Tag Archives: Living in Dickinson, North Dakota

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Thwarted Romance In Dickinson, North Dakota

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This past week I was at a bar, restaurant, gathering, or event in Dickinson, where I met more than several women.  In order to tell this story, I have to be vague about who, what, when, and where.

The first group of women that were talking to me, were a little bit younger than me, fairly attractive, outgoing, positive, and kind of wild.  They were talking to me and playing with me just to be nice and friendly.  But, one of these three women came back by herself, and she wanted to talk to me some more.  I will call her “Karen”, though that is not her real name.

As Karen started to like me more and more as we were talking, she stood beside me, and was pressing into me, so that I could not help but look down at her bare tan shoulders and breasts.  I was noticing that she had no tan lines.  Then I noticed that she had a pierced tongue, and she said, “Yes, everything is pierced.”

Karen had told me a lot about herself, and what she and her husband did for a living.  I am 48 years old, and I know how married women become bored, and irritated with their husbands for any one of a thousand possible reasons.  I didn’t have to ask about that, women are always mad at their husbands for something.

In this particular instance, Karen’s husband not being there with her, was his crime, and reason enough for her to go astray.  The only obstacle, was that every single person there, knew that she was married.  She was spending so much time up close with me, it was obvious to everyone that she was drunk and horny, but none of her male friends or female friends tried to stop her or come and get her.  I thought that she would end up coming home with me, or me with her.

(Reminder, this is Dickinson, North Dakota, where the ratio of men to women is 3:1, and there is a scarcity of attractive women.  The Dickinson Police will absolutely not allow prostitution, so if you want to be with an attractive woman, you have to borrow someone else’s wife.)

Karen was not ready to leave yet, it was still early.  She wanted to drink more, and she proceeded to do so.  All the better for me, I thought.

Then, somebody else’s wife came over to me and started talking to me.  I will call her “Laurie”, though that is not her real name.  Laurie was even more mad at her husband than Karen was.  Laurie was not drunk, just mad.  As Laurie started talking with me, she began to like me even more than Karen did.

I was happy to talk to some woman who liked me, who wasn’t drunk.  Laurie began to push up against me, and I could not help but notice what nice tan breasts she had.  Everyone there knew that Laurie was married, but none of her male friends or female friends tried to stop her, or come and get her.

Then Karen came over, Karen and Laurie knew each other.  Karen was much more drunk by then, and Laurie was not completely nice to Karen, kind of trying to get Karen to go away, which she did.  Laurie’s husband was supposedly in the immediate vicinity, whereas Karen’s husband was at least sixty miles away.

It would have been better for me to go home with Karen, because Karen’s husband was much farther away, and Karen was drunk.  However, Karen soon became so drunk, that having sex with her would have been illegal.  If I would not have been talking to Laurie, I could have gotten Karen to leave sooner.  It may have been Laurie talking to me for so long, that made Karen decide to go ahead and get too drunk to have sex.

Laurie came back over to talk to me again, complaining to me that her husband was a drunken mess.  I saw her husband finally, he was the biggest, tallest, most muscular guy there.  I thought to myself, “Jesus Christ you crazy woman, what are you trying to do, get me killed.”  Her husband was about four or five inches taller than me, and about fifty pounds heavier than me, and he looked like a bully and a thug.  And his wife has been talking to me and rubbing up against me for quite a while.

I had thought for sure that I was going home with an attractive, drunk, horny woman, but now instead it looked like I was going to get beat up.  I thought, “Man, I just want to go home now.”  It would be O.K. with me if I never saw these people again.

The Lower Middle Class Neighborhoods In Dickinson Are Nicer Than The Upper Middle Class Neighborhoods In Idaho

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In my previous blog post, I described and explained that the lower middle class neighborhoods in Dickinson, North Dakota are very attractive and well maintained, more so than the upper middle class neighborhoods in Dickinson.

I have lived in Dickinson, North Dakota for approximately five years now.  Prior to this, I lived in the Snake River Valley of southeastern Idaho, Rexburg, Rigby, Idaho Falls, Blackfoot, Pocatello for five years.  This area of Idaho is predominantly Mormon.

If you know anything about Mormons, you know that they try to be neat, clean, and tidy in everything they do.  So it should seem not possible that the lower middle class neighborhoods in Dickinson, North Dakota would be nicer than the middle class and upper middle class neighborhoods in Idaho.  But this is the case, and I want to explain why.  I want to describe this so that people in Dickinson and everywhere else in the United States can understand what was going on economically.

  1. During the North Dakota oil boom that began in 2007, the housing prices in Dickinson doubled and tripled in just a few years.  The Dickinson homeowners suddenly had a great deal of equity in their homes, which could be borrowed against for home repair, renovation, improvement, and additions.  In contrast, the home values in Idaho went down.
  2. During the North Dakota oil boom that began in 2007, many or most of the blue collar workers in Dickinson had their pay double, mostly because of regularly working many overtime hours.  This extra money was used by Dickinson homeowners to pay for repairs, renovations, improvements, and additions.  In contrast, during this same time in Idaho the economy was in a recession, with many people losing their jobs, and there being a scarcity of jobs.
  3. In North Dakota during the oil boom, especially in Dickinson, there were many families living in town who began receiving money dispersements from oil wells on family owned property outside of town.  It was very, very common in Dickinson, that a grandparent would receive oil revenue checks every month, and be able to give every adult child, and every grandchild several thousand dollars, or more, each year during the oil boom.  Many families in Dickinson put this extra money into home repairs, renovations, improvements, and additions.  In contrast, in Idaho during this time many people had their homes foreclosed on for lack of having a job and a means to make their mortgage payments.
  4. In North Dakota during the oil boom, homeowners in Dickinson finished off their homes with additions, sun rooms, decks, fences, new garages, and new driveways.  In Idaho during this time, many new homes that were being completed never had decks, driveways, sprinkler systems, or landscaping put in because people did not have the money to pay for these things.

Right now in Dickinson in the lower middle class neighborhoods, it would not be an exaggeration to say that there is a new $50,000 truck in every driveway, because in some driveways there are two of them, and some are $60,000.  In Idaho, most doctors, dentists, and lawyers do not own trucks or vehicles as expensive as the new four-door, four wheel drive, lifted, 3/4 ton-1 ton trucks that are prevalent in the lower middle class neighborhoods in Dickinson.

Don’t try to come to Dickinson now!  The oil boom is over.  There is a scarcity of jobs in Dickinson now, with a strong hiring preference for people who are from Dickinson.  You missed it.  But if you would have been here, the least expensive old one bedroom apartments rented for $1,500 per month, if you could even find one available.  The homes in the lower middle class neighborhoods got up to $250,000 to $400,000, so you would not have been living in one of these homes.

Nice Lower Middle Class Neighborhoods In Dickinson, North Dakota

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I moved from north of Dickinson to downtown Dickinson about two months ago.  Throughout the several city block area in my neighborhood, there are a few houses and yards that are a mess, but the majority of the houses and yards are so well kept, that overall the neighborhood is pleasant and attractive.  And my neighborhood is probably a bad neighborhood in comparison to the adjacent neighborhoods.

I often criticize the local Dickinson residents for being uneducated, ignorant, hostile, hateful, unfriendly, not helpful, and uncooperative.  I am not going to take any of that back.  However, it does amaze me that these local people living in the lower middle class neighborhoods in Dickinson maintain their homes so well that the nicest looking areas in Dickinson are these vast neighborhoods in the downtown city blocks.

Although there is one corner of downtown Dickinson that has more affluent people, and this neighborhood is fairly nice, with dead-end streets, private drives, some larger yards, and even an $800,000 house with a swimming pool, this neighborhood is not as well maintained as many of the lower middle class neighborhoods in Dickinson.  This is very strange to me, and might be a unique situation found only in Dickinson.

I have thought about why this may be the case, that the lower middle class neighborhoods in Dickinson are so nice looking.  I believe that there are four main reasons.

  1. Putting aside the oil booms of the 1950s, 1978, and 2007, the growth of Dickinson has been slow and steady.  There did not occur the creation of vast new suburbs outside of Dickinson, and the abandonment of downtown Dickinson.  Downtown Dickinson has been continuously occupied, and has always been a fairly desirable location to live in, by the local residents.
  2. Putting aside the oil booms of the 1950s, 1978, and 2007, Dickinson has not been a town where many people became rich or affluent.  There were not tremendous numbers of people in Dickinson that made so much money by the time they were in their late thirties, that they needed to have a “McMansion” built.  Nor were there tremendous numbers of people that were making so much money that they looked at their first home as a “starter home”.  Now that I am writing this, I think that the fact that most home buyers in Dickinson believed that, “This is it, this is the only home we will ever have.”, made the homeowners take care of their homes.
  3. Due to the recent oil boom that occurred in 2007, home prices in Dickinson literally doubled and tripled in just a few years.  Homeowners in Dickinson that might not have even had significant pay increases in their line of work, would have had easy access to home equity loans to make home repairs, renovations, additions, and improvements.
  4. Due to the recent oil boom that occurred in 2007, many home owners in Dickinson did have significant increases in the amount of money they were earning.  With home prices literally doubling an tripling within just a few years, it would not have been appealing for local homeowners to buy a better house now that they were making more money.  It would make sense to repair, renovate, add onto, and improve the home that they already owned.  Many local residents did do this.

Not only do these lower middle class neighborhoods in Dickinson look very nice, they currently do not have very much crime in these neighborhoods, and they are fairly quiet and peaceful.

Real Estate agents and homeowners in Dickinson currently believe that their homes in these lower middle class neighborhoods are worth $225,000 to $380,000, which is ridiculous, for several reasons.  A family would have to expect to make at least $70,000 per year for the next thirty years to be able to afford that much money, which very few families can expect to do now that the oil boom is over.  There will be many houses for sale now that the oil boom is over, there are fewer jobs, and people have to leave Dickinson.  House prices will become lower, and lower, and lower.

These neighborhoods do look nice though.  Many, or most of these houses have new vehicles parked in front of them, which I think is an indication that the homeowners did well financially during this most recent oil boom, or they took out home equity loans when the housing prices doubled and tripled.

