What the hell. What am I supposed to do with this mess? I try. I look out at the world, read the news and try to find the bright side. When someone pees in my cornflakes I say, “That’s all right, I don’t like cornflakes, anyway.” But when in Russia, do as the Russians do. I don’t actually hate cornflakes. …
This portrait of Fred Rogers hangs at the top of the stairs entering our living room, which means I see it, and make eye contact with Fred, many times each day. Having Fred hanging there changes the molecules in the air of the place where we live. The artist who created it is another reason why that picture is one …
Birds, birds, birds! That’s what Grand Forks photographer Russ Hons exclaimed while working west of Grand Forks recently. (Check out more photos from Russ Hons here.)
Two Events Bringing Together Friends, Neighbors & Civic Leaders So you say you want to protect the environment. That you’re for clean air, safe water and a livable planet. Mr./Ms. Sustainability… that’s you. Well, then. You need to be at a couple of events coming up in Fargo, N.D., this month. They’re great opportunities to put your environmental action mind/feet where …
Merlins, also called pigeon hawks, breed in the northern Holarctic, with some migrating to subtropical and northern tropical regions in winter. In recent decades, merlin populations in North America have been significantly increasing, with some merlins becoming so well adapted to city life that they forgo migration. Swift fliers and skilled hunters, merlins specialize in preying on small birds. If you have seen them in your neighborhood, it …
Jason Halek wandered in and out of Bismarck on Wednesday. He wasn’t all that excited about being here, and I’m pretty sure he didn’t stick around to visit with old friends, instead likely heading back to Texas to sell some more used cars. For a couple more months. I wrote about Halek last month, after his lawyer negotiated a plea agreement …
Stan shuffles into the dark bar, stands still for a minute to let his pupils expand, and waits for the blindness to dissipate. Then, without moving, he hollers, “ORV! ARE YOU IN HERE?” A strange voice answers from the shadows. “Which Orv are you looking for? “The ornery one.” “Oh, he’s sitting at the bar.” Stan shuffles over to the …
This has never been a very easy story for me to tell. For that reason, I haven’t told it very often. It had been a very long, very hard day. There had been a lot of April days like that during the 1997 Red River Valley flood. They were long days whether or not you were a television reporter. It was about a week after …
It didn’t take POTUS 45 long to once again deflect attention from the interference of Russia with our election by bombing a Syrian air base. That’s resulted in some proclaiming him a hero. Apparently, our president tweets when he ought to be watching the news he’s quick to call “fake.” If he had paid attention to the real world, he …
It’s April and once again, I’m thinking of a line of poetry from T.S. Eliot’s book “The Wasteland,” one of the most complex works of literature I ever came across. It goes like this: “April is the cruelest month, breeding lilacs out of the dead land, mixing memory and desire, stirring dull roots with spring rain.” Google that sentence and …
Grand Forks photographer Michael Bogert has discovered that it’s not unusual in the springtime to find waterfowl in flooded fields, sloughs and ponds in northeastern North Dakota
Spring is the time of romance, as Grand Forks photographer Russ Hons discovered recently while on the roads of northwestern Minnesota, where he captured these images of mating geese and cranes and a bald caring for a nest.
Grand Forks photographer Dave Bruner recently traveled to Minneapolis, where he captured these wonderful skyline images — morning and evening — of Minnesota’s largest city.
