Montana 55 July 2012

July 2012

the magazine for montanans in their prime

H2O

an amazing fluid

books

exploring with words

trails

walkers, runners, bikers

July 2012

inside 8 12

cycling

32

nature tech

adventure

36

improving

38

trails

40

lookout

42

fitness

a new perspective on life keep pedaling

adventure

keep pedaling

by keila szpaller Say what? Kiess, visiting Adventure Cycling and one of an estimated 1,000 bikers who cruised through its Missoula offices in the past year, filled in the blank: “Where do you go to the bathroom?”

One question the jerseys don’t answer is the age of the cyclists. Kiess is 80, a veteran rider and the oldest member of his group, but many of the cyclists rolling across the country this summer are baby boomers. Some are riders forging new lives for themselves, and others are retracing the route of Bikecentennial ’76.

John Cross, who was doing a “double cross,” or riding back and forth across the country, said he began cycling after his second divorce. A friend told him he needed to ride and learn to love himself again.

“I think for a lot of us baby boomers, it’s a time of renewal, trying to get back to health,” said Cross, 61. “A lot of us have been through divorce, job changes, lost pensions.”

www.montana55.com

Cross and fellow rider Jeff Stoopes had stopped in the downtown Missoula office of Adventure Cycling, mecca for avid cyclists.

There, executive director Jim Sayer said boomers are an economic force propelling the adventure market segment of the tourism industry. And it’s a market poised for growth.

“Boomers are driving so many things,” Sayer said. “The economy, consumption habits, but also the travel market. The impact is only going to grow in the next five, 10 years.”

S

ue Miller, 60, who wore a “No Wimps” button and rode in the same group as Bill Kiess, said if she can bicycle across the country, anyone can.

She worked as an administrator in the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services, and she isn’t a jock. A couple of years ago, she and her husband began riding a tandem bicycle.

Her husband’s lifelong dream was to do a cross-country ride, so she told him she would join him as long as they could ride a double: “I don’t think I can make it on a single, and I want to get there at the same time you do.”

Miller’s advice to couch potatoes contemplating a similar trip is to buy a nicer bike than they think they need and start riding with a club.

“You’ll meet people who have done amazing things. And you’ll learn you can do it, too,” Miller said.

Vicki LaBella, on the same tour, said the longest ride she’d done before setting off across the country was a two-week trip. LaBella, 54, owns a small shop called News and Such in Ocean Grove, N.J. She still has her very first bicycle, a chopper with orange and black lettering. LaBella had asked for a bike for Christmas back in the day when children didn’t assume their parents could fulfill their wishes.

communitymed.org

LINDA THOMPSON Jeff Stoopes and John Cross, from left, get ready to ride outside the Adventure Cycling office in Missoula.

It’s a time of renewal, trying to get back to health.

12

A

Standing by if the tango gets you tangled.

Bill Kiess wore a bicycle jersey printed with answers to frequently asked questions.

“Yes, I am cycling across the U.S.” “No, I am not crazy.”

“81 days.”

“Astoria, Oregon.”

“Jacksonville Beach, Florida.”

“Really, for fun.”

“Anywhere there are trees.”

You know the beat, you’ve got the rhythm. But you still might foxtrot into trouble. For dance-related injuries of all tempos, from emergency care, to orthopedics, to cardiology, we have the right level of care to get you back on your feet again. When it’s good health, it’s Community.

Community Physician Group. Just one call: 327-4170 Community Medical Center is an independent, local non-profit hospital.

55

montana

16 20 22 books

July 2012

13

H2O

an amazing fluid

ballpark

an app for that

a kitchen to love and envy

inviting walkers, runners and bikers

a beautiful place to get away

get off the proverbial couch

family time well spent

by bill speltz

www.montana55.com

every summer I say it: my family needs to spend more time at the ballpark.

in step

engaging your mind and body

books

words to explore by words to explore by

by barbara theroux

www.montana55.com

tom bauer

“Cronkite” by Douglas Brinkley

Epic, intimate, and masterfully written American life, told by one of our most respected historians.

For decades, Walter Cronkite was known as “the most trusted man in America.” Millions across the nation welcomed him into their homes each evening, first as a reporter from the front lines of World War II, then later, in the emerging medium of television, where he hosted numerous documentary programs and anchored the CBS Evening News until his retirement in 1981. Yet this very public figure, undoubtedly the 20th-century’s most revered journalist, was a remarkably private man; few know the full story of his life. Based on unprecedented access to Cronkite’s private papers as well as interviews with his family and friends, Douglas Brinkley now brings this American icon into focus a never before.

Brinkley traces Cronkite’s story from his roots in Missouri and Texas, through the Great Depression during which he began his career, to World War II, where he gained notice reporting with Allied troops from North Africa, D-Day, and the Battle of the Bulge. In 1950, Edward R. Murrow recruited him to work for CBS, where he covered presidential elections, the space program, Vietnam, and the first televised broadcasts of the Olympic Games, as both a reporter and later anchor of the evening news. Cronkite was also witness to – and the nation’s voice for – many of the most profound moments in modern American history, including the Kennedy assassination, Apollo 11 and 13, Watergate, the Vietnam War, and the Iran Hostage Crisis.

“Canada” by Richard Ford

Whether by Nook or in print, here are some choices to fulfill your summer.

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montana

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Some people have assigned summer reading lists, but the majority of us look to new books, old favorites and the evergrowing stack of books on the nightstand (or the increasing downloads on the reading device) as we decide what to read next.

Here are some of the new releases that deserve summer reading consideration.

When 15-year-old Dell Parsons’ parents rob a bank, his sense of a happy life is forever shattered. His parents’ arrest and imprisonment mean a threatening and uncertain future for Dell and his twin sister, Berner. Willful and burning with resentment, Berner flees their home in Montana, abandoning her brother and her life. But Dell is not completely alone. A family friend intervenes, spiriting him across the Canadian border, in hopes of delivering him to a better life. There, on the prairie of Saskatchewan, Dell is taken in by Arthur Remlinger, an enigmatic and charismatic American, whose suave reserve masks a dark and violent nature.

The book starts in Great Falls and moves to Saskatchewan, Canada – isolated places that give the narrator, Dell, the mix of local characters, native places, and expanse of time needed to reconcile and remake his life.

You will not be disappointed with this beautifully written novel.

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montana

July 2012

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ballpark

48

710

family time well spent

“Capital” by John Lanchester

During 2008 in London, things are falling apart: Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers are going under, and the residents of Pepys Road – a banker and his shopaholic wife; an old woman dying of a brain tumor and her graffiti-artist grandson; Pakistani shop owners and a shadowy refugee who works as the meter maid; the young soccer star from Senegal and his sponsor – are receiving anonymous postcards reading “We Want What You Have.” Who is behind it? What do they want? Epic in scope yet intimate, capturing the ordinary dramas of very different lives, this is a novel of love and suspicion, of financial collapse and terrorist threat, of property values going up and fortunes going down, and of a city at a moment of extraordinary tension.

This novel has real people trying to solve everyday problems. Nothing horrific happens but each person faces life’s hurdles in a very believable manner.

July 2012

square feet for living

23

26

parent’s home

52

investing

30

identity

54

looking back

July 2012

a family discussion

making the most of who we are

building a confident retirement

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the magazine for montanans in their prime

publisher jim mcgowan

editor sherry devlin

marketing manager allyn hulteng

regional sales coordinator jacque walawander regional sales assistant holly kuehlwein

art director mike lake graphic designer diann kelly

Montana 55 is a special publication of Lee Enterprises’ Montana newspapers: the Billings Gazette, Missoulian, Helena Independent Record, Montana Standard and the Ravalli Republic. Copyright 2012.

For advertising information contact Jacque Walawander 406-523-5271, 800-366-7193, ext. 271, or email jacque.walawander@lee.net www.montana55.com

6

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cycling

8

a new perspective on life

by keila szpaller

“I’m a firm believer that cycling brings you to places, especially for me, to places that I need to be.”

A

www.montana55.com

Arlen Hall was pedaling alone in the Deep South when the driver of a big green pickup truck came up honking behind him.

Hall, who is black, had tried to get some friends to join him on the Mississippi bicycle tour to be safe. Instead, he turned alone to face the driver blaring the horn of the truck, maybe an old Ford. That encounter in Canton, Miss., would turn the solo bicycle ride into the most important trip he has ever taken.

Hall, who owned a software company, planned to bike the Natchez Trace Parkway with friends but started the journey by himself on a personal side trip.

The honking horn unsettled the Massachusetts man whose father is African American and mother is German. Then, out of the truck jumped a little old lady – a white little old lady named Madge Noble, 84.

The cyclist remembers her announcement: “You look like you’re a man on a mission.

You’re having lunch with me.”

Hall, who moved to Missoula in 2010, has been cycling for most of his life and guiding youth tours since his sons were young. He was taking this trip for himself, and his destination was Midnight, Miss., the home of his ancestors.

