March 2015 Montana Best Times

MONTANA

March 2015

A Monthly Publication for Folks 50 and Better

A life of musical richness
Retiree helps kids’ dreams come true
Photographer sees life through new lens

INSIDE

Savvy Senior.............................................Page 3
Opinion.....................................................Page 4
Volunteering..............................................Page 11

On the Menu.............................................Page 12
Calendar....................................................Page 13
Strange But True.......................................Page 14

News Lite
World record for catching bridal bouquets?

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A Utah woman says she has
smashed the world record for catching bridal bouquets at weddings and now is seeking recognition for it.
Salt Lake City’s Jamie Jackson submitted an application to
Guinness World Records, saying she has caught 46 bouquets
since 1996 and has the documentation to prove it.
The current record of 11 bouquets caught by Stephanie
Monyak of Pennsylvania has stood since 2004.
Jackson said she has attended as many as 100 weddings over
the years because of her family’s connections to musical theater
and their church. She jokes that what started out as a hobby has
turned into “her sport.”
“It is something that you have to plan for and you have to be
very strategic where you place yourself,” she told KSL. “My
strategy is to be right up in the front because a lot of time the
brides don’t know how far they are going to throw it.
“A lot of times it will hit a ceiling, it’ll hit a chandelier ... I’ve
had many, many catches where I’ve had to jump for it. And I’ve

hit little kids by accident.”
Before she could apply to Guinness, Jackson had to track down
all the brides whose bouquets she caught to obtain documentation
and photos. She said she was happy to learn 44 of the 46 brides
were still married. “I consider myself a good luck charm,” she said.
Jackson has dispelled the myth that a woman who catches a
bouquet will be the next to get married. She said some people
joke that she’s purposely staying single to catch more bouquets,
but she assures them that is not the case.
“It’s just been a fun process over the years,” she said.

Wild boar causes flight delays

MADRID (AP) — Spain’s airport authority says a wild boar
that broke through a perimeter fence at Madrid’s international airport caused runways to be shut briefly and two landings to be
delayed.
The beast set off security alarms and when cameras focused on
the spot, operators observed it turning around and loping off
through the hole it had made.

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Jim Miller, creator of the syndicated “Savvy
Senior” information column, is a longtime
advocate of senior issues. He has been featured in
Time magazine; is author of “The Savvy Senior:
The Ultimate Guide to Health, Family and
Finances for Senior Citizens”; and is a regular
contributor to the NBC “Today” show.

Essential Legal Documents
Seniors Should Have
Dear Savvy Senior,
What kinds of legal documents are suggested for end-of-life
plans? I would like to get my affairs in order before it’s too late.   
­— Getting Old
 
Dear Getting,
Every adult — especially seniors — should have at least four
essential legal documents to protect them and their family. These
documents will make sure your wishes regarding your estate are
legal and clear, and will help minimize any conflicts and confusion
with your family and your health care providers if you become
seriously ill or when you die. Here are the key documents you
need, along with some tips to help you create them.

A Will: This document lets you spell out your wishes of how
you’d like your property and assets distributed after you die,
whether it’s to family, friends or a charity. It also allows you to
designate an executor to ensure your wishes are carried out, and
allows you to name guardians if you have minor or dependent
children.
 In addition to a will, if you own real estate or have considerable
assets, another option you may want to consider is a “revocable
living trust.” This functions like a will but allows your estate to
avoid the time and expense of probate (the public legal process that
examines your estate after you die) and helps ensure your estate’s
privacy.
Durable Power of Attorney: This allows you to designate
someone you trust to make financial, tax and legal decisions on
your behalf if you lose your decision-making capacity. 
Advanced Health Care Directive: This includes two
documents that spell out your wishes regarding your end-of-life
medical treatment. The two documents are a “living will” which
tells your doctor what kind of care you want to receive if you
become incapacitated, and a “health care power of attorney” which
names a person you authorize to make medical decisions on your
behalf if you become unable to.
Do-it-yourself

If you have a simple estate and an uncomplicated family
situation, there are several good do-it-yourself guides that can help
you create all these documents for very little money.
 For creating a will, a top resource is the Quicken WillMaker Plus
2015 software (available at nolo.com) that costs $50, works with
Windows personal computers and is valid in every state except

All

Louisiana. If you use a Mac, nolo.com offers an online will maker
for $35.
 Or, if you only need to create an advance directive you can do it
for free at caringinfo.org (or call 800-658-8898), where you can get
state-specific forms with instructions. Or for only $5, an even
better tool is the Five Wishes document (agingwithdignity.org,
888-594-7437), which is valid in 42 states and will help you create
a customized advance directive.
 

Get help

If, however, you want or need assistance or if you have a
complicated financial situation, blended family or have
considerable assets, you should hire an attorney. An experienced
lawyer can make sure you cover all your bases — especially when
writing a will or living trust — which can help avoid family
confusion and squabbles after you’re gone.
 Costs will vary depending on where you reside, but you can
expect to pay somewhere between $200 and $1,000 for a will, or
$1,200 to $5,000 for a living trust.
 The American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (actec.org)
and the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (naela.org)
websites are good resources that have directories to help you find
someone in your area.
 If money is tight, check with your state’s bar association
(see findlegalhelp.org) to find low-cost legal help in your area. Or
call the Eldercare Locater at 800-677-1116 for a referral.
Send your senior questions to: Savvy Senior, P.O. Box 5443,
Norman, OK 73070, or visit SavvySenior.org.

