Those Dreaded Lines

After decades of trying, I have never gotten it right. Not a single time. Not once that I can remember. Lines. That’s right – lines. The kind that never move the way you had hoped they would. I know I am not alone here. I think.I’m writing about those many choices a person makes each […]
Water, it doesn’t just grow on trees!…

Call it climate change, call it a long-term weather cycle, you can even call it a coincidence. We can argue about it all day and make it a political football. But there is no doubt water is becoming a serious issue in the western United States, despite recent heavy rain and snow in California. This […]
Honorary Commanders Are Friends For Life

I was assigned my Honorary Commander just before COVID, which pretty much curtailed any public events on the Minot Air Force Base. I can remember our first Military Affairs zoom meeting, then MAC Chair Randy Hauck made mention of the many new Honorary Commanders that had been assigned and “we will induct them as soon […]
Jacket Weather Perspective

“It’s 33, do you think I’ll be too hot if I wear my ski jacket?” This is the question I asked my husband over the weekend when we decided to go tubing. The weather was too nice to pass up.” “Nah. I think you’ll be okay. You can always take it off if it’s too […]
The Electric Chair

A goal of all writers is, or should be, to attract attention. Some of us have devised clever ways to do that. Hence the headline, the “Electric Chair.” But wait, I am not all deception here. This is not one of those “gotcha” gimmicks where you have to read a bunch of mundane paragraphs and […]
Critters in our midst…

Do you suppose there is scientific evidence as to why unusual animals are showing up in parts of North Dakota, or is it pure coincidence? The most obvious of these would be mountain lions, sometimes called cougars or pumas. There was a time not so long ago that any state or federal wildlife officials denied […]
A View From Our Side: The Old Farmer’s Almanac

The recent weather pattern of dense fog and mist have certainly left some amazing photographic opportunities. The lack of wind has given us ample time to get out with our cameras and cell phones and capture scenes of ice coated trees, bushes, and other structures such as towers and even electrical lines. But did you […]
Upside Down Under: Does technology make us lazy?…

After going through a couple of major technological changes in my journalism career as well as other changes observed, I have to wonder if it’s is making us lazy? And since the pandemic, work at home has become “a thing.” People who have the right jobs don’t even go to work anymore. They stay at […]
A View From Our Side: You Just Have To Chuckle

Over the weekend my wife and I were watching a local weather report, which of course is one of the most popular forms of entertainment on television, second only to Wheel of Fortune or Jeopardy; and as we always do on Sunday night, pay particular attention to the long range forecast so we have something […]
She’s Not From Around Here: Northern Hospitality

Tears of self-pity leaked slowly from my eyes, down my cheek, and onto my pillow. Just a few days after Christmas, I found myself curled up in a tight ball on my bed in the middle of the afternoon—trying to hide from “one of those days.” Little things, like a morning gone awry, a misplaced […]