The snow stopped overnight. Before and after breakfast I shoveled some of the snow away. The forecast is for temperatures above freezing the next week with highs in the low 40s F. While the warm temperatures will melt the snow I still decided to clear a good portion of the driveway and around some buildings. These areas will 'clear up' and dry quicker.
After breakfast I found the snow to be wetter and heavier than before breakfast. Good things don't always come to those who wait.
It was good to get outside and get some exercise. I hadn't shoveled snow for some time other than clearing the sidewalks back in Minot for my brother a few times. My back reminded me of this.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Friday, February 27, 2009
Odds and ends
Diet before pregnancy can affect baby's sex. Also, eating bananas increases the odds of having a boy.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandtechnology/science/sciencenews/3340540/Diet-before-pregnancy-can-affect-baby%27s-sex,-new-research-suggests.html
Link Between Psychological Stress and Overeating: socially subordinate female rhesus macaques over consume calorie-rich foods at a significantly higher level than do dominant females.
"Great tits cope well with global warming, though British tits were found to be better adjusted than Dutch tits." Sadly, the story isn't about what a guy would like to think it was about. Link to the BBC story.
Cat urine makes mice macho, helping lure female mice as female mice prefer aggressive males. Click here for the story.
Cleaner air may threaten Amazon rainforest by causing a drought in the southern hemisphere. Link to Washington Post story.
According to Harpers magazine...
Amount that the IRS has spent since 2006 on an outsourced program to collect unpaid taxes: $87,000,000
Amount the contractors have collected during that time: $50,000,000
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandtechnology/science/sciencenews/3340540/Diet-before-pregnancy-can-affect-baby%27s-sex,-new-research-suggests.html
Link Between Psychological Stress and Overeating: socially subordinate female rhesus macaques over consume calorie-rich foods at a significantly higher level than do dominant females.
"Great tits cope well with global warming, though British tits were found to be better adjusted than Dutch tits." Sadly, the story isn't about what a guy would like to think it was about. Link to the BBC story.
Cat urine makes mice macho, helping lure female mice as female mice prefer aggressive males. Click here for the story.
Cleaner air may threaten Amazon rainforest by causing a drought in the southern hemisphere. Link to Washington Post story.
According to Harpers magazine...
Amount that the IRS has spent since 2006 on an outsourced program to collect unpaid taxes: $87,000,000
Amount the contractors have collected during that time: $50,000,000
(Source: National Taxpayer Advocate (Washington))
From how the news media covers global warming these days you'd think the following statistic would be an increase instead of a decrease.
From how the news media covers global warming these days you'd think the following statistic would be an increase instead of a decrease.
Change since 2001 in the percentage of Americans who believe humans are causing climate change: –4
Winter returned
After a number of days of warmth and melting and above freezing temperatures, Winter returned last night as the cold arctic air east of the mountains rushed over the mountain passes and into the valley.
The cold wind blew strong Wednesday night until late afternoon Thursday. The snow started overnight after the cold front passed through the valley. Kalispell had over 6.5 inches of snow, a new record amount for this date. Other parts of the valley got even more snow.
Everything is white again. Snow fell all day (and is still falling lightly) so I didn't do much today other than tend the fire in my wood stove and read.
The cold wind blew strong Wednesday night until late afternoon Thursday. The snow started overnight after the cold front passed through the valley. Kalispell had over 6.5 inches of snow, a new record amount for this date. Other parts of the valley got even more snow.
Everything is white again. Snow fell all day (and is still falling lightly) so I didn't do much today other than tend the fire in my wood stove and read.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Update on Bill
Wednesday I visited Bill. The last time I visited Bill I stopped at Brendan House first and learned Bill was still in the hospital. Today I found Bill's hospital room empty and then had to walk over to Brendan House.
Brendan House is a transitional medical facility. I also found that in the years since dad had been in Brendan House they built a new 'pod' of rooms, in effect doubling the size of the transitional medical part of the nursing home.
An occupational therapist was working with Bill when I arrived. This was their first time working together and the therapist was trying to figure out Bill's abilities and weaknesses. The therapist was the same person who worked with dad years ago.
