Today is Memorial Day — the official, post three-day holiday Memorial Day, that is.

It’s a holiday meant to be a time to remember the men and women in the military who have given their lives in service to our country.

There will be a noon-hour ceremony at Fort Harrison today and another at the Montana Veterans Memorial at Memorial Park at 3 p.m. Make a note to attend if you can.

A thumbs up doesn’t really seem adequate, but consider it a salute.

Although we’d admit to being a little tired of the presidential primary race by now, it is an unusual experience for anyone who’s used to watching national politics from a Montana vantage point.

After all, on Sunday a former president will be in Helena for the second time in a few months.

And tonight, a presidential candidate will be speaking just up the road in Great Falls.

Both Democratic presidential contenders have come to Montana more than once, and we even had a GOP candidate or two along the way.

Even though it makes for a long campaign, we’d mark the ballot with a thumbs up for the attention the race has garnered the state.

Beetles. Pine bark beetles. Notice the red — and dead — trees on Mount Helena and Flesher Pass?

Or practically anywhere else you look?

Little packets of pheromones to staple to trees as a way to try to keep the little buggers at bay have become a hot home accessory.

And logging projects are being started to deal with the damage they leave behind.

We doubt any pine bark beetles read the IR, but we’re still going to give them a thumbs down.

This week’s fatal rafting accident on the Dearborn River is a reminder of the need to respect the power of nature even as we’re out enjoying it.

As always in such tragic events, the silver lining is the people who respond to the emergency, often putting their own lives at risk.

To them, a somber but heartfelt thumbs up.