In the Calvary Missionary Baptist Church in Midnight, his grandfather was born, his great-grandfather was a deacon, and his great-grandmother played the organ. His great-great-great-grandfather, London, was a slave who fought in the Civil War. Arlen Hall had planned to be in Midnight around 3 p.m. Instead, Madge Noble, a widow who had been married to the local sheriff and loved to travel and tell stories, fed him Southern cooking and tales of Canton, and the traveler and the hostess talked for most of the afternoon.

“She put on this magnificent lunch of fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, okra, corn on the cob,” Hall said.

MICHAEL GALLACHER In 2009, Hall rode his bike to the Calvary Missionary Baptist Church in Midnight, Miss., where his great-grandfather was a deacon. Hall’s great-great-great-grandfather was a slave who fought in the Civil War. July 2012

9

cycling That trip was in 2009, and the treasures he found have stayed with him.

M

idnight was still 60 miles away, but the delay proved fortuitous.

By the time Hall reached the small farming town of 200 people, it was around 7:30 p.m.

As Hall walked downtown in his bicycle gear, an older gentleman approached him. The man was a deacon in the church, and when he

learned Hall wanted to connect with his ancestors and see their church, the man invited him inside.

There, Hall saw the yellowed deacon rolls that kept record of his family members. The church had been rebuilt, but he saw the cornerstone that was part of the church where his grandfather was born.

Soon, even though it was the middle of the week, people started pulling into the driveway of the house of God. It was Revival Week, and church ladies in all white and men in black suits invited Hall to worship with them.

The biker, who had pitched his tent on the property, found a pair of wind pants and a clean T-shirt.

He joined them, and he shared his story. Had he arrived in Midnight on time, at 3 p.m., he never would have seen the deacon rolls, never would have set foot inside the church of his ancestors.

“I totally had that experience only because Madge was in my life in Canton, Mississippi, when I rode through earlier that day,” Hall said.

On that trip, Hall also visited Alcorn State College, where his greatgrandparents studied, and he sat on a wrought iron staircase they walked up and down every day.

“It was like they were sitting right there with me,” Hall said.

That trip was in 2009, and the treasures he found have stayed with him.

“Personally, it was the most significant trip that changed my life. It just gave me a new perspective on the importance of family,” Hall said. “Now, my kids were doing that a lot anyway because that’s where it all started. But it really grounded me in realizing that the most important thing is not what I own, but what I have, the intangibles that I have.”

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R

elationships. Children. Cycling.

Heritage.

February is Black History Month, and in 2012 Hall honored African Americans on his Facebook page all month long.

“Every day during Black History Month, I change my Facebook profile to be some reasonably famous African American, and I post as my status their history. ... My family all chimes in, and they all tell stories,” said Hall, 54.

This year, he posted about Marshall “Major” Taylor, the first African American world champion cyclist who biked “during a time when African Americans weren’t supposed to be cycling.” And he posted about George Washington Carver, too, who also has a connection to cycling, if you think the way Hall does.

Carver championed the peanut and its many uses, and Hall is a fan of one in particular: “I love peanut butter.

It’s like the cyclist’s energy food. It’s

perfect, so I play him up a lot.”

Life for Hall revolves around cycling, and it’s how he ended up in Missoula. In Massachusetts after his sons were born, he started becoming more focused on family life.

Through his church and then on his own, he led youth groups on bicycle tours raising money for the Jett Foundation, which helps people with Duchenne muscular dystrophy. One year, they raised at least $100,000 for the cause.

Slowly, Hall started backing away from his lucrative software company, and he began to simplify his life.

He began making his living through bicycle touring, and he took a class on guiding trips through the Adventure Cycling Association.

When the tour director job opened in Missoula, Hall sent his children the job description. They said it read like he had written it for himself, and Hall got the job.

His son Brandon Hall, a student at the University of New Hampshire, said his father took on biking as a fulltime job while he already had another fulltime job. So the gig with Adventure Cycling is a perfect fit.

“Now, he can just ride his bike to work every day and talk about biking all day with other people who want to talk about biking all day,” said Brandon Hall. “He says it, too.

Essentially, he got his dream job.”

It’s similar to the way Arlen Hall was led to Madge Noble in Canton and his family history in Midnight, Mississippi.

His bicycle takes him to sure destinations: “I’m a firm believer that cycling brings you to places, especially for me, to places that I need to be.”

Missoulian reporter Keila Szpaller can be reached at @KeilaSzpaller, 5235262, keila.szpaller@ missoulian.com or on MissoulaRedTape.com.

July 2012

11

adventure

keep pedaling

LINDA THOMPSON Jeff Stoopes and John Cross, from left, get ready to ride outside the Adventure Cycling office in Missoula.

It’s a time of renewal, trying to get back to health.

12

B

Bill Kiess wore a bicycle jersey printed with answers to frequently asked questions.

“Yes, I am cycling across the U.S.” “No, I am not crazy.”

“81 days.”

“Astoria, Oregon.”

“Jacksonville Beach, Florida.”

“Really, for fun.”

“Anywhere there are trees.”

by keila szpaller Say what? Kiess, visiting Adventure Cycling and one of an estimated 1,000 bikers who cruised through its Missoula offices in the past year, filled in the blank: “Where do you go to the bathroom?”

One question the jerseys don’t answer is the age of the cyclists. Kiess is 80, a veteran rider and the oldest member of his group, but many of the cyclists rolling across the country this summer are baby boomers. Some are riders forging new lives for themselves, and others are retracing the route of Bikecentennial ’76.

John Cross, who was doing a “double cross,” or riding back and forth across the country, said he began cycling after his second divorce. A friend told him he needed to ride and learn to love himself again.

“I think for a lot of us baby boomers, it’s a time of renewal, trying to get back to health,” said Cross, 61. “A lot of us have been through divorce, job changes, lost pensions.”

www.montana55.com

Cross and fellow rider Jeff Stoopes had stopped in the downtown Missoula office of Adventure Cycling, mecca for avid cyclists.

There, executive director Jim Sayer said boomers are an economic force propelling the adventure market segment of the tourism industry. And it’s a market poised for growth.

“Boomers are driving so many things,” Sayer said. “The economy, consumption habits, but also the travel market. The impact is only going to grow in the next five, 10 years.”

S

ue Miller, 60, who wore a “No Wimps” button and rode in the same group as Bill Kiess, said if she can bicycle across the country, anyone can.

She worked as an administrator in the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services, and she isn’t a jock. A couple of years ago, she and her husband began riding a tandem bicycle.

Her husband’s lifelong dream was to do a cross-country ride, so she told him she would join him as long as they could ride a double: “I don’t think I can make it on a single, and I want to get there at the same time you do.”

Miller’s advice to couch potatoes contemplating a similar trip is to buy a nicer bike than they think they need and start riding with a club.

“You’ll meet people who have done amazing things. And you’ll learn you can do it, too,” Miller said.

Vicki LaBella, on the same tour, said the longest ride she’d done before setting off across the country was a two-week trip. LaBella, 54, owns a small shop called News and Such in Ocean Grove, N.J. She still has her very first bicycle, a chopper with orange and black lettering. LaBella had asked for a bike for Christmas back in the day when children didn’t assume their parents could fulfill their wishes.

communitymed.org

Standing by if the tango gets you tangled.

You know the beat, you’ve got the rhythm. But you still might foxtrot into trouble. For dance-related injuries of all tempos, from emergency care, to orthopedics, to cardiology, we have the right level of care to get you back on your feet again. When it’s good health, it’s Community.

Community Physician Group. Just one call: 327-4170 Community Medical Center is an independent, local non-profit hospital.

July 2012

13

adventure

LINDA THOMPSON A group of bicyclists stops by the Adventure Cycling office to become part of photographer Greg Siple’s growing collection of cyclist portraits.

“When they wheeled it in, I’ll just never forget,” LaBella said.

She biked every day as a child, sometimes smoking cigarettes and definitely without a helmet. When

14

she visits her father, who is 90 and still rides his bicycle, the duo pedal together.

“I try to send him a postcard every day,” LaBella said of the cross-country excursion.

In Missoula, she picked out a postcard with a moose. LaBella is blogging about her adventure at myjourneyontwowheels.tumblr.com.

Here’s an excerpt from June 25: “Today’s ride was flat and only 43 miles. The route had us mainly on a quiet road with the only sounds being that of distant traffic and sweet, happy singing birds. I couldn’t get over how those little creatures generated such tones and tunes.

“I felt like a character in a Disney animated film cycling through a dreamy landscape with the sweet sounds of birds wafting along beside me. At one point, this tiny white bird swooped down between us and started running along the road in front of us!

His/her little wings were spread out but s/he didn’t fly away! It was the most miraculous and curious thing I’ve seen. After a while, the bird swept off ... and flew around us and then away.”

www.montana55.com

T

he adventure travel market is worth an estimated $89 million on three continents, according to Adventure Cycling, which has a mission to promote cycling. And executive director Sayer said places such as Montana compete fiercely for those travel dollars.

