Big Sky Blog

New York Daily News is reporting that our senior Senator (and 10th ranking US Senator) is on the outs with his wife Wanda:

As if Sen. Max Baucus hasn’t had enough on his mind as chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, he and his wife, Wanda, have split. The Montana Democrat’s spokesman denied Baucus has been sleeping on his office couch, and released this statement from the couple: “In 25 years of spirited marriage, it is natural for differences of opinion to arise. We choose to discuss and resolve our differences privately and respectfully thank people for understanding.”

Well, politics aside, Baucus seems like a good guy, and I completely understand that he wants to keep this matter private. Unfortunately, when you live in the public eye, this sort of stuff just can’t be kept under wraps. Wanda, by the way, is no stranger to mild controversy; she was accused several years ago of an altercation over mulch.

In all seriousness – best wishes to him and Wanda. Hope they either work things out, or remain amicable.

Here is an interesting bit of news for anyone interested in Montana’s frontier heritage.

The Montana Cowboy Hall of Fame is seeking nominations for its second round of inductions for the 1860-1920 Legacy Awards to honor historical figures who had an impact on Montana’s Western heritage.
[…]
This year’s nominees can be men, women, ranches, stage coach lines, animals and hotels — or anything or anyone who made their mark in the state before 1920, no matter the year of death or closure.

The article mentions that 51 people were selected last year but the Montana Cowboy Hall of Fame website doesn’t have any of them listed so I am at a loss at who is in the MCHOF. Hopefully this is something they’ll get online soon.

If you have any ideas of possible people or items listed above that may be worthy in induction be sure to forward your ideas by Nov. 1st.

UPDATE: The ubiquitous Wikipedia has the inductees listed.

Heard earlier today that CNN political reporter John King was in Montana, and here’s a screen shot from this evening with John reporting from Helena:

Isn’t it amazing how much attention The Last, Best Place has received this year, thanks to the Presidential campaign? The Obama team spent plenty of time here, including his much-covered Independence Day stay in Butte; both Clintons campaigned here in Montana; and recently our Governor’s election-tampering remarks garnered some MSM coverage.

Montana’s not used to this kind of attention. But we’re OK with it…as long as it doesn’t last…right?

PS to John King: if you’re reading this, visit me at GreaterFalls.com! Better yet, take a scenic drive up here – lunch is on me!

Electric City Weblog found a video clip on YouTube that Montanans should see. In the clip, Montana Secretary of State Brad Johnson and former U.S. Senator Conrad Burns appear on Fox News to discuss the controversy over Governor Brian Schweitzer’s “election tampering” comments at a trial lawyers’ meeting.

The consensus seems to be that either Governor Schweitzer really did unfairly influence the election, or that he bragged about doing such in a joking manner (or joked about doing such in a bragging manner). The first is illegal & unethical; the second is just bone-headed and stupid. IF it’s the former, then Schweitzer needs to be held accountable; if it’s the latter, then…well, there’s no law against being bone-headed and stupid.

But how will Montanans know if it’s true or not unless Attorney General Mike McGrath actually, you know…investigates?

Up here in Great Falls, the cost of parking downtown might be going up from 25-cents to 50-cents per hour. I’ve got no problem with it, but there are plenty of folks who are steamed about it. Someone mentioned to me that there are no parking meters in downtown Missoula and Bozeman, which got me wondering: how do other communities in Montana deal with downtown parking – or do they at all? Is Great Falls the only “metered” downtown community? Drop a comment and let me know if you have to drop some silver for the privilege of parking in your downtown.

Got an e-mail from Montana author and blogger TL Hines, and his new project sure sounds intriguing – especially to fellow bloggers, I suspect:

My new book, THE UNSEEN, is about a loner who hides in unexpected places. So to help roll out the project, it’s time to hide reminders about the book in unexpected places.

I’m calling it the Unseen Pages Project, and here’s how it works. I’m disassembling one complete copy of the book, and I’d like to hide every one of those pages–192 in all–across the United States and Canada. Bookmarks attached to each page direct people to my web site, inviting them to leave a comment about the page, where they found it, where they left it for someone else to find, or whatever. The page that gets passed around most–that is, the page that gets the most comments–wins prizes for each and every person who found it. If you’re a fan of the BookCrossing site, it’s kinda like that, except we’re hiding individual pages instead of entire books. (I explain why at my site, along with more details.)

Which brings me to you. I hope you…will be interested in hiding two or three pages in their first hiding places. You’ll get a link to your own site or blog for each page you hide, as well as chances to win prizes, and my eternal gratitude. And I hope it’s something fun for all of us.

Unseen Pages Project information

If you live in or near Helena, Montana, I’ll be doing a library program at the Lewis & Clark Public Library this Thursday, September 18th, at 7:00 pm. We’ll be discussing writing, the publication process, tiddlywinks, and anything else that comes up. I’ll also be doing other library programs in October and November across Montana (and maybe a few other places in the Rocky Mountain West), so stay tuned for details.

I hope you’ll be part of the Unseen Pages Project. I hope you’ll read the new book and let me know what you think. If nothing else, I hope you’ll drop a quick note to say “hi.” As always, thanks for taking the journey with me.

TL Hines

Seems like a pretty cool project – and the book sounds like a good read, too! Best of luck with the project, TL!

It’s time to crank up the Montana pride and cast a vote for Caitlin, a student at Great Falls High School who is one of five finalists in a big national contest:

Hey! My name is Caitlin, I’m from Great Falls and I am a finalist in a national contest to win a trip to New York through Sally Hansen and Cosmogirl magazine. I was wondering if you might be able to make a post about it to see if the faithful readers might be interested in helping me out with some votes? The website is Have U Seen Sally?; in the lower left-hand corner there is a sticky note that says “check out the sally contest finalists” click that and it leads to the pictures and stories of the five finalists!

OK, gang, you know what to do: head on over to the site and vote for Caitlin! If she wins, maybe she’ll bring back a NYC souvenir for all of us!

If you’re a right-of-center person – who in 2008 can be called Conservative, Republican, Libertarian, Paleocon (or should that be Palin-ocon now?), Neocon, Independent – and you want to start blogging, check this out: Right Montana! It’s a free, push-button simple blogging site where anyone can sign up and begin blogging literally within minutes. It’s based on the Wordpress platform, which can’t be beat, and did I mention that it’s free? And there are dozens of Themes (templates) to choose from, with lots of options to customize your blog.
So if you’re Right and want to tell the world what you think about Life, The Universe, and Campaign 2008 (and beyond), head on over to Right Montana and start blogging!

Here is an entry from October 1, 1954 by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt about her visit to Billings.

It’s a chatty, but interesting entry. One thing I found interesting; Mrs. Roosevelt lists what she feels makes a hotel comfortable and it seems the Northern fit the bill. Who would have thought washcloths, waste baskets and reading lights would be so important. I guess it just reinforces the belief that it’s the simple things in life we miss the most when they’re gone.

TV Barn has a great profile of John Bohlinger, Jr., the current head of the house bands for the television shows Nashville Star, on the USA Network, and The Next GAC Star on the Great American Country Network.

Yes, John, Jr. is the youngest son of our Lt. Governor.

Aaron Barnhart is an old friend of the Bohlinger family and has written an engaging and honest profile of a Billings native who is succeeding in something he loves. John has an album in the works but it has yet to be released. If you check out the music section of John’s website you can get a taste of the type of music John writes and performs. Good stuff all. Hopefully, it will be released soon.