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March 2015

—3

Opinion

Do something for yourself — help someone else

March 2015

—4

If your kids have left home and you want a new challenge, or if
you’re feeling lonely and want to reach out to someone else,
RSVP is a great opportunity.
To get involved, use the contact information at the end of each
county’s listing, or call the national Senior Corps number at (800)
942-2677.
Get started today doing something for yourself — by doing
something for someone else.
— Dwight Harriman
Montana Best Times Editor
MONTANA

Every month Montana Best Times quietly features a couple
pages worth of volunteer positions available through the Retired
and Senior Volunteer Program, better known as RSVP.
We’ve been doing it for years now, and figure it’s time to draw
attention to this great outlet for senior talent.
RSVP is part of Senior Corps, which also includes the Foster
Grandparents and Senior Companions programs. Senior Corps in
turn is under the Corporation for National and Community Service, a federal agency that includes many other service groups.
The great thing about being an RSVP volunteer is there is tremendous flexibility in how often you volunteer and for how
many hours. You also get training to do your job, and even get
supplemental insurance while serving.
Each month Montana Best Times RSVP features openings
across southern Montana counties where seniors and retirees can
help their communities: Custer, Rosebud, Dawson, Fergus, Judith
Basin, Gallatin, Musselshell, Golden Valley, Petroleum and Park.
In this issue, on pages 11 and 13, there are more than 60 openings. And as you can see, the variety of places to work is huge.

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: [email protected] • Subscription rate: $25/yr.
Published monthly by Yellowstone Newspapers, Livingston, Montana
Dwight Harriman, Editor • Tom Parisella, Designer

Curtis Wilson

and a life of musical richness

MT Best Times photos by Christopher McConnell

Above and on the cover: Curtis Wilson examines centuries-old violins in his basement workshop.

By Christopher McConnell
Montana Best Times

“When I was nine, I decided I had
enough of being poor,” Curtis Wilson said,
relaxed in his home in southeastern Montana, reflecting on his journey in a sharecropping family in Minnesota through
eight decades of a life he built entirely on
his own.
Wilson, 85, grew up near Walnut Grove,
Minnesota — one of the areas Laura
Ingalls Wilder wrote about in her “Little
House on the Prairie” series — and was
born into the Great Depression.
Curtis’ ancestors came from Ireland and
Scotland, where their name was McWills

— son of Wills, or Will-son. They were
captured by road agents and taken to the
states to serve time as indentured servants.
The family spread out to Kentucky and
Ohio, and Wilson’s parents became sharecroppers in Minnesota.
Wilson left home at 9 and, after wandering for a period, he ended up with a Dutch
family for a couple of years, milking cows
on their farm and being home-schooled
until an uncle found him. He stayed with
the uncle until he enlisted in the Navy.

Musical beginnings

Wilson’s first instrument was a harmonica, which he started playing when Jimmie

Rogers was at his peak. One summer, he
found an old guitar at the dump, put some
used strings on it and learned a few
chords. He began to play guitar and was
asked to play at his school’s class play
between acts.
“I played two Hank Williams songs with
guitar and harmonica, and that was my
first public performance,” Wilson said. “It
made the music teacher (who was also the
principal) mad ’cause he wanted to show
off his own students.”
In 1948 Wilson quit school in his junior
year, bought a Martin 0-15 guitar and
enlisted in the Navy.
Wilson’s military test scores were high
March 2015

—5

Right: Curtis Wilson plays his Maggini violin in his home. The violin
was made in 1682, during the end of the Italian Renaissance.
Below: Pictured in the case is the Maggini (light-colored) and another
rare violin, which is a Russian-made instrument.

and he was assigned to radar school. He
eventually boarded the 935-foot U.S.S.
Kearsarge attack carrier in New York and
went through the Panama Canal — the
largest ship to pass through at that time —
on his way to fight in the Korean War.
While the ship crossed the Pacific Ocean,
Wilson had plenty of free time and played
his guitar until his fingers literally bled.
He had a friend on the ship from Florida who was writing songs, and Curtis
helped with a word or phrasing and began
to write his own material. The duo performed in Tokyo on shore leave, and their
shows were broadcast over shortwave
radio back to the U.S. To their surprise,
they found out their songs were being
copied back in the states.
“The songs were being performed by
popular country western singers at the
time,” Wilson said. “We heard three different songs on the radio that had a word
or two changed, but they were blatant
copies. We quit doing it and just played
for troops and in hospitals.”
Wilson and his friend got copyright
advice about the stolen songs, but they
didn’t have the resources to pursue it, and
they just let it go.
After his service with the military ended, Wilson came to Montana with a friend
and, after finishing his senior year of high
school — at age 25 — and attending college, began work as a schoolteacher in
Ekalaka.
He started to collect, buy and sell musiMarch 2015

—6

cal instruments … and stories.

Violins tell amazing stories

In the late 1960s Wilson bought a violin
in Glendive from a man who was dying.
The man told Wilson he would get his
money’s worth out of the instrument and
attempted to tell Wilson the story behind
it, but he was confused. Wilson fixed it up
and advertised it in a few newspapers.
A prospective buyer showed up with a
newspaper article from New York, which
identified the instrument and told its history.
The violin was one of six used by a
Jewish orchestra that played a performance at a Nazi function in the early
1940s. After they finished playing, the
violins were put on a table and the orchestra members were marched off to their
deaths in the gas chamber. All the cases
and five of the violins were eventually
stolen, but the sixth violin was being
repaired in the luthier’s shop. It was subsequently put in a different case and
smuggled out of the country.
Wilson and the man used the article to
identify the violin and confirm its authenticity. Wilson had bought it for $800 and
he sold it to the man for more, but
nowhere near its real value of tens of
thousands of dollars.
Wilson started to learn about instrument
value and how to identify the best ones.
He now owns violins more than 300 years

old, and guitars and banjos and mandolins
that are 100 years old.
He owns a Maggini — a contemporary
of Stradivari from the late Renaissance —
that he purchased at a music shop for
$165. He also has a violin, bow and case
picked up from a Civil War battlefield.
The latter was in poor shape, but he
repaired it himself.
His collection of instruments is impressive, but the stories behind them and their
journeys are just as fascinating.
Wilson knows his instruments, and he
always traveled with a “wad of cash” just
in case he came across something special,
he said. He would go to auctions and
garage sales and usually got what he
wanted. He would fix up and sell some,
save the best ones for himself and give
others to children or school music programs. He recently donated a dozen
smaller guitars to the music teacher at
Ekalaka.

