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DEAR PRAIRIE BLOG READERS, As of today I have signed off as a contributor to my favorite magazine, Dakota Country. I'm old, and I'm tired of a lifetime of deadlines. Today, January 1, 2023 (it's gonna take some time to get used to typing that number, and getting it right on checks) is the first … Continue reading Signing Off

Okay, indulge me one more time please, while I write just one more very personal column. Then I’ll shut up for a while, maybe even until after Christmas. I’m sitting in my hotel room at the Westin St. Francis Hotel on Union Square in San Francisco. It’s a place I’ve stayed before—sort of. On December … Continue reading Heading Home

The Army docs fixed me up just fine and sent me back to Waikiki late yesterday, just in time for a Goodbye-To-Oahu supper. Joined my family and they splurged for dessert. Today it is off to the Big Island of Hawai'i and Volcanoes National Park (if it is still there). First, a Bloody Mary on … Continue reading VACATION RESUMED!

Yesterday, December 7th, 2022, is a day that will live in infamy (to borrow a catchy phrase from my favorite president) for me. While visiting the USS Arizona Memorial on Pearl Harbor Day, I experienced severe chills in 80 degree weather. I went to the gift store and bought a really cool Pearl Harbor jacket, … Continue reading VACATION INTERRUPTED!

(NOTE: This article is reprinted from the December issue of Dakota Country magazine, on newstands and in the mail this week.) I wish I could tell you there’s a lot to see on Kendley Plateau, south of Medora. I wish I could, but I can’t, because there’s not much to see there. Mostly Bad Lands, … Continue reading Kendley Plateau: “The Heart of the Badlands”

Headlines from this week’s papers: “GOP grows supermajority in North Dakota’s Legislature; Dems have ‘collapsed completely’” “North Dakota sees worst voter turnout this millennium” “DFL wins full control of Minnesota government” “Minnesota voter turnout shaping up to be highest in nation yet again” The Democratic-NPL Party (my party, sadly) in North Dakota is now almost … Continue reading What If They Gave An Election In North Dakota And Nobody Came?

Everybody’s talking about term limits this week, in the leadup to Tuesday's election. Well, not everybody, but it certainly is the topic of discussion at coffee klatches and business lunches. Even one of my lawyer buddies walked up beside me on the track at the Y this morning and asked “What do you think is … Continue reading Term Limits? We’ve Already Got ‘Em.

(Note: This article first appeared in the November, 2022 issue of Dakota Country magazine.) Long ago, way back in the 1970s, I lived in Dickinson, in western North Dakota, and was a writer and editor for The Dickinson Press. My regular working hours were 2-10 p.m., Monday through Saturday. I was a recently returned Vietnam … Continue reading Twin Buttes: Wilderness, and Maybe a Few Sharptails

There’s an election coming. It’s a pretty boring one. In North Dakota, all the Republicans will win, except in Fargo and a few other places in the Red River Valley. And maybe one Democrat in Bismarck. District 35 Senator Tracy Potter. I think District 35 is the only district west of Highway 281 represented by … Continue reading There’s Going To Be An Election. Ho Hum.

(This article is reprinted From the October, 2022, issue of Dakota Country magazine. I know I've written about this before, but it's an important piece of good news about the Bad Lands, and it's worth revisiting.) Okay, I know, I know, I’m not supposed to speak ill of the dead. But I’m going to a … Continue reading Attorneys General – Good Guys And Bad Guys