Honk if you’re paying my mortgage.

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I don’t often post images from other sites, but this one seems quite appropriate considering the lunacy going on with the Obamination Administration.

You can order bumper stickers like the one pictured above by clicking here.

Update: This sticker, available now from www.PatriotShop.us, seems a little more appropriate for those of us who don’t expect the government (ie, our neighbors) to pay for our well being.

Out with the fellas tonight

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My little boys wanted Daddy to take them out in the truck tonight, so out we went. They got to see their share of trucks and heavy equipment and snowblowers, and Daddy go to stop and take a picture of the sun setting. They’re both old enough to walk now, one of ’em is talking up a storm, and we’re both sick of winter. That combines into a chance for some more photographic opportunities these days, as we’re actually getting out of the house more. The sunsets are starting to resemble summer more than the bluster of a North Dakota winter!

What…MORE snow?

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I’m actually glad we got more snow today. I finally caved and bought a beefy snowblower this year, after 30+ years of shoveling, and I was itchin’ to get some more use out of it. We always get drifts along our property, so it doesn’t take much snow to require such a beast. After all…if it’s this cold, it might as well be snowing too, right? Besides, as shown above, it can provide some very lovely pictures at sunrise and sunset.

Wild horses couldn’t drag me away

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Not only could wild horses not drag me away from my camera, as the tired cliche’ goes, but in this case they were the object of my photography passion. These are some of the wild horses inhabiting the South Unit of the ever-popular Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

While the loop road through the park is still closed, some of the horses stray close enough to the open roads to be worth the short hike to chase them. In this case they didn’t really do anything spectacular. It was neat to get up close to them, though. I’ve hiked a long ways out into the middle of the park in the summer while chasing these beasts, but never in the crusty snow. Before this past weekend, that is. Thankfully they weren’t far away. It was COLD! Trudging through crusted ice and snow in the Badlands’ already uneven terrain is one heck of a workout as well.

Hey, I found your missing pheasants

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I wouldn’t have believed it myself if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes. Every single dark blotch in the snow of the picture above is a pheasant or two. Not only was this eye-catching, it wasn’t exactly an anomaly; I encountered field after field like this on Saturday. The phenomenon surfaced on our way south of Lefor and continued all the way south and east until we approached Glen Ullin from the south. In fact, we took one through the grille of my friend’s car just north of Elgin. The sides of the roads were lined with hungry pheasants as well as one who lost their encounter with traffic.

This is good news for any hunters who worried about the heavy snowfall preventing the pheasants from getting to their food. Apparently they’re still doing quite alright.

Last things first: a trio of contrails

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I took a 400+ mile photography road trip around western North Dakota with a friend on Saturday. You’ll see the fruits of the trip, trust me. But this photo put a fantastic exclamation point on the journey. We got some dramatic shots hiking the wintry Badlands, including wild horses and bison, but for some reason I knew right away that this was my favorite. I was in the passenger side of the vehicle on our way north out of Elgin, so I didn’t see this. My friend Ken is the one who glanced westward as he drove, spotting this geometrically pleasing array of jet contrails. That’s the mark of a good photographer: having the eye to spot each photo opportunity. Wait until you see some of the other crazy stuff we spotted!

Smoke on the water

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Okay, it’s steam and not smoke…and there isn’t any fire in the sky. This time of year a clear river channel and a blast of cold air can combine for a pretty neat scene! The other day there was steam rising from the river, from some of the storm drains, and from various smokestacks.

This is some of the steam rising from one of the Heskett power plant stacks. It reminded me that images of ominous evil stacks belching forth black plumes of pollution are merely a tool of the environmentalists’ propaganda. Those are an anachronism, really. The industry continues to make great strides not only in extracting the most energy from the coal they burn, but from extracting as many pollutants as they can before they’re expelled into the air. Much of that innovation takes place right here in North Dakota’s famed “energy corridor.”

What you see rising from power plants these days is steam, not smoke. That’s a really common misconception. That’s also why you rarely see emissions from a power plant on a warm day. A friend of mine told me the other day that since the two power generating units at Heskett are slightly different, sometimes you’ll see steam from one and not the other because of the temperature difference of the two. I’m told I may be doing some more power plant work in the near future, so I look forward to another close look at the process!

Night at the museum — well, capitol actually

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A short while ago, I got the opportunity I’d been craving for a long time: to be in the Great Hall of the state capitol building. At night. With my camera. Alone. Obviously photos of such a rare opportunity need to be shared; therefore, here are a few.