Richness

Wilson is also an antiques collector and
he has an impressive collection of Native
American artifacts, most of which he
found himself over the years.
Wilson left home at 9 because he was
tired of being poor, and what he found in
the course of 76 years was not riches, but
richness. He found richness in teaching,
richness in experience and richness in
music. He is living and breathing history.

Montana Hope Project

Retiree finds joy serving Montana children

Photo by Larry Mayer/The Billings Gazette

Joslynn Baker hugs one of her friends after being given the good news about her trip to Orlando,
Florida, for a dream vacation through the Montana Hope Project.

By Chaun Scott
Montana Best Times

BILLINGS — As baby boomers continue to reach the age of
retirement, decisions loom on what to do after hanging up their
hats and leaving the workforce behind for good. For most of us,
traveling the world in search of exotic destinations are what we
have dreamed of ever since our first deposit into our 401(k).  
But what about people who want to keep their feet planted right
here in Montana? People like Dave Evans, 66. 

Making a difference in children’s lives

Evans, who served in various positions for the Yellowstone
County Sheriff’s Office — including sheriff’s deputy, SWAT
member and undercover drug agent — had spent the last 38 and a
half years helping others and knew he would have to continue. 
As an avid motorcycle enthusiast, Evans took his motorcycle to
the streets in 2005 to help raise awareness for the Montana Hope
Project by taking part in its annual Ride for Hope 500 rally, spon-

sored by the Montana Highway Patrol. The ride raises money for
Montana children suffering from life-changing illnesses and gives
them a trip of a lifetime. 
After retiring in 2013 and finding himself with a lot of free
time, Evans took over as coordinator of the rally and then was
appointed area coordinator for eastern Montana. Although the
appointment offers Evans only a minimal stipend, he has been
traveling across eastern Montana to raise awareness and search
for children the Montana Hope Project could benefit.
“(After retirement), I had the time,” said Evans. “There’s not
much more rewarding work than what we are doing. It’s just a
cool thing to do.”

About Montana Hope Project

The Montana Hope Project began in 1984 when a handful of
Montana Highway Patrol officers reached out to a couple of children with life-threatening illnesses. The troopers dug into their own
pockets, borrowed a van, and took the kids and their families on a
trip to Glacier National Park. It was then that the project was born.
March 2015

—7

Joslynn Baker
gives Montana
Hope Project
Coordinator
Dave Evans a
hug at the
Billings Public
Library on
Jan. 16.
MT Best Times
photo by
Chaun Scott

Photo by Larry Mayer/The Billings Gazette

Montana Highway Patrol troopers Toman Baukema, left,
and Justin Moran bring Joslynn Baker the good news of her
trip to Orlando.  Joslynn was also presented with a $1,000
check for spending money while she is in Orlando and a
Kodak Easyshare camera to record fun memories.
Since then, the project has helped nearly 400 children and
arranges trips for kids ages 2 to 18 to places like Walt Disney
World and Hawaii to swim with the dolphins. 
“The Project gives the children and their family a week’s

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reprieve,” explained Evans. “We have the child explain what they
want for a wish.”
The project also sponsors two reunions a year for the kids, who
get to go every year for the rest of their lives. In the summer,
Hope children and their families are invited to Glacier Park to
stay at the Izaak Walton Inn in Essex, Montana.
“Everything is done by volunteers,” Evans said. “The Cutbank
Fire Department provides all the meals. The children even get to
go up in a glass bottom helicopter … they get to see a glacier that
most people never see.”
The second reunion is held in the winter at Fairmont Hot
Springs. Everything is provided for the children and their families. Children like 10-year-old Joslynn Baker, a student of Sandstone Elementary School in Billings who was diagnosed with a
rare inoperable brain tumor called tectal plate glioma that has
attached itself to Joslynn’s brain stem. Joslynn was diagnosed at
the age of 6.

In survival mode

At the time of Joslynn’s diagnosis in 2011, her mother, Mary
Baker, was taking classes online at Montana State University and
was forced to drop out to care for her daughter. 
“It’s a tough decision, but in the end, you know it’s the right
thing to do,” Mary said.
As a single mother, Mary had no other choice but to dedicate
her life to caring for Joslynn. In the first year after her diagnosis,
Joslynn and her mother made 10 trips to the Seattle Children’s
Hospital. 
“In the beginning, I felt I was in survival mode,” Mary said.
“We made it to Seattle Children’s Hospital in six hours from Missoula. I was surviving on only three hours of sleep.” 
It was very taxing on the single mother. Mary’s husband passed
away in 2009.
For Mary and Joslynn, the first trip was only the beginning. 
After a multitude of tests and consultations with a team of neurosurgeons, it was determined that Joslynn’s tumor was positioned in a place that was too dangerous to operate or even perform a biopsy. She would have to live with the tumor for life.
Mary said she turned to God for help and strength to survive.
“I spoke to God and said, ‘I give Joslynn to you. Do what you
will.’ I had to do that over and over, again and again,” said Mary.
“I can’t do this on my own.”
See Montana Hope Project, Page 12

Seeing
through a
new lens

An arboreal
experience, an eye
injury and a friendly
grouse change a
photographer’s life

MT Best Times photos by Alastair Baker

Ron Barker is pictured in Red Lodge, recently.

