On my first (very brief) photo walk of the spring I saw something fluttering in the trees that I knew was not a bird. I had to walk clear across the park to see just exactly what it was.They either escaped from a in the park wedding or proposal. I'm guessing the latter as the week before I saw an elaborate "Will you marry me" set up at the park.There was not much else to photograph but I wanted to show you a dead loop in the river where I have taken countless pictures before. The BIG difference here is that this is without the lush foliage or the swamp green algae covering the water.And then there was this couple looking for a home.I hope to share much more as Spring starts heating up and I get out camping but for now... this is Spring in ND. 05/01/2023

The tiger cubs born December 2021 at the Roosevelt Park Zoo are growing up. Dmitri, Luka and Victoria were adorable as babies and now they are pretty entertaining.Their enclosure is a heavily reinforced chain link fence. The enclosure is a brand new state of the art enclosure that gives them room to roam, a pond, and an elevated walkway. I was surprised at the amount of time they spent outdoors during this past winter. I was also surprised that they found the chain link over the elevated walkway a comfortable hammock.Of course they eat and sleep inside a heated enclosure... unless an unfortunate squirrel or  rabbit wanders inside their outdoor habitat. Here is a video of feeding time inside the heated enclosure.  04/17/2023

Hiccups are never convenient and usually are very annoying... especially in a business transaction. Obviously I am NOT talking about the type of hiccup Joe is experiencing while trying to sleep.Purchasing or selling a home is one of the most complex business transactions most people will face in their lifetime. As a retired Real Estate Broker who owned one of Minot North Dakota's oldest brokerages I want to encourage Home Buyers to run away when they see For Sale By Owner. There are just to many legal hiccups that can ensnare you and cost you your life savings.It has been my experience that most homes being sold For Sale By Owner are being sold that way because the Seller does NOT want to disclose a condition/flaw in the home, or worse yet, a flaw (cloud) in the title.A Real Estate agen... 04/14/2023

We know it's Spring in North Dakota when the Snowbirds return. I look forward to when my Best Friend returns from Arizona but he is not the first snow bird I usually see. It's this fellow who, every spring, is calling for his mate from the downtown rooftops.Due to the heaver than normal snow melt this year there are plenty of good spots for the geese to nest but every year this fellow likes to hang downtown and let us know he is back. 04/14/2023

Now it's really summer!That is this years theme for the 2023 ND State Fair. Well I for one am ready, we just set a record for the coldest winter in North Dakota history.Looking at this years line up I gotta say I must be getting really old as I only recognize one performer out of the seven and none of them are going to get any money to come out of my old billfold. HOWEVER I will be there every day for the midway, food, commercial exhibits and much more.One word of caution. Scammers are selling fake tickets and one look-a-like site has already been shut down so be sure you are dealing with the official State Fair and only the State Fair Site. 04/04/2023

For about 24 hours now we have been getting buried under snow coupled with strong winds. This is NOT unusual for North Dakota but it still is disappointing. It has been enough snow that it has really brought the City to a stand still HOWEVER we (my family) decided we needed to go to Menards. It appeared that about 30 employees showed up... and us. It was kind of fun.The ContrastYesterday we received our notice that The North Dakota State Fair, held right here in Minot, is set and ready to roll for July 21st - 29th. The North Dakota State Fair is the largest event in the State of North Dakota and this year I am going to purchase a whole event pass for the first time ever. I am really looking forward to taking in all the free events. If you are coming to Minot I'd love to have you join me... 03/11/2023

Using Microsoft Publisher and my own little HP Printer I've come up with a brochure for Timmothy's art gallery (The Titus & Philemon Art Gallery).  This is a trifold brochure. Your critical input is welcome.Exposed when cover is open   This is the Back panel       This is the Cover panelAll three of these panels are exposed when the brochure is totally open.The panel with all the cartoons is a photo of one wall of the gallery. Each cartoon is 11" X 17" so you are looking at a span of roughly 7' wide. I wish it was sharper but it was the best I could do. Would you replace it with something else? It is easier to see on the actual brochure. As a brochure that is handed out with-in the gallery I thought it would still be a good reminder at home of what they saw... your thoughts?   03/07/2023

