Tag Archives: living in Belfield North Dakota

Escorts Of Western North Dakota

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In yesterday’s blog post article about Stark County Commissioner Ken Zander being accused by a female county employee of sexual harassment, I asked why can’t we just have something like this http://www.escortofitaly.com/ , then women in Stark County won’t have to be harassed anymore.

If you click on the website link up above, you can look at the Gallery photographs and listings of the escorts that are available in the major cities of Italy.  You can read the description of what this escort service is providing.

Why can’t we have this here?  I have copied the description of services from the Escort Of Italy website, and edited it, for use in western North Dakota:

You are welcome to our high class escort agency of western North Dakota, offering you the best female escorts of North Dakota for hotel or private dating, exclusive girlfriend experience, travel and vacation escort with charming North Dakota girls, VIP escort girls of North Dakota for business occasions and many more. If you are looking for pleasure and comfort, then you have come to the right place. Our elegant North Dakota escorts will meet the most subtle expectations of a lonely man who is eager to find love and companionship in North Dakota. We offer our clients the finest attractive escorts in Dickinson, escort girls Bowman, and Watford escorts. Our North Dakota escort agency provide both incall and outcall services for the guests and residents of the country.

Our main goal is a quality North Dakota escort service for gentlemen. We understand that every client has unique requirements, so just let us know what you want, and we will find you exactly what you ask for. In our escort agency Dickinson, escort agency Bowman and Watford escort service we select only the best North Dakota girls, based on their beauty and individuality. With our North Dakota escorts you can rest assured that North Dakota call girls will fulfill all your expectations in most impeccable manner.  North Dakota escort services are professional in their approach, because we know that discretion and reliability is important for our clients. With our North Dakota escorts you will receive the best pleasing escort in Dickinson, escort in Bowman, and Watford escort services.

We are determined to give you an exclusive North Dakota girl company for your business appointments – best Dickinson girls, Bowman girls, and Watford girls for a night, not mentioning sensual moments during fairs and journeys.  We select only the best girls in North Dakota, North Dakota girls have charm and personality, and can make clients comfortable at all times. Each of our North Dakota call girl – Dickinson call girl, Bowman call girl, and escort girl Watford – has great figure, is friendly, elegant and discreet. In order to provide you with the first class service, all our girls present online portfolio with photos and detailed description, making sure you receive unforgettable experience. Every North Dakota forum proves that our ladies know how to perform the best North Dakota massage.  North Dakota escort services are available 24*7 with escort girls Dickinson, girls in Bowman, or Watford girls ready to serve you in the most exclusive way. They want to give you highest possible satisfaction, so that you will want to enjoy escort girl North Dakota service again and again.

See, why can’t we have this in western North Dakota where there is a shortage of women?  In the near future, I will copy to this blog post the email addresses for all of the City Commissioners and County Commissioners in western North Dakota, so that you can send them an email message in support of this type of thing.

Update On Confusion About Proposed Davis Refinery West Of Belfield, North Dakota

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In February of 2017, I wrote a blog post titled “Confusion About Proposed Davis Refinery West Of Belfield, North Dakota”.  I wrote this blog post, because I was so sick of the hype surrounding the Davis Refinery.  I was disgusted at North Dakotans, for not being able to tell the difference between fact and fiction, and being so easily duped.

In this February 2017 blog post, I looked up, and then explained who the Meridian Energy Group was, and who the Davis Family Partners were.  These two entities were founded in roughly 2012, and they had never constructed a refinery before.  I thought that this information would or should cause North Dakotans to slow down, wait a minute, and not get carried away.

I then explained, that the Dakota Prairie Refinery that was completed in 2015 near Dickinson, cost $430 million to construct, and was a joint venture between MDU Montana Dakota Utilities and Calumet Specialty Products.  I explained that the net worth of MDU was $5.28 billion.  After the Dakota Prairie Refinery was completed, it had quarterly losses of something like $7 million, and the refinery was sold to Tesoro.

I didn’t think that I had to break this down any further, but apparently I do:  MDU, which has a net worth of $5.28 billion, didn’t even attempt to build the $430 million refinery without a financial partner.  Then, with $7 million losses each quarter, MDU didn’t want to or couldn’t afford to own this refinery.

Meridian Energy Group originally stated that the Davis Refinery would cost $900 million to construct.  Given that the Meridian Energy Group and their largest investors the Davis Family Partners were created in about 2012, and had never built a refinery before, where was this $900 million supposed to come from?

I did see, and I did include in my February 2017 blog post about the Davis Refinery, a prospectus for investing in the Davis Refinery for the purpose of having money to start the project which read, “The proceeds from this Offering will provide Meridian with the working capital to acquire the necessary permits, secure project financing and perform all pre-construction activities to bring the project to “shovel ready” status.”

I didn’t think that I needed to break this down any further, but apparently I do, and this is very, very important:  The Meridian Energy Group was seeking investors in order to have enough money to cover permitting and pre-construction activities.

I do not want to be sued for libel, which can occur when written statements are made that are defamatory, untrue, and presented as statements of fact, so I want to emphasize that this is my personal opinion, not fact:  My opinion is that the Meridian Energy Group might only have $10 million to $40 million in investments and funding.

There have been delays preventing construction of the Davis Refinery, due to permitting, especially the air quality permit.  In order for there not to be further delays, the proposed capacity of the Davis Refinery was reduced, so that a “siting permit” would not be required, which would have involved public hearings.  By July of 2018, all of the permits were approved, and the Davis Refinery construction could begin.

Though construction on the Davis Refinery could begin in July of 2018, some environmental groups have joined together to file court cases in an attempt to stop construction, but there have been no cases that have been heard in court yet.

So has construction on the Davis Refinery begun?  All summer long in 2018, there were many articles about construction getting underway for the Davis Refinery.  From the enthusiastic hyperventilating newspaper articles and energy industry journals, you would have thought that there was going to be a tidal wave or tsunami of construction.

From what I have read, at the site of the Davis Refinery, some site grading has been done, and a site fence has been put up.  I drove to Belfield in July and August to look at houses for sale, and there was nothing going on in Belfield.  There was a fully furnished 3br/1ba manufactured home on its own 75’x140′ lot for $25,000 that no one bought and the price has now dropped to $20,000.  If there were many construction personnel working at the site of the Davis Refinery this Summer and Fall, housing in Belfield wouldn’t be so available and cheap.

I wish that the newspapers and energy industry trade journals would just stop it.  What are you trying to do?  And I wish that North Dakotans would do some reading, some research, and then drive to Belfield to go look at the refinery site.