By Alastair Baker
Montana Best Times

RED LODGE — When Ron Barker climbed his first tree in
his 20s to begin his life as an arborist and looked out over the
green vista before him, his life changed immediately.
Up to this point Barker had been a hunter and fisherman, and
was into boxing, race cars and football.
“The moment I got into those trees, it overpowered all other
things, and took the place of everything,” he recalled. “It
become a real joy, and it replaced the old hunting and fishing
days, the days of the thrills and spills.”
The scene presented him with a new spiritual plane and
offered “peace and serenity” within nature’s structure and
strength, Barker said.
Backtracking slightly, Barker’s life had always been actionpacked with a soupçon of danger thrown in. He worked on the
West Coast for a fire department for five years and then as an
arc welder.
Barker, 75, admits that trees have always fascinated him,
even in his previous lives, and said wherever his family was
based, “he’d be in them.”
He took his love of them further when he started up Barker’s
Tree Service in Billings that he ran for 40 years.
“We even had a bumper sticker, ‘Thank God For Trees,’” he

laughed.
Very much a faith-based man, Barker, constantly acknowledges “the Boss,” as he likes to say, up above for the effervescent chapters in his life.
Barker was blinded in one eye because “this eye seemed to
catch it every time in a wreck or on the tree,” he said matter-offactly.
Three injections in the eye with a combination of hamster
and human hormones restored his eyesight that allowed him
then to pursue his retirement hobby of photography. It’s another reason to thank “the Boss” up there.

Reaction to photos is reward enough

The interest in photography came from people taking shots
of him in the trees he was working on. He later picked up a
camera and discovered a new hobby that has occupied his
retirement for over 15 years.
To date, he has taken thousands of photos of everything and
anything from rock formations to flowers, strikingly colorful
moss, wildlife, the moon, abandoned corrals, wild horses, fences and the ever-changing face of Montana’s skies.
“I see something in everything to look at,” Barker said.
“There is beauty in all.”
One of the many benefits of his photography is not monetary
but seeing the reactions his work draws from people’s faces
March 2015

—9

Photos by Ron Barker

Clockwise from above left: Sweetheart, the friendly grouse, which
had such an impact on Ron Barker’s life; “The Car and the
Moon”; and “Cattle Drive.”

Amazing friendship with a grouse

and feelings.
“You get a certain feeling you get when you see their reaction, and of course, it’s that gift to the Boss up there, telling us
we’re doing something we’re pretty lucky to be doing,” he
said.
He recalls showing a Fromberg old-timer a photo of a corral
where the cowboy used to work, and how the man teared up as
the memories came flooding back.
“Seeing people show their heart” means everything to him,
Barker said.
“People ask me, ‘What do I owe you?’ Well, you already
paid for it, with that smile, hug or tear. I don’t want to attach a
dollar to it and ruin it. I’ve already chased the dollar in my life
— it’s not important,” he said.
Another photo, this one of a cattle drive has also resulted in
him being acknowledged with “a tear, a hug or a smile,” Barker
said.
“These photos are really indicative of a culture in this country, and we’re all a part of it. Some of these old-timers are
down to their last cattle drive,” Barker said. 
“The Boss gives you gives you your eye back so you can
pursue photography so you can show this old-timer the corral,
and he remembers his past,” Barker said. “It’s all tied together.
What a gift from the Boss again. Everything good goes back to
him.”
March 2015

— 10

A further chapter in Barker’s life is the amazing friendship
he developed with a grouse he came to call Sweetheart while
he roamed Thompson Falls in northwest Montana.
He came across the bird at many times in his travels. It
would hang with him on his 4-wheeler and would even allowed
Barker to place a small towel across its back as Barker calmed
it.
“That bird was so special,” he recalled. “It’s a heartbreaker
how it turned out.”
Barker explained that the last time he saw Sweetheart, she
sat beside him along a road and made an odd sound.
“It was almost like we weren’t going to see each other
again,” he said. “She wanted to come home with me. Two hunters came by, and watched us, and they came up and said,
‘We’re done hunting grouse.’”
Even biologists Barker has met can’t explain the relationship, having never come across this before.
Such is Barker’s passion in this chapter of his life that he
now wants to set up a fund to help Montana Fish, Wildlife and
Parks do a study on grouse because out of it would come “good
management” to help their numbers, he said.
To raise the funds Barker is, for the first time, hoping to sell
some of his photographs at art galleries, splitting the sale cost
between the galleries and the fund for the study.
“I can’t shake that grouse, so I have to do something. I want
to see something go to helping grouse,” he said.
If you are interested in helping Barker raise money for
grouse studies call him at (406) 668-9024.
Alastair Baker can be reached at Alastair Baker [email protected] or (406) 446-2222.

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 1-800-942-2677 or log on to www.
seniorcorps.org.