The BIGGEST obstacle to any family's travel plans could be their family member with fur. So it was for us as we had hoped to visit Tina (our daughter) 300 miles across the State in Grand Forks North Dakota.The hotel/motel that our daughter was staying at does not allow pets so we had to make other arrangements. It ended up that hotel had no rooms due to a hockey tournament so we stayed at another. A neighbor was kind enough to watch Baby for us for the day and 3/4 we were gone. Once we got to the hotel we were staying at it ended up they did allow pets. Truth be told it was nice to be away from home and not have to worry about Baby's bathroom schedule plus I'm sure she was more comfortable at home as opposed to coming along.Of course another option would be to kennel Baby. We had heard ... 03/06/2023

Why do I Love Minot North Dakota?We have all learned, or at least been told, NOT to love anything that can not love you back. That's good advice to live by.  It's not so much that I love Minot (yuck) but I do love the friendliness of the people in the community. Minot is a small city of just over 50,000 people. North Dakota, as a whole, is not a diverse community BUT Minot is. The Minot Air Force Base population of 5,494 active duty troops and the families of those Airmen and Misslers plus the support staff that comes with those troops bump that up to 14,624. They all add a lot to the cities diversity.  And then there is the constant influx of oil field workers who come from all over the world. It all adds up to you being surprised at Minot's diversity when you walk through the communit... 02/26/2023

Eleven years ago today we were able to move back into our flood ravaged home. My home is the one furthest to the left. The white metal roof is our carport. The lower edge of the carport is how high the water got at it's peak (5-1/2' inside on the main level).We were very fortunate that I had strong ties to many contractors at the time (except for an electrician). We were one of the very first to be back in our home out of the thousands of homes that were hit by the flood.Of course this was just the start of getting our lives back together. Truth be told our yard is still a mess because of all the bad seeds that the flood buried in it. This Spring I plan on nuking it for the 3rd time to start over. All that is buried below the surface keeps coming back and destroying the newly seeded yar... 02/24/2023

I know that I can not identify all the different kinds of pipe pictured above BUT I do know that water will freeze in every one of them.The real question here is which ones are least likely to burst when water freezes in them? I can tell you that from my experience (mostly as a Realtor and not as a home owner) I would have the most piece of mind going with PEX. My second choice would be cooper. I have seen virtually every other one crack or shatter when frozen.Why would I be writing this when Spring is so near? Because we are currently in a deep freeze with tomorrows high forecast to be -17 degrees AND a close friend told me her pipes were frozen today... only to find out the water main (6' or more down in the ground) froze cutting water off to her entire block. 02/23/2023

While cleaning up a hard drive yesterday I ran into this old photo and it brought back pleasant memories to me.It was taken on Fathers Day 2008 at a private residence. We were one of literally hundreds of families invited. The home is in city limits and on approximately 30 acres.It was a wonderful event put on by a Christian family for the sole purpose of celebrating Fathers and their families. It was much a carnival, vintage auto show, and a steak meal for all attendees. Completely paid for by the hosts. 02/16/2023

There is stuff you SHOULD know when setting out to purchase a new refrigerator.A new refrigerator can cost you as little as $800.00 for an small (18 cubic foot), family size fridge. You can also spend $10,000. for a ginormous household fridge.Tip: Do not confuse need with desire. Desire costs!Here is my story. Our fridge died Friday afternoon, this weekend. Not a good time to call a repair person (is it ever?). With the normal rate being about $100.00 an hour and time and a half or double on a weekend I decided to blow that plan off completely.We set out with four stops in mind: Menard's, Home Depot, Best Buy, and Karl's, in that order.Menard's: They had a really good price on one we liked BUT the little part time twit who waited on us was a royal pain in the ass. The twit did not know ... 02/07/2023

