I’ve talked about my adventures with dogs, horses and spiders, but I forgot about one multilegged creature that provided a special moment of embarrassment. Years ago (too many to count), the Supreme Court honored me with an appointment to attend a judicial conference in Montreal, as a newly elected municipal judge. Although my father was a judge, I knew little …
Gentle reader, I’ve been writing about the past, but today, it is time to return to my garden notes as the daylilies are exploding in all their glory. Between my sister and I, we have 219 varieties of daylily. They are fairly easy to grow and hardy in our northern climate. I was first exposed to daylilies by my friend …
Poor little river of my heart, my Little Missouri River. In this year of drought, you are sadly diminished. Monday night’s storm was mostly lightning and thunder and just a trace of rain. This morning dawned another scorching day. Prairie fires continue in western North Dakota. The bison and horses and birds continue their wild lives here at Theodore Roosevelt National Park. …
“How did you find me?” hollers Orville, and grumbles, “You skinny, long-haired, libturd. You just can’t leave me in peace, can you?” Stanley looks around. “This was the only bar in town with a yacht in the parking lot, with plates that said BIG ORV on them. Stealthy. This joint is much nicer than your last haunt. I see they’ve …
Residents of the prairie for generations have lived in dread of prairie fires, and this is a year when we are all on tenderhooks. The news that there is a serious fire now in the Bad Lands, although not a surprise, is very disturbing. (Now more than 3500 acres.) I remember the dry summer and fall of 1976 and a …
When the Red River Valley Fair rolls around each year about this time in West Fargo, N.D., a rare moment of nostalgia sometimes comes over me. Sometimes. Allow me to paraphrase Marilyn Hagerty each (and every) Christmas Eve. Excuse me, please. But I must go back. If only for five minutes and only in my thoughts, I have to go back. When I think …
This hot July weather has me thinking about making hay on our Slope County ranch. This year’s drought has us all worried, and it is especially worrying for those rural folks who rely upon their hay crop to feed livestock. Haying, like so many of the farm/ranch chores, was a full-on family effort for us, with someone running the equipment …
I took this picture (below) a week ago today during a brief visit to my hometown of Harvey, N.D. Since I graduated 56 years ago (gasp!), this former high school has been converted into a junior high and a new structure built elsewhere in town for the “upper grades.” I’ve long realized the education I received as a Harvey Hornet was superior, …
Usually during Fourth of July week, there isn’t a lack of outdoor things to do in Grand Forks. Here are a couple of events — the Christopher Paul Stelling concert at the outside garden at North Dakota Museum of Art and the annual downtown fireworks display — that caught the eye of Grand Fork photographer Michael Bogert.
After a pleasant morning drinking coffee and reading the paper on the patio, it was time for some work around here. I weeded the asparagus, cut basil and mowed the lawn, while Jim peeled garlic for my later project, homemade pesto. He even had me shoot video of his method of peeling garlic. You can see it here. I use …
The Grand Fork Royals took two games from the Fargo Post 400 Trappers in North Dakota Class AA American Legion play Friday night at Kraft Field in Grand Forks. The Royals won the first game 5-0 and the second 7-3. The first game was the completion of a game started June 13 in Fargo that was halted in the second inning …
When we purchased Red Oak House, we were thrilled to have so many mature trees, however, we recognized how these should shape what we would do with our landscaping, especially in the smaller front yard. I’m no fan of mowing grass, and it grew in a rather insipid fashion under the shade of the red oak. Hence, I purchased these …
Leave it to a bunch of kids. Twenty-one of them from around the United States filed a “constitutional climate lawsuit” against the U.S. government in 2015. At the time, they ranged in age from 9 to 20. For the most part they were, and still are, people with next-to-zero voice in our formal political system. Even so, they’re out in …
A drought sky (above) here in North Dakota. Everyone who has half a brain is worried about the drought. July has turned hot, hot, hot. After a pleasant interlude at Crooked Lake with family for the July Fourth holiday, where we talked with our brother-in-law about how sparse few hay bales he’s been able to make this year, we returned …
There was a day when an afternoon of window-shopping sounded like fun. But the attraction of retail therapy has dimmed for me across the years — and what killed it dead was actually shopping for windows. Back when I marched with the “shop ’til you drop” brigade, prowling through stores to select choice wares was deemed to be a pleasure. …
