Later this month, Donald Trump tells Justin Trudeau to keep those low IQ Canada geese on his side of the loser border. “Or what?” asks the Prime Minister. “We’ll hit them with the tear gas, that’s what, junior. No, wait. I’ll have them lined up and shot. Did you hear that, Trudy? We’re going to shoot them with our guns. …
Here’s an update on the strangest, and most fascinating, story I’ve written in all the years I’ve been writing on this blog. This story appears in the current — January 2019 — issue of Dakota Country magazine, where it reaches a hell of a lot more readers than I have on this blog. But for faithful Prairie Blog readers, welcome …
I’ve been thinking about Lewis and Clark, dispatched into the wilderness by President Jefferson, who lived his long and productive life at a very high level of comfort. It’s impossible to imagine Jefferson roughing it. The closest he ever came, probably, was his first years in the White House, when it was still unfinished — not even proper entrance stairs …
Lexi Klabo scored 21 points and added eight rebounds as the University of North Dakota women’s basketball team won its Summit League opener, a 79-60 victory over Purdue University Fort Wayne on Sunday afternoon in Betty Engelstad Sioux Center. Three other players for UND (6-9 overall, 1-0 Summit) were in double figures. Melissa Dailey and Jill Morton each scored 13 points …
This was written just before Christmas. Happy holidays, everyone, from all of us at the Thomas Jefferson Hour. I’m going to be alone this Christmas for the first time in 20 years — so do feel free to send presents — cognac, figs, books, music, frankincense and myrrh, whatever they are. Don’t cry for me Argentina. I have plans. I …
Because I can’t stop clicking on Amazon ads with pictures of things I don’t recognize, I know what more things look like than I did last year, which only counts for tots. I spotted the “Future Fork” that is not for eating future meals, as it turned out. It’s a modern, I guess, pitchfork/shovel for moving manure. Amazon recommends that …
I’ve likely invested more money in cameras over the years than I should have. (I believe in the Irish saying “There are no pockets in a shroud.”) I’ve got a large inventory, including my favorite, the Canon 5D Mark III and an assortment of lenses. More on my collection later. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve found that the Mark III …
The University of North Dakota men’s hockey team received goals from six different players en route to a 6-2 exhibition win over the U.S. Under-18 team Saturday night in Ralph Engelstad Arena. Rhett Gardner, Ludvig Hoff, Casey Johnson, Grant Mismash, Collin Adam and Gavin Hain scored for the Fighting Hawks, while Matthew Boldy and Alex Turcotte scored for the U.S. team, …
Anon Moody scored a career-high 21 points and Marlon Stewart posted a double-double but that wasn’t enough as the University of North Dakota men’s basketball team dropped a 84-73 Summit League decision to Purdue University Fort Wayne on Saturday afternoon in Betty Engelstad Sioux Center. Stewart scored 18 points and added a career-best 10 assists for the Fighting Hawks (6-8 …
I don’t know why, but as each passing year draws to a close, I get a little verklempt. For me, one of the saddest things this year was learning that WDAZ-TV newscasts would no longer originate from Grand Forks but rather from WDAY in Fargo. No surprise, but still very sad. I suppose because I worked at Channel 8 for so …
Photographer Dave Bruner shares these contrasting day/night photographs he took this past month in Grand Forks and the surrounding area.