Bill is unable to talk and makes unintelligible noises when he tries to talk. But today he was awake and alert and understood many things, while some things passed him by during the testing with the therapist. He still has a ways to go as his right side doesn't work at all. Marilyn says Bill's condition seems to vary widely from day to day with good or bad days.
Another couple Bill and Marilyn know arrived and we all chatted until several Brendan House staff members came and chased us out of the room as they had to prepare the room for a new roommate for Bill.
Brendan House is a transitional medical facility. I also found that in the years since dad had been in Brendan House they built a new 'pod' of rooms, in effect doubling the size of the transitional medical part of the nursing home.
An occupational therapist was working with Bill when I arrived. This was their first time working together and the therapist was trying to figure out Bill's abilities and weaknesses. The therapist was the same person who worked with dad years ago.
Bill is unable to talk and makes unintelligible noises when he tries to talk. But today he was awake and alert and understood many things, while some things passed him by during the testing with the therapist. He still has a ways to go as his right side doesn't work at all. Marilyn says Bill's condition seems to vary widely from day to day with good or bad days.
Another couple Bill and Marilyn know arrived and we all chatted until several Brendan House staff members came and chased us out of the room as they had to prepare the room for a new roommate for Bill.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Last of the pumpkins
I found that while I was in North Dakota the rest of my pumpkins ripened from green to orange. And rather quickly as several of the pumpkins even were starting to get a few rot and mold spots.
Tuesday I cooked up one large kettle of pumpkins into paste and today I cooked the rest of the pumpkins (which filled two-thirds of the kettle). I estimate a full kettle seems to get me around 18 cups of pumpkin paste. Did I ever mention that I love pumpkin?
So. My 2008 garden is now officially done as I have eaten or cooked everything from it. Just in time as next week I should start the seeds for my 2009 garden.
Tuesday I cooked up one large kettle of pumpkins into paste and today I cooked the rest of the pumpkins (which filled two-thirds of the kettle). I estimate a full kettle seems to get me around 18 cups of pumpkin paste. Did I ever mention that I love pumpkin?
So. My 2008 garden is now officially done as I have eaten or cooked everything from it. Just in time as next week I should start the seeds for my 2009 garden.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Train trip home
Last Friday I rode the train home. When I went to bed the train was on time. When I woke up it was 10 minutes late. I called again and it was 30 minutes late. When I arrived at the train station it was 35 minutes late. It finally arrived 50 minutes late.
I was under the 50 lb weight limit for each of my suitcases as my heaviest suitcase weighed in the low 40s. The female ticket agent still felt my suitcases were heavy and weighed each one. I am surprised she didn't put a "heavy" tag on one suitcase as she complained about its weight each time she moved it. She didn't seem to believe her own scale.
Overnight it had snowed a couple inches. The waiting platform had been plowed of snow but a railroad employee still pushed a spreader back and forth once tossing salt to melt the snow not scraped away.
The train car I was directed to had plenty of people but I still was able to get two seats to myself. Later when I walked the train length I discovered our car had the most people by far as the other cars had plenty of open pairs of seats.
After we were on our way the woman in the seat in front of mine came back to her seat and then questioned my sitting in my seat as I wasn't who she remembered sitting there. I explained the previous seat occupant got off at Minot and I got on. How she approached me about it was a little off putting.
She was different. She looked it too. She appeared to be in her mid to later 20s. It was hard to fix an age on her as her hair had been shaved off. She wasn't bald as she had very, very short hair. So short it could not be combed. Initially I thought she could be someone who lost her hair from chemo treatments then I noticed her woven rainbow belt on her blue jeans. Ahh... okay... From the card above her seat I saw her destination was Seattle.
She wore a t-shirt and wore a men's blazer over that. On one of the blazer's elbows was a patch with a saying that I never could quite read.
I then realized she was the woman I saw earlier outside on the platform who had gotten off the train to stroll around during the long stop in Minot. She had worn a cap and a long coat and was halfway juggling two balls. Another person asked her about the balls and she said she had misplaced the third ball somewhere on the train overnight.
She was sometimes kind of friendly and sometimes not. She surprised me halfway through my trip when she popped up from her seat and offered me a loan of a magazine she was reading, Discover magazine's special issue on the brain. She said she liked the pictures. I read a number of the articles.