Custer & Rosebud counties

- City of Miles City: Volunteer needed to
scan documents in the city clerk’s office.
Training will be provided.
- Clinic Ambassador: Need volunteer to
greet patients and visitors, providing directions and more.
- Custer County Food Bank: Volunteers
needed for food distribution Tuesdays,
Wednesdays and Thursdays.
- Custer County Network Against Domestic
Violence: Crisis line volunteer needed.
- Eagles Manor: Looking for a volunteer to
instruct exercise classes 1-2 days per week
for residents. Training provided, or you may
develop your own program.
- Historic Miles City Academy: Volunteers
needed to assist in thrift store and maintenance.
- Holy Rosary Health Care: Volunteer
receptionists needed at the front desk.
- Soup Kitchen: Volunteers needed to greet,
serve and/or wash dishes, and make sandwiches.
- St. Vincent DePaul: Volunteers to assist in
several different capacities.
- WaterWorks Art Museum: Volunteer
receptionists needed, 2-hour shifts TuesdaysSundays.
If you are interested in these or other volunteer opportunities please contact: Betty Vail,
RSVP Director; 210 Winchester Ave. #225,
MT 59301; phone (406) 234-0505; email:
[email protected].

Dawson County

- Local Farm to Table Store: Someone to
help in and during store hours, 11 a.m.-6
p.m.
- Makoshika Visitors Center: Volunteers
needed to assist on Mondays and Tuesdays. Training provided.
- If you have a need for or a special interest
or desire to volunteer somewhere in the community, please contact: Patty Atwell, RSVP
Director, 604 Grant, Glendive, MT 59330;
phone (406) 377-4716; email: [email protected].

Fergus & Judith Basin counties

- Boys and Girls Club: Receptionist and
front desk greeter.
- 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 Senior Center (Grubstakes) and
with home delivered meals and senior transportation.
- Library and Art Center: Volunteer help
always appreciated.
- ROWL (Recycle Our Waste Lewistown):

Recruiting volunteers for the third Saturday
of the month to help sorting, baling and
loading recyclables
- Treasure Depot: Thrift store needs volunteers to sort, hang clothes and put other items
on display for sale.
- Always have various needs for your skills
and volunteer services in our community.
- Current RSVP volunteers are encouraged
to turn in your hours each month; your contribution to the community is greatly appreciated!
Contact: RSVP Volunteer Coordinator
Sara Wald, 404 W. Broadway, Wells Fargo
Bank building, (upstairs), Lewistown, MT
59457; phone (406) 535-0077; email: [email protected].

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: Two
volunteer opportunities available: an ambassador needed to welcome, greet, thank and
provide overview for blood donors; and
phone team volunteers needed to remind,
recruit or thank 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 regular and substitute 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 2-3-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.
- Bozeman Senior Center Foot Clinic:
Retired or nearly retired nurses are urgently
needed, 2 days a month, either 4- or 8-hour
shifts.
- Community Café: Volunteer needed, 2-3
hours at the beginning and end of the month,
to enter computer data into Excel spreadsheets.
- Galavan: Volunteer drivers needed Monday-Friday, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. 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. 
- HRDC Vita Program: Volunteer Income
Tax Assistance Program: Volunteers needed
to help with paperwork. Training is provided.
- 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. Also volunteers 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 the
number of visitors.
- MSU Alumni Association: Volunteers
needed to help with decorations for MSU
graduation and reunion weekend.
- 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).
Items are on sale in our store in the RSVP
office at the Senior Center. Donated yarn
needed for the quilting, knitting and crocheting projects.
- Three Forks Food Bank: Volunteer needed
on Mondays and/or Thursdays to help with
administrative duties, including answer
phones and questions, some paper and computer work. They will train.
- Warming Center: Volunteers are needed
for overnight shifts at the center, training is
provided.
- Your unique skills and interests are needed, without making a long-term commitment, in a variety of ongoing, special, onetime events.
Contact: Debi Casagranda, RSVP Program Coordinator, 807 N. Tracy, Bozeman,
MT 59715; phone (406) 587-5444; fax (406)
582 8499; email: dcasagranda@thehrdc.
org.
See RSVP, Page 13
March 2015
—11

On The Menu

With Jim Durfey

When it comes to cooking ...

Sibling rivalry is a good thing
My brother Mike and I were born a year and a half apart. We’ve
had a friendly rivalry going ever since I can remember. He was a
better chess player but I was a better student. He was a better swimmer but I was a better baseball player.
That competition is now centered in the kitchen.
He’s a better cook than I am. While I would never admit that my
younger brother is better at anything than I am, it won’t matter in
this case because he lives in San Diego and won’t read this confession.
He has come up with two dishes that I was delighted to sample on
a February vacation. The recipes for those dishes are listed below.
The barbecued pork was scrumptious. It is a very good dish to serve
when guests are present because the chef is inside the house for the
preparation and for most of the cooking time. The barbecued pork
ribs are on the grill just long enough to become nicely browned and

to make the barbecue sauce flavor penetrate the meat.
Although it may look too simple to be special, the avocado with
salsa recipe is definitely a case of the whole being greater than the
sum of its parts. My brother is fortunate to have lots of avocados to
experiment with because he and my sister-in-law have an avocado
tree. This is his favorite way to use avocados.
Incidentally, Mike told me that his avocados never ripen on the
tree. Even when they become big enough to fall from the tree, they
still aren’t ripe. He gathers a half a dozen, puts them in a paper bag
and waits as much as nine or 10 days for them to ripen.
Your Best Times recipe contributor wasn’t going to stand by
while brother Mike got all the glory, of course. Family members and
invited guests were treated to a taste of Montana one evening when
I served an hors d’oeuvres of venison loin pieces with melted butter
and blue cheese and venison brats for the main course.

