July 4th 2009 in pictures

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My little two year old is learning early on to love his country, honor the soldiers who fight for him, and respect the flag he was given to wave. He took to it like second nature.

These kids are future marketing majors…taking a crappy job (pun intended) and branding it “Free Fertilizer.” They just need to find a way to charge a nominal handling fee.

Old car body in the bushes? Usually I burn time and gas looking for this kind of thing, but today someone was nice enough to bring it to my camera on a trailer.

Two of the coolest seats in the house, today. Talk about a fun point of view! That haircut reminds me of my mohawk, only mine was nineteen inches long. Seriously. I have pictures.

He assures me he bagged all those deer himself. This was by far one of the most creative displays this year, so I salute his effort.

Later it was time to attend the Bis-Man Symphony playing at the capitol. A friend’s daughter plays in the Symphony, so I got some pictures for them…then it was time for the fireworks. A friend and I arrived early to play some intense frisbee on the lower part of the capitol mall, then hoofed it up to the top with our cooler full of Dew.

I tried a different approach this time around for capturing the fireworks, and for many of the shots it worked perfectly. For others it didn’t turn out so well, with the intensity of the fireworks overpowering the camera sensor. I still prefer the look to that of past attempts.

The night that the “4th” was put in the windows, I actually go to spend some time with the man who walks around and pulls the window shades to make it happen. He also turns on the correct office lights to make sure that the “4th” shows up properly. He has a map of the front face of the capitol with the windows he needs highlighted. It’s really cool! When he does the Christmas windows, I may ask to tag along and write a short feature about him.

Happy Independence Day! I was able to capture what I wanted with the camera but otherwise left it behind. I got family time in, motorcycle riding, frisbee, the Symphony, fireworks, tacos, and much more crammed into this single day. Friday our office grilled at noon and then shut down for the day, so I was able to attend Art in the Park as well with my family. I then took one of the little boys to the capitol to look out the windows up top, then to the glass elevator in the Logan Building, and some other local attractions. We got a LOT out of this weekend…I hope you did, too.

Tea Party on the Capitol Mall

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I was able, like hundreds of others, to attend the TEA Party on the capitol mall last night. There were a lot of enthusiastic folks in attendance, probably the equivalent of fifty to a hundred NDPC rallies. While I’ll fill in the gaps with photos and words when I have more time, I wanted to share some of my favorite signs with you:


This was one of my top five signs.


Another one of my top five. Uffda!


Yet another one of my favorites.


The twelve trillion dollar question.


This is proving more and more accurate all the time!


Yet another fave! I wonder if the TOTUS likes this one.


Way to go, kids!


Almost as if on cue, the vultures started circling the capitol!


“Pie a Politician.” You could even put a bag over his head and write your favorite politician’s name on it!

Oddly, I don’t have a photo of the other sign that made my Top Five. It said succinctly: “Welcome to North Dakota, where you can get an abortion but you can’t buy bottle rockets.” That speaks volumes right there.

If I get a chance this weekend I’ll post a few more pics. Happy Independence Day! Enjoy it while it lasts!

After Friday night, I’d be embarassed if I still worked in local television

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We had another line of storms roll through Bismarck-Mandan on Friday night, and it appeared to be another instance of a problem I mentioned in a recent post about local stations and the weak link in their system. In fact, I got nothing but black from KFYR and KXMB at times when the storm was hitting the hardest, when one is most fervently seeking weather information!

I was dismayed that, although my system indicated 97% signal, there was nothing to be had on the screen except black with an occasional jitter. Apparently the transmitters were operating faithfully, but just didn’t have a signal to transmit! Shame.

You can put all the money into weather talent, fancy graphics systems, street-level radar products, and heavy promotion…but if you can’t even manage to feed it to your transmitter, what’s the point? If I see even a single “weather leader” promo after Friday night’s performance, I think I might just throw up a little.

Not everybody is a cable subscriber, especially out of town. If these stations are content with only distributing their signal reliably over cable TV, then why bother transmitting over the air at all? Otherwise, I implore them to please get their severe weather performance problems under control.

US Bank et al provide free housing to some needy residents

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This anxious mommy is feeding two little hatchlings nestled inside the “a” of the US Bank sign on the front of the Arrowhead Plaza branch. With a great view of the capitol and the rising sun, these nests also were perfect for riding out the storms this weekend. I originally saw these while out on a date with my lovely wife Friday night before the aforementioned storm (we LOVE the Walrus). Obviously I didn’t take my camera on such an occasion, so I caught these birds playing the following morning.

