A Doug Mood: what I'm in today, and every day, but this Doug expresses it with Energizer Bunny energy. Says the Great Falls Tribune: "the new speaker of the Republican-controlled House [...] likes to test himself -- and he's spent no small amount of time doing it. The 59-year-old Mood has run in five marathons and competed in several triathlons, the grueling event where competitors swim a mile, ride 50 miles on a bicycle and run the final six miles. He plays and composes music on a trio of guitars and also plays or has played the accordion, saxophone, violin and mandolin. As a skier, he pushed himself to become better so he could ski with his expert-skier son."

The wolf -- known as No. 2 -- who led that species to successful re-establishment in Yellowstone has died, pushed aside by the next generation that No. 2 made possible, says Doug Smith, Yellowstone's lead wolf biologist, in a Billings Gazette story published today. "He was not a strong presence but a solid one," Doug told the newspaper. "He was a great hunter and a great provider for his pups. He did his job. [...] He was a mammoth wolf with one of the biggest, bushiest tails I've ever seen. But he was old, 8 years old, and a step slower."