Tag Archives: Living in Dickinson, North Dakota

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Why I Don’t Go Back To Idaho, And The Triple Blasphemy Of Mormonism

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Many readers send me e-mail saying, “Why don’t you go back to Idaho.” I will answer this question, and in answering this question, you will see why I created this blog website and why I write what I write.

In May of 2007 I drove from Arizona to eastern Idaho with the intention of moving there. I had done some research about where I was going, the Idaho Falls area. Idaho Falls was the second largest city in Idaho, the population in that area was about 100,000. Housing prices were not high, that was one of the main reasons why I was moving there. I wanted to buy a home and land. The area in Arizona where I was moving from, the average house price was $400,000, which was too much money for me.

When I first drove into Idaho Falls and got off the interstate, I was slightly lost and drove a little outside of town into the farming area. It was exactly like scenes out of a children’s book, plain modest tidy homes with green grass, green pastures, and beautiful clean blue streams of water running through it. Driving further, I came to a wider and faster flowing feeder canal with small white capped waves. There was an abundance of clean water flowing. You could clearly see the Teton Mountains to the east, and they seemed only to be about fifteen miles away. This was the Snake River Valley.

In the late 1800s, the Mormons had settled the Snake River Valley through 180 acre government land grants to homesteaders. I did not have anything against the Mormons, though I was something like a Methodist. I thought that Mormons didn’t drink alcohol, didn’t smoke, didn’t drink caffeinated beverages, and had large families. What is wrong with that?

In Idaho Falls, there was a Mormon Church, The Church Of Jesus Christ Latter Day Saints, about every five to ten blocks. Idaho Falls is about sixty to seventy percent Mormon. After I had lived in Idaho Falls for several months and had met people, I was invited to the LDS, Latter Day Saints Church.

I won’t go into all of the details, but at LDS Church, first there is the general assembly of all persons together before the Bishop of that Ward or Precinct, then the men and women dis-assemble and go to individual meetings based on their age group.

I did some reading at home about the Mormon Church. In the early 1800s, their prophet, Joseph Smith, was visited by the angel Moroni, and he was told where a book of golden tablets was buried along with a sacred vest. Joseph Smith later retrieved this book of golden tablets and the sacred vest. The book was written in an unknown language, which only Joseph Smith was granted the power to read. Joseph Smith verbally translated the book of golden tablets to a friend who wrote everything down, and this is how The Book Of Mormon was created.

Many people were, and are skeptical, about Joseph Smith being a prophet of God. Many people ask, “Why can’t the book of golden tablets be looked at by anyone, even just a few experts, to prove and verify that the book of golden tablets does exist?” Another reason why many people were, and are skeptical about Joseph Smith being a prophet of God, is because The Holy Bible does state and imply that Jesus was the final messenger that would be sent by God, no prophet would come after him.

I was skeptical about Joseph Smith being a prophet of God, but I went to several more LDS Church services. The general assembly of all persons was dismissed one morning, and I went to the men’s study group. A man in the study group stated the Mormon belief, “Just as God evolved, we too can evolve, and become Gods of our own planet one day.”  I said to myself, “What the fuck did he just say! What the fuck did he just say!”

When this study group dismissed, I anxiously asked my two Mormon Missionary friends, what was this guy talking about. Unfortunately, this was no mistake, this is Mormon Doctrine. The Mormon Missionaries explained to me that Mormon men believe that through work, effort, and reincarnations, that men can evolve to become more God-like, and that they will be Gods of their own planet one day. This was the craziest thing that I had ever heard, and I realized right away that it was blasphemous in at least three different ways.

If you are a Christian, you believe that God is a supreme being. Stating that God “evolved”, is stating that God might not always have been a supreme being and implying that God is not perfect, is fallible, and makes mistakes. Stating that we too can evolve to become like God, is just outright blasphemy, and again denying that God is a supreme being. Stating that we too can become Gods of our own planet one day is the third blasphemy, continuing to state that we can become like God. If you readers have never heard this, and you don’t believe me, please look this up for yourself.

I informed my Mormon Missionary friends that I could not attend the LDS Church anymore, that this thing about God evolving was blasphemous to me. I was suspicious about Mormons from that day forward. Each Mormon man that I met from then on, I thought to myself, “Does he believe that he will become God of his own planet one day? If he does, he has got to be crazy.” I wondered how educated people like doctors and lawyers could believe something like this, if they do, they must have something mentally wrong with them. In case you women readers missed it, I said that the Mormon men believe that they will evolve to become God of their own planet one day, as for the women, they do not pass into a higher realm, they pass out of existence.

Once I explained how I felt about not being able to attend the LDS Church anymore, I was black listed in Idaho at the medium level of disfavor. Good, high paying jobs, which are not plentiful in Idaho Falls, were no longer open to me. The hottest, best looking, best temperament Mormon women were no longer available to me. Before moving to Idaho, I had no idea that Idaho Falls was sixty to seventy percent Mormon, and that Idahoans really want newcomers to join their Mormon Church to increase their numbers and their prosperity. If you don’t join, they look at it as undermining and refusing to increase their success and prosperity.

I had to weigh having a good, high paying job, and a hot, beautiful, subservient wife, against eternal damnation of my soul. If I would have known that Idaho was going to be this way, I never would have moved there in the first place. I wish that there would have been some useful truthful information about “living in Idaho” right there at the top of the search results on the internet, telling everyone what it is really like before they move there.

That is why I have a blog website about Dickinson, Watford City, and western North Dakota. I want to tell all of the people from out of state the truth before they move here. There are not a lot of job openings now, housing prices are still high, there is a shortage of women, people are unfriendly and uncooperative, the police are aggressive in DUI arrests, there is not much to do, it is extremely cold and grey for seven months out of the year, and the Catholics here a mean and nasty to everyone.

North Dakota White Trash Hall Of Fame, Williston, North Dakota, Part II

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In Part I of this blog post, I wrote about the North Dakota White Trash Hall Of Fame in Williston, North Dakota. In order to be fair, there needs to be a point system in order to determine who will be inducted. Below is a point system.

  1. If the person is from Florida or Texas, they automatically get 1 point.
  2. If their name is “Kayla”, they automatically get 1 point.

 

  1. If they drive a Pontiac Grand Prix, they get 1 point.
  2. For each vehicle hubcap missing, 1 point.
  3. For each vehicle window that is broken, 2 points.
  4. For each vehicle windshield or rear window decal banner, 3 points.

 

  1. For each body piercing, 1 point.
  2. For each tattoo, 1 point.
  3. Each name tattoo, 2 points.
  4. Each misspelled tattoo, 3 points.

 

  1. Each tobacco product used, 1 point.
  2. Each illegal drug used, 3 points.

 

  1. Each misdemeanor, 1 point.
  2. Each warrant out for their arrest, 3 points.
  3. Each resisting arrest, 3 points.
  4. Each felony, 4 points.
  5. Each assaulting a police officer, 5 points.