Local Celebrities And Who’s Who In Dickinson, North Dakota

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After years of serious thought and contemplation, below I have compiled The List of Local Celebrities And Who’s Who in Dickinson, North Dakota:

Updated 4/8/19

  • Mrs. Judy Anderson – Accountant, List Of Attractive Women In Dickinson
  • Mr. Emil “The Edge” Anheluk – Member of Outlaw Sippin’ band, President of North Dakota Ukrainian Dance Association
  • Mr. Tim Armbruhst – Keeper Of The Oil Field Secrets
  • Mr. Tori Barnum – Manager The Rock Bar
  • Mr. Dave Bauer – Owner Bauer Property Management
  • Mr. Dan Brown – President SARP, firearms instructor
  • Mr. Sammy Chávez- Orador Experimentado
  • Mr. Dusty Dassinger – Chief Of Police
  • Mr. Scott Decker – Mayor
  • Mrs. Kathy Fisher – Owner The Rock Bar, List of Attractive Women In Dickinson
  • Mr. Brad Fong – Previous Owner Parkway Ford, philanthropist
  • Mrs. Brenda Fong – List Of Attractive Women In Dickinson
  • Mr. Darcy Fossum – Owner Alpha 6, ATM, digital signs, investigations
  • Mr. Joe Frenzel – City of Dickinson Commissioner
  • Mrs. Marinna Marsh Fuchs – Most Beautiful Woman In North Dakota
  • Mr. Carter Heiser – Owner Autorama Auto Sales
  • Mr. Kevin Holten – Writer, Television Producer, President of North Dakota Cowboy Hall Of Fame
  • Mr. Glen Huschka – Owner Champ Construction
  • Miss Kaycee Hutzenbiler – Vocalist, Drummer, List Of Attractive Women In Dickinson
  • Mr. Gene Jackson – City of Dickinson Commissioner
  • Mr. Dennis Johnson – President TMI, former Mayor of Dickinson
  • Miss Jackie Knowlen – North Dakota Job Service
  • Mr. Andrew Kordonowy – Owner Cerberus, security specialist
  • Mrs. Laura Erhardt Kordonowy – President Viking Glass
  • Mr. Corey Lee – Sheriff Stark County
  • Mr. Mike Lefor – District 37 Representative, Owner DCI Credit, Owner Blue 42
  • Mrs. Marchell Kubas – List Of Attractive Women In Dickinson
  • Mr. Bernie Marsh – Owner of Bernie’s Esquire Club, father of Marinna Marsh Fuchs
  • Mrs. Melissa McDermott – List Of Attractive Women In Dickinson
  • Mr. Andrew McGarva – Professor DSU
  • Mrs. Bernice Mueller – List Of Attractive Women In Dickinson
  • Mr. John Mueller – Manager Paragon Bowling Alley
  • Mrs. Janilyn Murtha – City Attorney of Dickinson, List Of Attractive Women In Dickinson
  • Mrs. Peggy O’Brien – Manager Prairie Hills Mall
  • Mrs. Geliza Hoese Ocheltree – Vocalist, List Of Attractive Women In Dickinson
  • Mr. Terry Oestreich – Former Sheriff of Stark County
  • Mr. Jack Olin – General Manager Dickinson Ready Mix
  • Mr. Klayton Oltmanns – City of Dickinson Commissioner
  • Mr. “Wild” Bill Palanuk – Radio Personality, Television Announcer and Narrator
  • Mr. Bill Patel – Owner Astoria Hotel, Best Western, Motel 6
  • Mrs. Kamal Patel – List Of Attractive Women In Dickinson
  • Mr. Beni Paulson – Member of Outlaw Sippin’ band, philanthropist
  • Mr. Brady Paulson – Member of Outlaw Sippin’ Band
  • Mr. Jeff Porcupine Pokorny – Chiropractor, President of Oddfellows Lodge
  • Mr. Dan Porter – Owner Dan Porter Toyota, Most Favorite Person In Dickinson
  • Mr. Mike Riesinger – Owner Brickhouse Grille
  • Mrs. Kristi Schwartz – Owner Allstate Insurance, President Downtown Dickinson Association, List Of Attractive Women In Dickinson
  • Mr. Bryce Shypkoski – Owner Titan Oil Field Service
  • Mr. Jacob Siewert – Owner Masonic Lodge Building
  • Mr. Luke Simons – District 36 Representative
  • Mr. Carson Steiner – City of Dickinson Commissioner
  • Mrs. Laurie Strommen – Owner Quality Quick Print
  • Mr. Tracy Tooz – Owner Tooz Construction, philanthropist
  • HRM Sarah Jennings Trustem – Queen of Dickinson
  • Mr. Clarence Tuhy – Former Sheriff of Stark County
  • Mr. Trace Wells – Videographer
  • Mr. Brock White – Entertainer, DJ, and Master of Ceremonies
  • Miss Emily Zastoupil – Bohemian Bon Vivant

A Small Freshwater Duck

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Quack is one of the most beautiful girls in Dickinson, though she is hardly ever here anymore.  I am glad that she does not spend much time in Dickinson, because I don’t want her to be ruined.  I only ever have a vague idea where she is, which is probably for the best because I worry about her, and I am infatuated with her, so I am better off not knowing where she is.

I believe that I first saw her in either 2011 or 2013, both where she was working and also at the West River Community Center.  She was about 5′-8″ or 5′-9″,  very thin, about 105 lb, with very pretty long brown hair.  I have always suspected that she is part Cherokee Indian because of her cheek bones, complexion, and also because of her slight, yet athletic physique.

One reason why she may appear to be part Cherokee Indian, is she runs, hikes, swims, and rock climbs every day, and she is in very good physical condition, with hardly any body fat at all.  I could say that I have never seen or met another woman in Dickinson that looked like Quack, and that would be mostly true, Judy Anderson and Marinna Marsh have the same kind of natural beauty, but Quack’s physical beauty is more wild, untamed, and rugged.

I absolutely can say that Quack’s demeanor, bearing, and personality is unlike any other woman that I have met in North Dakota, Idaho, and Texas.  This is the best thing about Quack, by far the best thing.  Before I describe it, I want explain where it comes from.

Quack’s father, Gary, was a geography professor at Dickinson State University, very intelligent and very educated.  Both Gary and his wife Gia must have been very alert, aware, conscious, deliberate, observant, and nurturing people.  No one could have raised a human being better.  Any bad human characteristic, like greed, envy, jealousy, hate, laziness, dishonesty, treachery, vanity, or materialism, Quack does not have.  All the good characteristics like love, kindness, empathy, fearlessness, and politeness, Quack does have.

I sometimes worry about her because she seems innocent and childlike still, but she only comes across this way because she is not ruined, she knows what is going on as much as anyone does.  She knows that I like her, but she does not let this bother her, nor does she hold this against me.  I felt this way about Codi Miller too.

The last time I saw her, I asked her if she had seen the movie “Into The Wild”.  Quack said that she had.  I could tell that she was pretty familiar with the movie from her response.  She should be familiar with this movie, because this is her, only I didn’t tell her that.  I looked at her, and I think that she thinks that this is her too, though she may not have ever told anyone.

“Into The Wild” is a movie and a book that was created from the actual real life diary/journal left behind by a young man named Chris.  Chris graduated from Emory University in Atlanta, and he had no intention of entering a profession, having a career, and settling into the suburbs with a wife and kids.  Chris wanted to simply live life, to experience life as completely and fully as possible, without any of the things that ruin or destroy life and what is real.  Career, possessions, responsibilities, obligations, anger, greed, hostility, jealousy, vanity, pride, fear, guilt, ……he didn’t want any of it, and he traveled further and further into the wild, and once he became completely far away from people, he got himself into a situation where he accidentally died.

Quack is one of the the least materialistic women that I have ever met.  I am sure that just like any woman, she sees a jacket that she likes, or pants that she likes, and thinks that she would like to have them, but then she lets go of the idea.  The same for a house or a car.  This is the same thing that little girls do, they see things that they would like to have one day, they are happy in that thought, but then they become just as distracted by the sight of a dog, a cat, or ice cream.  They aren’t like grown women full of every kind of anger, hate, jealousy, envy, vanity, pride, treachery, plot, and scheme to get the house they want or the car they want.

I have met only a few women like Quack, and they were all very beautiful.  I have made the observation in the past, that some girls who grow up always having a natural physical beauty, the ones who don’t have hardly any defect in their character, personality, or appearance, by the time that they reach adulthood they don’t “need” anything.  It is like they are so complete and not lacking anything within themselves, that they don’t really “need” or have to have any “thing”.  Leaving a life for them where they just seek to experience things.

(Note:  I had originally published this blog post with Quack’s full name in the title.  Quack talked to me and tried to explain why she didn’t want this blog post to exist.  I agreed to remove her last name from the blog post title and the blog post, so that this blog post would not cause her problems.  With her last name removed from the blog post title and the blog post, eventually this blog post would have dropped out of the search results that were returned when performing an internet search using her name.

Even after I had removed Quack’s last name from the blog post title and the blog post, in the short term, so many people kept looking at this blog post about Quack, that this blog post moved back up to the very top of the search results when an internet search was done using her name.  So now I have removed any part of her name from the blog post title, so that eventually this blog post will not appear in the search results that are returned when an internet search is done using her name.

I might recommend to the reader, a blog post titled, “What It Would Be Like To Be Married To A Small Freshwater Duck”.)

Fear Of Marathon Oil Company Hat

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I was in downtown Dickinson recently with three of my co-workers, and we were each offered a Marathon Oil Company hat by a Marathon employee that we know.  I accepted the tan hat, and I put it on.  My three co-workers declined the other hat.

I was happy with my new hat, and I said to the Marathon employee that I have known for about three years,  “I hope that I don’t get arrested for something and my arrest mugshot is in the news, wearing a Marathon Oil Company hat.”  Then I said, “Or maybe I will get away, and the police will put out a description, saying the suspect was wearing a Marathon Oil Company hat.”

I was then required to promise that I would never tell anyone where I got my Marathon Oil Company hat.  And I agreed, because by that time, I figured that, “I would be more attractive to women because they would think that I worked for Marathon, that I had a good job, and that I made a lot of money.”  The person that gave me the hat said, “I don’t see that happening.”  This hurt my feelings.  I was happy, and then I was sad, owning this Marathon Oil Company hat.

