Since we’re talking about ice…

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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!

The sky took a dramatic, ominous look as we climbed up onto the ridge. There was no danger of breaking through the ice; it’s frozen so thick this year that people are bottoming out their ice augers trying to get a fishing hole! The point of the ridge that we chose to explore was on the shore of one of the aforementioned islands as well, not in deep water.

I’m close to six feet tall, but this blue slab of ice was about 1.5 times as tall as me. I climbed up on the ridge to get a decent look at it. I’m told that before the last warm-cold cycle, this ice was all colored blue and lit up on a sunny day. It’s as if Superman dropped a crystal from his ice house, if you know what I mean!


Another spot of color out on the open (albeit frozen) water was this green pool of water. While the ice itself is frozen to a thickness of a few feet, the surface does tend to melt on those warm days. It refreezes when the temperatures drop again, but on a day like today we had plenty of water puddles on top of the ice. We lamented that fact as we walked over to the ridge, as we weren’t wearing waterproof shoes! We parked quite a distance away and walked, in case the ice was weakened near the pressure ridge. We needed the car to get home, after all.

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

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I heard the call for volunteers go out on KFYR radio, so I was ecstatic when our boss called an impromptu staff meeting first thing this morning. Anyone who wanted to go help fill/load sandbags could do so on company time. Needless to say, many of us bolted directly to the Civic Center.

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”

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I sure picked a good year to finally buy a snowblower! Apparently the flooding that’s plaguing much of North Dakota has been blamed on global cooling warming climate change by President Obama. He couldn’t be more wrong, but he’s got an agenda to advance and he’s sticking to it.

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

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Quite the crew of spotters I have…two of my friends and my mom called to let me know that the Heart River was jammed full of ice. I was already out and about running errands while my beautiful wife and dashingly handsome boys took their much-needed naps, so I headed out with my camera to join the dozens of gapers investigating the carnage.

I don’t remember seeing the Heart like this since I was a high school kid. There was one time back in the 80s where the ice chunks were much larger, much thicker. Quite frankly, I’m not sure we’ve had the precipitation for something like this during most recent winters.

I actually managed to get this shot without a constant stream of cars in the near lane! That was no small feat; it was a near traffic jam on the bridge for the entire time that I was in the area. I wondered if all Mandan residents got a notice to report to the bridge! By the way, this bridge has a name. Do you know it?

The churning wall of ice and debris clearly had enormous force behind it, and was mere feet from the bottom of the bridge. The log in the foreground was absolutely enormous, but was being tossed about like a rag doll in the ice. It was spun around a couple of times as the ice worked its way past the concrete bridge support, but never lost speed in its trek down the river channel. It’s spooky to consider those forces working on someone unfortunate enough to fall into this mess. They’d be crushed in seconds.

Just south of the bridge, bordered by Highway 1806, this field is now under several feet of water. The bridge in the background is rarely above water; the area below it is for overflow in cases such as this. I used to climb around, hang from, and do other crazy stuff on this bridge as a kid. Most of the time there was only sand below it. Now there’s plenty of ice cold water.

This bridge is next to the Fort Lincoln Trolley station on south 3rd. There were plenty of people as foolhardy as me walking across this bridge. It was very disconcerting to look down between the railroad ties and see the massive wall of ice and debris mere feet below, especially after observing the tremendous force packed between those icy chunks!

One of my favorite angles, although I took many. This is a fun little bridge, even when there isn’t chunky, churning danger below. I’ve got a soft spot for old bridges, though, as the whole Memorial Bridge affair has demonstrated.

Wide angle, anyone? I love my 10-22mm wide angle lens for things like this. It helps give a little bit of perspective to the amazing flow of ice.

Hay Creek seems to be throttling up pretty well too. I found Divide Avenue blocked this evening as well, and it has a high-speed river charging across it. Once the waters subside, I wonder how much damage the road will have sustained.

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?

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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:

But it gets better: Pomeroy told KX News that he’d read the stimulus bill cover to cover. If that’s so, then how did he miss the fact that Kent Conrad’s co-conspirator put an amendment into the bill to protect these bonuses?

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

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I have a friend who is part of the Bismarck-Mandan Symphony this year, and she was kind enough to give me a ticket for tonight’s performance. It was quite cool, and I was able to sneak a few photos from time to time without being disruptive. I really like the Symphony and the Belle Mehus itself. It’s been a while since I’ve been able to see them perform, so tonight was a real treat! If I remember correctly, their season is almost over. It’ll be easy to spot the friend I mentioned; she’s got the nicest smile in the whole orchestra!