 

In the point system, there is no maximum point total, because it is not conceivable how many tattoos, piercings, and criminal charges a person might have. I believe that a person with a point total of 10 is probably White Trash, however this point total of 10 would probably be what 75% of the workers in North Dakota would have. You can’t have everybody inducted into The North Dakota White Trash Hall Of Fame. I believe a sufficient point total to be inducted would be 15 points.

I believe that a good time and place to have a White Trash person inducted into The North Dakota White Trash Hall Of Fame, would be at their sentencing hearing. Right after the judge or jury reads the sentencing determination, they can announce, “Also, you are hereby inducted into the North Dakota White Trash Hall Of Fame, congratulations.” Then everyone present can clap, the inductee gets their picture taken, and this photograph goes in the newspaper.

 

Please mail your nominations for induction into The North Dakota White Trash Hall Of Fame to:

Chamber of Commerce                                                                                                                         Attn: White Trash Hall Of Fame                                                                                                             #10 Main Street                                                                                                                                           P.O. Box G                                                                                                                                                      Williston, North Dakota 58802

 

North Dakota White Trash Hall Of Fame, Williston, North Dakota, Part I

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Just like The North Dakota Cowboy Hall Of Fame located in Medora, North Dakota, the North Dakota White Trash Hall Of Fame should be located in Williston, North Dakota.  Williston was probably the number one destination for White Trash, and  Williston is trying to attract people, businesses, and development now, so Williston is the perfect place for the North Dakota White Trash Hall Of Fame.

Just like The North Dakota Cowboy Hall Of Fame in Medora, North Dakota, on the ground floor, there should be the museum, exhibits, displays, and movie theater, and on the second floor there should be the photographs and placards listing all of the merits of the individual inductees.

On the ground floor of The North Dakota White Trash Hall Of Fame, one of the exhibits could be a beat up Kia compact car with a Florida license plate, showing how the White Trash typically got up here to North Dakota.  One of the windows would be broken with plastic and duct tape over the opening, the tires would be mis-matched, half of the hub caps would be missing, in the back seat there would be clothes and belongings packed in plastic grocery bags and plastic garbage bags, and in the front seat would be several half-completed employment applications for local businesses written with mis-spellings, incorrect grammer, and things that don’t make sense.

Some of the displays would have to be all the newspaper and magazine headlines telling people all over the United States, that everyone who comes to North Dakota, makes $100,000 a year, with no job skills, experience, or education.  Then in the vicinity of these headlines about how everyone was getting rich in North Dakota, you could have photographs of the beat up shitty cars with out of state license plates, with all their belongings in plastic bags in the back seat, parked in the Wal-Mart where they were trying to sleep in their cars, parked near tents in camp grounds or people’s back yards, parked in vast expansive trailer parks.

Some of the displays would be the Police Blotter sections of the newspapers in Williston, Watford City, Minot, and Dickinson.  One of the displays would be clothing that the White Trash wore, pajama pants, hoodies, etc.

In my next blog post, I will give an explanation of the point system that would be used to determine if an individual qualifies for induction into the North Dakota White Trash Hall Of Fame.

High Plains Cultural Center, Killdeer, North Dakota

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In late 2014, the newly constructed High Plains Cultural Center opened in downtown Killdeer on Highway 22.  The facility was constructed to serve many different functions for Killdeer and Dunn County.

The facility can hold events with up to 500 people:  business conferences, company meetings, community meetings, music concerts, dances, dinners, weddings, family reunions.  There are kitchen facilities, bar facilities, sound system, and 12’x22′ video screen.  There is a covered entrance for vehicles dropping off or picking people up.  There is a large outer lobby that is separate from the event area. There are large restrooms at each end of the event area.

During the week, the High Plains Culture Center is open from 8:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.  There is a gym and exercise equipment on the second floor, the event area is set up for basketball or volleyball, and there is a separate Pioneer Museum adjacent to the lobby.

I like the High Plains Culture Center, and I think that this has got to be the best thing that ever happened in Killdeer or Dunn County.  I would not change a thing about the facility, it could not have turned out better, and it is not lacking anything.

I would have thought that everybody would have been proud and joyful about the High Plains Cultural Center, it is so clean, and nice, and modern.  Now, especially in the Winter, kids can play in the basketball area, moms and dads can walk the upper level track and use the exercise equipment, older people can sit and have coffee in the lobby.  They can have concerts, watch sporting events on the large screen, host charity events and dinners, have dances.  Some people in Killdeer didn’t want the event center and don’t like it.  As time passes, and people get used to the event center being there, I think that everyone will eventually appreciate it.

I have been to a couple of events at the High Plains Cultural Center, one of the events was a large wedding reception.  Dunn County is a completely rural county, with many large farms and ranches.  People are very spread out, the county is sparsely populated.  A wedding I believe is one of the few times that everybody comes to town and gets together.

Women and housewives in Dickinson hide.  Women in Dunn County hide.  There are just a few things that make them come out of hiding.  There were many attractive women at the wedding reception that I went to in Killdeer.  I was surprised.  I guess that the women in Dunn County might go to the grocery store once a week, other than that, they are just out in the middle of nowhere at the end of a dirt road.  They get married, get pregnant, have kids, raise kids, cook, clean, do laundry, and stay home.  They are attractive and healthy, but they stay home, out in the middle of nowhere.  I have never seen anything like this before, and I don’t understand it.

Everywhere that I have lived, attractive women had to be out going places and doing things, they couldn’t stand being stuck at home.  When they were out, the more that people noticed them and admired them, the more attention that they got, the better they felt about themselves.  At the wedding reception that I went to in Killdeer, I was surprised at how many women were nearly model-like in every way, their nearly perfect body proportions, clear flawless complexions, healthy shiny hair, beautiful everything, yet they did not want any attention, so much so that many of them changed out of their party dresses as soon as possible and into jeans and sweatshirts.

Maybe I can answer my own questions.  Maybe they married the guy they married, and it really was for ever, for better or worse.  If it really was forever, there should be no reason for any one else to be looking at them, or for them to want attention from any one else.  Once they were married, they knew what that meant, getting pregnant, having kids, raising kids, cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, and staying home.  Staying home out in the middle of no where.  These women are different.  I don’t know if I would want one of these women or not.  I got the impression that they don’t want me.

How Dickinson Treats Educated People

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I have lived in Dickinson, North Dakota for four years now.  In the past two years, I have written approximately two hundred blog posts.  I have stated that the purpose of this blog is to write the truth about Dickinson, so that people from out of state who are considering moving here will have correct information, so that the people who recently arrived here can understand what is going on, and so that the long time residents can see what other people experience in Dickinson.

