Does it seem that we’ve been fighting floods forever? Pretty close. Residents along the Red River have been wrangling Mother Nature every 10 or 15 years since settlement began. Inevitably, Mother seems to have the upper hand. In between flood emergencies, we generally turn on each other. Fargo-Moorhead and its neighbors have been sharing vastly divergent opinions of the F-M …
The University of North Dakota men’s hockey team skated to a 3-3 overtime tie with No. 4-ranked Denver University in a National Collegiate Hockey Conference game Friday night in Ralph Engelstad Arena. The Fighting Hawks (12-8-7 overall, 6-6-3-2 NCHC) led 2-0 after the first period on goals by Cole Smith and Shane Gersich, but the Pioneers (14-6-5 overall, 8-4-3 NCHC) …
My daughter and I had a Theodore Roosevelt National Park getaway Thursday. She hadn’t been out there since Labor Day, and she described the day as “rejuvenating.” She loves the Bad Lands as much as I, and she is particularly in love with the wild horses that inhabit the South Unit of TRNP. She is a photographer and a member …
It’s been a couple of interesting weeks when it comes to what women can and can’t do in North Dakota. In Wahpeton, there’s a communitywide debate about the Oasis Bar’s request to permit lap dancing. Meanwhile, at Chick-fil-A in Fargo, a woman was kicked out for breastfeeding her baby. Let’s start there. This is a place that makes a living …
Lexi Klabo scored 26 points and added seven rebounds to lead the University of North Dakota women’s basketball team to a 81-79 Big Sky Conferene win over Eastern Washington University on Thursday evening in Betty Engelstad Sioux Center. Fallyn Freije added 15 points, while Melissa Dailey and Jill Morton chipped in 10 points each for the Fighting Hawks (10-9 overall, 3-5 BSC). Delaney Hodgins …
I wonder how many people are aware of the unseen heroics among our fellow neighbors. The extreme cold, accompanied by recent blizzard-like conditions often blocking visibility, placed too many of our fellow humans in unnecessary situations. City, county and state police officers are on duty 24/7, 365 days a year. When unsafe driving conditions develop but drivers throw caution to …
Thank goodness for winter, a time here at Red Oak House for us to catch up on reading. About a year ago, I bought myself the book “The Wonder of Birds: What They Tell Us About Ourselves, the World, and a Better Future,” by Jim Robbins (Spiegel & Grau, c2017). I tucked it away, waiting for an opportune time to …
Meryl Streep just picked up another Academy Award nomination this week, her 89th. Something like that. This time it’s for her role as Washington Post publisher Katherine Graham in The Post. Tom Hanks, who plays the Post’s editor, Ben Bradlee, was snubbed, as they say. The story revolves around the newspaper’s publication of the Pentagon papers, classified documents detailing U.S. …
Steve died five years ago today. I decided to take some time this morning to reflect and pray. So I headed out to what I thought was a dog park, with the hopes that there wouldn’t be many people there on a dreary crisp morning. As luck would have it, the place that Google told me was a dog park …
Although this is a time of fallow in the yard, there is beauty everywhere, for those who pause to look. The hoary white bits coat everything and the air is still. It makes me think of this poem, by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Here are the first and last few lines. “Frost at Midnight” The Frost performs its secret ministry, Unhelped …
The University of North Dakota blew a 2-0 first-period lead and gave up five straight goals over the next two periods to drop a 5-2 National Collegiate Hockey Conference decision to the University of Minnesota-Duluth on Saturday night in AmsOil Arena in Duluth. Shane Gersich and Austin Poganski scored in the opening period for the Fighting Hawks (12-8-6 overall, 6-6-2-2 …
The University of Minnesota-Duluth continued its recent mastery over the University of North Dakota with a 5-3 National Collegiate Hockey Conference win Friday night in AmsOil Arena in Duluth. The Bulldogs (12-9-3 overall, 6-7 NCHC), who have beaten the Fighting Hawks seven straight games, received goals from five different players — Joey Anderson, Peter Krieger, Parker Mackay, Karson Kuhlman and …
Debyn Johnson scored a game-high 25 points and added 12 rebounds and four assists to lead Grand Forks Central boys basketball team to a 56-51 win over cross-town rival Grand Forks Red River on Thursday night in Central High gym. The win snapped an eight-game losing streak for the Knights against the Roughriders. Chris Demuth chipped in 14 points for …
In this country, we have the right to remain silent. But there are times where we also have the duty to speak out. We now live in a time when to remain silent is an act of cowardice, racism and bigotry. I’m not going to dignify this POTUS by quoting his recent disgusting statement referencing the entire African continent. He …
A pair of former Democratic-NPL state senators challenged the North Dakota Health Department to demand a site review by the State’s Public Service Commission before issuing an air pollution permit allowing Meridian Energy Group to build a refinery three miles from Theodore Roosevelt National Park at a marathon public hearing by the Department Wednesday night. Former Sen. Connie Triplett of …