“To be able to emphasize that adventure travel part of Montana is potentially very lucrative,” Sayer said.

People in the bike industry are focused on positioning bicycle travel higher on the menu of options. Touring is attracting a broad demographic, and boomers who don’t have a lot of resources but do have time are taking to the road on bikes, Sayer said.

“They want to be involved. They want to stay engaged mentally and physically,” he said.

The organization counts some 44,700 members. Adventure Cycling started as Bikecentennial, the cross-country ride that celebrated the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Sayer said staff already are planning for the 40th anniversary of the event that launched the group and spurred bicycle riders. Last summer, many of the boomer-riders were former Bikecentennial riders.

Jeff Stoopes, 60, was one of those.

Stoopes and John Cross are both semiretired Lutheran pastors who rode together on a mission trip to South America in 1974 and remained friends ever since.

Last summer, by the time he reached Missoula, Cross already had finished riding across the southern tier of the United States. On a portion of his trip across the northern tier, Stoopes joined him for part of the same route he did in 1976.

He carried with him his framed Bikecentennial certificate signed by then-director Dan Burden.

“I think boomers are characterized as being all about money and superficial things,” Stoopes said.

“It may be true for some people. It

certainly isn’t true for us. The most important thing to us is family and friends and our relationship with God.” When people hear about their trip, many are inspired, and they have one common reaction.

“The one thing that hits people is the word ‘freedom,’ “ Cross said. “Man, what freedom.”

They email him to “keep pedaling,” and Cross said he knows they’re often talking to themselves. The men hope to encourage their more sedate or even lost peers by example to start living again.

Said Cross: “What’s your dream?

What’s something you want to do?”

Refine the bucket list, and “get walking. Get moving. Get up.”

Said Stoopes: “Get out of bed.”

Missoulian reporter Keila Szpaller can be reached at @KeilaSzpaller, 5235262, keila.szpaller@ missoulian.com or on MissoulaRedTape.com.

July 2012

15

H2O

16

an amazing fluid

by rebecca morley

W

Thirst is our body’s natural regulator of hydration.

www.montana55.com

When we were growing up, we constantly played outdoors, yet no one carried water bottles.

If we were thirsty, we ran into the house and got a drink of water. The only time we carried water was on camping trips, when our canteens were an imaginative sign that we were famous explorers or frontier pioneers.

As children, thirst drove our quest for hydration, but if you were anything like me, there were times when you were having a good time, and you’d ignore the urge for a drink and keep on playing.

And did you ever feel a little dizzy and wiped out when your parents called you in for dinner or bedtime?

You were probably feeling the effects of dehydration.

Did you know that water loss as small as 1 percent to 2 percent of body weight stimulates thirst?

Thirst is our body’s natural regulator of hydration and we need to pay attention to this mechanism. If we reach for a refreshing glass of water (or our water bottles) whenever we feel thirsty, we will definitely feel better, as our health is optimized.

Let’s take a closer look at reasons why water is so important to maximizing our health.

Our body is more than 60 percent water and water is a major constituent of cells, tissues and organs. Water constantly passes in and out of cell membranes as the principal solvent in our bodies, transporting nutrients, enzymes and hormones into and out of our cells.

Water helps flush toxins from our vital organs and provides a moist environment for ear, nose and throat tissues.

Water has a “high specific heat.”

This refers to the amount of energy it takes to raise the temperature of a unit mass of a substance 1 degree. It therefore helps prevent overheating during physical activity and promotes heat loss from the body in the form of sweat.

Adults sweat about two cups of water daily, but this increases with vigorous physical activity or hotter temperatures.

Our skin helps in temperature regulation, where sweating and heat exchange take place. The cardiovascular system regulates blood flow to move heat from our body’s core to the surface. Dehydration

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H2O Staying well-hydrated may help prevent headaches, fatigue and the afternoon hunger attacks. reduces exercise performance, decreases time to exhaustion and increases internal temperatures.

Our heart rate increases the more dehydrated we become. We “turn over” about 5 percent to 10 percent of our body’s water through breathing, perspiration and elimination. We can restore our water balance by consuming beverages and foods that contain water.

Drinking to satisfy thirst and striving for at least eight glasses of fluids a day are two ways to make sure we stay hydrated.

But who might need even more? Those who exercise strenuously, live, breathe and move in a warm environment. And those who use prescription medications. Some have a diuretic effect.

Ask your pharmacist about how much water you need to drink with the meds you take.

There is still one more “risk factor” for dehydration,

18

www.montana55.com

and that is alcohol consumption, which inhibits water conservation and can also result in frequent urges to urinate.

A good rule of thumb is to drink two glasses of water for every alcoholic drink you consume and practice moderation to avoid the effects of dehydration.

Some of us were “taught” by the food and beverage industry that sports drinks are needed to rehydrate.

According to the Institute of Medicine, the need for carbohydrate and electrolyte replacement during exercise depends on exercise intensity, duration, weather and individual sweat rates.

Carbohydrate supplies energy when exercising more than 60 to 90 minutes, while sodium and potassium help replace sweat electrolyte losses. Sports drinks may be recommended for people who do high intensity for 60 minutes or more.

Others need to take a close look at the labels of sports drinks. What you will find is that most “sports beverages” are mainly water, with added sugars and salt.

Clever labeling may hide the number of servings each bottle provides.

Honestly, when was the last time you picked up a 20-ounce bottle after a long, hard exercise session and said to yourself, “This bottle is 2.5 servings, so I can only drink less than half of it.”

Water is really an amazing fluid. It meets our body’s needs without adding unwanted calories, chemicals or sugars. Water straight from the tap here has zero calories, is virtually free and tastes great!

A reusable water bottle is a great way to stay hydrated and to protect the environment. Choose one made from stainless steel, glass, enamel-coated aluminum or a good quality BPA-free plastic.

Remember to clean your water bottle daily according to manufacturer’s directions. Some are not dishwasher safe, so “buyer beware.”

Keep your bottle on your desk, in your car and carry it with you whenever you are out and about.

While you hydrate, you will be doing your part to keep our environment free of excess plastic!

Staying well hydrated may help prevent headaches, fatigue and the afternoon hunger attacks.

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July 2012

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in step

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dancing engages your mind and body

by linda torma

How about working some type of dance into your regular exercise routines?

I

“I like to move it, move it ...”

If you spend any time around young children, you probably recognize this from lyrics to a song from “Madagascar,” one of my grandson’s favorite animated videos. When this music plays, he and his little sister will often stop what they are doing and start gyrating. There is something magical about how music makes us want to move - and it turns out that the combination of movement with music is good for us too! Read on ...

Being forever “young at heart” is a common goal for all of us. But how do boomers maintain a healthy heart and a positive attitude in a way that is both sustainable and fun?

Searching for ways to motivate people with heart failure to exercise, researchers examined the health benefits of a structured dance program for persons living with this scary condition. They did this by comparing the dance program to a supervised aerobic exercise program that provided an equivalent level of exertion (70 percent of their peak oxygen volume).

The participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups: an exercise group, a dance group and a control group who did no exercise.

Sessions for the exercise and dance groups were held three times a week for eight weeks. The exercise and dance groups began with 10 minutes of calisthenics and ended with a cool down period. The dancers waltzed with an experienced dancer for 21 minutes while the exercisers spent 30 minutes working out on cycles or treadmills.

At the end of the program, the dance and exercise groups had improved equally in functional capacity and overall quality of life. But dancers reported even greater improvements in the quality of their emotional life.

They were also more motivated than the exercisers to continue with the program until the end. The takehome message was clear: For persons with heart failure, the combination of movement, social interaction and

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fun that occurs with dance made it easier to comply with a cardiovascular exercise program.

There is lots of good evidence that dancing improves mental health and wellness. In a landmark study funded by the National Institute on Aging, researchers looked at the effects of recreational activities on mental acuity in older adults. They found that people who engaged in mental activities like reading, playing board games, playing musical instruments, and doing crossword puzzles at least four days a week had reduced risk of dementia.

They also looked at the effect of physical activities like housework, climbing stairs, playing tennis or golf, swimming, bicycling, dancing, or participating in group exercises and team sports. Interestingly, frequent dancing (several times per week) was the only physical activity that was associated with lower risk of dementia in this study. Why is this so? Dance combines physical activity with cognitive processes that govern social interaction, emotions, acoustic stimulation, and musical experience. It engages a person in a full mind-body workout!

Now is a great time for us boomers to think about ways to add some fun indoor exercise activities into your lives as weather conditions make it harder to get outdoors. How about working some type of dance into your regular exercise routines? It can be as easy as turning on the radio or popping a dance video into your DVD player. Fortunately, Missoula is a community that values the arts and has a variety of wonderful and engaging dance resources. The possibilities (and rewards) are endless. Care to tango?

Keep movin’ it, movin’ it.

Linda Torma is a clinical specialist in gerontological nursing and an assistant professor at Montana State UniversityBozeman College of Nursing, Missoula Campus. She can be at 243-2599 or ltorma@montana.edu.

