Brother Mike returns to Bismarck-Mandan

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Last week our church held our annual Missions Conference. Featured were three visiting missionaries, each one remarkable in his own way. One of them, Mike Saunders had been here before…and I was eagerly awaiting his return.

“Brother Mike” lived a hard-knock life before he accepted Christ, and is now a missionary to the prisons in his home state of Texas. He had a remarkable testimony the last time he was here, but had another equally remarkable one this time around. Mike’s lucky to be alive.

Mike was t-boned on his motorcycle by a woman who ran a red light on her SUV. She fled the scene but was caught, and was actually hopping mad about the damage to the front of her truck. Mike wasn’t so lucky. He lost a portion of one leg and now has a prosthesis. He also lost his sight in one eye for a while, had numerous life-threatening internal injuries, and for a while the word we received was that he would no longer be able to play the guitar. Our prayers were answered, however; Mike survived his ordeal, has recovered from his injuries and regained his sight, and can still play the guitar in the prisons.

Missionaries visit our church from time to time, and naturally certain people take to certain missionaries for whatever reason. In my case I suppose a lot of it is as a motorcyclist…I’ve ridden the “flashy-bus” a few times in my years of riding and roadracing. Thankfully my injuries were never as severe as those of Brother Mike.

I have a copy of his CD, “Brother Mike Sings”, which I have ripped to my iPod. He sells them himself to support his ministry, and our church bookstore also keeps some on hand. I believe they cost six or seven dollars, and I may be able to hook you up with one if you’re interested. Just use the “Contact Me” link at the top of the page if you’d like more information. I encoded some samples for you.

This is an excerpt from “The Deacons Ain’t Voted On It Yet”, one of my personal favorites. His music is often quite funny, and this is one of the more hilarious ones:

One of my other favorites is “Where Have All the Real Men Gone?” so I put a portion of it below:


Missionaries such as Mike Saunders are quite a treat. Like I said, some folks tend to take a liking to certain missionaries and/or their families for whatever reason. We look forward to having Mike Saunders back in the future and to getting him a chance to minister to guys in local prisons here. He’s assured me he won’t be trying to borrow one of my motorcycles while he’s here!

If you’re going to make a typo, do it in a spelling bee article

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My mom saved a recent issue of the Mandan News for me because of this article. It features a certain little blond-haired boy who won the city & county spelling bee. I thought it would be cool for my scrapbook, but then my “typo reflex” kicked in.

I have this thing where I catch misspellings even in my peripheral vision…it’s almost spooky. In this case, a capital N was screaming at me. Now I suppose people will start asking if my mom is a nurse or something! The irony of a typo in a spelling bee article isn’t lost on me. My mom asked me if the article makes me feel old. Of course not.

As far as the full version of “F” goes, I am one of those privacy types. Sure, it’s pretty easy to figure out my last name from other miscellaneous details over the past two years…but I’m not going to just broadcast it. I’m not hiding, just trying to be a little cautious.

Nice save

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No, this guy didn’t crash. Even if he would, this bike is set up with crash bars ( the Harley guys call them “whiskey bars” ) and other equipment to protect vital parts when dropped. This photo is from Cycle Hutt’s monthly Stunt Night. But when I decided to title this post “Nice save” I wasn’t talking about this stunter; I was talking about my Saturday.

After plugging a few targets at the handgun range I decided to stop in on the Freedom Riders motorcycle show at the Ramkota. Sadly, alcohol is mostly what there was to see. After I braved the nasty cigarette smoke to get into the Ramkota, it seemed like everyone had a beer or whiskey in their hand. Beer sponsors, beer logos, and a beer in every hand. Boy, that sure does a great job of presenting motorcycling’s image to the community, doesn’t it?

Back in the 90s I was part of trying to help sportbike riders get involved in the show, so it wasn’t 100% Harleys. After a couple of years of working hard on a display only to have some biker’s old Z-1 with candy apple paint take the Sport/Street category, I gave up. In recent years a few sportbike riders have entered their bikes, so I wanted to see what there was to see.

