I was first introduced to “Schafe können sicher weiden” through a performance by Georgian pianist Kathia Buniatishvili, in a splendid outdoor setting among what appeared to me the trees of some magical forest out of a mystical dream, that I happened across via YouTube. And like many things that are happeneing on the Internet, and as in dreams and in …
GF tops list of hockey mad cities Grand Forks, according to a fresh survey, ranks at the top of the pile for watching hockey — college, pro or minor league. The ranking combines scores for “fan intensity” with “quality of life.” Bemidji and St. Paul also made the top 20 list. http://www.startribune.com/local/290957391.html
Chicken is one of the most versatile meats around. It can be either fried, baked or roasted. It can stand on its own or be combined with a number of other foods. A Google search of chicken recipes yields 11 million hits. You get what I mean. We eat chicken more than a lot of households, buying chickens by the …
Water drained from land can mean trouble downstream These days, there’s no such thing as a gentle rain. In response to heavy spring, summer and fall downpours, another climate change indicator, farmers have added thousands of miles of drain tile under fields to direct water to ditches and ultimately to rivers. The consequences to both farmers and the land are …
I’ve been writing about the North Dakota Bad Lands on this blog since I first created it in 2009. I have tried to focus on what forces are affecting this important part of North Dakota’s landscape, and why it is such a special place, deserving of more attention and protection than it is getting from our politicians these days. Somewhere …
BEMIDJI, Minn. — My big sister, Carol, keeps telling me it is OK to pamper myself a bit at this age, to enjoy the fruits of what I have acquired in my working life. And so I am. Here it is February now, and I’m still hanging out at my lake cabin, two months longer than I have ever stayed …
I don’t know her name. I considered asking on that sunny afternoon 15 years ago, but for some reason didn’t. All I know is that she had shoulder-length dark hair, was probably somewhere in her 30s, and I’ll never forget what she did that day. I had gone to Burnett Park in downtown Fort Worth to sit in the sun, eat a tuna sandwich …
Anyone who grows a lot of onions in a summer garden knows that they will keep a long time in cool place over the winter months. But no matter how cool your spot is, the onions sooner or later will begin to sprout. We don’t have a really cold room where our onions are stored, but it’s good enough until …
Her life with anti-vaxxers A writer contributes a different spin to what clearly is a hot topic in the U.S.: vaccinations. She suggests, “While you’re puzzling over who could be so stupid as to do this despicable thing — opening the door to disease — consider my story.” http://www.slate.com/articles/life/family/2015/02/anti_vaxxers_and_the_measles_outbreak_understanding_why_parents_don_t_vaccinate.html Monsanto’s latest GMO product compounds an already complex mess Proponents of …
Opening night is coming up. The Fire Hall Theatre’s production of “Guys on Ice” opens Feb. 12 in Grand Forks. Foolishly enough perhaps, the theater people have asked me to be a part of it. Without giving away too much, I’ll be in the “Guys on Ice” “halftime show.” I hope you’ll call (701) 777-4090 and support the Fire Hall …
Follow this link to read in 22 sentences everything you didn’t know about the groundhog. By the way, Punxsutawney Phil, the rodent prognosticator of spring, saw his shadow Monday morning. And that, as most of the U.S. fears, means six more weeks of winter. For those of us who live in the Northland, that’s an early spring. Bring it on. http://www.treehugger.com/natural-sciences/groundhogs-explained.html …
It would be hard to convince a lot of people in puck-crazy Grand Forks that some things are more important than hockey. Especially if it’s a Central-Red River game with first place in the Eastern Dakota Conference on the line. But with Tuesday night’s contest at Purpur Arena less than 48 hours away, there’s something that trumps it in importance …
If you’re a University of North Dakota sports fan, you’ve probably seen Russell Hons shooting action at various events. This morning, Unheralded.fish launched a slide show of photos Hons shot at Saturday’s UND vs. Idaho State basketball game. A little background about Russ: He has been a private investigator in Grand Forks for the past 25 years and honed his …
Neil LeVang: Champagne music and beyond Neil LeVang left Bemidji, Minn., for California in 1945. The self-taught guitarist joined the Lawrence Welk family in 1959 and went on to carve an illustrious career as he mastered many styles of music including jazz, country, early rock and roll — even funk. Read about his life story in Vintage Guitar Magazine at… …
The UND men’s basketball team beat Idaho State 80-69 on Saturday for its first home-court win of the season. Photos by Russell Hons.