July 2012

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books

words to explore by

Whether by Nook or in print, here are some choices to fulfill your summer.

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Some people have assigned summer reading lists, but the majority of us look to new books, old favorites and the evergrowing stack of books on the nightstand (or the increasing downloads on the reading device) as we decide what to read next.

Here are some of the new releases that deserve summer reading consideration.

by barbara theroux

www.montana55.com

“Cronkite” by Douglas Brinkley

Epic, intimate, and masterfully written American life, told by one of our most respected historians.

For decades, Walter Cronkite was known as “the most trusted man in America.” Millions across the nation welcomed him into their homes each evening, first as a reporter from the front lines of World War II, then later, in the emerging medium of television, where he hosted numerous documentary programs and anchored the CBS Evening News until his retirement in 1981. Yet this very public figure, undoubtedly the 20th-century’s most revered journalist, was a remarkably private man; few know the full story of his life. Based on unprecedented access to Cronkite’s private papers as well as interviews with his family and friends, Douglas Brinkley now brings this American icon into focus a never before.

Brinkley traces Cronkite’s story from his roots in Missouri and Texas, through the Great Depression during which he began his career, to World War II, where he gained notice reporting with Allied troops from North Africa, D-Day, and the Battle of the Bulge. In 1950, Edward R. Murrow recruited him to work for CBS, where he covered presidential elections, the space program, Vietnam, and the first televised broadcasts of the Olympic Games, as both a reporter and later anchor of the evening news. Cronkite was also witness to – and the nation’s voice for – many of the most profound moments in modern American history, including the Kennedy assassination, Apollo 11 and 13, Watergate, the Vietnam War, and the Iran Hostage Crisis.

“Canada” by Richard Ford

When 15-year-old Dell Parsons’ parents rob a bank, his sense of a happy life is forever shattered. His parents’ arrest and imprisonment mean a threatening and uncertain future for Dell and his twin sister, Berner. Willful and burning with resentment, Berner flees their home in Montana, abandoning her brother and her life. But Dell is not completely alone. A family friend intervenes, spiriting him across the Canadian border, in hopes of delivering him to a better life. There, on the prairie of Saskatchewan, Dell is taken in by Arthur Remlinger, an enigmatic and charismatic American, whose suave reserve masks a dark and violent nature.

The book starts in Great Falls and moves to Saskatchewan, Canada – isolated places that give the narrator, Dell, the mix of local characters, native places, and expanse of time needed to reconcile and remake his life.

You will not be disappointed with this beautifully written novel.

“Capital” by John Lanchester

During 2008 in London, things are falling apart: Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers are going under, and the residents of Pepys Road – a banker and his shopaholic wife; an old woman dying of a brain tumor and her graffiti-artist grandson; Pakistani shop owners and a shadowy refugee who works as the meter maid; the young soccer star from Senegal and his sponsor – are receiving anonymous postcards reading “We Want What You Have.” Who is behind it? What do they want? Epic in scope yet intimate, capturing the ordinary dramas of very different lives, this is a novel of love and suspicion, of financial collapse and terrorist threat, of property values going up and fortunes going down, and of a city at a moment of extraordinary tension.

This novel has real people trying to solve everyday problems. Nothing horrific happens but each person faces life’s hurdles in a very believable manner.

July 2012

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bookish “In the Kingdom of Men” by Kim Barnes

In 1967, Gin Mitchell knows a better life awaits her when she marries hometown hero Mason McPhee. Raised in a two-room shack by her Oklahoma grandfather, a strict Methodist minister, Gin never believed that someone like Mason, a handsome college boy, would look her way. And nothing can prepare her for the world she and Mason step into when he takes a job with the Arabian American Oil company in Saudi Arabia. In the gated compound of Abqaiq, Gin and Mason are given a home with marble floors, a houseboy to cook their meals, and a gardener to tend the sandy patch out back. Even among the veiled women and strict laws of shariah, Gin’s life has become the stuff of fairy tales. She buys her first swimsuit, she pierces her ears, and Mason gives her a glittering diamond ring. But when a young Bedouin woman is found dead, washed up on the shores of the Persian Gulf, Gin’s world closes in around her, and the one person she trusts is nowhere to be found.

“In the Kingdom of Men” abounds with sandstorms and locust swarms, shrimp peddlers, pearl divers, and Bedouin caravans – a luminous portrait of life in the desert. Kim Barnes weaves a mesmerizing, richly imagined tale of Americans out of their depth in Saudi Arabia, a marriage in peril, and one woman’s quest for the truth, no matter what it might cost her.

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In present-day London, a young woman, Frieda, returns from a long trip abroad to find a man sleeping outside her front door.

She gives him a blanket and a pillow, and in the morning finds the bedding neatly folded and an exquisite drawing of a bird with a long feathery tail, some delicate Arabic writing, and a boat made out of a flock of seagulls on her wall. Tayeb, in flight from his Yemeni homeland, befriends Frieda and, when she learns she has inherited the contents of an apartment belonging to a dead woman she has never heard of, they embark on an unexpected journey together.

As the two stories come together, the reader learns about family secrets and how the past influences decisions for many generations.

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“The Eskimo and the Oil Man: The Battle at the Top of the World for America’s Future” by Bob Reiss

“The Eskimo and the Oil Man” tells this story through the eyes of two men, one an Inupiat Eskimo leader on Alaska’s North Slope, the other the head of Shell Oil’s Alaska venture. Their saga is set against the background of an undersea land rush in the Arctic, with Russian bombers appearing off Alaska’s coast, and rapid changes in ice that put millions of sea mammals at risk. The men’s decisions will affect the daily lives of all Americans, in their cities and towns and also in their pocketbooks. The story begins as a fight and ends with a surprise.

Author Bob Reiss traveled in America’s High North over three years and spent time with scientists, diplomats, military planners, Eskimo whale hunters and officials at the highest levels of the government. He traveled to remote villages and sailed on a U.S. icebreaker.

His book reflects the issues dividing every American community wrestling with the balance between energy use and environmental protection, our love of cheap gas and the romance of pristine wilderness.

“Midnight in Peking: How the Murder of a Young Englishwoman Haunted the Last Days of Old China” by Paul French Peking in 1937 is a heady mix of privilege and scandal, opulence and opium dens, rumors and superstition. The Japanese are encircling the city, and the discovery of Pamela Werner’s body sends a shiver through already nervous Peking. The death of a white woman causes political concern, but the horrific nature of crime causes the local police to work hard to close the case. Is it the work of a madman? Or the dreaded fox spirits? With the suspect list growing and clues sparse, two detectives – one British and one Chinese – race against the clock to solve the crime before the Japanese invade and Peking as they know it is gone forever. Can they find the killer in time, before the Japanese invade?

Historian and China expert Paul French at last uncovers the truth behind this notorious murder, and offers a rare glimpse of the last days of colonial Peking. Fans of true crime, history and unsolved mysteries will find Midnight in Peking a good summer adventure.

Barbara Theroux is manager of Fact and Fiction Bookstore in downtown Missoula and a well-read baby boomer.

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parent’s home

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a family discussion

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by joy earls

www.montana55.com

What is the best part about being a boomer? For me, it is going through life’s challenges and changes with so many other people. Everywhere you look, boomers are changing the way we do things. Our generation has names for food, names for communicating, names for recreating and names for one another that are unique.

Real estate needs and changes are a central theme for us. I rarely meet a boomer who doesn’t have a real estate story. We look around at our current homes and are becoming tired of the maintenance, work and upkeep on a property that is hard to part with for different reasons.

Some of us want to keep our houses for children and their growing families. There is a sentimental attachment and the realization that once we part with it, we are also saying goodbye to a full phase of our lives.

These thoughts are often whirling through our minds, but then we get a call or make a visit that stops us in our tracks and changes everything. A parent suddenly takes a turn for the worse and needs some help. Our thoughts about our own needs become diverted with the present challenge of helping our parents.

I recently heard a story about a daughter who lived in Missoula, where she grew up and where her mother still lived. Her siblings lived out of state.

As her mom needed more help to stay at home and maintain her independence, the assumption was that the daughter in town, Shirley, would bear the brunt of the work. Mom wanted to stay in her home and the siblings felt this should be possible, with help.

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Not only did Shirley, all of a sudden, have the responsibility of caring for mom, but mom’s older home needed a lot of care as well. It didn’t take long before Shirley was calling her brother and sister more often, describing how their mom was becoming frustrated. She was unhappy about her circumstances and losing independence each day.

These siblings weren’t prepared for this eventual day.

As boomers are living longer, so are our parents.

Siblings, often living in different places, are faced with decisions about how to help aging parents with mounting health and home issues. It may start with raking the leaves and cleaning out the gutters, but assisting our parents soon morphs into more and more tasks.

Shirley’s case is common, where the closest sibling is faced with this daunting task. And just because she/he lives nearby does not mean that they have the skills to manage mom’s or dad’s life as well as her/his own. Even if they do have that capacity, is it fair for her brothers and sisters to expect her to take on those demands?