About 1/2 hour later, one of the most beautiful young women that I know walked up.  She is my height, has long reddish brown hair, beautiful bright green eyes, and she is very thin and in shape from bicycling, hiking, and rock climbing.  I began talking to her, she just came into town from Montana.  She met some people that are on a cross country bicycle trip, and she wanted to go with them, but she doesn’t have any of her stuff.  I said that I had two extra mountain bikes in the back of my truck, she can have one of them if she wanted.

We walked about one block and around the corner to look at the bikes that were in the back of my truck.  We were talking about different things, and where else she might get the rest of the things that she wanted.  I had just seen this guy Andrew that she knows better than me, that would likely have saddle bags and backpacks.

When I got back to downtown, I said to the Marathon employee who had given me the Marathon Oil Company hat, “Did you see that beautiful young lady that I was talking to, she wanted to know if I could get her a job at Marathon.”  The Marathon employee said, “You know that Marathon is a very ethical and moral company, can I please have my hat back?”  And I gave the hat back.

My feelings were hurt.  I am 48 years old, and I never had a hat taken back from me for not being ethical and moral enough.  I was embarrassed, ashamed, and humiliated that my hat was taken away from me, in public, for not being up to Marathon Oil Company’s standards.  How have I failed so horribly as a human being, what have I done with my life?

I bet that less than 5% of the Marathon employees in Dickinson have a Bachelor of Science in engineering like me, or have equal job experience to me, or have gone through as stringent government background checks as me.  However, because of the Marathon Oil Company culture and corporate brain washing, even Marathon employees with no college education, are higher level and superior to most human beings, and most people are not qualified to even wear a Marathon Oil Company hat once they start to analyze it more closely.

Now I want a Marathon Oil Company hat, and also a shirt, for both myself, and the gentleman that the four Dickinson Police Officers had to wrestle and take to jail for attacking everyone, for when he is released from jail.

DCIM101MEDIA
DCIM101MEDIA

Incredible And Amazing Financial Mystery In Dickinson, North Dakota

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Eventually, and I think fairly soon, one of the most incredible and amazing news stories will begin to unfold in Dickinson, North Dakota…..

Update 7/24/17:

I have removed this article for the time being.  This article was about an oil field service company in Dickinson that is having some financial difficulties and problems.

The cause of me looking into, analyzing, and writing about the company’s financial situation, was that I had not been paid money that I believe I was owed.  As of today, the company has agreed to pay me.  I do not want to make things more difficult for the owners of this company at this time, so I removed this article.

Camajur Bus Service, Dickinson, North Dakota

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The Camajur Bus Service is owned and operated by Marvin and Cathy Dill, and their son Justin and his wife.  The Camajur Bus Service is also referred to as the Sober Bus.

The reason why I am writing this blog post, is to let everyone know how inexpensive their bus and taxi service is.  In other states, I have had very bad experiences with unexpectedly high cost taxi rides, and I have been told that the same thing happens in Dickinson, especially with taxi rides to and from the Dickinson airport.  This doesn’t have to happen to you.

I was working in Watford City last summer, which is 90 miles northwest of Dickinson, and a very unpleasant drive to make, whether you take Hwy 22, or Hwy 85.  The air-conditioning compressor on my Dodge truck seized up, causing the serpentine belt to break, which is the same belt that drives the alternator and the water pump.  I realized from looking at the belt routing diagram, there is a different belt and a different routing when the truck is not equipped with an air-conditioning compressor.

I was not getting anywhere with the two auto parts stores in Watford City, explaining that I was bypassing the compressor, this is the size belt that I wanted.  It came to the point that I decided to take a taxi 90 miles to Dickinson to get my other truck.  I called Camajur Bus Service and spoke to Marvin Dill, told him where I was, and asked him how much money he wanted to come and get me.  Marvin said something like $70 to $80, and I couldn’t believe that he could do it for that little money, it is about a 1-1/2 hour drive.

Marvin came to Watford City and got me about an hour and forty five minutes later.  I was so happy to be going to get my other truck, and no longer being at the mercy of the auto parts stores in Watford City.  I was happy to not be the one driving for once, I had to drive back and forth to Watford City every week.  I gave Marvin $100, which is more than he wanted, but I don’t see how he could do it for less than $100.

This summer, I moved from north of Dickinson, to an apartment in downtown Dickinson.  In order to get one of my extra trucks to storage, and one extra truck to my apartment, I called Camajur Bus Service twice.  It was at least a ten mile drive from north of Dickinson to downtown, but each time Justin only wanted $10.  Each time I gave Justin $20, because I don’t see how they could do it for less than $20.

If you are at a bar or restaurant in Dickinson, and you become too intoxicated to drive, most bars and restaurants in Dickinson will give their customers a voucher, and call Camajur Bus service to come and pick you up, at no charge to you.  You give the voucher to the Camajur Bus driver, and at a later date he turns in that voucher at the bar or restaurant to get paid for that trip.

I hope that more people find out how inexpensive the Camajur Bus Service is, and use it, so that they will continue to operate, and we don’t all have to be victimized by some other taxi service.

Camajur Bus Service  701-590-3396

Telling The Secrets Of North Dakota

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On Monday morning I telephoned my father in North Carolina, and right away he was yelling at me, “You better stop that!  I’m telling you, you, hey, I mean stop!”  I had no idea what he was talking about or what he was referring to.  He was mad that I wrote not only one, but two blog posts about the forested valley on the Fort Berthold Reservation.

My father was sure that I was going to cause every developer on the east coast and the west coast to fly out there tomorrow to buy up all the land.  I tried to explain to my father that it was Bureau of Land Management land, or Native American land.  He said, “So what, BLM does lands swaps all the time.  The Native Americans will get talked into building a casino there, and it will all be ruined.”

I felt that I had been vague enough about the location, that only enthusiastic hikers would be able to find it.  But my father disagreed with me, the developers will find it now.

The way I feel about it right now, what if only a few people get to see it this year, and a few people next year, what good is that?  I had never seen anything quite like it in my life, and it made a profound impression on me.  In my excitement and happiness, I wanted to tell other people, but I was aware that making it too easy to find could ruin it.

I really don’t want hunters to go there.  Hunters are the most ignorant piece of shit people, not even recognizing their own mental deviance and defectiveness in getting excited by the thought of killing animals.  I try not to hit birds, squirrels, turtles, dogs, cats, and deer with my vehicle, but hunters get excited about killing these animals and they actually go looking for them in order to shoot them.  Currently all the animals in this valley are unafraid of people, only slightly wary of people, and I don’t want hunters to terrorize the animals.

I also don’t want the meth addicts to go there.  I would hate to see beat up Hyundais there with Idaho license plates beginning with the letter “K”, for Coeur D’Alene, meaning that there are restaurant and bar workers there that are high on drugs and looking for things to steal.

When I sat in the valley, it was quiet and peaceful, and amazingly beautiful.  There were no people and no vehicles, it was completely serene.  The sight of it, and the experience of it, made everything else seem insignificant and unimportant.  For as long as you are there, nothing else seems to matter.  Whatever might be important elsewhere, is no longer important.  The amount of money in your bank accounts, the amount of your debts and bills, your career, your job, your house, your car, your possessions, your successes, your failures, none of it matters because it is all so insignificant in comparison to what you are now seeing and experiencing.

Ever since the white settlers came to North America, they considered the Native Americans to be very odd in regard to the ownership of land.  The Native Americans did not have the concept of owning land.  Even in present times, Native Americans differ from white people in the way they live and what they own.  White people would characterize Native Americans as being careless.

When I sat in this valley, I partly understood why the concept of owning land may be ridiculous to Native Americans.  How could a person own this, it has existed for thousands of years before a person was born, and it will exist for thousands of years after a person has died?  How could a person try to control every animal that dwells here, and every animal and person that passes through?  Would it not be insane, and the action of a crazy person, to even try or think that they could control what goes on here?  What are you going to do, stop the rain, wind, snow, fire, drought, flood, birth, and death?  If you think about it, white people do have the belief that they can, and must try to control everything.  White people never fully grasp the truth that they are here for just a very short while, and are insignificant really.

I would like for other people to find the forested valleys on the north side of the Killdeer Mountains, and be able to experience this one or more times, while it still exists.  Jackson Hole has been ruined, Flagstaff has been ruined, and Sedona has been ruined by the millionaires and the billionaires, that thought that they could buy up paradise and own it.  Instead they choked the life right out of it, almost like the tale of killing the goose that laid one golden egg each day, in order to try to get all the golden eggs at once.  This is one last chance that I know of for people to experience the most beautiful land that I have ever seen.

The Native Americans control this area inside their sovereign nation of Fort Berthold, whether some of the land is owned by the Bureau of Land management or not.  If the Native Americans want to develop this land, it would be a shame, but their right to do so.  They don’t have to preserve their tribal land for the sake of white people to come and visit, white people really aren’t supposed to be here on their reservation in the first place.

Because of the Native American’s “odd” view on the ownership of land, they aren’t currently chasing down non-trouble maker white people during the day that might be hiking or bicycling.  However, about 5% of Native Americans will kill white people if they catch them on the reservation at night, or the Bigfoots will.

Dishonest And Disreputable Companies In Dickinson, North Dakota

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In the beginning of June I started a new job in Dickinson, North Dakota.  I thought that this was going to be a good job, with a good company.  When I arrived to work at this oil field service company at 3:45 a.m. on a Monday morning, one thing after another went wrong.  No supervisor showed up until 4:30 a.m., my supervisor was out for the week and he had left no instructions regarding me and my work.  After phone calls were made, it was determined that I was supposed to drive a crane truck to a location two hours away, but the keys were missing, the crane truck was a mess and in no condition to drive, and the equipment on it that was needed that day was broken.

My instinct and my gut feeling was that I should say right then, “Hey, I don’t want to work here.”  I could barely keep myself from telling the company that I had decided not to work there.  It appeared to be so disorganized and unprofessional, with no planning or accountability.  I needed the job, and the money, so I hung in there.

I got along with my co-worker/supervisor at the job site location two hours away.  Within a couple of days, he was letting me do all the work on my own.  His intention was that he would do the paperwork, and that I would do the physical work.  This led to my co-worker/supervisor arriving at job locations a few hours late in the morning, and leaving a few hours early in the evening, because he was only doing paperwork, and I was doing the physical work which took all day.