Drive Directions To Site:  From I-94, exit onto Hwy 85 going south in Belfield.  Take Hwy 85 going south for approximately one mile until you get to 37th Street SW.  Head west on 37th Street SW for approximately 3-1/2 miles, on the north side of 37th Street SW, you will see where some ground has been worked and tilled, this is it.  There is no sign.

500 Black Men Needed At Davis Refinery West Of Belfield, North Dakota

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Meridian Energy Group is building the Davis Refinery west of Belfield, North Dakota.  If you go to the company website, http://www.meridianenergygroupinc.com, it says, “The plant is currently in the design phase with groundbreaking set for summer 2017. Plant completion is expected by 2018.”  The company website also says, “During the construction phase an estimated 500 workers will be needed and 200 workers will be hired permanently after the refinery is completed.”

The reason why these workers need to be black men, is because all the women in Dickinson and Belfield are sick of white men, they hate white men.  White men spend all their money on stupid four-door four-wheel drive trucks, ATVs, hunting equipment, and tools, then that’s all they want to talk about.  The women are sick of looking at and listening to white men.  The women in Dickinson and Belfield all want black men, and currently there aren’t nearly enough black men to go around.

Dickinson is 20 minutes east of Belfield.  In Dickinson, there are at least 1,000 new apartments that were recently completed, and only half of them are occupied.  All a black man has to do, is talk to the leasing agent woman when she is alone, and say, “Yeah, I want to get an apartment, but I don’t want to pay any rent.  You know what I’m sayin?”  You just watch the leasing agent woman’s face light up, this is like a dream come true for her.

The reasons why the leasing agent women and the real estate women are so quick to want to provide free housing to black men are as follows:  1) If they don’t get the black man right away, some other woman will, so they have to provide him with something he wants in order to get him.  2)  The leasing agent women and the real estate women are tired of the white man property owner always telling them what to do and ordering them around.  3)  The women want to have some control for once, they want to be the one that is providing for the man.  4)  The women have watched professional sports, movies, and pornography, and they know that black men have something more to offer than white men.

In order for black men to meet other women in Dickinson who will willingly provide more things for them, the West River Community Center is full of women that don’t have any interest in white men.  Especially in the mornings and evenings, women get dressed up in provocative and revealing clothes to go to the West River Community Center to try to get the attention of black men and hopefully take them home with them.

According to the Meridian Energy Group website, their press release from July 14, 2016 states, “Meridian Energy Group, Inc. is pleased to announce that it has closed on the purchase of the O’Brien Ranch, an agricultural and residential property located near the site of the Company’s Davis Refinery, and to the communities of Fryburg and Belfield. The O’Brien property will be used as a conference and training center, and as a residence for Meridian staff as they transition to the new company headquarters near Belfield, North Dakota in the coming months.”  At this time, I don’t think they have any offices in Belfield yet, so I guess that you will have to apply at the O’Brien Ranch.  I am working on getting you the address and drive directions to the O’Brien Ranch.  Also, I highly recommend to black men, the Roughrider Bar and Steakhouse in downtown Belfield.  The Roughrider Bar and Steakhouse has prime rib night on Friday and Saturday night.

More Black Men Needed At Roughrider Bar & Steakhouse In Belfield, North Dakota

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This Friday I drove from Dickinson to the Roughrider Bar & Steakhouse in Belfield, North Dakota for their prime rib dinner.  Belfield is twenty-four miles west of Dickinson.  Belfield has a population of approximately 1, 400 people.  The other restaurants in Belfield are Trappers Kettle and J&J Chinese Cafe.

I called ahead to the Roughrider Bar & Steakhouse in Belfield to make sure that they were having prime rib this night.  The person who answered the telephone said some name other than Roughrider Bar & Steakhouse, which I didn’t understand, but they were having prime this night.  I looked on the internet, and the Facebook page for Roughrider Bar & Steakhouse has been changed to TopNotch Custom Meats.

I have eaten at the Roughrider Bar & Steakhouse previously within the past several months, the steak was good, and the bar and restaurant were quiet like a restaurant, not rowdy like a bar.  The other diners were mostly older farmers and ranchers, who were quietly and amicably socializing and enjoying their dinner with their families and friends.  This was fine with me, because I don’t like chaos and mayhem at dinner.  This is why I wanted to drive thirty miles to go have steak in Belfield, instead of driving two or three miles to The Crossing, Players Club, JDs BBQ, or the Brickhouse Grille in Dickinson.

The large prime rib that I ordered at the Roughrider Bar & Steakhouse was $27.50, and it came with a salad and baked potato.  This was by far the best looking and best tasting prime rib that I ever had.  I didn’t know if I just got lucky with this particular piece of meat, or if the other diners each had one that was just as good.  As I was eating this prime rib, I found that the pan sauce and seasoning was very very good, and that the exterior seemed to have been marinated, so I concluded that it was not luck that this steak was so good.

But forget about me and how much I was enjoying my steak, I could not help notice that the waitress and bartender girls did not appear to be having a good time, which made me begin to not be having a good time.  I got the impression that it would be appreciated if I would hurry up and eat and leave.  This time, and the previous time that I ate at the Roughrider Bar & Steakhouse, I did not feel very welcome or wanted there.  As I was eating, I observed how the waitresses and bartender women interacted with the other customers, and it appeared to be the same, disinterested, not appreciated, giving the impression that the customer’s departure would be a relief.  This is a very big problem in Dickinson, and apparently also in Belfield, the waitress and bartender women are sick and tired of white men customers.

Please, everybody stop what you are doing, and think about this, can you imagine how horrible it must be for a waitress to go to work, and have to look at and listen to white men talk?  Think about it, electricians, plumbers, mechanics, truck drivers, farmers, and ranchers, ordering food and drinks, paying for it, and leaving tips, does it get any worse than that?  I could tell that the waitress and bartender women were very long suffering with the white men customers at the Roughrider Bar & Steakhouse.

All the women in Dickinson, and apparently Belfield, are sick and tired of white men.  White men driving up, parking their truck, walking in, sitting down, saying something, …why it’s like finger nails on a chalk board, it just makes their skin crawl!  Why can’t there be more black men?  That’s what they want!

Most important in operating a bar or restaurant, is that the waitress and bartender women are entertained at work with customers they find interesting, so in order to help, I am writing this blog post to let all the black men know that they should go to the Roughrider Bar & Steakhouse.  To get there, take Interstate 94 to get to the Belfield exit.  Once exiting, drive south for approximately 1/8 mile until you see the NAPA store on the right.  Make a right turn and drive west for approximately 1/4 mile, then turn south.  This leads you right into downtown Belfield where you will find the Roughrider Bar & Steakhouse.  The waitress and bartender women will be so happy to see black men, because they love black men and are sick of white men, that I don’t even think that they will make black men pay for anything.

