LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — Migration
The autumn migration is on here in North Dakota. I also have migrated my writing hobby to another platform as I streamline my life.
Unheralded
JEFF OLSON: Photo Gallery — Mount Blue Sky Recreation Area
Fort Collins, Colo., photographer Jeff Olson and his wife, Joanne Plager Burke Olson, recently made a wilderness hike to Mount Blue Sky Recreation Area, located on the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains near Idaho Springs, Colo. Mount Blue Sky, elevation 14,250 feet, is the most prominent mountain overlooking the city of Denver. Along the way, they visited Mount Goliath …
PAULA MEHMEL: Shoot The Rapids — A Truly Modern Family
One of the subtle things I really appreciated about the Democratic National Convention was the honest portrayal of the family of Kamala Harris. Her husband’s ex-wife produced the video about Doug Emhoff and she was there at the convention every night with her kids. She and Harris are good friends. As someone who was part of a blended family, I …
LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — The Needle And The Thread
During the heat of the Thursday afternoon, I unearthered my late Mother’s needles and embroidery thread and got creative.
PAULA MEHMEL: Shoot The Rapids — Cruelty Is A Slippery Slope
People making fun of Gus Walz, the son of Tim Walz, the choice of Kamala Harris to be her running mate, illustrates the problem with MAGA. The Republican Party, especially in Minnesota in the last part of the 20th century, were champions of mental health. I truly can’t imagine any human being with even an iota of decency making fun …
LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — Musings
Some people read. Some people talk about reading. Some people write books. Some people edit books. Some people buy books they never get around to reading. Some people talk about hair. Some people don’t care about hair. Some people get their hair cut now and then. Some people clean. Some people don’t. Some people empty the garbage. Some people recyle. …
JIM FUGLIE: View From The Prairie — A Lawyer In The Governor’s Office? Maybe
“The first thing we do is, let’s kill all the lawyers.” You might recall that memorable line, uttered by Dick the Butcher, from perhaps the least memorable of Shakespeare’s plays, “Henry VI.” I’ve been thinking about it because I’ve been thinking about lawyers. And governors. It’s been 40 years since North Dakota had a lawyer in the governor’s chair. That …
JIM THIELMAN: Babe’s Jersey? No Thanks, I’ve Got Better Stuff
Last I looked, the bid is $15 million for the baseball jersey that New York Yankee Babe Ruth wore when he supposedly “called his shot” in Game 3 of the 1932 World Series. Ruth never forecast that home run, and I’ll get to that in a minute, after the story about the Babe Ruth home run ball a colleague placed …
LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — Little Missouri River Updated Information
I have written many essays about the Little Missouri River area, including The Crooked Little Missouri River and Its Headwaters. Today I have in mind current sources of information on this sweet river such as gage height and weather forecast. Marmarth https://waterdata.usgs.gov/monitoring-location/06335500 Medora https://waterdata.usgs.gov/monitoring-location/06336000/ Watford City https://waterdata.usgs.gov/monitoring-location/06337000 Also interesting and useful links from NOAA for forecasts & more Marmarth https://water.noaa.gov/gauges/mthn8 Medora https://water.noaa.gov/gauges/mdan8 …
JIM FUGLIE: View From The Prairie — When An Asset Becomes A Liability
Thank God for the Summer Olympics. I’ve been mostly laid up for a few weeks with a recurrence of the strange leg infection that kept me in the hospital much of the summer two years ago. I rode it out at home this year and was entertained in my recliner by watching the world’s best athletes competing for medals in …
JEFF OLSON: Photo Gallery — Earthy Delights
Photographer Jeff Olson of Fort Collins, Colo., enjoys his time outdoors, especially when he gets a chance to capture some eye-popping images.
JIM FUGLIE: View From The Prairie — Sour Grapes, North Dakota Nice And Minnesota Lakes
I really hate to be critical of my governor. But c’mon, Doug, give us a break! Start acting like a governor. (More about the lakes in a minute.) The quotes from Burgum in Friday’s Forum Communications Co. papers were as unbecoming of a governor as anything I’ve ever read. Well, maybe I could drag out some old Jesse Ventura or …
LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — I Am Reminded
Today I am reminded that I was raised by women who did not have the right to vote!