Okay, I truly doubt that is going to be a "Happy Trip"for Brownsie or that it will get him home.Hopefully Joe will step in and put a stop to it before Brownsie becomes a permanent splat on the wall.Speaking of happy trips my daughter, Tina, said the military flight out of the Middle East to the States was long but not bad. From the East Coast they sent her on a commercial flight to Milwaukee and then after debriefing she took the train from Milwaukee to Minot ND.Tina has used the train many times and says that the Amtrack service is good. I myself have only been on the train once and that was a Cub Scout thing traveling just 10 miles so we could "experience" it. What I remember from that 10 mile trip 60 years ago is that it seemed to go through unspoiled beauty.My point: If you are plan... 02/03/2023

Guess Who's Home!I know this is supposed to be wordless but I can not contain my joy that Tina is home from her six month mission in Kuwait. She surprised us all. Me first by walking into my office at 11AM this morning, Timmothy when he came home at noon, and Carol when she got off work at 3:30. Welcome home Tina. 02/01/2023

As a proud Dad I have been watching the Newspaper like a hawk to see if Timmothy made the Dean's List for his performance during the Fall semester. Finally, in today's paper, and also a certificate in the mail, there it was. Even better than the Dean's List, Timmothy made the President's Honor Roll.As many of you have seen his cartooning skills have really been improving BUT he also took Economics and English classes as well. His non-cartooning art has also greatly improved, which I will share soon.For those of you who may be asking "How is Tina doing?" I am pretty sure she is either back in the USA or in the air as I write this. I'm sure she will have many deployment stories to share. It's been a long 6 months for Dad but at least with modern technology we were able to keep in touch ne... 01/27/2023

Filmed on January 17th after several days of heavy fog and temps below freezing. Yes, it is hard to imagine fog in the winter but it is very common in our area. It gives a "flocking" effect to all the trees. It's very beautiful.This is shot in my front yard which faces Historic Corbett Field where Satchel Paige and many negro leagues played a century ago. When I pan to the right you will also see the Roosevelt Park Zoo. This has been a great neighborhood to raise our children in.One more flock shot. 01/17/2023

The last couple of dusk's and dawns have been fantastic for viewing the Full Moon from Minot ND. We have been able to enjoy it right on the Eastern Horizon at dawn as well as on the Western horizon in the morning. It is so perfectly placed that it  is the first thing I've seen the last two days when I open the bedroom shades.See it straight above the left corner of Historic Corbett Field's grandstand. Just like God knocked it right outa the ballpark.As you can see from the top picture the moon seemed a whole lot closer then the one with the ball park. Can any photography professional explain to me why that is? 01/08/2023

On 12/28/2022 we (the family) drove through Oak Park in Minot ND to see the light displays through the program run by The Sertoma Club of Minot. For just $5.00 you can load up the car with as many people as possible to view lot's and lots of light displays set up in the park. I took a lot of still photos wishing I would have had some video... then I remembered "The Dash Cam". It's pretty low quality but you get the idea. This is a very short video of one or two displays out of what I would guess to be 50 to 75 displays. BTW Sertoma is a strange abbreviation of SERVICE TO MANKIND.Here is the one minute video from the Dash Cam followed by a few stills.  The pic above is a display by a local engineering firm and it depicts the Broadway bridge over the mouse river that separates North and S... 01/01/2023

It can be very frustrating watching new construction of a home you are moving to or even a remodel in the home you are currently in as it most often seems to go as slow as molasses. Maybe if we could see the progress we might think it's a runaway train that we need to get away from like Joe in Timmothy' Timm's cartoon, Titus and Philemon.A side note.My friend Jen (sister in Christ) let's us know that the CP Rail Christmas train IS on track and will (has been) be back in Minot ND this year.Prior to my retirement from Real Estate I worked with a Developer and several Builders as well as contractors. It doesn't take long when working with such people in the industry to get the gist of the time frame it takes to build a quality home. If things are going slow you just may think about it and ... 12/20/2022