I recently took my boys to a friend’s house east of town for an epic afternoon Nerf gun war with a bunch of other boys. That gave me some time to roam with my camera, and along Apple Creek Road I had to stop by this crazy old stump. It just keeps getting more and more hollow, and the birds love it on a windy day like the one we were having. I’ve always been stricken by the way that the stump looks like a castle.
I recently received a promotional mailer from a local business which had a scratch-and-win game on the back. Well, as you can see above, there wasn’t a whole lot of mystery to the game in this particular case. I scratched it off anyway, and voila’ – I was a winner of one of many potential prizes…even $25,000!
Well, I could certainly use a new vehicle right now, and $25,000 would buy a pretty nice Toyota Tacoma or something. So I figured it might be interesting to visit the local business and see what the catch was. I’m a born skeptic with this kind of thing. I didn’t plan on any special trips, but kept the mailer in my truck in case I was in the neighborhood.
For years I’ve had a unique opportunity, as I have received mail at multiple addresses…PO Box, rental property, that sort of thing. So I was amused when I got my hands on a couple more of the mailers. Either this was really my lucky week, or something strange is afoot.
As I’d planned to do anyway, I perused the fine print. It looks like each “WINNER” receives a chance to choose an envelope which may or may not contain a prize. Makes sense. The odds of winning each prize are clearly stated on the mailer if you are curious. They’re far better than the PCH or Powerball, by the way.
I never did venture down to this business; I was simply too busy. It’s too bad, because I missed a chance to grab a winning envelope. While you might suspect that I’m ranting against this business for deceptive use of the word “WINNER”, that’s not the case at all. In 2016, if someone reads a mailer like that and thinks they’ve really struck gold by scratching their way to a big win, then I need to sell them the Grant Marsh Bridge. It’s just a ploy to get you to pay attention, and by reading the details it’s easy to surmise what’s up. They want to get you into the store, they’ll give you a chance to pick a prize (at no cost to you, by the way), and along the way see if they can sell you something. Hard to be offended by that, although I’m sure many would try.
It’s remotely like the Publisher’s Clearing House – if they can keep you busy adhering labels, scratching off “game cards”, and hunting through all sorts of product listings in search of that stamp you need to send back, there’s a good chance they can play on human nature and get you to buy something. I mean, after all, if you have to do so much to even qualify to win, doesn’t that mean the Prize Patrol could be right around the corner?
I’m of the mindset that if someone offers me a free chance to win something, I’ll take them up on it. I don’t have any illusions about it, but I don’t mind taking advantage of the opportunity if I’ve got the time. No hard feelings if I don’t win, and as long as we’re both understanding what’s going on with the contest there’s no reason not to simply take it for what it is: a business trying to attract customers and sales, and a consumer taking a crack at winning free stuff.
It’s no secret that the photos have been fewer and farther between for quite some time now. First I and every single member of our family had major health issues to deal with. Then after we circled the wagons and worked on treatment and healing we took on building a new house, and still have lots of thing in bins and a new Garage Majal to get whipped into shape. Additionally, my little kids have grown up to a point where they want more Dad time (not as much “Daddy”) and I’ve had a hectic freelance schedule. Whew.
Well, I decided to knock off a little early on Friday and actually head out with my camera and some new gear I purchased with some of the aforementioned freelance money. I didn’t want to make a major voyage out of it, but just work the outskirts of town and let the stress of the week melt away. What better way to get back into the game than to go with my trademark: windmills! I found a trio of ’em.
I have photographed these before, but they do change over time. This one has lost more than half of the blades but is still standing tall. I chose not to remove the power lines in the background this time.
A wider shot may have portrayed this windmill standing alone in a vacant prairie better, but in reality there was a pole just out of the frame on the left where power comes in…presumably some sort of stock tank heater or something. The lettering on the vane (yes, that’s what it’s called) says “R. R. HOWELL CO MINNEAPOLIS”. It’s an interesting Google search if you have time on your hands.
Sunset came quickly, and I once again cashed in on the real Secret of My Success when it comes to photography: being in the right place at the right time, often due to absolute blind luck. I had a couple of minutes to wait for the sun to set in the silhouette of the water tank next to this windmill, adjusting my tripod to the side periodically to track the sun as it slid down and to the right of the frame. The way it reflected off the wispy clouds above added to the feel of the shot.