There wasn’t a sportbike to be found. I’d heard rumblings and grumblings at a parts counter or two about the same issues I’d experienced, and apparently the sportbike guys had thrown their hands up on the Freedom Riders show. There was seven bucks (!) and twenty minutes of my life I wasn’t going to get back. I decided to make the most of it and eyeball some cool antique entries, such as this one, and then make my hasty exit back through the wall of smoke.

This was the one bright spot of the show, aside from seeing a couple of friends from local dealerships. This was a petition signing point for Americans for Prosperity, which is a grassroots organization pushing for tax cuts. I signed the petition, chatted with the folks involved, and took off. Note the beer sign on the wall and the beer on the table, which didn’t belong to the AFP folks.

I meant to visit the 50th annual Mandan Art Show, but by the time I got to the Mandan Community Center, the doors were locked! Argh. I was feeling pretty down about the nosedive my Saturday was taking, until I drove past Cycle Hutt.

Quite a few sportbike riders were gathered for this event, and there were a few guys performing wheelies and other assorted stunts. Redemption! I pulled in to enjoy the atmosphere for a little while and take some pictures as well.

This was a great opportunity to play with my ultra-wide lens, because the distortion effects it gives are pretty cool. The only trick is getting close enough. I don’t want to distract the riders, and I also don’t want to get hit if a stunt goes wrong. Everything worked out okay, however. I got a ton of photos, some of them even turned out! I don’t do much action photography, so it was a good exercise.

So the rubber stamp on my hand cost me $7 and got me a look at a bunch of people drinking and a bunch of bikes with skulls and other garbage airbrushed on them. The best one I heard it called was a “Costume party” because of all the folks throwing on leather and playing “bad biker” for the weekend. It was like walking into a bar that happens to have a bunch of Harleys parked on the floor. The band on my wrist was free, I got to see a bunch of sober people having a good time, and take some wild photos to boot. Nice save.

50th annual Mandan Art Show

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This was the scene at the Mandan Community Center this weekend, which is where the 50th Mandan Art Show is taking place. Artwork was dropped off by adult and student artists, then hung carefully in place while all the ancillary details were handled. I climbed above the action with my 10mm wide-angle lens and captured some of the activity.

I have four pieces in this show, all are for sale. I spent hours late at night in my garage doing the mounting, matting, and framing. Thankfully I have a very glorious and enormous heated garage, complete with satellite TV and a fridge full of Dew. It still made for some long nights. That reminds me…if you ever see a photo on this blog that you really like and want to order a print, just contact me. I can make big poster-sized prints for you. Pricing details available upon request.

I guess the Mandan News has printed a history of the art show, and one of the ladies they featured (first year’s winner, I think) was a lady named Betty. I met her several years ago, last century I suppose, when my parents used to give her a ride to church. She’s passed away now. When I spent time with her on those rides to church I had no idea she was an artist, and I certainly was no photographer.

The giving tree

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It’s been a while since I’ve taken a picture of this famous tree, parked right in the middle of Burleigh Avenue. Soon its branches will be adorned with leaves. Despite development in the area, this tree is not in jeopardy; at a City Commission meeting I attended, it was discussed that this tree will be protected by curb and gutter because of its importance to the citizens of our fair city. Sweet.

On Golden Pond. Note to all geese: the good spots are going fast

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Spring means the return of the migratory species such as Canada Geese (note: not “Canadian” ) that keep us company through ’til fall. While the refinery and power plant keep plenty of them here year ’round, we see an influx of snowbirds (pun intended) this time each year. They’ve gotta live somewhere.

These two geese are staking claim on one of the finest pieces of bird real estate in the area: the little island near Southport Marina. It’s right next to the first turn off Fox Island road, which is what I call Riverwood Drive. It looks pretty choice, if you happen to be nesting.

Whatever happened to avian hospitality?

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I spotted this oddity along old 10 west of Mandan. Just go with me on the whole idea of the birdhouse dwellers posting the sign, okay? In that case, I can understand the whole No Hunting thing.

