One Nation, Under God
One Nation, Under God
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I grew up in southern Indiana a few miles from the Ohio River. From a high perch in the oak tree in our backyard, I could see Kentucky. Nearly a mile wide inside its banks, the river would flood every spring covering thousands of acres with muddy water. A levee kept the Ohio out of town, and hardly anybody lived in the floodplain. There were, however, a number of river camps scattered along its banks. They were all built on stilts. I didn’t know anyone who owned a river camp, but I always f...
The sign read “Caution: Water over road,” a warning that filled me with dread considering we were in a car with only a couple of inches of clearance. During a visit to Flathead Lake last week I’d awoken on the morning of our departure to a steady downpour. It was a bit unsettling. After years of drought, I’d become more comfortable with rumors of rain than the real stuff. Now it was pouring, and I was beginning to question our choice of vehicle: Barb’s Mini Cooper convertible. Instead of taking...
Cooke City felt like a very long ways from anywhere when I arrived there 52 years ago. I had driven over the Beartooth Pass from Red Lodge, and was still awestruck when I rolled into town. I had never seen such magnificent country. I rented a cabin from Olive Nordquist who used to own a ranch on the Clark Fork where Ernest Hemingway stayed. There were saddle horses to rent tied to hitching posts at each end of town, and bears were frequent visitors after dark. I got a job there with an...
I was working in my garden last week when I heard the first mosquito of the season. He buzzed my ear, and in an unsuccessful attempt to squash him I slapped myself upside the head. It will be long pants and long-sleeved shirts for yard work from now until the first frost. I’ve never lived anywhere with the amount of mosquitos we have here in Malta. Last week the insecticide spray truck began making its nightly rounds in an effort to combat the buzzing swarms. I suspect the bloodsuckers will b...
There is a common denominator in school shootings: America’s rifle, the AR-15. Built to throw a lot of lead, this mass-produced, cheaply made weapon was designed for the military, but has been embraced by every nut-case with a grudge since they became legal. Not a sporting arm in any way, the AR-15 and its knockoffs are weapons of war and video games. For a short time Remington marketed its entry into the assault weapon field as a “coyote getter,” but even the NRA knew that was a stretch. It was...
A couple of old friends of mine passed away recently. Memorial services are planned for later this summer. I grieved when I heard the news, wishing that I’d stayed in closer contact, but now they were gone, never to be seen again. I experienced my parents’ deaths in a similar fashion. I wasn’t there either time. They were cremated, and I received their remains neatly packaged in small cardboard boxes. I was far removed from the spectre of death. Last week I received a message that my friend Old...
Homelessness isn’t much of a problem in the little town where I live. We offer few services to the passing-through poor and don’t have a shelter. Although we’re surrounded by thousands of acres of public land, it’s too isolated, too wild up here for a homeless camping crowd that thrives on panhandling and free cheese. Bozeman’s recently completed homeless shelter immediately began attracting a crowd and all 40 beds quickly filled. Not too many years ago there, the homeless, who were then referre...
I hadn’t been fishing in a while. Not like this anyway. For three days in a row, my friend Mike and I fished Fort Peck Lake from morning ‘til night with little interference other than time out to cook meals and run the dogs. We didn’t catch a lot of fish, but we caught enough to keep ourselves fed. I could live on fresh walleye. The weather was typical of early May, running the gamut from cold and rainy to warm and windy. One minute we’d be skimming along at full throttle and the next we’d be sl...
I’m not a guy who dwells on the good old days. Everything changes. Including me. But really, it‘s hard to ignore. Does everything have to change for the worse? Bitter cold combined with drought eliminated almost all of my pond fishing hot spots in recent years. Restocking might bring them back, but not necessarily in time for me to ever fish there again. Fishing the Yellowstone River in the park – a rigorous hike in and out -- used to be a 40-fish-a-day type of place. Now I’m lucky to catch a...
During a meeting of our cabin owners association last fall it was suggested that one of those little free libraries would be a good addition to the community. A board member immediately spoke up and asked if anyone actually read books anymore? It was a telling question. Books are apparently passé to a growing number of folks in this country who often equate book learnin’ to liberal thinkin’ and we don’t want none of that. But after a bit of discussion it was decided that a free library might...
It’s hard to turn on the TV or open the laptop without being inundated with tips on how to get ready for spring. Prepare those vegetable beds now! Check this list before you put that boat in the water! Now is the time to start working on your beach body! What you need to know about your pets as spring approaches! I suppose people like to read that stuff as they come out of semi-hibernation. I take a more organic approach to this change of season. After all, if you do absolutely nothing to get r...
My memory is beginning to fail. I used to know better. You don’t camp in Montana in April. I forgot that. A couple of weeks ago Barb and I hooked the pickup to our camper trailer and drove south to Park County. We set up camp on a bluff above the Yellowstone River and enjoyed an afternoon of beautiful weather. Shortly after we arrived the campground begin to fill. I thought that a bit odd. I was expecting to have the place to ourselves, but there are a lot more people in Park and Gallatin counti...
