Railroad Days returning to Mandan

Posted on August 24, 2011 by Clint

I read that Railroad Days will be held this weekend at the North Dakota Railroad Museum, located on Old Red Trail in Mandan. My family and I visited the museum earlier this summer and had a blast. There is SO much to see and do, starting with a collection of train cars and signals to peruse outside.

The museum has multiple buildings containing multiple rooms full of railroad souvenirs, memorabilia, and other displays. There are seats from old passenger cars, items from old rail depots, model trains, and such a variety of items that I can’t begin to describe. You’ve got to see it all for yourself.

One highlight of the trip was a ride on the Sky Line Railway, a miniature steam train operated by Ed Duke from Hensler (Don’t Blink). Tickets were free, and my boys took a ride before I climbed on with my camera to shoot a little HD video. You can check it out below:

The next big event at the ND Railroad Museum will be this weekend on the 28th, so be sure to save the date and pay them a visit. Check out all the memorabilia, climb around on the caboose collection outside, go for a stroll around the grounds, and check out the various buildings and exhibits. Top it all off with a ride on the Sky Line, and tell them you heard about it here!

I’ll tumble for ya

Posted on August 23, 2011 by Clint

I took my little boys to Safety Day at the Bismarck Civic Center last week and, although most things there were for slightly older kids, they did enjoy this demonstration. Two dummies are seated in a small truck on a trailer. A Highway Patrol officer then activates the motors which spin the truck’s cab and hilarity ensues. It wouldn’t be so hilarious if you’re the dummy who gets tossed around inside the vehicle and eventually ejected!

Here’s what it looks like from another angle, as a series of stills. Not good. The dummy actually got ejected, bounced on top of the vehicle briefly, then slammed down onto the trailer and rolled over. It’s a good illustration of what can happen very quickly.

Naturally we are seat belt users in our family. As a passenger in a friend’s car, I once went partially through a windshield. If my knee hadn’t gone through the dashboard I probably would have been ejected completely. It opened my eyes and I’ve been an ardent supporter of seat belt use ever since.

By the way, I don’t believe in seat belt laws for adults, but I do encourage their use. The same thing goes for helmet use; as a former motorcycle racer, I’ve ruined multiple helmets but kept my head intact as a result. I’m not going to go around trying to force others to wear seat belts and helmets, but I will give an enthusiastic testimony of their effectiveness.

Sometimes, of course, people just have to see for themselves, and that’s what this machine is all about. In addition to my fatherly guidance, I’m hoping demonstrations like this will open the eyes of my boys as well!

Let the Day begin

Posted on August 17, 2011 by Clint

Here’s to the babies in a brand new world,
Here’s to the beauty of the stars…
Here’s to the travelers of the open road,
Here’s to the dreamers and the bards…
Here’s to the soldiers on the desert dunes,
Here’s to the farmers in the fields…
Here’s to the preachers of the sacred Word,
Here’s to the loving God who heals…

Here’s to you, my little loves, with blessing from above, now let the Day begin.

Just sharing a friendly good morning with you and the windmill perched near Farmer’s Livestock southeast of Bismarck and some lyrics lightly modified from one of my favorite songs by The Call.

I’ve been awfully busy lately, and that has been reflected here on the ol’ Blog. In addition to husband and Daddy time, I’ve had a lot of freelance work and been building a new monster computer for my photo and video work. A guy’s got to have priorities. I have managed a little bit of photography from time to time, it’s just a matter of getting it posted here. Soon…very soon.

This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. -Psalm 118:24

All you need to know about the Fighting Sioux logo controversy

Posted on August 12, 2011 by Clint

They’re at it again: according to this article in the Bismarck Tribune, a group of Native American students at UND has filed a lawsuit against pretty much everybody they could name in order to stop the use of the UND Fighting Sioux logo and nickname. There’s ONE thing you need to know about this entire controversy, and it’s characterized neatly within the text of the Tribune story:

“The eight students named in the lawsuit are not members of the two Sioux tribes in North Dakota…”

There you have it. This entire controversy was sparked when a bunch of out-of-state liberals at the NCAA decided that the logo and nickname, granted to the college approximately forty years ago, were “hostile and abusive.” I’ve got a little graphic for ya:

Other states have won this fight; they simply need to stand up to these nutjob activists. This fight is about principle as much as it is about the darn logo. It’s interesting how big institutions with greater numbers to play with have been removed from the “hostile and abusive” list while poor little UND has been hammered at relentlessly, an easy target due to its fewer resources to resist this Politically Correct™ tyranny. This fight is every bit as much about telling out-of-state activists to take a hike as it is to keep our beloved logo.

