you wont die at all.

Its 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
wont die soon, to label planning ahead as a future need. Others,
certain death is only a decade or two away, see it as an unutterable requirement an I need to do it, but talking about it may
somehow doom my lifespan sort of thing.
Craig Buehlers office is not dark or foreboding, not like the
label estate planning can be. His office is on the fourth floor of
Lewistowns First Bank Building, and features large windows
March 2016

10

that filter in sunlight and the noise of noonday life. The generalpractice 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 Buehler
says 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.
Its trying to just determine whats 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 anything 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 unrecorded 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.

Buehler explained what you want to do applies to more than

post-mortem legalities.
Its 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 topics 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 clients wants
are 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 intimidating. My Gift of Grace is
just one of dozens, all aiming
to 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 recommend trying sooner rather than later.
The danger of waiting too long is sometimes its 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. Its an old thing.
Mihlfeld is Creel Funeral Homes 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 that
surrounds all funeral homes. He said the front door is enough to
separate people from the free information his business offers.
The big catch is, its 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, Im opting for cardboard. If Im cremated, funeral
homes offer pods with seeds so I can be planted into a tree. Quaking 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 games 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 its not
shown in the video was something like, What do you never
want to be labeled as? The question has nothing to do with
death, but it finds an answer that would shape the womans final
needs. And really, the question beneath it all is something everyone 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.
Its taking a huge burden off your family by just
having wishes written down,
he explained. The day (of
the funeral) becomes your
Photo by John Bernardo
hardest decision.
So why should people preplan? What motivations are socially acceptable?
Dick Brown, owner of Cloyd Funeral Home, encounters people
who dont have anything more than a birth date for their preplan.
He tells them it is not always about them.
I tell them, A funerals not for the dead, its for the living,
Brown said.
It gives a grieving family more time to support each other and
receive support, Brown added about planning. Theres less
stress.
So am I supposed to take on a mess of forms just for my family? Are other people my sole motivation to start the awkward
conversation about a Cancun retirement and an ashes-on-thewaves 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. Its thought provoking, and
it left me feeling great.
See A gift of your own grace, Page 13
March 2016

11

RSVP

Below is a list of volunteer openings available through the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) in
communities across southern Montana. To learn more about RSVP, call (800) 424-8867 or TTY (800) 833-3722;
or log on to www. seniorcorps.org.

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. You
choose the hours and days.
- Clinic Ambassador: Need volunteer to
greet patients and visitors, providing directions and more, two locations.
- Custer County Community Table Volunteers needed to serve meals, wash dishes
and greet the public at the Soup Kitchen.
- Custer County Council on Aging: Volunteer commodities clerk needed.
- Custer County Food Bank: Volunteer
assistants needed for 8-1:30, Mondays,
Tuesdays and Wednesdays, to process
donations, stock shelves and more.
- DAV van: Drivers needed to provide
transportation to veterans to medical
appointments.
- Eagles Manor: Volunteer exercise class
leader needed, 1-2 days a week, you pick
the days and the exercise for residents.
- Historic Miles City Academy: Urgently
need volunteers at the thrift store and in
other ways.
- Miles City Soup Kitchen: Desperately
seeking servers and greeters Monday-Friday; pick a day of the week you would like
to serve.
- Relay for Life: Person to pop popcorn
needed one day per week, two hours in the
morning, at MCC.
- St. Vincent DePaul: Volunteers to assist
in several different capacities.
- VA Activities: Urgent need for someone
to help with activities. Application packet
available at VA Activities Directors Office.
- WaterWorks Art Museum: Volunteer
receptionists needed, two-hour shifts Tuesday-Sunday; a volunteer also needed in cataloging the art collection, one to assist with
historic research of the permanent art collection, and a volunteer to assist in kids
classes.
If you are interested in these or other volunteer opportunities please contact: Betty
Vail, RSVP Director; 210 Winchester Ave.
#413, Miles City, MT 59301; phone 2340505; 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 to
assist during local emergencies.
- Art Center: Need of volunteers on Saturdays.
- Central Montana Fairgrounds: Seeking
clerical support.
- Central Montana Youth Mentoring:
March 2016
12

Seeking clerical support.