Later a guy who looked like he could be a Mormon missionary stopped by to talk with her and sat down in the empty seat next to her. They were an odd pair but then on long train trips one has a chance to meet and talk with people they wouldn't normal interact with.
The very young woman across the aisle from me mainly slept or listened to her ipod before she got off at Havre, MT. In the row behind her was a tall attractive woman from Rochester, MN on her way to Shelby, MT then Helena. She was traveling with her cute young (4 ish) daughter. The daughter was very well behaved while still possessing a personality.
The woman from Rochester used to live in Helena and for the past 7 years lived in Rochester while going to school at the Mayo Clinic to get her degree in Biomedical research. She only had her final paper to write before graduating and was traveling back home to get child care so she could concentrate on writing her paper to get it done quicker. She didn't have much enthusiasm for writing the paper but was looking to finish it as she wanted to graduate and be done with school.
Her husband already had moved to Salt City for his job with a church. Once she graduated she would join him and planned to work for a university doing research.
As I had lived in Rochester up unto about the time she had moved there we spent time talking about how Rochester is now. She is looking forward to moving from Rochester as she finds it to be depressing, especially in Winter. 'Too cloudy!' she said. But then this is a woman who grew up on the east side of the mountains in Montana where the sun shines a lot.
She also felt Rochester is still the bland place I remember what with the lack of activities and culture. Most people go home after work in order to go to bed early in order to get up early the next day to work. She was pleased that a few new restaurants had opened to provide a little more diversity in food varieties since she moved there.
At Shelby I helped her carry off her luggage as Shelby is a quick 'on and off' stop. She still had a two and a half hour drive in her rental car in the dark before she got to her mother's house in Helena.
The train was a little over an hour late into Whitefish. Even then we had gained time as we were over an a hour and a half late leaving Havre, MT after a shorter than usual stop there. I barely had time to check out the Havre train station and walk the length of the train before the conductor yelled, "All aboard!"
Jan was at the train station and gave me a ride home. I unpacked a few things before going to bed. I was pleased to find that my furnace had been working while I was gone. As I heat the house mainly using a wood stove, and use the stove sparingly, sometimes I wonder if the furnace's thermostat will work correctly or if the pilot light will get blown out on our infrequent windy periods.
The weather here has the promise of Spring in the air unlike North Dakota which was solidly still in winter. Here in Montana the temperature is above freezing and one can start to smell the early signs of Spring.
There is less snow here in Montana and I can see melted areas where the sun has done its work in conjunction with trees, fences and other objects that absorb heat. I notice that pine trees with larger rain shadows have larger areas east/south/west of the trees that are free of snow than trees with narrower rain shadows.
Photo 1: remnants of a power line pole in the snow. I noticed the railroad's power poles were mostly gone or laying down on the ground.
Photo 2: abandoned building in the middle of nowhere in North Dakota.
Photo 3: cattle herd in the middle of nowhere in North Dakota.
Sample photos of the snow in North Dakota.
Williston, North Dakota skyline. How flat it is!
Two men waiting for women. Contrasts. One man met a woman and she ended up following him to the car while carrying her luggage as he walked with his hands in his pockets. The other man affectionately greeted a woman, carried her luggage, and opened her car door for her.
Missouri breaks in Montana.
Church in the middle of nowhere in eastern Montana.
I was under the 50 lb weight limit for each of my suitcases as my heaviest suitcase weighed in the low 40s. The female ticket agent still felt my suitcases were heavy and weighed each one. I am surprised she didn't put a "heavy" tag on one suitcase as she complained about its weight each time she moved it. She didn't seem to believe her own scale.
Overnight it had snowed a couple inches. The waiting platform had been plowed of snow but a railroad employee still pushed a spreader back and forth once tossing salt to melt the snow not scraped away.
The train car I was directed to had plenty of people but I still was able to get two seats to myself. Later when I walked the train length I discovered our car had the most people by far as the other cars had plenty of open pairs of seats.