But if the logo’s got to go, I’ve got an alternative:

With a few simple modifications, we could be come the Valiant White Men. This could honor the traditions and hard-working spirit of the state’s largely German, Norwegian, Scandinavian, and other caucasian populations whose ancestors faced bitter trials to settle this great land.

Not only could we honor the pioneer spirit, then we could let every OTHER minority have a piece of the victimhood game. Right now it’s just one group of sniveling activists mad about the UND logo and nickname. Think how many groups could come out of the woodwork and get their 15 minutes of fame if we had a logo and nickname that honors the majority of the population of our great state!

Of course, I say all this in the name of satire to highlight how silly the “controversy” is. I see people say online and hear in the halls of the state legislature that the issue is a “waste of time” and that there are more important issues than just a logo. For the last time in this post, I will reiterate that this is about more than just a logo and nickname. This is about standing up to out-of-state busy-body activism in the name of “politically correct” tyranny. If this is the front on which this battle will be waged, then let’s fight it with the bravery and tenacity of the Fighting Sioux.

Nice butte

Posted on August 9, 2011 by Clint

Sunday night was a nice opportunity for me to dash out for a last minute photo fix, so I grabbed a friend and headed west. The sunset was approaching quickly, but I already had a foreground object in mind: Crown Butte. I know a spot which, if you have four wheel drive and aren’t afraid to get muddy, provides some fantastic sunset opportunities. I had a clean truck before this event, but now am still caked in mud. Fun on multiple levels!

The colors displayed by a North Dakota sunset are striking. They turn gold and/or red as the sun breaches the horizon, turning to wonderful pinks and purples as it wanes. The gold this evening was incredible. It also highlighted some very interesting features:

Note the corkscrew-shaped clouds traversing just above the horizon. These were quite noteworthy and a good reason to make a wide panoramic shot from multiple exposures. I set up my tripod and panned across the display, assembling several of the shots together in order to show you this wild looking formation. I’ll leave the “secret military test plane” theories to the tin foil hat crowd.

As soon as it came, the sunset departed. The golden and reddish hues had made their transition to purples and back to blue. This wide shot of the sky shows the evening sky encroaching on the bold display as night was just around the corner. Since the terrain required that I be able to see the best way to navigate through the mud, it was time for us to load up the cameras and head back in, satisfied that we’d had a successful photography outing on short notice.

You spell it Hogue, I spell it Hoge…let’s call the whole thing off

Posted on August 6, 2011 by Clint

So I’ve been politely poking fun at KFYR-TV and others like my friend Mark who keep referring to “Hogue Island” online. I’ve always known the Hoge Island Boat Landing, the Hoge Field model aircraft club, and the like…so where did the U come from?

Bringing this up to Mark, he told me to “read the signs!” Always willing to double check myself, I decided to take the long way home after work and investigate. Guess what: Hoge. Look above and see for yourself. Case closed, right? Nope.

It looks like these signs have been corrected to indicate “Hoge Island” but did originally say “Hogue”. You can see from this photo where the “ue” has been covered and replaced with an “e” to alter the spelling. Did the makers of the original sign make the same “error” that Mark and others have made? Not quite…it appears there may be some actual contention on the spelling.

I was hoping that it might be as simple as looking for a Hoge Township on the Burleigh County map (PDF), but sadly that did not yield the intended result. Burleigh County itself refers to the area as Hoge Island. So how do I try to get an authoritative, definitive answer?

Well, while I’ve actually been wondering about this since late May or early June, it turns out that the Bismarck Tribune has been on top of it. They did this story on the matter back in June and discovered that two branches of the family which once owned the land in the area spelled their last name in two different ways. So we’re BOTH right. Thanks to Chris Bjorke for the legwork on this one.

I knew a guy in college whose last name is Hoag. I wonder if he’d want to chime in on the matter

The most expensive way to NOT make a difference

Posted on August 5, 2011 by Clint

The wind farms popping up around North Dakota are the bane of the photographer. They spoil fantastic views of pristine landscapes, often sitting idle while they do so. I agree with much of Dennis Stillings says in one of articles about these “Prairie Pinwheels”. Many of his works published in the Dakota Beacon Magazine.

