LIFESTYLE & LOCAL PERSPECTIVE

Sunrise & Sunset Times

Date Sunrise Sunset
April 7 7:05 a.m.     8:22 p.m.
April 8 7:03 a.m. 8:24 p.m.
April 9 7:01 a.m. 8:25 p.m.
April 10 6:59 a.m. 8:27 p.m.
April 11 7:57 a.m. 8:25 p.m.
April 12 6:55 a.m. 8:30 p.m.
April 13 6:53 a.m. 8:31 p.m.

 

Simons Weekly Weather

Northwest Montana Regional Forecast

 

Tuesday, April 6

Patchy early morning valley fog and low clouds otherwise mostly sunny and a little warmer. Highs in the mid 50s to mid 60s with mid 40s around 5000 feet. Afternoon west to southwest winds 5 to 15 mph.

 

Wednesday, April 7
Increasing clouds with a slight chance of showers late in the day along the Idaho and British Columbia borders. Lows in the mid 20s to mid 30s with lower 30s around 5000 feet. Highs in the mid 50s to lower 60s with lower 40s around 5000 feet.

 

Thursday, April 8 Cloudy with a chance of valley rain showers and mountain snow showers. Lows in the 30s with upper 20s around 5000 feet. Highs in the upper 40s to mid 50s with mid 30s around 5000 feet.

 

Friday, April 9
A slight chance of valley rain and snow showers and mountain snow showers. Lows in the upper 20s to mid 30s with mid 20s around 5000 feet. Highs in the 50s with near 40 around 5000 feet.

 

Saturday, April 10
A chance of rain and snow showers in the valleys and a chance of snow showers in the mountains. Lows in the 30s with upper 20s around 5000 feet. Highs in the upper 40s to mid 50s with near 30 around 5000 feet.

 

Sunday, April 11
Variable cloudiness and continued cool. Lows in the 20s with lower 20s around 5000 feet. Highs in the upper 40s to mid 50s with lower 30s around 5000 feet.

For the most up to date information visit

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Professional Tips

 For Nesting Season

To successfully help your backyard birds with their springtime nest building—and to save them valuable energy for breeding—here are some
recommendations for providing bird-friendly
nesting materials from Rowden and Gordon.

 

Safe Materials—

Twigs or small sticks: Natural materials that birds could find on their own are good baselines for nesting components. You can collect twigs or small sticks to pile or loosely bundle together in your yard, allowing birds easy access to materials they would otherwise have to search for.

Leaves and other yard waste: Keep debris and leaf litter around your yard instead of perfectly manicuring your lawn for spring. Although it comes at the price of a less picturesque space, the birds will appreciate it (as will your back).

Small pieces of straw: You can find straw at the nearest Home Depot or any other home improvement store. Pile the straw outside in a spot easy for birds to find. To up the entertainment value, you can also display it in a suet feeder or recycled berry
container for the birds to yank out.

Grass clippings: If you trim your grass, consider piling clippings in your lawn instead of throwing them in the trash. However, if you’re going to go this route, be sure you don’t use fertilizers, pesticides, or other chemicals on your grass.

Native plants: An excellent way to make your yard bird-friendly and provide easy access to safe nesting materials is by growing native plants. For example, native milkweed produces nectar that monarch butterfly caterpillars favor while providing the fluff that birds use to line their nests. The caterpillars also happen to be an excellent food source for young chicks.  “That’s a win-win-win,” Rowden says.

 

Materials to Avoid—

Human hair: According to Gordon, human hair is a triple threat for birds: It’s long, thin, and strong. These characteristics can be a deadly combination, allowing the hair to easily ensnare a bird’s leg or wing and sever it. “You can wrap [hair] around your finger and cut your circulation off,” she says.

Yarn or string: Long strands of yarn and string can wrap around a bird. Hatchlings are particularly susceptible to such entanglements, Gordon says. Yarn in a nest can get caught around a baby bird and cut off circulation as it grows.

Dryer lint: Although it is popular to put out and seems like the perfect lining for a nest, dryer lint quickly loses its fluffiness and structure when wet. Dryer lint is unsustainable in the rain, crumbling and leaving holes in an otherwise solid nest.

 

For more tips on how to make your home and yard a haven for birds, check out Audubon’s Bird-Friendly Communities page. 

