Tag Archives: Living in Watford City North Dakota

Outlaw Sippin And The Green River Gargoyles Of Gladstone

Gladstone, North Dakota is fifteen miles east of Dickinson on Interstate 94.  The town of Gladstone sits high above the Green River which runs through the center of town.  The population of Gladstone according to the 2010 Census was 239.

Gladstone has a Highway that runs through it, called “The Enchanted Highway” that has ten of the largest scrap metal sculptures in the world depicting such things as birds, fish, and grasshoppers.

In the 1970s Gladstone had the “Green River Concerts” which were outdoor music concerts that lasted through the day and into the night, with a high amount of alcohol being consumed, along with marijuana, and LSD.  Some of my older friends in Dickinson who are in their 60s, start giggling when I ask them about the time people demanded to have some of their wine, and they didn’t know that the wine had LSD in it, and they had never taken LSD before, and they went out of their minds in the fields in Gladstone that night.  This is probably why they quit having the Green River Concerts.

This may have been when people in Gladstone started seeing gargoyles.  Some people said, “How can you tell the difference between gargoyles and North Dakotans?”  Some people said that the gargoyles had wings and could fly, which makes them different than North Dakotan people.  A mayor of Gladstone, I’m not going to say which one, said,”I don’t want anybody to shoot at, or try to kill what they think is a gargoyle.  It could be somebody’s kid, or somebody who has something wrong with them.  I have a call in to Fish & Game, and until I have something back from them in writing, I don’t want anybody trying to shoot one.”

The towns people said, “Can we at least call Outlaw Sippin, they investigated the Giant Sea Squid of Sakakawea and that Dennis Johnson thing?”  (Is it any wonder that they would call Outlaw Sippin?  Beni Paulson lives not ten miles away in Richardton.)

The Outlaw Sippin band consists of Brady Paulson, Beni Paulson, Emil Anheluk, and Jessie Veeder.  Jessie Veeder likes to take photographs, so it was her job to stay around Gladstone and try to photograph a gargoyle.  Brady and Beni thought that the gargoyles might be living in the coal mine shafts between Dickinson and Gladstone, so they went to look there.  Emil thought that the gargoyles might have something to do with the Assumption Abbey in Richardton, so Emil went there.

The Assumption Abbey is a Benedictine Monastery that was built in Richardton in 1899.  Today one of the things that the monks do at the monastery is make soap, which they sell at their gift shop.  When Emil went to the monastery to follow his hunch, he didn’t want to let on what he was doing.  He started talking to the monks about the monastery, and what it was like there.  The monks offered to let Emil stay there in an extra room in the dormitory, to dine with them, and to participate in their activities.

A day came and went with Emil living in the dormitory, dining in the hall with all the monks, making soap, and chanting.  Emil liked chanting.  Emil liked it so much and was having such a good time, that he soon forgot about the gargoyles and why he was there.  Had it not been for an intervention by Brady and Beni, Emil might still be there to this day.

Well, Jessie Veeder was supposed to be taking photographs of a gargoyle, and she didn’t see one, and she started talking to people, and there is a bar in Gladstone, and Brady and Beni had to go get her too, and this turned out to be not one of their better cases, but nobody got hurt, and maybe I shouldn’t have even talked about this case.

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Outlaw Sippin And The Giant Sea Squid Of Sakakawea

During the 1970s and 1980s there was a cartoon television show “Scooby Doo”. The television show was about a group of four members, Fred, Velma, Daphne, Shaggy, and their stupid dog Scooby.  They drove a van, the “Mystery Machine”, and every episode they would happen upon a mystery that needed to be investigated.  Also on television at the same time was the cartoon “Josie and the Pussycats” which was about a band, that would happen upon a mystery in every episode that needed to be investigated.  Therefore, I see no reason why the Outlaw Sippin band can’t investigate mysteries.  Hence, “Outlaw Sippin And The Giant Sea Squid Of Sakakawea”.

The Outlaw Sippin band consists of members Brady Paulson, Beni Paulson, and Emil Anheluk of Dickinson, and Jessie Veeder of Watford City.  Lake Sakakawea is a 480 square mile reservoir located twenty miles northeast of Watford City.  The creation of the lake flooded the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation villages of Van Hook and Sanish.

There are at least two legends regarding Lake Sakakawea.  There is a Native American legend of a Missouri River monster, Miniwashitu, that is now trapped in Lake Sakakawea after the dam was built.  The second legend is that a crew of underwater welder divers refused to continue to work on a dam gate repair until shark cages were brought in due to the size of the paddle fish encountered, which were big enough to swallow the divers.  Is it any surprise that the Outlaw Sippin band would be called in to investigate, not twenty miles from Jessie Veeder’s home?

The circumstances of the Outlaw Sippin band’s involvement, is strangely similar to those described in Jules Verne’s novel “Twenty Thousand  Leagues Under The Sea”, which coincidently, also involves a giant sea squid.  However, Lake Sakakawea is only 180 feet deep and 176 miles long.

Brady, Beni, Emil, and Jessie are onboard a pontoon boat in search of the giant sea squid, when they encounter the creature.  During the subsequent attack, Brady, Beni, Emil, and Jessie are hurled overboard.  They cling to the creature to keep from drowning, which they find is not a creature at all, but a submarine!  They are captured, and brought before the captain, Dennis Johnson, former mayor of Dickinson.

To be continued…

Reasons Why I Can’t, Couldn’t, Wouldn’t Marry Codi, Kit, Marinna, Or Kristi, In Dickinson, North Dakota

For the first two years that I lived in Dickinson, North Dakota, I complained that there was a shortage of women, and a lack of attractive women in Dickinson, North Dakota.  For the first time in my life, I began to look at internet dating sites.  Looking at five different internet dating sites, there were still very few attractive women in Dickinson.  I believed that there were many things wrong in Dickinson.  The residents here were producing ugly children, and no attractive or normal women would move here.

After about two years of living in Dickinson, I went to a grocery store before 5 p.m. during the week, and I saw a few attractive women, which made me suspicious.  Then, there was a Chile cook-off at the Astoria Hotel that I went to, and there were many different kinds of attractive women there.  There were attractive women at the downtown summer street parties.  I looked up some of the pretty girls that I had met downtown on Facebook, and they all had pretty girl friends.  So, I found out that there are attractive women in Dickinson, but they do hide most of the time.

This year I wrote about some of the women that I like in Dickinson, Codi, Kit, Marinna, and Kristi.  I also wrote about a very beautiful housewife that I met, and some beautiful Bohemian women and girls that I met.  With the exception of one 32 year old Bohemian woman with two kids who didn’t tell me that she was married, and one other exception, I did not try to pursue a relationship with any of these women that I liked, because I liked them and did not want to make them unhappy.

I did not want to make them unhappy, because then I would be unhappy.  It would be very sad for any one of these women to like me, to trust me, to believe in me, and to try to have a life with me, and me let them down.

For all of these women, their beauty, attractiveness, and health would allow them to marry a man that was much more successful than me.  I don’t want to keep them from having a nice home, nice car, nice clothes, not having to work, being able to travel, and being able to have kids who won’t go without anything.  I could not stand knowing that I ruined everything for them.

The only women that I would be comfortable dating, would be women that already had their life ruined.  A single mom with two kids said to me once, “I’m just looking for a guy who has a job, and can fix shit.”  This woman already had a courtship with the man she thought was “the one”, a wedding, honeymoon, first child, second child, many problems, a divorce, and the difficulties of raising children alone.  She was looking for someone that she liked, that she could trust, that would help her, and make her life easier.  She no longer was expecting a man to provide her with a nice home, nice car, travel, and not having to work.

Another way to say this is, I just can’t handle women putting all of their expectations on me.  Not entirely because of the fear of failing, but the understanding of the reality that I will likely never be able to provide as much as I would have wanted to.

