Stranded and stoic
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Connection broken
One interesting thing about this pole is that the glass insulators are intact. I recall that these are collectibles, at least the ones that haven’t been shot to pieces by some idiot. This pole stands alone beside the road, short strands of wire intact, wound around a perfect pair of antique glass insulators. It’s beautiful in its own way, a mere stone’s throw from the current city limits, and I hope it stays right where it’s at.
Kick out the jam…it’ll all pan out
Obviously the photo for his post ain’t the real deal, man…unless you have microscopic vision! The real version is 6000 pixels wide, weighin in at 1.75mb. I don’t want to force anyone to have to download a 1.75mb picture every time they come to this post, so instead I’ll post a link:
If you want to save it to your computer to view in something other than your web browser, simply right-click on that link and use “Save As…” to download a copy.
This is the ice jam that everyone feared during last week’s flooding; the idea was that if this ice jam were to let go, it would send a surge of even more ice and water into an already bad situation downstream. For a while the word had actually gone out that this ice jam had let loose, but fortunately that turned out to be untrue. So far it remains intact, and hopefully it won’t cause any further problems once it lets go. In the mean time, however, it is starting to back up more water and ice behind it, causing distress for residents living upstream.
What a difference a few months makes
I stood in a friend’s back yard today, on the shore near the start of this ice jam. The water level has gone down nearly six feet at his place. He related that these ice jams break free quickly but take a little while to work their way downstream. Sometimes they jam up again. In any case, we’re all hoping for the best here. With more snow on the way, I’m not sure Bismarck-Mandan is out of the woods yet on this whole flooding thing.
Since we’re talking about ice…
I can tell from my site stats that when people come to this blog, they usually view a few pages. I don’t know how far back they go, but probably not far enough back to find some of my favorite photos and/or posts. This ice talk, along with the fact that I have NOT risked getting in the way of law enforcement and emergency crews in order to get photos of the flood or ice jam, gave me the idea of reposting this icy encounter from last year. I hope you enjoy.
Ice, Ice, Baby (Originally posted March 1st, 2008)
I have this crazy friend (okay, I have several, and they have me) who told me how cool it is to drive out on the ice of Lake Audubon. Not only is it a big lake, the ice is very thick, and there are islands to explore. Because boats are not allowed out there, the only way to get to these islands is to drive there during the winter. They’ve got beavers, coyotes, and who knows what else on them. I decided to take him up on the idea of a voyage out there. We didn’t see any critters, and the clear skies turned cloudy on us, but we did come upon a HUGE pressure ridge. Enormous slabs of ice had pushed straight upward in a line stretching almost completely across the big lake!
One of the things we really wanted to see was wildlife. Aside from a glimpse of a running coyote on the horizon, we saw nothing. Of course; the presence of a camera jinxed it, I’m sure.
This is a really cool trip if you have the opportunity, especially if the lake and the sky comply. In our case, we were fortunate in that the ice is incredibly thick and stable. The sky is pretty dynamic, of course, and I’m glad that it clouded up for us instead of the hard light of a clear, sunny sky. Despite the absence of critters, we call this trip a success…thanks to the sight of this giant ridge of broken ice.
Thoughts of a sandbagger
I did not take my camera. I wasn’t there to take pictures or blog anything. I had my cell phone, which is how this shot came to be, but that’s all. In fact, other than the Heart River ice jam, I have not pursued any photos of this whole flooding ordeal. It just seems a little too much like capitalizing on a situation that is very miserable for a lot of people. If you have read this site long enough to know what I think of ambulance-chasing news reporters, you’ll understand my sensitivity in this matter.
Here are a few thoughts and observations from the day:
When I arrived, there were so many volunteers it was an emotional experience. Some were bringing in cases of water along with their shovels. National Guard personnel were briefing us on what we needed to do. The line of trucks waiting to pick up sandbags went all the way up 7th Street to Rosser Avenue when I arrived, so there was plenty of work awaiting.
I watched as Mayor Warford helped re-stack a pallet of sandbags that had spilled. He’s had a very busy day due to all this flood-related business, but I was impressed that when he saw something that needed to be done, he did it. He is a rancher, after all.