I’m going to type very slowly so you can keep up. Don’t get me wrong, I used to think North Dakotans were even more above average than residents of Lake Wobegone, blessed with sound cognitive abilities. According to some legislators, I was wrong, so I’ll try to keep this as monosyllabic as possible. Republicans in the North Dakota Legislature have …
Only 25 percent of Americans own a gun and just 3 percent of Americans own half of them. Some of folks own an AR-15 or a dozen. And a number of owners feature their AR-15 on their Facebook page. “They just look scary, you stupid lib$%&# snowflake cuck.” Anyway, back when cars didn’t all look alike, the across-the-street neighbor with …
Fred Rogers described truly great human beings as those “in touch with the eternal.” Of all the extraordinary people I have known in my life, two in particular most fit that description. One, of course, is Fred himself. The other is a female Zen master named Tuan, who I met many years ago. Tuan is Vietnamese. She was visiting a …
I’m on an early deadline. Happy New Year, folks! Out with the old and in with the new! And that has nothing to do with cleaning my refrigerator. True story: A couple of years ago, my daughter discovered some Italian dressing with an expiration date that coincided with Obama’s inauguration. Really. Since it was basically oil and vinegar, I insisted …
Chicken is one of those foods that can be prepared any number of ways, and that is no exaggeration. If you do a Google search of chicken recipes, 907 million pop up immediately. Most of us are most familiar with chicken that is fried, baked or roasted. But more and more people are opting for skillet entrees that take less …
OK, if you came here looking for that sappy poem “Billy Peeble’s Christmas” that I usually put on my annual Christmas poetry blog, you’re going to be disappointed. Even Lillian rolled her eyes when I headed for my office to start writing. She didn’t say much, but I got the hint — aren’t you tired of that by now? Isn’t …
In the spirit of the season, we bring you one of Tony J Bender’s columns from 2002. The teapot whistled, and the old man rose from his rocking chair by the window where he watched the sunrise. He pulled two cups out of the cupboard, a force of habit developed over 53 years. He filled one cup, dropped an Earl …
Every era faces its own set of issues, and every president attempts to address the challenges and opportunities of American life and to reset the country to the extent that it is possible. It was easier to influence what Jefferson called “the course of human events” back then because we were just beginning. Decisions made then were going to percolate …
It’s been seven years since my dad, Myke Madigan, died after a noble struggle with Alzheimer’s disease. Last February, after months of praying that God take her home, Lois Madigan, my mom, finally “got her wings.” Both of them have been on my mind and heart an awful lot lately, which might explain why a few days ago I remembered …
Each year, when our time permits, Jim and I try to participate in an area Christmas Bird Count. Friday, we traveled to festive Medora, N.D., for a dusk drive through the national park, some Comet Wirtanen and Geminid meteor shower viewing in the dark Park and a good night’s sleep in the Rough Rider Hotel. And Saturday, we participated in …
There are no “Garden Notes” this time of year at Red Oak House (although Jim did already order his 2019 tomato seeds), but I do occasionally write “Winter Notes.” This entry is deeply significant for me because of a life passage my family and I have been experiencing. Autumn was short, cold and somewhat gloomy, and snow came early. Jim says …
Making homemade sausage is a popular pastime, especially among hunters. For many people, it’s a family tradition to get together after the deer or elk hunting season to make sausage. In the old days, the grinding and stuffing was done manually. But these days, sausage-making is made easy with electric meat grinders and stuffers, kitchen scales, premixed seasonings and readily available casings. …
Most semi-sentient Americans with an Internet connection, or a library card, knew that Donald Trump has been a lying criminal National Enquirer sleazebag for decades. What a surprise to find out that goober doesn’t have a little president’s hat. Or functional cap. It is an impressive collection of hats, though. Every large inebriated polar bear I’ve ever met in a …
Four players scored in double figures, including Julia Fleecs who poured in a career-high 19 points, to lead the University of North Dakota women’s basketball team to a 84-50 win over Mayville State University on Wednesday night in Betty Engelstad Sioux Center. Lexi Klabo (18), Melissa Dailey (15) and Jill Morton (14) joined Fleecs in double figures for UND (3-7). …
Sometimes I wonder what it must have been like to be James Madison. He was a diminutive genius who did not call attention to himself. He was a balding hypochondriac who was always sure he did not have enough vitality for the hurly burly of our early national politics. He was a profound reader, a digester of the history of …
Last night, I went to the new play “Lifespan of a Fact,” starring Daniel Radcliffe. It was brilliant and debated what happens when we lose track of facts and truth. That is probably one of the things that bothers me most about what is transpiring in this country (besides, you know, kids in cages, the destruction of the environment and …
I begin today in a self-reflective state of mind at the urging of Kevin Cramer, who took umbrage over criticisms of Precedent Trump’s un-Christianlike behavior at George H. W. Bush’s funeral. Trump didn’t sing, recite the Apostles’ Creed, or offer Michelle Obama even one piece of candy. Apparently, he was fearful of violating her nutritional guidelines. Since she left Washington, …
