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Old things are often valued.  An old house is called mid-century modern. Old cheese is aged. Old furniture is antique. Old dishes are Depression glass. Old cars are classic. And we all know wine only gets better with age.  But old people? They are just old (Or seniors, at best.) So why do we attribute favorable terms to old things, but not people?  The word itself is pretty simple. Just three letters. One syllable. A vowel and two consonants. It can’t get any easier than that, can it? But, old is so much more than a three-letter word. The older you get, the more you realize: old is a concept. It defies definition because its definition changes with ...

Passing family farms and ranches on to the next generation is challenging, and future changes to federal inheritance tax could make this process even more difficult and expensive. Many Montana producers have had to deal with paying the “death tax” for a business that is simply being passed down t...

My journey through grief has been a public one, laid out for you here on these pages. Many of you have walked with me through the healing process, and for that I’m thankful. It’s funny (in a not so funny way) the things that help us heal. For me, much of the healing process has been lead by cr...

There are three words many of us agonize over. I know I spent much of my lifetime doing so. They are words with great meaning and connotations and one shouldn’t take them lightly. “I love you.”  It’s an easy sentence to utter out loud. Eight letters in total. Three simple s...

Thanksgiving is a day of gratitude, but it’s also so much more, not the least of which is food. Oh my goodness, is there food! It is the start of the food season, also known as the holidays, where eating is akin to breathing and a variety of homemade cookies somehow become a staple in everyone&rsquo...

“When hate feels easy, be very wary, lest your hate becomes greater than the one who is hated. Because it is at that point you turn the corner toward evil.” Today, I’ve been contemplating hate.  It’s a definite switch for me. I prefer for focus on love, because love is so m...

In March, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized the nation’s most stringent tailpipe emissions rules to date – a move that has been met with much pushback. To comply with these mandates from the EPA, two-thirds of all new vehicles will need to be electric by 2032. The impacts of thi...

We have had such a beautiful fall and now we are ready for the holiday season. This is the last month for our fall drink specials in the Joyful Cup – the pumpkin spice lattes are delicious, so be sure to get yours before they’re gone for the year. The winter menu is coming. You can stop into the ...

The girl (or boy, as the case may be) couldn’t remember exactly when, but life became weary. It was a gradual development - so gradual she didn’t even notice the tears slipping from her eyes at first. But because of it, life became nebulous, and more difficult to navigate. The sun - once brigh...

By now, most of us have learned of the shocking recordings of Tim Sheehy at Montana campaign events talking about “bonding with all the Indians while they’re drunk at 8 a.m.,” and having “Coors Light cans flying by your head” while riding in the Crow parade.  Mr. Sheehy,...