JIM THIELMAN: The Best Fencing Story Since Zorro
The Summer Olympic Games were occupying the “Jeopardy!” time slot this week, but on the bright side, two guys were fencing. I was such a big Zorro fan at age 4 that I wore a black, long-sleeved Zorro costume on 80-degree days in July. As the swordplay on TV continued, I wondered if other disappointed “Jeopardy!” viewers knew about West …
JIM FUGLIE: View From The Prairie — Missing Girlfriends, Drunks And Locked Doors
In the olden days, when I was a young reporter for The Dickinson Press, one of the assignments for the newsroom staff was to check with the Police Department every day to see if there was any news. We’d wander across the street to the station and take a look at the daily log. Once in a while, we’d happen upon …
PAULA MEHMEL: Shoot The Rapids — A Metaphor For Defining Success In Life
It started innocently enough Oct. 24, 2021. Prior to that date, I sporadically did the New York Times puzzle, but I hadn’t been focused on completing it the same day. In fact, according to my archives, I had only earned the proverbial “gold star” for completing it without help on the same day four times the week before Oct. 24 …
CHEF JEFF: One Byte At A Time — Pan-Fried Walleye
There’s something special about summer other than the warmer temperatures, especially when you live in the northern climes where winter can get awfully cold and snowy, even a bit too long. What makes summer extra special for me is that my cuisine mainly is centered on the vegetables from my garden and fresh fish. Although not the angler that I …
PAULA MEHMEL: Shoot The Rapids — Friends For Life
When I was in junior high, I became friends with a group of girls that we referred to as “the gang,” in an era when that word had a different meaning in rural Minnesota. In our graduating class of over 300, we were among the “good” girls. Our idea of a “pot party” was washing the cookware after a camping …
CHEF JEFF: One Byte At A Time — Sour Cream Cucumbers
One of my favorite side dishes from my childhood was cucumbers and onions in a cream sauce. We used to have them at holidays, for sure. Aunt Harriet always had them whenever we would go over for ham dinner on New Year’s Day. And Mom often made them in the summer when the cucumbers started producing. I had the first …
PAULA MEHMEL: Shoot The Rapids — Bad Theology
Bad theology is scary and hurtful. We live in a world where evil happens and there are consequences for sin. However, we do not have a God who “miraculously” saves one person and instead sacrifices another. Our God is a God on the cross who is present when a classroom of children are slaughtered and when assassins aim at the …
JIM FUGLIE: View From The Prairie — YAY! I Live In A National Historic District!
Sometime later this month, the State Historical Society of North Dakota is going to officially announce the approval of a new historic neighborhood in Bismarck. I’m pretty excited about it because I live in it. Two years ago last week, the Highland Acres neighborhood in west Bismarck was named to the National Register of Historic Places, with its official new …
JIM FUGLIE: View From The Prairie — The Bridge That Should’ve Come Down
This is a story of a tragic, ironic, almost unbelievable twist of fate. Some of you remember I wrote a series of stories, beginning in July 2017, about an illegal bridge across the Little Missouri State Scenic River west of the Killdeer Mountains, built by a fellow named Wylie Bice, a wealthy rancher with his pockets full of oil boom …
PAULA MEHMEL: Shoot The Rapids — A Prayer For The Future
“A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.” This quote from the Declaration of Independence is on my heart 248 years after it was penned. My prayer for my nation is that a year from now we have a president who is not …
CHEF JEFF: One Byte At A Time — Salmon Sliders With Garlic Lemon Aioli
There are many schools of thought on what ingredients make up aioli sauce. Many recipes include egg yolks and lemon juice, and one ingredient that almost all recipes feature is garlic, a favorite of mine. A quick version of aioli that I like contains garlic, lemon juice, mayonnaise and some fresh dill. Aioli perfectly complements grilled salmon. And a good …
JIM THIELMAN: Willie And Ted As Teammates Would Have Been Delicious
As the 1950s neared, a Southern-born baseball scout reported from Birmingham that Willie Mays was not “a Red Sox type” of player. To the Irish management in Boston, it meant Mays was not white. If any team had the best chance of signing black players in Birmingham after World War II, it was the Red Sox. The white Birmingham Barons …
JIM FUGLIE: View From The Prairie — Too Many Funerals; Sorry, Max
I should have been in Wahpeton Tuesday. I should have been at the funeral of my best childhood friend, Max Reinke. But I just couldn’t take another funeral right now. I’ve been to too many lately. But luckily, my friend Kevin Carvell says, none of them were mine. I know, it’s just a function of my age (soon to be …
JIM FUGLIE: View From The Prairie — Screw Politics; Let’s Talk About Bacon
Well, I could write about the election just past, or I could write about bacon. I like politics — most of my readers know that. But ALL of my friends know of my bacon fixation. I’ve liked bacon all my life, but never so much as when we moved into this house 15 years ago with its big garden space …
PAULA MEHMEL: Shoot The Rapids — A Tale Of Two Convictions
I was reflecting on the convictions of Donald Trump and Hunter Biden. A lot could be said about the fact that false equivalencies being made between the felony conviction of a former president and the son of a president or the circumstances of the convictions. But what strikes me the most is not the convictions of two men found guilty …
