Salem Sue

More of North Dakotas obsession with giant animal statues.  An obsession exceeded only by my desire to seek them out.  Who doesn't like gargantuan statues of farm animals?

Salem Sue

Cattle Dog View

Attention to Detail

New Salem, ND

Prairie Thunderstorm

    Got a little Summer rain and wind the other night.  Life on the prairie.

North Dakota Thunderstorm

A small prairie storm from the air.

A North Dakota Obsession

A love of giant animal sculptures seems to be shared by all here.  This 'Worlds largest' Sandhill Crane stands guard to the entrance of Steele, ND.

Along the Missouri

No Idea

You can have your choice in North Dakota

Fort Dilts

Buried deep in a little traveled corner of North Dakota lays a forgotten scene of fierce survival.  Fort Dilts, a hastily constructed outpost - besieged for 16 days, seems the quintessential case of circling the wagons.  Protected only by sod walls two feet thick, this cavalry escorted wagon train held off a  larger force of Sioux attacking with as much ferocity as people protecting their way life can.  Eight troopers and several wagon trains member died during the two week seige.  It stands alone now, windswept, untouched.  In the far distance an occasional train lumbers by.  Further out a row of  giant windmills power unseen houses.   Even further out the low buttes that dot North Dakota frame the horizen.  A flagless flagpole stands in the center of the fort and eight gravesites mark the troopers who made Fort Dilts their last stand.  One feels the hallowed ground out here.  An outpost just as desperate as any besieged in far off lands whet with the blood of men.  From both sides.

The Last Stand of Cpl. Dilts

I am somewhat saddened by the lack of a flag here today.  This forgotten battlefield in our own back yard. I walk the grounds and salute each troopers resting site with the solemnity I suppose only an old infantry man can give.  I acknowledge and affirm the rights of the attacking Sioux.  We do what we do.

Even Today the Battle Reverberates

Military North Dakota

North Dakota is steeped in military and frontier lore if you only take a second to look around.  It was along the Missouri river, a major transportation route, that the US army had a string of forts to protect not only settlers, miners and trappers, but those Natives with signed treaties with the United States.  When one starts reading the history of the US Army here, it's difficult not to draw parallels with our current situation overseas.

One such book, Military Life in Dakota: The Journal of Philippe Regis de Trobriand, illustrates this well with a complex picture given of the military role in the Dakotas having to balance Native American interests, the interests of the incoming flux of immigrants, and those ever changing interests of the politicians residing thousands of miles away.   It naturally draws ones mind to compare the similar situation our politicians have straddled our military with in the Middle East with their seemingly natural wont to endeavor in military adventurism.

For example,the Army lamented the fact that the bureau of Indian Affairs agents were not under their control.  Many of these agents cheated and stole outright from their supposed protectorates-fomenting unrest- the very same Natives the Army was responsible for keeping peace with.  At the same time Washington DC was sending the message that the West was opened up for settlement, driving a population boom into contested Natives lands leaving the US Army in the middle, both protector and enemy of the Natives.  It was the Army who faced the reality on the ground and had to reconcile that messy reality with the fantasy promulgated by the politicians a world away as best they could.

Caramel Rolls

It's a thing.

I never heard of them until I bought a tin and made myself sick with my shocking lack of control.  Here's a couple recipes.

Caramel rolls by an ex North Dakotan living in DC.  May God have mercy on her soul.

Caramel Rolls by a current North Dakotan.  These look good, real good.  I hope she sees the link back to Bismark and makes me up a batch.  One can dream...

Peaks To Prairie Girl

It's a Pop

Not a soda.  It takes some getting used to the regional differences present here.  

Prairie Fire

It's been a dry year here on the northern prairie and the fire danger is high.  A wind driven grass fire is serious business here.  This one came right up to the edge of the University of Mary campus just South of Bismarck.

Small Town North Dakota

Drake

Small Town North Dakota

Anamoose, puts the "home" in hometown!  

Oil Fields Meet Farm Fields

North of Denver.  

The Van Gogh Connection

Sometimes driving in North Dakota is like driving through a Van Gogh field painting.

The Sun is a Mockery

What a sunny day in the negative Fahrenheit looks like.

A friend at work who hails from San Diego remarked that on days such as this, when the skys are blue, the sun is full, and the  prairie winds not blowing, that the cold...that the cold would still be so pronounced, well, the sun is just a mockery.

To Washburn and Back

   A little exploring along the Missouri.

The Square Top Buttes in Art.

Through the Windshield

I put 6000 miles on the car in December, here's what I saw.

Muffcicle

A muffcicle happens when you leave your car running while you hang out at the local.