Anyone who has a I taste for the spicy, tangy and aromatic probably is a fan of Caribbean cuisine, a fusion of the foods of many cultures. The main dishes of the region typically are a mixture of vegetables such as peppers — bells and scotch bonnet to name two — tomatoes, sweet potatoes, beans, onions and garlic, various meats that …
Just in case the few hombres who feel the need — some have legitimate reasons — to carry a concealed pistol underneath their cardigan while walking the street of Pisek were thinking that the Republicans in the Legislature hadn’t gone the full mile, to fulfill their every whim, they need not worry. Minot Sen. Oley Larsen stepped up his game. …
My friend, Leslye Rood, was kind enough to pass along a recent essay by Parker J. Palmer, who many know from his seminal book of several years ago, “Courage to Teach.” The essay was written on the eve of Palmer’s 78th birthday, and though I’m quite a few years younger myself, much of what I read really hit home — were things …
You bought your ticket, and you’re enjoying the show … when the big guy in front of you stands up. You can’t see around him. He’s taller than you. Larger. Louder. He’s got a lot of muscle, and his brawny friends are cheering him on. When you tell him — politely — that he’s in your way, all he does …
After some reading and TV reports on the relationship between fracking and earthquakes in oil county, I’m concerned. Studies have shown that oil extraction by hydraulic fracturing is behind a number of earthquakes in areas not usually associated with seismic activity, especially Oklahoma. There are two forms of man-induced earthquakes. One is clearly related to fracking. Hydraulic fracturing involves the …
I didn’t cry when I first saw her but I wanted to. I held it in for a bit in an effort to stay sober and soak in everything. Changes. Changes like the time I came back from living in Grand Forks for a few years to Fargo and I saw the back of my dad’s head sitting in the …
Springtime is when migratory birds return north to their nesting grounds after wintering down South. Grand Forks photographer Michael Bogert shares these images of some those aviators that have arrived back home in the Red River Valley.
You may have heard the expression “life threw me a curve ball.” Well, that is certainly true in my case. If you’re following my blogs that are about the ® nutrition plan I’ve been on for 15 months, you may have noticed I haven’t written one for two months. April Fool’s Day seems like a fun day to get back …
As POTUS 45 rolls back environmental protections, climate change is sickening the Earth, us and the species we depend on The rusty patched bumble bee probably would have preferred to remain in obscurity, humming from one flowering plant to another, pollinating away and quietly contributing to the estimated $3 billion in pollination services bees and other insects provide in the …
I took the above picture last spring of the Algonquin Hotel on 44th Street in New York City. These days, its rooms start at $371 a night. Dorette and I had a drink there but stayed at another hotel she found that offered a better deal. I have many positive memories of the Algonquin, especially of it back in the …
Hazen, N.D.’s Tigirlily performed Thursday night in the Brick and Barley Bar and Restaurant in downtown Grand Forks. They had a guest appearance by Jozy Bernadette (Grand Forks native) who recently was a contestant on the NBC’s “The Voice.” (Bernadette is the daughter of Bridgie and Glenn Hanson of Grand Forks.) (Check out more photos from Russ Hons here.)
Peregrine falcons have been showing up in Grand Forks since 2005. This is one of the falcons that is nesting in the water tower on the campus of the University of North Dakota. It could be Marv, the patriarch of Grand Forks’ peregrine clan the past couple of years. Named after Marv Bossart, a Fargo TV personality who died in 2013, …
I need to clarify a few things and bring you up to date on the ongoing saga of the proposed new bridge across the Little Missouri River north of Medora, N.D. The bridge is a project — if completed — could be an environmental disaster for the North Dakota Bad Lands. That’s why I keep writing about it. To review, …
The Minnesota Twins lost 103 games last year. Their pitching has been among the worst in the major leagues for several seasons. Fan interest has plummeted, as they approach their eighth season at beautiful Target Field. So in the offseason, the club made significant moves in the front office, hiring young and promising executives Derek Falvey and Thad Levine to …
The Washington Capitals visited the Twin Cities on Tuesday night to play the Minnesota Wild in the Xcel Center. The game, which featured former University of North Dakota stars Zach Parise (Wild) and T.J. Oshie (Capitals), was won in overtime by Washington by a 5-4 score. Oshie scored the game-winner, his second of the game, at the 1:52 mark to …