Bring as many black men as possible so that each waitress and bartender can go home with at least one black man, and so that there isn’t any room at the bar for white men.  The waitresses and bartenders don’t want to look at, listen to, or deal with white men customers because they are so dull and uninteresting.

Western North Dakota Romance Novel, Chapters 13 & 14

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Chapter 13

Tracy had to remain at the TnT company office until 6:00 p.m. in order to be there if there were any material or equipment deliveries.  After 6:00 p.m., there were still TnT crews working out in the oil field, but it would be the responsibility of each crew to put their trucks in the shop building, and shut and lock the garage doors after themselves.  The last TnT company crew truck might not get back to the company yard until as late as 9 or 10 p.m., so nobody expected anyone in the office to stick around and wait for the last truck to get back.

At 6:00 p.m., Tracy was the last person to leave the TnT company office.  He had a five mile drive to his parents’ house further north of Belfield.  Tracy had lived in this same house ever since he was born.  The house had started out as a very small one-story farm house when it was built in the early 1900s.  It was later added on to at least three different times.  The last time that it was added on to was 2009.  The family business had just had two highly profitable years, and his father Tom, was confident that there would be at least several more good years.  His father just dreamed about it for two years before he finally did it.  A massive two-story addition to the end of the house.  Below was a very large and tall, three-truck garage, up top was four bedrooms, one for each of the kids who were now all in their teens.  His father must have partly conceived this, knowing that he wanted all of the children to stay and work in the family business, and not wanting there to be an excuse for any one of them to leave.

Tracy went up to his room, wanting to block out everything about Belfield, except for the bright red sun set over the grasslands, that he couldn’t help but see through his bedroom window.

Most all of the oil field workers Tracy’s age could not wait to get to the bars in Belfield, South Heart, and Dickinson once they got off of work.  Working out in the barren grasslands all day, they could not wait to get into civilization, to eat, drink, and socialize.  But Tracy had lived here all of his life, he didn’t want to be here anymore.  He did not want to be around loud, boisterous, young construction workers anymore.  He did not care about hunting.  He did not care about mudding, four-wheeling, or snowmobiling.  He just wanted out of here.

Chapter 14

Tracy began looking through the NYU college catalogue that he had recieved that day.  He was reading about the different courses and course descriptions that would lead to a bachelor of arts in theater, music, film, or dance.  He was not dead set on attending NYU, but he wanted to live and go to school in New York City.  To his knowledge, all of the greatest American composers, musicians, playwrights, choreographers, dancers, artists, and writers had lived in New York City.  From what he had read, he believed that the art culture and intellectual culture in New York City was what inspired and fed the creativity of the artists that lived there.  He wanted to be there.  He did not ever think that he would be able to compose great music, become a playwright, direct a musical, anything, without studying and living in New York.

Tracy had enjoyed playing music with his family when he was a kid, but he became more and more frustrated that everyone else in his family was just treating it as a hobby that they could just pick up and put down.  His father Tom did not like, encourage, or enable Tracy to become more involved in artistic things or spend a great deal of time on music lessons.  His father made sure that when Tracy was not in school, or doing his homework, there was his share of farm work to do.

As Tracy got older, he tried to understand why his father was trying to steer him away from anything creative or artistic.  For one thing, it was obvious that his father wanted him to work in the family business, TnT Construction, and later TnT Oil Field Service.  But besides that, was there something else?

Tracy could only speculate that his father never did like pot-smoking, drug using, artistic hippie people.  There were a lot of people his father’s age around Dickinson and Belfield that his father couldn’t stand, and called them “worthless and useless”, and did not want them around when they sometimes came to TnT to put in an application.  Tracy could not help but see the logic in his father’s thinking, that you couldn’t have flaky, unreliable, lazy, people working in the family business.  But here again, Tracy and his father did not see eye-to-eye on this either.

Tracy could not stand working with flaky, unreliable, lazy, stupid people.  Even when Tracy was in his early teens, and working with his father, brothers, and a few construction worker employees, Tracy’s father could see that Tracy was not getting along with the construction workers.  At that time, Tom had to have a talk with Tracy explaining that not everybody was the same, not everybody was like him and his brothers, not everybody was smart, that sometimes they would have people working with them that were not smart, and that he would have to just keep quiet about it and try to get the job done with them.  But as Tracy got older, he was often at odds with the people working at TnT.

Tom began to understand that he had to be careful about what he had Tracy do for TnT.  Rather than tell Tracy he was in charge of installing a cattle guard, he had to tell Tracy to load, deliver, and unload the cattle guard, so and so would run the backhoe and put it in place.  He could not put Tracy in charge, because Tracy was too impatient and critical with the workers, they would likely either walk off the job or there would be a fight.  As Tracy got older, he began to realize this too, and he did not want to be in charge, he did not want to be working for his family business here in Belfield anyway.

(The characters in this novel are fictional, and are not based on real or actual persons.  The events in this novel are fictional. Any resemblance to real or actual persons, or actual events, is entirely coincidental.)

Western North Dakota Romance Novel, Chapters 9 & 10

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Chapter 9

On the north side of Belfield, Tracy was anxiously awaiting his package from United Express.  He had ordered the college catalogue for NYU in New York City.  Tracy felt like he was always waiting, waiting, waiting.  Even for things that he ordered on the internet that could have just as easily been delivered by regular mail, and for less money, he didn’t want to wait.  Everything in his life going so slowly and taking forever.  Everything around here is painfully slow.

Tracy had graduated from Belfield High School two years ago, and he couldn’t wait to get out of that school, and out of Belfield.  Why was he still here?  Coercion and bribery.

This oil boom that began in 2006 was the first time that his family and relatives had the chance to make money since the last oil boom ended in 1983.  It was explained to him by his father numerous times, “Look, these oil booms last about seven years, that’s it.  Our family can make enough money in this oil boom to get everyone set for a long time.  We need you, and your brothers and sisters to stay here and work together as a family while this money is here to be made.  After this oil boom is over, you can go and do what you want, and you’ll have the money to be able to do what you want.”

Tracy had to work every day at his parent’s and grandparent’s family business, which operated as an oil field service company during the oil booms, and as a trucking, heavy equipment, excavating, demolition, construction company when there wasn’t an oil boom going on.  In other words, when there wasn’t an oil boom, they did whatever work they could get, which wasn’t a lot in the Belfield area.  His grandfather, Tom Sr., had started the company, and from the beginning he had his son, Tom Jr., working with him.  He named the company “TnT”, and local people called it TnT, T&T, or TT, construction, trucking, or oil field service.