It was hot, dirty, and tiring physical labor, and I would have liked some help, sometimes feeling like I was close to getting heat stroke.  I was not supposed to be doing this work by myself according to the oil company safety rules.  I did the work by myself, and I operated the crane truck on days when the wind was well over 30 mph, the cut off point to stop work.  I broke these rules on many days in order to get work done.

I didn’t know that this oil field service company in Dickinson was not going to pay me.  I had to wait for the two-week pay period to end, and then wait another ten days for a pay check to be made.  On my second pay check, I was shorted 8-1/2 hours of overtime pay.  I wrote a letter to the company payroll person, listing my hours, and explaining that I was shorted 8-1/2 hours of overtime pay.

My co-worker/supervisor telephoned the payroll person while I was sitting in his truck, and he went over the hours that I was shorted.  Later that day, my co-worker/supervisor received a response from the payroll person, she said that the owner of the company had crossed out my hours, and wrote fewer hours, because he did not think that enough work was completed.

The owner of this company graduated from Dickinson State University with a degree in Business Administration, and he should know that it is illegal and unethical to not pay employees for hours worked.  This says something about the owner of this company, Dickinson, Dickinson State University, and North Dakota.  I have worked in Florida, Texas, Colorado, Arizona, and Idaho, and I have never ever before had a company refuse to pay me for my work hours.

My co-worker/supervisor then had a fairly long telephone conversation with the owner of this company, and he believed that he had agreement from the company owner that everything would be taken care of, that I would be paid for the 8-1/2 hours of missing overtime pay.  Because I was expecting to be paid this money, I continued working for this company.

This past weekend I received by e-mail, a work hours summary for my third pay check, and it was 12-1/2 hours short on overtime hours!  I couldn’t believe it!  Not only was I not being paid for the 8-1/2 overtime hours that I was already missing, they were taking away another 12-1/2 hours of overtime pay!

The company owner had left a week earlier to go on a two-week hunting trip in South America.  This made me believe what my co-worker/supervisor and I had already suspected, that it was actually the company owner’s wife that was shaving work hours off my pay, claiming that I was not getting enough work done.  The company owner is on a two-week hunting trip in South America that probably costs $15,000 to $20,000.  The company owner’s wife is trying to steal $570 of my pay, because she thinks that I don’t deserve it.  She and her husband are better than me, and I don’t deserve to be paid.  The truth is that I have been doing all of the work by myself, and have been breaking the safety rules on many days to get the work done.

I looked the owner’s wife up on Facebook, and I saw that she attended the Catholic college in Bismarck, the University of Mary.  Not only do the Catholics not learn right from wrong in the Catholic Church, they don’t even learn basic right and wrong, ethical and unethical, legal and illegal when the go to their University!  It is illegal and unethical to not pay your employees for hours worked.

I looked on the North Dakota Department of Labor website on how to file a complaint against an employer for not paying wages.  It wasn’t too much of a shock to me, that the North Dakota Department of Labor wants for employees to “ask for your wages”, and that they will later act as a “mediator”.  The North Dakota Department of Labor should be a government regulatory agency that enforces law in North Dakota, not a mediator.  Because the North Dakota Department of Labor is so easy going toward employers, there is a huge back log of cases.  There is a recent Bismarck Tribune newspaper article that says people who filed a complaint against an employer in 2014, had to wait two years, Two Fucking Years!, for a case worker to even be assigned to their complaint.

North Dakota has got to be the most corrupt and backward state.  Of course employers are not going to pay employees wages when they know that there is a two year wait before the complaint is even looked at.  I telephoned the North Dakota Department of Labor, and there are four previous complaints for non payment of wages against the company that I work for.  In other states, this might be grounds for revocation of business licenses, but in North Dakota, the company instead gets glowing and gushing newspaper articles about them from the Dickinson Press.

Dickinson could not be more proud of this husband and wife entrepreneur couple.  The Dickinson Press newspaper has written several articles about them, how wonderful and successful they are.  They believe that they are so wonderful and successful, that they don’t even have to pay me for the hours that I worked.

I went to the courthouse in Dickinson to find out about filing a small claims civil suit against the owner of this company for nonpayment of wages.  I thought that I could win this case if the owner of this company had to personally appear in court.  However, I was told at the courthouse that in North Dakota the defendant in a small claims case is allowed to be represented by an attorney, and not even appear.

I already know what this means, an expensive attorney that has practiced law for twenty years in Dickinson will be hired, a long time colleague of every judge in Dickinson, and I am just an out of state oil field worker, nobody.  Just like my employer believes I am so insignificant that I don’t need to be paid my wages, the court judge will feel the same way in deciding between what his long time attorney colleague says, and what I say.

It has been my experience in Dickinson that the police are only successful in harassing people, not solving crime, the local courts do not work, the state courts do not work, Federal agencies like OSHA, the Department of Labor, Equal Opportunity Employment don’t even function in North Dakota.  North Dakota has got to be the most corrupt and backward state.

I am very angry about not being paid, and there is not any legal way for me to do anything about this in North Dakota.

Second Trip To Valley Forest On Fort Berthold Reservation

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I had a very nice time exploring the only heavily forested area in western North Dakota on Friday July 14.  I wrote about finding this densely forested valley and reading about this area north of the Killdeer Mountains in my previous blog post.

It took me about 1-1/2 hours to drive to this valley, and I didn’t plan on going back until next weekend at the earliest.  I live in a downtown apartment in Dickinson now, and on Saturday I wanted to cook a steak on my charcoal grill.  The best place for me to go on this Saturday, I thought, would be Patterson Lake.  Then, I recollected the fat lower class families and the Hispanic families that use Patterson Lake now, poor apartment dwellers, and the impossibility of getting away from them now that there is concrete sidewalk everywhere, and I no longer wanted to go to Patterson Lake.

Then, there was no changing my mind that there was no place that I would rather be in North Dakota on Saturday than that forested valley that I had found on the Fort Berthold Native American Reservation.  I already had a grill, charcoal, lighter fluid, utensils, plates, chair, sleeping bag, and cooler on my Dodge truck, so that is what I took.  I bought ice and more than enough food and drinks, because this time I was definitely staying overnight.

On the way there I was wishing that I had bought my digital camera because the Dash Cam video from Friday was such poor quality.  I then realized that I had my Microsoft Surface tablet with me, and it takes very good photos and video, so I was happy about that.

I turned onto the valley road and began winding around corners going downhill.  I stopped and took a video of a family of cows right beside the road and they did not object.  Just around the next curve, there was a family of four wild turkeys that scurried away from me, and I thought that they would probably barely show up on my cheap Dash Cam video, too bad.  After a few more turns on the winding road I saw a group of five or six wild horses, and they somewhat cooperated with my video recording.  I didn’t try to get any closer to any of the animals in order to not bother them.

I got to where I wanted to park and camp.  It was a flat spot beside the road, at the very bottom of the valley, with a fairly unobstructed view in all directions so that people and/or animals could not sneak up on me, especially not Bigfoot.

I was hungry so I began setting up my grill and lighting the charcoal so that I could begin cooking my steak right away.  One of the most important things that I brought with me was my Serbian made Zastava AK-47 rifle that is chambered for .308 Winchester.  This caliber rifle has a very long range, and the bullets will go into, if not all the way through vehicle engines.  I bring it because I just don’t know for certain what kind of people will show up, or what their intentions will be.  In order to not disturb the peace in the valley, and to not upset the animals or scare them away, I had no intention of firing my rifle.

I did a little bit of looking, listening, and checking my vicinity before I got settled in.  I didn’t want to unintentionally park where there is a sick animal, a nest or den of animals, or someone else’s campsite close by.  I became convinced that there was no one else around.

After I had eaten some steak, and the charcoal in the grill had burnt down, I left a few supplies beside the grill and I took a short drive in my truck to take more photos and video.  It had crossed my mind to leave the truck and walk, but this would have been foolish, even if I had rolled up the windows and locked the doors.  Though I had not seen a single person or vehicle yesterday or today, the area is so remote that a bad person or persons could take whatever they wanted, or shoot you, knowing full well that there is not likely another person within twenty miles.

I saw more groups of wild horses, and I took more photos and video.  I did not see any other people or vehicles.  As I drove into the Little Missouri River Valley, the view is partly spoiled by the sturdy 8′ tall wire mesh and metal post fencing.  That’s right, 8′ tall fencing.  Everybody knows that four wire 42″ height barbed wire fence keeps cattle in and people out.  The only thing that you would need an 8′ height wire mesh fence for is deer that can jump high, and Bigfoot that are 7′ to 8′ tall.

There are already free range cattle, wild horses, and deer on both sides of the 8′ fence, so why bother?  The answer is, I think, that the Bureau Of Land Management does not want the Bigfoot crossing the Little Missouri River in this particular area and traveling up hill for ten miles because they will get into the oil field locations and be seen.  The 8′ height wire mesh fence is meant to route the Bigfoots further to the west.  However, there were two spots where I saw that the fence had been pushed down, from the Little Missouri River side, by something big that wanted to cross there, regardless of the fence.

As it became dark, I was looking forward to the stars coming out.  When there is no lighting from towns, homes, and businesses, you can see about 90% more stars at night, especially where there is no industrial pollution or haze.

It became pitch black dark by 10:00 p.m.  I became more uneasy, though I had not thought that I would.  I had added more charcoal to the grill, and I had put more steak on.  I tried writing for my blog post on my Microsoft Surface tablet in Microsoft Word.  There was absolutely no cell phone service, and I had turned my cell phone off hours ago.

As I was writing my blog post, writing about Dunn County, I was recalling the conversation that I had had last week with a seventy year old lifelong farmer in Killdeer, “Do not ever, ever be out on the Native American Reservation at night.” And, I was also recalling the conversation that I had had with my co-worker/supervisor several weeks ago, “Whatever you do, do not be on the Native American Reservation at night.”

What they were referring to, I understand.  While 95% of the Native Americans on the reservation are home at night cooking and watching television, there are hateful male Native Americans who get drunk or high at night, and then they go looking for white people to kill that might be out in the reservation, and aren’t supposed to be.  The Native American Reservation is a sovereign nation, and white people do not belong there, and they are going to enforce it, they don’t like white people anyway.