The pressure became so intense that Shirley moved away. This wasn’t an easy decision, but she sought the help of a counselor who said that she was neglecting her own needs and becoming ill because of that. The counselor told her that she could say no.

This was a major choice that helped save her marriage and her life, but not one that many people could do. Many people reading this might say that they would never do that. They couldn’t move from their parents in a time of need.

Her mom ended up moving into a home where she could have an assisted living arrangement. This never would have happened if Shirley hadn’t been assertive with her siblings and made a positive step for her own future.

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parent’s home This is a tough story to hear. We all like to think that we are more proactive than Shirley’s family. And we like to think that we are empathetic with our siblings. But a house is a large investment and it is a big decision to sell a home that someone has lived in for many years.

Boomers are not only faced with considering their own homes and needs, but often more immediately, their parents’ homes.

A parent’s home, the family home, is often the key to your parent’s future. The equity they have built up over the years can finance their future needs, which can help provide for them comfortably as their needs increase.

This can be accomplished in many ways, depending on unique circumstances, including selling the home outright, obtaining a reverse mortgage, setting up a home equity line of credit, placing the home in a trust and more. Home equity cannot only provide for their future comforts but assist in upgrading and/or maintaining the home so that it will retain value when it finally comes time to sell.

This discussion should be at the top of the list when families get together. So plan this now for a summer reunion, Thanksgiving or any time your family has plans to meet. Sit down together and agree that if one sibling is in the same town there will be no assumptions about who will do all the mounting work load.

These tough discussions should include the home and property, money issues, the car, the will and anything else that mom or dad wants to talk about.

In some families, it might be worth hiring a facilitator, nurse case manager or social worker for a couple of hours. That way, you will have a predetermined time to meet and discuss these important issues.

You will also have an objective person outside the family to help you through some tough conversations and decisions. Then afterwards, you can all go back to watching a good game on TV, sharing a favorite family treat and blissfully ignoring the changes that are looming.

When everyone goes back to their lives, you can have some assurance that at least you took the first step. It is hard enough to decide on changes for yourself.

Finally, if you reach the point where you may be ready to make a move, your parent(s) might need your energies first. Talk with your siblings and parents. You can at least start a plan by opening the conversation. This will place you all in a better position to deal with your own lives and help one another at the same time.

Boomers have created some great resources related to this topic. Some of the material in this article was from Home Instead at www.homeinstead.com.

Joy Earls is a Missoula real estate broker and owner of Joy Earls Real Estate. Contact her by email at joyearls@ joyearls.com or by phone at 406-531-9811.

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July 2012

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identity

making the most of who we are

Boomers are experiencing a new vitality, but with a balanced perspective.

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Boomers can celebrate their coming of age with such positive thoughts as, “This is the age of knowing who you are, knowing how to get things done and taking action.� Think about it.

We experience less panic when things go wrong than we did as teenagers or young adults.

Our accumulated wisdom and life experience assists us to calmly deal with such things as car break downs or medical emergencies. We boomers have achieved a sense of identity.

by rebecca morley

• Joining a gym or becoming part of a recreational sports league.

• Forming groups to exercise, discuss movies, books, hobbies, current events, etc.

• Volunteering.

T

he Internet has increased our scope of knowledge dramatically and allows us to explore new career paths or hobbies. We can research just about anything our mind questions.

Our explorative nature has led us to embrace these technological advances and learn how to operate new devices.

We aren’t as afraid of failure as we used to be, because we have all experienced it. We’ve learned to brush ourselves off and start over, or move on with our lives.

We know how important our health is. Many of our parents or close friends have suffered life-threatening diseases and we have become attuned to prevention. Numerous studies are

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• Taking adult education classes.

available today regarding the benefits of healthy eating and physical exercise which has precipitated boomers to change lifestyles accordingly.

Boomers are experiencing a new vitality, but with a balanced perspective. We aren’t as likely to take ourselves over the edge, senselessly risking life and limb, in the manner we might have before we developed good judgment.

Equality in health care is becoming a point of focus for our generation.

Brilliant boomer minds are working on plans to assure that affordable, quality health care is available in our future.

With our track record of making things happen, it’s in the bag.

Our retirement years loom just ahead of us. Boomers are optimistically redefining what this will look like. Active, full lives are the commonality. Perhaps we will continue to work reduced hours in jobs we love; maybe we will pursue another career entirely or volunteer as we pursue areas of interest.

Regardless, most of us look forward to having time to hike, travel, read, relax a bit and enjoy our families.

The upside for celebration of “boomerhood” is immeasurable! We are young enough to “do” and old enough to “care.”

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power to buy environmentally safe brands. Heather Stern, director of marketing for Focalyst, states, “As consumers get older, they become more aware of their legacy and leaving a positive mark on the world, and this is particularly true of boomers.”

Our generation has become more thoughtful and less impulsive about our purchases.

There are plenty of opportunities in communities all across Montana to enrich boomer lives and health. Here are a few to ponder:

buy

We know what we like and what’s best for us, or at least we think we do. We have a confidence that allows us to live without looking around to see who might be watching us.

As we have gotten older, some of the past experimentation our generation has been associated with has given way to a new-found maturity and perspective. We have learned that meaning is not a quest, but has always been there in the joys of family, the beauty of nature and our contribution to community.

Boomers have come full circle, back to the simple pleasures of a sunny day, good music, laughter, fine food and the company of those we enjoy.

Because the boomer generation worked diligently to open up more opportunities for others, focusing on equality for all, more rights and opportunities exist for groups that have traditionally been subject to discrimination, like women, the disabled, and the elderly. We are the leading voices in many nonprofit organizations. Through our success, we understand the self-satisfaction that comes with helping others.

Our appreciation of the environment has led boomers to become socially conscious shoppers. A study by AARP and the Focalyst surveyed more than 30,000 baby boomers and found that social consciousness is a prevailing attitude. Seventy percent say that they feel a responsibility to make the world a better place.

According to the survey results, 40 million boomers use their purchasing

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talk

nature tech

an app for that

LINDA THOMPSON Arrowleaf balsamroot

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by brett french

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Wondering what that beautiful rose-pink flower is that’s blooming close to the ground?

There’s an app for that, thanks to the collaboration of Bozeman residents Katie Gibson and Whitney Tilt who formed a new business called High Country Apps.

That’s right, now you can use your smart phone or tablet to figure out what a particular tree, bush, grass or flower is. The duo launched their “Flora of the Yellowstone” app in April and plan to release one for Glacier National Park this summer in association with Shannon Kimball, a botanist and author from Kalispell. In between, they’ve also worked with other botanists to develop apps for Colorado and the Wasatch Mountains of Utah.

Sales have been slow, but advertising has been minimal, mainly confined to Facebook.

“It’s pretty promising,” said Gibson, who handles the technical aspect of writing the code for the apps.

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“We’re not quitting our day jobs, but we’re optimistic.”

Gibson is a software developer and consulting computer scientist. Tilt is a natural resource conservation consultant. They were introduced by a mutual friend, Pete Coppolillo, after Tilt’s book, “Flora of Montana’s Gallatin Region,” was published.

Coppolillo suggested Tilt create an app with the same features as his book.

But Tilt said when something goes wrong with his computer or phone he asks someone under 10. He never takes his phone hiking, and he flunked computer science.

“Well then, you need to meet Katie Gibson,” Coppolillo told Tilt. She could provide the technical expertise.

“It was typical Bozeman, Montana. We met at the coffee shop,” Tilt said.

Tilt and Gibson agree that the phone and tablet platform can offer many possibilities that a book can’t.

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nature tech but it may also be adapted to use for citizen science projects or to capture tech-savvy children’s interest in nature.

They’re already considering adding a feature for users to compose a life list of plants they’ve seen.

“The great thing about the app is that it’s wonderfully flexible and very portable,” Tilt said.

The app is available on iPhone, iPad, Android phone, Android tablet or Kindle Fire platforms for $7.99 to $9.99. Five percent of the proceeds from each sale goes to a nonprofit group. For the Yellowstone app, the Yellowstone Park Foundation is the receiving partner.

The Yellowstone app contains 330 plants accompanied by more than 1,500 images, illustrations and range maps. Descriptions include information on distinctive field marks, the plant’s preferred habitats and

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tidbits on the plant’s ecology and cultural use.

For example, did you know that quack grass is also known as outhouse grass because of where it grows, or that Kentucky bluegrass was called whiteman’s footsteps by American Indians because of how it seemed to follow them?

“I must admit the tidbit part of this is one of the most interesting,” Tilt said.

Don’t worry that you won’t be able to get a cellphone signal to operate the feature while you’re deep in the woods, the app doesn’t use a data connection.

To save the phone or tablet’s battery life, Gibson recommended users put their device on airplane mode while hiking.

If technology or botany are intimidating, fear not. Tilt and Gibson tried to make the application simple.

“Katie and I designed the app

around somebody standing in a meadow and wondering what flower they’re looking at,” Tilt said.