I first heard of the author Ernest Hemingway, 1899-1961, when I was a freshman at the University of North Dakota. He had committed suicide in July, two months before I arrived on campus It was perhaps for that reason that my ”Intro to Fiction” professor chose to begin his course that fall with Hemingway’s short story “A Clean Well-lighted Place,” …
Cortez Seales scored 19 points and had a career-high five steals to lead the University of North Dakota men’s basketball team to a 83-72 victory over the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee on Sunday afternoon in Betty Engelstad Sioux Center. Joining Seals in double-figure scoring for the Fighting Hawks (5-5) were Aanen Moody (18), Kienan Walter (14) and Conner Avants (12). Darius Roy …
You get an email. “To all employees. You’re all doing too good. Knock it off for crissakes! We’re getting killed. If you people sell 10 more product things and/or doodads this month, we’ll have to close the doors. Not literally the doors of the building, Larry. Somebody go talk to Larry. I suppose they will get locked though. Anyway. What …
Goalie Adam Scheel stopped 21 of 22 University of Denver shots, including a penalty shot in the third period, to lead the Fighting Hawks to a 4-1 win over the Pioneers on Friday night in Ralph Engelstad Arena. UND (9-6-1 overall, 3-4 NCHC) jumped out to a 2-0 first-period lead on goals by Gavin Hain and Mark Senden. Matt Kiersted made it …
The University Of North Dakota women’s basketball team jumped to an early first-half lead but fell victim to some hot shooting at the start of the second half by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in losing 64-46 in nonconference play Friday in Betty Engelstad Sioux Center. The Fighting Hawks (2-6) were led by Lexi Klabo, who scored 14 points. The Panthers (4-5) …
UPDATE: The U.S. Forest Service will announce today that it has extended the comment period on the Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for Oil and Gas Leasing on our Little Missouri National Grasslands. The 30-day extension means comments will be accepted on the Draft SEIS, outlined below, until Jan. 16, 2019. Although the announcement comes Dec. 7, Pearl Harbor Day, as …
I grew eager each December when the Christmas cards feathered out from a neatly stacked pile into a pitcher’s mound on the dining room buffet. It meant the one mimeographed Christmas letter would soon arrive. As I reached junior high, I couldn’t wait for what was the genre’s quintessential stereotype. The letter — who had a mimeograph machine? — addressed …
The gratitude list is hardly a new concept, but several friends have taken it to another level, attempting to find reasons to be grateful for every letter of the alphabet. I decided to try it myself. It certainly wasn’t easy. I mean, am I really grateful for X-rays and xylophones? And I wouldn’t allow myself to use the names of …
I’ve about had it with snowflakes and it’s barely December. I saw on Fox News that the #MeToo movement is trying to stamp out romance. What’s under assault is the revered seasonal classic, “Baby, It’s Cold Outside.” A Cleveland radio station took the song off the air under pressure from radicals in pink hats because it’s about a guy trying …
By his friends, students, and colleagues. North Dakotan extraordinaire, Dr. L. Ray Wheeler, passed away on November 27, 2018, in Dickinson, N.D., after a long and remarkable life. Even his death notice was poetry: “Brush off the snow and bang the drum, L. Ray Wheeler’s release has come. Ray passed away peacefully in his sleep early Tuesday morning November 27, …
There are a million acres of public land in western North Dakota called the Dakota Prairie Grasslands, managed by the U.S. Forest Service. A management plan was written in 2001 to guide Forest Service employees, and in 2003, a “Record of Decision for Oil and Gas Leasing” identified lands open for lease and how oil and gas development should be …
The University of North Dakota men’s hockey team snapped a three-game National Collegiate Hockey Conference losing streak and won for the first time its last six visits to Duluth’s AMSOIL Arena with Saturday night’s 2-1 victory over the University of Minnesota-Duluth. Jordan Kawaguchi and Grant Mismash scored first-period goals and and goalie Adam Scheel stopped 28 of 29 shots as …
The University of Minnesota-Duluth men’s hockey exploded for four goals in the second period — two on the power play — to propel the Bulldogs to a 5-0 win over the University of North Dakota in National Collegiate Hockey Conference action Friday night in Duluth’s AMSOIL Arena. It was UND’s fifth straight loss at AMSOIL. Kobe Roth scored twice to lead …
Fair warning: If the topic of suicide is a touchy one for you, it would be best to read something else. Not long ago, I was watching a medical drama called “Chicago Med” on Hulu. It’s not a show I would seek out if it had 324 commercials. Pretty average. Anyway, a man and a small child were wheeled into …
Tim Wright and I were born a few days apart in December 1957. (He’s older and rather looks it, I think.) Which is to say that Tim and I are both on the far side of a generational divide in America. Either you were a Captain Kangaroo kid or a Mister Rogers kid, and we were both Captain Kangaroo guys …
As the editor of the Lewis and Clark journal We Proceeded On, I conduct a number of longform interviews per year. The November issue of WPO was about critters — bighorn sheep, prairie dogs, horses and beaver. You can become a member of the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation by going to lewisandclark.org. Please do! The journal is a quarterly, …