Everybody was really cheerful and polite. There were lots of “thank yous” and “good lucks” traded between volunteers and drivers. I went where the work was, as different parts of the Civic Center were busier than others from time to time and I hate standing around. In doing so I worked with all kinds of different people. All were friendly and hard working.
There was plenty of hospitality, too. I was up until the wee hours of the morning last night cleaning sidewalks and driveways until my snowblower quit (presumably with a failed drive belt). With very little sleep, I needed a break after only a couple of hours. There was an area with lots of refreshments and snacks. I had a great sugar cookie and a couple of glasses of OJ, thanked the Salvation Army workers, and it was back at it. I saw a couple of National Guard soldiers with a box of donuts and bottles of Powerade, which they were giving to the dump truck drivers as they came in through the tunnel.
There were more volunteers than there was work. That can actually gum up the works a little bit, but I heard tonight on KX News that organizers were pleased with the efficiency given the overwhelming number of people who showed up.
The best feeling in the world is when a group of people come together for a common cause and set about doing it with total commitment. That’s why I like working on live TV broadcasts so much. It was so cool to be a part of this whole operation for a good chunk of today, and I couldn’t be more proud of Bismarck-Mandan citizens of all walks of life.
This is my first experience with such a disaster situation. I’ve seen plenty of news footage of things like this helping elsewhere, but it finally hit home. How anyone (ahem, Michele Obama) could say they aren’t proud of their country is beyond me. Skinny high school girls worked next to big tattooed biker types as if they’d been long time teammates.
Those who couldn’t lift sandbags sat and tied them shut once filled. I helped one such lady who couldn’t lift the bags out of her lap after she’d tied them, but she tied them so quickly that there was a new bag ready every time I turned around from stacking the last one. I saw older folks, kids, folks in ripped jeans like me and some in pretty expensive clothing. The variety of folks that showed up with their shovels and their elbow grease encompassed every sort of category you could try to shoehorn a person into. And it ain’t over yet.
If I wasn’t so sleep-deprived and didn’t have a wife and two toddlers, I’d have gone back down there after church tonight. I actually considered it out loud, but my wife brought me back to earth. If you haven’t pitched in at one of the sandbagging stations, even for a short time, go give it a try. It’s very fulfilling and you can take some ownership in this community’s battle against the “Flood of ’09.” It’s a 24/7 operation at this time, we’ll see how things progress as the Big Muddy gets cleared of all the ice jams.
This post brought to you by “global warming”
According to the Heartland Institute, climatologist Patrick Michaels states what North Dakotans already know: we get more snow during colder winters.
I remember much more snowfall when I was a kid. The earth went through a warming trend in the 90s, and snowfall tapered. What do you know… temperatures have since dropped despite (weather recording stations being placed next to heat sources indicating otherwise) and snowfall has increased! I know that the global warming crowd and the innocent young idealists they’re propagandizing think this is all new, but it’s life the way it used to be in good old North Dakota. You think we got our reputation for nasty winters with weather like we saw back in the 90s? I don’t think so! Those creampuffs better get used to some real North Dakota winters, read the history books to find out that yes, we did have blizzards and floods before Al Gore began pushing his misguided theory, and stop blaming it on a “scientific” hoax.
Heart River flooding / ice jam
Just to make things interesting, we’re about to get some freezing temperatures with rain turning to snow Monday. The weather in North Dakota is living up to its reputation this spring!
Earl Pomeroy: dishonest then, dishonest now, or both?
Earl “the Pearl” Pomeroy decided grandstanding would be good once again, vehemently shouting that the people have said, “hell no, and give us our money back!” in response to the bonuses given to AIG employees, bonuses which were contractually owed to those employees. Like many of this nation’s worthless congressmen, he acts as though he’s an innocent bystander in this whole mess, yet Congress is the body responsible. You can see the video of this hypocritcal grandstanding below:
So…when was Pomeroy more dishonest: when he said he’d read the stimulus bill, or when he summoned up his burst of outrage on the floor of the House to put on a show for the folks back home?
Symphony tonight