Barbecued Pork Ribs

Avocados with Simple Salsa

Pork loin back ribs, 5 to 6 lbs.
1/4 c. vinegar
Barbecue sauce

2 ripe, large avocados
Medium ripe tomato, diced
1/4 c. red onion, diced
2 tbsp. cilantro, chopped
2 tbsp. lime juice
Salt and pepper to taste

Put ribs in baking pan. Pour vinegar over ribs. Cover pan
with aluminum foil. Bake at 320° for two hours. Brown on
both sides on grill. Apply sauce three times. Spread sauce on
ribs. Cook until brown on other side, about two to three
minutes. Turn ribs over. Spread barbecue sauce on browned
side. Turn once more. Remove from heat when last coating
of sauce is heated.

Cut avocados in half. Remove pits. Do not peel. Make salsa
by combining rest of ingredients. Arrange avocado halves on
plate with salsa in small bowl in middle of plate.

Montana Hope Project, from Page 8

Gift of a lifetime

Then she found the Montana Hope Project during one of their trips to Seattle. It was
at the Children’s Hospital, where a social
worker gave Mary a brochure of the project. 
“I couldn’t believe they had a project
like this in Montana — for Montana children,” said Mary. “Nobody I knew had
heard anything about it.”
Mary called Montana Hope, and so began
her and Joslynn’s special bond with Evans.
Evans and other volunteers, with the help of
funds raised through the annual Ride for
Hope 500 motorcycle rally and private
donations, were able to help make Joslynn’s
wish to go to Walt Disney World come true. 
For Joslynn and her mother, it was the gift
of a lifetime to have an all-expenses paid trip
March 2015

— 12

to Orlando, Florida, and visit Walt Disney
World and Sea World. Joslynn and her mom
were special guests at the Walt Disney World
Resort, where everything was provided —
from a 24-hour ice cream bar (a favorite of
Joslynn’s) to a personal golf cart, entrance to
a water park and tickets to all the rides and
adventures Disney World has to offer. 
“They treat them like royalty,” Evans said
of the Disney World staff.
Evans was also allowed to attend the trip
with Joslynn and her mother. 
“Volunteers who have never been on the
trip before are allowed to go,” said Evans.
The bond between Joslynn and Evans
grew strong right from the start and continues to grow. For Evans, his job doesn’t end
after a wish is granted. He continues to stay
in touch with the children he has helped and

keeps traveling the state looking for new
recipients for the Montana Hope Project.
Making a difference in the lives of the
children has made Evans’ retirement a
unique and highly rewarding experience.

How to help

If you are interested in working as a volunteer for Montana Hope Project and would
like to hold a fundraiser in your community,
would like to go on the next Ride for Hope
500, or you know of a child ages 2 to 18
who has been diagnosed with a life-changing illness, call Dave Evans at (406) 9497433 or visit www.montanahope.org. 
All funds raised for the Montana Hope
Project are used to benefit Montana children.
Reach Chaun Scott at ip-news@
rangeweb.net or (406) 346-2149.

2015

March
Calendar
— Friday, March 6

• Barn Players, Inc. Dinner Theatre: Murder on the

Oriental Rug, Park Place, Miles City
•

— Saturday, March 14
• Billings Symphony: Gone Country, 7:30 p.m.,

Alberta Baire Theater, Billings
• Run to the Pub Half Marathon, 9:15 a.m., East Main

St., Bozeman
•

— Monday, March 16
• St. Patrick’s Day Events and Parade, through March

17, Butte
•

— Thursday, March 19
• The Yellowstone Special Sled Dog Races, through

March 22, West Yellowstone
•

— Friday, March 20
• Wake Up and Lace Up Fund Raiser, Miles City
•

— Saturday, March 21
• Easter Extravaganzoo Easter Egg Hunt, 10-4 p.m.,

Billings
• Southwest Montana Building Industry Association
Home Expo, through March 22,
•
• Saturday 9 a.m.-6 p.m., Sunday 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Brick

Breeden Fieldhouse, Bozeman
•

— Friday, March 27
• Great Rockies Sportshow, through March 29. Friday:

1- 8 p.m.; Saturday: 10 a.m.-6 p.m.; and Sunday: 10
a.m.- 4 p.m. Brick Breeden Fieldhouse, Bozeman
•

— Saturday, March 28
• Sweet Grass Arts and Crafts Spring Fling, 9 a.m.-3

p.m., Big Timber Civic Center, Big Timber
• Shawn Drover Drum Madness, 7 p.m., Retro Theater,
Glendive
• Made in Montana Trade Show for Food and Gifts,
through March 28, Lewis and Clark County Fairgrounds
Exhibit Hall, Helena
• WaterWorks Art Museum Benefit Dinner, Miles City

RSVP, from Page 11

Musselshell, Golden Valley
& Petroleum counties

- America Reads: Tutor students
in the important skill of reading.
Other tutoring is intertwined with
this program.
- Food Bank: Distribute food
commodities to seniors and others
in the community; help unload the
truck as needed.
- Meals on Wheels Program:
Deliver meals to the housebound in
the community, just one day a
week, an hour and a half, meal provided.
- Nursing Home: Piano players
and singers needed on Fridays to
entertain residents, also assistant
needed in activities for residents to
enrich supported lifestyle.
- School Lunch Program: Help
serve and supervise children in the
lunch room, meal provided.
- Senior Bus: Volunteers to pickup 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.
- 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: Amanda Turley, Southcentral MT RSVP, 315 1/2 Main
St., Ste. #1, Roundup, MT 59072;
phone (406) 323-1403; fax (406)
323-4403; email: [email protected] ; Facebook: South Central MT RSVP.

