Winter welcome wagon
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No parking – unless there’s a bag over the sign
I had an interesting incident involving this parking situation a few years back. I parked behind the state library, ran around to the front entrance to return some books, and came back to find that someone had backed into my vehicle. I have to commend the Highway Patrol on their fast response time, because an officer was already there to write a report.
I looked like the bad guy initially because I was parked in a “No Parking” zone. But once I reminded the officer that the legislature was in session, he agreed: the person who didn’t look where they were backing up was at fault. I believe this is actually part of state law, but don’t know the exact citation.
Despite the fact that more areas have been opened to parking, it’s still going to be tough to park near the capitol for a little while. It’s nice to see, however, that the folks in charge of the grounds are trying to make more parking area available.
Icy desert
Happy Birthday, Blog!
It was with a post featuring a photo of the capitol lit up with “2006” that I first started this website, which is convenient timing. Every anniversary of the Bismarck-Mandan Blog I can just post a picture of the latest capitol!
Now, on to the shocking stats. I’m both flattered and humbled by the stats counter on my site…not the ones the blog keeps, but the server stats. I get very detailed information about visits to this site, and it’s pretty amazing to watch.
Thanks again for everyone who has helped with word-of-mouth publicity for this site. I’ve never advertised it — although Phil and Jason have graciously given me mention on KFYR-Radio a couple of times — yet between 500 and 1000 people come to read it every day.
I’m a big privacy nut, so I originally set out to be somewhat anonymous on this blog. I was a hacker in the 80’s who narrowly escaped some big trouble, and failed to escape other big trouble, so I keep my personal information pretty private. I have a family to think about now as well, so that’s why I’m reluctant to post that kind of thing. It wasn’t until late in the year that I actually let a couple of pictures of me hit the web…I guess I’m relaxing just a little bit. I didn’t know if the comments fields would start to fill up with nonsense I didn’t want, or if I’d get flooded with hate mail about some of my opinions, and thankfully that hasn’t happened. So I’ll probably post a little more personally in the future…just a bit.
I was approached this year by the KX network and asked if they could syndicate my blog on their site. I agreed, and we’ve had a good relationship. At the bottom of each of my posts as they appear on KX network sites around North Dakota is a link to my original post on this site. Judging from the referral stats, people like to see the original post, probably because the pictures are shrunk down on the KX sites. Their site sometimes truncates my posts, too. So if you’re reading this on a KX Network site, hop on over to the real deal!
I originally figured this site would just be another voice in a vacuum, a place to park my photography and rekindle my love for writing. To have people find it worthy of their time to view it on a daily basis is pretty amazing. Your support leaves me speechless, really…all I can say is that it feels really great. I look forward to providing more pictures, noteworthy community tidbits, and the occasional inflammatory opinions in 2007 and beyond.
Snow Day!
There are a lot of wild turkeys in the Bismarck-Mandan area, and this is a portion of one of them. They were hanging out in a residential neighborhood in north Mandan, and even came toward me as I crouched to take their photo! The snow was coming down fast enough to accumulate on their backs, and they fluffed up to stay warm and shake the snow off every now and then.
I took lots more photos, but it’s been such a busy weekend that I’m just posting the highlights. It’s time to wax the sleds for more frolicking!
2007-2008 Almanac of ND Oddities (no, I’m not listed)
North Dakota has got plenty of interesting, humorous, and just plain outrageous tales in its history. For instance, it was a North Dakotan who coined the term “Flying Saucer” as he spotted a group of them near his airplane above Mount Rainier. A North Dakotan sentenced to death in New York turned out to be a German Shepherd. In Hankinson, a young boy survived with only a bruise on his nose after being run over by over 60 rail cars back in 1908. There’s plenty more where this came from!
You can find out fun stories like the Burleigh farmer who walked 28 miles to catch a train to a checkers tournament, or sad stories like the great flue epidemic of the early 1900s, which killed thousands of North Dakotans. The stories vary, and there’s something in this book for everyone.
If you’re a fan of North Dakota history, you owe it to yourself to talk to Mr. Jackson. Unfortunately he does not have a kiosk set up at Gateway Mall now that the holiday season is winding down, but his work is available at Barnes & Noble. He’s got eight books out, the majority of them about North Dakota.
The next book of his I want to investigate more closely is Unbelievable Dakota People – the Good, Bad, Bold & Ugly. It’ll be interesting to see who falls into the last category!
Buckstop sunset
The Glen Schmidt Family played here last year, and I went out to see what the whole Buckstop Junction experience is all about. It was a blast. I got some great pictures and just generally enjoyed poking around the old buildings. What can I say, I’m a sucker for history!
I doubt there’s anything going on out at the Junction over winter, but it’s something to consider next summer. It’s an especially nice place for a music festival, so I’ll let you know when the next one approaches. I’ll probably have to title it “Function at the Junction” or something else appropriately punny.
Inspiration for the rock
Earlier this month I stumbled upon this painted rock northeast of Bismarck with a patriotic message on it. Thanks to Mike G. for emailing me to let me know that this was likely inspired by another well-known painted rock near Greenfield, Iowa.
In my opinion, both rocks are inspiring. It doesn’t matter if one resembles another, and I doubt Bubba would be offended. The bigger picture is that people are taking the time to put their patriotism out there for all to see and remind the rest of us as well.
“Bubba” has a website promoting his artwork at www.bubbazartwork.com if you’re interested. It doesn’t feature the rock as prominently as the other site, but it does showcase other work he does.
If anyone’s interested, I can post directions to the rock I found here in Bismarck. That is, if I can find it again. I don’t remember which road it’s on exactly, but its GPS coordinates are 46 degrees, 52.023 minutes north by 100 degrees, 42.242 minutes west.
What to do when there’s no snow
Having successfully performed an attitude adjustment, I burned tires back to the house, grabbed the family, and went out to look at Christmas lights. We were able to ignore the absence of snow, as were many others. Northview Lane was absolutely packed with constant traffic, as were other Christmas display hot spots. Bismarck-Mandan residents, including newly reminded ones like myself, don’t allow Christmas to be determined by precipitation totals; rather, by their good cheer.
Merry Christmas from Bismarck-Mandan Blog!
There are still a few hours of Christmas Day left…let’s make the most of them!