FINDING A NAME: HOW WE BECAME HIGHLAND ACRES The new development needed a name. Bismarck Tribune editor Ken Simons wrote a story for his paper announcing a contest would be held to name the subdivision and the streets within it. Entries were to be submitted to the committee, with an entry deadline of August … Continue reading THE HISTORY of HIGHLAND ACRES—PART TWO:

 HIGHLAND ACRES AND THE BISMARCK VETERANS HOMEOWNERS COOPERATIVE ASSOCIATION – PRODUCTS OF A PERFECT STORM Highland Acres Addition to the City of Bismarck, North Dakota, was a housing subdivision developed cooperatively by a group of returning World War II veterans in the 1940s and 1950s. Its success led to the subsequent development of nearby Highland … Continue reading THE HISTORY of HIGHLAND ACRES—PART ONE:

If you look up at the top of your screen, you will see that the website address for this blog is theprairieblog.areavoices.com. That’s been home to my writings for a little more than seven years. AreaVoices.com is the blog portal for a whole bunch of writers, all of us unpaid, who like to think we … Continue reading History

Did you see that big old moon setting in the southwest this morning? Me too. And then I thought this is really cool, a full moon, Easter and April Fool's Day, all at once. Except that’s not possible. It’s not possible to have a full moon on Easter Sunday. Because the rule is, Easter is … Continue reading A Full Moon? Easter? April Fool’s Day? Well, Kind Of.

  North Dakota has more than a million acres of public land, most of it in western North Dakota, our Little Missouri National Grasslands, managed by the United States Forest Service.            Most of it is grazing land, although it’s grazed by more than cattle and sheep. Pretty much every creature that lives in North Dakota … Continue reading Another Set of Eyes on Our Wild Bad Lands

Yesterday I attended the funeral for one of the greatest men I have ever known, George Sinner, Governor of the state of North Dakota from 1985 to 1993. I worked for him those years, and came to know him and love him, much like a son might love his father. He was just 20 years … Continue reading Remembering Two Great Men

North Dakota’s Democrats will hold their state convention in Grand Forks later this week, and the highlight, if there’s to be one, will be choosing a candidate to run for North Dakota’s lone seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. So I’ve been thinking a bit about politics and conventions, especially past ones, similar to … Continue reading The Race for an Open Seat in Congress

Calm was the day in late July And bright was the sun across the sky But inside his chest the calm had broken Governor Sinner had started croakin’. I laughed the first time I read that, and I’m still laughing every time I think about it. It’s a poem written by a sixth grader from … Continue reading Memories of a Great Governor

North Dakota's district political conventions are about over, and state conventions are coming up, so I thought I might write a few political columns for the next few weeks. I've been hanging out around politics for a few years, and still have a pretty good memory (something my wife would dispute), and I still know … Continue reading Seems to Be a Lot of POS’s Around These Days

The mailman brought me a small package this week, book-sized, postmarked and with a return address from the town in which I grew up, Hettinger, North Dakota. Well, it was obviously a book, and I love it when people send me books, so I opened it immediately. It was indeed a book, a very special … Continue reading I Wish for a Friend