Might as well go for a walk

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What do you do when the water’s still too hard to sit in? These migratory birds were spotted simply mulling around near Menoken when my boy and I were out on a recent photo exploration. Instead of being able to drift around cozily in one of the Prairie Pothole region’s many wetlands, these poor creatures had to resort to simply meandering aimlessly about.

The day the music died

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I’ve long been a fan of local entrepreneur Mort Bank’s ability to put together themed restaurants. His themed McDonald’s restaurants were innovative, but are now history. While the reconstruction (or destruction, depending on how you look at it) of the McRock ‘n’ Roll store on Main Avenue in Bismarck has been in progress for months, it all became rather official when those trademark Golden Arches were swapped out for a new set.

This was my favorite local McDonald’s because of the themed tables most of all. The tidbits of music history contained beneath the transparent tabletops was an amusing addition to lunch, and the “Worst Albums of All Time” table was by far my favorite. As I recall, it listed Lou Reed’s notorious “Metal Machine Music” album but didn’t say anything other than the title. There really isn’t any more to be said.

There have been a couple of previous remodels of the McRock ‘n’ Roll store, each one stripping a little more character from the original in the name of traffic flow or whatever. Even the ordering counter, which originally sported the grille and bumper of a classic automobile, has long been redone. In that regard I suppose the place died a slow death. Regardless of the atmosphere the newly remodeled McDonald’s may have, it will never match the character of the original.

Windmill with a half twist

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I’ve alluded to the frustrating fact that I haven’t been able to get out with my cameras in quite a while. It shows; I’m always eager to share cool North Dakota photos with y’all, even daily if I get them. This photo came from a much needed and overdue photo trip with my little boy. He has a good eye and steady hand, too. We stopped to take a shot of this windmill (as I’m wont to do) and noticed that only half its blades were still intact. Good conversation, good snacks, four wheel drive, and Daddy-son time were a great way to break the cameras out of the bag and do some roamin’.

Quite possibly the coolest old photo I’ve ever discovered

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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…

Well, there it goes

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It should be obvious by now that one of my favorite spots to catch a sunset is at the north corner of the Double Ditch historic site north of Bismarck. A familiar foreground object in my photos is a large wooden fence post marking the boundary of the park. It looks like I’m going to have to find a new one.

Last August, while poking around beneath the cliffs of Double Ditch, I noticed that the collapse of those cliffs had finally encroached on that fence post. Even now, more large chunks of cliff nearby have cracked and separated, soon to tumble to the river below.

It seems as though this process has finally begun to claim my favorite fence post, as it no longer stands so firmly at the northwest corner of the park. It has begun to tilt at an ever greater angle, the fence it supports going slack. I presume it’s only a matter of time, some spring melting, and maybe a little bit of rain before the earth supporting it finally gives way.

This is a stark reminder of an even bigger problem; Double Ditch has been receding for years. The area above these cliffs used to be a popular recreation spot. At some point a wire fence was erected to prevent this, as the banks had become so unstable. The road, which used to make a loop from one end of the park to another, was cut off and no longer exists from the south end. As time goes by, I fear we may lose access to the west end of this park entirely. I hope that doesn’t happen any time soon.

Good morning, sunshine

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I don’t know about you, but I’m loving the fact that the sun is coming up earlier in my day. You’d think I’d be trying to capture as many of those photons as possible on the sensors of my cameras, but life’s been a little too busy for that lately. I hope to be able to acquire some photograhic gems at some point in the near future. All work and no play, they say…

The hottest cheerleaders in Class B Basketball

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It was a nail-biter, but sadly the Shiloh Skyhawks girls’ basketball team did not come away with the overtime win tonight. It was a packed house at good ol’ Mandan High, and enthusiasm was running high on all sides.

Part of that high energy was the cheer team for the Shiloh ladies: these dudes. I don’t really know what to say about them other than that they took team spirit to the max, and offered ample support to the girls on the court tonight!

A little dash of color

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Sometimes winters in North Dakota can be a little dreary. Okay, maybe “often” would be a better term. Or “annually” perhaps. In any case, the sun does occasionally break through the gloom and splash a little color on the barn. I thought I’d share.

Restrictions, you say? They’re coming next week…whatever they are (Load)

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The City of Bismarck has put out a notice that load restrictions on the city’s roads will start next week. It gives me the perfect opportunity for a little good-natured ribbing over the “Restrictions in Effect” signs traditionally seen around Bismarck this time of year. Restrictions of what nature, you ask? If your only source of information was these signs, I suppose it’s anyone’s guess.

I first saw these signs go up a few years ago (and every Spring since) and thought they were pretty funny. It’s because of the load restrictions I mentioned, but the signs are omit that detail. It’s only after someone figured out what was missing (maybe they read this blog) and wedged a little “Load” in there that the signs made sense:

This is how the corrected signs look. I am still occasionally surprised to find an unmodified one posted. As you can see in this previous post, I was almost second-guessing whether I’d even seen the signs without the word “Load” inserted. If there are any of the original vague signs remaining, someone’s going to have to dig through a drawer for another “Load” sticker!

So we didn’t get the snow…but there’s still hope

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Since Bismarck-Mandan got cheated out of the heavy snow that was so ominously forecast, I thought I’d share a few pictures I took of the nasty spring storm we received in Bismarck-Mandan back in 1997. This was a particularly wicked storm, as the snow was very fine and icy. It packed in so tightly that the roads had to be cut open with snowblower-equipped payloaders, instead of simply plowed.

At the time I lived north of Century in the vicinity of Montreal Street. Since only the major roads were cut open, I had to hike around six blocks down to Century Avenue, where the big KFYR-TV 4×4 engineering truck was waiting to transport me to work. As you can imagine, we were pretty busy in a news capacity at that point.

It was a surreal walk down to Century Avenue. The snow was taller than even full size pickups parked along Montreal Street, and as I walked down the road I noticed that I wasn’t leaving any footprints. The snow was made of such fine snow crystals and packed so tightly that I wasn’t breaking through the surface. Every now and then I’d see part of a pickup cab poking up through the snow, but for the most part I couldn’t even tell where the street was, much less where cars were parked.

After the roads were beginning to clear, a crazy friend picked me up in his Escort GT and we went out to document the whole thing. At this time I had merely a little Canon point-and-shoot film camera, but I think it tells the story:

The perspective on this one is slightly misleading, since I was sitting in a compact car. But you get the idea.

As you can see from the walls of snow lining Century Avenue, these roads were literally cut open, as plowing would do no good. Not only was the snow too deep, but it was fine, compacted “sugar snow” composed of tiny little crystals. It was rock hard.

Since we were already into Spring, the sun started to work on the snowbanks right away. They’re melting down pretty quickly. We weren’t in a particularly low-riding car, but even along the Expressway the snow was taller than we were.

The fence along the Expressway was almost completely hidden by snow. Lots of places were packed in completely as the snow settled in and froze solid.

It was a Saturday storm, and I remember being quite put out at having some of my motorcycles stranded at the Hall of Ports for the annual Freedom Riders Motorcycle Show! At least I got to bring home some trophy hardware later.

Anyway…if you’re feeling slighted by the lack of tall snowbanks (especially after all the hype over the last few days), maybe this will help get you through it! And at least we’ve still got wind…