Unfortunately, the reality is, that most of the men that will pursue these women that I like, will not be any wealthier or any more successful than me, and the thought of ruining these women’s lives is not something they concern themselves with, only the goal of obtaining these women for themselves.

 

Marinna Marsh, My Eighth Most Favorite Person In Dickinson, North Dakota

Marinna Marsh is my eighth most favorite person in Dickinson, North Dakota because of her beauty and her personality. She is the daughter of Bernie Marsh, the owner of the downtown bar The Esquire Club. Bernie and his wife had about ten children, and every one of them is named with an “M”, like Max, Mariah, and Miranda. All of the Marsh children that I have met have dark hair, except for Marinna who is blond. Many of the Marsh children work at Bernie’s Esquire Club, including Marinna.

In 2011 when I first came to Dickinson to work, I complained to my co-workers that there were no attractive women in Dickinson. They said, “You should see Marinna Marsh.” The second company that I went to work for, the company owner’s kids went to school with the Marsh kids, the company owner said to me, “You should see Marinna Marsh, she is quite attractive.” When I came back to Dickinson in 2013, my new co-workers said, “You should see Marinna Marsh.”

It is a good thing that I never saw or met Marinna Marsh in 2011, 2012, or 2013, because she wasn’t married then, and I never would have left her alone. I probably saw some of her pictures on Facebook in 2014. In 2015, I saw her about once a week on a television commercial for active duty military personnel overseas, she was with her boyfriend or husband. I saw Marinna in person several times in 2015 and 2016. In order to not get run off right away by her mom, dad, brothers, and sisters, I waited to talk to her.

To me, her physical appearance, personality, and disposition make her the most attractive girl in North Dakota. She is like a nice girl cat. When she is not doing anything, she settles right down, still and contented. When she has to do something, she rouses right up without objection. But she is better than a cat because she can talk, and drive a car, and she can probably even pay bills on time if you gave her a check book. And, on top of everything else, she is Bohemian.

My Motorcycle Gang, The Prairie Dogs, Dickinson, North Dakota, Part II

In Part I, I explained what bikers were like when I grew up, how yuppies started the “Costume Party” bikers, and that most bikers today are pretend bikers, good weather bikers, motorcycle sits in the garage 355 days a year bikers.

In 2013, when I came back to Dickinson, I wanted to start a motorcycle gang, “The Prairie Dogs”. Founding members were to be myself, Duane Sickler, S.A., and D.M. Possible prospects were Rod Sickler and Dale Sickler. In talking to Duane Sickler, who had previously been in a motorcycle club, he wanted to put the motorcycle gang life behind him. Duane was warning me that we would face opposition from the motorcycle club already existing in Dickinson, The Sick Bastards.

I said to Duane, that my motorcycle gang, The Prairie Dogs, would be different. We would leave people notes. Notes like, “Do not park here” or “Your jacket makes you look fat”. We would also threaten to leave notes, “Notes that people wouldn’t like.” The other thing about the Prairie Dogs, you had to have a smaller cc motorcycle, like under 500 cc, preferably an older motorcycle. I had a 1975 Kawasaki 125 enduro, and a 1976 Yamaha 125 enduro. I got another 1975 Yamaha 125 enduro out of somebody’s backyard in Dickinson.

I gave the 1975 Yamaha 125 enduro that I got out of someone’s backyard to S.A. Then S.A. threw the engine in the garbage because he said the piston was seized, but I wish he would not have done that. S.A. has been arrested many times, several contempts of court, several restraining orders, on the U.S. “No Fly List”, dresses oddly, good founding member for the Prairie Dogs.

Duane Sickler wanted to put the biker gang life behind him. When I let him borrow my 1976 Yamaha 125 enduro, and I saw him riding around town, that was the happiest I ever saw him. Until it died. This motorcycle has a generator, not an alternator, and it went bad, a common problem for this motorcycle. I put a tool box on the back luggage rack with a lawnmower battery in it, but then Duane didn’t want to ride it anymore because it didn’t look as good. Then Duane died. Then Dale Sickler died too.

D.M. has been arrested and imprisoned many times. He stole 30 cars, including a police car, before he turned 16. He plays a banjo, and he looks like a banjo player. His only problem is that he has a 1300 cc Harley Davidson, which you can’t ride with the Prairie Dogs with that.

I am not mentioning any names, but these founding members have been kicked out of the military three times for bad behavior and non-compliance, and have been kicked out of prisons and jails for causing too many problems. (You used to get kicked out of jail for having crab lice, because the other prisoners would get it, I am not saying that any of the founding members had crab lice.)

If you were a Prospect of the Prairie Dogs, you would get a sticky note pad to leave notes. If you were a Probationary Member, you would get a spiral note pad, to leave longer notes. If you were a Full Member, you would get stationery with envelopes. The president, which would have been me or Duane, would have letter size manila envelopes to leave long notes in.

All over town, people would fear and dread the Prairie Dogs. Bar managers would meet us at the door saying, “You’re not coming in here starting shit with your notes.” Which would of course result in a note being shoved under a door in a manila envelope, which would have to be read. The bar staff would say, “What does the note say, what does the note say?” The bar staff would have apprehension all night, saying to customers, “Can you go out to my car, and see if it has a note on it, it’s the blue Dodge Charger over by the street light.”

We could go by the Catholic Church and leave notes on car windshields: “Rather than going to Mass, why don’t you quit doing underhanded things in the first place.” and “I’m not ever going to buy raffle tickets for your car because you never announce who won the car, and I think it’s a scam.” Not all the notes would be mean, some would be benign, which would be irritating: “You do a good job taking care of your car.” and “You look like you have good hygiene.”

People in their homes would hear those two stroke engines coming, and say, “Oh no, it’s those fucking Prairie Dogs, I hope they keep going.” People at parks, the Prairie Hills Mall, and restaurants would leave when we got there, or keep on driving and not stop if they saw our motorcycles in the parking lot. The only people who wouldn’t leave, would be women who want attention. They would be like, “So…., are you going to give me a note?…. Why not, why aren’t you going to give me a note, that’s what you do isn’t it?”

My Motorcycle Gang, The Prairie Dogs, Dickinson, North Dakota Part I

I grew up in the 1970s just south of Daytona Beach. Things were different in the 1970s. People drank as much alcohol as they wanted, as often as they wanted, and regarded law enforcement as not having any business interfering with their drinking. Many men had been over in Vietnam, had been immersed in military order, discipline, and killing people daily. A civilian police officer was not someone they were frightened of, or someone they wanted to listen to very much. For many veterans who just got back, complying with law enforcement was something they did voluntarily, because they could have just as easily killed a single police officer or two if they were attempting to arrest them.

There were bikers around Daytona Beach throughout the year, and thousands of bikers before, during, and after bike week. Most of the bikers were poor, many of them were recently returned from Vietnam. Many bikers liked to stay at the campground, because it was the cheapest place to stay. The bikers didn’t try to go to upscale restaurants, they preferred to go to hole-in-the-wall biker bars.

My recollection is, that the bikers back in the 1970s did not go looking for trouble. They especially did not bother children, moms, or parents with children. I think that they went out of their way not to frighten kids, moms, and parents. However, if a restaurant owner or a waitress ever insulted a biker, their restaurant would likely be burned down after it closed that night. There was a restaurant in Daytona, I believe it was called The Raw Bar, that got burned down two years in a row because a waitress was shitty to a biker.

Back then, most of the Bike Week bikers had Harley Davidsons, second most popular was probably Triumph, there were probably some BMWs and BSAs. Throughout the year, bikers just rode what they could afford, Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki, and Yamaha. Bikers wore what they normally wore, jeans, boots, T-shirt, maybe a denim jacket, not a lot of leather. My father had a small Suzuki, a Triumph chopper, an AMF Harley Sportster, and a Honda XL 185. I had a small Suzuki enduro, and a Kawasaki KX.