I was considering that I was on Bureau of Land Management land, and that I was allowed to be there, but a drunk or high group of Native American males would just be out to kill whoever they found out here.  It would have been better for me if I had deliberately hidden my vehicle and campsite so that it could not be seen from the road, but that would not be completely safe either because all people who go looking for things in the woods late at night use high power spot lights, and they shine right through bushes and trees to reveal shiny vehicles on the other side.  It also would have been safer for me if there was more than one vehicle at my camp, the least safe with just one vehicle.

I began to realize more and more that it would be very, very bad if two or three trucks with drunk Native Americans drove up.  Even if they initially didn’t act threatening as they approached, this would be in order to get right up to me, and I then would have a much harder time defending myself with multiple people surrounding me.

I realized that I was wrong and foolish in being there by myself, and not heeding the warning of a lifelong Killdeer farmer and my work supervisor.  I left at 12:00 midnight, and I was very anxious to get back to the main road.  Once back on the highway, and off the reservation, I pulled off the road and slept until 4:00 a.m.

The Most Beautiful Land I Have Ever Seen

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In the past six weeks I have written several blog posts about my new job.  I had been working on oil well locations in the Fort Berthold Native American Reservation.  Once I knew my co-worker/supervisor well enough, I showed him the Bigfoot sighting reports on the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization website for Fort Berthold.

Within a few weeks, we were headed to a very remote location where my co-worker/supervisor had in the past gotten so spooked, that he left the location without completing the work.  Once it became dusk, he felt that something was watching him from the trees, the hair on the back of his neck was standing up, he couldn’t take it, and he got in his truck and he left in a hurry.

As I was driving the crane truck following my co-worker/supervisor to this location a couple of weeks ago, I was becoming more and more amazed at the number of trees.  There are very few trees in western North Dakota, and there are never enough to make a forest, but we were entering a forest.  We were winding back and forth around corners, and suddenly we were above a valley that was completely and densely forested with trees.  I couldn’t believe it.

When we got to the location, it was at the dead-end of the road.  I had a lot of questions for my co-worker/supervisor, I had never seen anywhere like this in North Dakota, neither had he.  We got in his crew truck and we drove down a fork in the road, into the valley.  The trees were as close and dense as anywhere I had ever seen.  In some places you could not see further than ten feet into them from the road they were so thick.  We stopped a few places to look across tall grass meadows to the eroded sandstone cliffs on the other side of the valley.  We saw a small herd of wild horses.

I knew that I would want to come back to this place when I was not working, but this could be a problem for me because I am not supposed to travel wherever I want on the Fort Berthold Reservation when I am not in a company vehicle with the $2,500 bright orange Taro sticker on the door.  We looked at an oil company map, and there was some indication of Bureau Of Land Management land in this area, so I should be able to drive to BLM land legally.

I did not have to work on Friday July 14, so I planned on coming back to this land on this Friday.  I purchased a Dash Cam video recorder for this trip, to record the drive into this valley because it might be the only chance I will ever have to come back, no one will likely believe or understand what I am describing, I wanted a video for myself and to show other people.

While doing some reading about Dunn County before my trip, I read that there is an area in northwest Dunn County that has a mini-ecosystem that is like nowhere else in North Dakota.  This area is in a valley, and it is densely forested with Burr Oak and Aspen trees. Yes, yes, that is what this area is like, it is like nowhere else in North Dakota.

I also read in the history of Dunn County, that in the late 1800s the U.S. Army/Cavalry discovered prospering Native American villages in valleys on the north side of the Killdeer Mountains.  There were several thousand Native Americans living there, hundreds and hundreds of lodges and teepees.  The U.S. Army/Cavalry reported destroying most of the lodges and teepees, destroying a great number of their supplies, including “the burning of 200 tons of dried buffalo meat”.  The valley that I was in, was so green and lush with vegetation, that I can understand and imagine that thousands of Native Americans could flourish in this area, much more so than on the open grassland.

I was excited about getting back to this valley.  I was driving my four wheel drive Toyota truck, I had my Dash Cam video camera on and recording, I had drinks and food, binoculars, rifle, sleeping bag.  I planned on staying there overnight.  I didn’t take any wrong turns, and I found the road that I was looking for into the valley at 4:00 p.m.  I drove slowly because I wanted to look at everything, not miss anything, and I wanted to get good video footage with my Dash Cam.  I had plenty of time.

On the way in, I saw some small groups of free range cattle, and some small groups of wild horses.  I went further into the valley than I had gone before.  About eight miles further in, the valley opened up into an even larger and longer valley, which I believed must have been the Little Missouri River Valley.  This was the most beautiful land that I had ever seen.  The Killdeer Mountains were the southern wall of this long and wide valley.  High on the Killdeer Mountains there were green belts of trees, probably Cedar trees.  Lower on the Killdeer Mountains there were green meadows, Aspen trees, and then lower Burr Oak, and I believe Cottonwood trees.  You could tell where the Little Missouri River was by the darker green and denser trees and vegetation.

I stayed in the valley and drove in the valley until 10:00 p.m.  The whole time I did not see another person or another vehicle.  It was amazing to me that I was in the most beautiful and undeveloped spot in North Dakota, and nobody knows about it.  I parked my truck behind some trees and I hiked up about three hundred feet above the valley.  It was very quiet.  I was neither hot nor cold, and insects were not bothering me.  This month of July has been pretty dry for North Dakota.  But this valley was very green and it had water in it.  I could see and understand how this valley must have been very idyllic for the Native Americans who lived here hundreds of years ago.  Sheltered from the heat and drought in summer.  Protected from the cold, snow, and wind in winter.

Even though this valley is in the Fort Berthold Native American Reservation, plains Indian tribes were probably living in this valley one thousand years ago, way before there were any reservations.  I have read and heard the North Dakota Native Americans complain about the Killdeer Mountains being sacred, and not wanting any development here.  I sat there and I thought about the word “sacred”.  It had in the past seemed to me to be a misuse of the word “sacred” to describe land.  Now, I understood.  This land was more beautiful than the ski resorts in Colorado, more beautiful than the mountains in Flagstaff, or the red rocks in Sedona.  This valley must have been almost a utopia for plains Indian tribes for a thousand years.  I can see that now, and I can understand now that it is not replaceable if it becomes developed.

I may give some hints on how to get here, I might have given enough already.  It may be better for anyone who is very interested, to find these valleys for themselves.  I don’t want to give explicit directions on how to get here because I don’t want the wrong people, like developers from New York or California, or Meth people to get here.

I have more photographs that I would like to show, so I will include these in an upcoming blog post.  Here is one video of this area, taken from one of the highest points, but this video does not really show the denseness of the forests below:

 

This second video, shows more of what the forests look like:

Review Of First On First July 13 Concert In Dickinson, North Dakota

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For the past four years I have been going to the downtown concerts in Dickinson, North Dakota on Thursday afternoons in the summer.  The concerts used to be called “Alive At 5”, but last year they changed the name to “First On First”.  The Odd Fellows Lodge organizes, runs, and comes up with the funding for the events.

Because I started a new job in the beginning of June, and I had to work out of town, this is the first downtown summer concert that I was able to go to this year, besides the July 3rd concert at the Paragon Bowling Alley.

At the First On First concerts, the streets are closed at 4:00 p.m. from the Rock Bar down to Bernie’s Esquire Club.  A stage is set up, various food vendors set up, a kid’s bounce house is inflated, and several outdoor bars are set up.  There is no charge for admission, it is open to all ages of people, pets are allowed, and neighborhood animals come.

I would like to first list the local celebrities that were in attendance.  “Wild Bill” Palanuk, local radio show host, and radio, television, and video narrator.  Kevin Holten, director of the North Dakota Cowboy Hall Of Fame and host of the television show “Cowboy Moments”.  Brock White, DJ and Master of Ceremonies.  Bernie Marsh, owner of Bernie’s Esquire Club and father of Marinna Marsh who is known world wide for her beauty.  Tracy Tooz, owner of Tooz Construction and organizer/sponsor of First On First.  Beni Paulson, Board of Directors High Plains Culture Center and member of Outlaw Sippin band.  Emil “The Edge” Anheluk, North Dakota Ukrainian Dance Association president and lead accordion player with Outlaw Sippin band.

Kristi Schwartz, president of Downtown Dickinson Association and owner of Allstate Insurance.  Kathy Fisher, owner of the Rock Bar.  Marchell Kubas, “List Of Attractive Women In Dickinson”.

The second aspect of this past Thursday’s First On First concert that I want to point out, is that this is one of the very few times and places in Dickinson where you will see attractive women.  Attractive women come to this event like birds to a bird bath or bird feeder.

There was quite a range of attractive women.  There were dignified housewives and professional women that wore nice light weight summer dresses or business slacks.  There were nice housewives and single women that wore jeans or walking shorts.  There were women that were seeking attention that wore shorter dresses, shorter shorts, and tops that could be revealing if they “weren’t paying attention”, accidentally on purpose.

There were Skank women that came to this event, women of dis-repute, and young women that would soon be women of dis-repute.  As far as I was concerned, there were three regionally infamous women of dis-repute at this event, which were entertaining to watch, from a distance.  You have to be out of range of how far they could spill a drink, which is how far they could throw a drink.  They wear revealing clothing, such as short shorts, small tank tops, and cut off sleeveless shirts.  They have to be out in front where every one can see them, and be the center of attention, and they become a spectacle when they get drunk.

On Wednesday I had observed a tall thin woman about 30 years old walking across a parking lot.  I was so attracted to her that I wanted to go right up to her and talk to her, but I was stuck talking to my former room mate who drove up and was telling me about his health problems.  She walked about as fast as a Bigfoot, with very long, quick strides, and I knew that I would have a hard time catching up to her, as my former room mate babbled on.

I felt that no one could tell it but me, that this girl was about as attractive as a model.  She was wearing eye glasses, had her hair tied back, was wearing baggy jeans, and a T-shirt, but I could tell that she was tall, thin, well proportioned, had a pretty face, nice complexion, pretty hair, that she was healthy, and I could tell what her personality was like, from having met women like her before.  Out of nervousness and not thinking, she waved at me.  But she got out of range, I didn’t want to head her off with my vehicle.

Serendipitously, I saw this tall, thin, model like girl at the First On First concert on Thursday.  I didn’t want to run right up to her, and scare her, and embarrass myself.  She bought a ticket to go in the VIP corral, and though I would be allowed in if I asked Brock White or Tracey Tooz, I didn’t want to embarrass myself in front of everyone in the VIP and scare her off.  I waited for a better chance to talk to her.