My primary motivation in creating this blog website was probably anger.  I was angry about the way people from out of state were mistreated in Dickinson.  I was angry about how I was mistreated.  I was angry about it, I didn’t like it, and I wanted to do something about it.

For at least the past year, anyone, anywhere in the world who wants to know anything about Dickinson, North Dakota, gets their information from me.  Anyone who looks up “living in Dickinson”, “moving to Dickinson”, “relocating to Dickinson”, “what is Dickinson North Dakota like”, “people in Dickinson”, “economy in Dickinson”, “women in Dickinson”, “Catholics in Dickinson”, “corruption in Dickinson”, my website comes up at the top or near the top of the search results.

I am happy that my blog website about Dickinson, North Dakota comes up at the top or near the top of the first page of search results so that everyone in the world can know how badly out of state workers were mistreated and taken advantage of in Dickinson.  Below I will give one example.

In 2014 there was a well known manufacturing company in Dickinson that had a job advertisement for an estimator, designer, and drafter.  I applied for this job.  I had a bachelor of science in engineering, had worked for several years and several companies as an estimator, and had worked for several years and several companies as a designer and drafter.  This manufacturing company offered to pay me $18 per hour, forty hours per week, which equals $720 per week.

In 2014 in Dickinson, a concrete laborer was paid about $18 per hour, worked sixty hours per week, and made about $1,260 per week.  A road construction flagger was paid about $20 per hour, worked sixty hours per week, and made about $1,400 per week.

The difference between a concrete laborer, a road construction flagger, and an engineer is this:  an engineer most likely graduated from high school at the top of his class or he would not have been admitted to an engineering college, he had a very difficult five to six years of college which cost anywhere from $40,000 to $100,000, and, a concrete laborer or flagged didn’t graduate from high school.

The majority of people in Dickinson so hate people with an education, that they offer engineers 1/2 the weekly pay of laborers who didn’t even graduate from high school.

Most of the manufacturing companies and other companies in Dickinson disrespect and mistreat degreed engineers in every way possible, because they hate educated people.  The people in Dickinson like this, that is why they do it.

Now that the Oil Boom has gone away, Dickinson is going to have economic difficulty because it has very few industries that are not oil field related or oil field dependent.  If you disrespect and mistreat engineers, and have done so for years, yes, you will have a lack of manufacturing and industry in your area.

I know how poor Dickinson was prior to the first Oil Boom in the 1950s, and in between the Oil Boom of the late 1970s and the Oil Boom of 2007.  You all can go back to growing corn and sunflowers now to earn your living.  I want to stick around so that I can see each and every one of you, get what is coming to you, after you mistreated and took advantage of all the out of state workers for the past eight years.

Black People’s Guide To Law Enforcement, Part I

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Part I, Traffic Stops

Black People should plan ahead in order to avoid Traffic Stops. Try to make sure that your vehicle headlights, tail lights, brake lights, and turn signals are working. Make sure that you have a license plate that is assigned to that vehicle, and that it has a current registration sticker.

Anything suspicious will draw police attention to your vehicle. A broken or missing window might make police believe that the vehicle that you are driving was broken into, hot-wired, and stolen. If you are driving a stolen vehicle, you and your passengers can jump out while the vehicle is still moving, all run in different directions, every one of you deny that you were the driver, every one of you deny that you knew each other, every one of you deny knowing that the vehicle was stolen, every one of you can deny knowing about the firearms and drugs in the vehicle.

If you are driving your own vehicle, you need to have a good hiding spot for your firearms and drugs. Throwing firearms and drugs out of your vehicle when the police are behind you, is not as good as having them in a good concealed location where they can stay out of sight. You don’t want to be trying to hide your firearms and drugs when the police are behind you. Don’t hide your firearms and drugs in the same location as your driver’s license and vehicle registration, because the police will ask to see your driver’s license and registration.

When the police turn on their flashing lights, pull over, just like you are not a criminal and don’t have anything to hide. Pull over, roll down the driver’s window, turn off the engine, turn on the interior light, keep both hands on the steering wheel, and everybody in the vehicle keep still and quiet. Allow the police officer to approach the vehicle and see that no one has a firearm. The police officer will ask for your driver’s license, proof of insurance, and vehicle registration. No need to flee on foot or shoot the police officer at this point. If you do not have a driver’s license, proof of insurance, or vehicle registration, the police officer will probably write a citation. No need to flee on foot or shoot the police officer at this point.

If there is a warrant for your arrest, the police officer will probably call for back up police officers. Now you can flee on foot, run! Run, run, run! Don’t stop! Don’t try to hide on someone’s roof, don’t try to hide in someone’s boat, don’t try to hide under someone’s car. The police will be slower than you, they will check in cars and boats, as long as you keep running, you will put distance between them and you. You can’t go home, because the police know where you live. You will have to go to your aunty’s house or your cousin’s house or that white girl’s house.

Creating Work And Industries In Dickinson And Watford City, North Dakota, Part I

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In several of my recent blog posts, I wrote that Dickinson and Watford City are about to enter into a Recession because oil drilling operations are not going to increase in the next six months, possibly not in twelve months, possibly not in twenty-four months.  In the past year, I saw at least one newspaper article that was about business people, city government, and state government trying to figure out what industries in western North Dakota could possibly take the place of oil drilling.  I have not heard much news about progress being made in developing new industries in western North Dakota.

For more than a year, from time to time, I have thought about what local North Dakotans are good at, what they know how to do, what they can do, and what is already here.  Local North Dakotans are good mechanics, fabricators, and welders.  Local North Dakotans like to stay inside and work on things in garages during the Winter, that is what comes natural to them.

I am not at all joking about this, when I say that local North Dakotans would be good boat builders.  I know a lot about all different kinds of boats, and if I was personally well-off financially, even if I did not need a boat, which I don’t, I would not hesitate to commission some local North Dakotans to build a boat for me, because I could easily sell it.  I will give several examples, and I may not get through all of them in Part I of this blog post.

In every state in the United States, both recreationally and commercially, people use aluminum boats on rivers, lakes, bayous, swamps, and reservoirs.  The simplest aluminum boats, are open, flat bottom, slightly narrowed bow, with squared off stern.  They usually have aluminum bench seats going cross wise, with styrofoam flotation blocks under the seats.  In many states, people want the most open and simplest aluminum boat that they can get, with some sturdiness to it, oar locks, a few cleats, and a strong enough stern for an outboard motor.

All around Dickinson and Watford City, I have seen 40′ free-span aluminum security gates, which are very well done, so I know that there are fabricators around here that are good at fabricating and welding aluminum.  Steffes Corporation, Worthington Industries, and Fisher Industries in Dickinson make different kinds of steel structures, steel equipment, and steel machinery that is much larger, more complicated, and more demanding than aluminum boats.