I recently read an article questioning the ethics of journalists who write about the wonders of Yellowstone National Park. Fearing the park is being loved to death, the author wrote that stories extolling the wonders of Yellowstone might do more harm than good, implying that keeping secret the “Top ten day hikes in the Park,” or the “Most picturesque picnic areas,” could somehow ease crowding and maybe save the place. I disagree. The secret is already out. Nobody stumbles upon Yellows...
I guess I’m just lucky to have survived this far. The recent deaths of a backcountry snow-biker, and a horn hunter hit me particularly hard. I didn’t know either victim, but I knew what they were doing and where they were doing it. I’d been there. While I’ve never been caught in an avalanche it wasn’t because of any great care taken by me to avoid one. I skied Miller Mountain above Cooke City where the snow-biker died many times, never fearing for my safety. I should have. I should have paid...
I recently read that Kalispell is the fastest-growing town of its size in the nation. Bozeman isn’t far behind in third place. Apparently both towns offer what newcomers are looking for: mountainous vistas, fast-flowing streams, and every retail shopping and dining opportunity available. But now an even more ominous trend is beginning to creep across the sprawling Big Sky landscape: folks are leaving those over-crowded hot spots and moving to the ‘burbs, in this case eastern Montana. Could Glend...
When we bought our cabin on Fort Peck Lake I had one immediate fear: the lake would leave. Entering our seventh season at the cabin my fear is being realized. The bay out our back door is rapidly receding, so much so that by ice-out I don’t think there will be enough water left to float our boats. My fear was based on an old photograph in the Billings Gazette taken from the Rock Creek Marina, less than a mile by water from our cabin. It showed an expanse of dry, weedy land that used to be c...
Radio cranked, the family truckster humming along at 110 while the high Nevada desert passes by in a blur, I was suddenly struck by a wave of homesickness. I sure miss Montana. Plastic grocery bags caught in the sagebrush, snapping in the wind next to the road, reminded me of home. A week in southern California had been more than enough. The food, always a prime motivator of our travel, was as good as it had been two years ago when we visited SoCal just before the pandemic hit. After five days...
I’m befuddled by the legions of folks complaining about their loss of freedoms. Maybe I’m just naive, but I don’t seem to have lost any. For a third of the year I wander the landscape unfettered, shotgun or rifle in hand, ready to shoot at stuff. That hasn’t changed since I was a kid although I’ve been told nearly all my life that someone is coming to take my guns. I do remember when mail-order firearm sales were prohibited, something to do with JFK’s assassination, I seem to recall. But...
I can tell from my dogs’ behavior that hunting season ended some time ago. From September through December they behave as if well trained. They sleep a lot, rarely get into mischief, and seldom need correcting. Then the season ends and while I always vow to walk them regularly, I don’t. Instead, they, like me, quickly return to their slothful, ill-disciplined ways. I have a friend who has pointing dogs that accompany him on trail runs year round. Both he and his dogs stay in great shape and out...
There are two very different Montanas. One is booming economically with skyrocketing home prices as newcomers flock there to get a piece of the Big Sky. It’s the Montana that’s pictured in magazines and on the big screen. The other is where I live, the Montana folks are leaving or stuck in with few job prospects and only distant mountains or bad lands on the horizon. I couldn’t be happier with my choice. When Barb and I left Bozeman 16 years ago and moved to Malta we jokingly told people that...
It doesn’t seem so long ago that folks were all worked up about the reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone National Park. There were worries that the predators would devastate the elk herds, then move out of the park and begin preying on cattle. Outfitters and ranchers were up in arms. While elk numbers in the park fell drastically following the reintroduction, cattle survived relatively unscathed. And we were told the wolves weren’t actually killing all the elk, but simply redistributing the...
While visiting with an old friend recently I happened to mention my snowmobiles. He took a step back, a shocked look on his face. “You have a snowmobile?” he asked. “Two, in fact,” I told him. His surprise was understandable. When I lived in the mountains I was a cross-country skier, not a ‘biler, although the choice was more economical at the time than aesthetic. All I could afford were skis. And I was once even censured by the paper I worked for after writing a column criticizing an effort to...
I’ve never been much of a conspiracy theory guy. I don’t believe there was a second shooter on the grassy knoll. I don’t think the moon landing was a hoax. I’m not convinced that the covid vaccine is actually a ploy to plant a microchip in me. But still I wonder how the makers of Bombay gin knew to send me a pop-up ad on my laptop right after I had finished a gin and tonic last night. I’d posted no comment about my refreshing libation. I was home alone. How did they know what I was drinking?...
I have mixed feelings about a recent proposal to extend the upland bird season one more month. While I’d love to keep hunting until the end of January, my wife, I’m sure has other thoughts. The season currently runs from Sept. 1 to Jan. 1. Barb’s fine for the first three months, but after that her patience begins to grow thin. “Is it over yet?” she starts asking. In my defense I list the chores and projects around the house that I had completed during the fall. It’s never a very long list....
Barb and I were invited to speak to students during career day at the high school last week. The author of more than 115 books, she had quite a bit to say. As a former newspaperman I didn’t. As much as I enjoyed my time in the business, it’s hard to seriously encourage young folks to get newspaper jobs. Newspapers are fast going the way of the pay phone. I kept thinking about my visit to the Bozeman Chronicle last month. I’d spent 20 years there as a reporter and editor during which time circula...