You can love where you are, and grieve where you aren’t

Yesterday, while scrolling through Instagram, I saw a post from Visit Rapid City. I froze, mid-swipe.The caption read, “From our camera roll to yours.” That was it. But I didn’t need any more context. The first photo was a gazebo on a small island in a lake. The next was a rushing creek framed by […]
Take Time to Appreciate…The Little Things

It was a sunny afternoon and I was headed up 16th street going south on my way to a chiropractic appointment. The big orange sign on 16th street by Arrowhead Shopping Center was still in the alert mode. 16th street CLOSED south of 11th Avenue. Yep, same old sign, same old information and same old […]
A never ending harvest

Editor’s note: This article was written by Marvin Baker on Oct. 29 of last year and featured in the Foundation for Agricultural and Rural Resources Management and Sustainability (FARRMS) newsletter. Baker recently retired as a commercial gardener. Here on our farm it gets to a point that we welcome the first frost because the workload […]
Military Interstate Compact: The Single Most Important Document in My Office

The Interstate Compact is a document that applies to all military-connected students in public schools, specifically children of the following: active duty members of the uniformed services, including Guard and Reserve; members or veterans who are medically discharged or retired for one year; members who die on active duty, for a period of one year […]
The Buddy System: A New North Dakota Initiative to Support Young Educators – A Military Concept Since 1942

\Senior year is a pivotal time for high school students. Graduation looms and choices abound. To make it a little bit easier to decide, high school students can meet with their assigned guidance counselor, stop by my office, visit with a military recruiter, or attend the Minot Area Career Expo held at our North Dakota […]
Where Have All The Calendars Gone?

I know it seems silly, but my Mom used to talk about what a big difference it made when we “flipped the calendar” from October to November. October was fall, and November was winter, that’s how simple it was, right? Don’t just say “well it’s only you, Rod” because I have proof. First, I am […]
Riding on the steel rail

When we think about current railroads in North Dakota only two come to mind in Burlington Northern Santa Fe and Canadian Pacific, now called Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC). But did you know there are five regional railroads across the state, one private freight carrier and on passenger train?BNSF and CPKC have main lines and […]
College, Career, or Military Readiness

Senior year is a pivotal time for high school students. Graduation looms and choices abound. To make it a little bit easier to decide, high school students can meet with their assigned guidance counselor, stop by my office, visit with a military recruiter, or attend the Minot Area Career Expo held at our North Dakota […]
Autumn Movie Magic in Minot

As a kid, I was glued to the TV every fall. I remember Hocus Pocus’ premiere, I saw Casper in the theater, my mom taped the Olsen twins’ Double, Double, Toil and Trouble and I’d anxiously read the TV listings to plan my life around every other Disney Halloween special the ’90s had to offer. […]
From the 50th State

The Bucket ListOur trip to Hawaii had a couple of bucket list items, the first being my wife, Sue, was able to check off her 50th state visited, including Puerto Rico so really 51, and me being able to visit Pearl Harbor. There is a saying that goes something like this “I have more days […]