Marlon Stewart, Conner Avants and Dale Jones led the University of North Dakota men’s basketball team to its third straight win, a 86-77 nonconference victory over in-state rival North Dakota State University on Tuesday night in Scheels Arena in Fargo. Stewart scored 20 points and Avants and Jones added 17 each for the Fighting Hawks (7-11). Joining those three in …
Mushrooms are one of those vegetables that you either love or hate. For those who dislike mushrooms, it’s usually texture that puts people off more than the taste, while it’s those same qualities that attracts those on the other side of the aisle. One of the reasons I like mushrooms so much is that they often absorb the flavor of the …
“Life’s pulse is gained in the hollows, the intervals between events … you must discern these spaces. This requires leisure, the chance to sit and contemplate, and the opportunity to respond to inner urgings. “If you can find a place to retreat, you can make a life where Tao will flood into you. Out in the woods, or in the …
The University of North Dakota men’s hockey team skated to a 2-2 tie with Bemidji State University on Saturday night in Ralph Engelstad Arena to close out its nonconference schedule. Nick Jones and Christian Wolanin scored goals for the Fighting Hawks (12-6-6), while Dillon Eichstadt and Leo Fitzgerald scored for the Beavers (11-7-6). Cam Johnson had 18 saves in goal for …
Geno Crandall scored a game-high 25 points to lead the University of North Dakota men’s basketball team to a 89-79 Big Sky Conference win over Weber State University on Saturday afternoon in Betty Engelstad Sioux Center. Crandall added nine rebounds and eight assists for the Fighting Hawks, who improved to 2-4 in the Big Sky and 6-11 overall. Kienan Walter had …
I’m all a flutter waiting on Kevin Cramer’s big decision. Actually, my heart does have a slight flutter. I should have that looked at. Anyway, our lone congressman needs to decide whether to run against Heidi Heitkamp for her Senate seat, or shoot for another two years in Congress. Anyway, the Cong … Whoa. Wait. Cramer just decided he wants to …
It’s been awhile, but it’s time once again, boys and girls, to play what I call Scammin’ the Scammers. Here’s how it goes. We message a real Facebook scammer, in an effort to waste as much of his or her time as possible. We had a lot of fun with this one over the course of a couple of days. …
Austin Poganski score two goals, the first just 18 seconds into the game, to lead the University of North Dakota men’s hockey team to a 5-1 win over Bemidji State University on Friday night in Bemidji’s Sanford Center. Nick Jones also tallied two goals for the Fighting Hawks (12-6-5), and Trevor Olson added an empty-netter to round out the scoring. …
Hello from Lillian AND Jim. We sat down this week and wrote about one of the coolest things that have happened to us in a long time, and we’re posting it on both our blogs — Wild Dakota Woman and View From The Prairie. We hope you enjoy reading this as much as we enjoyed writing it. On summer evenings …
Hello from Lillian AND Jim. We sat down this week and wrote about one of the coolest things that have happened to us in a long time, and we’re posting it on both our blogs — Wild Dakota Woman and View From The Prairie. We hope you enjoy reading this as much as we enjoyed writing it. On summer evenings …
Cortes Seales scored 14 points to lead the University of North Dakota men’s basketball team to 81-58 win over Big Sky Conference foe Idaho State University on Thursday night in Betty Engelstad Sioux Center. The Fighting Hawks (5-11, 1-3 BSC) also received 13 points from Conner Avants and Marlon Stewart and 11 points from Dale Jones. Geno Crandall and Billy …
Last week, I described some of my youthful contemporaries as “daring.” Now I’ll return to my youthful adventures … but this time, leave it to you, the reader, to fill in the blank. I’ve been describing youthful fun on the Grand Forks skating rink. Now let’s recall a much more dangerous pursuit — the American Flexible Flyer and the Champion …
Of all things, Russ and I were talking about bath mats. I’d just taken a shower downstairs, and I’d noticed that the mundane incumbent — already bearing the stains of years of feline hairball disposal — had begun shedding bits of fuzz and flakes of latex all over the tile floor. A trip to Target seemed to be in order …
Here at Red Oak House, in the wooded Highland Acres neighborhood of Bismarck, we like owls very much. We frequently have great horned owls and Eastern screech owls in our large blue spruce and green ash trees. Many years ago, my brother, Thomas, took me to Yorktown, Va., where I bought this wonderful wooden snowy owl at street arts and …
A foggy morning walk today took Arlington, Va., photographer Jeff Olson across the National Mall, past Arlington Memorial Bridge, the Lincoln Memorial, the Nurses Memorial and Constitution Gardens. The area technically borders the part of Washington, D.C., that is known as “Foggy Bottom” because of the fog that naturally lingers there.