You’re never too old to learn! I’m no history buff, but it came as a surprise to learn the significance of July 2, while we Americans celebrate the Fourth of July as a national holiday. Here’s either what I never knew, or had forgotten: During the American Revolution, the legal separation of the 13 colonies from Great Britain in 1776 actually occurred …
It’s said you can’t go home again. That was even the title of a book by Thomas Wolfe, and others — Proust and Hemingway among them — came to the same conclusion. I accept the premise logically, but not emotionally. So this past Sunday, I again found myself driving 442 miles from my current residence in Bloomington, Minn., to Harvey, …
Basic chronology: June 7, 1776: Virginia’s Richard Henry Lee presents resolution of independence to the Second Continental Congress. June 11: Committee of five appointed to draft a declaration explaining America’s right to secede: Roger Sherman, Robert Livingston, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson. The others drop out in the following order: Sherman, Livingston, Franklin and Adams. Jefferson signs and undertakes to …
This is for the history buffs out there. On our way back from our trip east of Billings, Mont., is this site where William Clark from the Lewis and Clark expedition carved his name into the stone on the bluff that has come to be know as Pompey’s Pillar National Monument. I have always wanted to see this, as I have read …
Island Lake, located in Mahnomen County near Lengby, Minn., is a popular destination for many in northwest Minnesota. The lake offers trophy-class walleye fishing, and and panfish are also plentiful. Island Lake also boasts diverse outdoor recreational opportunitiess such as miles of snowmobiling, four-wheeler and walking trails through the woods. Grand Forks photographer Russ Hons had the opportunity to visit Island Lake recently, and here …
I come by my DIYerism honestly (hey, I just invented a word!). My Daddy was in the U.S. Army and read his issues of Popular Mechanics voraciously, and I’ve watched him do countless projects over his lifetime. Even at 92, he has a pretty serious workbench in his garage and will putter out there on one thing or another. On …
I was out in western Montana helping my mother get her wee Thoreavian cabin ready for the summer. We had a couple of sweet days together. She is 85 years old, still strong and autonomous, but just beginning to exhibit signs of elderliness. It bothers me to see her in even modest decline. I’m sure it bothers her much more. …
We had the most delightful guests this week for supper. My mother, Marian Crook, and her sister, my godmother, Junette Henke, came for the afternoon. Fresh walleye was on the menu. While Jim pounded away on his keyboard in his office, we three women sat at my dining room table with stacks of papers and maps and books and went …
Grand Forks photographer Dave Bruner and his wife, Sheila, recently returned from a trip to the western United States, Wyoming in particular. Among the sights Dave and Sheila experienced was Grand Teton National Park in the northwest of the state of Wyoming. The park encompasses the Teton Mountain range, the 4,000-meter Grand Teton peak and the valley known as Jackson Hole. …
The latest issue of the New Yorker, dated July 3, includes one of the best essays about Ernest Hemingway I have ever read: “A New Man: Ernest Hemingway — revised and revisited,” written by Adam Gopnik. It is in part of a review of the new biography, Mary V. Dearborn’s 735-page “Ernest Hemingway.” That one is on my book shelf …
Many people take the breathtaking beauty of the Bad Lands for granted, going on with their lives and assuming it will always be as it has been for thousands of years. Well, gentle reader, it ain’t so! Stalwarts have been diligently working for decades to protect the remaining wild landscapes so future generations can enjoy the grandeur. The effort culminating …
In a major victory for conservationists, and for the North Dakota Bad Lands they work hard to protect, U.S. District Judge Daniel Hovland of Bismarck ruled this week that the state of North Dakota and four western North Dakota counties have no right to go in and build roads in areas of the Little Missouri National Grasslands that have been inventoried …
Spring flowers have given way to the summer blossoms in our garden. We eat fresh greens every day and give away radishes. The garlic crop is pathetic, and it makes me sad to look at it as, the new bed Jim prepared last fall was too rich. Our purple-hulled pea crop is also a disappointment, as I fear we were …
The word “humanity” is often tossed around, but I wonder if the term is understood. Definitions abound. Here’s how Merriam-Webster explains it: A) the quality or state of being human; B) the quality or state of being kind to other people or to animals. Another word that also seems to be understood is “sanctions.” Again, the dictionary’s definition: A) a …
