The sky over Bismarck this morning was as beautiful as an 8 a.m. sky in September ever gets.  I took a picture and am trying to put it into this blog post. I hope it works. It is not a great picture because I am not a great photographer, but it gives you an idea … Continue reading Cirrus From The West

Yes, it has been a long ten years. On August 29, 2001, I sat beside my wife’s bed as she looked up at her doctor, exhausted, pale and gaunt after two years of unrelenting chemotherapy, and said “No more. No more chemo.” Quietly, the doctor said, “You know what that means.” “Yes,” Rita answered. “How … Continue reading The Tenth Anniversary

The last time North Dakota had two Republican U.S. Senators was 51 years ago this month. August 1960. Milton R. Young and Norman Brunsdale. Young had been in office since 1945, when he was appointed to fill out the term of Democrat John Moses, who died in office that year after serving only two months … Continue reading Milton Who? Norman Who?

I’ve read two North Dakotans’ memoir books in the past few weeks, written by two very different men. Yet there are surprising similarities between them, which made reading them back to back more interesting. Both Bud and Sam were raised in strict North Dakota Catholic families, although there is nearly a generation difference in their … Continue reading Bud and Sam

On our just-ended vacation, we visited 12 states and 17 national parks (part of our quest to visit all the national parks) and spent 13 nights in campgrounds, most of them managed by agencies of the U.S. Departments of Interior or Agriculture. It was the U.S. Forest Service campgrounds (The Forest Service is an agency … Continue reading In Praise of Wilderness

You know L. Frank Baum as the author of “The Wizard of Oz.” You  may not know of Baum’s North Dakota connection. Here’s the story, as told to me by my friend Dorothy Howe (no relation to the Dorothy of “Oz” fame.) My Dorothy grew up in Edgeley, North Dakota, moved away to California, and … Continue reading Twinkle and Chubbins

ONE GOVERNMENT AGENCY GETS IT RIGHT Many of you saw the story in the Bismarck Tribune, reprinted from the Billings Gazette, about the record or near-record snowpack in the mountains in Montana this year. Statewide in Montana, snowpack stands at 257 per cent of average for this time of year. Snowpack above some of the … Continue reading Weekenders

As we were sandbagging at Fort Mandan Friday, on the bank of the Mighty Missouri River, my friend Clay looked over his shoulder at the river and said “Maybe we’ll see a house come floating by.” Which set us both to thinking immediately about Huckleberry Finn, and we were quiet for a good long while … Continue reading A Good Book For A Flood

THE CAT’S ON THE ROOF My old friend Buckshot Hoffner (I mean “old” both ways—we’ve been friends for more than 30 years, and he is old—closer to 90 than 80) came home from World War II with a big prize. Her name was Patricia, and she was an English beauty who left her home in … Continue reading Weekenders (Pretend It’s Friday)

Two things of note happened in my life Tuesday. In the morning, I attended the funeral of a good friend and one of North Dakota's great liberal thinkers, Karl Limvere. In the evening I helped another good friend and his wife move the belongings from their home south of Bismarck. Both things, some would say, … Continue reading Cor Te Reducit