Ramblings from a relaxing Independence Day

Posted on July 5, 2014 by Clint

For such a low-key Independence Day, I must say that I really enjoyed myself. Nothing really over-the-top exciting happened, but it was simply a good day. Here are a few highlights:

Due to continued recovery from surgery, my wife was stuck in the house with no plans to attend the parade. I’m still regaining my mobility, so the idea of taking my little ones to the Mandan Parade and lugging along supplies wasn’t really an attractive prospect. Nevertheless, for the kids’ sake I loaded up the truck. As we left for Mandan, the skies looked fishy to me. A check of the radar led me to want to call it off. Once we got to our secret spot, which provides a great view with very little pre-planning, the rain and wind stepped up and even the kiddos decided to do something else. Then my wife called with news of the cancellation. The nice thing is that my boys weren’t disappointed or let down. Whew.
I looked up a few remote geocaches that were right beside the road, took my boys out to find a couple, and had a nice afternoon without pushing my body too far. Then we stopped at a friend’s fireworks stand and got ’em some of those little snappers you throw on the ground. They’ve wanted them for a while, so now we’ve got a bunch.
I got a NAP. A serious one. Oh, rest does the body good. Apparently that and medications do as well, because my sweetie was able to come with us to view the capitol fireworks! Thankfully our usual spot doesn’t involve much walking.
We went to the best place to watch the capitol fireworks, the lawn across from Job Service and the Gold Seal Building on the north side. The fireworks look like they’re almost right overhead, and they’re very close. The weird thing about last night was the wind from the south; we got a little bit of debris, to my kids’ enjoyment. How often do you get a strong southerly breeze on a July evening in North Dakota?
As we waited for the show to begin, there was a nice sunset (pictured above). One big cloud looked like it was trying to achieve enough lift to storm, but it ran out of energy and the top sheared off. Made for a nice photo. I did not bring a camera with me, but thankfully phones do pretty well these days. This is actually part of a panorama.
Just before the show began, a car drove by with the worst timing ever. A passenger was holding a Roman Candle out the window, shooting multicolored balls into the air. People were cheering, but the cheers turned to jeers at the end of the next block. A Bismarck Police car was waiting to turn onto Divide, and the officer hit the lights and pulled over the offender. Fireworks bring a Class C Misdemeanor in this town, which can be up to $500 and some jail time. The funny thing was, as they pulled over, the colored balls were still shooting into the air. It’s not like they could just switch it off!
The din of Mandan was breathtaking last night. I don’t think I have ever heard such a ruckus, even on a nice Mandan night on July 4th. It was non-stop, loud, steady, and big. The sustained intensity of obviously large explosions was impressive. A friend said it took him 25 minutes to traverse The Strip, and that visibility in places could be measured in mere feet. Party on.
I didn’t miss my 20-pound camera bag…I’ve photographed the heck out of July 4th in Bismarck-Mandan, have been on a lifting restriction from my docs, and wanted to watch it with my family instead of through my viewfinder. It was great.

As far as the cancellation of the parade goes, this wasn’t a couple of people in a booth making the call based on some pusillanimous fear of passing thunderstorms. There were multiple people from various backgrounds making informed, professional decisions based on the information at hand. As I’ve posted in a few Facebook comments: This storm, while short-lived, had a LOT of lightning. ONE lightning strike in that crowd turns into a mass casualty situation immediately. And with the congestion and resulting chaos, responding to it would be nearly impossible. The various people and organizations that came together in agreement to cancel made the right call. If they’d simply postponed it, people would have hunkered down in place…exactly what safety crews didn’t want them to do.

Our party happens tonight. Some friends run a fireworks business, and they host an hour-long show at their home, far from Bismarck. It should be a real treat.

The four most important words you’ll hear this Christmas

Posted on December 23, 2013 by Clint

Hark the herald angels sing,
Glory to the newborn King!
Peace on earth, and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled.
One ubiquitous Christmas holiday phrase is “Peace on Earth.” As the hymn above shows, that is entirely appropriate; however, we tend to assign an earthly context to it by mistake. It’s not about peace between men at all; rather, it means peace between men and God. Those four most important words I alluded to in the title are the last four in the verse above: “God and sinners reconciled.” That is the source of peace on earth.

