It has been a very random week, so this 鈥渄iary鈥 entry will be very random, too.
- By DARLA TYLER-MCSHERRY
Rudi, my 3-year-old wonderful German Shepherd, and I have a quarterly project. We take a garbage bag while walking to collect garbage. We live in rural Yellowstone County, Montana. We鈥檝e done this for the past couple of years and 鈥減atrol鈥 a 3-mile stretch (a 1.5-mile out-and-back route on bo…
- Michael Baron
Dear Michael: We want to complete our estate planning, but after meeting with our local attorney, the process has been stalled for the past two years. He seems either too busy or too occupied with his city and county attorney duties to prepare our wills.
- By BILL LOWMAN
It seems the way a person is raised, the childhood impressions and ways of doing things, either taught or self-developed, stays with a person for a lifetime. You can be sent to classroom instructions for the majority of your youthful developing years and be taught the latest ways of doing th…
- Doreen Rosevold
We have a lot of batteries at our house, just not the ones we need. Batteries are the bane of my existence at times. I don鈥檛 want an electric car because I don鈥檛 want one more dadgum battery to worry about.
- By DARLA TYLER-MCSHERRY
As I was scrolling through today鈥檚 news, an article intrigued me enough to click and read more. The International Space Station (ISS) has been in orbit for more than 25 years. It orbits the Earth once every 90 minutes, and the crew sees 16 sunrises and sunsets every day. I learned that the I…
- Michael Baron
Dear Michael: We read your column in the last issue about uses of life estate deeds. To us, it seems like the perfect solution. No probate, kids know what they are getting at death, protection from Medicaid attachment after five years 鈥 what鈥檚 not to like?
- By BILL LOWMAN
Remember the 鈥淪pace Race鈥 of a half century past? Our USA and the Union of Socialist Soviet Republic (USSR) were deadlocked in a battle to be first up into the heavens. The USSR first sent up the Sputnik II with a live dog. Does anybody remember who the very first human in space was? I鈥檓 jus…
- Doreen Rosevold
The sun pulls hard when it is finally spring. There is an energy about it that makes me think that I can do all those outside jobs I was glad to see snow cover in the fall. Today, I cleaned off the garden. Most people do that in the fall, but for me, when I pull that last carrot and dig that…
- By DARLA TYLER-MCSHERRY
As I sit at my kitchen table and look at the snow flurry-filled gray sky, I can鈥檛 help but think about last weekend when temperatures were hovering around 80 degrees and I spent most of the weekend doing yard work. It was too warm for this time of the year, for sure, but the blue sky and the…
- Michael Baron
Dear Michael: We read your last column where you talked about a life estate on land owned is not subject to probate costs. You also mentioned it was not subject to Medicaid attachment should we need to go to a nursing home and run out of money there.
- By BILL LOWMAN
It鈥檚 amazing how fast life goes by when you鈥檙e busy. The weekend of May 23-24 will be our 40th annual Dakota Cowboy Poetry Gathering, held at the western-styled Medora Community Center.
- Doreen Rosevold
It was the middle of the night, and we were barreling down Interstate 29 south of Sioux Falls, S.D., trying to beat a weather system on our way home from visiting our grandson. We had a motel reservation for another night in Kansas City, Kan., but decided to just take a nap, a shower, and th…
- By DARLA TYLER-MCSHERRY
We鈥檙e living in the season of hope. Welcome to spring! Here in south-central Montana, the grass is getting greener each day, baby calves are bouncing around pastures, and my lilacs are quickly developing buds. Like many of you, I spent this weekend working on various yard projects and develo…
- Michael Baron
Dear Michael: We have reached the age (65+) where we need to be considering either a living trust or a life estate. Our attorney has advised a living trust but we are not sure if this covers us if we go into a nursing home and do not have enough money.
- By BILL LOWMAN
Us rural country folks probably eat out in restaurants more often than the local urbanites do. On every business trip to town, we always patronize a couple of our favorite establishments where we run across friends and acquaintances from far away distances that do the same. We鈥檙e not big on …
- Doreen Rosevold
At five o鈥檆lock, around the world, there is an uneasiness and darkness that shadows the earth. It is the bewitching hour that begs the question, 鈥淲hat is for supper?鈥
- By DARLA TYLER-MCSHERRY
I recently met up with a dear friend for a quick trip through some of Oregon鈥檚 coastline and wineries. She and I have been friends ever since kindergarten, when we rode the bus together and giggled and laughed about things that girls giggle and laugh about, talked about boys and classes and …
- Michael Baron
Dear Michael: We have been quite successful in life and have acquired a large amount of liquid assets. In the back of my mind, I have always wondered about long-term care insurance. Now that I have acquired sufficient funds to pay for my own long-term care, is long-term care insurance worth …
- By BILL LOWMAN
When young folks start out in ranching, unless they鈥檙e stepping into a generational family operation, they鈥檙e forced to purchase their base herd. Although we partnered with my parents, JoAnn and I went out and bought our herd to immigrate with theirs, on borrowed money of course. Stock cow a…
- Doreen Rosevold
I鈥檝e taken up a new hobby 鈥 painting. Not what I should be painting, like the barn or the bedrooms, but painting that is a slap in the face to Leonardo da Vinci.
- By DARLA TYLER-MCSHERRY
Over the weekend, a storm blew across Montana that brought several inches of heavy, wet snow to many areas. It should help with incredibly dry conditions that much of the state is suffering from. We endured terrible winds for two days prior to the storm, so for about four days we had dark, h…
- Michael Baron
Dear Michael: I am a widower. My wife died seven some years ago. I have three daughters who do not farm. I have just over 600 acres south of Jamestown, N.D. 鈥 half farm and half pasture. I kind of have it in my head how that I want to split the property between the three of them. One has a c…
- By BILL LOWMAN
Despite some early wet and heavy ice pack over ridges and all from rains through November and December, it鈥檚 been a wide-open warm winter other than a couple January nights of 35 below. The daily winter-feeding routine of today is a far cry of year鈥檚 past. It used to involve hand sacking 100…
- Doreen Rosevold
Bacon is a wonder food. I use it on a regular basis and on special occasions, like the day that the payment for my credit card is due. Bacon for breakfast? No complaints from the spouse on most any charges that day. Not even that charge from Etsy.