Park County

- Big Brothers Big Sisters: Mentor
and positive role model to a boy or
girl, one hour a week. Also needed
is a Community Program Mentor,
who matches children and adults to
find that perfect fit for both.
- City of Livingston: Needs volunteers to help with mailings and other work stations that do require
standing and walking.
- Fix-It-Brigade: Needs volunteers
of all skill levels for 2-hour tasks
on your schedule to help seniors or

veterans with small home repairs,
such as changing a light bulb, shoveling snow, or weatherization.
- Links for Learning: Help needed
with 1st-5th-graders, one hour a
week on Tuesday or Wednesday,
after school, with reading, homework, or playing games.
- Livingston Health and Rehab:
Activity volunteers needed weekends for bingo callers and movie
showings; Monday-Friday, 9-11
a.m. for coffee and reading the
local news; Tuesdays and Thursdays 7 p.m. movie night.
- Loaves and Fishes and/or the
food pantry: Many volunteer
opportunities available, including
cooking.
- Meals on Wheels: Needed substitute drivers to deliver meals to
seniors in their home.
- RSVP Handcrafters: Volunteers
to knit and crochet caps and
scarves for each child at Head
Start, also as gifts for children of
prenatal classes, Thursdays 1 p.m.
at the Senior Center.
- Senior Center Main Streeter
Thrift Store: Someone who enjoys
working with the public. Help greet
customers, ring up purchases, tag
and hang clothes and accept donations.
- Shane Center: Friendly volunteers needed to greet, answer questions and show people around the
center on Tuesdays and Fridays.
Also a need for volunteers to
research the old East Side School
building, collecting stories and
finding pictures of past teachers,
students and the building itself.
- Stafford Animal Shelter: Volunteers needed to play with the cats
and kittens, and to walk the dogs.
- Transportation: Volunteer drivers
needed to help patients keep doctor
appointments. Some gas mileage
assistance may be provided.
- Yellowstone Gateway Museum:
Volunteers needed for a variety of
exciting projects.
- Various other agencies are in
need of your unique skills and help
in a variety of ongoing and onetime special events, including help
with mailings needed.
Contact: Deb Downs, Program
Coordinator, 111 S. Second St., Livingston, MT 59047; phone (406)
222-2281; email: debdowns@
rsvpmt.org.
March 2015

— 13

By Bill Sones and Rich Sones, Ph.D.

Send STRANGE questions to brothers Bill and Rich at [email protected]

What?

Q. When researchers started piling up
the numbers beyond the hundreds, the
thousands, millions, billions, even right
up to a trillion (1,000,000,000,000), what
body part were they sniffing out?

A. A team led by scientist Leslie Vosshall
of Rockefeller University in New York City
set out to compute the total number of
different odors some people might be able
to discriminate, reports Bruce Bower in
“Science News” magazine. With about 128
distinct odor molecules which can be
blended into various “cocktails,” they
estimated that an average study participant
could detect at least 1 trillion different
smells, and superior sniffers could do far
more.
Think of it this way: If you live to be
100, you could detect a new odor every
second with no duplicates: 3600 (seconds/
hour) x 24 (hours/day) x 365 (days/year) x
100 (years), for a total of roughly 3 billion
different smells over your lifetime. And to
approach a trillion would take more than
300 times longer than this, or some 30,000
years. Now that’s some nose!
Q. Can you put your finger on when
and why the practice of painting one’s
nails got started?

A. In Babylon some 5000 years ago,
warriors stained their nails with green and
black kohl as war paint to frighten their
enemies, says Elizabeth Segran in “Mental
Floss” magazine. At about the same time in
China, aristocrats soaked their nails in a
mix of beeswax, egg whites and gelatin
with orchids and roses added in. Around
600 BCE, Chinese noblemen and women
grew extremely long fingernails protected
by “nail guards bejeweled in precious
metals and gems,” signifying they didn’t
have to do hard labor. And in 50 BCE,
Egypt’s Cleopatra dyed her nails blood red
with plant extracts, becoming “among the
first to apply color to just the nails, rather
than the entire hand.”
Much, much later in the 1870s in Paris,
March 2015

— 14

Humans can detect a
trillion different odors?

nail salons opened to cater to fashionable
men and women whose nails were
powdered and buffed to a shine — why it’s
called nail “polish.” Then in 1917 in the
US, Cutex produced the first liquid nail
polish made with nitrocellulose, used also
to make car paint. Fifteen years later,
Revlon began substituting pigments for
dyes in polish, making it possible to
develop new shades of color.
For an offbeat note: In 2003 “OPI created
Pawlish, a line of nail lacquer for dogs, to
cater to groomers giving furry friends ‘peti-cures.’ (Unfortunately, it flopped.)”
Q. On your flight from London to
Sydney, your pilot announces she’ll be
“flying blind,” that is, without looking
out the windows. How worried should
you be?

A. Surprising to most people, pilots don’t
generally need windows to fly a plane, says
Martin Powell of Monarch Airlines of the
United Kingdom, in “New Scientist”
magazine. The climb, cruise, descent and
sometimes actual landing can be done
“blind,” using complex monitoring
equipment. Weather radar allows pilots to
avoid storm cells and generally at typical
altitudes no cloud is thick enough to
obscure “cumulogranite” in the flight path
(what pilots call mountains). At times,
limited forward visibility — for example,
due to fog — may require special ground
equipment and operational procedures.
But “all civil aircraft take-offs are done
visually and manually, keeping the aircraft
straight on the runway by looking out of the
forward windows to maintain track and to
detect any lateral swing due to engine
failure,” adds the United Kingdom’s Steve
Moody, Airbus 320 Captain. This requires a
minimum visibility of 125 meters (410
feet). Landings, though, can generally be
done automatically, with but 75 meters (160
feet) visibility required, not for pilots but
for ground vehicles in case of an incident.
“Synthetic vision systems” may
eventually result in aircraft where all

external views are on screens and windows
are no longer necessary. “But please don’t
take away pilots’ views,” Moody says. “We
are blessed with the best imaginable. I can
spend hours watching the world go by
beneath me. It’s glorious.”

