Category Archives: Holidays

Happy Industrial Revolution Day! (Or Happy Romans Chapter 1 Day for us Bible believers)

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This is a view that few people get to see. The glowing red on the other side of that smoked glass is a vortex of 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit reaching over two hundred feet high. It burns powdered coal which has been cleaned and dried, making it a very efficient and clean source of power. And it’s right here in North Dakota. You could put the state capitol building inside this boiler!

When you hear about “clean coal technology” you should note that North Dakota is pretty much the epicenter of innovation. At this particular power plant, by the way, over $200 million has been spent over the past thirty years on development of environmental technology. New processes have been brainstormed here that are of interest to power generation companies all over the world!

By the way, April 22nd is called “Earth Day” by some. This day was so named in order to fight global cooling back in 1970. That should tell you right there how much credibility the global cooling warming climate change movement has. Add to the mix the fact that it falls on Lenin’s birthday and mounting evidence that the “environmentalism” movement is merely a home for displaced socialists, and it all starts to make sense. After all…no matter what manifestation of global weather crisis is used to incite panic, the ONLY purported solution has always been global socialism.

Back to the photo. The power coming from plants like this powers homes, businesses, hospitals, schools…you name it. It provides life-saving heat in the winter and cooling in the summer. It powers information technology, life support systems, manufacturing, and who knows what else. Yet there are those deranged individuals who wish to vilify the energy industry and treat such technical innovation with disdain. They’re truly detached from reality and I welcome them to relocate to a third world country if they find nobility in primitive living.

Incidentally, the Bible talks of people who worship creation rather than the Creator in Romans chapter 1. This is nothing new. Actually, the people pushing this climate agenda wouldn’t be pushing it at all if the solution wasn’t global socialism. That’s why I choose to have a Festivus of sorts, one that recognizes the value of the technology and innovation that makes this country great. I’m not the one who brainstormed this answer to Earth Day, but I am certainly on board. Happy Industrial Revolution Day and/or Romans Chapter 1 Day!

One more time, with feeling

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I had lots of fun family time this weekend instead of roaming with the camera, but I did want to sneak in a quick 2012 shot. Since I began this blog site in January 2006 I have always found a way to nab a quick shot of the capitol with its windows declaring the new year. During that time I’ve just about shot every available angle of the thing, but I was able to grab something a little different this time around.

I did go out after midnight, chuckling at all the other like-minded souls roaming the capitol grounds with their cameras, but I found the experience lacking this time around. The reason for that is the clear sky; it doesn’t reflect any light on the capitol, so in order to properly expose the windows one must underexpose the building even more than I’d like. That almost gives the 2012 an appearance of floating in midair. Here’s where my “technical creativity” kicked in: I figured I’d let the sun help me out.

I packed up my gear this morning before sunrise, got into position, and waited for the sun to give me just enough scattered light in the atmosphere and on the capitol tower without competing with the 2012 in the windows. It was a fine balance, and I actually set an intervalometer to sit and take shots every 30 seconds so I could catch the right window of time, and that was that.

The shot above has the windows lit with the new year, the tower and town are visible, the sky is a nice blue, and it looks like everything worked as planned. Also important is that I think, out of all the people who photographed the building, I have a very unique photo.

Happy New Year!

In a word: Busy.

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Busy. That would describe my 2011 in as concise a way possible, yet in as verbose a manner as necessary. The photo above? I had to Photoshop the windows in last year’s photo because I didn’t get the time to take a real one…yet.

I don’t believe in New Year’s resolutions; however, I do hope to make better use of my time in the future. That should allow more opportunities for what’s important: faith, family, fotography, motorcycles… 🙂

Happy New Year!

Almost forgot one – the Anderson Building

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I can’t let the Christmas season pass without recognizing one of my favorite displays: the Anderson Building on Main Avenue and Mandan Street. For those of you who may wonder, for me Christmas season starts on midnight Thanksgiving Day until midnight on New Year’s Eve. Thankfully, many others feel the same way to a degree; Christmas light displays like this one are still boldly lit all over town! That allows guys like me to get some “pickup shots” of the ones we missed. Christmas was WAY too busy this time around.

One feature about this building has me wondering: the loudspeakers up top. Personally, I think they need to be sending out Christmas music, preferably some sort of Vince Guaraldi montage or something. What do you think?

Merry (continual) Christmas, and Happy New Year!

Christmas 2011: notable absences

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I’m not about to go negative here, I just would like to fondly remember a few Christmas decorations that have brought a lot of joy in the past but were absent this year. Above is the Paul Schaff house, located southwest of Mandan. It was an amazing display, but he stopped doing it after his wife passed away. You could see it from the Seven Seas restaurant!

This tree on Northview Lane used to be decorated from bottom to top. Under its current ownership, however, it’s only decorated a little ways up. I see the house is listed for sale, so let’s hope that the new owners have a cherry-picker!


Speaking of trees, this one on north Fourth Street (just past Divide Avenue) was one of my personal favorites. It was decorated with class and was enormous. It was dark this year.


