A warm welcome is a GREAT first impression. Often, when a soldier graduates from Boot Camp they are sent off to a base far from their home and the environment they are used to.We citizens of base communities like to think they will arrive here and be amazed at what a great place we have here and how wonderful we are as the people of their new home. Ha!In reality these 18 to 20 year old children are scared poop-less. "What new hell is this" may be closer to their actual thoughts. "Mommy" !The Minot community is trying to make that initial shock easier for the soldiers arriving to serve at the Minot Air Force Base with a new Military Welcome Center at the Minot Municipal Air Port.It's a small gesture but hopefully it will help the young men and women be a little more at ease with their ne... 04/04/2026

This post is written due to what I consider a personal breach of trust from a service provider. It is NOT directly Real Estate related yet many principals may apply to Real estate professionals. In addition to my personal story I have included responses from Gemini to my questions to it. The subject of my story is personal finance and investing. I was introduced to the stock market at the tender age of 9 years old. I was fascinated by it and started reading both the New York Stock Exchange and the American Stock Exchange in our daily newspaper (The Fargo Forum). My father had a close friend who worked for Piper, Jaffray, and Hopwood. Dad always made sure his friend had funds available that “Cliff” could use if he knew of a good trade to go for. Cliff made a lot of money for dad and I’m ... 04/02/2026

When the bakery originally opened about 15 years ago they were called The Candy Bouquet. Over the years they evolved into a luncheon and renamed themselves Cookies For You. They are a wonderful place to sit downtown and enjoy coffee, a cookie, or a simple lunch. There is nothing outstanding about their ambience or service so just stop in and focus on having a good cookie. 03/21/2026

During the infancy of the internet I tried to trace my genealogy only the get frustrated enough to give up. My father had no clue aside of his mom, dad, brother and most likely his grandparents. Our family reunions consisted of 9 people. Our family and my uncle's wife and child. I was hoping to go back to Adam and Eve. It would also be cool to see if I am in the family of Christ (Yes I know I have been grafted in due to my faith in Christ as my Lord and Savior).I do remember as a child people would stop by my parents' home claiming to be related but my father didn't have a clue as to if they were are not. My dad was always polite and listened but I don't remember a single case where dad said "We just might be related".When I moved to Minot North Dakota there was a promenade Timm family ... 03/14/2026

There are many things I like about winter BUT as it goes on and on, Spring fever sets in. We have had a warm February (for North Dakota) but not so warm that it made me think "Ah, Spring has sprung". I know full well that Spring will not arrive here until late April.This past Thursday, March 5th, we had a beautiful, light snowfall with no wind. Here are a couple of pics I just had to take and share.At the age of 72 I no longer "hope" for an early Spring, it will get here when it get's here and even once it arrives Winter weather will slap it around once or twice. 03/06/2026

15 years ago today we moved back into our home after a devastating flood in June of 2011.The flood was man-made and should have been avoided. While I have bitter feeling as to how this happened there were also many blessings brought about by the flood. Without getting into all that just let me say that today is a day we celebrate as we were able to move back to the same location with a brand new home.This picture was taken during the winter of 2010. It was one of the last pictures taken inside our home that once was.This was our home during the flood.The water remained at this height for more than 30 days. This was very dirty river water with the sewage of several towns upstream who were also heavily damaged.Today we are celebrating our return 15 years ago. Because we had flood insuranc... 02/24/2026

... go outside and play. That being said, even the temps outside lately will melt a snowman in the Minot ND area. A melting snowman obviously inspiried this painting by Norman Rockwell, it's the January 2026 picture on my calendar.Some women make so much noise shoveling the snow, their husbands can not even nap in peace" author unknown. 01/14/2026

... you should stop by their new location at 209 Main Street South right under the Coldwell Banker Real Estate Office. Timmothy wrote this comic with an article from The Northern Sentry in mind.I have enjoyed shopping there many times. I wouldn't say this is purely a relic store as each time I have been to 3D more and more new items are taking over the store. That being said the big draw for me is the records that they have on hand. I don't know where they find them but they are usually in good playable condition.The new location is larger than the old and I think better organized however just like their old location several steps are involved and unlike the old location these steps are outside.  01/10/2026

I'm eager to tell you the most unusual gift I received this year. The gift was given by Tina, my daughter, and Jonathan my son in law. Last year they gave us a class on how to paint your pet and I blogged about that. This year they offered to take me to the indoor shooting range.Tina, Jon, and I were looking forward to bringing our handguns to the range and blasting away. Timmothy had never shot a gun before but I invited him to come along and much to my surprise he said yes.Unfortunately when we arrived they told us it was rifes only day. Fortunately for us the four or five people there were a close knit group that were extremely friendly and wanting us to enjoy ourselves. They not only supplied us with their prized target shooting rifles (valued at about $2,000.00 each) they also supp... 12/28/2025

For the last couple of months or more I have been working on a T-shirt for the charity I created to feed indigent prisoners in the Ward County jail. I think those efforts led Timmothy to create the cartoon above.This time, as in the past, I hired a local print shop to do the job. A friend of mine, Leonard Niess, who owns Niess Impressions came through for me in a big way. On that note, if you are a Realtor you should buy local when possible. You are literally selling your community so you better believe in it! When I presented the T-shirts to the church I attend they gave me a round of applause BUT several people talked to me later that I could purchase the shirts for much less so they would be more affordable. Only one person mentioned a local printer who could produce the T's for less... 12/27/2025