Another type of aluminum boats that are very popular are pontoon boats.  I know that these fabricators around here that have been making large tanks, can just as easily make pontoons.  Pontoon boats are liked by Red-necks because they are simple, have a lot of room, are inexpensive, and fun.  Pontoon boats are supposed to have comfortable seating and cabinets, so a company like TMI in Dickinson might make the on-deck components.

People in North Dakota and all of the surrounding states could and would actually use the aluminum boats that would be made in North Dakota, but the whole United States is the potential market.  I am not joking about this in any way.  The local people in North Dakota like fabricating, like welding, like working inside in the Winter, and they like pontoon boats.

I am not saying or suggesting that an investor is going to get rich starting recreational boat manufacturing in North Dakota.  However the companies that are already here like Steffes, Worthington, Fisher Industries, and TMI already have the personnel and equipment to begin building simple recreational boats.  They also have the personnel and equipment to begin building floating docks and floating structures.  Once some experience is gained in building recreational boats and floating structures, specialized boats and floating structures can be built for other industries and the government.

How manufacturers do become rich, is by building and supplying equipment to the government and the military.  When a manufacturer demonstrates that they have the ability to fabricate a variety of things well, they have the opportunity to bid on and provide proposals for military and government equipment.  More on this in Part II.

Recommendations For People In Dickinson And Watford City Regarding The Recession

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It is clear now that drilling operations in western North Dakota will not increase in the next six months, possibly not in twelve months, possibly not in twenty-four months.  Western North Dakota is entering into a Recession at this time.

More people will continue to lose their jobs, even some city government, state government, and federal government jobs.  Wage rates will go down.  Very few people will work overtime hours.  The longer that oil drilling operations do not increase, the worse the Recession will get.  If the Recession continues for a year, there will not be enough jobs for everyone.  There will be fierce competition for even low wage jobs.

It will become necessary for skilled trades people from western North Dakota to travel to other states that may have building projects.  These skilled trades people sending money back to their families that stay behind in western North Dakota, this money coming into town to pay for rent, mortgages, car payments, and consumer items will help the local economy.  The fact that some workers will go away, leave town, and find work out of state, will allow there not to be 100 people applying for and fighting over every single local job.

Now in western North Dakota, the heads of households, moms and dads, need to have a serious family meeting like they may have never had before, with the TV off, phones put away, and everybody being quiet and paying attention.  I don’t believe in scaring kids or sharing financial information with kids, but this Recession is going to be so bad, that you are going to need to make your family members understand now.  You are going to have to explain to your kids that either mom or dad, or both, may lose their job, have reduced hours, or reduced wages.  The family is going to have to do things differently.

The family can no longer waste money on stupid shit.  In order to pay for necessities like rent, utilities, and food, the family can not waste money on stupid shit.  You have got to let the kids know that they can’t be whining about expensive toys, clothes, trips, because there is not going to be money for that.  Not to waste food and utilities.  Mom or dad may have to go work out of state.  Mom or dad may have to get a second job.  Teenage sons or daughters may have to get a job after school and use that money to pay for their own clothes and other things.  Mom and dad need to explain the necessity of doing these things, and explain what everyone else in Dickinson and Watford City will go through.  Some of their friends will lose their homes or be evicted from their apartments, or have to move away.

You the reader may be thinking that this is drastic.  Yes, it is drastic.  If this were Idaho, where people have not been making much money, for ever, I would have had little talks with my family all along about not spending money, not one Big talk scaring everybody.  But that is what is required now, to scare your family.

Even though ordinary workers in Dickinson and Watford City did not save a lot of money because rents were so high, many workers made a high enough hourly wage to make consumer items like clothes, cell phone, groceries, and gas easily affordable and not significant.  Individuals and families in Dickinson and Watford City have gotten used to spending a lot of money every day, because they had a lot of money coming in.  If it has not already happened to them, it very likely will happen soon that they will not have so much money coming in.  They will have to change their spending habits, drastically.

I would be explaining to my family that his whole thing was crazy anyway.

Looking back on this, people from all over the United States that were having financial difficulties and not making much money where they were, came to North Dakota in hope of getting a good job and getting ahead.  It was because of this hope, that they went and paid $1,500 to $2,500 per month for a place to live, thinking that they would still clear enough money to come out ahead.  I have lived here in North Dakota now for four years, and I have only ever met people who came here who at best just got by.  I have only ever met people who came here who just paid for themselves and their families and just got by.  The cold, the unfriendliness, nothing to do, no where to go, no women, and no one got ahead, they just paid for their existence, and now its over.

To make it all worth while, I expect some North Dakotan to offer up, “Nobody asked you to come here.”

Entering A Recession In Western North Dakota

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Beauty Of Western North Dakota

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

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

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

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

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

Luke Simons, “The Virginian”, Dickinson, North Dakota

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On most Saturday mornings, I watch the 1960s television show “The Virginian”, on the INSP channel.  This television series is about the Shiloh Ranch, in Medicine Bow, Wyoming in the late 1800s.  The foreman of the Shiloh Ranch, they call him “The Virginian”.

I don’t know if I met Luke Simons before I started watching “The Virginian”, or if I met Luke Simons after I had already been watching “The Virginian”.  Either way, Luke Simons looks like, dresses like, talks like, and acts “The Virginian”.

Now that Luke Simons is running for election as North Dakota District 36 Representative, you need to start watching the “The Virginian” on Saturday mornings between 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. in order to see what Luke would do if elected.

Tiger Salamander In Watford City, North Dakota, Part II

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I didn’t mean to keep everybody in suspense over what happened to the green & black Tiger Salamander that I saw walking down the street nine days ago.  I felt bad for him because he was walking in the middle of the road at less than 1 mph, and I didn’t think that he knew where he was going.  I put him in a cardboard box, and I looked him up on the internet.

Green & black Tiger Salamanders are native to North Dakota.  During the rainy season, once each year, they get out and walk to the pond where they were born, in order to find a mate.  Then they go walking, usually on a rainy night, to go find a place to stay for the Winter.

I read about five internet articles that described what they like to eat, what to do if you want to keep one as a pet, and what they do and where they stay during the Winter.  All the internet articles downplayed the statement, “…or, they go and live in some other animal’s burrow.”

I didn’t know what to do with him.  I did not want to go buy a 15 to 20 gallon aquarium, make dry land, water pond, plant plants, go to the pet store to buy crickets every week, and have to worry about the cat knocking the lid off the aquarium, and the dog knocking over the aquarium.  You can’t change your mind about keeping him in the middle of the Winter, because you can’t take him out of the house and let him loose in the snow and freezing temperature.

When I got up in the morning after keeping him in the cardboard box over night, and looked to see how he was doing, he might have drank some of his water, but he had not eaten any of the hot dog pieces that I had cut up for him.  Later that day, I showed him to a neighbor lady, and she said, “I would like to say that he is cute, but he isn’t.”  I agree, he was creepy and hideous looking, and poisonous.