OK, I’m going to take another whack at the Outdoor Heritage Fund after getting off on too many tangents in Friday’s article. Plus, there’s new information coming out daily in light of the sharp drop in oil prices, leading to a sharp drop in state tax revenues. Here’s what we know for sure: The Outdoor Heritage fund was created by …
Parties that revolve around events such as the Super Bowl often don’t have a main course but rather a number of appetizers. Among the most popular appetizers are dips. They can accompany chips, crackers, veggies or even meats or seafood such as chicken wings and shrimp. One of my favorite dips is guacamole, which is made up of mostly avocados …
One thing is for a sure bet on Super Bowl Sunday — that a lot of Americans will be eating chicken wings. According to the National Chicken Council, we’ll be devouring 1.25 million of the on the big day. While the quarterbacks for the two teams — Tom Brady of the New England Patriots and Russell Wilson of the Seattle …
When you don’t understand the problem, you can enjoy the luxury of suspecting the solution. But taking so-called “normal childhood diseases” for granted has led us to the verge of resurrecting some of the ’50s greatest hits – measles and other supercontagious maladies. Childhood diseases” … to today’s privileged 21st century parents, these viral scourges may sound harmless and even …
During last year’s campaign for and against Measure 5, the Clean Water, Wildlife and Parks amendment to the North Dakota Constitution, opponents of the amendment used as one of their sticking points the fact that there is already an Outdoor Heritage Fund in state government and it will provide $30 million this biennium for the same kind of projects the …
Ruttger’s offers beautiful boredom — and that’s a very good thing A letter arrived in our snail mail the other day. It was from Randy and Tina Ruttger, the third-generation owners and operators of Ruttger’s Birchmont Lodge on Lake Bemidji near Bemidji, Minn. It was not unexpected. We get one every year. So do hundreds, maybe thousands, of other of Ruttger’s visitors. …
Most kids like pasta, be it in spaghetti, lasagna or a good casserole. And not many of them would turn up their noses at a good hotdish that contains pasta, either. For that matter, the same goes for adults. Show me anyone who doesn’t like a pasta hotdish, and I’ll show you a picky eater. Take my grandson, for example. He loves his …
For a decade or so, I had puttered around with the acoustic guitar, learning the first several bars of Dan Fogelberg’s “Leader of the Band” and mumbling a few of the lyrics while I played. Same with “Fire and Rain, Dust in the Wind,” etc. Then, in December 2013, I vowed to get serious about the instrument and sing like no one …
For a guy who is closing fast on spending 50 years reporting on hockey in the Red River Valley, this is a great time to be Green and White, isn’t it? We puckheads were thrilled last winter when two hockey teams at East Grand Forks Senior High made waves. Coach Jim Scanlan’s Green Wave girls team finished second in the …
Former UND exec plans to publish book project When Dave Vorland retired in 2005 from the University of North Dakota after more than three decades as faculty member, director of public relations and executive assistant to the president, he said he hoped to stay busy professionally on a part-time basis. Since then, he has worked as a part-time freelance photographer, …
Washington’s Birthday is just around the corner. This year, it will be celebrated Monday. Contrary to what many Americans believe, it is not Presidents’ Day (as it is in Minnesota). Nor Presidents Day (North Dakota), nor Washington and Lincoln’s Birthday (Montana). (There are also more than a dozen other variations.) But one thing is for sure. Cherry pie is a …
Welcome, Nancy Edmonds Today Unherald.fish adds another writer, and we think you’ll enjoy her first column. It’s about what retail stores these days call overpriced boots “footwear.” Back then, we called them galoshes. Her bio reads: “Rather than being “unheralded,” you might call Nancy Edmonds Hanson “reforumed.” The Forum, the Fargo, N.D., newspaper, hired her at 17, “launching the shyest …
Ingenious grocery-store solutions to keeping your shoes dry have been on my mind since last week’s State of the Union. An Iowa senator claims to have worn them on her feet as a kid to keep her good shoes dry. Growing up here among the equally poor of the prairie, I never witnessed Holsum bread bags employed as anklets. But …