Using a search key, the user can ferret out the information by selecting the flower color, leaf type and other characteristics to identify the unknown plant. Users can also search by environmental parameters such as elevation, habitat and time of year for flowering.

So what is that low flowering pink plant mentioned at the beginning of this article? If you had the Yellowstone Flora app you could figure out that it’s a bitterroot, the state flower. It grows on dry rocky soils and typically flowers between May and July. Its taproot was an important food for many American Indian tribes.

Tilt hopes that, beyond its obvious utilitarian use, the app will provoke people to become more concerned about their natural resources.

“If people don’t give a damn about their backyard, they’re not going to protect it,” he said.

Brett French is the Outdoors editor for the Billings Gazette.

To learn more about High

Country Apps or download apps, visit www.highcountryapps. com or search for “Yellowstone Flora” in the Apple App Store, Android Market, or Amazon. com. The app is available for the introductory offer of $7.99, and a fully functioning “intro” version is available as a free download.

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improving

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a kitchen to love and envy

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by diane cochran

www.montana55.com

Pat Holler cooked in the same kitchen for 42 years, and she spent a fair amount of that time crouched on the floor.

“If you live in one house long enough, you’re on your hands and knees to dig stuff out of the back of the cabinets,” said Holler, who lives in Billings. “It’s crazy.”

When she decided recently to have a new kitchen built onto her home, Holler envisioned a room where she would never again have to hunker down and rummage through a dark cabinet for a certain pot or pan.

Her design was simple yet brilliant, and it was a first for kitchen remodeler Mike Myers.

“I’d never done a kitchen for anybody where I’d put that many drawers in one house,” said Myers, who owns Kitchens Plus in Billings.

That was Holler’s solution to the problem of the kitchen doodad gone missing in the back of a bottom cupboard jumbled with doodads – drawers. There are no cupboards below the countertops in Holler’s new kitchen, only drawers.

“You just pull the drawer out,” she said. “It comes completely out. Everything is exposed right there at your fingertips.”

Myers initially tried talking Holler into including at least a couple of cabinets in the midst of all those drawers. He told her they would be esthetically pleasing, but she wasn’t having it.

“To hell with esthetics,” Holler said she told him. “I’m the one cooking in here.”

Holler loves her drawer-filled kitchen, and, she said, everyone who sees it is jealous.

Her design ingenuity showcases a trend in remodeling that focuses on convenience, especially in kitchens. Homeowners, particularly those who are of a certain age, want functional spaces, Myers said.

“They’re looking for things that are going to make their lives easier,” he said.

Many older homeowners are navigating their kitchens with sore backs, bad knees or limited eyesight. A kitchen designed to

address and lessen those challenges can make a world of difference.

Full-extension drawers – drawers that extend to or past the face of the cabinetry – are just one example. Consumers are also choosing convenience items such as rollout shelving and under-cabinet lighting, Myers said.

Even simple advances in technology made since a kitchen was first built, such as better drawer slides, can vastly improve it.

No matter what you decide on for improvements, the surest way to end up happy at the end of a remodeling project is to clearly communicate your ideas, Myers said. Sometimes customers bring in pictures of what they want or sketch out their ideas.

“Anything you can do to make the process easier,” he said. “Sometimes the way they describe it and the way we see it aren’t the same.”

Another important consideration is who to hire to do the remodeling. Montana does not require building contractors to be licensed, but consumers can take steps to ensure quality work, said Jim Molloy, chief of the state Consumer Protection Bureau.

“You’re going to be better off if you’re dealing with a local business that is established and that you’ve checked references on,” Molloy said.

A reputable contractor will provide references and will be busy. If workers seem anxious to start right away, be suspicious, Molloy said.

In addition to checking references, ask for proof that the contractor has liability and workers compensation insurance. While it is typical to pay a retainer at the outset of a job, a legitimate contracting company will have materials on hand or the money to buy them, Molloy said.

It is also important to put everything in writing.

“Pay attention to the kinds of things from a common-sense standpoint cause you concern,” Molloy said. “Do your homework.”

Diane Cochran is a freelance writer living in Musselshell County.

LARRY MAYER Mike Meyers shows a drawer for kitchen storage at Kitchens Plus in Billings.

July 2012

37

trails

inviting to walkers, runners and bikers

G

BRETT FRENCH A bike rider utilizes the Great Falls trail system along the Missouri River this spring.

The trails were assembled over 20 years of cooperative work.

38

Great Falls may want to reconsider its name.

Sure, the falls are great and there’s a lot of history around explorers Lewis and Clark’s arduous journey in the 1800s. But for modern explorers the buzz is all about the city’s great River’s Edge Trail system, and for good reason.

by brett french

www.montana55.com

There are more than 45 miles of trails that flow alongside the Missouri River. Starting from a river overlook at Warden Park, the ribbons of asphalt wind through town to the east casting tentacles into surrounding neighborhoods.

Past a dog park, skateboard park and swimming pool, the trail presses on to waterfalls, the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center and Giant Springs State Park. There are 13 parking areas to access the trails along the way. Where the paved route ends single-track dirt trails begin that take bikers and hikers to overlooks of land that appears much the same as when the “LC crew” walked through a couple of hundred years ago.

The trail is a point of pride for those who have helped developed it.

“Great Falls not only has an extensive trail system, but it’s also diverse,” said Marty Basta, director of the Great Falls Parks and Recreation Department.

More to come

Long journey

Brett French is the Outdoors editor for the Billings Gazette.

The network wasn’t built all at once. The trails were assembled over 20 years of cooperative work that involved volunteers, corporate and government partners.

Luckily, there was plenty of unoccupied land. Parts of the trail were built along old rail lines. Other areas are owned

by PPL Montana, operators of dams along the river. PPL granted trail easements to the group as well as helped finance the $6 million system.

“We’ve got a great piece of river here and we’re fortunate to not have a lot of private landowners,” said Doug Wicks, president of the nonprofit Recreational Trails Inc. which oversees trail projects and upkeep.

Because of the largely undeveloped river frontage in the middle of the city, it’s also a trail system unlike anything else in Montana, and possibly the region, Basta said. In comparison, Billings boasts less than 20 miles of trails.

Missoula has just a few miles more than Billings. Bozeman, with its 60 miles of trails, may claim more mileage, but not all of it is connected.

“All of these communities are investing serious money in nonmotorized transportation,” said Stuart Jennings, chair of the trails committee for Bozeman’s Gallatin Valley Land Trust. “I think that is fundamentally because people want trails and they add to a community’s ability to recruit businesses and add to property values.”

Loved by many

Walkers, runners and bikers have taken notice of Great Falls’ paths. A 2010 survey showed there were 36,500 group visits and nearly 70,000 individuals using the trail, Basta said.

Wicks noted that the trail system has become a destination point for visitors to the windy city on the central Montana plains, as well.

“One out of six people using the trail is from out of town,” he said.

Although things are good in Great Falls, the town’s trails community is not content to stop now. Wicks said groups are pushing for the EPA to include a bike trail in its cleanup of an old Anaconda Co. smelter on the north side of the river.

“That would link our north shore and south shore trails,” he said. “Right now, that’s a big gap in our system.”

The Montana Conservation Corps is also working with the International Mountain Biking Association and the Great Falls Bike Club to build a new four-mile section of trail between Ryan and Cochrane dams. The single track route would replace a gravel road that is now being used.

Work will start in July.

“It’s really gotten to be a community asset and the community has really stepped up to help us maintain the trail,” Basta said.

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July 2012

39

lookout

a beautiful place to get away

MICHAEL GALLACHER Fire lookouts make for exotic, scenic and relaxing summer destinations.

Some of the most spectacular places to stay cost less than a tank of gas or a large pizza.

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F

For folks who dream about getting away from it all, you don’t need to go broke to enjoy lodging with some of Montana’s greatest views.

If you want to experience the wild but have a roof overhead at the end of the day, renting a U.S. Forest Service cabin or fire lookout is the way to go.

In fact, some of the most spectacular places to stay cost less than a tank

of gas or a large pizza. There are more than 100 places to choose from across the state. But planning ahead is essential, because the more well-known cabins are harder to place a reservation.

For example, the historic Hogback Cabin in the Rock Creek drainage southeast of Missoula gets booked months in advance of summer. But if someone has their heart set on a cabin that is reserved, don’t give up.

Often, there are cancellations, and if you call a week ahead of when you want to go, or if you’re flexible, sometimes you can get those lastminute opportunities.

Where to book a reservation? Go to www.recreation.gov. This is the government’s booking site for all cabins

by betsy cohen and lookouts throughout the nation. A search tool makes it easy to find all of the Montana rentals and provides detailed information, including a helpful “Frequently Asked Questions”option.

Photos of the individual lookouts and cabins are posted on this site, along with a thorough description of each rental, including a list of things to do in the area, nearby attractions and how to get there.