 

https://www.audubon.org/news/what-nesting-materials-are-safe-birds

 

Journeyman Level Carpenter

-Dispatcher/Part-Time/Troy

-Store Deli/Town Pump/Libby

-Track Maintenance /BNSF Railway

-Driver/Delivery Helper /Fun Beverage/Libby

-QC Manager /Worley Parsons

-MSW Hospice Social Worker – Hospice

-Lincoln County Shared Stewardship Coordinator/$90,000 yearly/full-time

-CMA or LPN/full-time/CHC

-Kitchen Aide/Cabinet Mountain Brewery

-Sandwich Artist/Subway

-Certified Pharmacy Technician/Pharm Tech Training /full-time/CHC

-Resident Advisor/Turning Winds

-CMA/MA

-Ground Person Local 44 & 532 w/Drivers License/
Utilities Service LLC

 

ATTENTION:  Due to COVID, Job Service Libby now requires all communications be handled by email
LibbyJSC@mt.gov or phone (406) 293-6282.

Stop by the Job Service office, 417 Mineral Ave, #4, and look for the Career  Exploration Assessment in the kiosk by the door. Fill out, return to Job Service, and a Career Coach will contact you.
*A full listing of all jobs now available in Lincoln County can be accessed by visiting:

Montana Works at MontanaWorks.gov. 

Employers : Are you having a hard time filling

positions or training workers? Contact Job Service to learn about several programs that can assist you with the cost of hiring and training workers!

Job Seekers :  Have you been laid off?  Do you have a current job offer? Or plans to enter a training

program? Job Service Libby may be able to help you reach your career goal.  Stop by our office and pick up a Career Exploration Assessment in the kiosk by the office door. When completed, simply put it in the mail slot and a Career Coach will contact you to

discuss your plans.

Montana Gas Price

As of April 5, 2021 –

 

Montana gas prices have risen 1.1 cents per gallon in the past week, averaging $2.71/g today, according to GasBuddy’s daily survey of 615 stations in Montana. Gas prices in Montana are 13.7 cents per gallon higher than a month ago and stand 75.5 cents per gallon higher than a year ago.

 

Courtesy of GasBuddy

Whose land is it, anyway?

When public officials abdicate their power, the people who pay their bills do have a say in what their money is being used to do. We The People, not the state or feds, own the lands.

Arriving at my army duty station, I told my sergeant what a crazy thing I saw coming in: bare hills – until one tree inside a cyclone fence with a man on his knees grooming the grounds.

In Montanan, trees grow wherever you do not want them to be. The man explained how the greedmeisters had stripped the hills bare and that one tree that grew back was a shrine. No, I was not stationed in Wyoming.

We “greens” have to keep something for them to want when all of their resources are in Chinese stockpiles so their greedmeisters get million-dollar yuan bonuses like our state officials want for themselves.

Greedmeisters abuse of public land is what gets public land locked up so We The People have something of
value for Wyomians to visit and see what they are giving up to greed.

Pay your taxes and stop trying to rip the public off for your special
interest greed and there will be no reason for cash cow lawsuits.

Same rosperity, green jobs fund schools, roads, libraries, and social
programs, but greedmeisters block them so they can apply for all available federal grants for themselves.

In federal or state name, We The Public are still the owners in control. All of us, not just a few greedmeisters.

Be sure the tail you wag is a dog and not a grizzly bear. We The People abdicated our tails long ago.

 

Submitted by

Stanley G. Davis

Troy, Mont

Federal Government “Benefits”…?

If we don’t learn from history we’ll have to learn it again! Remember the old days when regular folks said “Beware of those government ‘benefits,’ there will be strings attached” – we will be controlled like puppets!

History has proved them right:

1770’s – Our founding fathers struggled to give us a better government. They chose Federalism, but stated it would only work for a
moral people… until we
(and congressional leaders) discover we can vote benefits for ourselves.

1780’s – Assistance for education at various levels begins,

1930’s – Welfare programs begin, including social security.

1965 – Johnson’s social reform war on poverty
begins – support for education, Medicare parts A and B, and Medicaid become law. Private health insurance companies become
subservient.

1980 – Department
of Education begins
operation – called the new “bureaucraatic boondoggle.”

1990’s – Pelosi and
Clinton conceive the Medicare modernization act.

2003 – Medicare prescription drug, improvement and modernization act is passed.

Part D for prescriptions is introduced as a “voluntary drug benefit” – my husband and I chose not.

2020 – We are informed Part D is now added to our plan, a penalty will be charged because we had not originally opted for Part D. (historically we have never needed it!)

2021 – We receive penalty invoices near $100/month because we have not originally signed up for Part D.

In February we are threatened if penalty is not paid it will be taken out of our Social Security.

In March we are told if penalty is not paid our
insurance will be cancelled.

We pay.

Yes, the water is boiling – how do we jump out?

 

Submitted by

Laura McGlasson
Libby, MT