- Community Cupboard (Food Bank):
Volunteers are needed to help any week
mornings as well as with deliveries.
- Council on Aging: Volunteers needed to
assist at the daily Grubstakes meal and with
clerical help during the busy lunch hour.
- Library: Volunteers always appreciated.
- ROWL (Recycle Our Waste Lewistown): Looking for volunteers to join teams
baling recyclables.
- Treasure Depot: Thrift store needs volunteers to sort, hang clothes and put other
items on display for sale.
- Valle Vista: Multiple opportunities to
volunteer with the elderly residents.
- Office of Veterans Affairs: Seeking clerical support.
- RSVP always has various needs for
your skills and volunteer services in our
community.
Contact: RSVP Volunteer Coordinator
Sara Wald, 404 W. Broadway, Wells Fargo
Bank building, (upstairs), Lewistown, MT
59457; phone 535-0077; email: rsvplew@
midrivers.com.

Gallatin County

- American Cancer Society-Road to

Recovery: Drivers needed for patients
receiving treatments from their home to the
hospital.
- American Red Cross Blood Drive:
Three volunteer opportunities available
Blood Drive Ambassador needed to welcome, greet, thank and provide overview
for blood donors; Team Leader Volunteers
needed to recruit, train and schedule Donor
Ambassadors and Couriers; Community
Outreach Specialist to seek out locations to
set up sign-up tables for prospective volunteers and/or blood donors. Excellent customer service skills needed, training will be
provided, flexible schedule.
- Befrienders: Befriend a senior; visit on
a regular weekly basis.
- Belgrade Senior Center: Meals on
Wheels needs reg. and sub. drivers Monday-Friday, to deliver meals to seniors
before noon.
- Big Brothers Big Sisters: Be a positive
role model for only a few hours each week.
- Bozeman and Belgrade Sacks Thrift
Stores: Need volunteers two- to three-hour
shifts on any day,Monday-Saturday, 9:30
a.m.-6 p.m.
- Bozeman Deaconess Hospital: Volunteers needed for the information desks in the
Atrium and the Perk,8 a.m.-noon, noon-4
p.m.; volunteer to escort patients through
the hospital, must be able to be on your feet
for long periods; volunteer needed at the
Care Boutique in the Cancer Center to help
customers and to keep merchandise in order.

- Bozeman Senior Center Foot Clinic:

Retired or nearly retired nurses are urgently
needed, two days a month, either four- or
eight-hour shifts.
- Bozeman Symphony: Volunteers to
greet patrons, check tickets and hand out
programs; ushers to guide patrons to their
seats; someone to set up the Underwriter
Room, and treats for the musicians are
needed.
- Bozeman Symphony Sunday Matinees:Need volunteer head of concessions
to set up and tear down concessions areas
and keep them clean during the concert,
must be able to stand for long times and
able to lift no more than 50 pounds.
- Cancer Support Community: Volunteer
receptionist needed for the last two Tuesdays of the month, 10 a.m.-1 p.m.; position
would be shared with another volunteer so
there could be flexibility of schedule.
- Galavan: Volunteers needed to make
reminder calls and to confirm rides for the
following day; also need a volunteer for
morning dispatch to receive phone calls/
messages and relay information from clients to staff as required; drivers neededMonday-Friday, 10-2,CDL required and
Galavan will assist you in obtaining one.
Volunteers also needed to make reminder
calls and confirm rides for the following
day.
- Gallatin Rest Home: Volunteers wanted
for visiting the residents, sharing your
knowledge of a craft, playing cards or reading to a resident.
- Gallatin Valley Food Bank: Volunteers
needed to deliver commodities to seniors in
their homes once a month. Deliveries in
Belgrade are especially needed.
- HRDC Housing Department Ready to
Rent: Curriculum for families and individuals who have rental barriers such as lack of
poor rental history, property upkeep, renter
responsibilities, landlord/tenant communication and financial priorities.
- Habitat for Humanity Restore: Belgrade
store needs volunteers for general help,
sorting donations and assisting customers.
- Heart of The Valley: Compassionate
volunteers especially needed to love, play
with and cuddle cats.
- Help Center: Computer literate volunteer interested in entering data into a social
services database; volunteers also needed to
make phone calls to different agencies/programs to make sure database is up to date
and make safety calls to home bound
seniors.
- Jessie Wilber Gallery at The Emerson:
Volunteers needed on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays to greet people at the
main desk, answer questions and keep track
of the visitors.

