Elevation
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That Internet, she’s a two-edged sword
Ah, “teh Intarwebz”…is there anything they can’t do?
He’s BACK: the Whirling Chicken of Doom™
The chicken’s hiatus began roughly around the time that the Village Mart, home of fond remembrances from my adolescence, became the Petro Serve. It spent some time in an unused part of the store and was even the target of at least one attempted theft.
Well, he’s back…and better than ever. After some jackhole damaged the chicken trying to steal him, he went in for some body work. There again he was almost stolen, as the trailer belonging to the people repairing him was also stolen. All of that having played out, he did manage to find his way back – and in better form than ever. In fact, the leading edges of those menacing spinning wings have been lined with plastic to avoid the unthinkable from happening.
I’m not exactly Johnny-on-the-spot with this news; employees I spoke to say he’s been back for a few weeks now. In any case, it’s good to see this local oddity back again, spinning its wings, tongue sticking out almost defiantly, sporting that red-crested smile of resilience.
The dark side of the moon – er, capitol
That last step’s a doozy
Obligatory capitol New Year’s Day photo
We spent New Year’s Eve at a friend’s house with a ton of folks from church, then came home to put the little ones to bed before midnight. I figured I’d just snap my capitol shots after dark on New Year’s Day. That didn’t go entirely as planned, however.
First it was snowing, which on a long exposure can ruin a shot. Then, once the snowfall tapered off and I ventured out, the wind picked up. Again, that’s devastating to a long exposure. I did finally catch a brief window of calm to get my rather generic 2013 shot.
I wanted to be all creative…after all, I’ve been discovering new angles all around the capitol grounds lately, but the cold and wind shut me down. I’ll try to brainstorm something for 2014 instead…and take the first opportunity to photograph it, not the last.
Now the windows will return to normal until Independence Day!
It’s always colder in Mandan – MUCH colder today
Or maybe it’s time to get something calibrated.
Midnight vigil – from a different angle
The sky was perfect, the weather fantastic, and Bismarck appeared to have drifted into a sleepy calm which is sadly uncommon these days. I roamed around for a couple of hours, and even found a new perspective on the capitol’s Christmas attire. Hiking along the walking path to the north, I decided to venture off into the snow a little bit and was rewarded with this shot.
I’m still on the mend from this nasty bug. I don’t think it’s influenza, but whatever it is I don’t recommend trying it. It deprived me of most of my Christmas vacation this year, but it couldn’t take it all.
I wish you a continued Merry Christmas, good health, and a Happy New Year!
Arnold Schwarzenegger’s tenuous North Dakota holiday connection
I’ve been down for the count the past few days, sick and staying in bed with my Netbook and iPod. I happened to come across something extremely painful: an Arnold Schwarzenegger-hosted segment of a “Very Special Christmas” special from 1988. Don’t bother watching it…in fact, I only got through the first thirty seconds of it. What I did see, however, was apparently a champion granny bowler from North Dakota! If you’re a glutton for punishment, you can view the video here:
I make no apologies if you watched after the mention of the bowler from “Wanpeton”…you were warned. I’m starting to feel a little better, so rest assured I’ll try to find something more genuinely Christmas-like and far less horrifying than Arnold’s demented television disaster.
The ubiquitous leaf, revisited
There are three leaf logos in this photo, but there’s also a leaf on the Applebee’s sign obscured in the background…and Kirkwood Bank was just to my right as I took this photo. That’s five leaves within a one block radius, a new record in my book.