There you have it…a great idea if you want a nice walk with fall colors all around you. There will be plenty of birds and deer and stuff, too! But don’t wait too long…it seems that the truly colorful part of autumn lasts about a week here in Bismarck-Mandan!
This is a different well from the one I spotted north of Bismarck early this summer. Both are logged in my GPS in case there are some dramatic skies that could benefit from being photographed with a well in the foreground!
This particular day I was capturing photos of a lot of Fallen Farm photos as well as old farm equipment and other North Dakota scenery, but I never thought I’d find an abandoned elevator. Using a circular polarizer filter on my lens, I was able to get a nice blue sky with clouds that really ‘pop’ out of the blue. As I do with a broken-down farm house or barn, I felt a touch of sadness that this big structure was no longer in use.
That’s when my attention was drawn to the silhouette of one of my favorite, most elusive subjects: the Great Blue Heron. This one was reasonably cooperative, although I never did get too close to him. It turned out that was just fine, as I wanted to include the railroad bridge and the river in the shot. I set up my tripod and was able to take this exposure. What’s cool about the herons is that if they perceive a possible threat, they stand still to assess the situation. I clapped my hands to make this bird freeze in his tracks, then took the shot. This bird sat still for the eight seconds needed to capture the moment! Even zoomed into the full size picture, the water is blurred but the bird is not. What a cooperative subject! In fact, if you look at the Grant Marsh bridge in the background, you’ll see streaks of lights made by cars driving over the bridge while the camera’s shutter sits open.
By the way, the piles of rocks are so they can make a platform out into the water for a track-driven crane to move. Apparently the ones on the barges just aren’t going to cut it. And the beam sticking out of the west end of the new bridge? It’s a beam. Not that it was a mystery to start with, but it’s hard to get a decent look at it while driving over the old bridge. Two questions answered, one awesome (and unexpected) photo to boot. Chalk up one more successful journey in the Bismarck-Mandan area!
I made good time but, since the rest of the crew was with me, I was unable to stop and take any pictures. We were all in a hurry to get home after a long week. I’ll have to make a special trip for that. It sure is good to be back in North Dakota though!
I really enjoyed Ms. Langemo’s book “Bismarck, North Dakota” and even found some photos in there of a personally relevant nature. For instance, a picture of our church building from circa 1912 is contained therein. It was quite a treat, since I was in the process of researching our church’s history for an anniversary celebration. I also spotted a somewhat modern shot of the Federal Building on 3rd & Broadway, adjacent to my old home at KFYR-TV. My friend Jamie Dunnigan’s car is parked in that shot. In addition, the book is filled with a lot of interesting facts and photos.
I haven’t yet had the time to give the Mandan book a thorough read. It’s a very busy week for me, and I don’t want to give it a superficial glance. I haven’t read past the Introduction, but that part alone is full of a lot of interesting local history. I highly recommend these books.
You can find these at your local B&N, but I’d rather suggest that you visit the Huntington store on east Main Street in Mandan instead. If there’s another book signing somewhere, of course I suggest attending. I sure will, and hopefully I’ll remember to bring my Bismarck book to have it autographed!
I wasn’t sure what I was going to do for sunset, and then time got away from me. This was one of my “old standby” locations, and I dashed to it just in time to capture the last bits of color from the waning sunset.
I just love old farmsteads, old wellheads, and old windmills. This weekend at the downtown street fair I ran into my junior high art teacher, Mr. Paukert, who I haven’t seen since 1982 or so. As it turns out, he has an eye for the same sort of North Dakota features, and was selling his work. I was glad to see him and to be reminded that I’m not the only one with a soft spot for the sights of North Dakota.
It seems like I can’t go anywhere without something interesting happening, and this Saturday was no different. I’m blessed to have a life where every day throws me an unusual event to write about. Thankfully I never go anywhere with my camera, so I have pictures to back it up!
As I looked down at my shin, a lone mosquito joined him. I wasn’t worried about the skeeter, as the denim wasn’t up against my skin. What was even more curious than the futility of this mosquito’s attempt at a meal was that she didn’t even notice what the dragonfly was doing! He was finishing up his meal…a mosquito! You can see the last wing sticking out of the dragonfly’s mouth. I snapped a few photos before this one, and it’s even more obvious there.
I didn’t see many other dragonflies, the mosquitos were pretty thick, and I needed to get home for dinner. Aside from these two stowaways hitching a free ride in exchange for a photo, I didn’t really get anything else to post.
Allow me to clarify…it just doesn’t FEEL like we’re at war, because it’s only the soldier and his/her family that are truly sacrificing, not the average citizen.
I support the troops. No, I don’t think that can be separated from supporting their mission. I think the men and women fighting for America at home and abroad are performing a commendable service, one for which few would volunteer. I want them to win in whatever combat theater they face. I wish I could send each and every one of them a Thank You card. Having said that, my life as an American is so comfortable during this time that I can actually FORGET that it’s September 11th, arguably the most memorable day in American history since November 22nd or December 7th.
In my family’s fire safe is a set of unused war ration coupons that were to be used to buy food for my dad when he was a child. When was the last time you had to ration anything? The greatest difficulty anyone has had to face in recent memory is the availability of the Xbox 360 or Playstation 3! We don’t deserve to have it so good. No, I’m not about to kick into any of the anti-American self loathing characteristic of the liberals. I’m just saying that we’re blessed beyond measure.
There’s no such thing as a free lunch. Who pays the cost of our comfort? Right now it’s people like my friend Roberta, who took over the chore of raising her two boys while her husband was in Bosnia. There are several of my friends in the National Guard and Army Reserves from Bismarck who have been mobilized as well. I think back to my friend Tony, who served in the first Gulf War and has some shocking memories from there as well. Or my friend Nathan from New York, who told me the stories of room-to-room combat clearing out Falujah, and what it was like to lose two of the kids under his command. He gave us some on-board video of an IED striking one of their Humvees…I don’t even know how to describe it.
To the greatest degree it’s the families of North Dakota soldiers who did not come home alive, those who had to say goodbye to a father, son, boyfriend, or husband. I bet they remembered today’s date. I was honored to make the gesture of participating in the Patriot Guard rides for some of these men…but when everything settles down, they’re left with the quiet emptiness of a soldier who’s not coming home.
I can’t reach everybody thru this quaint little website…but if you’re reading this and have served, or if you’ve had to pray for a beloved soldier to come home okay, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Thank you not only for the safety and comfort my family feels today, but all the years of safety that have preceded this day. My little 8 month old boy is sleeping securely next to me while I type, and I have no doubt that it’s because there are guys all over the world with M-16s to insure that evil doesn’t get even one inch closer to our shores to harm him. God Bless America, and God Bless the Troops!
The flags pictured above are flying at the ND State Capitol today. I’m sure a bunch of the atheist peacenik crowd would love to try to sue to get that “God Bless America” flag removed, but hopefully they’re still too busy licking their wounds from the fight to remove the Ten Commandments from the city of Fargo. I think all peaceniks should be shipped to Afghanistan to put their “War is not the answer” stickers and magnets on Taliban vehicles! See how far pacifism goes with evil men, and get back to me when they’ve renounced their ways. In the mean time, I trust the valiant men and women of the United States military to keep the forces of evil at bay.