At noon Friday, about 40 of our most dangerous citizens left their natural Caribou Coffee habitat and descended on the building that houses Congressman Kevin Cramer’s Fargo office at speeds nearing 25 mph. Their watches were not synchronized — or necessarily correct. Some were just winging it. Mostly women, but a few men, stood as people do and occasionally flashed …
Moorhead, prepare for a possible influx of new business. It seems that North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and his gang are pushing for a law authorizing the use of parking meters — for downtown Fargo. Never mind that he has substantial holdings in Central City, and never mind that the cost of each unit, including installation, could be in the …
We were at one of those buttoned-up business luncheons — the kind with tablecloths and butter in little balls — when I noticed it. My first liver spot. Right there, on the hand I was using to stab a cherry tomato as juicy as a marble, was proof positive that I myself was a darn sight riper than the garnish …
I’m exhausted from winning so much. America is so great again. Stop it already. My trophy case is full. Sure, a lot of people think the House of Representatives didn’t have the votes to pass health care reform last week, but when you factor in the Electoral Collage, it was a huge win. Yuuuge. You should have seen everyone coming …
Dad looked at the clock one night and said, “It was Hugo’s birthday today. I should have called him.” He was closest to Hugo, his oldest brother. (Hugo, left, and Dad, pictured above). “I feel a little bad about that.” It was only about 9 o’clock, but that was it. Truly, it was that thought that counted. Dad and his four …
Back in my North Dakota days, I served a term on the Grand Forks Historical Preservation Commission. Thus, when Dorette and I moved to Eden Prairie, Minn., I was impressed by the historic Smith Douglas More House. This picture (above) was taken Monday. The original building was constructed in 1877 to provide passenger services to a then-nearby railroad line. The …
When was the last time someone called you a dipshit? I swear, I hadn’t heard that word in 20 years, or maybe 30 or 40, until this week, when somebody called me that in a comment at the bottom of my blog. I remember it as a word we used back in the 1950s or ’60s, to describe someone we …
It’s the last week of March. This year, for me, that means that I begin the process of relieving my yard of the detritus that gathered over the winter and recycling all of the items that have been stored in my garage, waiting for a day that was nice enough to haul them to the city recycling bins. But I …
My parents were in town recently, along with my grandparents — the first senior members of my family to visit since my husband and I moved south from North Dakota to New Orleans last year. My youngest sister visited in October; my middle sister is planning to come out in a few more weeks. I find that visits from family members …
I’ve had some bad weeks. One August, I lounged on the deck of a pontoon in the sun so long that my shins and feet were seriously burned. There was smoke — and not the medicinal kind. I was in pain for at least a week, and gentle I had to be, to get the old shoes on. The hair …
Here are some of the Faces of the Game from Friday’s NCAA Division I Midwest Regional Hockey Tournament semifinals in Fargo’s Scheels Arena. (Check out more photos from Russ Hons here.)
In the early 1990s, a group of 17 conservation organizations, as diverse as the National Wildlife Federation, the Bismarck-Mandan Bird Club, the North Dakota Wildlife Society and the Fargo-Moorhead Audubon Society, gathered under a symbolic big tent and produced a document outlining the dangers facing the North Dakota Bad Lands and offering a plan to protect some of North Dakota’s …
The University of North Dakota men’s hockey team fell short in its quest for a second straight NCAA Division I title, dropping a 4-3 double-overtime Midwest Regional decision to Boston University on Friday in Scheels Arena in Fargo. The Fighting Hawks (21-16-3) led 1-0 after one period on a goal by Rhett Gardner, but the Terriers (24-11-3) tied it in the second on …
Thomas Jefferson would probably not have supported the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts, at least in his own time. Don’t get me wrong. He loved the arts. He read in seven languages. In fact, he was reading Thucydides in ancient Greek, without a grammar or dictionary, in the 83rd year of his life. In …
Do we have video? “Rushed.” By ambulance? Usually “rushed” in a headline suggests dire health issues. Which, I guess, dovetails with the topic of health care. Or do you see him in more of a sprint? Capitol to White House. That’s like a 2-mile run. I think the world record for the now-defunct 2-mile run is about 8 minutes. And …
Americans eat a lot of meat, more than any other place in the world. That’s a fact. If you were like me, meat was usually on the supper table at least four or five days a week. Perhaps living in a rural area of the country, where meat prices were lower, had something to do with that. Regardless of the reason, …