It wasn’t until the 1980s that there came to be the “Costume Party Bikers”. I think that one of the first signs that Harley Davidsons were becoming glamorous was when Rocky Balboa had one in the movie Rocky II. I didn’t like it when the accountants, dentists, and attorneys started dressing all in leather like they were going to some Sadists & Masochist sex party, trying to pretend to be bikers. Since the early 1900s, bikers were just bikers, they rode what they had, and they wore what they had. The yuppies were turning Bike Week into a Halloween costume party. I felt like it was non-Muslims going to Mecca, and I don’t know why the bikers put up with it. The only reason that I can think of, is that the bikers thought they could get these fantasizing yuppy women away from their husbands for a while.

Continuing to this day, I think that most bikers are pretend bikers. Good weather bikers, their $15,000 motorcycle sitting in the garage 355 days each year. Their $15,000 1100cc motorcycle sitting in their garage for 355 days each year, and they feel the strong desire to trade it in for a 1300cc motorcycle. Hey, you can go buy a new 300cc Kawasaki Ninja that will go 113 mph, for $5,700. Ohh, but it vibrates at 8,000 rpm. Yes, it should vibrate at 8,000 rpm, good, get used to it.

Reformation And Rehabilitation Of White Trash In Watford City, North Dakota

This discovery, like the discovery of penicillin, was accidental and may be just as important. I had written in several previous blog posts that many of the workers who have come to Watford City are poor White Trash. The police in Watford City do not allow the White Trash to misbehave.

Anything that White Trash typically do, is not allowed in Watford City: No speeding, no reckless driving, no throwing garbage out car windows, no drunken driving, no picking up street prostitutes, no buying meth or crack, and no selling meth or crack. The White Trash are under such tight control, that they do not go out in Watford City, they just stay home.

The White Trash are behaving not just because the police in Watford City have methods of strict enforcement of laws, but also because the White Trash have good paying jobs. The jobs that the White Trash have in Watford City allow them to pay their rent at the apartments where they live, buy food, and make payments on a four door four-wheel-drive truck, and they want to keep their job and everything they have now.

Without anybody keeping track or documenting what is going on, I think that I am the first person to note that the White Trash have not only changed their behavior, but I think that this change may be semi-permanent and lasting. I am the first person to observe and document a large population of White Trash transform into Lower Middle Class in a short period of time! This transformation process is probably repeatable! It may even work on Blacks and Convicted Criminals!

Step One: The subject individual must be relocated far away from previous environment and previous human contacts. Step Two: The subject individual must be relocated to an environment with strict law enforcement and strict rule enforcement. Step Three: The subject individual must be allowed to obtain employment through a fair process and proof of non-drug use, such employment allowing the subject individual sufficient income to pay for his own food, housing, and other things that he desires. Step Four: There is no food, housing, or anything provided unless the subject individual works, however if the subject individual does work the income he receives is sufficient to pay for food, housing, and other things that he desires.

After I thought about it some more, this is similar to when Great Britain in the 1800s began shipping convicted criminals from the prisons in Great Britain to prisons in Australia, and after a period of time allowed the convicted criminals to homestead in Australia.  Being far away from friends, family, criminal people, criminal enterprises, and given the chance to work and have their own property, many convicted criminals became successful farmers and ranchers, and turned their lives around.

My Second Song For The Outlaw Sippin Band, “Happy As A Toad In A Valve Box”

The Outlaw Sippin Band in Dickinson, North Dakota is comprised of Brady Paulson, Beni Paulson, Emil “The Edge” Anheluk, and Jessie “The Linda Ronstadt of Watford City” Veeder. In a previous blog post, I explained how I wrote a duet for Beni and Jessie titled, “Take Your Chicken And Your Thing!”. In this blog post I have a new song that I wrote for Jessie Veeder titled “Happy As A Toad In A Valve Box.”

The origin of this song is as follows. I was in line at the Jack & Jill grocery store in Watford City, and ahead of me in line was this young attractive blond girl, and all she was buying was one single drink. I thought to myself, “Man, that girl is buying just one drink, I have to buy about four ice teas just for one night. It’s not like I drink a lot. I probably drink about as much as a toad if he were my size, and I don’t even spend all day in a valve box. I wonder how toads get inside valve boxes, I hope they can get out.” Knowing that the Outlaw Sippin Band needed another song, I figured that I would write one.

I was thinking of the Moody Blues song “Nights In White Satin”, the rhythm and music of that song.

Nights in white satiiinnn…..                                                                                                                          Never seeing the ennnnddd…..

 

Happy as a toad in a valve boooxxx…..                                                                                                     Never wanting to leeeavvve……

Days spent in darkneesss….                                                                                                                         Bugs coming to meeeee…..

Nights in white satiiinn……                                                                                                                           Never seeing the ennnddd…

And I love yooouuu…..!                                                                                                                                      Yes I love you…..!                                                                                                                                               Ohhhh I love yooouuu……!

 

Now, this song supposes that the toad can get out of the valve box. And people may be wondering, does the toad have white satin sheets, and where did he get them? So unless I do some more work on this song, it should come after “Take Your Chicken And Your Thing!”, that way the details of this song won’t matter as much.

O.K., I worked on it some more:

Toad in a valve boooxxx…..                                                                                                                              Never wanting to leeeavvve……

Days spent in darkneesss….                                                                                                                         Bugs coming to meeeee…..

And I love yooouuu…..!                                                                                                                                      Yes I love you…..!                                                                                                                                               Ohhhh I love yooouuu……!

Nights on white sidewaaalllk….                                                                                                                   Never seeing the eenndd….

Knife River Constuctiooonnn….                                                                                                                    Built it for meeeee…

And I love yooouuu…..!                                                                                                                                      Yes I love you…..!                                                                                                                                               Ohhhh I love yooouuu……!

More Big Improvements In Watford City, North Dakota

When I came back to Watford City in February of 2016, I wrote in several blog posts about how bad the roads were. On Highway 23 Business and roads that join into it, there was no road shoulder, no edge of pavement marking, no curb, no lighting, and no survivable sloped embankment. In April of 2016 Watford City began dumping fill dirt on the road embankments that were too steep, and creating a little bit more road shoulder.

In May of 2016 I read in the Dickinson Press newspaper that Watford City had a meeting with NDDOT to request that the curb, sidewalk, and street lights be completed on Highway 23 Business. At about that time, I saw more and more Knife River construction trucks working in the Highway 23 Business right-of-way. Through May and June I have seen Knife River construction doing very high quality work, efficiently, orderly, and quickly.

This past Sunday I was driving into Watford City early in the morning and I noticed that there are very wide concrete sidewalks on both sides of Highway 23 Business. These sidewalks are so wide, that I wouldn’t even call them sidewalks, they are more like promenades. Though not yet entirely completed, if you switch from one side of the road to the other right now, you can get from Hunters Run Street all the way into downtown Watford City on concrete sidewalk.

There are a tremendous amount of people living in the new apartments and townhomes on Hunters Run Street, probably about 2,000 people. The kids on Hunters Run Street had been cut off from Watford City because there was no safe way for them to get into town. Once these promenades are completed, probably kids as young as 7 years will be able to safely ride their bicycles into town to go to school, go to the store, or visit their friends. The promenades are plenty wide enough for older kids and adults to skateboard on or rollerblade on.

If Watford City will maintain trees and grass on Highway 23 Business, this entrance into Watford City will be very impressive. Impressive because the road is new and wide, all the apartments and hotels are new, the high school is huge, new, and on a hill, and the golf course is on a hill top on the other side of this road.

Western North Dakota, Survivalists, And One World Government Part III

I wrote in my previous blog post that you will probably continue to see more shootings by Islamic extremists, more shootings by Black militants, and more rioting by Blacks in the large cities in the United States, but not in North Dakota. There may be Martial Law, National Guard troops, road and highway check points, weapons bans, and other emergency measures in the large U.S. cities, but not in Western North Dakota. Law enforcement officers in North Dakota would be reluctant and unenthusiastic in trying to search for and confiscate firearms owned by citizens in North Dakota.