The $1 million guitar This Fender guitar was a hit at the 2015 NAMM Show in California last week. According to the Los Angeles Times, “The Pine Cone Stratocaster … is decorated with 550 diamonds and incorporates 10 feet of 18-karat gold wire ribbon inlay on a single-piece maple body.” http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/posts/la-et-ms-fender-stratocaster-pine-cone-faberge-custom-20150124-story.html As airline passenger seating shrinks, spies fly to report …
We at Unheralded.fish are thrilled to welcome Terry Dullum to the site. Who hasn’t heard the name Terry Dullum? Anyone who has owned a TV the last 40 years knows the name and the face. Dullum recently completed four decades of television broadcast service as anchor, producer and reporter with WDAZ-TV in Grand Forks. He was part of a newsroom that …
Pheasant hunting season in the Northland has been over about three weeks, a little longer in some places. But on a day like Friday, with temperatures in the low to mid-40s, what I would like do is go out in the field to chase some roosters with my dog, Sweetie. Since that isn’t possible, unless I head to Nebraska to …
One of the more interesting people I’ve been introduced to through my work in television is escape artist Dean Gunnarson. Also, one of the nicest. I met Dean in his hometown of Winnipeg on the Halloween anniversary of his first big escape. It was a Houdini-like stunt when he attempted to free himself from a box lowered into the muddy …
If I were a North Dakota Democrat, here’s what I would say to my fellow party members: I turned on the Rachel Maddow show last night and, as usual, she had her headlights on bright, and the deer in those headlights was a young North Dakota Democratic-NPL legislator named Corey Mock. The subject was the 3-million barrel saltwater spill in …
In a few weeks, I’ll publish my first novel, “Every Common Sight,” which has been more than 20 years in the making. The book went through several drafts, spanning my very long apprenticeship as a writer. As I kept improving, the novel did, too. I also had to put it aside for years at a time to focus on non-fiction book …
Just about everyone likes a good banana. But when the skin of that yellow fruit that has its roots in the tropics and is a good source of potassium starts to turn brown, all bets are off for a lot of people. A lot of brown bananas get thrown away just because of their looks. Probably just as many overripe …
Based upon the analysis contained within the Elkhorn Gravel Pit EA, and taking into consideration the applicants private property rights, my regulatory authority, and considering public comment received, I have decided to implement Alternative 2 as described in the EA (pages 23-25) for Elkhorn Minerals LLC’s development of the proposed Elkhorn Gravel Pit. Under this decision the Forest Service will issue to Elkhorn Minerals …
Over the past few years, I’ve written a number of stories about the threats to the Elkhorn Ranch Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park. It’s a pretty sacred site to a lot of North Dakotans and Americans, and it needs to be protected. Aside from the fact that the 218-acre site in northern Billings County, hard up against the Little Missouri …
Although I am an inveterate curbside scrounger, I DO have standards. Exacting ones! So when I saw these beauties on Sheridan Avenue in mid-December, I snapped them up, despite the snow on the ground at the time and the drivers whizzing by me on the city street at a fevered clip. These three chairs are part of a patio set — they …
Read what these new writers have to say Today, Unheralded.fish announces the arrival of two new writers, Jim Fuglie, who calls western North Dakota home, and Kim Yeager of the Twin Cities, Welcome to the show. ABOUT JIM Jim Fuglie is a native of Hettinger, ND, a U.S. Navy veteran (1968-1972) and majored in communications at Dickinson State College (now …
Old news: Patriots and Belichick may have cheated again The NFL football dynasty known as the New England Patriots may have cheated in their win against Indianaplis, according to ESPN. The league is investigating whether 11 of the Patriots’ 12 allotted game footballs were under-inflated by 2 pounds per square inch of air. http://www.startribune.com/sports/vikings/289208261.html?page=1&c=y NASA photo will jolt your sense …
As my favorite team (UND Fighting Sioux hockey) continues its impressive rise to the top, my grip on lake life is literally on the decline here in late January. It’s been an odd winter, no question. For one, the UND hockey team put together a strong first-half of the season to position itself in great shape for …
Grand Forks Central vs. Red River Hockey. Russell Hons Photography Only five high schools — down from the usual eight — participated in the annual Jason Stadstad Hockey Classic last month in Grand Forks. Because of that, the two Grand Forks teams — Central and Red River — played only two games each to allow the visiting Bismarck High and …