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When Co-dependence Works

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 16:04:37 MDT

Would it be too weird to show up at a twelve-step program for codependence with my dog? Not that I would even think of getting help. We're so mired, the dog and I, in deep co-dependent bliss, that I absolutely don't want what we have to change. Ever. We are, however, both miserably unhappy without our other around and preferably within close proximity. I need to be needed and he needs to be needy. Our relationship is, by all accounts, perfect in this way, however dysfunctional. A border collie-some-sorta-cow-dog cross, Walker and I came together by chance circumstances some seven years ago. His former owner was involved in an accident, left bed-ridden, and opted to surrender his beloved dog to the Humane Society. Theirs was a sad parting for sure and this kind gent made weekly checks to keep tabs on things a wonderful example of a good person who cared very much, turning to a shelter for a completely valid reason and in the best interest of his animal (shelters aren't always dumping grounds for problem critters and/or heartless owners).

Newly Numerous, Cyclists Face Angry Drivers

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 15:29:37 MDT

Abusing cyclists it's all the rage! I found this out the other day, using one of the mid-block crosswalks that interrupt Canyon Blvd., in Boulder the kind that have flashing yellow lights to alert motorists that yes, they have to stop for the unprotected person risking life and limb to cross the street in traffic. "Get off that bike!" a blowsy bottle-blonde in an SUV shouted, so loudly that I stopped, startled, in mid-street. "You're not a pedestrian!"

Price of Farmland Continues Climb in Nation, Mountain West

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 10:51:24 MDT

The price of farmland across the nation is so high its breaking records, even as commercial and residential development pressures wane. And, the biggest increases in per-acre values are right here in the Northern Rockies. According to a report released this week from the USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service, nationwide farm real estate values, which measure all land and buildings on farms, grew to, on average, $2,350 per acre, a jump of 8.8 percent from January 2007 to January 2008 . The average is $190 more than it was in 2007 and a record high. The agency attributes "strong commodity prices and farm programs, outside investments, favorable interest rates, and tax incentives" as contributing factors to the increase in farm real estate, and "Livestock prices, recreational use and urban development" continue to drive up the cost of pasture land.

Oregon's Ten Strangest City Names

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 10:49:54 MDT

As the pioneers trudged west all though years ago they used up city names from Missouri to New Mexico. Eventually the travelers arrived to Oregon where the established settlements and cities. Naturally they had to give these locations names. And some of the names they dubbed are nothing short of great comedy. The collection is quite profound, these Oregon city names. And after some serious investigation here's the list of the ten best city names in Oregon.

Montana Ghost Towns and Gold Camps by Bill Whitfield

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 10:05:00 MDT

Montana Ghost Towns and Gold Camps by William W. Whitfield Stoneydale Press, 240 pages, $19.95 Bill Whitfield often thinks about what Montana must have been like for the plucky miners and homesteaders who lived during the flourishing heyday of Montana mining towns. Although these miners would probably have a hard time envisioning the world we know today, thanks to Whitfield's pictorial guide Montana Ghost Towns and Gold Camps, it's easier for us to envision theirs. Brimming with more than 450 raw and blunt photographic recollections of mostly left behind and disremembered mining structures, relics, and machinery, Whitfield's book provides us with the nostalgic insight to be able to better see and understand the mining world, and the satisfying luxury of visiting the places where the rough and ready lived, worked, fought, drank and died. These bare photographs evoke emotions solitariness, desperationor images of pioneers' and miners' struggles to survive uncivil but simpler times.

Big Sky Economy Still Chugging Along

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 10:01:02 MDT

High transportation costs have pushed prices up across the board and made Montana consumers feel like losers, yet the state's economy -- and those all-important employment numbers -- will continue to grow, said Tobias Madden of the Federal Reserve Bank in Minneapolis in a mid-year sum-up. When forming the core of his analysis, Madden considers the state's two main economic forces: natural resources and the natural amenities, which drives tourism, in-migration, cross-border trade and related industries.

Sirota on the West's Newfound Political Relevancy

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 09:54:03 MDT

The Intermountain West has become the most important political battleground in America, argues author and commentator David Sirota, more pivotal than Ohio and with a burgeoning influence on energy, taxes, trade and health care. In a column today, set in Butte, Montana, Sirota writes: "[Should Democrats prevail in key races around the region], they will prove that even in fossil fuel country, candidates can win the most contested races on green platforms. That would likely prompt a more aggressive departure from the Bush administration's energy agenda."

Fair to Partly Crazy: It's Fair Week

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 09:50:38 MDT

Let me give your fair warning (sorry) right now: once you enter into the midway/carnival area, you can't get out. I spent at least half of our four hour stay in that labyrinth, like a rat who'd lost the scent of the cheese. This year the nefarious layout is arranged like some kind of complicated maze, where each turn brings you not to an exit, but to another geegaw-crammed booth where you aim a projectile at an object in order to win a valuable prize like, oh, an inflatable hammer. At one booth they have you try to break beer bottles with a rock. The line of fishermen waiting to play must have been a hundred feet long. I had to wait nearly half an hour for my turn. The midway was thick with grubby kids. Nothing says my mom smoked and drank while she was pregnant like a rug rat with a Mohawk. I know it's just hair, but it makes an otherwise normal-looking kid seem belligerent and bound for a life of crime. These thoughts were going through my head last night, as I encountered at least four stripe-shaved urchins running through the midway. I goaded Rusty, trying to convince him to get a Mohawk, but he refused.

Put the Lid Down on the Pee-Tossing, Dudes

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 09:34:56 MDT

Litter crews near the Oregon-Idaho border are finding plastic bottles full of urine along a 25-miles stretch of Interstate 84. Ewe. "The main portion, about 100 bottles, was found on the eastbound side in a three mile stretch called 'Three Mile Hill' between milepost 356 and 359, Oregon State Police Sergeant Jason Reese said in a prepared statement. This area is prone to this problem because commercial trucks are driving at a slow speed and drivers can urinate into bottles and toss them out the window. In Oregon, it's a $250 misdemeanor called improperly disposing of human waste ya think? and state police think the high price of gas causing slower driving is the problem. Drivers also may be skipping rest stops because of, er, pressure to deliver on time.

Grousing Around

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 09:13:51 MDT

Wyoming Governor Freudenthal last week issued an executive order that seeks to strike a balance between energy development and protection of the habitat for what's left of the state's sage grouse. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has been directed by a federal judge to determine whether the sage grouse should receive protections under the federal Endangered Species Act, something Freudenthal and other Western governors would just as soon avoid.