Rather than sit back and laugh at what was happening in the other states, people in North Dakota need to watch what is happening in other states and take it as advance warning. People in North Dakota would have about a six month to two year head start on the rest of the United States to get their affairs in order, which is far more time than anyone else will get. One of the Executive Orders signed by a President in the last thirty years states that in a “National Emergency”, the Department of Homeland Security will have authority over National Guard, State Police, and local law enforcement. This means that though North Dakota National Guard and North Dakota law enforcement would not want to do anything that had previously been un-Constitutional to citizens, they will not be in charge, they will be receiving orders from the Department of Homeland Security.

The reason that North Dakota will not be left alone in a “National Emergency” is because in the past thirty years a President signed another Executive Order that states in a “National Emergency”, all means of energy production, all energy supplies, all means of food production, and all food supplies, will come under government control. Because of oil, natural gas, coal, farming, and ranching in North Dakota, you will have National Guard troops here following Federal Government orders, and local law enforcement being given orders that they may not like.

I don’t want to scare farmers and ranchers in North Dakota, but if things get out of control in the rest of the United States to cause a “National Emergency”, the Federal Government may use the Executive Order that exists, to take control of your farm, your ranch, your energy supplies, and your food supplies. Farmers, ranchers, and local law enforcement need to know this ahead of time so that people in North Dakota can get their affairs in order ahead of time.

What I mean by “getting their affairs in order” is to know what to expect, what will likely happen or possibly happen, and prepare accordingly. I will give some examples. The firearms that you bought at WalMart and Runnings, there is a record of it, from when you completed the background check forms. The government may demand that you surrender your firearms, especially because they have a record of you buying them. You may be better off willingly giving up the firearms that the government knows you bought, in order for you to be able to keep and hide the ones there is no record of. If your home is searched, don’t expect that you can hide firearms in the walls, ceilings, or under floor boards, because metal detectors will likely be used.

Do not keep all your emergency supplies, food supplies, and fuel supplies in one place. Remember, there is an Executive Order that states all food supplies and energy supplies come under government control in a “National Emergency”, which means the government can take them. You don’t want all of your supplies in one place anyway in case somebody else finds them when you are not at home. In previous blog posts I wrote that everyone in North Dakota needs to have emergency supplies in their vehicles in case something happens, but now I want to write more about it.

Even if you have a Subaru wagon or Honda accord, you can fit a Rubbermaid tub or storage box in the back or in the trunk. It is possible and even likely that you will have problems away from home in North Dakota. I recommend the following items as a minimum: battery jumper cables, tow rope, can of fix-a-flat, flashlight with extra batteries, sleeping bag, several bottles of water, some non-perishable food, and hidden emergency money. I also recommend having a change of clothes, a warm winter jacket, rain poncho, mini-air compressor, small mechanics tool kit, a firearm and extra ammo.

Regarding what I just wrote about having emergency supplies in your vehicle, and all this other planning for civil unrest, riots, and “National Emergency”, some readers are thinking that this is ridiculous. Do you think that if you have problems, you can just go walk to somebody else’s house and ask for help? Do you think that it is not your responsibility to provide for yourself, that other people should provide you with the items that you need in an emergency? Other people are not always going to be willing or able to help you. In fact, in many instances, other people may be willing to take everything you have and leave you dead. All survivalists, all of them, know that there will be people wandering around in an emergency looking and begging for help. It is known and understood that you can’t help people who show up begging. You feed them, they will get hungry again, head straight back to you, telling and bringing others. You can not venture out away from your shelter and supplies to help someone who says that their car is broken down.

Everyone and law enforcement need to think about what I have written, do their own research, think about what is happening in the United States, plan and prepare for what is coming, and decide what they are going to do.

Western North Dakota, Survivalists, And One World Government, Part II

In my previous blog post I wrote about some of the reasons for the civil unrest and riots in the United States in the past several years. So far this Summer, there was a shooting of a performer in Orlando after her concert for no reason; a shooting of 50 more people in Orlando the following day by an Islamic extremist; protest marches in Dallas, Los Angeles, and Baltimore over the police shootings of two Black suspects; followed by the shooting of 12 police officers in Dallas by a disgruntled militant Black man. Each one of these incidents has caused liberal people, celebrities, journalists, politicians, and legislators to start talking about gun violence, gun control, and gun bans.

If you watch the television news and read the newspapers, you can see that from now on, whenever a police officer shoots a Black suspect, this is going to be followed by Blacks protesting in all of the large U.S. cities because the Blacks have been led to believe that they are being discriminated against. As in Dallas, these protests may lead disgruntled Blacks to shoot innocent whites. You also can tell from watching television news and reading the newspaper that Muslim extremists are going to continue to attack people in U.S. cities.

I have never wanted to live in a large city, I hated the times that I had to be in one, and I don’t like travelling near or through large cities. I think that cities bring out the worst in people, making people rude, pushy, aggressive, unfriendly, inconsiderate, hurried, and stressed. I am especially glad that I don’t live in a city now, where a police officer shoots a Black suspect in a different state, and now the Blacks are going to riot, loot, block roads and highways, and attack innocent whites. Or, you live in a city, you’re stuck in a crowd, and an Islamic extremist or Black militant is going to start shooting everyone. I am glad that I live in Western North Dakota where there aren’t any cities.

I believe that the Islamic extremist shootings, Black militant shootings, police shootings of Black suspects, rioting and looting by Blacks will continue in the cities and get worse. In the cities, they may have to impose curfews, try to impose weapons bans, bring in National Guard, block roads with check points. This could happen in Detroit, New York, Washington DC, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Atlanta, Jacksonville, St. Louis, Cleveland, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Minneapolis, Los Angeles, so many cities, that hey, why doesn’t Obama or Hillary just declare Martial Law.

I believe that some or all of the things that I just described will happen. I am glad that I live in North Dakota because North Dakota will be one of the least affected states. There are very few cities in North Dakota, and none in Western North Dakota. There are very few Blacks in Western North Dakota. There won’t be a need to impose any restrictions on people in Western North Dakota, and even if the Federal Government wanted to, all of their resources need to be sent to the most troubled areas, and Western North Dakota would be the lowest priority.

If you live in Western North Dakota, you probably won’t have to deal with rioters, looters, or protestors blocking roads and highways. You know that there is not going to be any looting, but if it was attempted somebody with a gun would say, “You go put that back where you got it.” Or, there might be a couple of shot people in front of a business laying on the ground and people would get the idea. As far as protesters blocking the road, people would just drive around them in the shoulder or the median, and if anybody ran and jumped in the way they would likely get run over.

As far as gun bans of any kind, I do not think that the police, sheriff, or highway patrol in Western North Dakota would go to people’s homes asking about weapons, because I don’t think they believe in taking citizens’ firearms away. I don’t think that they would go to people’s homes, but if they were forced to go, I think that they would not try to find weapons. And if they were forced to search, I don’t think they would search too hard. This is how things are now, and it would take the implementation of severe measures and controls to change the way things are now with law enforcement in Western North Dakota, and North Dakota would be one of the last states to comply with non-traditional and un-Constitutional rules.

Western North Dakota, Survivalists, And One World Government, Part I

In my previous post, I wrote about the book The Turner Diaries that was written by the white supremacist William Pierce in 1978. The book describes the disintegration of society in the United States that takes place in the future years 1989 to 1999. The main factors that are described in the book are the passage of legislation banning possession of firearms, government searches of people’s homes for firearms, the increase in crime and the inability of people to protect themselves, the implementation of martial law, rebellion against the government, and civil war.

What I didn’t mention, but what many people already know, The Turner Diaries is very derogatory towards Blacks, Jews, and Hispanics, blaming them for most of the crime, corruption, and degeneration of values in the United States. The book blames the majority of Whites for being satisfied with their lives of eating, watching TV, and watching sports, and failing to notice, object, or protest to corruption in government, and liberalism progressing so far in the media, schools, the legislature, and judicial system that the United States was transformed into a country with no principles, ethics, values, or morals.