On some days, like today, Tracy had to work in the office as dispatcher and handle equipment and material deliveries that came to the company yard.  Some days Tracy had to tow a big gooseneck trailer with pipe or equipment out to an oil field location.  Other days he was installing cattle guards, installing containment barriers around tanks, or repairing and replacing Ajax motors that ran pump jacks.  His father did not want to let Tracy go, because for one, Tracy knew where everything was.  Tracy knew where all of the oil field locations were, and how to get there.  Very few of the people working in the oil field knew the oil field locations like Tracy.  And secondly, Tracy had worked with his father and brothers when he was a teenager doing this work, and Tracy was just too experienced and knowledgeable to be allowed to leave right now.

Chapter 10

Not long after Rob had pulled out onto Highway 85 with his United Express delivery van and was heading north, Rob’s cell phone began to beep due to several missed phone calls.  All the missed calls were from Rob’s supervisor Gary at United Express in Dickinson, and Rob could guess why.  Rob had been expecting the possibility that the GPS tracking unit in his delivery van not sending a signal back to United Express for about half an hour might be a problem.  But Rob had two back up plans in case this happened.

Rob telephoned Gary back at United Express, and the first thing that Gary said was, “Where have you been and what have you been doing?”  Rob explained that he had to make a delivery southwest of Belfield, and when he got about eight miles from Highway 85, the front driver’s side tire went flat, it had a screw in it.  Gary said, “Why didn’t you telephone us?”  Rob replied that there was no cell phone coverage to be able to call anyone, an oil field service truck came by after about ten minutes, they had a compressor, they were able to put enough air in his tire for him to make his delivery, and now he was back on the road.

What could Gary say?  Gary knew that there was very poor cell phone coverage out in the badlands, and under the circumstances, it was pretty good luck that Rob was able to get his delivery van tire pumped up and get out of there on his own.  Gary said, “How is the tire now?”  Rob said, “It’s holding air, I can get a can of Fix-a-Flat at NAPA in Belfield and add air if I need to.  I think I can finish my deliveries today.”  Gary said O.K., good, keep going then.  Gary planned on looking at that driver’s side front tire when Rob got back to Dickinson.  Rob turned onto the next nearest farm road, stopped, looked around, got out, quickly found a rock the size of his hand, took the wood screw out of his knee pocket in his cargo pants, and pounded the wood screw into the driver’s side front tire.  Rob did stop at NAPA in Belfield to buy a can of Fix-a-Flat, he might actually need it now.

(The characters in this novel are fictional, and are not based on real or actual persons.  The events in this novel are fictional. Any resemblance to real or actual persons, or actual events, is entirely coincidental.)

Entering A Recession In Western North Dakota

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Many people will groan or curse as soon as they see the title of this blog post.  I want to be very vocal about the Recession that western North Dakota is about to enter into.  I want to warn as many people as possible, as soon as possible.

It is very clear now that oil drilling operations are not going to increase in the next six months, maybe not in twelve months, maybe not in twenty-four months.  The only things that could cause a sudden demand for increased U.S. oil production would be a war, or an oil embargo by the Middle East.

There are very few job listings in newspapers and on internet job sites.  I have seen the wage rate decrease by several dollars per hour for some of the jobs that are listed.  The rents advertised by the recently completed apartment buildings decrease every month as people move away, vacancy rates increase, units become harder to rent, and people are being paid much less money due in part to no overtime being worked.

Driving around Dickinson, Belfield, and Watford City, there is much less traffic, very mild traffic in morning and evening rush hour, and hardly any traffic at all at night.  Very few people are going to restaurants and bars.  Wal-Mart and the grocery stores are not very busy.

Not everyone is going to be able to remain in western North Dakota.  There will not be enough jobs to go around.  The highest pay jobs will be mechanics at the car dealers, and nurses at the hospitals.  A few city government, state government, and federal government employees will lose their jobs here locally, government workers will lose some jobs.  It will come to the point in about a year, that there will be so many people here locally seeking any kind of work, that all the retail jobs will pay about $9 to $10 per hour, and the fast food jobs will pay about $8 per hour, and people will be competing fiercely for these jobs.  There will simply not be enough jobs to go around, and the wage rate will drop.

Heavy equipment mechanics, mechanics, equipment operators, electricians, plumbers, and welders that can’t find work in western North Dakota, should be able to find work elsewhere in the United States where they are building, possibly some place like Denver.  These workers already know this.

Retail workers and fast food workers, there might not be high wages anywhere else in the U.S., but there are places where the cost of living is less, and it is warmer.

All the crazy, mentally ill, trashy women that came to North Dakota because they couldn’t get a job where they came from, I believe that they will probably stay here in North Dakota, because they have no money, no where to go, and no body wants them.  They know, they know that even if they could get hired at Dennys or Cracker Barrel in a different state, the managers, co-workers, and customers wouldn’t put up with their meth addict demeanor and attitude for five minutes.

The Beauty Of Western North Dakota

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I recognize the beauty of western North Dakota.  It is like the ocean in many, many ways.

I am reminded of the ocean when I look across the rolling prairie.  When I look out across it, it is empty, there is nothing there.  It is beautiful because of its vastness and emptiness.

It is frightening in its emptiness and desolation.  Even though I admire it, it makes me feel uneasy.  It is desolate and barren.  I can never forget how cold it gets, how the wind blows, how poor it is, and how hard it is to survive.

I only enjoy looking at it, when I am sitting someplace warm and safe, like my vehicle, and I have money.  I never want to be forced to work outside in the wind and cold ever again, and to be at the mercy of other people in North Dakota.

It is exactly like being on a ship at sea.  There are no women.  Everything is fine when you are warm and dry, and can look out upon the ocean.  When there is a storm, and you have to be out in the wind and rain, it is miserable.  When the weather is bad, you realize how close you are to dying.

Note To The Bohemians, Codi, Kit, Kaycee, Kristi, Jessie, And Marinna About Who I Am, The Frog King

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If you read my blog posts “Bohemians, Romanians, Gypsies, And Reincarnation” Parts I, II, & III, I say that we have all met before.  I must be in Dickinson for some reason.

I don’t remember signing up for this, or agreeing to this, being in Dickinson, but I am here just the same. Part of why we have met before is because my ancestry is German.  My German ancestry of course would involve German Folklore.  This German Folklore was very well collected and recorded by the Brothers Grimm, die Bruder Grimm.