After we were on our way the woman in the seat in front of mine came back to her seat and then questioned my sitting in my seat as I wasn't who she remembered sitting there. I explained the previous seat occupant got off at Minot and I got on. How she approached me about it was a little off putting.
She was different. She looked it too. She appeared to be in her mid to later 20s. It was hard to fix an age on her as her hair had been shaved off. She wasn't bald as she had very, very short hair. So short it could not be combed. Initially I thought she could be someone who lost her hair from chemo treatments then I noticed her woven rainbow belt on her blue jeans. Ahh... okay... From the card above her seat I saw her destination was Seattle.
She wore a t-shirt and wore a men's blazer over that. On one of the blazer's elbows was a patch with a saying that I never could quite read.
I then realized she was the woman I saw earlier outside on the platform who had gotten off the train to stroll around during the long stop in Minot. She had worn a cap and a long coat and was halfway juggling two balls. Another person asked her about the balls and she said she had misplaced the third ball somewhere on the train overnight.
She was sometimes kind of friendly and sometimes not. She surprised me halfway through my trip when she popped up from her seat and offered me a loan of a magazine she was reading, Discover magazine's special issue on the brain. She said she liked the pictures. I read a number of the articles.
Later a guy who looked like he could be a Mormon missionary stopped by to talk with her and sat down in the empty seat next to her. They were an odd pair but then on long train trips one has a chance to meet and talk with people they wouldn't normal interact with.
The very young woman across the aisle from me mainly slept or listened to her ipod before she got off at Havre, MT. In the row behind her was a tall attractive woman from Rochester, MN on her way to Shelby, MT then Helena. She was traveling with her cute young (4 ish) daughter. The daughter was very well behaved while still possessing a personality.
The woman from Rochester used to live in Helena and for the past 7 years lived in Rochester while going to school at the Mayo Clinic to get her degree in Biomedical research. She only had her final paper to write before graduating and was traveling back home to get child care so she could concentrate on writing her paper to get it done quicker. She didn't have much enthusiasm for writing the paper but was looking to finish it as she wanted to graduate and be done with school.
Her husband already had moved to Salt City for his job with a church. Once she graduated she would join him and planned to work for a university doing research.
As I had lived in Rochester up unto about the time she had moved there we spent time talking about how Rochester is now. She is looking forward to moving from Rochester as she finds it to be depressing, especially in Winter. 'Too cloudy!' she said. But then this is a woman who grew up on the east side of the mountains in Montana where the sun shines a lot.
She also felt Rochester is still the bland place I remember what with the lack of activities and culture. Most people go home after work in order to go to bed early in order to get up early the next day to work. She was pleased that a few new restaurants had opened to provide a little more diversity in food varieties since she moved there.
At Shelby I helped her carry off her luggage as Shelby is a quick 'on and off' stop. She still had a two and a half hour drive in her rental car in the dark before she got to her mother's house in Helena.
The train was a little over an hour late into Whitefish. Even then we had gained time as we were over an a hour and a half late leaving Havre, MT after a shorter than usual stop there. I barely had time to check out the Havre train station and walk the length of the train before the conductor yelled, "All aboard!"
Jan was at the train station and gave me a ride home. I unpacked a few things before going to bed. I was pleased to find that my furnace had been working while I was gone. As I heat the house mainly using a wood stove, and use the stove sparingly, sometimes I wonder if the furnace's thermostat will work correctly or if the pilot light will get blown out on our infrequent windy periods.
The weather here has the promise of Spring in the air unlike North Dakota which was solidly still in winter. Here in Montana the temperature is above freezing and one can start to smell the early signs of Spring.
There is less snow here in Montana and I can see melted areas where the sun has done its work in conjunction with trees, fences and other objects that absorb heat. I notice that pine trees with larger rain shadows have larger areas east/south/west of the trees that are free of snow than trees with narrower rain shadows.
Photo 1: remnants of a power line pole in the snow. I noticed the railroad's power poles were mostly gone or laying down on the ground.
Photo 2: abandoned building in the middle of nowhere in North Dakota.
Photo 3: cattle herd in the middle of nowhere in North Dakota.
Sample photos of the snow in North Dakota.
Williston, North Dakota skyline. How flat it is!