I wrote in my previous blog post that much of what is described in The Turner Diaries, that was written in 1978, has happened or is happening now in the United States. I will give a couple of examples.

Approximately four years ago in Deland, Florida, George Zimmerman was performing a neighborhood watch when he saw a suspicious person, and he called the police. George Zimmerman got out of his vehicle to see what was going on, and the suspicious acting person, Treyvon Martin, physically attacked George Zimmerman. George Zimmerman had a concealed weapons permit, and a firearm on his person, and he shot Treyvon Martin. At first, the police or sheriff department did not arrest or seek criminal charges against George Zimmerman. Currently in most states, and throughout the history of the United States, if a person is physically attacked they can lawfully use a firearm to defend themselves. But because Treyvon Martin was Black, Blacks protested, Blacks threatened to riot, “no justice, no peace”, so there had to be a trial. George Zimmerman had to go through about a two year ordeal, he was almost sacrificed in order to pacify Black protestors, but he was found not guilty. If I had physically attacked George Zimmerman, and I had been shot, my family and friends, and myself, would have thought, “That’s what happens when you attack somebody.”

The second example, almost two years ago, a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, Darren Wilson, was on patrol when he drove up to a large young man named Michael Brown. Michael Brown punched police officer Darren Wilson in the head, reached in the vehicle and tried to take away the police officer’s firearm, there was a struggle for the gun, shots were fired in the struggle for the gun. Michael Brown retreated, the officer was injured and dazed but got out of the vehicle and ordered Michael Brown to stop. Michael Brown charged at the officer, and was shot and killed by the officer. If Michael Brown was white, that would be the end of the story. But Michael Brown was Black, so there were protests, rioting, and looting. If I would have done this to officer Darren Wilson, my family probably would have told Darren Wilson that he did the right thing, there was nothing else that could have been done.

In the two examples that I gave above, one Black man attacked a man in Florida and was shot, one Black man attacked a police officer in Missouri and was shot. Blacks all over the United States protested, demonstrated, threatened riots, and did riot and loot. However, at least one Black man is shot every day of the year in Chicago, more than one on some days, but Blacks don’t say a word about it, they could not care less. The truth is, Blacks could not care less about other Blacks being killed, Blacks are killed every day in conflicts in Africa, Houston, Los Angeles, Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, and they don’t complain at all about this, not one word. You can seek for yourselves to determine why the television and newspaper media work the Blacks up into a frenzy over some Black deaths. Why does the news media want to convince Blacks that they are being victimized, to cause civil unrest, cause Blacks to riot, cause Blacks to loot, to attack whites, to attack police officers? The Turner Diaries explains why.

There are people with power and a great deal of money in the United States and elsewhere that want things to be different in the United States. One of the first things that they would like to do is to take away all firearms, this is necessary in order to accomplish the remainder of their plans. The Elites don’t want ordinary individuals owning and living on their own 3 acres, 30 acres, 300 acres, or 3,000 acres, you are too independent, not subject to control, you are tying up farming, timber, water, and mineral resources, and getting in the way of their use of it. What kinds of things are you teaching your children?, probably not what they want them to believe.

The Elites would like all ordinary people to live in their modest housing unit, along side all the other ordinary people in their modest housing units, to get all the ordinary people onto as small an amount of land as possible, to free up all other land to use how they see fit. Once all the ordinary people are confined to as small a land area as possible, they won’t need personal vehicles, they can all take buses and trains. Once everyone is confined to small housing units, with no personal vehicles, they can be paid much less for the work that they do. Once cash is eliminated, gold and silver confiscated, people will only have electronic credits. All taxes, all fines, all monies owed will be deducted from your electronic credits, whether you want to pay or not. You will be completely controllable as an individual. Masses of people will be completely controllable. Education will form children to persons who conform to the system. Information and entertainment will be compatible with conformation to the system. It is necessary that masses of people conform and accept this order, in order for humans to survive. Too many resources were being depleted and polluted, too many resources being used for war and preparation for war, too many conflicts over resources and unequal sharing of the Earth’s resources. A New World Order, One World Government had to be created.

So, beginning with the end in mind, the Elites have got to make changes in the United States. The Media, movies, television shows, television news, magazines, newspapers, are all trying to spread liberal beliefs and ideology. The Education System is indoctrinating people with liberal beliefs and ideology. The Military is being transformed to accept and practice liberal ideology, and so is the Health Care System. U.S. Government Departments are claiming more and more control over private business, private property, and private individuals. However, the U.S. Constitution is getting in the way, and the legislative and elective process is too slow, all these ordinary people have to think about want they want, decide, and vote, which is taking too long to make the necessary changes.

If the Elites can create enough chaos and crisis in the United States, maybe Martial Law can be declared, maybe the Constitution can be suspended, measures can be implemented in the emergency. Sign agreements like the North American Free Trade Agreement, the Trans Pacific Partnership, do not stop illegal immigration, these things will drop the income and standard of living in the United States to where people are struggling. Then, try to use the Federal Government to cause banks to give mortgages to Blacks and Hispanics on homes that they are unable to pay for. House prices will go up and up, until nobody can afford their mortgages. The economy crashes, people can’t pay for their houses, low wages are being blamed on the immigrants, Blacks are rioting because they are being told they are being victimized. The economy crashing is not just people having less money, it is able-bodied intelligent adults not being able to get a job at all, or only being able to get a very low wage job, and having to work many hours beyond 40 hours per week at low wage jobs. The mass shootings in the United Sates recently were by individuals that were extremely disgruntled. I believe that they were so angry with their circumstances in life, because of the way the United States is right now, economically, socially, ideologically. The shootings that result from people’s anger recently are what the Elites are looking for to begin banning firearms.

What The Police in Watford City And Dickinson Are Trying To Do

A few days ago, a new resident in the apartments where I sometimes stay in Watford City asked me a question.  He asked, “What is it with this 25 mph speed limit?  Has the money that Watford City received from oil revenue decreased so much that the police are having to write everyone tickets to make money?”  I said no, that’s not it at all, the police want to have the opportunity to meet you.

I explained that the police like pulling people over, that way they get to meet you.  They look at your out of state driver’s license, everybody here is from out of state, and they run it to see if you  have any outstanding warrants, and whatever other criminal history information that might come up.  Then they are going to ask you, “What’s your local address?”  The police want your local address, so in case you are involved in anything now or at a later date, they know where you are staying here locally.

Just walking up to your vehicle, the police can tell if you are a construction worker, a skilled trades person, a professional, or a homeless person.  A construction worker will most likely have a beat up vehicle with construction tools laying about.  A skilled trades person will have a nicer vehicle with his tools put away.  A professional person will likely have a clean vehicle with no tools at all.  A homeless person will have all of their personal items stuffed inside their vehicle.

Just walking up to your vehicle, the police can tell if you are likely a drug addict.  Drug addicts sometimes have newer vehicles, but there is usually something messed up with it, like the sunvisor being mangled, the headliner being pulled down, or a back window being smashed.  Whether a newer vehicle, or an older vehicle, drug addicts usually have debris all over the floor, and I don’t mean tools, I mean debris.  Somewhere in that debris, the police will usually find drug paraphernalia.  The police can also spot items in drug addict’s vehicle that have likely been stolen or have been reported as stolen recently.

I am not complaining about the police meeting people, because I agree with it.  One of the things that the police in Watford City and Dickinson are trying to do is eliminate drug trafficking and illegal drug use, which I agree with.

Someone can go ahead and tell me again about how narcotics should be legal, and it is nobody’s business but the user, they aren’t hurting anyone, it’s nobody’s business.  This is a drug user who will say something like this.  I can go ahead and tell them about the women I know who lost custody of their children because they weren’t feeding their children because they were a drug user, using their money to buy drugs, not paying attention to feeding, clothing, and caring for their children.  Drug users steal money from the businesses where they work, from family members, from friends, from neighbors, from strangers, in order to pay for drugs.