It felt SO good to be out roaming again. I didn’t even have a potential target when I set out; I just settled on windmills after coming upon the first one. It was simply therepeutic to get out and start clicking photos again. All the while I had a Nick Lowe song repeating in the back of my head:
I am determined for my own sanity to get out with my cameras more. Maybe not as much as in the old days, because I want to be a good husband and dad. Bringing the kids with on my photo trips will help, and maybe even kindle in them a love of roaming photography. Meanwhile I hope to have more to share than simply political rants, which don’t take much road time at all. Back to my love of North Dakota and sharing it online. Maybe the next song going through my head will be Back in the Saddle Again!
Crews spent some time lashing the Lewis & Clark riverboat to the shore this weekend as the river level jumped up in the area. The park is closed and water is high due to ice packing in downstream.
Every year they take this boat out of the water with a huge crane and set it on some heavy duty cribbing until spring. That’s all fine and dandy until the water rises to the level of the boat anyway.
Even the ice machine wanted to get into the act. That’s a pretty decent seal, although I doubt that water is going to do the compressor or electrical components any favors.
I didn’t take a look at the water level indicator further down River Road, but I did notice some water in the ditches and low lying areas further north along the road. Hopefully we don’t have to deal with more flooding this year, in Bismarck or anywhere else in North Dakota.
This little bugger is known as 1059580, which to the average person is KBMR 1130 AM. It sits over on East Rosser Avenue, right in the backyards of some Bismarck residents. And it’s putting out 10,000 watts of your favorite country classics. Unfortunately it’s putting it in some rather troublesome places.
Anecdote: when I was working at a local TV station years ago, our on-air talent began complaining that they were hearing “country music” in their IFB earpieces. At first we thought they were nuts (after all, they are broadcasters) but eventually had to switch to wireless earpieces. One of the station engineers figured out that the offending signal was coming in through the power lines.
I recently came across this situation again with an audio mixer that proved susceptible to this phenomenon. When I’d adjust the microphone preamps I would be treated to a twangy jam instead of the audio source on the other end of the wire. I ended up switching to a different mixer to get rid of the result.
I’ve also had instances east of town where I couldn’t leave a microphone cable on the concrete floor without picking up KBMR and had to switch to wireless. What a joy.
A friend of mine who used to work over by the Coca-Cola plant said he could hook up to his filing cabinet and get his dose of the classic country. I don’t know if he could feel his teeth tingle, but maybe that’s just reserved for the people who live right next to this tower.
I’m just a layman and possess no engineering or electrical degrees, but I think I know the issue:
The image above shows KBMR’s tower, which these days is located behind the studio building, in relation to two big electrical junctions: the Western Area Power Administration and Montana-Dakota Utilities. Remember how I said the engineer traced the interference to the power coming into the building? By the way, those are people’s homes in the left edge of the photo.
What I’m wondering out loud is whether it’s a good idea to be throwing 10,000 watts of radio frequency energy into the local electrical grid. In one of our trucks, if I drive alongside the power lines on the south side of Century Avenue, KBMR even bleeds into KFYR 550 AM. Not an ideal situation. It seems as though being adjacent to two substations turns the electrical wires into a giant antenna array.
My understanding is that KBMR’s daytime tower (they go low-power at night) used to be east of Menoken. When Anderson Broadcasting began building 710 AM KXMR, they moved all operations of KBMR to the in-town stick and used the Menoken tower as part of a directional array for 710. I can’t find an online paper trail of this using the FCC’s page, because their site and search aren’t very intuitive. But that’s my foggy recollection.
My contention is that if KBMR’s full-power signal was beaming 10,000 watts on 1130 kHz from this site east of Menoken, people wouldn’t be picking up Merle Haggard in their dental work and houses on 35th Street wouldn’t require filters on their telephones. But that’s just me… I’m just a simple caveman when it comes to this stuff. As a video professional, though, I sure wish I didn’t have to chase this signal out of my microphones when recording within the Bismarck city limits. I grew up listening to classic country & western music with my dad, but there are times I wish it would only come out of my radio and nothing else.
The life of a freelancer does not jive well with sleeping normal hours (or at all, some days). The past month and a half has been insane and, while I’ve been buying a lot of gear and software with the proceeds, I haven’t actually gotten to use any of it for my own enjoyment. Yet.
You know how I say, “The best camera is the one you have with you!” ad nauseum? Well, in this case I took my iPod Touch out to snap a quick pic with some Photoshop in mind.
Every time I drive down East Divide Avenue and pass the Winger Apartments, I can’t help but start singing “Seventeen” or “Down Incognito”. I’m not a Winger fan, but I’m aware of the body of work. So in this case I dug up a photo of Kip Winger, threw it in the foreground, and while it is not my finest work it at least got this out of my system.