Two men waiting for women. Contrasts. One man met a woman and she ended up following him to the car while carrying her luggage as he walked with his hands in his pockets. The other man affectionately greeted a woman, carried her luggage, and opened her car door for her.
Missouri breaks in Montana.
Church in the middle of nowhere in eastern Montana.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Back in Montana
Short post to let you all know I am back home in Montana. The train was 50 minutes late into Minot and over an hour late into Whitefish.
I am still trying to get back into a routine here. Yesterday I got my mail and found I had gotten the check to repair my damaged fence (remember the semi truck accident in January?).
I still have not gotten the rebate for getting a digital tuner for the TV conversion. Where is it?! Fortunately none of the TV stations switched to digital. Yay!, as my TV is a large console TV from the early 1980s and definitely not digital ready. (No worries of anyone ever stealing my TV!)
Saturday I visited Bill and Marilyn in the hospital. Bill was sleeping as he had surgery in the morning to remove his feeding tube from his throat and one inserted in his side - from what I understand. Not a good situation. Poor Bill.
In the evening I had a rare headache. My cure for a headache is to take a short nap and I lay down by my warm wood stove. Three hours later I woke up and went to bed. I slept for 13 hours total. I was surprised as I thought I had gotten a good night's sleep my first night home.
And now tonight I am tired. I must still must be on North Dakota Central time. I feel asleep watching the behind the scenes documentary of a movie I was watching, "The Sweet Hereafter".
So time for bed.
I am still trying to get back into a routine here. Yesterday I got my mail and found I had gotten the check to repair my damaged fence (remember the semi truck accident in January?).
I still have not gotten the rebate for getting a digital tuner for the TV conversion. Where is it?! Fortunately none of the TV stations switched to digital. Yay!, as my TV is a large console TV from the early 1980s and definitely not digital ready. (No worries of anyone ever stealing my TV!)
Saturday I visited Bill and Marilyn in the hospital. Bill was sleeping as he had surgery in the morning to remove his feeding tube from his throat and one inserted in his side - from what I understand. Not a good situation. Poor Bill.
In the evening I had a rare headache. My cure for a headache is to take a short nap and I lay down by my warm wood stove. Three hours later I woke up and went to bed. I slept for 13 hours total. I was surprised as I thought I had gotten a good night's sleep my first night home.
And now tonight I am tired. I must still must be on North Dakota Central time. I feel asleep watching the behind the scenes documentary of a movie I was watching, "The Sweet Hereafter".
So time for bed.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Snow photos
Friday I return to Montana on the train. Before I go here are some recent snow photos in Minot.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
New trivia night
Wednesday night I went to another trivia night contest. I had found out there are two more trivia nights in Minot in addition to the one I attend on Monday night. These other nights are run by an outfit called Trivia Face Off. They hold trivia contests in Minot, Fargo, and Grand Forks.
Wednesday trivia night was held at the bowling alley bar here on north hill in Minot. Darrel planned to attend so I decided to go.
I found Darrel, Jeff and Donna when I arrived. Mona had to work. Before the contest started Darrel 'jumped ship' and sat with Curt, Matt, and another of their friends. They had played trivia Tuesday night at another bar in town and won. Curt and Matt are excellent trivia players. Darrel also started working out this week with Curt and Matt and that is another reason for their bond.
Jeff and Donna knew another couple sitting at another table and we combined teams. Then Ed showed up and joined our team.
While I recognized other people from the Monday night trivia contests our main competition was Curt, Matt and Darrel.
This trivia contest is run differently than the Monday night contests. Here there are only 20 questions total and these twenty questions are broken up into three periods. The winner of the first and second periods each win a free pitcher of beer. It was with great satisfaction when our team won both the first and second periods and beat Curt, Matt and Darrel. A few of our team members sent a little good natured ribbing their way.
After the third period there is a final bonus question. The top three teams at the end win prize money. The trivia host named the eight teams playing and their scores which ranged from 83 to 20 out of 100 points.
At the end of the third period we were in second place with 72 points. Curt, Matt and Darrel were in first place with 83 points. They had a great third round and got most questions correct while we only got half of them right. What really hurt us was the 10 point question we got wrong:
We were 11 points behind the first place team and 16 points ahead of the third place team. For the final question the teams can wager up to 20 points that their answer is correct. Get the question wrong and you lose the points you wagered.
