Serving Proudly As The Voice Of Valley County Since 1913
Serving Proudly As The Voice Of Valley County Since 1913
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It is estimated that more than eight million children younger than age 18 live with at least one adult who has a substance use disorder; that is a rate of more than one in 10 children, most of whom are under the age of five (SAMHSA, 2010). As many parents and professionals know, there is quite a large amount of development that happens from birth to that age. Living in an environment with someone struggling from substance abuse lays the groundwork for these children to suffer from a number of issues. Families with substance use disorders reveal...
The lovely rains have really set off lots of new growth. The lawn has had its first mowing and needs another. The wheat is coming up nicely, even though we’re not quite finished with seeding as I write this. It should all be in the ground by the time you read this. The weeds are also coming up such that I’m weeding the garden rows as I plant more of my desired seeds. The beets, carrots, and Swiss chard were planted right after I wrote last week’s column (before the rain/snow mix). Last Saturday I put in radish and onion seeds. Next up will...
We’re blessed with some great outdoor spaces here. Despite the challenges our winters bring, it’s more than made up for by the temperate season. Time out by the lake, the great camping spots, the state parks just a day trip away; making the most of warmer weather is easy to do in this part of the world. With technology such an integral part of our lives nowadays, how do we safely use some of it to elevate our outdoor experience? What’s important and what isn’t when we’re looking to level-up our yard, poolside or forest time? I think the most...
Mental health status isn’t just diagnoses and medication: mood, thought processes, and behavior are all factors of how someone is doing. Like all development, one’s lifelong mental and behavioral health begins early in childhood. As much as we wish the opposite was true, unpleasant emotions and events are unavoidable even in childhood. These events may have a very deep impact since children are constantly learning about the world around them. PTSD is largely associated with combat veterans or other survivors of physical violence, but many lif...
Our computers are, in the most basic sense, tools. They’re tools for education, they’re tools for blowing off steam and they’re tools for productivity. Arguably it’s this ability to create, produce and construct which is the PC’s strongest suit, because anything else you might use a computer for was actually itself, created on a computer. The chicken vs. egg discussion aside, the landscape of programs we can use to get things done with a keyboard and a screen is vast. Where to start, then? And how can we maybe save some cash along the way?...
We’ve finally had a wonderful transfusion of rain to bring life back to our parched land. It’s wonderful to see the prairies and pastures turning green again. I was so tired of the many depressing shades of brown/tan/burnt umber the landscape had been showing us. We’re able to report rainfall in tenths of an inch instead of hundredths. I can’t tell you how much we actually received because those not-so-wonderful winds I’ve whined about had blown a blade of dead grass into our gauge. It slithered through the screening that’s supposed to...
Here I am, writing to whomever takes the time to read this. Why read this you ask? Because I CARE, because I want to see CHANGE, and because I want YOU to know that I am here. Who am I? Brianna Leader. Do you know me? More than likely. Do you like or respect me? Hopefully! Am I a skilled writer with formal training? Absolutely not! Will I struggle with correct usage of tense and proper punctuation throughout this piece? With 100 percent certainty! What am I to you? I could be A LOT of different things, but for this purpose, I am a community...
I’m starting yet another season of gardening. It must be the 47th? Because it’s stayed nice, I’ve finally tilled the garden space. It worked up very nicely. After my few hours running the garden tractor, I spent several more hours laying out the drip system and staking it down in place. The electric fence to protect the space from deer is not yet in place, nor are my pea fences. I’m still mulling over what’s going to planted where. I try to rotate things every year. Of course, there are perennials in my garden: the raspberries, honeyberry bushe...
After a long, long winter we’re finally able to emerge and enjoy the outdoors! Our eyelashes won’t freeze to our face, the simple act of breathing won’t be painful; truly have we suffered. But before too long we’ll be planning getaways and trips and excursions and generally enjoying all the joys which leaving the house has to offer. Something we often tend to overlook is what tech to bring with us to help plan and capture these memories. I for one, being someone who’s relatively technology-heavy in their life, tend to over pack in this rega...
No one is a stranger to stress and all the ways it affects our lives - even more so in recent years. The pandemic, recession, and continued cultural polarization has deeply impacted everybody- possibly in ways we may not fully grasp for years. However, not everyone had that global stress compounded with environmental factors like rural farm communities have coming into back-to-back drought years. As of April 1, the Milk River Basin, which covers 23,800 sq mi from southern Alberta to Nashua, is at 68 percent of normal precipitation and the...
I don’t want to jinx it, so keep this on the down-low, but I think maybe spring is really here this time. We’ve had several decent days in a row. And I’m happy it’s warmer temps and some nice rain showers, but the best thing is not much wind! That’s the most amazing (and welcome) part of it. So there’s no need for me to dig out a new synonym for complaining. Of course, the grackles have returned in force.I have a couple “squirrel-proof” bird feeders that I count on to foil those greedy, wasteful birds. They tend to knock all the seed out in...
It wasn’t so long ago that mobile gaming meant loading up on AA batteries and taking your Game Boy with you on a road trip. Tetris, Super Mario Land and the now multibillion dollar franchise of Pokémon all saw significant time gracing that tiny, monochrome display. Simpler times no doubt, but how did this grey block meant for gaming on the go shape what we take for granted now in the ability to hop on an app store filled with thousands of free time-sinks? With everything else we can do on a phone, is mobile gaming even still popular? Our no...