If I was a renter here I’d get a cardboard standup of Winger and put it in the window. How many folks do you think would get it?
This is the photo that started it all on January 1st, 2006. Ten years ago. Wow. A lot has changed since then. Not only am I much more occupied with work, freelance work, and being a husband and Daddy, but I’ve also had to ride out some major health issues and lots of moving: moving my family into a new house, moving my studio/office at work, and moving my church. So I don’t post daily anymore, but I do share what I can. I keep thinking that soon enough I will be able to get out with my cameras more. Meanwhile, I took some time to chase down even more photos like the one above:
This angle looks so straightforward, doesn’t it? The fact is, I only recently discovered it. This is actually taken from down Sixth Street a little ways. That’s the best way to get the NORTH DAKOTA CAPITOL sign in the shot without having it dominate the photo. Getting farther away gets a perspective that matches it in size with the pioneer statue, and allows both of them to grow in relation to the capitol tower. It’s a fun shot to get, but not when there’s a lot of traffic whizzing across the frame on Boulevard Avenue.
Here’s what I’m talking about. If you just go to the bottom of the mall and take a photo from the road, this what you get. The capitol sign is large, the tower is small, and the pioneer statue is all but indistinguishable. I don’t know why I didn’t think to venture farther away and set up my shot down 6th Street before this, but I’m thankful for this year’s epiphany.
The parking lots on the north side of the capitol were redone a year or two ago, and that opened up this shot from the backside of the legislative wing. Previously this angle was obscured by trees, and I’m sure it will be once again someday as newly planted ones grow to adult heights, but for now I have a brand new perspective on the capitol that was not possible when I first started doing this bloggin’ thang.
This year I had a clear sky at sunset and decided to try something a little different. I’ve had a blast taking shots of the entire capitol complex from the northeast hill and posting it as my blog’s Facebook cover photo. That’s fine, since it’s such a wide angle shot that it crops very nicely into the 851×315 dimensions required by Facebook. But what about a traditionally framed shot? Well, rather than worry about the DOT / Heritage Center buildings I opted this time to pan west toward the sunset and include only the judicial and legislative wings of the capitol along with the tower. It worked great with the peachy sunset colors, too.
Well, here’s to another ten years! It looks like I’ve posted in the neighborhood of 3,500 photos so far. I sure hope I have plenty more photos and musings to share!
This is how I like to remember the post at the north end of Double Ditch. Sadly, these days are long gone as erosion has torn the bank right out from under it. If not for some really sturdy barbed wire looped around it, this post would have tumbled down the steep cliff long, long ago.
Sadly, this is how the post looks now. I took some quadcopter shots today in order to get a look at the predicament I’d been unable to achieve before. The bank is rapidly eroding.
That looks like a LONG fall! Hopefully the barbed wire holds strong and this post is able to remain for a while longer. Of course, if the bank erodes further, it’ll just be dangling beside the cliff anyway.
As you can see here, another big chunk of the cliff has let go. This area is NOT safe for people. This used to be a fantastic photo spot, but sadly it is no longer.
I presume at some point I’ll be typing to relay the news that the post has gone over the edge. It’s only a matter of time now. I suppose I need to move northward to my other favorite photo spot! But I’m not quite ready to disclose exactly where that is just yet.
I’m sure this fence stood vertically at some point, but the ravages of time have shifted the firmament to which it clings on this hillside north of Bismarck. Unlike the fence post at the north corner of Double Ditch, this one has a settling hill to blame instead of erosion from a river below.
I mentioned on my blog’s Facebook and Twitter feeds the other day that I’d hiked up to the 18th floor of the state capitol. It was an urge that struck me as I was about to head to the elevator on a visit to one of my favorite local buildings. I had my helmet and my work backpack, which weighs in at a spry 21 pounds, and I have to say I was dragging by the time I got to the top. I kept motivating myself by saying “You’re 1/6th of the way there…you’re one third of the way there…halfway there…” and so on. After looking around for a few, I also walked back down. Much easier. But while looking down at the mall, I noticed something peculiar.
From the look of things, someone drove out onto the lawn over by the State Library somewhere, then headed south before doing some sort of J-turn or other aggro maneuver. Groundskeepers didn’t do this…the marks in the grass look pretty deep.
I’ve watched guys meticulously mow that crosshatch pattern into the grass on the capitol lawn, and I doubt the equipment they drive would even make marks like these. Go figure. I don’t know who you are, but whoever ripped up the lawn at the capitol: STOP. This is the only capitol we’ve got here in North Dakota, and I’m rather fond of it!
Favicon Plugin made by Alesis