Monthly Archives: February 2007

Graupel: avalanche danger, but not here

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I shoveled a lot of snow today, but this was different. This is a kind of snow that really looks like someone cut open a giant bean bag and shook it over Bismarck-Mandan…some call it graupel.

As you can read in this article from avalanche.org, this snow can be hazardous because it causes fluidity in layers of snow.

When I lived at a ski resort in the rockies, we’d do out-of-bounds boarding on our days off. That basically involves getting an avalanche “beeper” locator, a shovel and pack, signing a waiver, and digging a snow pit to test snow conditions before descending. Layers of snow that look like they’ll let loose are a good indicator to find another place to board or ski that day.

Naturally this isn’t terribly relevant here in North Dakota, as our mountain ranges are conspicuously absent. But back at my old stompin’ grounds, 10,000 feet and steep, this kind of snow would definitely be cause for concern.

Foggy Tuesday

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This is the time of year when the weather swings start to take place. Temperature swings of 40 degrees or more within a 24 hour period aren’t that unusual. Tuesday morning’s pleasant temperatures brought a haze of thick fog east of Bismarck, providing me with this shot of some of the transmission towers.

Newgard Owl

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It’s amazing how something can catch my eye now that I’m always on the lookout for cool photos. Take this owl, for instance. He probably perched atop the Newgard Chiropractic Building in Mandan long before I moved back to our fair state…yet it has taken me almost thirty years to really notice him. Am I that dense, or did I just forget? Odds are fifty-fifty on that one.

As I wrote in an earlier post regarding the old Mandan Library building, the old structures that make Mandan’s Main Street special are full of character and should be preserved. I hadn’t intended to follow it up with a post of this nature, but my travels took me to Mandan today and the tops of the buildings caught my eye. Thus it was natural for me to spot this owl.

I’m sure the coat of black paint on the building’s features makes it especially important to keep birds from perching on the features of the building and…well, making it white. What better way to discourage other birds than by putting up a predatory bird like an owl? Perhaps it works.

Hopefully they’re having better luck than the City of Mandan, who hung plastic versions of owls like this from the beams of the 6th Avenue underpass in hopes of chasing away the pigeons. It didn’t take the pests long to figure out that there was no real threat, and the plastic owls dangled impotently beneath the railroad tracks to no avail. It was funny to see, though…the inability of man to control nature. Kinda reminds me of the people who swear we need electric cars and flourescent light bulbs or the planet’s doom looms overhead!

Monday morning bridge

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I didn’t actually take this photo Monday morning, just posted it today. This bridge originally had a square shape to its sections, but when it could no longer support the weight of modern trains its spans were replaced with something a little stronger.

The hills above this bridge are riddled with mountain bike trails, one of which was my vantage point for this photo. Parts of those trails, mainly the area above Pioneer Park, were developed by Dakota Cyclery (with the help of some creative grant writing) into a race course later used for the Prairie Rose State Games.

Those trails are quite muddy now, but this spring they’ll provide an ample workout for those looking to get back in shape. See ya there.

Mandan Library: I miss the old building

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I know it was time for a new building. The old one was small, deteriorating, and lacking accessibility for people with disabilities (you can’t say handicapped any more or you’re a hatemonger). But it’s a shame to see the old building go the way it has.

For those of you who remember this building, or even better – were able to spend time here as kids, you’ll know what I’m talking about. It was fun to play on the steps before going in or after coming out, with the slanted concrete along the steps. There was a narrow spiral staircase leading to the children’s section downstairs, tucked into such a narrow nook that it looked like Bruce Wayne built it for secret crime fighting purposes. Then there’s just the old familiarity of the place and the ladies that staffed it. So there’s the old sentimentality kicking in.