Probably at least 60% of the small item theft in Dickinson is committed by people trying to get something to sell to buy drugs.  These are removing items from unlocked cars and homes, and breaking into locked cars and homes.

I am not giving away secrets that shouldn’t be known.  I want everyone in Watford City and Dickinson to know that the police are looking for the opportunity to stop you, meet you, and find out all about you.  If there is anything suspicious about you, they are going to tell the other police, so that they can all watch what you are doing.  They want to know who everybody is and what everybody is doing.  Watford City government, Dickinson city government, county government, highway patrol, the courts, probation, chamber of commerce, business associations, development associations, wealthy individuals, the Dickinson Mafia, all the churches, they are all behind the police having tight control over everybody and this is what they expect to be done.

Gretchen Carlson’s Sexual Harassment Lawsuit Against Fox News

I haven’t had a lot of time to watch television this year because I have been busy with three jobs.  When I am eating, doing paperwork, or paying bills, I will have the television on Fox News so that I am aware of what is happening in the world.

I like Fox News, especially “The Five”, which comes on at 3 p.m. in Dickinson.  I don’t want to write about it at length right now, but Fox News has given many people the chance to say what they think, without censorship, more so than the other networks.  Lou Dobbs the financial analyst left CNN to come to Fox News so that he could say what he really thought was the truth.  So did financial analyst Maria Bartiromo.  Jaun Williams lost his job at NPR, but Fox News hired him.  Fox News also hired Geraldo Rivera.  Jaun Williams and Geraldo Rivera are invited to give opinions that are different from typical conservative opinions.  Bill O’Reilly is permitted to say whatever he believes, so is Greta Van Susteren.

I thought that Fox News was giving its program anchors, expert commentators, and guests the chance to state their opinions and beliefs more so than the other networks.  Bill O’Reilly, Greta Van Susteren, Sean Hanity, Megyn Kelly, I thought that they were being allowed to report the truth, and search for the truth, even if it made important, influential, or wealthy people uncomfortable.  I thought that all the Fox News hosts and reporters were given the highest professional respect, by being allowed to perform their jobs without interference or censorship.

I thought that one of the reasons that Fox News was so successful, was because they hired good people, good reporters, good journalists, people with good personalities, and then got out of their way and let them do their jobs.  People like Bill O’Reilly, Megyn Kelly, Greta Van Susteren, and Lou Dobbs really appear to be happy and thriving at Fox News.  The content, arrangement, contributors, and tone of their shows are set by these anchors, and each anchor has their own unique personality and character.

I saw Gretchen Carlson on Fox News from time to time.  She was attractive.  I thought that she was in her forties.  Everybody that watches Fox News notices that many of the women hosts are attractive, and that they wear short skirts.  Just as an example, there is a morning Fox News show called “Outnumbered” that has about three or four attractive female hosts.  These female hosts all wear short skirts and sit on a sofa.  They have to keep their legs crossed in order for their underwear not to show.  On the internet, there are many websites, that show every female Fox News host that was wearing a short skirt that forgot to keep her legs crossed, or uncrossed her legs showing her underwear.

The reality and the truth is, this is one of the reasons why Fox News has such high ratings.  Many men watch Fox News because they enjoy seeing attractive women that are reporting news from a conservative point of view.  The reality and the truth is, that since it is not illegal for women to wear short skirts, and the male viewers like it, the female hosts were wearing very short skirts.

I thought that the attractive female Fox News hosts were wearing skirts that were so short, that they were impractical.  On many of the Fox News programs, the women’s skirts were short to begin with, then because of the way they were sitting, their skirts got pulled up more and more, and they didn’t care to adjust them, so they might as well just have worn their underwear without a skirt.  I don’t think they cared.  They were all attractive women, and they were proud of how they looked.  I think that they were all happy that they were getting high ratings, people liked their shows, and they knew they would probably be paid more and more.

Gretchen Carlson was one of the attractive Fox News hosts that always wore a short skirt and did not care to adjust it as it got pulled up more and more.  I thought that she was O.K. with it, because this is what she always wore.  I thought that she was proud of the way she looked.  I thought that Grethen Carlson was in her forties, she was attractive.  However, there were some weeks that I thought that her health was not good.  Time would pass, and she would appear to be in O.K. health again.

I did not know until a couple of days ago that Gretchen Carlson’s contract with Fox News was not renewed when it ran out on June 23, and that she then filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against Roger Ailes, the founder and head of Fox News.  This made me mad.

I read that Gretchen Carlson had been Miss America in 1989, which I never knew.  I read that Gretchen Carlson had been hired at Fox News in 2005, and that she had worked at Fox News for eleven years.  In a recent book that Gretchen Carlson published about herself in 2015, she wrote that Roger Ailes had given her more opportunities to host her own programs than anywhere else she had previously worked.

Now Gretchen Carlson is complaining that Roger Ailes said something to her in the past year like, “You and I should have had sex a long time ago.”  Roger Ailes is now about 76 years old.  Gretchen Carlson is now 50 years old.

I want to point out to everybody, that men and women have been having sex for thousands of years.  I want to point out that now, in modern times, it is necessary for men to ask permission of women to have sex with them, rather than just starting to have sex with them without asking.  This means that the man has to ask to have sex first.  I don’t know if it would have been better for Roger Ailes to have said to Gretchen, “Gretchen, can I have sex with you?”  I believe that Gretchen probably would not have liked this either.  I imagine that Roger Ailes was trying to talk around the subject, rather than directly asking Gretchen.  Roger might have thought that if he said, “You and I should have had sex a long time ago.”, that Gretchen might have replied, “Well, it’s not too late.”

It makes me mad that one of the reasons why Gretchen Carlson was a Fox News host, was because she was attractive, and Gretchen sought to have high ratings by being one of the Fox News hosts that always wore a short skirt that was revealing, she was O.K. with using sex appeal to get good ratings for eleven years, and now that the old man Roger Ailes expresses that he is interested in her sexually, one time in eleven years, she is appalled and outraged.  I think that Gretchen is in fact tired of trying to get high ratings through sex appeal because it is hard when she is 50 years old and has been having some health problems.  But don’t go trying to say that Roger Ailes has ruined you.  I can’t believe that you would do this to Roger Ailes after he has given you so many opportunities during the last eleven years.

My First Song For Outlaw Sippin, “Take Your Chicken And Your Thing”

In my previous post I wrote that the Outlaw Sippin Band is my fifth most favorite person in Dickinson, North Dakota.  Besides stating that from here on, Emil Anheluk will now be known as “The Edge” for his accordion playing, I wrote that they would all be more famous if they wrote about the bad things in western North Dakota.  It is so easy to write about the everyday struggles here in North Dakota, it is something that I feel strongly about, it is something that everybody here shares and has in common, and anybody here ought to be able to sing about it with conviction

The origin of my first song that I submit to Outlaw Sipping is as follows:  On Sunday in Watford City I was in the Tractor Supply, and there was this attractive girl about 26 years with long dark hair wearing jeans and a baseball cap that walked past me friendly, and about six feet behind her was her boyfriend about 38 years that passed me friendly, not glaring at me for looking at his girlfriend.  They seemed like an ordinary Watford City couple.

When I got home to my apartment in Watford City, I met this same girl on the stairs, she said that she had lived upstairs for about a month now.  I didn’t know.  She recognized my truck and knew I lived there.  Later that night, I was talking to my neighbor lady who is my age, mid forties, and she did not approve of this couple, saying it was sick and disgusting, the age difference.  To me, nothing could seem more normal.  An experienced male worker who could get a job anywhere, with money and a nice truck, having a nice looking younger girlfriend who wanted to be safe and protected.  They are looking out for each other.

I wrote this song about this couple on Sunday, what they were thinking as they were driving around Watford City, and shopping at Tractor Supply, getting home, and she says, “Take your chicken and your thing.”