US Bank isn’t the only business whose sign provides such hospitality to the birdies. I think this ampersand may be part of the Arrowhead Cleaners sign, but I don’t remember. Looks cozy, doesn’t it?

This little fella is hanging out in front of the fitness center. No need for a membership when you live there! It’s nice that these birds have found such a secure place to nest; otherwise they might be homeless, after the blustery weather we’ve been having.

I don’t have any birds nestling above my motion sensors on my house or garage this year, since the upgraded ones are too small to support a nest. I do, however, have some great pictures and video of last year’s robins feeding their babies! I should dig those up and post them; I don’t think I ever got around to it last spring.

What all the buzz was about over lunch yesterday

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I had some time to go outside over my lunch break yesterday so I used it to chase some bugs around with the camera, including this bee. I followed it from flower to flower for a while before spotting the first damselflies of the season.

A shot like this is MUCH harder than it looks. Harsh sunlight complicated the exposure. A breeze caused the flowers to wag, and bees are unpredictable. Nevertheless, it was a fun way to pass the time. Sunshine and fresh air are a very important part of any break in the day!

Little fluffy clouds

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These actually aren’t such little fluffy clouds, like the title of my favorite song by The Orb. They’re long, linear fluffy clouds. Whether they’re ripples in the sky’s cover or something to do with a jet contrail (after all, we ARE considered “flyover country”) I can’t say. I just know that when I saw them this morning I had to hop out of the truck and throw on a really wide-angle lens to catch ’em!

Chalky auto detailing

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I don’t know what to think of this station wagon. Either someone’s getting ready to road trip to Burning Man, or the kids need a spanking! If you’re into the whole car-chalk-drawing thing, I suppose a station wagon is one of the better cars due to increased surface area. A van without windows would be even better!

This car has been parked along 4th Street for a while. If you’re in the area, swing by and have a look! Someone obviously put a lot of work into it.

42000: Under the Milky Way Tonight

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Not only does this post about tonight’s photography esperience get the title of my favorite song by The Church, it also marks a milestone: photo number 42,000 with this camera. Pretty cool, huh? This is one of the many hilly buttes and features northwest of Mandan on Highway 1806.

I’d been running around with my camera and a friend, a trip that took us all over the area. We even got to stop and talk with another photo pal who’s a member of local law enforcement. We visited the newly opened Harmon Lake, and then decided to head north to see what the sky might provide.

Obviously the clouds gave us a little bit of a break; I’d been fearful that they would blanket the sky and kill any sort of photographic opportunity. After dumping lots and lots of rain on us early in the week, the skies have since turned remarkably cooperative. Tonight was no exception. This is a shot back toward Bismarck-Mandan, as you can tell by the light on the horizon. The sky had a different color toward the south because of all the scattered light from the cities.

Here’s to late nights, good friends, beautiful skies, cameras, and Bismarck-Mandan! All combined, they make for a very memorable experience.

Respite

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I had originally considered writing something more along the lines of prose, something like “Ode to My Shop Vac” after the battle against Tuesday’s surge of water. We escaped without any major damage (wet carpet remnants in the laundry room), but it was a hard fought battle. Combine that with gutters full of those stupid little elm seeds, and I’ve had a busy week fighting water. So tonight I thought I’d photograph it instead.

My wife was tired and went to bed when the boys did, and she instructed me to go ride motorcycle or go out with my camera or something. I did both. After a great photo jaunt west of Mandan, I came home and got the big Suzuki out for some carving. Most of the time I wear one of my full leather racing suits when I’m out, because I’ve lost enough skin since I started riding at age 5 or 6. Wow, it’s been a long time. Anyway, tonight was absolutely comfortable in leathers. I had a fantastic time. Now for some shut-eye before putting a wrap on the work week!

I got a lot of fantastic pics, but I’m only posting this one before bed. I was out in the middle of nowhere for much of my photo trip (and picked up my first wood tick too!) but caught this sight along Highway 25, north of Roby’s Supper Club. Home of the best Filet Mignon I’ve ever had, by the way. Mmmmmmm….steak. I know what I’m grillin’ for dinner Friday!

Thankfully the ring of storms threatening Bismarck tonight were miraculously whisked away, leaving instead an awesome night for a guy to take out his camera and motorcycle. I’m so glad I have a wife with such good ideas!

Update: got my first wood tick from this excursion too, and I”m not surprised. I spent a lot of time in the tall grass. Also, have you noticed that “respite” is one of Kevin Lawrence’s favorite words during the weather? You will now…