Finally, I stopped her as she was coming out of the Rock Bar.  I explained that I had seen her yesterday, and that I wanted to talk to her because I thought that she was attractive, but that I was stuck talking to my former room mate.  She made me explain where this was, and why I thought that this was her, and I explained everything in detail enough that she was flattered that I had remembered her in such detail, and that I must have in fact wanted to meet her.  She was from Washington State, and she had been here in Dickinson for two months.  I talked to her for about ten minutes, and I let her go, saying that I hoped to see her again.

I interjected this personal story, to explain that the First On First concerts are a chance for people to meet and talk to people that they see or deal with in Dickinson during the day, but don’t have the opportunity to have a conversation with otherwise.  Also, it is an opportunity to make an ass of yourself, like I have almost done.  On more than one occasion, I had picked out a girl that I liked, and I wanted to approach, convinced in my mind that this was a good idea, and it turned out that everyone there knew that she was married but me, or that she was a drunk and everyone knew it but me, or that she was a low Skank, not even a fancy Skank, and everyone there knew it but me.

This First On First, I would characterize it as “very balanced” in every way.  The music was not too loud, the people were spread out evenly across the whole downtown area, there were equal and moderate lines at every food vendor and alcohol bar.  There were young and old people, a variety of dog breeds, professional people, blue collar people, retirees, disabled, hippies, high school kids, college students, out of state people, local people, yuppies, farmers, ranchers, and red necks.  Since every one was spread out across the downtown event area, there were no conflicts or fights, even though a great deal of alcohol was sold.

Three bands performed from 5:00 p.m. to 10:15 p.m.  I would estimate that the number of people at the Rock Bar, Bernie’s Esquire Club, The Odd Fellows VIP lounge and corral, and the event area between 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. stayed at approximately 700 people.  Even though I do not like the Dickinson Police following me around when I am driving, they are very helpful at the concerts and events in Dickinson.  At events like the Hairball concert, the Paragon Bowling Alley concert, and the First On First concerts, the events go so much smoother when the Dickinson Police are there, because the drunk people actually make the decision that they are not going to fight, grab a hold of people, damage property, and have a tirade, because they don’t want to be tasered, handcuffed, and taken to jail.

The Danger Of Snacks In Dickinson, North Dakota

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All together, I have lived for a total of five years in Dickinson, North Dakota.  I first came to Dickinson in May of 2011, from Idaho, because I had heard about the oil boom.  The economy had turned bad in Idaho in 2009, about two years later than most other places in the United States.

The area of Idaho that I lived in had experienced a housing boom that started in approximately year 2000.  People in California that owned ordinary single family homes, discovered that they may have had $400,000 to $1,000,000 equity in their home, due to rapidly increasing real estate prices in California.  California was congested, had terrible traffic jams, high taxes, and crime.  California home owners began selling their homes in order to move to Arizona, Utah, Idaho, and Montana.

The California home owners could sell their home, buy a new home in AZ, UT, ID, and MT for $200,000, and have $200,000 to $800,000 left over to use as retirement money.  Many young men in AZ, UT, ID, and MT worked in construction, concrete, dry wall, earth work, electrical, framing, plumbing, roofing, etc.  When real estate prices dropped in 2007, due in part to wide spread mortgage fraud, “derivatives”, and a naturally occurring market reset, the construction jobs went away not long afterwards.

Myself, and many other people involved in construction began to have much less work, and make much less money.  These construction workers were the majority of the out of state workers that came to work in western North Dakota.  Reporters or local people may have wanted to describe the people who came as being from diverse backgrounds, but this was not the case, they were mostly construction workers.

When I arrived in Dickinson in 2011, within one week I had a job where I was earning about $1,100 per week, due to working overtime hours.  Able bodied, semi-skilled construction workers were able to obtain employment making $15 to $20 per hour, with roughly twenty hours of overtime each week.

I thought that my financial problems were over, I was making much more money than I had been making.  The majority of the out of state workers felt this way.  But every winter, I would have not very much money saved up when I wanted or planned to go back to Idaho, and I wondered what had happened, and where the money had gone.

For all of the out of state construction/oil field workers, myself included, one of the biggest and worst “hidden” costs, was Snacks.  Every morning, most workers would stop at a gas station convenience store and buy about three to four Gatorades, a sandwich, potato chips, brownies, etc., which would add up to $20 more or less.  There would not be anywhere to stop later in the day possibly, or there possibly would not be time, so you had to try to get enough things to last all day.

Back in 2011, there were very long lines at the grocery stores, tremendously long lines at WalMart, and most workers did not have the time or the energy to stand in a long line at WalMart after working for twelve hours.  The gas station convenience store shopping continued in the evening, due to the long lines at the grocery stores and WalMart.

How bad is this problem?  Let me give you an astonishing example.  My co-worker/supervisor told me that he made $135,000 in year 2015.  He paid over $45,000 in income taxes that year.  Though there should have been $90,000 left over, he has nothing to show for it, and he does not know where that money went.  I told him that it was partly due to Snacks.

In the morning, every morning, he spends $20 or more at a convenience store on food, drinks, etc..  The same thing happens at lunch time, and the same thing happens at night on his way home.   That is at least $60 per day, $420 per week, $1,800 per month, and $21,600 per year, on Snacks!

His Snack payment each month, is equal to what a mortgage payment would be on a $275,000 house.  His Snack payment each month, would make the make the payments on two new four wheel drive trucks.

There are several things that caused all of the out of state workers to spend a tremendous amount of money in a way that was wasteful.  Most of the out of state workers did not have wives and girlfriends with them, due to adverse conditions, especially the cost of housing.  Wives and girlfriends could have done shopping during the day, and obtained food and drinks at 20% to 30% of the cost of a convenience store.  Wives and girlfriends, if they had any sense and wanted to have anything for themselves, would have grasped the enormous amount of money that the oil field workers were wasting every day.

Besides the out of state workers not having wives or girlfriends with them, most out of state workers did not want to come back to their local housing at night.  Housing was very, very expensive, which meant having a bunch of room mates in order to live in a house or nice apartment, living in a small camper, living in a man camp dormitory, or living in a small old decrepit apartment.   Out of state workers went to eat at restaurants every night and out to bars every night for several hours in order to not have to be around their room mates or face the depressing fact that they were living in a small camper.

The End Of A Work Week In Dickinson, North Dakota

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If you have been reading my blog posts for the past couple of weeks, you will have read some descriptions and details about how things have been going at my new job that I started five weeks ago.  I was very let down and disappointed that what I thought was going to be a good job at a good company, turned out to be the exact opposite.

Besides complaining about the company that I started to work for, I very nearly could not work because my eyes swelled up to where I could not see due to allergies.  I made it through that, but just barely.  My co-worker/supervisor for a number of reasons, did not want to help me do the work, and began to come to work less and less, to the point that he did not come to work at all yesterday.  The company that I work for, is unaware of this, but the oil company that we are doing the work for, is aware that I have been working mostly by myself, though I am not supposed to be.

I have been working out of town, two hours away from Dickinson.  There is an even greater shortage of women, restaurants, stores, and things to do where I am working, than in Dickinson.  On the drive home to Dickinson this Friday, there is nothing that I was looking forward to in Dickinson.  There are no friends or prospective girl friends that I was looking forward to seeing, no where that I was looking forward to eating, nothing that I wanted to buy, and nothing that I wanted to do.

When I got home in Dickinson, I checked my e-mail.  There was nothing too important or alarming.  I had an e-mail that my on-line pay check record could be viewed.  I looked at my net pay check, and it was disappointingly low.  Looking at it some more, I saw that my company had shorted me 8.5 hours of overtime pay.

I wrote a letter to the company pay roll person, writing down the hours that I worked each day, and my total hours.  I planned on dropping this letter off on Saturday or Monday.  Also, there was withholding for “New Hire”, which I did not understand.

As I thought about it some more, I realized that the company was going to try to not pay me for drive time, which began to make me angry.  I have to wake up at 2:00 a.m. on Monday, to leave at 3:00 a.m., to drive two hours until 5:00 a.m., which is 6:00 a.m. in that time zone, and then work until 5:00 p.m. in that time zone, which is 6:00 p.m. in Dickinson.  In other words, I start driving at 3:00 a.m., and I don’t get done with work until 15 hours later, that’s right 15 hours later.  On my time sheet, my supervisor writes down 12 hours for Monday, but the accounting women and the owner’s wife, just assume that because it is a two hour drive, they will just go ahead and take two hours off that 12 hours.

I could inconvenience the company owner and his wife by filing a small claims suit or a complaint with the Department of Labor, for the money that I am not being paid, but I would probably lose, because this is North Dakota.  The company owner and his wife have a lot of news stories about them because they are so amazingly successful, benevolent, charitable, and run everything so well.  I am seeing and experiencing the exact opposite.

I have to weigh out what I want to do.  Saying or writing what I would really like to do, would only cause me unnecessary problems and not get me anywhere.  The only smart and rational thing for me to do, would be to find another job.

I looked at North Dakota Job Service, Indeed, and LinkedIn, to try to find another job.  There are very few jobs in Dickinson now, very, very few jobs.

I write about things like this in blog posts, because I am frustrated, but also to write what is actually happening.  If anyone came to Dickinson, they would experience the same thing, and perhaps even worse.  Most people would go to the liquor store or to the bar on a Friday evening like this.  This is why most out of state workers get a DUI in Dickinson.  It sucks here so bad, but you can’t drink, or the police will get you.

When A Blue Collar Worker Becomes A Supervisor In Dickinson, North Dakota

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The title of this blog post also could have been “When A Red Neck Becomes A Supervisor In Dickinson, North Dakota. ” There are other words besides “Blue Collar Worker” or “Red Neck”, that could have been used.

I started a new job in Dickinson five weeks ago, and I would not have lasted a day, had it not been for the fact that my co-worker/supervisor was my age, and he was from the South like me.  He has many years of work experience in the oil field, and he has worked with several oil companies in this area.

My co-worker/supervisor wanted and intended that I would drive and operate the crane truck,that I would do the physical work, and that he would do the paperwork.  There is a lot of oil company paper work.   He wanted to sit in the air-conditioning in his crew truck doing paperwork, while I would do the physical work.  This is not normally how a two-man oil field crew would operate, especially if the paperwork does not take all day.