The internet isn’t short of platforms upon which to share things. Ideas, opinions, news, photos; the web is basically awash with ways to let people know how you’re feeling about something. One, which has carved out its own niche in this sea of options, is Twitter, which challenged us to condense what we had to say into 140 characters. It’s this platform of tweets and retweets which is making headlines recently for having attracted the interest of the famously deep pocketed Elon Musk. Why would anyone wish to shell out the tens of billi...
We still haven't had any decent "get outside and do some yard work" weather. We are, however, still having a surfeit (excessive amount) of wind, and I, for one, am about sick of it. I'm sure I'm not the only one, either. If only Mother Nature would heed us in our complaints, she'd surely shut off that fan that's running amok. This week I've decided to cool it with the kvetching (it didn't help anyway) and try carping (complain or find fault with trivial matters) instead. Aren't you happy I've di...
I feel justified in kvetching about the weather again since we’ve been hit with even more snow. It is supposed to be spring, with the grass greening up, not buried in cold white yuck. The wind was unrelenting until Saturday morning, which is also far from cheering. This is not to mention the cold temperatures: we saw a morning reading of only 6° once. The other big complaint, and it’s a major one, is that the three-day snowstorm had little to no moisture in it. All it did was stress both people and livestock. (Yes, I know other areas were hit m...
Free stuff is great! Free, convenient stuff is even better. So with trends shifting in the digital age to a culture filled with “there’s an app for that,” how are creators of those handy little pieces of software making a living? Free doesn’t pay the bills, unfortunately. Well if you’ve ever downloaded a free-to-play game, or something on your smartphone to help measure or plan or count; chances are you’ve run into a popup offering to make your experience better in exchange for a small dollar fee. Please insert 25 cents to continue reading, be...
Thankfully, the days of it being cool to demonize technology in a blanket fashion are coming to an end. Even over the course of my career, things have shifted and people have realized that it’s much more useful as a tool for productivity, learning and even to help us d-estress. Few things bring as much joy as a YouTube video of a talking husky. There is something brewing however which does cast somewhat of a shadow on this progress. It protects our privacy when we communicate with others, enables the secure sharing of files and keeps prying eye...
Since I'm using the word "kvetch" for my continuing bellyaching about the wind, I decided I should have more information about it. Kvetch in Yiddish means "to press" or "to squeeze" (which is what I do with a slice of lemon into my morning tea) but has come to mean "to complain" to us non-Yiddish speakers. You can be a kvetch or you can do it. Occasionally I'm guilty of both. At least, I hope it's only occasionally and not often! If it's too often, feel free to kvetch at me. We've had another...
It's really nice to have the warm sunshine and summery-looking clouds, but someone could sure shut off the fan! We're tired of constant howling winds. One calm day per week isn't enough to suit me. We even had some snow squalls last week, but there wasn't enough moisture in them to register. We're more than ready for those April showers and the resulting May flowers. I've managed to get healthy enough to clear off another couple flowerbeds. This was after finishing the one that caused me to expe...
As someone who’s built their career on technology, its usage and keeping abreast of its trends I can happily confirm one thing: wires suck. I’ll admit they’re great for reliability and speed and traveling great distances and all of that stuff, but the moment one isn’t quite long enough? Total pain in the rear. Making them neat, finding ones with the right connector; wires truly feel like an antiquated technology which should swiftly go the way of the dodo. Happily, a new and emerging wireless standard is upon us, and it promises better range a...
It seemed so glorious outside last Wednesday that I temporarily lost my mind and forgot it was still March in Montana. After doing some spring cleaning inside in the morning, I spent a couple hours in the afternoon clearing debris and dead leaves (so many dead leaves!) from one flowerbed. This particular flowerbed is on the south side of the house, closest to the deck, so it gets all the benefit of the sun as well as being sheltered from the wind. In it grows the Virginia creeper that has grown...
I’ve such mixed emotions about the celebrations surrounding April 1. I thoroughly enjoy a harmless hoax, both taking part in the crafting of one and at times, being the recipient! It can be a great way to bond with friends and coworkers, in the same sort of way it’s inoffensive fun to switch someone’s Coke with Dr. Pepper. My sense of humor only really runs dry when we use the day as an excuse for meanness. Hiding someone’s keys doesn’t make you an endearing prankster because of what day the calendar shows. The technology industry however h...
Spring. It's come on suddenly: the snow is melting away. Our creeks have been running enough to have filled our bird sanctuary/reservoir. A friend said their dam filled up. We'll see how long those stay filled. We're always hopeful the life-giving rains will return. But we're realistic enough to not hold our breath! The snow that had blown into the shelter belt all winter was about twelve feet deep last week. It's condensed down to about eight feet now. We've had a few fairly nice days since I...
The morning of March 1, 2006, I drove myself back to the bar I had left just a few hours before. I arrived when the bar opened to look around and try to piece together any memory from the previous night while hoping I would at least find some of the things I had lost. The bartender was helpful, but we were unsuccessful in locating my missing items (dignity included). Wherever I looked, no memories were coming back to me. I ordered a beer. I sat alone at an empty bar all day. I made no phone calls; I saw no one besides the bartender, just ordere...
The dining table has taken on a new role for many of us over the course of the last couple of years. Once a place to gather with family for a meal and conversation, its duty expanded during COVID to include “work from home battle station.” Condiments and cutlery were replaced with laptops and paperwork. With this Spring being touted as the time many businesses start bringing workers back into the office en masse, what does that mean for our working habits and the spaces in our homes we dedicate to them? At its peak, the number of workers perfor...
