Okay, you’ve got to admire entrepreneurship, but sometimes, people in any profession ought to just stick to doing what they do best, and not venture too far afield. Here’s the beginning of a story in The Dickinson Press Saturday: WILLISTON — A Williston-area truck driver has the solution for oil workers with nothing to do … Continue reading Party In The Patch–Yeeeehaaawwww!

WELCOME BACK, FRONTIER The news that Frontier Airlines is returning to Bismarck is good news, although maybe a little disconcerting for those of us whose ages begin with a 6, or 7, or 8. See, Frontier used to serve Bismarck when I was in the Navy, in the 1960’s, and I used to get home … Continue reading Weekenders

A little perspective on the stories in the papers recently about the State Land Board and the state's mineral leasing policies is in order, I think. There are more than a million acres of public land in western North Dakota’s oil patch. Most of them are owned by The People of the United States, and … Continue reading Highest And Best Use

A lot of politics has been happening in January, while I’ve been closing out the hunting season, opening up the fishing season and playing in the Bad Lands. It’s been such a nice winter, it’s hard to stay inside and sit down at a computer, something a part-time blogger has to do. So today I’ll … Continue reading January Politics

Lillian and I took a drive Monday morning to see if we could find the Snowy Owls that had been reported south of Mandan, ND. Sure enough, we found 5, including this mature Snowy who stopped in for a visit to the Bohemian Hall. That's him, over on top the power pole, in the picture … Continue reading Snowy Owl

Somehow, yesterday, when I posted my Weekenders report on this blog, I missed the second half of an e-mail sent to me by a Williston friend. I feel badly, because the most poignant parts were missing. So I'm going to reprint his e-mail in its entirety today. Here it is. There's nothing I could add … Continue reading Someone Is Going To Die Out On The Roads Up Here . . .

WATCH US GROW Someone at the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) learned animation and put up this interesting map of the progress of drilling in the Bakken Formation over the last 25 years or so. Fascinating to watch. I'm not very good at technology, but I did manage, I think, to put it in this … Continue reading Weekenders (Year Enders?)

It started with this coupon Lillian gave me a couple of weeks ago when I was on my way to the grocery store—75 cents off if you buy two, two-pound packages of C&H dark brown sugar. As often happens on really good deals, at Central Market in Bismarck, the store I regularly go to on … Continue reading Way More Than You Ever Wanted To Know About Sugar

We said good-bye yesterday to a strong North Dakota voice at a remembrance service for Ardell Tharaldson. Cancer claimed my longtime friend last week, freeing him at last from a body that multiple sclerosis long ago confined to a wheelchair.  But it never stilled his mind, which plotted and schemed scenarios for liberal takeovers of … Continue reading The Best Of Ardell Tharaldson

Where I grew up, in Hettinger in southwestern North Dakota, the big brick Post Office building sat at the most prominent corner in town, the intersection of Main Street and U.S. Highway 12. Still does. A federal building, owned now by either the United States Government or the U.S. Postal Service—I’m not sure which. When … Continue reading Who Owns YOUR Post Office?