I don’t know how the building is being used now, but it sure looks dilapidated inside, with stuff strewn all over the place. I’d hate to see it torn down, which I guess has been on someone’s agenda for a while. There’s a shortage of truly historic buildings in the Bismarck-Mandan area; only Mandan seems to have an interest in keeping them around. I’d prefer to see the old Mandan Library become a museum or something of sorts…then I could show my little boy some of the features that I loved about the place when I was a boy.

Boot Hill in the winter

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I don’t know if you’ve ever seen my original Boot Hill photo; I’ve had it on display in the Bob’s Photo contest before, but I don’t remember having posted it here. I was in the area over the weekend, however, so I took an opportunity to photograph this attraction again…this time with snow.

As I stood in someone’s snowmobile tracks, I was able to get quite a few of these boots in the frame. There are plenty more behind me as well as over the hill and around the corner. It’s pretty cool, not the only fenceposts I’ve seen, but certainly the biggest contiguous bunch of them.

If you want to see this display, merely point your car/truck/whatever northward on Highway 1804. I don’t know how far north it is, because I usually am just holding the accelerator to the floor and watching for deer. You can’t miss it, though…it’s along a quick left-right pair of corners in the road marked 40mph. If you find yourself in Washburn, you went too far!

Where the antelope play (deer had the day off)

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While four-wheeling around south of Underwood (for work, of course) we came upon a pretty large herd of antelope grazing in a field. We were very close and shot plenty of video and stills of the herd, which really didn’t seem to care that we were there.

We actually had to rev the diesel a little bit to spook ’em, so they would finally take off for some running shots. There were a few dozen of them, but I really didn’t want to take a wide enough shot to fit ’em all in. I size the pics down to 500 pixels wide for the blog, and you might not even be able to distinguish them from the surrounding grass at that size!

Canadians make 15,851 snow angels

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Just kidding! Well, they did…but it was three years ago, and it doesn’t put Bismarck’s record in jeopardy. According to the Guinness website, it was a “multi-venue” record. That must mean that they were in several locations (schools?) at once. Not a bad feat, but we had over half that many in one location on Saturday! It’s odd, however, that there is no other snow angel listing on the site. You’d think that there would be, since the record has supposedly been trading hands for several years now.

Hopefully Bismarck’s record will appear on the Guinness site. Maybe you folks can help make it happen by contacting them by email!

Oh, and one more thing…sorry if I freaked you out with the headline. I just couldn’t resist!

Square Butte surprise

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As I came home from a trip north the other day, this was the scene that stopped me in my tracks. These are the Square Buttes north of Mandan, as viewed from Highway 1804 on the east side of the river.

There’s a little bit more information at Double Ditch on the Square Buttes, and I was going to share it with you but I decided not to. Instead, I encourage you to head north to the Double Ditch historic site and check it out for yourself! You’ll be pleasantly surprised at this very neat scenic opportunity.

See them here first: Snow angels

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I love scooping the other guys!  For all I know, folks are still trying to get out of the Capitol grounds; the traffic was pretty nuts today. Unofficially, 8,910 people participated in the snow angel record attempt. That’s a lot of folks.

The best part of this for me was hanging over the ledge on the top of the capitol; I never liked shooting from the observation deck because of the reflections in the windows, but this time I got to go on the actual roof and get some pics in all directions. Once the snow angels were done, I also took some pics facing all around Bismarck.

One of the TV guys taping next to me said that they were five minutes early, according to his cellular phone. I’d agree with that; I thought I had plenty of time as I rode up the elevator. As I climbed the ladder to the roof and came around the corner, though, things got to an immediate start. It was nice for them to wait for me, at least!

I talked to a lady later who said that she never heard a cue to start, people just started making their angels. I guess that must be how things got going, but in any case the record would appear to be North Dakota’s…again.

By the way, if anybody would be interested in a high resolution version of this, click on the “Contact Me” link in the upper right column of my blog screen. If you’re reading this on an RSS feed or one of the media websites that syndicates my blog, come pay me a visit at www.bismarckmandanblog.com like you ought to!