In the late afternoon, I talked to the person who owns the house where I live in Dickinson, and he said that Tiger Salamanders make good pets, although they don’t do a lot in the Winter, and when they are very active in their aquarium, they stink.  I can believe that, because I detected a stinky smell already.

When it got completely dark that night, I took the Tiger Salamander over to a field that had been in the direction of where he was headed the night before, and let him go.  There were some large dirt piles, brush piles, and debris piles, so he had many hiding places to chose from.  I did not want to take him further away, because I think that he would probably try to walk back to the retention pond to find a mate next Fall.

In the field where I let him go, there were many rabbits and mice.  These rabbits and mice already have holes and burrows.  Mice already have high pitch squeak voices, and I can picture some mouse woman shrieking at him, “Oh no! You’re not staying here!  Get out!”  Of course he’s not going to leave.  Probably for a weak, some mouse woman will be yelling at him, bitching, griping, and complaining non-stop.  Then, everybody will just have to go around him and step over him for the rest of the Winter.

Tiger Salamander In Watford City, North Dakota, Part I

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I have written many times in this blog that you can’t go out to bars and restaurants and drink in Watford City because the police will get you for a DUI right away.  Most of the people who have lived in Watford City for several months find this out, one way or another.  Just like you can’t speed or go over the speed limit in Watford City.  Most of the people just stay home.  The restaurants are not very good and the restaurant staff are weird and crazy anyway.  At the apartment complexes, many of the workers just sit in the parking lot in their trucks, listening to music, browsing the internet, or talking on the phone.  I sit in my truck in the parking lot and look at the internet.

On Labor Day I was sitting in my truck at night and I looked out the window and I saw a green & black reptile walking down the road, and I thought, “This is unusual, and kind of pathetic.”  I got out of my truck and shone my flashlight on him, and he stopped.  He was about ten inches long.  I was thinking what to do, when a Watford City Police Officer drove up and asked me what was going on.

I said to the police officer that those people right there have backed up to the dirt pile to get their four-wheeler out of the back of their truck, they don’t have a ramp, me I am trying to figure out what to do with this lizard, come and look at him.  The police officer came and looked at the lizard and said it was not native to North Dakota, someone must have had it as a pet and let it go.  The police officer left.

I took a large plastic salad bowl and put it over top of the lizard while I went to the trash dumpster to get a cardboard box.  I came back with a box and nudged the lizard to get in the box, which he did.  I put him in the backseat of my truck, and I looked him up on the internet.

I read about five articles about him.  He is a Tiger Salamander.  This particular kind that is green with black stripes, is very common in North Dakota.  How do they keep from freezing?  When they get frost on their skin, their liver starts secreting an anti-freeze into their blood stream.  In the winter, they find a place to hibernate deep in the rocks, deep in a dead tree, or in some other animal’s burrow.

In the rainy season, once each year, they walk to the pond where they were born, and try to find a mate.  When it is raining in the Fall, like it was on Labor Day, they go walking to find a good place to stay for the winter.

Where the new apartments are in Watford City, there had been a pond, but everything got changed and moved around.  It looked like this Tiger Salamander could have been at the new retention pond, because he was headed in the opposite direction from the new retention pond.  Everything was now so built up with buildings and roads, I don’t know how he even survived, especially because he was now walking down the street.

Most of the internet articles said that Tiger Salamanders live about twelve to fifteen years, and that they grow up to thirteen inches in length.  They like to eat crickets, worms, and other bugs.  If you keep them in an aquarium, they need at least a fifteen gallon aquarium with both water and dry land.

One website had a bunch of people that were very enthusiastic about Tiger Salamanders.  One woman wrote that she petted one and kissed one, then got sick, the sickest that she had ever been in her life, and that she had to sit on the toilet for several hours, with a garbage can in front of her.  Tiger Salamanders secrete a toxin through their skin which is poisonous, in order to ward off predators.  Eating their tail is supposed to be fatal.

I went looking for worms to feed him, but it was too cold for worms to be out, and I didn’t find any.  I took him in the box up to the apartment.  I took the large cap off of two Gatorade bottles, in one cap I put water, in the other cap I put some pieces of hot dogs, and I put his water and food in his box.  Because he was from North Dakota, I decided to name him Chancey Williams, after Chancey Williams who is a musician who performed at the First On First Dickinson concert this summer.  Yes, that is the correct spelling.  I felt like it was more appropriate to name a poisonous salamander that was walking down the street Chancey, instead of Chauncey anyway.

If You Have To Leave Dickinson Or Watford City To Go Work Out Of State, Part II

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I am writing these two blog posts, Part I & Part II, about having to leave North Dakota and go work or look for work out of state because this information is necessary now.  There are very few job openings in western North Dakota right now.  I spent this Labor Day weekend in Watford City, and it was like a ghost town.  On Sunday and Monday, the long drive into town on 25 mph Hwy 23 Business, I might have seen one or two other vehicles

In my previous blog post, Part I, I wrote that I recommend taking a truck or SUV out of state instead of a car if you are able, because you will be safer in a larger vehicle.  I wrote that you should have some kind of sturdy trunk or lock box, chained to a car seat.  You are going to need to take your social security card, birth certificate, laptop computer, check books, firearm, and extra cash with you, so you had better have a lock box to put things in, and one that a thief can’t break your vehicle window and take.

I also wrote in my previous blog post, Part I, that you should plan on sleeping in your vehicle while you are traveling to get where you are going, rather than trying to stay in a motel every night.  Once you get to where you are going, you had better be constantly observing what kind of neighborhood you are in.  Before you get to where you are going, you need to look at a map closely and make note of all the little towns that surround where you are going.

For instance, surrounding Dallas there are the smaller suburbs of Euless, Richland Hills, Westlake, White Settlement, Watauga, and many others.  Some of the areas around Dallas are really bad, and you needed to know where they were so you could avoid them, or if you drove into a bad area accidentally, you would know how to get back to a safe area.  At first, not knowing my way around Dallas, I stayed in an extended stay motel about twenty miles north of Dallas in the smaller college town of Denton.

If I ever have to go to work in a big city again, I would try to stay at an older mom & pop motel a good ways outside of the city.  The new extended stay motels that have been built in and around cities for workers that are just arriving or only staying for a couple of months, they cost about $700 per week, $2,800 per month, which is too much, especially if you don’t have a job.

An older mom & pop motel outside of a city will probably cost less, and if you explain to the owners or managers what you are trying to do, and you do what you said you were going to do, find a job, the owners understand that you are not there to party or deal drugs, and can be very reasonable on weekly rent.  I stayed at a mom & pop motel owned by a Korean husband & wife in Colorado for several months, and at a mom & pop motel owned by a Mormon husband & wife in Arizona for several months.  The motel owners were always there, they knew what was going on, who everyone was, and it was very safe, secure, and inexpensive compared to new extended stay motels, or apartments.