The paper work does not take all day, so my supervisor/co-worker would leave the job site location to go and do other things.  Basically, he would head for home at 2:30 p.m.  Hey, that’s what supervisors do, isn’t it?  Even though my co-worker/supervisor was supposed to be helping me do the actual work, in his mind, since he was in charge, he was a manager, and managers can go home when they want, can’t they?

Because the paperwork does not take all day, and my co-worker/supervisor had assigned himself the paperwork only, my co-worker/supervisor began texting me on most mornings, “Got to take care of some things, go ahead and start without me.”  He wouldn’t arrive on location until about 10:00 a.m. or 11:00 a.m., he would sit in the truck and do paperwork for three to four hours, and then he would leave to go home at 2:30 p.m.

The oil company that we are doing the work for, has all kinds of supervisory oversight on what is going on at their locations, safety supervisors, security & operations supervisors, maintenance supervisors, automation/controls supervisors, production supervisors, and so on.  For the past four weeks, all of the oil company personnel have seen just one person doing the work, and there are supposed to be two of us doing the work.

There are supposed to be two of us, because the oil company is paying for a two-man crew, and it takes two people to do the work, especially for safety reasons.  There is not supposed to be just one person on these remote locations, doing this type of work.

I didn’t complain because I wanted to keep my job, I wanted to get paid, no one was bothering me, and I was being left alone all day to do the work.  I didn’t think it was right for my co-worker/supervisor to show up at 10:00 a.m., stay in his truck the whole time with the air-conditioning on, listening to the radio, snacking and drinking, while doing the paperwork, and then leaving to go home at 2:30 p.m.  On many days at 2:30 p.m., I was just about to the point of heat stroke.

I am sure that all of the different personnel at this oil company have mentioned and discussed that I am there by myself doing the work, that this is not supposed to be like this, not what they paid for, and not safe.  It has been mentioned to my co-worker/supervisor by the oil company manager a couple of times recently that he is supposed to be there with me.

This morning I waited for my co-worker/supervisor to show up at the oil company yard at 7:00 a.m.  I received a garbled text message from my co-worker/supervisor that he had some business to attend to this morning, without giving me any work instructions.  I texted him back that I would go to the truck stop to get fuel in the crane truck.  He knows that I would have to use my own money, he has the company fuel card.  I wanted to act like we were starting work, I didn’t want the oil company to know that my co-worker/supervisor was no where around, and that I didn’t have any work instructions.

I waited at the truck stop after fueling the crane truck, to hear back from my co-worker/supervisor, but I didn’t hear back, and he didn’t answer his phone, it was now 8:00 a.m.  I drove for one hour to the area that I thought we were supposed to be working in, and I sent a text message to my co-worker/supervisor telling him where I was, and asking for the site location name, it was now 9:00 a.m.

At 10:00 a.m., I was trying to decide whether or not to call the oil company to ask them what site I was supposed to be working on.  This would lead to them asking me where my supervisor/co-worker was, which I didn’t want to explain, and they wouldn’t like it.

Shortly after 10:00 a.m., my co-worker/supervisor called, and he was very angry about all of the missed calls he had, blaming me, but I only called him twice.  He was acting like everybody was causing him problems and bothering him.  He told me what site location to meet him at.  It took me about twenty minutes to get to that site location, and I started work.

The oil company manager called me to ask me what was going on.  In order to call me, I believe that the oil company manager probably had to call the company that I work for to get it, which probably involved him explaining why he had to call me, he could not reach my co-worker/supervisor.  The oil company manager told me to have my co-worker/supervisor call him when he arrived at the site location where I was working.

At about 12 noon, my co-worker/supervisor called and asked me if I had found the site location.  I told him that I had found it, and that I had completed the work.  He told me that he would meet me at the next location.  I went to the next site location and I completed that work.  My co-worker/supervisor called me and he wanted me to go back to my previous location to get some information which would allow him to complete the inspection paperwork.

I informed my co-worker/supervisor to not turn in the completed inspection paperwork without having been on that site location, because the oil company manager knows that he has not been on that location.  At this point, my co-worker/supervisor said that he was not going to drive to work, it was too late in the day now.

My co-worker/supervisor was supposed to be working right along with me, all day, every day.  He began to believe that since he was in charge of he work, that makes him a manager, he was the manager of me.  He began to believe that since he was a manager, he could arrive at the work location at 10:00 a.m., and leave to go home at 2:30 p.m., a 4-1/2 hour work day, not leaving the air-conditioning of his truck.  Today, he planned on turning in a time sheet for 12 hours, just like every day, and not even come to work at all.

It would have been easier for me, if my co-worker/supervisor would have sent one text message to me this morning, stating that he would not be coming to work today, and letting me know what work site locations I had to go to.  However, because he knows that he is not really a manager, that he is an hourly oil field worker, that is supposed to be there working with me at each location, that he would have to try to act like he was going to meet me at each location throughout the day, act like he was right there the whole time, to turn in a time sheet for twelve hours today.

Today, it may have come to the point that the oil company that we are performing work for, has had enough.  This will be especially true if my co-worker/supervisor tries to turn in inspection check sheets, when the oil company knows that he was never on those site locations today.  With my co-worker/supervisor having gotten into the habit of 4-1/2 hour work days, the oil company would reasonably believe that they are not getting what they paid for, that they are being short-changed.  This work for the oil company will likely come to a halt soon, over dissatisfaction with work performance, and I will probably be looking for another job.

Real Estate Prices In Dickinson, North Dakota

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Today I looked through the free “Real Estate Preview”, published by the Dickinson Press & The Advertiser.  There are a tremendous number of homes for sale in Dickinson and western North Dakota.

The house prices range from overpriced to ridiculously overpriced.  In general the houses are priced about 50% above where they should be if they were to have any chance of selling.  For instance, a house that might actually sell within several months at $200,000, is instead listed for $300,000.  This is the case for listing after listing, page after page.

People in Dickinson are trying to sell their homes now for three main reasons.  One, they recognize that the oil boom is over and that real estate prices are going to fall, so now would be a better time to sell rather than later.  Two, they can not see being able to afford the home they are in now, now that the oil boom is over, because they have greatly reduced income.  Three, they can not afford the home they bought in Dickinson, now that the oil boom is over, and they must leave Dickinson, or they have already left Dickinson.

Everybody in western North Dakota knows that the oil boom is over now.  Everyone knows that real estate prices are going to drop.  Everyone knows and can see that people are desperate to sell their homes now, for the three reasons that I just explained in the previous paragraph.

I don’t understand, and then again yes I do understand, how the several hundred home sellers and the one hundred real estate agents expect to sell homes for 50% more than what they could sell for now.  Just for fun, to check the sanity and stupidity of the home sellers and the real estate agents, here are some questions that I would like to ask them:

  1. How is it that everyone knows that the oil boom is over, that now is the time to sell because real estate prices are going to drop, and you don’t know, that everyone knows?
  2. Real estate agents and home sellers, how is it that the oil boom is over, that there are several hundred homes for sale because the oil boom is over, people have lost their jobs, people have reduced income, people have had to move away, and you are pricing homes like there is an oil boom going on?
  3. Real estate agents and home sellers, can you describe the imaginary buyer that you have pictured in your mind, that is going to buy an old, not very attractive home on a city lot in Dickinson for $227,000, when most blue collar workers, trades people, and oil field workers have lost their jobs, are fearful of losing their jobs, or are working reduced hours?

The only sane recommendation that I could make to a home seller now would be, that if you want to sell your home within the next several months, you had better drop the price to the point that it is clearly a very good deal in comparison to the other several hundred houses that are for sale in western North Dakota.

The advice that I would give to a home buyer would be to wait.  The home prices are going to drop, whether the home owners and real estate agents like it or not.  My estimation is, that a home that is currently advertised at $300,000 now in the Dickinson area, should actually be priced at $200,000 in order for it to sell within several months.  One year from now, this same home would have to be priced at $175,000 for it to sell within several months.  Two years from now, $150,000.  I base this on what happened in Dickinson after the oil boom of the late 1970s.  It is not that the home is actually worth so much less, it is that people will be leaving Dickinson, so many houses will be for sale at the same time, and there will be not many people wanting to buy a house in Dickinson.

I want to point out and remind the people in Dickinson, especially the real estate agents and property owners, that if you had not tried to take advantage of the out of state workers so bad during the oil boom, they all would not have planned on leaving Dickinson.  If the local people would not have been so hateful and hostile, Dickinson would have had permanent growth and a larger economy.  Dickinson will possibly or likely see a decline in population that continues for the next twenty years.  Other towns and cities that are welcoming and hospitable will grow and experience new development.

Review Of Paragon Bowling Alley Outdoor Concert With The Band “32 Below” In Dickinson, North Dakota

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On July 3, the Paragon Bowling Alley in downtown Dickinson held an outdoor concert with the band “32 Below’.  Overall the concert was a successful and enjoyable event.  The band “32 Below” is well liked in North Dakota, the event area was plenty big enough, all the people in attendance had a good time, and there were very few problems.

John Mueller, whose family has owned the Paragon Bowling Alley since approximately the 1960s, had planned to have this concert on July 3, since this winter.  One of the biggest events in Dickinson is the Demolition Derby, which this year was held at the new Fair Grounds on July 3.  No one else in Dickinson was planning an event for people to go to after the Demolition Derby, which is why John Mueller wanted to have this concert.

At about 5:30 p.m., while it was still day light, the local band “The Mollies” with the Landis sisters, began playing on a different stage, than the one where “32 Below” would play.  This was a good idea, because there was not very much lag time between one band taking down their equipment and the next band setting up their equipment.

I stopped by early, and I found out that the Paragon was not going to charge an admission fee, which I didn’t know, and I bet that a lot of people didn’t know.  I estimate that a band like “32 Below” costs about $10,000-$15,000 for an event, which is a lot of money to pay, and not charge admission.

The Paragon parking lot was fenced in with temporary fencing, mostly for people’s safety, because there was no admission fee, and there was no age requirement.  There were some elderly attendees, toddler attendees, children attendees, and dogs and cats.  Yes, dogs and cats from the neighborhood came to the event.