The machine pictured above, visible on the west side of Highway 83 as you approach Minot, has sat broken for many weeks. I think it’s a pretty good picture of the dependability of wind power. When there’s not enough wind, they don’t function. When there’s too much wind, they don’t function. When they do, they put the hippies in a quandary when they start killing birds in the name of being “Green™.” Oh yeah…and they’re LOUD.

I “re-appropriated” the title of this post from the folks at Envirogy, a website which has collected a number of studies dispelling the myth of wind power as a panacea. In fact, the opposite could be demonstrated to be true. Compiling studies from places such as windaction.org, they are able to point out the flaws in the utopian view of impact-free windmills churning peacefully across the fruited plane, freeing us from the shackles of evil corporations. Take a look at this article and the studies linked therein.

When life gives you lemons, you of course make lemonade…but don’t dare let your little kids sell it, or the government will shut them down for not having a pile of required licenses and permits. In the case of the wind towers, however, there are occasionally some photographic opportunities. This is one of them. I spotted it several evenings ago when I happened to be in the right place at the right time, which for me is a large chunk of photography’s appeal. I had to maneuver a little bit to get to the right position, but things aligned themselves almost automatically.

There you have it, the musings of someone who doesn’t drink the “renewable energy” Kool-Aid, some web links to provide a little weekend reading, and of course another windmill photo of sorts. Have a great weekend!

I’m not sure what it is, but it’s in season

Posted on August 2, 2011 by Clint

My guess it’s a combine, but it might as well be a white whale. This piece of equipment sits just east of north 26th Street at the intersection where the road transitions from pavement to gravel. It’s on private property that’s posted, so any photography has to be done from the fence line. To complicate matters, it sits at such an angle that its side is obscured by its shadow for most of the year.

That’s where the calendar comes into play. In mid-June when the days are longest, the sun sets farther north than during most of the year. At that point it’s just far enough to illuminate part of this machine, as you can see here. It still has a shadow cast along part of the side, but at least the main workings are seeing direct light.

One of the things that has intrigued me the most about photography, at least the type of photography which I pursue, is that timing is everything. I’ve taken photos of this machine during the summer, winter, and all points in between. It wasn’t until I made a point of remembering to visit in late June that I was finally able to get a shot like this one. Maybe next June I’ll try it at sunrise!

Under the Milky Way tonight

Posted on July 31, 2011 by Clint

I thought I’d borrow an 80’s song title from The Church for this post. I spent last night with one of my best friends (of which I am blessed to have three) out at Sweet Briar to catch the Delta Aquarids meteor shower. We were not disappointed.

While I did not catch any of the faint meteors on camera, we did see some spectacular ones and plenty of satellites. Of course, when the really amazing ones with glittery trails came by, I wasn’t in the process of taking a photo…so I came back empty-handed in that regard.

Taking photos of the starry sky requires a lot of things to go right. We need a clear sky, no wind, and decent temperatures for the long exposures. One other thing we need is for the camera to NOT fog up. Sadly, it did just that as a wave of fog rolled in just before we decided to call an end to the evening.

The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. -Psalm 19:1

Cutting to the corps of the issue… with lots of web links, as usual

Posted on July 29, 2011 by Clint

The Army Corps of Engineers has some tough questions to answer. I don’t envy them. A recent investigation is turning up some very interesting emails regarding the Missouri River flood situation.

The most notable passage I’ve read so far is where Todd Lindquist writes, “I’m headed home. I no longer look people in the eye and tell them the forecast is 85,000 cfs from Garrison.” As it turns out, releases would eventually exceed that number by another 70,000 cfs… a fact North Dakota would be told only gradually.

There have been plenty of people making the case that the river was horribly mismanaged prior to the flood event. I wouldn’t argue with that. Now it’s time to figure out where everything went sideways and to prevent it from happening again.

In a way, I have a lot of sympathy for the Corps of Engineers; after all, they have strict guidelines to which they must adhere, guidelines which result in quite a juggling act as they struggle to make many competing interests happy. That’s quite an unenviable position.

Any investigation and resulting action that is taken in the aftermath of the Missouri River flood needs to be more than a simple headhunt. It also needs to take a long, hard look at the way the Missouri river system master management manual is written. Perhaps the dams should be returned to their original intended purpose: flood control. That way when barge traffic, recreation, and an endangered bird begin to cause mismanagement of the system, people’s lives and property don’t become casualties of the resulting mess.

Bismarck-Mandan Blog

Photography , musings, and a love of North Dakota