TONY J BENDER: That’s Life — No One Is Above The Law
Let’s start with a basic fact. Democracy cannot exist without the rule of law. The concept that no one is above the law. And America cannot exist without democracy. Our founders bristled at the arbitrary dictates of a king an ocean away. Americans fought and died in World War II to ensure democracy and its hallmark, free elections, the peaceful …
JIM FUGLIE: View From The Prairie — Election Thoughts
I’m stuck at home for a few days nursing some bruised-up ribs and a cut-up hand after a tumble in the Bad Lands, but I can type, so I’ll a share a few political thoughts with you in the days leading up to the June 11 North Dakota primary election. Congress First, you need to watch this short two-minute powerful video produced …
PAULA MEHMEL: Shoot The Rapids — Truth Leads To Reconciliation
This is the final blog in a series of posts regarding my personal experience of the abuse of power that can result from one person having hierarchical control of the career of a rostered minister. In previous blogs, I shared my experience with a clinical pastoral experience supervisor that forced me to process my rape soon after it happened and …
PAULA MEHMEL: Shoot The Rapids — Violations Of Trust
This is the third blog in a series highlighting my experiences with unchecked hierarchical power over my 34 years of ordained ministry. My hope in sharing my experience is to create a safe space for others to share their stories. In my first post, I shared how I was raped near the end of my CPE semester and forced by my …
JIM FUGLIE: View From The Prairie — The Wars, Remembered On Memorial Day
IN FLANDERS FIELDS By John McCrae In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below. We are the Dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now we lie, …
PAULA MEHMEL: Shoot The Rapids — A Broken Trust
This is the second in a series of three blogs highlighting Paula Mehmel’s experience of clergy abuse by hierarchical structures. Although I had served my congregation faithfully for 20 years, as one of my very wise council members told me, “If you piss off 3 percent of the people a year, you are doing well. But if you stay for …
PAULA MEHMEL: Shoot The Rapids — Unchecked Power Can Be Silencing
This is the first in a series of four blogs highlighting Paula Mehmel’s experience of clergy abuse by hierarchical structures. In recent years, there have been a lot of blogs and articles about why so many pastors and other rostered leaders are leaving the ministry. As an ordained ELCA pastor for 34 years and the current pastor of a UCC …
JIM FUGLIE: View From The Prairie — Shotguns, Dead Dogs, Liars And Courtrooms
This article first appeared in the May issue of High Plains Reader. I am an old man. I have been a politics junkie most of my life. I have been involved in many campaigns, but have not run for office myself. Each time someone has suggested I do that, I tell them the same thing: I will not put my …
PAULA MEHMEL: Shoot The Rapids — You Can’t Have It Both Ways
I’ve seen a lot on social media about the Neanderthal views of the Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker. I believe in his right to have and express his opinion, although I truly feel sorry for the Benedictine nuns who support the institution at which he made his remarks. Butker’s comments indicate the nuns’ choice to follow service to Lord …
JIM FUGLIE: View From The Prairie — Much Ado About Nothing
“What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.” — Ecclesiastes 1:9 Hmmm. Nothing new under the sun. Perhaps North Dakota Gov. Douglas Burgum needs to spend a little time with his Bible. Wise man, that Solomon. I’m referring to Burgum’s much ballyhooed announcement of the creation of …
LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — Re-reading Willa Cather
“… the certainty of countless miles of empty country and open sky and wind and night on every side of me. It’s the happiest feeling I ever have. And when I am most enjoying the loveliest things the world is full of, it’s then I am most homesick for just that emptiness and that untainted air.” — Willa Cather
JIM FUGLIE: View From The Prairie — Headed For Mar-A-Lago?
In an attempt to share with you what’s going on in my phone’s text messages, without offending your sensibilities, I’m going to keep this short. As I mentioned in an earlier column, I continue to get text messages from the Trump campaign after North Dakota’s failed presidential candidate, Doug Burgum, shared my personal contact information with the Trump campaign. I’m …
CHEF JEFF: One Byte At A Time — Fried Cabbage With Onions and Sweet Peppers
Sausage can be paired with many other foods. Here’s one of my favorite skillet recipes that combines cabbage, onions and sweet bell peppers with some wonderful country style sausage from Stan’s Supermarket in Wishek, N.D. My friend, Delore Zimmerman, who hails from Wishek, kindly picks up for me some of the country style sausage and ring bologna whenever he goes …
JIM FUGLIE: View From The Prairie — Just How Rich Is Billings County?
I’ve been moping around the house most of this cold, wet, windy, dreary, week, feeling sorry for myself because I can’t get out in the garden. I managed one garden day early in the week and planted about half of what I hope will be this year’s potato crop, but I’ve got a big bag of seed potatoes in the …
PAULA MEHMEL: Shoot The Rapids — Morocco Day 9
Our last day in Morocco began very early, before sunrise. We got up and walked out into the sand dunes and watched the magic as the sun peaked over the sand. I think the part that is the most indescribable is the different shades of color of sand. And how intensely and incredibly beautifully it reflects as the the rays …