 - Museum of the Rockies: Variety of

opportunities available such as helping in
the gift shop and more.
- RSVP Handcrafters: Volunteers to quilt,
knit, crochet and embroider hats for chemo
patients, baby blankets and other handmade
goods once a week (can work from home);
also need volunteers to tie and finish quilts.
*Donated yarn needed for the quilting, knitting and crocheting projects can be dropped
off at the RSVP office upstairs in the Senior
Center.
- Seniors: You may qualify for $192-$600
a year for grocery and food assistance.
-Three Forks Food Bank:Volunteer
needed on Mondays and/orThursdaysto
help with administrative duties, including
answer phones and questions, some paper
and computer work. They will train.
- VITA: Volunteer at the Community
Caf to serve as the first point of contact for
customers, set a friendly and welcoming
atmosphere, monitor site traffic and sign in
procedure, Monday, Wednesday and Friday
afternoons noon-3 p.m.
- Warming Center: Volunteers needed for
a variety of different shifts, 7 p.m.-7 a.m.;
training held every Tuesday at the Warming
Center.Please call for more information.
- Your unique skills and interests are
needed, without making a long-term commitment, in a variety of ongoing, special,
one-time events.
Contact: Debi Casagranda, RSVP Program Coordinator, 807 N. Tracy, Bozeman,
MT 59715; phone 587-5444; fax 582 8499;
email: dcasagranda@thehrdc.org

Musselshell, Golden Valley

& Petroleum counties

- Central Grade School: Needs volunteer

tutors to encourage children with their reading skills in the America Reads program.
Also volunteers needed to assist younger
students with lunch, clear tables and serve
from the salad bar.
- Drama Camp: Volunteers needed for
positions of director and assistant director.

- Food Bank: Distribute food commodities to seniors and others in the community;
help unload the truck as needed.
- 4-H Fair: Volunteers needed to sit at the
table in the art building.
- Nursing Home: Pianoplayers and singers neededon Fridays to entertain residents,
alsoassistant needed in activities for residents to enrich supported lifestyle.
- RIDE: Volunteers needed for selling
tickets at the night shows.
- Senior Bus: Volunteers to pick up folks
who are unable to drive themselves.
- Senior Center: Volunteers are needed to
provide meals, clean up in the dining room
and/or keep records; meal provided.
- The Trade Show: Volunteers needed to
serve at door prize table.
- Dinner Theater: Volunteers needed for
cooking and serving the meal.
- RSVP offers maximum flexibility and
choice to its volunteers as it matches the
personal interests and skills of older Americans with opportunities to serve their communities. You choose how and where to
serve. Volunteering is an opportunity to
learn new skills, make friends and connect
with your community.
Contact: Shelley Halvorson, South Central MT RSVP, 315 1/2 Main St., Ste. #1,
Roundup, MT 59072; phone 323-1403; fax
323-4403; 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 volunteer a few hours a week for on-going position of running a copy machine and making
up visitors packets.
- Food Pantry: Volunteers needed to help
on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
- Fix-It- Brigade: Volunteers of all ages
and skill levels needed to help with small
home repairs such as mending a fence,
shoveling snow, or something as simple as
changing light bulbs. You will be helping

A gift of your own grace, from Page 11

Torrie is young, blond with tight, curly hair and a comfortable
but trendy T-shirt.
It is absolutely the most connecting game that I think I have
ever stumbled upon, she says. Its funny, because its about this
topic that most people try and avoid talking about, but it opens up
a window, an avenue for you to actually be able to talk about
yourself in a way that expresses your values, expresses your principles. It kind of lays out who you are as a person.
Table after table, the video shows groups of four sharing stories
about their values or their childhoods or their families.
Part of the success My Gift of Grace has enjoyed may well be
due to novelty. I like to think part of it is due to design: The game
sets up questions and an environment that encourage stories. As
the video plays, and the people play, preplanning becomes secondary. Its the aftermath to learning about yourself and your fellow players, just a coincidence that, at the end, you have some