Yes, I stayed at older mom & pop motels for months.  I really enjoyed staying there.  I was in a new city, I didn’t know what the city was like, what the people were like, where I would find a job.  But I didn’t have to worry about high rent, rent deposit, a lease, or utilities.  When I did start a new job, I knew when managers or co-workers started acting pushy or crazy, “O.K., start acting crazy, I don’t care, I’ll just leave.”  And I could just leave.

I mentioned in my previous blog post that you do not want to bring your wife, girlfriend, or children with you when you go to work out of state.  At first while traveling, you will be sleeping in your vehicle to save time and money.  Then, when you get to where you are going, you need to find an older mom & pop motel, and explain to the managers or owners what you are doing, your family is back home, you are by yourself.  Your wife or girlfriend would not want to stay in an older motel outside of a city.  Your wife or girlfriend may think that you need to get an apartment.  No!  Absolutely Not!

When you have to go to work away from home, your financial outlook is probably not good.  You need to quickly find a job, spend as little money as possible, and start saving money.  When you begin a new job, management and co-workers may not like you.  You may not be smart enough, knowledgeable enough, quick enough, good enough, or well liked.  You could lose your job in a week, or a month, and not ever see it coming.  So save your money, spend as little money as possible.  Do not sign an apartment lease!  You have no idea what is going to happen with your employment.  Let your wife and children stay back in North Dakota if at all possible.  Depending on what happens in the first city that you try, you may have to try to find work in a different city, or in a different state.

If You Have To Leave Dickinson Or Watford City To Go Work Out Of State, Part I

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For the past seven months while working in Watford City, I have seen several of my neighbors move out and move away each month because they lost their job. During the past several weeks I have been looking at the internet job site Indeed.com, and the North Dakota Job Services website, for job listings in Watford City and Dickinson, and there are very few jobs.  Yes, there is a similar job advertisement for Registered Nurses that gets repeated over and over, but there always is.  Lately there is usually a job listing for a heavy equipment mechanic, an electrician, a welder, and a truck driver, and I mean one listing for one position.  The amount of jobs advertised for Watford City and Dickinson is probably the same as, or less than Bismarck, Fargo, or Billings.  At this time, more of the out of state workers will have to return home, start over again in some other city away from home, and maybe even some local Watford City and Dickinson residents will have to leave and go to work out of state.

I want to give some recommendations and warnings to people who are not experienced in having to leave home and go to work out of state, and give some reminders to those who do have to have to look for work out of state from time to time.

I can not warn North Dakotans strongly enough that it will not be easy or safe going to look for work out of state.  When I went to look for work in Dallas, Texas in 2012, the very first night that I was there in a motel, someone took a utility knife, shoved the blade in my truck tire and broke it off.   I believe that it was this angry black guy, who somehow didn’t like the Idaho license plate on my truck, thinking that Idahoans were racist.  People in Texas don’t even know where Idaho is on the map.  If you recall from the national news in July of this year, a black man shot six white police officers in Dallas.  You had better believe me that in Dallas and Houston, which are about 40% Black, that they don’t like Whites, and that they will rob you and assault you as if you were in Somalia, especially, especially because you are White and have a North Dakota license plate.

You need to obtain a concealed weapons permit while you are still in North Dakota, before you leave to go to try to find a job in states like Texas, Arizona, Colorado, or Florida.  Most states honor other states’ concealed weapons licenses.  Traveling in an area with an out of state license plate, being unfamiliar with the area, is very dangerous.  When you are driving, at a gas station, at a restaurant, or at a motel, you are very likely to be the victim of robbery or a theft.  If you are from North Dakota, I don’t know how I am going to make you understand how prevalent crime is outside of North Dakota, and how likely you are to be victimized while traveling out of state.  You need to have a firearm on your person, and in your vehicle, but you need to have a concealed weapons permit because you are more likely to be stopped by the police and have your vehicle searched with an out of state license plate.

When you go to work or look for work out of state, I recommend that you take a truck or SUV instead of a car if possible, bigger is better up to a point.  There are several reasons for this.  One, when you are in traffic and unfamiliar with the roads and highways, people will let you change lanes and try to stay out of your way more when you are in a larger vehicle.  Two, when you are unfamiliar with roads in an area, and you make a mistake, with a larger vehicle people make an extra effort to move out of the way and not get hit with your vehicle.  Three, if you have an accident, with a larger vehicle you are more likely to have a vehicle that has survived the accident and you can continue trying to find work, rather than having a car that is destroyed and having to take a bus back to North Dakota.

What I have done for the past fifteen years, whether in the backseat of my truck or the backseat of my SUV, I have a large sturdy trunk which has a padlock, and the padlock has a chain which locks the trunk to a seat frame.  A thief would have to break my vehicle window to unlock the door, but the thief could not carry away the trunk because it is chained to the seat, and it would make a lot of noise and take a while to beat the trunk open.  What crack heads and meth addicts are looking for, are certain items that are easy to grab out of vehicles, typical items in plain view:  pocket book, wallet, check book, CD collection, radar detector, laptop computer, briefcase.  I try to keep valuables and things that I don’t want to get stolen, locked in the trunk in the backseat.

I hope you know that you are going to have to sleep in your vehicle mostly when you are going to work or looking for work out of state.  When you are driving a long way, it is better to pull into a rest area and sleep for a while when you get tired, and when you feel like driving again, drive.  Planning on staying in a motel while trying to get somewhere is like planning on wasting time and wasting money.  If you try to get your money’s worth out of your motel, you are just wasting time there.  It doesn’t matter that you are wrinkled when you are trying to get where you are going, and if you look a little rough it probably actually keeps people away from you when you are traveling.  You do want to get cleaned up as much as you can before you meet people regarding your employment.

I didn’t say anything about it, because I wasn’t thinking about it because I am not married, you don’t want to bring your wife or girlfriend with you when you are going to look for work out of state, because it will not be fun or pleasant.  If your family’s financial outlook is bad enough to where you have to look for work out of state, you don’t want to take your wife or girlfriend with you and try to make it a pleasant trip, because it will cost you about four times as much: stopping at restaurants for breakfast, lunch, and dinner; staying at a “nice” motel every night.

I will cover this in more detail in Part II, but you absolutely need to leave your wife and children behind when you go to work out of state, and for at least several months after you begin working.  If you don’t do it this way, you will very likely end up worse off than if you hadn’t gone to work out of state at all.

My Ninth Most Favorite Person In Dickinson, The Odd Fellows Lodge

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My ninth most favorite person in Dickinson, North Dakota is the Odd Fellows Lodge.  I only became aware of the Odd Fellows Lodge in Dickinson in the summer of 2014 when I went to the downtown concert called Alive @ 5.  The Odd Fellows Lodge was the sponsor and organizer for Alive @ 5.  The Odd Fellows Lodge in Dickinson had existed since 1887.