H

ere’s an abbreviated sample of the Battle Ridge Cabin near Bozeman: Battle Ridge Cabin is a rustic dwelling located north of Bozeman, in southwestern Montana. The cabin was built in 1938 and is open year-round. It can be reached by vehicle in the summer, but guests visiting during winter must hike or ski a quarter-mile from the highway to reach the cabin.

Guests are responsible for their own travel arrangements and safety. Most of the amenities required for a comfortable stay are provided. Only a few supplies are needed to make a stay at Battle Ridge Cabin an enjoyable experience.

Natural Features: The cabin sits in a meadow surrounded by the evergreenforested slopes of the Bridger Mountains, including the 9,004-foot Ross Peak, one of the better-known mountains in the range.

The Gallatin National Forest provides habitat for species such as grizzly bear, gray wolf, mountain lion, deer, elk, moose, bighorn sheep and the Canada lynx. Birders may see a wide variety of bird species.

Recreation: This is a popular destination in winter for cross-country skiers and snowshoers. Hikers can find nearby trails.

Hunting is a popular activity in the area. This is also an ideal spot for birding and watching other wildlife species.

Facilities: Battle Ridge Cabin is wheelchair accessible and has a capacity of up to four to five people. Two sets of bunk beds with mattresses and one cot are provided. A wood cook stove, table and chairs, dishes and tableware, propane lantern, cookware and firewood are also provided.

A vault toilet is located in an outhouse nearby. A campfire ring is just outside the cabin.

No electricity or running water is provided. A spring is located about 500 yards away, but the water should be treated or boiled prior to consumption. Guests need to bring garbage bags to pack out their trash, and they are expected to clean the cabin before leaving.

Items such as bedding, dish soap, dish towels, lanterns or flashlights, extra toilet paper, extra propane and first aid supplies are not available.

Nearby Attractions: Bozeman is approximately 20 miles away, offering various dining, shopping or opportunities to get necessary supplies.

H

www.montana55.com

• In the Bitterroot National Forest, the East Fork Cabin 16 miles east of Sula sleeps eight and rents for $30 a night. It’s open all year, although snowmobiles or skis are needed for access in the winter and late spring.

• In the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest, the remote Doney Lake Cabin, 11 miles northwest of Deer Lodge, sleeps six and rents for $20 a night.

• In the Flathead National Forest, the Schnaus Cabin, 44 miles north of Columbia Falls, sleeps 12 and rents for $50 a night.

• To get a complete listing and description of other Forest Service rentals around the state, stop by a Forest Service office and ask for a “Recreational Cabin and Lookout Directory.” The easy-to-use booklet groups the rentals by forest, provides a map of where each structure is located and lists the phone number of the ranger district in charge of use permits. In Missoula, you can pick up a directory at the Lolo National Forest headquarters at Fort Missoula, Building 24, or call 329-3750.

Most cabins and lookouts fall into the rustic or primitive category. A few cabins are equipped with furniture, bunks and a stove. Most are not. To apply for a use permit, contact the ranger district in which the facility is listed.

Betsy Cohen is a Missoulian reporter, she can be reached by email at bcohen@missoulian.com.

ere’s a glance at a few other offerings in the U.S. Forest Service’s Northern Region: July 2012

41

fitness

Y

get off the proverbial couch

You hear that sound?

Hamilton gym owner and fitness trainer John Humble does.

That’s the sound of 80 million baby boomers with creaky joints. That’s the sound of the market Humble is targeting with his DVD, “Humble Fitness – Forever Young.”

“No one is doing this kind of (DVD) for the boomers,” Humble, a two-time national masters class bodybuilding champion, says. “I see a lot of talk about people doing it, but I couldn’t find anything. So I figured maybe I would do it.”

Humble, who is in his early 60s, says he dedicates a lot of energy to

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SEPP JANNOTTA Fitness trainer John Humble works with client Gordon Givens at the Iron Horse Athletic Club in Hamilton. Humble released a DVD for baby boomers, “Humble Fitness – Forever Young.”

older clients at his Hamilton gym, Iron Horse Athletic Club.

“I’m partial to working with seniors,” Humble says. “I want them to come in to my place and feel comfortable.”

Perhaps Humble’s favorite senior, until he died at age 97, was the original fitness guru Jack LaLanne, and Humble isn’t afraid to let you know that he’s hitched his wagon to the late LaLanne’s star.

Humble spent some of the budget for producing “Humble Fitness” on a video clip featuring the world’s bestknown fitness buff.

Interwoven with text proclaiming “first there was Jack LaLanne, today there’s John Humble” appears a young LaLanne, dressed in his classic one-piece workout suit.

“I’m here for one reason and one reason only, to show you how to feel better and look better, so you can live longer,” LaLanne says enthusiastically, addressing the blackand-white video camera.

That clip is worth having on the DVD, Humble says, because that has become his mission, too.

“I wanted to take over where Jack left off,” Humble says of the man he considers his mentor. “It’s about a lifestyle. About getting healthy and staying healthy and getting ... off the couch.”

But therein lies the challenge, Humble acknowledges. So the DVD addresses that issue squarely, and tilts the question specifically to baby boomers.

Before it gets to any fitness tips, the

by sepp jannotta DVD dives right into the psychological battle that Humble believes is at the heart of Americans’ problem with obesity: People are afraid to get out of their comfort zone.

A slew of stats on the health troubles facing an aging population led to the presumption that older people will begin experiencing those troubles if they don’t get off the proverbial couch.

The purpose of the sequence is clearly to start the program off with the kind of encouragement that will keep people motivated.

“I’m John Humble, and I’m here to tell you, yes you can,” he says in the opening sequence. It also lays out the prongs of the Humble approach: resistance training, cardio, nutrition, and “the secret formula.”

Humble hedged when asked if he could reveal the DVD’s secret.

“The hint I’ll give is ‘attitude,’ ” Humble said. “That’s what my mom told me: ‘The only thing you can

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control is your attitude.’ And I have a very positive attitude toward life.”

He says his own commitment to building his body is demonstrated by how he lives his life – he works out for two hours and eats right six days a week, though he reserves Saturdays for doing nothing and eating anything he pleases.

H

umble’s entry into the world of weightlifting began when a knee operation stymied his college football plans. He got into professional fitness training 35 years ago, but has been competing in bodybuilding and weightlifting competitions for 40 years.

“The reason I started weightlifting was I couldn’t play football and wrestle,” he says.

Eight years ago, Humble bought and renovated the old horse track grandstand building on Marcus Street in Hamilton where his gym, the Iron Horse Athletic Club, now sits.

The move marked a shift from

doubling up as a personal trainer and hunting guide to focusing solely on the personal fitness business.

He runs the athletic club with his wife, Beth, and works as a personal trainer with his clients in a private gym off the second floor.

Humble says most of his clients are seniors, and more than a few are featured giving testimonials and in footage in his video. But he stresses that there is a great need to get kids started into fitness programs, too, and that starts with his own young children.

“My kids are going to work out while they live in my house,” Humble says, adding that some of the proceeds from the DVD will go to his Humble Kids Foundation.

But with his own experiences overcoming physical ailments – Humble says he has overcome four surgeries to his knees and two to his back – he knows how to relate to an older audience.

“I want to work with boomers and keep them healthy,” he says.

Does he schedule regular tuneups, change the oil and rotate the tires? If only he would do the same for his own health.

A man’s body is like a car: by the time he is age 40, it’s past the maintenance-free years. His body needs regular maintenance and check-ups to keep it in good running order. Certain diseases and conditions may not have symptoms, so check-ups help diagnose issues early on before they can become a problem.

To make an appointment for your husband or loved one, call Billings Clinic at 238-2501 or 1-800-332-7176.

For a list of exams and screenings for men, visit www.billingsclinic.com/menshealth July 2012

43

ballpark

44

family time well spent

by bill speltz

www.montana55.com

Every summer I say it: My family needs to spend more time at the ballpark.

TOM BAUER July 2012

45

ballpark

T

For a few fleeting hours, the feeling all is right in the world is palpable.

The trip is a beast, 22 hours in a midsize car with nothing to do but cramp up and test your bladder capacity until the next rest stop.

Don’t plan on being entertained by the radio. You’d be surprised how few options there are between Missoula and the Mississippi River for those of us who favor AM. The Speltz family entertains itself on its annual drive to Iowa with iPods, compact discs, DVDs and reading material. When batteries run low and boredom sets in, heaven forbid, the four of us talk to one another.

What a crazy concept.

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It always ends up being some of our best family time of the year.

Putting up with my son stretching his legs from the back seat into the front and my daughter fighting tooth-and-nail to ride shotgun is a small price to pay for getting to know teenagers growing up too fast.

Outside of Christmas, our only other quality time that comes close is that which we spend at Ogren-Allegiance Park watching the Missoula Osprey. The kids eat their way through the game and cost me a small fortune, but for a few fleeting hours, the feeling all is right in the world is palpable.

Every summer I say it: My family needs to spend more time at the ballpark.