“And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” (Luke 2:13-14)

That peace and good will didn’t transmit from man to man; it came from God to all men. Since the fall of Adam, that peace between God and men did not exist. By giving the gift of His son, however, God was offering that peace and good will to men once again:

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6)

There’s your peace…

“Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.” (Romans 5:18)

Repeatedly in the Old and New Testaments, the Bible reminds us that “there is none that doeth good, no, not one.” Romans 3:23 points out that “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” We need as Savior, one whose birth we celebrate each Christmas. As the angel told Joseph:

“Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:20)

This was the Savior foretold by the prophets. For example:

God’s desire is to restore that fellowship and peace, reconciling (see those four important words once again) us to Him through his Son:

“For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell; And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled…”

If you’ve read this blog for a while, you know that I believe what Jesus says in the Bible: “you must be born again.” He means that in order to be forgiven and assured a place in heaven, you must put your faith and trust in Him. We can not do anything to assuage the sin that we carry in our lives; only He can.

By placing your belief and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ to forgive your sins, acknowledging that He made the only sufficient sacrifice for them on the cross, you can be saved. Only then will you be able to truly partake in that “peace on earth” that the angel of the Lord spoke of when declaring good news to those shepherds.

I love the spirit of Christmas as much as, if not more than, the next guy… but the joy, the spirit, the family time, the celebrations, the lights, the gifts… those are all simply a by-product and a shadow of the joy that God extends to each and every person through His son, the one through whom we enjoy unspeakable joy and peace each Christmas and throughout the year.

Introducing the 2013 capitol Christmas tree – it’s real, and it’s spectacular

Posted on December 9, 2013 by Clint

Straight from Wisconsin, this beautiful specimen was lit tonight at a ceremony featuring local musicians, some Bible readings, and even some audience participation as we sung a couple of songs as well. It’ll be up through December 31st and is adorned with ornaments made by ordinary folks and submitted through the North Dakota Council on the Arts.

It was a relief to see that there’s still a real tree in the Memorial Hall of the capitol this year; due to the potential fire hazard of an actual tree there’s mounting concern that may put an end to this tradition in favor of an artificial, non-flammable tree. That’ll be a sad day when it happens, but I understand that North Dakota doesn’t want to be known for burning down two capitol buildings.

The real Thanksgiving

Posted on November 28, 2013 by Clint

Public education teaches us that Thanksgiving was a day in which the poor, helpless, hapless settlers gave thanks to the Indians for saving them from extinction in their new colony. While the settlers did have good relations with native people all around them, and both parties benefited from these friendships, this account of the story is wrong. These colonists set aside a day of thanksgiving to God.

I noticed that even our Dear Leader got it wrong, intentionally or otherwise. Today’s Thanksgiving Day address states, “We give thanks for…people who were already here, our Native American brothers and sisters, for their generosity during that first Thanksgiving.” As recently as 2011, President Obama’s proclamation on Thanksgiving Day, inaccurately declared that “The feast honored the Wampanoag for generously extending their knowledge of local game and agriculture to the Pilgrims…” but this was not the case.

One only needs to examine the writings of William Bradford, governor of Plymouth, to find the following (which you can read for free on archive.org):

I may not here omite how, notwithstand all their great paines and industrie, and the great hops of a large cropp, the Lord seemed to blast, and take away the same, and to threaten further and more sore famine unto them, by a great drought which continued from the 3. weeke in May, till about the midle of July, without any raine, and with great heat (for the most parte), insomuch as the come begane to wither away, though it was set with fishe, the moysture wherof helped it much. Yet at length it begane to languish sore, and some of the drier grounds were partched like withered hay, part wherof was never recovered. Upon which they sett a parte a solemne day of humilliation, to seek the Lord by humble and fervente prayer, in this great distrese. And he was pleased to give them a gracious and speedy answer, both to thier owne and the Indeans admiration, that lived amongest them. For all the morning, and greatest part of the day, it was clear weather and very hotte, and not a cloud or any signe of raine I to be seen, yet toward evening it begane to overcast, and shortly after to raine, with shuch sweete and gentle showers, as gave them cause of rejoyceing, and blesing God. It came, without either wind, or thunder, or any violence, and by degreese in that abundance, as that the earth was thorowly wete and soked therwith. Which did so apparently revive and quicken the decayed come and other fruits, as was wonderfull to see, and made the Indeans astonished to behold; and afterwards the Lord sent them shuch seasonable showers, with enterchange of faire warme weather, as, through his blessing, caused a fruitfull and liberall harvest, to their no small comforte and rejoycing. For which mercie (in time conveniente) they also sett aparte a day of thanksgiveing. This being overslipt in its place, I thought meet here to inserte the same.