The beer garden bar tender girls were pleasant and attractive.  The Paragon security people were laid back, not pushy, and not aggressive.  The Dickinson Police Officers that were on duty at the event didn’t bother anyone at all or give anyone a hard time.  There were enough rented bathrooms for there not to be problems.

Between 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., the crowd outside the Paragon only got up to about 250 people.  At about 8:00 p.m. the Camajur Bus service had been bringing people from the Demolition Derby and the crowd began to increase rapidly.  Between 9:00 p.m. to 12 midnight, “32 Below” played almost non-stop, and the crowd outside the Paragon stayed at what I would estimate was between 500 to 600 people, as follows:

  • 200 people directly in front of the stage.
  • 100 people in the VIP corral and beer garden.
  • 100 people outside of the VIP corral and beer garden.
  • 200 people at the back of the event area around the mechanical bull.

I saw that the Paragon diner was full for most of the night.  I was told that the bar was full too, but I didn’t go into the bar inside.  Even though most of the attendees had been drinking alcohol all day, I did not see one fight, or one person pass out.  Most of the attendees at the event were North Dakotans from this area, with a few DSU students and workers from out of state.

I Get To Work Where The Bigfoots Are In North Dakota

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For approximately fifteen years I have been reading the Bigfoot Field Research Organization Website, BFRO for short.  The BFRO maintains a data base of sightings, searchable by county and state.  The BFRO will accept witness reports, interview the witnesses, gather additional details, and visit the location if possible.  If the report appears to be legitimate, the report gets added to their data base.

To take just a minute to explain some things to people who do not know much about Bigfoot.  Ever since the settling of North America, there have been Bigfoot sightings.  Yes, Bigfoots have been captured, both dead and alive.  There are hundreds of newspaper reports of Bigfoots being seen and being shot back in the 1800s and early 1900s.  Someone had collected about one hundred of these old newspaper articles on their website titled “Lawn flowers, Jerky, and Bigfoot.”  Myself, and many others read these newspaper articles, but this site is only referenced now, it appears to be gone now.

The person who created the website “Lawn flowers, Jerky, and Bigfoot”, that contained about one hundred articles from old newspapers, appeared to be a biologist or naturalist, probably employed by a state agency.  All the State and Federal employees, such as naturalists, biologists, environmentalists, geologists, park rangers, fish & game, Bureau of Land Management, etcetera, are all told to not talk about the Bigfoot subject.  It may be wisdom, or it may be something else, that made the U.S. Government decide a long time ago, that they were going to deny, cover up, and not acknowledge the existence of Bigfoot.

There have not been many Bigfoot sightings reported in North Dakota, compared to states like California, Oregon, and Washington state.  This seems understandable, since North Dakota is not heavily forested, North Dakota is comprised mostly of grassland and badlands.  However, there have been a great deal of Bigfoot sightings on the Fort Berthold Native American Reservation.

I knew a little about Native American history, culture, values, and life from reading, and from meeting and working with Native Americans.  For the sake of simplicity, you can start out by realizing that Native Americans were taken advantage of, and that to this day they have some mistrust, resentment, and hostility when dealing with non-Native Americans.

During the past four weeks I have had to work in the oil field on the Native American Reservation of Fort Berthold.  In the late 1940s, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was conducting a study on where to dam the Missouri River in North Dakota, to create a reservoir.  The area that was decided upon, was the Native American Reservation at Fort Berthold.  Can you imagine that?  The Native Americans in the Dakotas had been forced off the plains and grasslands onto a reservation in the late 1800s, not something they wanted to happen in the first place, and now, less than 100 years later, the U.S. Government is going to flood their villages.  Eight villages were flooded, and a new town was created above the reservoir Lake Sakakawea, called New Town.

In the summer, Lake Sakakawea is beautiful.  The dark blue water of the lake washes right up onto the various colors of green grassland and farm fields.  The land is Native American owned, sparsely occupied, and hardly developed at all.  In many areas, there are several thousand acres per single family home.  There are very few roads, most of them are not paved, and not marked with signs.

Remember, this is a Native American Reservation, and I am only allowed to travel on the reservation because I am working on the oil wells.  Each oil field vehicle has a large sticker on the door, called a “Taro Card”, that is issued by the reservation at a fee of $2,500 per sticker.   The Native American police patrol all the roads, and if you do not have a big “Taro Card” sticker on your door, and you are not a member of the tribe, the fine is $1,000.

For those of you living outside of North Dakota, try to realize that the population of the entire state is less than 1 million people.  Western North Dakota is very sparsely populated.  The Fort Berthold Reservation is even more unpopulated and undeveloped.  Many times each day when I am working, I can see for five miles in every direction, and there are no people.  About every other location that I am working on, a tanker truck will arrive to load oil.  If it weren’t for the oil field traffic, there would not be any vehicles.

This past week, I got my co-worker/supervisor to look up on the internet the Bigfoot sightings for Fort Berthold.  My co-worker/supervisor has been working in this area for about five years, and he knows the area very well.  He was surprised to see that many of the sighting reports were right where we were working.

During my second week of working on the reservation, my co-worker/supervisor was trying to give me a warning to never, ever work until dark on a location, to make sure to get back to town before dark.  He said that he had been way out at a location, not far from where we had been earlier, and an oil field tanker truck driver had started a conversation with him, delaying him in the work that he was doing.  The tanker truck driver left, and he was alone at the site.  He needed to complete the work, and not have to come back in the morning.

He said that he began to feel that he was being watched, like someone was watching him.  The hair on the back of his neck was standing up, and he tried to work, but he couldn’t.  He had to leave without completing the work.  He talked to some of the other workers the following day, and they said that other workers said the same thing about that location.  He will not go to that location when it is getting close to dark.

The Fort Berthold Reservation is sparsely populated and undeveloped.  Everywhere, it seems like there is a heavily treed ravine with a creek bed.  The criss crossing and ever present heavily treed ravines make it possible for Bigfoots to stay concealed during the day, with water and things to eat.  At night, they can travel across the fields and hills without much risk of being seen, there are so few people.

The Native Americans in their culture and heritage do not feel the need to deny the existence of Bigfoot, any more than they would try to deny the existence of a wolf or buffalo.  The Native Americans, although they may be astonished at the sight of a Bigfoot, and afraid, they don’t feel that something must be done about it, they just continue on doing what they normally do.

Allergies Almost Causing Me To Lose My Job In Dickinson, North Dakota

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I never had allergies before in my life, until the last four years in Dickinson, North Dakota.  In my first two years in Dickinson, I didn’t have allergies either.

I wouldn’t care very much if I just had a runny nose, and red, itchy, watery eyes.  But, one or both of my eyes swell nearly completely shut, my eyes become blinded by sunlight, and I can barely see.  This happens about three to four times each year, for the past four years.

No one is going to like this, what I am going to write next.  In order to not lose my job, and go to work, I have had to wear two pairs of sunglasses, one over top of the other, and open my eyes for 1/2 second, and close them for 1 second, while I am driving.  On some days, even wearing two pairs of sunglasses, I can’t hold my eyes open for more than one second.

Why don’t I go to the doctor?  Because this is Dickinson, and North Dakota, that’s why.  I have lived with a life-long Dickinson resident for over three years.  I have seen him try to make appointments with the St. Alexius Hospital and Sanford Health, many times.  When he needs medical attention fairly urgently, describing his intense agonizing pain, the staff reads to him the appointment dates they have available, five to six weeks out.

Then, what I have seen them do to my room mate, is to schedule him for test after test after test, running up a bill of $7,000 for tests, and offer no treatment!  So fuck the corrupt and incompetent medical professionals in Dickinson!  They would probably try to put you on the medical helicopter to Bismarck for a bad case of hemorrhoids.

I am getting off my topic here, but what the medical facilities here in Dickinson are trying to do is bill, bill, bill, in order to pay for their personnel and facilities.  In treating someone, even if they could quickly diagnose someone and treat them, they aren’t going to, because there is no money in that.  And, they probably perceive there being some legal liability in trying to quickly diagnose someone and offer a simple treatment, foregoing extensive testing.

Back to my allergies.  It happens three to four times a year in Dickinson, where my eyes swell up, become sensitive to light, and I can’t see.  I have tried just about every over the counter allergy medication, like Benadryl, Claritin, Allegra, and Flonase.  Benadryl seems to make my eyes more sensitive to light, Flonase Sensimist nasal spray seems to help the most.  But nothing helps very much.  Visine and Opticon allergy eye drops do not help very much.

If you have read my recent previous blog posts, you will know that I started a new job four weeks ago at an oil field company.  I have to drive and operate a crane truck.  If I don’t come to work, the work can not be done, my co-worker/supervisor can not get paid, and my company can not get paid.  My co-worker/supervisor gets paid about $300 per day, his truck gets billed at about $200 per day at least, and my crane truck gets billed at about $500 per day at least, and the company loses about $3,000 per day in billing.  If I tried to not come to work for even one day, they would try to replace me as soon as possible, permanently.  Especially, if my co-worker/supervisor and the company thought that this was something that could happen again.

I could not say, “I have a bad allergy attack about three to four times a year, I am having a bad allergy attack this morning, it would not be safe for me to drive or work today.” I may as well say, “I quit.”  The company would not understand.  The part that they would understand, is that I needed to be replaced.  Once my position has been filled, what do they need me for, so that I can call in sick again in the future?

I had to drive two hours to work on Monday in my personal truck with a bad allergy attack, and very much difficulty with my eyes.  I then had to drive 1/2 hour in the crane truck to some place that I had never been.  When I got to where my co-worker/supervisor was, I explained to him about my allergy problem that I was currently having, but that I wanted to try to work.

I know, and my co-worker/supervisor knows, that if I don’t work, neither of us get paid.  This was my co-worker/supervisor’s main concern.  I don’t think that most people will understand how dangerous it was for me and for others, for me to work and drive all day with having only about 30% of my eyesight.  At the end of the day, I did not think that I could drive the crane truck back for thirty minutes in traffic.  I tried to discuss this with my co-worker/supervisor, but he did not want to drive thirty minutes in the opposite direction from his home.

I made it to where I was going at the end of the day Monday, barely.  My eyesight was slightly better on Tuesday and Wednesday.  I managed to keep my job.  This job pays me in one week, what I would earn in one month in Idaho.  Jobs in the oil field are very scarce and hard to get now.  It would have been the end of me working in the oil field if I would have lost this job after one month, especially for having allergies.