The Brothers Grimm collection of folk tales included more than two hundred stories.  You easily know some of these: Snow White, Cinderella, Hansel and Gretel, Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel, and Rumpelstiltskin.  Some of you ladies may be feeling uneasy now, because you know full well the theme and lessons of these stories.  You must know, that the Brothers Grimm always included one story first, Der Froschkonig, The Frog King!

The Frog King, is about a very beautiful and spoiled young princess.  Can any of you ladies tell who amongst you this most resembles?  Allow me to tell some of this story.

In olden times when wishing still helped one, there lived a king whose daughters were all beautiful, but the youngest was so beautiful that the sun itself, which has seen so much, was astonished whenever it shone in her face……

Now it so happened that on one occasion the princess’s golden ball did not fall into the little hand which she was holding up for it, but on to the ground beyond, and rolled straight into the water. The king’s daughter followed it with her eyes, but it vanished, and the well was deep, so deep that the bottom could not be seen. At this she began to cry, and cried louder and louder, and could not be comforted.

And as she thus lamented someone said to her, “What ails you, king’s daughter? You weep so that even a stone would show pity.”

She looked round to the side from whence the voice came, and saw a frog stretching forth its big, ugly head from the water.

“Ah, old splasher, is it you,” she said, “I am weeping for my golden ball, which has fallen into the well.”

“Be quiet, and do not weep,” answered the frog, “I can help you, but what will you give me if I bring your plaything up again?”

“Whatever you will have, dear frog,” said she, “My clothes, my pearls and jewels, and even the golden crown which I am wearing.”

The frog answered, “I do not care for your clothes, your pearls and jewels, nor for your golden crown, but if you will love me and let me be your companion and play-fellow, and sit by you at your little table, and eat off your little golden plate, and drink out of your little cup, and sleep in your little bed – if you will promise me this I will go down below, and bring you your golden ball up again.”

Let me interrupt, that I am not unlike this frog, I only wish for what this frog wishes.

But the frog when he had received this promise, put his head into the water and sank down; and in a short while came swimming up again with the ball in his mouth, and threw it on the grass.

The king’s daughter was delighted to see her pretty plaything once more, and picked it up, and ran away with it. “Wait, wait,” said the frog. “Take me with you. I can’t run as you can.” But what did it avail him to scream his croak, croak, after her, as loudly as he could. She did not listen to it, but ran home and soon forgot the poor frog, who was forced to go back into his well again.

Now you must know, that this frog turned up at her house, and her father demanded of her that she honor the promise that she made to this frog.  She did so reluctantly, and when the frog tried to climb into bed with her, this is what she did:

At this she was terribly angry, and took him up and threw him with all her might against the wall. “Now, will you be quiet, odious frog,” said she.

Now this is not the end, though you might be hoping that it might have been.

But when he fell down he was no frog but a king’s son with kind and beautiful eyes. He by her father’s will was now her dear companion and husband. Then he told her how he had been bewitched by a wicked witch, and how no one could have delivered him from the well but herself, and that to-morrow they would go together into his kingdom.

What you should know about these German Folk Tales, is that they teach a lesson.  No, you will not literally have frogs speaking to you, but you will have people that seem like frogs talking to you, with their big heads, short legs, and cold wet skin.  But you see, it all worked out in the end.

Now, if I am not like this frog in this tale, I am like the Brothers Grimm in involving you in my tales.  You see, I can’t help it.

Croak croak croak!  Codi is competing in the Miss North Dakota USA pageant in Fargo in late November of 2016!  Good luck Codi!

How Men Are Assessed In Western North Dakota, Part I

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I have lived in Dickinson, North Dakota for almost four years now.  The local people in Dickinson, judge, assess, and evaluate men differently than they do in other parts of the United States.

I lived in Florida mostly until I was 30.  After that I lived and worked in Colorado, Utah, Texas, Arizona, Idaho, and North Dakota.  Higher education is important and valued in Florida, Colorado, Utah, Texas, and Arizona.  Not valued very much in Idaho and North Dakota.

In the states that I just mentioned that valued higher education, if you had a bachelors degree, this would allow you to enter into and work your way up in accounting, advertising, banking, business management, construction management, healthcare, human resources, insurance, manufacturing, marketing, real estate appraisal, sales, and other businesses.  What employers were looking for, were people who had adult level competency in reading, writing, math, history, logic, critical thinking, decision making, ability to learn, and ability to complete tasks unsupervised.  Local people in western North Dakota don’t look at things this way.

Things are different in western North Dakota.  For instance, if there was no Oil Boom, people that had good logic, critical thinking, and decision making ability would move away, so people in western North Dakota could never evaluate anyone based on these three criteria, because they wouldn’t be here in the first place.  Some of the other criteria that are important elsewhere like reading, writing, math, and history, are not important in western North Dakota.  In western North Dakota, they were looking for people that would stay and show up for work.

In western North Dakota, the most important characteristic in a male, was that he stay and show up for work.

In the small town in Florida that I grew up in, in the college towns that I went to school in, in the cities that I worked in, women would rather date, be with, and marry a guy that had a college degree, because everyone knows that college graduates make more money and have more employment opportunities.  In most of the places that I lived, women were very aware of the employment possibilities and earnings potential for every type of education.  Women would most like to be in a relationship with a medical doctor, 2nd lawyer, 3rd MBA or PhD, 4th physician’s assistant, pharmaceutical sales rep or engineer.  In western North Dakota, what really turns a woman on, is a guy that is going to stay here and show up for work.

How Women In Dickinson Can Behave Like Southern Ladies, Part 4 of 4

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This will be the last part for the time being.  There is a lot more to cover, but it would take a big book to include everything, and I don’t want to entirely devote this blog to this subject.  Parts 1, 2, 3, & 4 cover what I think are some of the most important things.

6.  Do Not Look Like A Slob In Public.  Try to take a shower, comb your hair, and put on clean normal clothes before you leave your home.  You might think that it is cute when you wear pajama pants and slippers to go to the store, but actually, people think that your family must be so trashy that you don’t even know any better.  You might think that you are cute when you go to the King Buffet or the Pizza Ranch in your pajama pants and slippers, but other people at the restaurant see you and think, “You must have gotten your welfare assistance payment today, that is why you are out to eat in your pajamas.”

The big problem is, women get in the habit of always wearing sweat pants or pajama pants, an over size worn t-shirt, an over size worn hoodie sweatshirt, and they live the rest of their life dressing this way.  They say to themselves, “I am just going to the post office, I am just going to the bank, I am just going to the car dealer to drop off my car.”  Do the women who work at the bank or at the car dealer dress this way?  No, the women who work at the bank and at the car dealer don’t dress this way because it is not allowed, they would look like a slob.  You look like a slob.

