Good Morning All & Happy Wednesday!
Only 9 shopping days left ’til Christmas! Have you been naughty or nice this year? Remember Santa’s checking his list…checking it twice…goin’ to see who’s naughty or nice! Like most folks, I’ve been naughty AND nice this year…I wonder what Santa will do???
Happy Birthday wishes go to my friend Peggy, business manager and bookkeeper/accountant extraordinaire, who celebrates her birthday today…Happy Birthday Peggy! Here’s to you! Have fun on your special day of celebration! Speaking of birthdays…Happy Birthday to hate crime fighter extraordinaire, Morris Dees of Southern Poverty Law Center fame, who turns 84 today; to Benny Andersson, musician/singer of “ABBA” fame, who is 74 today; to singer/musician Billy Gibbons of “ZZ Top” fame, who turns 71 today; and to actor Theo James of “Divergent” movie fame (he starred in this movie with my daughter Amy), who is 36 today! Here’s to all of you!
Have you been following the recent efforts (or lack thereof) in Congress to come up with a meaningful second round of coronavirus pandemic relief funds for small businesses and their employees that have been particularly hit hard by well intended, but unfair and arbitrary government actions to curb the spread of the pandemic? Thank God for the efforts made by the “group of eight” in the U.S. Congress to bring a COVID-19 relief package to a vote of Congress before they recess for the holidays. Quite frankly, without their efforts, it was extremely doubtful that anything would get done for the people and small businesses in need before Congress goes home for the holidays. Relief is needed now…not a week from now, not two weeks from now, but now! Congress had plenty of time to put something together in a bi-partisan manner, but the current Congressional leadership is an abysmal failure (McConnell, Schumer, Pelosi and McCarthy all should go and go now). As we have a new President taking office soon, so should we have a new group of Congressional leaders to operate from a clean slate to better serve we, the people. What do you think?
On a related issue, a frank discussion needs to occur as to whether shutting down particular businesses without providing them adequate economic relief is good public policy. Witness what has taken place in the State of Washington, for example. The Governor should have had an adequately funded relief package all ready to go when the last round of closures were announced, which may have required calling a special session of the state legislature. Also, a ernstwhile discussion needs to take place as to whether our state government really had credible scientific data to support closures and/or curtailments of activity of certain businesses/industries in the fight against the pandemic. It’s certainly questionable as to whether the principles of “good government” were followed over the past year with regard to the closures and/or curtailment of activity. Once the pandemic is behind us, there needs to be a proper analysis of state and federal governments’ response to the pandemic…what worked…what didn’t…and why. What do you think?
While I was in Montana recently, I came across an article in the “Hungry Horse News” entitled “Guard dogs, chain link fence no match for griz after pig.” For a small town newspaper, it has some of the most entertaining and well written journalism around. Here are some excerpts from the article for your reading enjoyment:
“What do a chain link fence and two big guard dogs have in common?
They aren’t much of a deterrent to a grizzly bear intent on eating a pig.
That was just one of the stories relayed by wildlife management specialist Tim Manley during a recent meeting of the Northern Continental Divide grizzly bear sub-committee meeting last month.
A landowner north of Columbia Falls was having grizzly bear problems with bears trying to get his pigs. The landowner put up additional chain-link fencing around the pig pen, but the grizzly sow, who also had a cub, made short work of the additional fencing and killed the pig anyway.
The landowner let two big guard dogs out in hopes of chasing the bear away.
“It didn’t have any effect,” Manley noted. “It continued to kill the pig.”
Manley said bears got a fair number of pigs this year. They also ate a llama and plenty of chickens.
The most effective deterrent, and one that he’s talked about for years now, is electric fencing.
Grizzly bears don’t like to be shocked and most will run away from a hot electric fence.
But folks still aren’t listening. Plenty of landowners still have chicken coops and pit pens with no electric fencing and as a result, bears are getting good at raiding coops and pens.
Since 1993, on average Manley has captured and moved 17 bears a year. This year, along with an assistant, they caught 19 grizzlies and had to euthanize six of them. The rest were relocated in hopes they wouldn’t get into trouble again. The most captures came in the spring, with 1ith 13, while there was just one in the summer. A good huckleberry crop kept bears out of yards most of the summer. The rest were in the fall. (I can attest to the good huckleberry crop this year…the most berries we’ve had on our property in Glacier Hills since we bought The Tana House in 2013).
The article goes on to talk about a crazy guy who did a crazy thing last winter…
“…One man north of Columbia Falls demonstrated the efficacy of bear spray, Manley noted. He decided to follow a sow grizzly and her cub’s tracks in the snow not far from his house with his dog AND CHILD IN TOW! They ran into the sow and cub and the sow charged the man (DUH!). He had both a pistol and bear spray and the man used the spray, which turned the bear away from him and his child (no you wonder why our world is so messed up!).
Just another fantastic & informative article from The Hungry Horse News. Chris Peterson, it’s editor and reporter, should get the Pulitzer Prize someday! His color photos are a real treat as well! Chris publishes more color photos than most major newspapers with which I’m familiar. Here’s to Chris Peterson and the team at The Hungry Horse News!
Here’s the thought for the day, courtesy of Gary Wiens, CEO of Montana Electric Cooperatives’ Association. His column “A thrill of hope” appeared in the December, 2020 issue of “Rural Montana,” another first-rate publication if I say so myself…
“O holy night, the stars are brightly shining
It is the night of our dear Savior’s birth
Long lay the world, in sin and error pining
“Til He appeared and the soul felt its worth
A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices
For yonder breaks, a new and glorious morn.”
These words from the classic Christmas carol, “O Holy Night,” reminds us things will get better. Troubled days don’t last forever. A brighter day is coming.
Meanwhile, Christmas approaches and, amidst all the unsettledness of our current times, we look forward perhaps more so than in a long time to this most special of holidays. Things are different this Christmas, but much of it is good because much less is taken for granted.
The opportunity to be together with family or other loved ones becomes more treasured. We hold our children and grandchildren a little closer. Just the privilege of hugging each other seems sweeter now more than ever.
Exchanging gift lists and getting to choose gifts, too, is a greater joy these days. We wait with eager anticipation, for example, at seeing the faces of our precious grandchildren light up as they unwrap their gifts. Even putting up Christmas lights and other decorations—possibly viewed in more normal times as a duty, not a delight—takes on greater meaning.
In these days, it’s no longer just “getting Christmas done,” but striving more than ever to make Christmas what it’s intended to be. More so than in a long time and because of the way things are right now, we need Christmas to be what it is: A time of peace, a time of joy—and a time of hope.
“A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn…”
—Gary Wiens, “A thrill of hope,” “Rural Montana,” December, 2020, page 1.
Here’s to a great Wednesday and lots of love & good wishes always!
Press on,
Papa ‘a (Dad, Uncle Mark, Mark, etc.)