It might not be instant gratification like a fast-moving Wii game, but there’s a lot to be said for slowing things down.

www.montana55.com

The best thing about baseball as a spectator – or a beat writer – is you can let your mind wander and still not miss much.

There’s time to peer up at the clouds or watch the trees blowing in the wind.

Peace and serenity. Plus you get to keep the ball if it comes your way.

Most baby boomers have neat stories about growing up with our national pastime.

For me, there was a trip to the old Met in Minneapolis to watch Harmon Killebrew hit a walk-off homer against Brooks Robinson’s Orioles. And Dave Kingman cracking one onto Waveland Avenue to beat Johnny Bench’s Cincinnati Reds at Wrigley Field.

Foul ball stories are even better.

Sadly, mine is of the one-that-got-away assortment.

My son was just a few months old when we took him to a Royals game in Kansas City. Then-Seattle Mariner outfielder Kevin Mitchell, he of the golden teeth and volatile temper, hit a foul ball landing two seats away.

It would have been sweet to snag a souvenir from Mitchell on Mitchell Speltz’s first trip to the ballpark.

Alas, someone hungrier swooped in ahead of me.

In covering the Osprey semiregularly this summer, I’ve gained greater appreciation for how a minor league team grows on a person.

Call it my own little Bull Durham Experience.

Game nights are a slice of Missoula at its best. Kids of all ages gathering for sport, singing, dancing and laughing. All minus the rowdies

compelled to drink their lunch on Griz football game days. Even the free-loaders who set up beyond center field to watch the O’s have my respect.

Anyone who can sit there sweating and staring into the sun deserves a salute.

Next time you feel like maybe you’re out of the loop with the kids, try treating them to a night at the friendly confines of a ballpark.

It’s sort of like catching time by the tail and holding it hostage – without the smells of a 22-hour car ride to Iowa.

Bill Speltz is a sportswriter at the Missoulian. He can be reached at bspeltz@missoulian.com.

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47

710

square feet for living

K

Ken and Cathy Duce live in a home that’s just 710 square feet.

Somehow, the remodeled duplex doesn’t feel like a shoebox.

On the corner of South Third and Hickory streets in Missoula, the retired couple created a space that feels as warm and cozy as it does vibrant and spacious.

“We wanted to downsize, but we wanted to see how it was to actually live in a smaller place,” said Ken Duce, an architect.

48

KURT WILSON Ken and Cathy Duce have created a vibrant and spacious home in 710 square feet of living space in their remodeled duplex.

A gas fireplace, the visual centerpiece in the living area, adds warmth to the room, and red accents against neutral tones create energy in the home.

The shared spaces and calculated use of every square inch means the living quarters feel roomy instead of cramped.

Duce had been reading about baby boomers downsizing in urban areas. In Missoula, he said that can mean going from 6,000 to 2,000 square feet of space, but he and his wife wanted to truly live small.

by keila szpaller

www.montana55.com

Shared spaces and calculated use of every square inch means the living quarters feel roomy.

KURT WILSON A sitting area near the kitchen allows the cook to visit with family and friends while preparing food.

July 2012

49

710 So the couple remodeled their duplex. They moved out of their Edgewater condominium near Kiwanis Park and into the downstairs part of the duplex, a home that’s less costly, easier to clean and lighter on the environment. “I do think it’s important that people start thinking smaller,� Duce said.

The main living area is a kitchen that melds into the sitting area. Duce likes to cook, and he can stand at the range and visit with his wife or guests in the sitting room at the same time.

The wall behind the range and counter holds a floor-to-ceiling pantry, and the retired architect credits IKEA for the pantries and fixtures that help use space economically throughout the home. “Every cabinet, the shelves, the lights, are all IKEA. And it’s because

they’re a great value for the money,�

Duce said.

IKEA panels, or curtains, also hide an office set into a wall between the living area and the bedroom. Here’s where Duce and his wife each have desk space and an area where they can pile up mail.

When they want the area out of sight, they simply pull back the panels.

Then the living area looks tidied up and ready for company or relaxing.

On the other side of the wall is the bathroom sink and counter, part of the master bedroom. It has a full bathroom, a master closet and, tucked in one back corner, a double-decker washer and dryer.

On the rare occasions the couple needs a large dining room table for a sit-down meal, such as Thanksgiving dinner with family, they rent one and rearrange the living area.

Outside, the yard and patio look more expansive than the living space.

The Duces have had a dog in the past, and they have a large yard so they can own a pet in the future.

The combination of outdoor spaces, indoor spaces, room proportions and shared spaces mean even the smallest house can be more than livable, Duce said: “I think our home shows how a couple can live very comfortably in just over 700 square feet of space, especially if done right.�

Missoulian reporter Keila Szpaller can be reached at @KeilaSzpaller, 5235262, keila.szpaller@ missoulian.com or on MissoulaRedTape.com.

KURT WILSON “We wanted to downsize, but we wanted to see how it was to actually live in a smaller place,� says Ken Duce.

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July 2012

51

investing

building a confident retirement

A skilled financial adviser can help plan for the future, even when the present is uncertain.

52

I

It’s not easy to think about retirement in an economic downturn, especially if making ends meet already is challenging.

Fully two-thirds of Montanans age 50 and older are worried about staying financially afloat during retirement, according to a recent AARP survey. “Building a confident retirement,� is the goal, said Tim Christensen, of Christiansen Shy & Associates in Billings.

by diane cochran Surveys show that for people who are already retired, “their biggest worry was they were going to run out of money,” Christiansen said. “It’s unprecedented.”

A skilled financial adviser can help plan for the future, even when the present is uncertain. But how do you pick the right one?

Most important, experts say, is to ask a lot of questions.

Don’t be afraid to quiz a potential adviser about her experience, qualifications and whether she has ever been publicly sanctioned, said Frank D’Angelo, a certified financial planner and certified wealth strategist for D.A. Davidson & Co. in Missoula.

Noteworthy qualifications are certified financial planner (CFP), chartered financial analyst (CFA) and certified investment management analyst (CIMA), D’Angelo said.

“Those three you have to go through really rigorous courses to achieve,” he said.

D’Angelo also recommended asking an adviser candidate what particular financial services she offers – there’s no sense in hiring someone who doesn’t specialize in the type of investments you want – and what her approach is to financial planning.

Some advisers focus on specific financial goals, while others take a holistic approach and will help develop a single plan to meet all retirement needs.

People often forget to think about the different aspects of retirement, Christiansen said. Someone might be anxious to leave money to her children or grandchildren but not thinking about paying future medical bills.

Christiansen thinks of retirement as a pyramid with four levels of financial interests.

At the bottom of the pyramid are essentials, those expenses that must be met for daily living. How much will you need to buy groceries and pay medical bills? A planner will help you identify those expenses and possible sources of income for them.

Next up on the pyramid is lifestyle, Christiansen said.

Lifestyle expenses go to fulfill your retirement dreams and aspirations. Will you travel to Europe? Will you build a new home? A planner will help you identify your dreams and find funding sources for them.

Above lifestyle there is certainty, where an advisor and a customer discuss what do to if the customer dies or needs long-term care. There will be immediate effects on the customer, but other family members also could feel a financial impact.

Finally, atop the pyramid sits legacy.

“What will you leave?” Christiansen asks. “How do you want to see your legacy transferred?”

A financial planner will help you identify the legacies you wish to leave.

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AARP TIPS FOR SELECTING A FINANCIAL ADVISOR.

1

Ask around. Family members, friends

2

Conduct interviews. AARP recommends

3

Discuss fees. A reputable financial

4

Check backgrounds. Some background

or work colleagues may already be using a trustworthy advisor whom they could recommend to you.

interviewing at least three candidates in person.

Anyone who does not offer a free initial consultation should be crossed of your list.

Ask about the person’s education and career experience and how familiar she is with working with people in situations similar to yours.

advisor will be comfortable explaining how her fees work. It is a flat-fee? A fee based on commission? Or a combination of both? It’s important for the consumer to understand that some recommendations by a financial adviser could result in much different amounts of money being paid to the advisor than if other recommendations were made. Make sure the advisor’s recommendations are based on what’s best for you as the consumer and not for the advisor’s commission.

checking of financial advisors can be done online, including at the following web sites:

www.finra.org/Investors/ToolsCalculators/BrokerCheck/ index.htm www.sec.gov/investor/brokers.htm www.aarp.org/money/investing

Diane Cochran is a freelance writer living in Musselshell County.

July 2012

53

looking back

LINDA THOMPSON

A

After a 25-year career as a wildlife biologist in Alaska, John Matthews returned to western Montana where he engineered and manufactures a recumbent cycle that can be powered by human or electric power.

After a neck injury made it impossible for Matthews to continue mountain biking, he began building his own four-wheeled bikes. “This thing (the bike) has opened doors that were closed 10 years ago,� he says.

54

visit www.Montana55.com

The online resource for Montanans in their prime Practical and inspiring stories about Montanans from current and previous print issues of Montana 55 plus, an invaluable annual guide to Montana’s senior housing, searchable by city.

July 2012

55