Badlands balancing act

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This precariously perched petrification sits near a scoria / gravel road near the National Grasslands north of Theodore Roosevelt National Park. I had to hike through a little bit of crusty snow to get the angle I wanted, but it was worthwhile. I love these spring Dakota days where we have snow on the ground but beautiful sunny blue skies overhead. It’s a window in which to grab some pretty neat glimpses of the prairie with some nice light and the warmth of the sun. These days are fleeting, though. Although it seems like there’s always one more cold snap coming to give us a little bit more snow, it’s clear that spring is clearly right around the corner.

40,000 and the tallest outdoor potty in the state

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I took my 40,000th photo with my trusty Canon camera today. I was paying a second visit to one of the coolest locations I’ve ever visited for photos, and the first shot I took was deep within the infrastructure. For some reason my camera jumped from 39,999 to 40,001! I don’t have photo number 40,000. Weird. I do, however, have the above shot (in addition to many cooler ones). I have to make sure I have clearance to post anything else from this facility, but I’m sure this shot of the portable toilets will be okay. They’re actually pretty unremarkable, until you put them in context:

I didn’t ask how they got up there, and I don’t know how they’re going to get them down. All I know is that they look like pretty much the last place I would want to be in a blustery North Dakota winter! Brrr!

Here’s to another 40,000 photos…I wonder how long it’ll take? Now that I’m a husband and daddy, I don’t have nearly as much free time to go running around with my camera. I take lots of family pictures, though, as you can imagine. One can never take too many of those!

The Old Rugged Cross

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I love to use music references in the titles of my blog posts. Sometimes pop music fits the bill, other times those old hymns are the ticket. I have to say, I prefer the hymns.

I don’t do much black and white photography, but this just seemed to fit.

I’m actually out of words right now; I got up at 5 o’clock this morning to prepare four pages of testimony for a committee meeting in the House of Representatives later this week. So for the most part all you get today is the picture!

Golden Hour pays off big…but the Sweet Hour pays off bigger

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I’m sure there comes a point in every photographer’s life when they discover the Golden Hour, a photography term for the first hour before sunrise and the last hour after sunset. That’s when the light gets really cool, painting your outdoor subjects with an array of color.

Only a severe case of cabin fever could have kicked this man’s butt out of bed this morning at somewhere before six o’clock. I’ve really needed to get out with my camera, and my little boys (ages one and two years) have been giving me some hectic nights and very little sleep. I finally had one morning in which to try sleeping in, with no work or church to contend with…and I got up earlier than ever. I must really love photography! That I do, as well as just getting in the truck and roaming. This time bore plenty of fruit.

I found this barn along a gravel road. I bundled up and followed some packed-in snowmobile tracks up to it for a Golden Hour capture that made my early awakening worthwhile. I have plenty of other angles and other photos from other scenes discovered along the way, but I think I’ve already found my favorite. It’s facing south so the impending sunrise is not visible, but its color is unmistakably present.

When the sun has set, your sunset and evening photo opportunities have just begun. In the morning, don’t wait for the sun to rise to get stunning sunrise pictures. Bismarck and Mandan have plenty of sights that look entirely differently when painted from the palette of the morning or evening sun!

I’ve been working on my Bible reading habits lately. In the Bible, tithing (which we Americans tend to think of in a monetary context) is often considered with the “firstfruits” of one’s substance. I don’t consider tithing simply in the context of putting a check in the offering plate; we should give to God the first fruits of other important things, such as our time. Because of that, and in kind of a Psalm 63 sort of way (“O God, thou are my God; early will I seek thee…”), I have begun a habit of reading my Bible first thing in the morning.

This morning I woke early, but not as early as I’d hoped. As I readied my gear in my office for a mad dash outside, I saw my Bible on the desk. Thankfully I was able to stop and set things down, sit and read as I usually do, and to pray before I left. Among my prayers was something along the lines of “Lord, please show me something beautiful through my camera today.” Well, in that respect He certainly answered my prayer. I saw some really wonderful things on my trek today, capturing most of them with my camera.

This reminded me of the hymn “Sweet Hour of Prayer” although I don’t pray for an hour every morning. I had that “Sweet Hour” before I even set out for the “Golden Hour.” By doing so I got the morning off to a fantastic start, one far better than if I’d simply dashed to the truck and hurried out on my own.