I have been known to post a windmill photo or two. I’ve had plenty of “fallen farms” to boot. Things like this, however, are a more elusive part of that North Dakota prairie charm. They’re harder to spot, but they make very rewarding photos when they catch the eye.

This is also the photo featured on my April calendar, described in the post below. You can download it by a link from that post or in the pane to the right.

Friday night sunset

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We had a pretty golden evening tonight. Not just in the sky, either. I took little PJ to the park and went down the slide with him in my lap…over, and over, and over, and over. We climbed around the playground equipment, went to the mall to buy some targets and ammo for this weekend, then on our first daddy-son trip to McDonald’s. Man, what fun we had!

Dirty dogs

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One might suspect that I titled this post because I was listening to ZZ Top on my iPod when I took the picture. That would be true, but it also has a double meaning.

I was down at the rifle range at McLean Bottoms, trying out a new rifle. I’ve got several friends that have bought guns in the past week or so as well, it’s like we’re contagious or something! But this was just a solo trip down to the range after work to run two ceremonial rounds through it, one through each of the magazines issued with the rifle. The ammo was a gift from a friend, who turned our Sioux Hockey Night into an impromptu “gun-warming party” as he put it. I’m honored. Oh yeah, while I was in the area I stopped at the pistol range as well and heated up my Glock for good measure.

Back to the sundogs in the photo. The reason they’re somewhat “dirty” and that there’s a yellowish tinge to the horizon is that there was a pretty large grass fire underway north of Highway 1804. I saw it as I worked my way down to the river bottoms. It was throwing up a pretty good cloud of dirty looking smoke, which happened to drift right across the sky above and west of the pistol/rifle ranges. All in all, it was an eventful little after-work trip!

ND Peace Coalition urges withdrawal from violent North Dakota quagmire

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(Bismarck) The North Dakota Peace Coalition called for immediate withdrawal from North Dakota this week, after describing the situation here as “a quagmire with no end in sight.” In light of numerous homicides and other violent crimes in 2007, said NDPC representative Karyn Van Possum, “the continued cost of the North Dakota occupation in the lives and health of our citizens is exceeding our expectations…not that the deaths of North Dakotans should have ever been within our expectations.”

When asked if a resolution in the state legislature along the lines of the Mathern/Kretschmar Pacifism Resolution was being considered, Van Possum indicated, “…that’s certainly a possibility. What better way to demonstrate support for our citizens than to get them out of harm’s way? Staying in North Dakota will not work and is not worth the price.”

Van Possum continued: “The list of atrocities committed in North Dakota include: an asphyxiated newborn in December, the high profile killings of two college coeds in Minot and Valley City, the beating to death of a man in Grand Forks in October, and the April slaying of a Sykeston couple in which their home was burned to the ground in an effort to conceal the crime. That’s only the tip of the iceberg. Even now, the local news is reporting a possible kidnapping in central North Dakota. In August, someone hit a young man in the head and tried to run him over with a pickup. Obviously North Dakota is not safe for North Dakotans. We need to keep our citizens safe. We support North Dakotans, just not their mission. It’s time to bring them home…er, well, somewhere safe, anyway.”

When not busy fighting to end all fighting, many of the ND Peace folks keep busy by forming an endless array of coalitions, councils, and other “dot orgs” to champion such causes such as deviant sexual practices and preferences, pseudo-peace through capitulation to all enemies of freedom, and the worship of the Earth rather than its creator. Populating these organizations, attending the occasional protest and/or drum circle, and standing in black in front of the capitol keep many of them too busy to find a productive place in society. “But we care,” stressed Van Possum, “and that’s the important part.”

While they concede that our presence in North Dakota is unlikely to diminish any time soon, the peaceniks vow to remain resolute. “There’s no giving up on giving up,” Van Possum said. “It takes courage to stand up for running away.”

(I didn’t have time for a new April Fool’s joke, so I decided to recycle a little satire from an earlier post. It doesn’t take an intellectual giant to make these people look silly. They do 99% of the work themselves.)