“We’ll always have Paris.” Humphrey Bogart said that to Ingrid Bergman in the 1942 movie “Casablanca.” He was right. I feel that way about my favorite place in the whole wide world, even if I never have the opportunity to return. I’ve been there several times over the years. But actually I do have an opportunity. In July, I’m splurging …
Austin Poganski scored two goals and goalie Peter Thome recorded his first shutout Saturday night to lead the University of North Dakota men’s hockey team to a weekend split with the University of Nebraska-Omaha in National Collegiate Hockey Conference action in Ralph Engelstad Arena. Also scoring for the Fighting Hawks (6-4-2 NCHC, 11-6-5 overall) were Rhett Gardner, Joel Janatuinen, Christian Wolanin, …
If there was a geography bee at Edgewood Vista in Mandan, N.D., Marian Crook would probably win. It’s not that she just reads a lot, which she does. And having chased a career military husband around the world adds to her advantage. But a big addition to what she knows about the world is jigsaw puzzles. You see, jigsaw puzzles …
The University of Nebraska-Omaha spoiled the University of North Dakota men’s hockey team’s 2018 opener with a 4-1 win over the Fighting Hawks on Friday night in Ralph Engelstad Arena. The Mavericks (3-6 National Collegiate Hockey Conference, 11-8-1 overall) received goals from Fredrik Olofsson, Luke Norgard, David Pope and Zach Jordan, while Shane Gersich scored the only goal for the …
The year 2017 was the newsiest year on record according to statistics I just made up. Strike that. These are not alternative facts. This is based on actual gut feelings. And anonymous sources. Seriously, the news lurched from one thing to another so quickly, reporters had to step up their cross-fit routines to keep up, although Rachel Maddow sounded like …
An amendment co-authored by North Dakota Sen. John Hoeven to the huge tax cut bill passed by Congress late last year provides generous tax breaks to farmer-owned cooperatives and to farmers who sell grain to them. But it could create real problems for privately owned elevators. If it’s not fixed, somehow, there’s not a farmer anywhere who is going to …
With every turn of a page in “Prairie Mosaic,” the reader will delve into the rich ethnic history of North Dakota. The Rev. William C. Sherman labored for many years to reveal an astonishing level of detail, down to the township level, and to tell the story of the state’s inhabitants. “Prairie Mosaic: An Ethnic Atlas of Rural North Dakota,” …
The University of Montana snapped the University of North Dakota women’s basketball team’s 11-game home winning streak with a 54-43 Big Sky Conference victory over the Fighting Hawks on Thursday night in Betty Engelstad Sioux Center. The Grizzlies (7-7 overall, 3-0 BSC) were led by Caitlin Lonergan, scored a 12 points and McKenzie Johnston who added nine points and eight rebounds. …
Grand Forks photographer Michael Bogert has been braving the recent cold weather, venturing into the countryside in search of picturesque settings. Here is what he found.
I have two new British friends, thanks to the magic of books (and Twitter). One is the writer, Robert Macfarlane, and the other is the artist Jackie Morris. My friend, Ken, and I have a mutual appreciation of all of Macfarlane’s books. Macfarlane’s Twitter account is a delight as is his Word of the Day, from which I learn something daily, …
Cold weather and comfort food go together like bacon and eggs, peanut butter and jelly, spaghetti and meatballs. That’s why it wasn’t surprising to me to see a billboard ad this morning touting all the soup you can eat from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on weekdays at a local restaurant. After all, what’s more comforting when the temperatures are below …
At the end of the meeting between Meridian Energy Group executives and the North Dakota Public Service Commission a couple of weeks ago, Commission President Randy Christmann pretty much told William Prentice, Meridian CEO and the man who wants to build an oil refinery next to Theodore Roosevelt National Park, that the next time they meet will probably be in …
We all have memories of the good old days. The older one gets, the more unusual they seem. When I was a young lad growing up in Grand Forks, N.D., the only inside rink in the city was the University of North Dakota arena. It was a glorified farm shed with no heating, and when it was cold outside, it …
Come away with me a few moments to the enchanting world of the late Paul Goble, artist and storyteller extraordinaire, my favorite children’s book author of all-time (admittedly there are many I love). Like most college students, I had courses that I preferred above all others. Mine, taught by some exceptional professors, included Myths & Legends, Shakespeare, and, the best, …