Q. What in the world are “snow
rollers,” aka “snow logs,” “snow
doughnuts,” “snow pipes,” or “snow
onions”? One of the column’s co-authors
has seen these from his office window.

A. Unlike large snowballs for building
snowmen, rollers begin as chunks of snow
blown along by the wind and picking up
loose wet snow as they slide on icy ground.
The balls get bigger and bigger, up to a
couple of feet in diameter. An alternative
“engine” of movement may be simple
gravity, which is why snow rollers often
form in hilly areas.
“Unlike snowballs made by people, snow
rollers are typically cylindrical in shape and
are often hollow since the inner layers,
which are the first layers to form, are weak
and thin compared to the outer layers and
can easily be blown away, leaving what
looks like a doughnut,” reports Wikipedia.
com. The precise nature of these varied
conditions makes snow rollers a rare
meteorological phenomenon.

Q. When riding “spellbound” in the
back seat of a Lexus one July day in
2014, MIT roboticist John Leonard said,
“I felt like I was at the launch at Kitty
Hawk, as the Wright brothers ushered in
the age of air travel 111 years ago.” What
was going on here?
A. No one was in the driver’s seat of this
“self-driving car,” reports Douglas Fox in
“Discover” magazine. This was the same
year that Google added 100 more
prototypes to the mix, all lacking steering
wheels. “A Google car senses its
surroundings through radar, cameras and
range-finding lasers spinning atop the
vehicle to create a 360-degree view of
pedestrians, vehicles and intersections.”

ing” languages, is constantly evolving,
discarding obsolete words and adding
new words as new ideas and new technologies come along. Are you in the know
about “captcha,” first used in 2001?
Clue: Think of a kind of Turing test in
reverse.
A. It was 1950 when mathematician and
computer scientist Alan Turing proposed
that “a computer could be considered intelligent if, while interacting with a human and
a computer, someone could not tell which is
which,” says Anu Garg on his
“A.Word.a.Day” web site. “Captcha,” an
acronym for “Completely Automated Public
Q. The English language, like all “liv- Turing test to tell Computers and Humans

Meanwhile, Audi and BMW unveiled their
own versions.
The critical factor here is the car’s computer with its carefully detailed maps that
are generated by manually driving the sensor-loaded car “to scan roads in advance,
revealing potholes, stop signs and other features that are then processed into a detailed
map and downloaded to the autonomous
car.” The real challenge is to create exact
maps for the thousands of roads worldwide
and to constantly update for safety purposes. And, Fox adds, “autonomous cars will
also need to read gestures and other cues
from cyclists, pedestrians and traffic cops.”

Apart,” makes sure that a human and not a
computer program is using a system. Without knowing it, you may have taken such a
test, usually involving reading distorted text
when accessing online resources.

Q. Not your usual reading fare, but
here’s a “Did You Know” from “Discover” magazine: If every passenger on a
Southwest Airlines flight from Boston to
Denver remembered to go to the bathroom before boarding, how much would
it save the airline in fuel?
A. Each passenger would eliminate an
average of 0.2 liters of urine, allowing the
airline to save two or three dollars for that
flight, answers the magazine.

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Crossword

Across

1 Modern location code
10 Vertical sides
15 Ability to stand?
16 “What I always get”
17 Baby, for one
18 Ward cry?
19 “Bless __ ...”: Psalm
68
20 “Shadow of the Vampire” Oscar nominee
22 Mr. __!: old detective
game
23 Churchillʼs “so few”:
Abbr.
25 Chess tactic
26 [Oh, my!]
27 Reagan era mil. program
30 “Die Hard” cry adapted from an old cowboy
song
33 Trap catchings
35 Wager
36 Get comfy
37 “The Hangover” star
39 Is worth something, in
dialect
40 Fifth-graderʼs mile-

stone, maybe
41 One may involve a
homonym
42 Like the Negev
43 Range for some power
measurements
46 “The Spanish Tragedy” dramatist
47 Behanʼs land
48 Robot extension?
49 Chinese dynasty during Caesarʼs time
51 Little
52 “__ yourself!”
54 1946 Literature
Nobelist
58 Nice parting
60 Baklava flavoring
62 One removed from the
company?
63 Cocktail portmanteau
64 Start using Twitter, say
65 Victoriaʼs Secret purchase

4 Style
5 1993 rap hit
6 Low-quality paper
7 Home of Phillips University
8 Full of spunk
9 Instagrammed item
10 __ bug
11 Pac-12 sch. whose
mascot carries a pitchfork
12 “Swinginʼ Soiree” DJ
13 It doesnʼt include ben-

efits
14 About to crash?
21 About 1.8 tablespoons,
vis-à-vis a cup
24 “Double Indemnity”
genre
26 Basic ideas
27 Despicable sort
28 Australian wind
29 Willing consequence?
31 Step on stage
32 Grasp

34 Jackson Holeʼs county
38 Court call
39 TV input
letters
41 1980s “SNL” regular
44 Sacred beetle
45 Name derived from
the Tetragrammaton
50 “Far out!”
52 Cheat, in
slang
53 Notice
55 Hullabaloo
56 Text status
57 Most massive known
dwarf planet
59 Fair-hiring
initials
61 2012 British Open
winner

Down

1 Tiny
2 Urban, e.g.
3 Boorish Sacha Baron
Cohen persona

March 2015

— 15

!

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