A Resolution for a Good Day
by Chuck Shenk
It's that time again when we're supposed to come up with resolutions for the next year that will improve ourselves and our lives. I don't know how this tradition started, but for most of my life I thought it was kind of lame. Let's face it, how many of last year's resolutions did you keep? Any? And why is that? Speaking for myself, it's because I never put much thought into it. It was always easy to fall back on no-brainer resolutions that people use every year, such as "I'm going to work out more and get in shape," or "I'm going to take public transportation to work (always a hit resolution with the urban crowd)," or my perennial favorite "I'm going to lose weight this year for sure."
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An Update From the Elks
One of the top 20 most-viewed articles on the Local Rag website was an article from our February 2009 issue entitled, "The Elks Need You!" The article explained how Beartooth Lodge #534 of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks was in danger of being closed down; merged into another lodge from Livingston or Billings.
The response to the article and to the membership drive that followed was overwhelming. Since the article appeared, our historic Elks lodge has added or reinstated 51 members and found people to chair all of the committees. Every officer position is filled as well.
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Beartooth Nature Center Rolls Out Plans for New Facility
by Gary Robson
Plans are moving forward at the Beartooth Nature Center for the eventual move to their new facility near Fox, about five miles outside of Red Lodge. The new site stretches from Highway 212 to Rock Creek, and includes a natural spring, pond, wetlands, creek, shade trees, and more.
Executive Director Jeff Ewelt is working with the board of directors and their designers to fit the new facility into the site as unintrusively as possible, leaving large portions of the land in its natural state.
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Debris Flows after the Cascade Fire
by Drew Downs
On July 26th, 2008 the Cascade Fire started in the West Fork of Rock Creek within the Beartooth Mountains of the Custer National Forest. A post-fire study rated 3,343 acres highly susceptible to erosion, and 6,822 acres were rated low to moderate erosion susceptibility. The erosion potential ranged from 19 to 11.5 tons per acre. A post-fire estimate predicts vegetation regrowth in five years, which creates a high probability of erosion potential until revegetation can occur.
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Red Lodge Rabbie Burns Supper 2010
by Gary Robson
The tradition of the Robert Burns Supper was started about 200 years ago when a group of his close friends got together a few years after his death as a tribute to his memory. The ritual has changed little in the intervening centuries, and our celebration in Red Lodge each January follows the same basic formula as that very first supper.
Rabbie Burns night in Red Lodge is not about long ceremonies and boring speeches, but about a celebration of Burns and all things Scottish. It's a potluck dinner held on January 30th.
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Robert Burns Supper 2010
Saturday, January 30 was Red Lodge's biggest Scottish celebration of the year: Robert Burns night. This year, the party was held at the Elks, with piping, fiddling, singing, eating, drinking, poetry, dancing, and (of course) haggis!
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The Great Hat Incident of 2009
by Gary Robson
On New Year's Eve, I attended a concert/party at the Elks, where a fine time was had by (almost) all. At one point, as Norinne the Outlaw Queen and her band played in the Lodge room, I was standing in the bar when I was accosted by a fellow I'd never met before. I'd say "gentleman," but since he was swearing at me in front of a group of women, I'll just scale it back to "fellow."
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by Randy Tracy
"Try something new," I always say. I will admit that (even though I advocate it for its own sake) the concept can be carried a bit too far. Thus it was that I opened a bottle of Trapper Creek Dark Mead, on the recommendation of someone who should know better. The labels are a blast and very evocative, it's a Made in Montana product, the tasting notes are enticing; what could possibly go wrong?
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by Jeff Ewelt
So here we are at yet another New Year. It is time for all of us to make those resolutions that we will be excited to start, but fail to finish. As a pop pop, I have a resolution to stop throwing things as I teach my son not to throw things. Aside from that monumental challenge, I have also jumped on the bandwagon by creating a "better eating" resolution.
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by Jeanne Thomas
Now we celebrate the end of the year grown old and the birth of the new year of possibility. The darkness has passed its deepest night and begun the slow increase of the light. Our spirits move in the darkness and we reflect. We wrap ourselves in the warmth of our fires and beds and exult in the long rest and reflections. The stars themselves seem brighter and aspects of our lives seem to both grow worse and darken as well as brighter and more promising upon reflection. Stillness rests our minds and frustrates our ambitions, quiets our restless hearts and stirs the ashes of our desires.
Jeanne has plenty of questions, culminating with "Are we generous, both with ourselves and with others?"
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by Gene Rodman
Maybe you got a new camera for Christmas, or you have always wanted to get better photographs from your camera. I'll bet anyone would say that their camera keeps giving them the same kind of photographs. They would also say that they seldom, if ever, take their camera off of automatic. A fallacy of photography is that the camera is what controls the quality of the photography. Modern cameras do produce better-quality images but whether you get a good photograph has more to do with the operator than the camera. As long as you let the camera do all the thinking for you it will continue to do what it is designed to do, produce average photographs.
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About Town:
Early Skiing in Red Lodge
by Corey Thompson
No doubt about it, Red Lodge is a ski town. But you might not know that Red Lodge has been a ski town for many decades. Red Lodge Mountain Ski Resort on Grizzly Peak is, of course, the dominant ride these days, but has not always been so.
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by Doug Robson
Let's take a step back and look at the year recently passed: 2009. Sure, there was a worldwide recession, and countless horrible, upsetting deaths, but it was a fairly good year in the movie department, especially in the geek-movie department. The brilliant thing is that even the geek-movies were enjoyed by the general public! I'm here to remind you of all the great films that came out in 2009.
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