seniors or veterans for a two-hour or less

task, on your time schedule.
- Handcrafters: Join this group on Thursdays 1-2 p.m. in making crocheted or knitted caps and scarves for children at Head
Start. Also making gifts for the prenatal
classes and baby hats and afghans for the
hospital newborns. Sewers needed to make
simple pillowcases for soldiers overseas.
- Links for Learning: Needs volunteers
after school 3:45-5 p.m. at any of the three
elementary schools listening to children
read. No experience necessary.
- Loaves and Fishes: Volunteers needed to
prepare a dinner meal.
- Mainstreeter Store: Needs someone who
enjoys working with the public. Help greet
customers, label and hang clothes and
accept donations. Volunteer 4 hours a week
and get 50 percent off your purchases.
- Meals on Wheels: In need of substitute
drivers to deliver meals to seniors in their
homes.
- Senior Center: Volunteers needed to cut
unsold clothing into rags Thursdays, 1 p.m.
- Senior Center Foot Clinic: Volunteers
and nurses needed twice a month to help the
seniors with foot care.
- Stafford Animal Shelter: Gentle compassionate volunteers to socialize and play
with the kittens and cats and walk the dogs.
one-hour safety training provided.
- Transportation: Drivers needed to help
patients keep their doctor appointments in
Livingston and/or in Bozeman. Gas reimbursement may be provided.
- Yellowstone Gateway Museum: Volunteer needed to man the front desk and help
catalog and label items.
- RSVP: Has many one-time events,
including mailings and fundraising events
that require volunteers. Your unique skills
and interests are needed, without making a
long-term commitment, in a variety of ongoing and special one-time events.
Contact: Deb Downs, Program Coordinator, 111 S. 2nd St., Livingston, MT 59047;
phone 222-2281; email: debdowns@rsvpmt.org

answers for planning ahead. For example, dont 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 loss
are all advantages, but I want those stories. I lost my mother three
years ago, and her stories went with her. I want my sisters stories,
my boyfriends stories, even my stories, before theyre lost too.
So here is how far Ive gotten: I want to retire before 70, my
list of assets is tiny and I kind of want to be a tree after I die. And
Im planning to take My Gift of Grace to the next family dinner
(Im glad my boyfriends 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.
March 2016
13

By Bill Sones and Rich Sones, Ph.D.

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

What does
10,000,000,000,000,000,000
represent?
Q. If youre not too bugged by big numbers, consider
10,000,000,000,000,000,000 thats 10 quintillion, or 10
followed by 18 zeros. Whats this all about?

A. Thats the number of insects alive on Earth at any given

time, according to Harvard entomologist Edward O. Wilson, as
reported by James ODonoghue 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. Theyre 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 the
one 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
worlds 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

March 2016

14

Noells Ark Gorilla Show offered this unusual challenge:

Wanted, athletic men to earn $5 per second by holding an
85-pound apes shoulders to the floor. What was the
gimmick?

A. No gimmick at all. The apes in question were juvenile

chimpanzees, 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 shows
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 quite
capable of breaking a mans 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 that
ravaged 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 1,418
indirectly, as reported in Science News magazine. Hurricane
reports typically include only the deaths directly attributable to a
storms 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.

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 worlds 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. Its exaggerated talk, you

INSURING FOR YOUR PEACE OF MIND

Having the right insurance should bring that peace of mind and
allow 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.
1320 28th Street West Billings, MT
406-652-4180 www.darnielle.com

Crossword

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 teacher Flitwick
18 Fly, commonly
19 "Bring a Torch, Jeannette,
Isabella," e.g.
20 Masters home
23 Chef's staples
24 Shimmering South American denizens
25 "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
Down
1 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

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, Kuhls 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 parents did not use the baby vernacular as frequently.
As Kuhl emphasizes, learning for the infant brain is not a passive process. Social interaction is an essential prerequisite for
mastering a language.
Q. Youre no doubt familiar with the family of the five basic
taste senses sweet, sour, salty, bitter and--the latest addition--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 the
other five substances, even with plugged noses. For example,
nearly two-thirds of tasters identified linoleic acid found in vegetable 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-pleasing products like doughnuts and potato chips.

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-in
48 Spanish morsel
49 Newcastle's river

March 2016

15

Through the month of March

30