This is the view from the end of the hallway to the Judicial Wing. It’s too bad those revolving doors on the left aren’t in service daily. I’ve been able to go through them, but I was much younger then. I don’t know if they’re ever unlocked now.

This is the entry of the hallway of the legislative wing. The House of Representatives meets on the left, the Senate on the right. Those little nooks in the wood of the hallway contain benches where one can hang out after an exciting day of legislating.

Here’s another view of the hallway with the aforementioned benches. The warmth of the wood is really nice, a contrast with the marble and brass of the main hall.

This is the view from the west end of the legislative hall, looking east toward Memorial Hall in the background.

We have a really neat capitol building. I’m grateful to have been able to poke around in it from time to time over the years. I’ve been up on the roof, frequent the observation deck, and seen a few other very interesting nooks and crannies, so to speak. Those were all during the daylight hours. To be able to photograph it at night was certainly a treat, one I won’t soon forget. I have other, cooler photos as well, with some funky angles and that sort of thing. Perhaps I’ll share those later. I can’t let ’em all out at once!

Farewell, Gentleman Wade (Updated with tribute)

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I got the call tonight…Gentleman Wade Westin has passed away. I still don’t know the nature of the mysterious ailment that took him so suddenly. All I know for sure is there are a LOT of people who are going to miss this great guy and who have fond memories of the times they spent with him. I had the honor of joining over six hundred Facebook folks who joined the Wade Westin Family Prayer Team overnight in seeking God’s hand in this situation. I rest assured that the Lord didn’t let those prayers go unheard. His will is beyond our understanding, especially at a time like this.

I’ve known Wade since he joined KFYR back in the 1990s; since then I’ve had many noteworthy memories, even though our opportunities to see each other grew farther and farther apart. Guys get busy, you know…that’s just how it goes. I wish it wasn’t so. It seems like just a short time ago that Wade and I met up at Taco del Mar and chatted it up about what we’ve been up to, fatherhood, and that kind of thing. In reality it was months ago. That’s the last time I got to spend time with Wade.

We did a commercial for a furniture or mattress store many years ago, one where Wade played a guy who snuggled in under the covers of a comfy new mattress. It took a while for the nickname “Snuggly” to wear off. I had a printout of that shot somewhere in my souvenir box, but in my search for it tonight I came up empty handed. Bummer.

The photo above was from the Medora Musical on my honeymoon trip with my wife. I’d booked front row center tickets of course, planning a Medora weekend on our way back from a week in the middle of nowhere back in my beloved Rocky Mountains. We drove past the turn to Wade’s home near Grenora, ND and it prompted me to call his cell phone and say hi. When he heard we were coming, he arranged the VIP treatment and a backstage tour for us, and we got to chat with him and his family briefly before he left to prepare for the night’s show. He then congratulated us during the show. That’s just the kind-hearted, generous guy that Wade’s friends will all remember.

We used to hit the China Wok restaurant in Mandan on Sunday evenings, striking a friendship with the owners over time. When their visas came up for renewal, Wade took it upon himself to get his friends from the Sunday night dinners to sign testimonials to aid in their renewals.

As a guy in my late 30s (ahem), and a new Daddy to boot, it’s a shocker to have a friend and fellow family man snatched away so suddenly and so early. Of course one tries to make sense of it, but there’s no sense to be had. What we can do is take comfort in the message from his CaringBridge page: “Thank you for your love, support and prayers. Wade is at peace with God His Father and Jesus His Savior in the healing presence of the Holy Spirit.” The Bible talks about a peace that passes all understanding…I pray for that peace for his family and everybody who misses Gentleman Wade.

Updated: I remembered that I had a copy of a TV commercial Wade did for KNDX (Channel 26) back when they first went on the air. It was a “dance contest” making fun of contestants with the numbers of other local TV channels. It features Wade being Wade. I attached a brief tribute at the end. It isn’t much, but it’s a token of my respect for a friend. The music is a portion “In the Sweet By and By” performed by my friend Sarah.

I know there are lots of people out there who are touched by Wade’s passing as they were by his personality. Hopefully this will trigger some of your best memories as well.

Bale out

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I’ve seen a lot of hay/straw still out in the fields around town. I don’t know if that was intentional, or if the snow came before the owners could get them out. In any case, they make a good object when one wants to describe the bleakness of winter with a photo! These are just northeast of Bismarck. The drifting snow helps.

I did venture out of the truck a bit in this area. The snow was drifted in pretty hard, and it was solid enough in most places to keep me from breaking through. Of course, once I got way out there, I’d sink past my knees. Grrrr.