Back to Northview Lane – this house at the top of the hill had flashing lights, but I didn’t see a sign indicating a radio station for it to sync with. Since he was on 107.5 before The River (now MOJO 107.5) came on the air, I wonder if he got drowned out. Time to spend a hundred bucks on a frequency-agile transmitter, guys.

Another house on a cul-de-sac just past the top of the hill was a home decorated with lots of characters and lights…it too sat dark this Christmas.

2011 is going to go down as a year in which a LOT of things just didn’t happen. Many people’s lives were turned upside down due to the flooding and other events this year, so I certainly don’t want to come across the wrong way by highlighting an absence of decorations. Again, these displays brought joy to a lot of people, and we miss ’em. That’s all. Hopefully new ones and old favorites like the Chmielewskis will keep all parts of Bismarck and Mandan bright with Christmas cheer next year, while proving those pesky Mayans wrong once and for all!

Christmas Lights Map: it’s back (Now with the link included!)

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Sorry, I forgot to include the link to the map on Google Maps when I wrote this post at oh-dark-hundred this morning! This is hardly comprehensive, but it’ll get you going. I’ve resurrected last year’s Google Map of Bismarck-Mandan Christmas Lights for this year, with an addition or two and, sadly, a few subtractions. Highlights include:

– My friend Jerry’s “Peanuts” display on Calgary & Montreal;
– Chmielewski’s Christmas Corner on Kennedy & 23rd Street;
– Northview Lane;
– Acres of musical lights with a Light-O-Rama show on Chestnut Lane;
– Dykshoorn Park in Mandan;
– Christmas in the Park in Bismarck;
– and a wooden cartoon menagerie on west Avenue C.

Notably absent are displays on 4th and Divide, Ridgeview lane, West View Place. I’m sorry to see those places dark, since they had such wonderful Christmas displays in the past.

The link is easy to remember:
www.tinyurl.com/bismarck-mandanchristmaslights.

It’s been an extremely busy Christmas season, with multiple live shows and lots of other videos on my plate. I haven’t had much time to go out searching for lights this year. As a result, I merely updated last year’s list the best I could. If you have any other additions that don’t appear on my map, please submit them using the “Contact Me” link on the top of the right-hand panel, or leave a comment.

I was getting really bored with being able to feel my fingers, so…

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I decided to hike up to the top of Fort Lincoln with a friend for some shots of the decorated blockhouse! The fort to the east had been equipped with Christmas lights, acting as a beacon to those traveling south on Highway 1806 or across the river in the Fox Island area.

I have a pass for the park, but not a key for the padlock on the gate at the bottom of the hill…so it was time to walk. The walk up the hill was exhilarating, with the brisk winter air and the workout of trudging through the shallow snow most of the way. I was amazed at how clear the sky was and how crisp and bright the stars appeared as a result! Once we got up top, the breeze picked up and the temperatures seemed to drop. We had time for a few quick shots before deciding to work our way back down to the truck.

Of course, I had to stop for one other shot on the way back: the constellation Orion over the southwestern blockhouse. You can spot the constellation most easily by locating the “belt” of the hunter, which is formed by three very bright stars right in a row. This constellation doesn’t appear in the North Dakota skies until fall, peaking right around now, and will disappear slowly over the southern horizon as we approach summer. I used my mammoth MagLite, the model fueled by six D-cell batteries, to paint the blockhouse with light.

Now I’m back at home, snug and warm, and had a couple of satisfying photos as a result. Now it’s time to snarf some Pizza Rolls in honor of Jeno Paulucci and go to bed. As I will say every day until Monday, Merry Christmas!

Just in case you thought we missed it…this year’s capitol Christmas tree

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While we weren’t able to attend the tree lighting ceremony at the capitol this year, my little fellas and I were able to make a visit to the capitol later in the week to see the big tree. They’re big fans of this tree, even though there are no presents beneath its boughs. After the tree came down last year, they kept asking about it for quite some time. I told them to be patient and another tree would arrive… now it was time to see it.

A couple of years ago, Mommy brought these little guys to the tree lighting ceremony. That imprinted them with a fond memory of the tree, so we’re making it a holiday tradition when possible. On that first visit, I was actually videotaping at the event for work…and was able to sneak a cameo of my little guys into the final sequence of the movie “Best Christmas Ever” as a result.

The tree itself is spectacular, decorated with ornaments donated by North Dakotans. You can visit it any time during the day when the capitol building is open, but I highly recommend seeing it in the late afternoon as the sun is setting. You have until 5:30…it’s worth the trip.

It just seems more like Christmas once the capitol’s windows are decorated

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If there’s a beacon of Christmas decorum in Bismarck-Mandan, it’s gotta be this one: the state capitol. Coinciding with Monday’s lighting of the official Christmas tree, these windows keep an annual tradition that seems as much a part of Christmas as snow and caroling!

Bit of trivia: the stars on top of the capitol are too large to get up to the roof via conventional means, so they were dropped off by National Guard helicopter way, way back when. My friend’s dad flew that important mission, as I recall.

Have you ever wondered how those windows get decorated with color for Christmas, or blacked out to form numbers on New Year’s Day and Independence Day? If you haven’t read it before, please click to view this post on the guy who leads the crew in charge of that duty: Bill Jundt.