Kevin Holten, who had been a professional rodeo rider, president of the North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame, and writer for the Dickinson Press, joined the Odd Fellows Lodge in 2009.  In 2010, Kevin Holten organized the first Alive @ 5 in Dickinson with the Odd Fellows Lodge, I believe that it was his idea in the first place.  Kevin Holten is very mild-mannered and low-key, and I have never seen him say,  “I thought of it, it was my idea, and it’s mine, mine, mine!”

From the first Alive @ 5, and continuing, the Outlaw Sippin Band performs at the downtown summer concerts, provides and sets up their sound equipment for the concerts.  Even though sound equipment set up, operation, and take down goes from about 2:00 p.m. on Thursdays until about 1:00 a.m. Friday morning, I have never seen Beni Paulson, Brady Paulson, Emil Anheluk or any other Outlaw Sippin members gripe, complain, or argue.

Eric Smallwood was the lead organizer for Alive @ 5 in 2014 and 2015, until his ascension.  To the best of my knowledge, Eric Smallwood brought the following performers to Alive @ 5 for the first time:  Gwen Sebastian, Kat Perkins, Tigir Lily, Corb Lund, and Firehouse.

I believe that Kevin Holten was president of the Odd Fellows Lodge 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014.  Jeff Porcupine Pokorny was president in 2015 and 2016.  During the years 2010 through 2016, the Odd Fellows Lodge building which was built in the early 1900s, went through some physical restoration, with the work being performed by the Lodge members.  It was a surprise to me that the Odd Fellows Lodge also owned the ground floor portion of the building, which they opened as a V.I.P. lounge and bar during the downtown summer concerts in July of 2016.

Membership in the Lodge is open to everyone, male or female, young or old, with no concern for the member’s religious affiliation, politics, or occupation.  There are many different types of people who are members of the Odd Fellows Lodge.  There are some college professors, teachers, business owners, housewives, oil field workers, and construction workers.

This year the downtown summer concerts sponsored and organized by the Odd Fellows Lodge changed its name from Alive @ 5, to First On First Dickinson Summer Nights.  The lead event organizers this year were Brock White, Tracy Tooz, and Mike Odegaard.  Brock, Tracy, and Mike organized and ran all the events very competently, and were always calm and professional.  Other important volunteers whose names I can remember:  Dell and Marchell Kubas, April Grant, the other April, Andrew, Tracy Nash, Jeff Porcupine Pokorny, Eric Odegaard, DSU football player Bryce, the Outlaw Sippin Band, …

In my previous blog post, I wrote a First On First Dickinson Summer Nights year end review.  I started that blog post being mostly positive about how the concerts were organized and run.  But I had to say that the downtown summer concerts seem to have become mostly attended by people whose primary focus is drinking alcohol, which I think has caused family attendance to decline.

My opinion is, that the downtown summer concerts will be most beneficial to Dickinson if they can be enjoyed by the broadest range of people, including families with children.  The more famous, “bigger” bands, brought mostly people that were in the age range of people that normally go to Rock or Country concerts, 16 year olds to 50 year olds mostly, with no kids, no elderly, and no families.

In 2014 and 2015, the North Dakota performers Gwen Sebastian, Kat Perkins, and Tigir Lily seemed to have brought more families with their children, probably for the following reasons:  they were from North Dakota, they were engaging with the local people, and because of the music that they play.  Last year a very good band that was not well known in Dickinson was the Corb Lund band from Canada, this was a “fun” band that was liked by all ages.  This year another very good band that was not well known in Dickinson was Zeona Road from South Dakota.  Zeona Road, Corb Lund, Tigir Lily, Gwen Sebastian, and Kat Perkins connected with the local people of all ages in Dickinson, and these performers made the concerts seem more like a family event and a community event.

First On First Dickinson Summer Nights Concerts, Year End Review 2016

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The last First On First Dickinson Summer Nights Concert of 2016 was this past Thursday, September 1st.  I went to just about every downtown Dickinson summer concert in 2014, 2015, and 2016.  I have mixed feelings about the downtown summer concerts this year.

No one can deny that there were more than several well-known, famous, “bigger” performers this year:  Fire House, Black Hawk, Steel Heart.  Firehouse gave a very good performance, and they acted like they were glad to be back in Dickinson.  32 Below probably gave a performance that was as good as Firehouse, and they acted the most enthusiastic about being in Dickinson while they were on stage.

Event organizer and MC, Brock White, was positive, professional, and up beat at every event.  Event organizers Tracey Tooz and Mike Odegaard were professional, competent, and executed everything well.  The tractor trailer stage with roof and lighting was an excellent stage, the stage could not have been better.

The event area was much larger than last year.  There were about four different food vendors at each event.  Because of the larger event area, and the rented table trailers, people were able to sit and eat more comfortably.  Most event attendees would have liked it if the Wurst Shop would have been a food vendor again this year.

Everything that I have stated so far up above is good and positive.  The negative comments that I am going to write concern mostly the type of people that attended the concerts.  Somehow, the drinking of alcohol has become the predominant focus of the event.  I don’t know if anybody ever saw this coming, knew that this would happen, or considered whether this was desirable or not.

I know that alcohol sales are probably the primary way that the events are paid for, and that drinking alcohol may be the main reason why so many people come downtown for the concerts on Thursday nights, but the heavy drinkers make the events not “family friendly”, or even “friendly”.

Good-natured, mature adults, can be jovial and considerate people when they are drinking beer.  Good-natured, mature, jovial, considerate drinkers are fine for families with children to be around.  But the summer concerts were not highly attended by families with children.  I believe that more and more each year, moms and dads with kids, and other types of moderate, conservative people do not dare to come to the summer concerts because of the heavy drinking.  And I agree that these people are probably right in not coming to the summer concerts because the drinking of alcohol has become predominant, and many of the drinkers are not mature, or good-natured.

There are many young men and women that get drunk, start acting foolish, not using good sense, acting kind of wild, and many adults who aren’t drinking don’t want or wouldn’t want themselves or their kids to be around these young people.  There are both younger people and older people that become uninhibited when they drink alcohol, and they let their hostility come out in contentiousness, hostility, and fighting, which makes moderate adults not want to be around when there are a lot of people drinking alcohol.

Once it gets past about 8:30 p.m. at the downtown summer concerts, I get the definite feeling and impression that the crowd is not that friendly, the crowd is mostly wanting to get drunk and act wild, so it is not really like a community event at that point, it is like being in a bar that is having a band that night.