In the grateful and humble spirit in which our nation was founded, I plan for our family to spend this extended weekend giving thanks to God. Yes, there will be football, but only as part of fellowship as we remember and account all for which we can be thankful. We still live in the greatest nation on earth and enjoy the fruits of those principles set forth by the founders of this nation and the God whose providence has been showered upon us for well over two hundred years.

Now that the stores are opening on Thanksgiving Day, I have decreed that nobody in our family will go out shopping on Thursday. I may do some online shopping on Friday now that retailers are starting to wise up and mirror some in-store deals online. If you have different convictions than mine, that’s your business. Have fun. But I’ve had it with the commercialization of the holidays and choose not to take part.

Classic: So how do those letters and numbers appear in the capitol windows every July 4th, Christmas, and New Year’s Day?

Posted on July 1, 2013 by Clint

Monday night some of these windows will be lit up with “4TH” as part of the Independence Day celebration on the front steps of the capitol. Every year the celebration features the music of the Bismarck-Mandan Symphony Orchestra and finishes with a dramatic fireworks finale. Have you ever found yourself wondering how those numbers or colored Christmas tree shapes appear in the capitol building’s windows every July and December?

That’s where Bill comes in. He works for the Facility Management Division up at the state capitol, and it’s Bill and his crew who oversee the window shade pulling (and opening) to make sure it’s done right.

While Bill can pretty much do this by habit now, he does have an interesting aid: a diagram of the capitol with the relevant squares (the ones to be lit) highlighted. Facility Management and Bill were kind enough to let me tag along for this year’s window shade operation.

Bill has his custodial crew of around thirty people close all the shades on the front of the capitol as well as the east and west sides. The idea is to have the sides completely blacked out for the celebration, with the “4TH” visible only on the front. Once the crew closed all the shades on those three sides, Bill and I roamed the necessary floors and pulled open the shades forming the text.

Some windows are in spacious offices, and some are in pretty tight spots such as narrow supply rooms. Some are in such tough spots that I got to lend my lanky arms to Bill’s aid in order to snag & pull the cord. Because of that, I can lay claim to part of the 4 and (I think) the H!

The whole process took about a half hour, and I don’t think I held up Bill at all. This was an easy one; the letters were small and compact, and only one side is lit. During Christmas there is the complication of colored shades and two sides to do. For New Year’s there are four sides of the building to do. Also, for displays that are left up for more than one night, it’s important to stay on top of things to make sure the right shades are up and down and lights left on.

I originally posted on this a few years ago and wrote an article for the Dakota Beacon as well. Later on the local TV stations picked up on the story, probably around Christmas time when the windows were decorated again. It’s one of those little things that makes Bismarck-Mandan special!

Quite possibly the coolest old photo I’ve ever discovered

Posted on March 31, 2013 by Clint

Check this out! I received a copy of this photo yesterday, from the collection of Jim Eastgate, featuring the state capitol building. A friend mentioned that this was taken during Easter. There are MANY noteworthy things about this shot:

– First, it’s a long exposure taken at night. This is obvious because the lit windows are visible and there’s a streak of light on the right side of the photo from a car driving past.

– It’s hard to see in this shrunk-down version, but a string of utility poles runs from the lower left diagonally to the center right of the shot, and I’m not sure if they’re power lines or telephone wires.

– The original capitol building had burned down and the bottom two floors were all that survived. It was suggested to me that you can see it in the center-right portion of the shot, right below the “.com” of the watermark. I’m not sure if that’s true, or if it’s a portion of the Liberty Memorial Building.

– The landscape was far different then, as you can see the road in the foreground and the slope of the hill.

How cool would it be if they still did this every Easter? Hm…

Midnight vigil – from a different angle

Posted on December 27, 2012 by Clint

Since I picked up this photography hobby a few years ago, I’ve taken countless photos of the capitol tower…especially over various holidays. I spent most of this Christmas sleeping off a cold/flu bug, but found myself back on my feet late on Christmas Eve. The family was tucked all snug in their beds (I have no confirmation of sugarplum dreams, however) so I decided to head out with my cameras for a little bit.