I was born certain I knew how to drive. All I really needed to do, I figured, was wait for my legs to grow long enough so I could reach the footfeet. I mean the gas pedal, children. “Footfeet” was what our parents called it, back when learning to drive was almost as basic a part of early childhood as …
I was married 25 years ago today. And I’m not sure how to think about it. My marriage ended 11 years ago, and Steve died seven years later. I was holding his hand as he took his last breath, providing a lasting legacy of grace for our children, a reminder of the power of love and the transformative nature of forgiveness. …
WARNING: In this article, I’m going to rip some North Dakota politicians a new one. This isn’t personal, and it isn’t partisan. They’ve got it coming because of malfeasance in office. I’m not going to pull any punches. They deserve it. I know I’ve been pretty critical of some of our state’s leaders lately. Sorry. But we’ve got some really …
Forward: Over 8 million people in the United States have suicidal thoughts — also known as suicidal ideation — at least once in any given year. For a large subsection of this group, the thoughts never go away, mainly due to chronic depression or bipolar disease. This describes most of the characters in “Perfect Whack Jobs,” a dark comic novel. …
Bloomington, Minn., photographer Dave Vorland and his daughter, Kristi, recently made a trip to Montana. Here are some of the shots Dave took from a state that boasts some magnificent sights.
It’s been an interesting week. It started last Thursday, when Ian and I were driving to work. I had just passed the Veteran’s Boulevard underpass when I saw what looked to me like a mushroom cloud of dust in my rear-view mirror. I immediately told Ian, and he turned around and saw it as well, and we both commented that …
Most cooks have a handful of go-to recipes — the ones that you know will be a hit with whomever you are serving. I don’t have to think too hard to come up with mine, which include a couple of main courses, a sandwich, an appetizer and a dessert. My baked pheasant with wild rice dressing probably tops the list, followed closely by my …
We spent the weekend in the Little Missouri National Grasslands, camping in Slope County, at the Burning Coal Vein U.S. Forest Service campground, attending the Badlands Conservation Alliance outing, gathering with old friends and making new friends. While Saturday was cool and windy, Sunday was a perfect 75 degrees and sunny. We also got a brief, but enjoyable, visit with …
North Dakota’s Little Missouri State Scenic River lost most of its scenic protection this week when Gov. Doug Burgum reversed course and joined the members of his State Water Commission in opening the entire river to industrial water development. Last month, Burgum declared upstream areas of the state’s only official State Scenic River — the areas surrounding the three units …
Eric discusses his book “A Treasury of Old Souls,” a collection of stories about the older people he knew growing up in a rural setting, and how they shaped his view of life, death and what really matters.
What’s the most popular pie in America? It just depends on whose survey you’re viewing and where it’s being conducted. But in the majority of surveys, apple pie rules. The folks at NPR in 2012 named apple pie as the favorite of those they surveyed. And in a 2008 survey by Crisco and the American Pie Council, nearly one out of …
These lovely summer mornings I’ve been riding my bicycle on Bismarck’s trail system. This morning, as I pedaled, my mind wandered back to riding on Slope County dirt roads. On many occasion, I had to dodge bullsnakes and rattlesnakes, giving them a wide berth. Once, a pair of raccoons wandered out from our shelterbelt, startling me. I remember them as …
It’s been a busy last few months, as a part-time job has become more “full” than “part.” At 64, there’s this ever-growing struggle between the need for self-worth and the realization that it might not be wise to put off retirement too long. Senior discounts and AARP notices have already become staples for several years. At this age, we begin …
The creation of the new 400-plus parking ramp on Roberts Street in Fargo does not impact whether the proposed convention center should be built downtown. Most of its space has been rented to tenants. That should provide some relief to existing businesses that hope that the ramp will at least take employee parking off the streets and allow for more customer …
Almost exactly 50 years ago this week, I got the first big shock of my more-or-less adult life. I was handed my very first paycheck … and it wasn’t all there. I’ll bet you remember that moment, too. You’d put in your time for some agreed-upon sum — for me, a buck-something an hour — and multiplied your reward out …