7.  Do Not Act Like A Slob In Public.  When you are out with your family, do not act like a troop of baboons, yelling, screeching, grabbing things, picking at yourselves, oblivious to the human beings around you.

8.  Do Not Become Over Intoxicated In Public.  No, people will not forget the things that you said and the things that you did when you were drunk.  They will not think that it was just the alcohol, they will think that that is how you really are, and it just finally came out.

How Women In Dickinson Can Behave Like Southern Ladies Part 3 of 4

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Please read Part 1 and Part 2 in my previous two blog posts where I explained Rules 1 through 4.  Many women in Dickinson already know these rules, however many do not.

5.  Do Not Fight In Public.  I mean do not engage in a physical fight in public.  In a stressful situation, if you can not stand there with your arms crossed, then you need to leave.  If you are being put under too much stress, you should probably leave anyway.  You do not have to stand there and let someone insult you, curse at you, or threaten you, ..leave.  You should always try to avoid situations where people will mistreat you, however if you find yourself in a situation where you are being mistreated, …leave.  I will give some examples below.

If your boyfriend is being disrespectful or insulting, …leave.

If your husband is being abusive, disrespectful, or insulting, …leave.

If a co-worker is being abusive or threatening, you should probably leave.

If an employer is being abusive or threatening, you should leave.

In the examples that I gave above, you need to let people know that you will not tolerate mistreatment or abuse, and though they may be using bad language, vulgarity, and making threats, you aren’t going to behave like that.  In your personal relationships, you can disassociate yourself from anyone that is disrespectful and abusive, but you should also do this in your professional life, and I will explain why

If an employer ever tries to mistreat you, they will likely never stop.  The first time that an employer does something abusive, understand that this is what they are like, and that this will continue.  There are laws now about “hostile work environment”, but you should just leave first, and not come back.

You might be thinking, “This is easy for you to say, but how am I going to pay my bills?”  When you are a young single woman, you can’t spend all the money that you make.  It is very, very important that you save money, and have quite a bit of money saved up.  You need to not get the most expensive apartment, most expensive furniture, most expensive car, and most expensive clothes that you can buy.  You need to save money and have money saved up so that you will not be at the mercy of other people, or dependent on other people, and can just leave any abusive, threatening, or coercive situation.

Again, a lady should not engage in a physical fight.  But this does not mean that you have to do nothing when people are threatening and abusive to you.  In some cases, it may be appropriate to have a boyfriend, husband, or father inform someone that they had better not mistreat you.  In some cases you may have to explain yourself to an administrator or a manager in order to report and stop abuse.  In some cases you may need a lawyer.  In some cases you may be better off to just never deal with some people again.

How Women In Dickinson Can Behave Like Southern Ladies, Part 2 of 4

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Please read my blog post “How Women In Dickinson Can Behave Like Southern Ladies, Part 1”.  I began that post by saying that many women in Dickinson already know these things that I will write, however many do not, especially the young single women who have come from out of state to work in Dickinson.

4.  Do Not Argue In Public.  You may have been wronged, but do not argue in public.  In confronting an individual that has wronged you, you may accidentally begin to use language that is not lady-like, and you may end up looking trashy and low class.  You may have been wronged, but in confronting an individual in public, details may emerge, or accusations could emerge, that may embarrass you or humiliate you.  Arguing in public, details might emerge that could hurt innocent people.  Arguing in public might reveal a dark side of you that no one was aware of and that you don’t want known.  Arguing in public might lead to a physical fight, and you don’t want or need witnesses to this.  Fighting in public is prohibited in Rule #5 by the way.

Rule #4 is an extremely important rule.  Let’s just say that you are right and that the other person is wrong.  Stop and think about the consequences of arguing in public.  I will have to explain this with some scenarios.

Let us say that your husband has had an affair with a waitress.  You know it, your husband knows it, and the waitress knows it.  In your anger, you might head straight down to the restaurant where this waitress works, and confront her wherever you find her saying, “You fucking whore!  I had better not ever catch you fucking my husband again!”  As a result of this approach, your husband’s friends, your friends, your husband’s co-workers, your co-workers, your neighbors, and probably even your children will know what your husband did.  Was it necessary and beneficial for your neighbors and children to know this?  What if the waitress yells back, “Your husband told me that you were a lesbian and you wouldn’t have sex with him anymore!”  Whether this is true or not, what is everybody going to think?

A lady would confront her husband in private, with no one around, no witnesses, no children.  (How and why do you think that President George Bush got a black eye while he was president and in the private residence?)  No one needs to see or hear this lady using bad language.  No one needs to see or hear this lady punch her husband in the face.  He won’t be able to tell the police.  He will have to say something stupid like he was eating pretzels and a pretzel got caught in his throat and he hit his head on the coffee table.

A lady would not want her children to know that their father had had an affair.  She would not want to upset and confuse the children, who would then spend all of their time worrying that mom and dad were going to get a divorce.  A lady would dictate terms, conditions, and consequences to her husband in private.  All of the arguing and negotiating would be done in private.  No one needs to know or should know the husband and wife’s personal affairs.

If a lady wanted to confront the waitress who had had an affair with her husband, she could inform the waitress that she would like to meet with her.  By the way, a forty-five year old married woman telephoning a twenty-five year old waitress and asking to speak to her in the most matter-of-fact way, would probably result in all restaurant staff suspecting, but not knowing, what had transpired, and it would not be liked.  A quick meeting, off hours, at the most distant table, in a hotel bar, would be an appropriate place for a lady to tell some young woman that she knows what had happened.  That she has explained this to her husband, and now she is explaining this to you, that if this ever happens again, that you can have him, he can come and live with you, but you had better be able to support both of you, because she will be keeping the house, and she and the kids will be taking all of his money.

Rule #4, Do Not Argue In Public, does not mean not doing anything, or not getting even.  In the South, women don’t have to like each other, in order to help each other.  The easy thing to call it would be “Networking” but this it not accurate, because “Networking” is different.  It is more simple, it is like, “If you do something to one of us, you do something to all of us.”  Ladies do not like it when other women cause their husbands to cheat on them.  If a lady told her best friend in the strictest confidence what her husband had done.  Her best friend might take matters into her own hands and tell her friend, who is the wife of the restaurant owner.  The restaurant owner’s wife is not about to have some young girl around that is going to be after her husband next, and this young waitress can no longer work there.

Having just written that in the South, women don’t have to like each other, in order to help each other, the following outcome is just as likely.  Once a wife has had a chance to calm down after finding out that her husband has had an affair.  The wife will want to know who her husband cheated with.  It might be a relief to the wife that her husband cheated with some twenty-five year old waitress, and feel that this is not a threat.  The waitress probably doesn’t want her husband anyway.  The wife might try to put herself in the shoes of the young waitress, not making much money, struggling financially, her husband trying to charm her, maybe promising her things.  The wife might not want any revenge on the young waitress, and begin to believe that both she and the waitress were both victimized by her husband in this.