They have been predicting this snowfall for 3 days... which is why I figured it would not happen. Chalk one up for the local weather guessers, they got one right. I love the way the falling snowflakes light up with the flash. Here are a few more.It currently is about 27 degrees out so this snow may stay or it may melt away. If it stays it will be compacted by many more snows on top of it and it will sit there on the bottom until April.This is an extra post for me today so if you are looking for Timmothy Timm's comic strip, Titus & Philemon it's coming. I was set back an hour due to the need to shovel at home earlier this morning. 11/25/2025

Philemon asks some good questions. My answer to him would be because it tastes good. Here is some info on Breadsmith Sourdough Bread available at Sam's Club for $6.79So AI what is the history of Sourdough Bread?Hmm, so this bread is 4,025 years old? I'd think you could chip a tooth on it. 🤪 11/23/2025

This message is short and NOT sweet.I used this same cartoon just two weeks ago for a message to have your pets "chipped" but today's message is Think Before You Give An Animal As A Gift!NEVER Surprise someone with a pet as a gift!The animal shelter is FULL (in fact overflowing) with such unwanted gifts. You are damning a living being to a horrible existence if the recipient of your "gift" doesn't want that animal, or is even allergic to it.Many shelters KILL the animals stored there if not claimed in a relatively short period of time. The Souris River Animal Shelter in Minot ND is such a shelter. Again, if your gift of a living being is unwanted you have just condemned a being, created by God, to death.Ending on a pleasant thought: If you know someone whats a pet let them pick one out ... 11/22/2025

Yesterday was the Downtown Halloween Trick or Treat for little children. I saw a costume or two that I wasn't ready for. How about a 3' tall Gene Simmons (life size head of Gene with a extra long tongue hanging down).You can't get much scarier than that.Here is my try. It took me a full 10 minutes to put it together.A cover band that I have exposed you to before, Broken Peach, just released their Halloween song for 2025. It's more fun to watch than to listen to.You may want to turn the sound down or off on this one.   10/31/2025

My exaggerated answer to Titus is: "just stand still, everything will fly by you in the frenzy of the other shoppers". 🙄The Ugly Box Store of Minot has never advertised, it doesn't need to, word of mouth keeps this store busier everyday than Target is on Christmas Eve.What is The Uglee Box Store? First let me clarify the picture above only represents about 5% of the stores square footage. What you do see is only a small portion of the bins in the store. Why is it a madhouse (although the picture above is at a relatively calm time. Check out these prices...No matter which day you go it's crazy. I go on Wednesday when everything is a dollar and I go on Friday when all the new stuff gets put out. What can you get for a dollar? This last Wednesday I got a new pair of shoes, a box with four ... 10/25/2025

I will admit that I get sad thinking about winter being right around the corner BUT once winter is here it really doesn't bother me... until maybe April if it's still hanging on.Winter is a time of solitude. It reminds me of Superman's hideout, it gives you space to think and contemplate.When we want companionship we just open a door and our families are there for us just like Timmothy's cartoon above.I credit the well know friendliness of North Dakota to our long winters. Come Spring we are all joyful to see others out and about. Of course life goes on as usual so we visit at church, at the bar (if you like), and at our occupations if we work outside of our homes. Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter gives us as much family contact as most of us want for a while.All that being said we ar... 10/24/2025

If it were not for Timmothy's cartoon I would not have known about the change of hands of this business. The original owner/creator of the business has been a strong acquaintance for many years. Our relationship began when Valerie was the manager of a local thrift store.She had a dream of being her own boss and took the big step of leaving a comfortable job to pursue a dream.Val started out by purchasing most of the books in the thrift store and other thrift stores. She had nothing but used books. In time she got hooked up with book distributors and today used books account for 5% or less of her inventory.I can not imagine a better ownership then Valeries. She has been a big promotor of Downtown Minot and the writers in our community. You know one such writer,Timmothy, 6 years ago and t... 10/18/2025

I remember back five decades ago and even further that our High School required Seniors who were enrolled in a science class had to collect leaves (every other year it was insects). Leaves or bugs... I'm glad I did not have a science class my senior year. My brothers and sister all did leaf collections. I found it interesting but again, I'm glad I did not have to participate. I believe my oldest brother did both for extra credit.This time of year I have always enjoyed looking at the foliage in Roosevelt Park. Not this year! Regretfully, due to a flood control project and the simultaneous expansion of The Roosevelt Park Zoo there is NO admittance to the area we love walking and biking through. Thus I will just appreciate my own backyard.The grapevine in our backyard is my favorite.We did... 10/13/2025

Just up the block from my home is a beautiful open area that is perfect for kite flying as long as the predominant wind is out of the West (North or South doesn't matter).I wish I would have stopped and visited but my Bride had a mission: get groceries at Walmart.When we first drove by there was only one up in the air at the time. I'd like to know how many ended up flying for this "Kite Fest". I did notice that there were just as many women holding the strings as there were men. This picture also explains why a Easterly wind would be a disaster.Prior to seeing these kites I heard something directly over my head as I stood in my front yard.I usually see the Applebees balloon once or twice a year. It's always a welcome site and someday I'll take a ride in it (I have two friends that cook ... 09/30/2025

First of all I am keeping my promise to show you more of Citizens Alley. Timmothy and I made a special trip over there and I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of work put into the project. Citizens alley is connected to several businesses and on it's own it has a free movie area, splash pad, food vendors and more.Now on to a new subject. I got woke up last night (aprox 11:30 PM) by a loud crash. A police officer in hot pursuit lost control of his squad car and hit a street signal with unbelievable force. Check out these pictures (I did not see the patrol car.One last topic.Is this art?Corbett Field, a historic baseball park, contracted an artist to "beautify" the 12' fence surrounding the park.Isn't that MINOT made out of giant Popsicle sticks special (like a first grader couldn't ... 09/21/2025