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I Am Going To Become The Person In Watford City That Drives 25 mph And Holds Up Traffic

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When I first wrote this blog post in September of 2016,   I wrote, “I am going to become the person in Watford City that drives 25 mph and holds up traffic.  I don’t want to, but I have to.  The police are making me.”

I was complaining that whenever I tried to go into town on Highway 23 Business, the speed limit was not clearly posted, the speed limit changed daily, it was usually 25 mph, but you couldn’t tell for sure.  When I would drive 30 mph into town, the people behind me would tail gate me, yet I knew that the police in Watford City were very aggressive in stopping people for going even 5 mph over the speed limit.  I would have liked to just pull over to let the tailgaters pass me, but I couldn’t because of the high concrete curb.

I hated driving into Watford City because of the tailgaters and the police.  Driving home that day on Highway 23 Business going 30 mph, I had twelve vehicles backed up behind me, but an oncoming Watford City police Suburban put their radar on me, and came to a stop in the road, in order to make a U-turn, to give me a speeding ticket.  The police Suburban was not able to get turned around because there were twelve vehicles behind me.

I wrote that I liked going into Watford City to go to the Jack & Jill grocery store, Tractor Supply, and Taco Johns, but the Watford City police were being so aggressive in wanting to pull people over for speeding or any reason, that I should probably just stay home.  I already knew that you absolutely had better not go out to bars and restaurants in Watford City at night and have any alcohol because you will very likely get pulled over by the Watford City police, they are so aggressive in stopping everyone for anything.

In October of 2016, permanent, clear, speed limit signs got posted on Highway 23 Business entering the east side of Watford City.  The speed limit signs go from 45 mph on the outskirts of town, to 35 mph just outside of town, to 25 mph as you enter town.  The Watford City police began being not over aggressive in speed limit enforcement on Highway 23 Business on the east entrance into Watford City.

I had been complaining that I was sick of the Watford City police being so aggressive in wanting to pull everyone over in Watford City.  I later wanted to go back and edit this blog post because I recognize, and want to acknowledge that it has to be like this in Watford City.  I want to explain why the police in Watford City have to be so aggressive in trying to stop everyone.

I was born and grew up in the South.  I lived in the South until I was about 3o years old.  I lived in Watford City for ten months.  I saw that most of the workers in Watford City were poor people from the South, many of them White Trash.

I know with 100% certainty, that due to the large amount of poor workers from the South, about 5,000 of them, if the Watford City police were not very aggressive in stopping drivers, getting their local address, checking for outstanding warrants, looking for alcohol, drugs, and weapons, that Watford City would be over run with every type of misbehavior and crime.

The only reason why there are not a tremendous amount of traffic accidents, robberies, burglaries, assaults, shootings, destruction of property, drug overdoses, drug addictions, drug trafficking, and gangs in Watford City, is because the Watford City police, McKenzie Sheriff, and Highway Patrol are very aggressive in Watford City in following people, running their license plates, stopping people and getting their local address, putting their information in, checking for warrants, looking the people over, looking their vehicles over, looking for drugs, weapons, and being alert and detecting illegal activity.  If you want to be able to live in Watford City without crime, you have to go along with this and put up with this.

 

How Men Are Assessed In Western North Dakota, Part II

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In my previous blog post, Part I, I wrote that the most important thing to local people in western North Dakota in evaluating a man, is that he will stay and show up for work.  Everywhere else that I have lived, this criteria never even entered people’s minds.

I will try to explain how different this is, the way western North Dakota evaluates men, by giving some examples of the most favorite men in the rest of the United States.  The actor Paul Newman had a long career as a leading man and as ladies’ man.  He was not big, tall, or muscular, but he was charming, handsome, and boy-ish looking.  I watched many movies with Paul Newman:  Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Color Of Money, Hud, The Verdict, The Long Hot Summer, and Cool Hand Luke.  Paul Newman was well-liked in all of his acting roles, and he most often played a character who was quick-witted, sharp, intelligent, charismatic, spontaneous, adventurous, and out for a good time.  Everywhere that I have ever lived men would admire or be envious of someone as sharp, handsome, and charismatic as Paul Newman.  Everywhere that I have ever lived women would have loved to have had a relationship with a man like Paul Newman.

The most recent Paul Newman movie that I watched was The Long Hot Summer.  In this movie, when Paul Newman came to town, he was walking and carrying a suitcase.  Besides being poor, it was soon learned that he had a terrible reputation.  But because he was handsome, intelligent, sharp, and quick witted, he soon won the admiration of the wealthiest man in town, who began to insist that he mate with his daughter.  The wealthy man’s daughter tried to resist the character played by Paul Newman, but she couldn’t.  Throughout the movie, from beginning to end, Paul Newman was always threatening to leave.  Which made the wealthy man offer Paul Newman a lot to stay and have children with his daughter.

In western North Dakota a man does not get evaluated on wit, charm, charisma, handsomeness, or intelligence, but on whether he is going to stay and show up for work.  In most of Paul Newman’s movies, he plays a character that is on the run, trying to get away, adventure seeking, and not staying in one place, which rates very low with North Dakotans.

The leading men in movies, are the ones that the vast majority of the public finds heroic, handsome, and appealing.  James Dean, Marlon Brando, Steve McQueen, and Clint Eastwood were the leading men, the ladies’ men, the heroes, that most often played characters that were independent, couldn’t stay in one place, and were on the run, which rates very low with North Dakotans.

What the vast majority of men and women found to be heroic, exciting, admirable, desirable, and attractive, was a handsome, physically fit, in-shape, independent, intelligent, quick thinking, adventure seeking male:  Tom Cruise in Top Gun, Mission Impossible, Jack Reacher;  Harrison Ford in Indiana Jones;  George Clooney in the Quiet American, Michael Clayton, Oceans Eleven;  Brad Pitt in Legends of the Fall;  Daniel Craig in James Bond.

Everywhere that I have ever lived, I have seen women attracted to men that were physically fit, in shape, handsome, charming, charismatic, adventurous, intelligent, sharp, and quick witted, just like the characters played by the actors Paul Newman, Steve McQueen, Harrison Ford, Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Daniel Craig.  However in western North Dakota, like I have been saying, local people use as their main criteria for evaluation of a man is that he is going to stay and show up for work.

Getting to the point:  The men that stay in western North Dakota and show up for work kind of look like bulls or bears.  Men in western North Dakota are assessed and evaluated like live stock or farm animals.  Local men and women look at men, and if they don’t see extra fat on them, they don’t see how they are going to stay outside in the winter.  If they don’t see that the man has a large frame and extra fat, they don’t see that he will be able to do much work or stay out in the cold.  The local men and women in western North Dakota think that a good man should look like a prize pig or a prize bull at the county fair.

Everywhere else that I lived, women would dream of running on the beach hand in hand with their boyfriend, jumping in the waves, rolling in the sand.  God only knows what the women in North Dakota dream about.