But remember that there was No Arguing In Public.

How Women In Dickinson Can Behave Like Southern Ladies, Part 1 of 4

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A reader named “Cheryl”, a.k.a. ndgirlone, recently wrote a comment to my blog post “Women In Dickinson, North Dakota”.  I answered some of Cheryl’s questions in my previous post about how I date women in Dickinson.  Cheryl’s comments reminded me that I had intended to write about how women in Dickinson can behave like Southern Ladies.

There are women in Dickinson who already know the things that I will write, but there are many women who don’t know.  In particular the single women from out of state who have come to work in western North Dakota are quite lost in how to behave appropriately.  If they follow my advice, they will be able to improve their situation in life.

  1.   A lady must not use bad language.  Any person who hears a woman use bad language will probably assume that she is trashy and low class.  I will explain later the disadvantages of being thought of as trashy and low class.
  2.   A lady must withdraw and not participate in any situation where bad language is being used.  Any person who observes a woman in the company of others who are using bad language will probably assume that she is trashy and low class.
  3.   A lady must withdraw from any situation where people are behaving inappropriately, crudely, or with vulgarity.  Again, any person who observes a woman in the company of others who are behaving inappropriately will probably assume that she is trashy and low class.

For now, I will just explain the three statements that I made above.  Consider in your mind a young man who is going to medical school to become a doctor, who comes from a wealthy family.  If you were dating this young man, and he took you home to meet his parents, would you be using the words “fuck”, “asshole”, and “shit” around his parents?  You probably would not, unless you wanted to end this relationship quickly.  You would not because you don’t want to appear trashy and low class.  The reason that you might not want to lose your relationship with this young man is because as a husband, he could provide you with a nice home, nice vehicle, and easily pay for your children.  So you see that there is an advantage to not acting trashy and low class.

What you might not be aware of, is that there is opportunity around you every minute of every day.  When you get up in the morning, wear pajama pants and slippers, with your hair looking like a bird’s nest, get in your car to go to a convenience store to get coffee, and maybe say to the cashier, “Fuck, I forgot my wallet, it’s in my car, let me go get it.”  Did you know that the old farmer behind you or sitting at a table has just noticed what a mess you are?  Many of the old farmers in Dickinson are way past being millionaires, they are old, and they have sons.  You had better believe that these old millionaires have a say in what their sons do.  If their son dated a trashy girl like you, it would be against their wishes.  For his son’s sake, he would be told that he was going to receive very little from his father, in order to protect him from this trashy girl he is involved with.

On the other hand, if you were a young lady that had a job as a waitress in a diner in Dickinson, and you were always polite and positive, you might be getting asked questions from old farmers like, “Where are you from?  Are you going to school?”  They are not getting ready to ask you out, but they might think that you are a nice girl and they would like to introduce you to their son, grandson, or nephew.  Yes, yes, old farmers ask trashy waitresses what their name is and where they are from too, but they will be using this information to make damn sure that their son never gets involved with you if they can help it.

These examples that I just gave involved dating and marriage.  However, appearing trashy and low class will adversely affect everything in your life.  You might not even be aware that employment, promotions, educational opportunities, and housing are being given to someone else instead of you because you acted so trashy and low class.

Please go back and re-read the numbered points #1, #2, and #3 above.  You will also have to begin excusing yourself from the company of others who are using bad language, acting crudely, or acting with vulgarity.  If others see you with people like this, they will assume that you are the same as them.  There is the expression, “Birds of a feather, flock together.”  In order to not be in the company of people who use bad language and behave badly, you may no longer be able to go to some bars where everyone uses bad language and behaves badly.  Also, you may have to begin leaving bars and parties by 10:00 p.m., before people are over intoxicated and begin behaving badly.

There are many wives and single professional women who will never, ever, go to some of the bars in Dickinson because many of the patrons become over intoxicated and will act inappropriately.  These women will not tolerate bad, crude, vulgar language, or people putting their hands on them.  These women will also leave parties before people become over intoxicated.  This is what they have to do in order to maintain a reputation as being a lady.

Answering A Reader’s Questions About How I Date Women In Dickinson, North Dakota

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A reader named “Cheryl”, a.k.a. ndgirlone, posted a comment to my blog post “Women In Dickinson, North Dakota”, where she asked about how I date women.  To answer Cheryl’s question, for one thing, I give each girl/woman that I like the following Application For Relationship:

Application For Relationship

Please complete the following application.  Please answer all questions.  Please print clearly.  Incomplete or illegible applications will not be considered.

First Name:______________________  Last Name:__________________

Phone Number:___________________  Date of Birth:_________________

Current Address:______________________________________________

Height:_________________  Weight:____________  Race:_____________

Do you have Children:________  How many:_______  Do they live with you:____

Do you want Children:________  When:________________  How many:______

Current Occupation:_________________________

High School years completed:________________  Did you graduate:__________

Name of College or University attended:________________________________

Years at College or University:___________  Degree Awarded:_______________

Do you have any Diseases:__________________________________________

Do you have any Medical Condition:___________________________________

Do you have any Mental Condition:____________________________________

Do you Smoke:__________  How often:___________________

Do you use Drugs:______________________________________________

Are you Currently Married:_____________

Have you ever been Married:____________  How many times:______________

List activities, hobbies, and interests:_________________________________

____________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

Tell why you think that you would be a good person to date:_________________

____________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

Note:  You will be considered on a number of different factors.  For instance, a not very high education level can be compensated for by a good personality and disposition.

I always have blank Applications For Relationship in my vehicles.  For women that are working when they are dealing with you, like police officers, doctors, and nurses, you can give them an application so that they can fill it out later, and you don’t have to ask them a lot of questions while they are dealing with you.

When you are at a restaurant or a gym, it is better to hand women the application when you are on your way out, instead of when you first get there.

When you receive the completed application back, you can go and look them up on the internet to do a more thorough background check.

Kaycee Hutzenbiler, “Hop”, Belfield, North Dakota

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Recently I was at an event where the Outlaw Sippin Band and the Sawdust Band performed.  I have watched Outlaw Sippin play at Alive @ 5, First On First, Buffalo Gap, and the High Plains Cultural Center.  I think that they are a good band and I have written about them several times in this blog.  I have seen the Sawdust Band play several times, and they are pretty good, but they don’t have Emil Anheluk playing accordion and fiddle.

