This didn’t turn out so badly, actually…considering I was walking in sand without a tripod or monopod. The great beast took off and I whipped the camera into place, held onto the shutter for dear life, and this is the result. I’m told they tend to be territorial, so I know where to look for him in the future.
Despite my wordcraft, that just didn’t have the excitement of a Moby Dick moment, did it?
Everybody’s hopping on the bandwagon when it comes to this illegal immigration nonsense. It’s a new Civil Rights movement, according to Senator Ted Kennedy. The media will not dare mention the word “illegal” in reference to these people. The NAACP is helping carry the banner of the illegals, although they’re wary of them taking away the NAACP’s spot at the table of political power. The unions are having a crisis of conscience because the illegals drive wages down and jobs overseas, but yet a big mobilized workforce could present a big pool of new members. But the biggest salivation seems to be from the Democrat party, which is using these protests as recruitment rallies:
They’re handing out these flyers (printed en espanol on the back) at rallies in Texas. Notice how Texas seems to suddenly be part of Mexico! You can find more of these pictures here.
By the way, if you move to Mexico and become a citizen there, you are NOT allowed to vote. You are subject to immediate deportation if you get involved in politics. The immigration laws in Mexico are far tougher than those of the United States, but they want us to give them the keys to our country.
Oh, and let’s not forget – A.N.S.W.E.R. is elbows-deep in this thing. They’re the group put up my Ramsey Clarke, the guy who supported “ethnic cleansing” of Serbs in Bosnia and Kurd in Iraq.
Thankfully, here in North Dakota we arrest these people when they show up on the job site. It’s happened in Bismarck, Fargo, and now Washburn. I’m sure it’ll only get worse as the politicians on both sides continue to cater to illegals in the hope of more votes.
And for once, our ND Senators are actually voting in the interest of North Dakotans!
This house is on their farm. It was owned by Billy Holden way back when. It’s got a stone basement that’s collapsed on one side (see lower right) and an upstairs. The steps are SO narrow and steep it’s scary!
When I see a place like this, I try to think of what it must have been like when it was new. I doubt Mr. Holden ever expected it to look like this. Hardly the legacy any of us would expect for ourselves, is it…
I was surprised to find fish this big in water this shallow, but I presume they worked their way upstream from the lake at the Game & Fish OWLS Site . I also presume they’re about to pursue the business of makin’ more fishies.
The area in which these fish reside is designated catch and release, so don’t go dashing for the tackle box!
I jumped from Fallen Farm #3 to #5 because #4 was actually a repeat…just shot from such an angle that you’d never tell. I believe in journalistic (and blogulistic, another term I just made up) integrity so I skipped it.
The news has been talking this week about the hazards of motorcycling with the death of another rider west of Mandan, Neal Geiger. It was another case of the classic “I didn’t see him” syndrome from which many “cagers,” a term we motorcyclists use for car drivers, suffer.
We’re in a very tricky season. Not only are the roads still scummy and sandy from the winter, but the sun is still very low in the sky this time of year. That can make for some very dangerous visibility problems at dusk and dawn. Compound that with the fact that area cagers have probably not seen a motorcycle on the roads for several months now, aside from the diehards, so they’re just not used to looking for them on a conscious or subconscious level.
I haven’t even ridden any of my motorcycles this year. Only a couple of years ago I made a point of riding every month of the year, including ice racing. But these days I’d rather not sandblast my paint with the remainder of the winter sand, and I’m a little spooked by the whole angle-of-the-sun thing. It was that type of scenario that led to the horrible death of my friend Kirk on his Kawasaki Ninja several years ago. That kind of thing makes you think.
When one participates in high risk activities, our own vulnerabilities and mortality are something we try to brush off so they don’t interfere with the fun. But after a while, the law of averages and the benefit of experience tend to make those concerns harder and harder to put away. Maybe I’m just getting old…more or less, I’m lucky to be getting old. As several of my friends would attest, we hung it out there farther and faster than any one of us should have dared and yet survived. I’ve got the scars, the almost invisible limp, and the 24 hour pain to prove it.
I was talking with a friend today about the newspaper article about Mr. Geiger’s fatal collision, and it brought to mind memories of friends that have passed. There have been several fatalities among my friends here and abroad. One particularly awful memory was the crash of Norm Kukert, a friend who died literally right in front of another friend and me. I still can’t see a motorcycle on its side without seeing the horribly grisly accident scene. Facing not only the tragedy of a fallen friend, but also one’s own mortality staring back at you, can be a sobering event.
I remember when my friend Mike announced he was going to quit roadracing. He and his wife had a new baby boy, their first, and he decided to hang up racing for their sakes. This was interesting given his particular career, which is inherently dangerous. The next weekend, the weekend immediately following the 9/11 attacks, I was all set up and ready to race on my own. For a number of reasons I packed up my pit gear and came back to North Dakota without racing. That very weekend a young man was killed in turn 2 while his fiance and their little girl were in attendance. Suddenly Mike’s choice didn’t seem so cautious after all.
Why do I continue to ride? It’s what I am. It’s all I’ve ever known, since before I was even in first grade. It’s where I feel at home, it’s where I find peace, it’s where I find excitement and relaxation all bundled up into one. Tragedies and dangers notwithstanding, it’s where I belong.
We all take chances. Different folks have different levels of chance that they’re willing to take. Many of us will be out there this summer on two wheels, occasionally one, trying not to go pinballing between the cars of hapless drivers who “just didn’t see” us. Please take the time to watch out for motorcyclists. We’re counting on you to help lessen the risk of simply doing what we love and were born to do.
As you may have heard, South Dakota passed a law banning nearly all abortions. The law is supposedly written in such a way as to be a good constitutional challenge for Roe v. Wade. Thus one of our fellow rural states is going to be a focal point of a LOT of national attention, as the governor vowed to sign the bill into law. (I’m not sure if that has happened yet). But don’t worry…the fine folks who brought you gambling and tax-free smokes are ready to step in! Need an abortion? Hop on over to Pine Ridge and get one there once their new clinic is built. Heck, they will probably even have federal dollars pay for it! One catch though; not available to a woman who’s non-Indian. From an KNBN news report: “The best solution to abortion is to make sure that women have access to contraceptives, have access to family planning options, and that information needs to be out there at all times where all women of childbearing age have that information and use it.” … “We just want to make sure that something is done for women who make that decision. All we can do is provide that to them, no questions asked. It’s their choice. It’s between her and God and that unborn baby. And I honor that.” — Cecilia Fire Thunder, President, Oglala Sioux Tribe Wow, imagine if a white guy (person of whiteness? I don’t know the Politically Correct language) proposed the idea that killing (or even just preventing the births) of more Native American babies would be a solution to anything! If I were to make a short list of issues that should be tackled aggressively and quickly in Indian country, I think the list would include unemployment and poverty, meth and alcohol addiction…there are plenty of things that would come before no-questions-asked abortions. If you’d like you can read the whole KNBN TV story here.
It’s not precise enough to go from neighborhood to neighborhood; too bad, it’d be neat to see things get that specific. Instead it goes as small as a 1 mile radius. Otherwise we could see how badly some of those people in Southport are financed up to their eyeballs!
You can play around with it a bit by clicking here.