This is the first rough draft that I didn’t like too much:

Male vocals:

We’re getting further behind on the pipeline,                                                                                        don’t know how we’re going to pick it up.

I’ve got payroll to do, and payroll to meet,                                                                                           don’t know how we’re going to pick it up.

You’re here with me and you’re all that I see,                                                                                          and I’ll never give you up.

Here living with me is all that matters to me,                                                                                        and I’ll never give you up.

Female vocals:

It’s a warm summer day and I’m glad to be out,                                                                                    but I wish I were home.

I’m so far away from my family and friends,                                                                                          that I wish I were home.

We’re so far behind on the pipeline,                                                                                                         don’t know when we’ll be done.

I’m glad that I’m here with you,                                                                                                                 can’t stand being alone.

Male and Female vocals together:

It’s a warm summer day and I’m glad to be out,                                                                                    but I wish I were home.

I’m so far away from my family and friends,                                                                                          that I wish I were home.

Being with you is what matters to me,                                                                                                      can’t stand it when you’re gone.

I couldn’t find the right rhythm in that.  I started thinking about the Lynyrd Skynyrd song:

Tuesday’s goooooone                                                                                                                                     With the wiiiiiiiiind

My baby’s gooone                                                                                                                                               With the wiiiiiind

Tuesday you seeee                                                                                                                                              She had to be freee

Take your chickennnnn                                                                                                                                    And your thiiiiiiinngg

So I re-wrote my song to fit the rhythm and melody of “Tuesday’s Gone”:

Male vocals:

Further behiiiiind                                                                                                                                                    On the pipeliiiiine

You’re here with meeeeeee                                                                                                                        You’re all that I seeeeeeee

Having you heeeere                                                                                                                                               Is all I neeeeed

Female vocals:

It’s a warm summer daaaaay                                                                                                                         Wish I were hooooome

So far awaaaay                                                                                                                                                     From my family and friennnds

So far behiiiiind                                                                                                                                                     On the pipeliiiine

Don’t know wheeennnn                                                                                                                                  We’ll be dooonnnne

Male and Female vocals together:

Looordaaaaay aaannd

Take your chickeeeennnnn!                                                                                                                          And your thiiiinngg!

Take your chickeeeennn!                                                                                                                                And your thiiiiinnggg!

This thing you bought from Tractor Supply!                                                                                        Right here baby!

Now that, is a good song!

 

Very Good Gun Store In Watford City, North Dakota

On July 15, 16, and 17 there is the Wounded Warrior outdoor concert at the Buffalo Gap Guest Ranch, just west of Medora.  It is not far from where Codi Miller lives, so she will likely be there.  On Monday in Watford City I went to the Possum Trot Store downtown to buy Codi Miller a hat.  But when I got there, Jessie Veeder was there, who would also likely be at the Buffalo Gap Guest Ranch concert as a performer.  So I left without buying Codi a hat, because for all I know, the hat that I would buy would be the one that Jessie wanted, and there would be a fight at the Buffalo Gap concert over it.

So since I was in downtown Watford City anyway, I walked over to Big Boy’s Toys Guns & Ammo on Main Street.  I had not been in this store before, and when I walked in the front door, I couldn’t see any guns.  When I asked where the guns were, they said you have to go upstairs, which I did.  Upstairs they had about five display cases of handguns and about one hundred rifles.

I spent about thirty-five minutes looking at their handguns and about ten minutes looking at their rifles.  I might have spent even longer than this, looking at what hey had, and I just about never spend this much time looking at guns.  There are three reasons why I spent so much time looking at what they had:  Every gun they had was low priced in comparison to anywhere else, you could walk up and handle every rifle, and every gun they had was a good gun, there were no stupid poor quality guns.

In the past three years I have been to about six gun shows, ten different gun stores in about four different states, and I have looked for guns on BisMan Classifieds.  Big Boy’s Toys Guns & Ammo had the lowest prices that I have seen anywhere.  They had about ten Kimber semi autos in .45 cal and 9mm that were right at or below MSRP it seemed.  I could say the same thing for the Smith & Wesson, Walther, Beretta Glock, Ruger, and Bersa semi-autos.  They had approximately four Desert Eagle .50 cal semi-auto pistols.  From the large Desert Eagles, their selection had a few more large frame semi-autos, then many duty sized semi-autos, many  smaller sized .45 .40 10mm 9mm, then many compact .38 .32 .22 semi-autos.

They had approximately twenty-five revolvers, .44 magnum down to .22, about half of them were Ruger.  The only rifles that I looked at closely were two AK-47 chambered for 7.62 mm x 39.  These two AK-47 were good quality, and not high priced.  7.62 mm is almost the same size as Winchester .308, but they are not interchangeable.  I only want to buy rifles that use Winchester .308, so that my ammo fits all of my rifles, and I already bought an AK-47 that is chambered for Winchester .308 made by Zastava in Serbia.  Otherwise I would have bought one of these 7.62 mm AK-47 because they were good and inexpensive.

Advice To Poor People From Out Of State Regarding Dickinson, North Dakota

If you are a poor person living in a different state, and you are considering coming to North Dakota, I have some advice and some warnings for you.  If you are White Trash, and you don’t plan on buckling down before you get here, you will probably be stopped by the police your first day here, your information will be collected, and every time a police car gets behind you in Williston, Watford City, or Dickinson, your information will show up from when you were last stopped.  They will try to get you for everything and anything that White Trash normally do:  open container, DUI, drug paraphernalia, illegal drugs, drugs without a prescription, concealed weapon, failure to have vehicle insurance, and possession of stolen property.

Keep this in mind, I know someone this happened to, and I have read about it being done elsewhere.  You can be arrested for possession of stolen property, placed in handcuffs, placed in a police car, be processed at the jail, have your photo taken, post bail, have court dates set, for “possession of stolen property”.  After several months pass, and your court date nears, and you have obtained legal representation, and some legal filings have been made, the prosecutor may dismiss the case against you because they can’t prove that anything in your possession at the time of your arrest was stolen.  You never did have any stolen property in your possession, but you were acting like White Trash, and the police in North Dakota will try every minute of every day to incarcerate you, or make you leave, they don’t care which.  You will see for yourself if you don’t believe me.

If you are a poor person living in a different state, and you want to come to North Dakota, I want to warn you that it will be very difficult in a number of different ways.  Because of the number of people who have tried to move to North Dakota since 2007, the local people here and the transplanted people here have no sympathy or mercy for anyone.  The local people hate people from out of state now.  Any problems that you may have, you will not find help, but you will find hatred.

If you have an older vehicle that is not in good condition, everyone here will notice you right away, treat you with scorn, assume you are White Trash, and expect that you will get out of your car and begin asking people for gas money.  And if you do begin trying to tell people your hard luck story, several people will call the police immediately, and then you will have a hard luck story to tell involving the police, (see paragraph two above.)  That is how you will be treated, and you need to know this before you come here.

If you have vehicle problems, and you have a credit card, you probably can get your vehicle repaired within a week at a car dealer, but know that it will be expensive.  If you expect to not pay dealer prices and take your vehicle to a mechanic, you will probably be told that they can get to your vehicle in six weeks.  They don’t want to hear your crying, they have about thirty people just as poor as you, in the same situation as you, ahead of you in line.

There is no homeless shelter in Dickinson or Watford City.  God knows the Catholics in Dickinson collectively have way more than enough money to have a homeless shelter, but they don’t want one, because they hate you.  You will not have any sympathy or mercy for being homeless in Dickinson, you will have hatred and scorn.  You will not be left alone if you try to sleep in your vehicle.  The truck stops, WalMart, the parks will not allow you to sleep in your vehicle.  Retired Catholic couples in Dickinson like to go out to eat breakfast or lunch, then afterwards go driving through the parks, parking lots, and truck stops to spot people sleeping in their cars, and then call the police to report suspicious illegal activity.  In their minds, all people who sleep in their vehicles are naer-do-wells, up to no good suspicious illegal activities, and they are just “cleaning out the trash”.