I believe that I have seen every performer at Alive @ 5, and First On First in Dickinson 2014, 2015, and 2016.  I recognize and acknowledge that Gwen Sebastian and Kat Perkins are very talented and well liked.  I also like the two sisters with their band Tigir Lily.  The first time I heard the Zeona Road Band from South Dakota, I was very impressed, and I thought that they have a very good chance to be as well known, well liked, and as commercially successful as Miranda Lambert, somebody like that.

When I was at this recent event with Outlaw Sippin and Sawdust, I didn’t expect to see anything new or different.  Beni Paulson was playing the drums, which I had never seen him do before, that I can remember.  He did good, didn’t seem too uncomfortable, but I don’t think this is his favorite thing.  When Sawdust was going to play, Beni got up from the drums and let this small girl take his place.

This girl was in her early twenties, about 5′-4″, 110 pounds, medium length black hair, she was cute.  She seemed a little timid at first and through the first couple of songs.  She kept the beat O.K. , but was lighter and softer on the drums than a guy would have been.  After maybe about ten to fifteen minutes, she sang lead vocals.

She has a very good soft voice. I was trying to think of who to compare her voice to, and I think that it is most like Belinda Carlisle, but as I listened and paid attention, I think that her voice is better than Belinda Carlisle’s voice.  I would also compare her voice to Natalie Merchant in its niceness and smoothness.  I think that she would sound great singing Belinda Carlisle or Natalie Merchant songs, not mimicking them, but singing just as her own voice is.

I was thinking that she would also sound good singing Blondie songs.  As I was considering these things, I realized that she was more into her drumming now, probably because she had warmed up and had loosened up.  She was a good drummer.  She sounded different than male drummers.  I could hear it in my head before I could figure out why she sounded different.  Guys have heavier arms, shoulders, and hands, and I am thinking that their drum sticks come off the drum milliseconds later than her. You can hear it especially when she is working on just one drum, her sticks are getting off the surface quicker and you can hear the difference, it is clearer and sharper.

I was thinking that this quick, sharp, lighter handed beating, was something that a rabbit would do.  She drums like a rabbit with rabbit paws and feet.  My favorite drummer looks like a gargoyle, plays drums like a gargoyle, and is the most recognizable drummer that I have seen.  I like the band he is in, because of him.  This girl is cute, pretty, has a very good voice, plays drums well, and like a rabbit, you can hear the difference.  I will go to see Sawdust, just because of her.

I went and asked people who she was, and they told me her name was KC.  I said that she has a very good voice, and everyone agreed, and added, “She looks good too.”  I wanted to tell her after she got done playing that she sounded very good, but when she got off her stool, she was gone, and out of there.

I looked up the Sawdust Band on the internet when I got home.  Her name is Kaycee Hutzenbiler, and she is from Belfield.  From the little that there is to read about her, I am worried and concerned that she has been overlooked, and her talent not recognized locally.

Back in the 1980s, the band the GoGos became popular and successful just because of their good sound, I don’t think that any of the GoGos had years of training, they just went out and played, and everybody liked them.  That is exactly what Kaycee needs to do now, just get out and perform.  Now, don’t wait!

I did some research about rabbits playing drums, and there was a 2011 movie about a rabbit who plays the drums who moves to Los Angeles to be in a band, the name of the movie is “Hop”.  This is a good name for Kaycee, “Hop”.

Belfield, North Dakota Is Like Small Towns In Florida Forty Years Ago

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Belfield, North Dakota is twenty miles west of Dickinson, on Interstate 94.  Probably a million oil field workers have exited the interstate in Belfield to get on Highway 85 to go north to Williston.  According to the year 2000 Census there were 866 people living in Belfield, and the 2010 Census said there were 800 people, but I think that there were probably twice that many people because of the Oil Boom.

Most of the people driving on Interstate 94 and Highway 85 do not know that Belfield has a downtown because you can’t see it from these main roads.  If you drive 1/8 of a mile westward from Highway 85 you will find the residential neighborhood with the houses, schools, and churches.  Most of the houses and buildings were built between 1920 and 1980.  The houses and buildings are not fancy, they are simple and modest.

In the middle of the town of Belfield, there is Main Street and 1st Avenue.  In this area there is the Post Office, an old movie theatre which has been remodeled recently to serve as a civic center, and about four bars which also sometimes serve food.

Belfield has had its ups and downs.  Remember, there was an Oil Boom in western North Dakota in the 1950s, the late 1970s, and most recently 2007 through 2014.  Sometimes local residents have had high incomes, but most of the time the local people did not have high incomes.

I had to go to Belfield recently and spend some time there.  I didn’t think about it much beforehand or driving there.  When I drove through downtown Belfield, the residential area, it was quaint and pleasant looking.  There is a very nice green belt beside a small river that runs through town.

When I had to start dealing with people, I was worried that they were going to be hostile towards me because I was not from there, and the people were rough looking.  Some of the local residents asked me where I was from.  I answered, “I lived in Florida until I was 30, then I lived in Arizona for five years, then Idaho for five years, then I came to North Dakota when the economy got bad.” Everybody of course asked me why I left Florida.  I told them what I always tell everybody, that Florida got too crowded.  Nobody would ever believe me that most of the towns in Florida when I grew up forty years ago, were exactly like Belfield is now, with maybe about a thousand people.

I was worried that these people in Belfield were going to pick a fight with me, because I was not from there, and the people were rough looking.  They did not pick a fight with me.  I had been observing that the people were not fancy, fashionable, or stylish in their appearance.  I began to realize that they did not care.  I think that they had all lived together for so long, known each other for so long, that they had no desire to try to impress each other, so they just went everywhere, as they were, whether they had been doing yard work, house work, car repair, farming, or truck driving.  Not only did they not care about impressing their neighbors, they didn’t care to impress anybody.

Because the local people had been asking me where I was from, and I had tried to explain it to them, I was realizing more and more that Belfield was like the small town I had grown up in forty years ago.  In that town, most of the people did not make a lot of money, everybody knew where everybody worked, so there was no use in anybody trying to pretend to be something they weren’t, so nobody did.  The result was, everybody was much calmer, and much more laid back.  The other thing was, everybody had to try to get along, because you were stuck together, so people just adapted a manner of civility, because you had to.

I remembered that one of the things I hated when I moved away from my small home town, and had to live in places like Tampa, was that everyone was trying to be somebody they weren’t, and everybody was trying to impress everybody else.  Yes, it was a “rat race”, everyone competing and trying to out-do everyone else, in a ridiculous way, spending more money than they earned, making themselves stressed and pressured needlessly, except because of their own vanity and desperation.