The sky was perfect, the weather fantastic, and Bismarck appeared to have drifted into a sleepy calm which is sadly uncommon these days. I roamed around for a couple of hours, and even found a new perspective on the capitol’s Christmas attire. Hiking along the walking path to the north, I decided to venture off into the snow a little bit and was rewarded with this shot.

I’m still on the mend from this nasty bug. I don’t think it’s influenza, but whatever it is I don’t recommend trying it. It deprived me of most of my Christmas vacation this year, but it couldn’t take it all.

I wish you a continued Merry Christmas, good health, and a Happy New Year!

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s tenuous North Dakota holiday connection

Posted on December 22, 2012 by Clint

I’ve been down for the count the past few days, sick and staying in bed with my Netbook and iPod. I happened to come across something extremely painful: an Arnold Schwarzenegger-hosted segment of a “Very Special Christmas” special from 1988. Don’t bother watching it…in fact, I only got through the first thirty seconds of it. What I did see, however, was apparently a champion granny bowler from North Dakota! If you’re a glutton for punishment, you can view the video here:

Notice the misspelling of granny’s town? Sigh. It seems that even when they get North Dakota identified correctly, some sort of other typographical error slips in.

I make no apologies if you watched after the mention of the bowler from “Wanpeton”…you were warned. I’m starting to feel a little better, so rest assured I’ll try to find something more genuinely Christmas-like and far less horrifying than Arnold’s demented television disaster.

Beacon of Christmas spirit, 24,000, and a map reminder

Posted on December 12, 2012 by Clint

I’ve been so busy lately, this is the only time I’ve had my cameras out of the bag in recent memory. Work, family, and freelance have kept me hopping, which is why the posting here has been pretty light. I need to be careful or the Christmas season will pass me by! Don’t let the same happen to you if you can help it. This photo happens to be a milestone: it’s photo number 24,000 through my newest camera.

I love the fact that the capitol windows on the north and south sides are decorated with colored shades to celebrate the holiday season. Even better is the fact that we now have enough snow on the ground to technically enjoy a White Christmas! It just wouldn’t be the same without it.

Another reminder: I’ve resurrected last year’s Google Map of Bismarck-Mandan Christmas Lights for this year. I haven’t had a chance to update it, sadly…but hopefully most of the sites on it are still participating. Obviously the Chmielewski House takes the cake.

The link is easy to remember:
www.tinyurl.com/bismarck-mandanchristmaslights.
I wrap up this week with a big live production and some studio time, then hopefully I’ll get a chance to load up the family and go out to investigate the Christmas displays as well!

Could this be the last real Christmas tree in the North Dakota state capitol?

Posted on December 7, 2012 by Clint

I arrived at Monday’s tree lighting ceremony just in time for the lights to be turned on – it was almost as if my seat was wired. My family was waiting for me and my youngest boy exclaimed, “You’re just in time, Daddy!” It’s a special event for us, and I’m glad I was able to break away from work just in time to catch the big moment. In speaking with the governor and Mrs. Dalrymple later, though, I caught an interesting tidbit: this may be the last real Christmas tree in the capitol. Say it isn’t so!

Apparently fire code, which I believe is a city issue, is prompting the pressure on the capitol to abandon the idea of a real (i.e., flammable) tree in the Memorial Hall of the state capitol. Personally, I couldn’t be more dismayed by the thought. As I stood in the Hall last night photographing the tree, it occurred to me even as I unpacked my gear how the smell of a REAL tree is so special. Memorial Hall has that nostalgic waft of evergreen, and it would be a shame to abandon it forever.

I don’t know if a final determination has been made yet, but I sure hope that someone at the capitol puts their foot down and insists on keeping the authentic Christmas tree as part of the capitol’s Christmas celebration. The tree is well maintained; it’s under observation; it doesn’t have any lights on it, being lit by spotlights from a distance; and gets plenty of water. I don’t think it presents the hazard some may think it does. Please, say it isn’t so…North Dakota needs to continue with a real Christmas tree!

Bismarck-Mandan Blog

Photography , musings, and a love of North Dakota

Category Archives: Holidays