If you are poor, you will probably not be able to afford an apartment.  Even though apartment rents have gone down, a cheap one bedroom apartment will probably be $750 per month, with $750 deposit due at the same time, with probably a $200 utility deposit due at the same time.  Do you have $1,700 for an apartment, $300 gas money to get over here and drive around, $300 for a motel for a couple of days, $200 for food, that’s $2,500?  You probably don’t if you are poor.

Everything that I wrote above is the truth, and I wanted you to know it before you try to come to North Dakota.  I do have some suggestions to try to help you.  Right now there are very few job openings in North Dakota.  Look at all the jobs listed on the internet website Indeed.com for Dickinson, Watford City, and Williston.  Also look on the North Dakota Job Service website for all jobs in Dickinson, Watford City, and Williston.  See if there are any jobs that you can do.  Get a resume together, even if it is just a job history with employer names and dates of employment.  Remember, North Dakota employers are simple, direct people, and they are looking for simple, direct, truthful answers, nothing fancy.  Call or contact the job listings that you can do, and be ready to write down names, phone numbers, dates, and addresses. Don’t be a pain in the ass on the telephone with an employer asking a bunch of questions, as if you are helpless to figure things out for yourself, they are not the convention and visitors bureau, they are an employer.

At this time, I would not drive to North Dakota from out of state unless I had one good firm specific offer of employment, and at least two other employers that I had spoken to that were willing to give me a try if I got here.  Don’t load up your entire family!  If you have any friends or family where you are, or if your spouse has a job, let your spouse and family stay behind, they are much safer staying where they are, and you might have to go back.  Probably about 60% to 70% of out of state workers return to where they came from within a year.  Just the person who has the job offer needs to come.

Currently in western North Dakota, I know of two older motels that have a monthly rate of $650.  This is where you want to stay when you first get to North Dakota.  You do not want to get committed in a lease before you know how your job will turn out.  Even as you get your first pay checks, do not get into an apartment lease, you need to save these first several pay checks.  At your new job, you need to be aware that North Dakotans are slow thinkers, they are taking in the things that you say, and they are trying to think what to do with it.  North Dakotans are sometimes determined to not like people, the friendliest they will ever be is when they first meet you, which is not too friendly, but they will take in what you say, consider it, and begin to hate you more and more.  Things that you talk about that may seem ordinary, your North Dakota co-workers may be using to convince themselves more and more that they do not like you.  So you may have thought that things were going well at your new job, but after a few weeks your North Dakota co-workers may say that you just can’t do anything right, and you will need to find another job.  Save as much money as you can from your first pay checks, you may unexpectedly have to go home.

Once Again, Talking About Restaurants And Restaurant Employees In North Dakota

I am once again writing about restaurants in Western North Dakota.  Recently I wrote that just about all of the restaurants in Watford City have food that is both bad and overpriced.  When most of the restaurants that people try in a town are bad, people are scared to try other restaurants in that town.  I believe that many people who have to drive on Highway 85 deliberately do not stop in Watford City because of possibly one or two bad experiences dining in Watford City.

The one good restaurant in Watford City is Taco Johns.  The food is good or O.K.  The food is served quickly and it is not expensive.  The staff are friendly, funny, and polite.  I have never seen an employee there have a bad or negative attitude.  So this shows me that it is possible to have a good, fast, inexpensive, friendly restaurant in Watford City.

This past Sunday evening in Watford City, I drove into town at about 6:30 p.m. and I noticed that the streets were vacant.  I noticed many vehicles in the new hotel parking lots, the new apartment parking lots, and at the homes downtown.  It was completely apparent that no one was going out, everyone was staying home.  A little bit because of the Watford Police being so strict on DUI enforcement, but mostly because of the whole bad experience of going out in Watford City, people here just realize they need to stay home.

A neighbor here in Watford City who I have known for about five months, said that she and her family went out to eat in Watford City on Father’s Day, and that the waitress was really horrible, and had a very bad attitude about her job, and that this just ruined going out for her family.  She said that she told the waitress, “You know, I hope that you find a job that you really like one day.”

The neighbor that was explaining this to me, was complaining that she and her husband together make about $16,000 per month, that they would like to go do things that they enjoy and go out to eat, but there is nothing to do and nowhere to go.  I was surprised that my neighbor was telling me this, because I was thinking the exact same thing.  I had worked every day from May 1st through June 15, every day.  I had had several uncashed paychecks because I didn’t need the money and  I didn’t feel like going to the bank.  I had been too busy to go to a sit-down restaurant, and I didn’t really want to because they are all so bad. I had been eating mostly frozen dinners and take-out.

The middle of last week I went to a diner in Dickinson that I had been going to since 2011.  The food is not very good, but I like visiting with customers that I know and employees that I know.  I talked to some long time employees that I know, but the waitress didn’t know me, she was from out of state.  At that time, there were not any customers, and I was trying to talk to the waitress, which she did not like, because she said so.  So I left, leaving no customers in the diner.

I almost felt like telephoning the owner of the diner who I have known for four years on the following day, and explaining: “You have fewer, and fewer, and fewer customers.  Yes it’s true that many workers have moved away, and many people have lost their jobs, a lot of people don’t have money.  But, I have money, because I have been working every day for the last six weeks.  I come to your diner to socialize, not for the food.  Anything that I might order at your diner, I could just as easily make at home.  Your waitress let me know that she did not like me, so I left, leaving no one in your diner.  Why do you think there was no one in your diner, and you have less and less customers?”

I wrote several previous posts about “Problem Women” moving to North Dakota.  I sometimes described these women as hating their job, hating their customers, hating their co-workers, and hating being here.  You might think, “If they hate their job and being here so much, why don’t they just go back where they came from?”  The answer is, they can’t go back where they came from.  Back where they came from, they didn’t get along with their customers, co-workers, employers, and alienated all friends, neighbors, and family members.  Restaurant owners must think, “She will learn that being unfriendly to customers will result in fewer customers, and less money for her, so there is no reason for her to be unfriendly.”  In Watford City and Dickinson, I don’t know why the bar and restaurant owners have never realized that most of the women that they have hired as waitresses are so mentally messed up, that ruining a restaurant is what they are in the habit of doing, wherever they go.

Well Behaved Kids In Watford City, North Dakota

At first, I had nothing good to say about Watford City.  After about five months of living in Watford City, and writing about it, I have covered most of the bad things in Watford City, probably more than several times.  There are a few good things about Watford City that appear every now and then.

I have noticed that the local school-aged kids here are very well behaved.  I lived in Idaho for about five years, Idaho is about 60% to 70% Mormon where I lived, and the Mormon areas of Idaho are well known for having very well behaved kids.  The local kids here are even better behaved than the Mormon kids, probably because they don’t believe that they will evolve to become gods, and become gods of their own planet one day (Mormon doctrine).

I guess that I have seen local kids aged two to eighteen.  I didn’t notice them or give much thought to them most of the time because they were quiet, not doing anything obnoxious, and not doing anything wrong.  I only started to consciously be aware of these local kids because they are so polite and respectful.  At many businesses they have been holding the door open for me, and letting me in or out ahead of themselves, because I am old.

I have only seen kids like this before, when I bought a home in rural Idaho in a town with a population of about 5,000.  The two boys at the end of the dirt road did not have a basketball, football, soccer ball, baseball, remote control car, mountain bike, or hardly anything.  Every day after school, they had to work on their farm, and their neighbors’ farms.  In the summer when there was no school, they had to set up irrigation pipes, let them run for an hour, then move the pipes further along, let them run for an hour, then move them again, all day long.  The one that had to mow my lawn when I was away working in North Dakota, his name was Zane.  When Zane graduated from high school a couple of years ago, his dad told me that he got into some school to be an air-traffic controller.  I believe that they make $200,000-$300,000 per year.  If I had to move back to Idaho, where it is difficult to get work, I might end up having to mow Zane’s lawn.