Knowing Curt and Matt, Ed was certain they would get the final question correct and we wouldn't catch them so he didn't want to wager any points and chance falling out of the top three if we got the question wrong. However I felt we should take a little risk. If the third and forth place teams got the answer correct and wagered 20 points they would pass us. If they wagered nothing and we got the answer wrong we needed to wager less than 16 points while we needed 11 points to pass the first place team if they wagered nothing. In the rush we ended up wagering 14 points as I was certain we had the correct answer.
The question: Name four of the six largest cities in the 27 member European Union. Hint: they all are capital cities of their respective countries.
We answered: London, Paris, Rome, and Berlin. Correct. The other two cities are: Madrid, Spain and Bucharest, Romania.
Unfortunately Curt, Matt and Darrel also got the answer correct. They took first place with 103 out of 120 points while we took second with 86 points. The third place team had 45 points.
For our second place finish we got a gift certificate of $15 towards drinks. I don't drink beer so winning the pitchers earlier didn't mean any more to me than the satisfaction of winning. And I am returning to Montana tomorrow so I won't be here next Wednesday to help use the $15 towards a drink I would like. Oh well.
As usual I walked to the bar. While most people have cleared the snow from their sidewalks almost everyone did not go through the snowbanks on the side of the streets created when the snowplow cleared the snow. So I had to climb (yes, those snowbanks are that high) up and over those banks when crossing the streets.
The bowling alley was filled with bowlers when I arrived. The bar was not as busy but that changed once the bowling league finished and after our trivia contest was over. After trivia was over the bar ran a bingo game. Jeff and Donna played bingo while Ed, Darrel, Curt, Matt and I talked at our table and compared which questions each of our teams got wrong. Donna was one number away from getting a blackout bingo but after a few numbers were called lost. The winner won on a special ball and ended up winning $625.
The bar had free popcorn and I pigged out on it during the trivia contest. I love popcorn.
At the end of the evening Ed offered to give me a ride home. This is the first I had ridden in Ed's car and it is a 'classic'. First, let me describe what coat Ed was wearing. It is a long hair fur looking blond and white colored coat. He looks like a mountain man trapper wearing that coat. Ed says it is a very warm coat.
Now, Ed's car is right out of a movie where the car is a small, old, loud, rattletrap type of car. His car is a bright red hatchback. In the dark, and covered in a load of snow, I didn't learn what brand of car it was but it seemed to be from the 1980s.
My door wouldn't open and I waited for Ed to unlock it. I couldn't hear Ed over the roar of his car when he was telling me the door was already unlocked. Eventually he had to push the door as I pulled on the door before it broke open. The door had been frozen shut with ice.
I got in and sank down and back into the bucket seat. The seat had the feeling of not being attached to the floor, though it was.
The windows already were frosted over on the inside and Ed used an ice scraper to somewhat clear the frost off the windshield enough that he could see to drive. I cracked open my door's window and exhaled out the window. It was cold enough (below zero F) that my breath quickly slipped up and out the window into the night.
I didn't see a shift lever but each time Ed started out from a stop the engine would roar and pop. Ed said he had just changed the spark plugs. As we drove on a side street Ed pointed out a house where a friend of his lived. Between the dark and frost it took some effort to find.
After dropping me off Ed roared off in a cloud of exhaust driving under a street light and into the night on a snow covered road.
Wednesday trivia night was held at the bowling alley bar here on north hill in Minot. Darrel planned to attend so I decided to go.I found Darrel, Jeff and Donna when I arrived. Mona had to work. Before the contest started Darrel 'jumped ship' and sat with Curt, Matt, and another of their friends. They had played trivia Tuesday night at another bar in town and won. Curt and Matt are excellent trivia players. Darrel also started working out this week with Curt and Matt and that is another reason for their bond.
Jeff and Donna knew another couple sitting at another table and we combined teams. Then Ed showed up and joined our team.
While I recognized other people from the Monday night trivia contests our main competition was Curt, Matt and Darrel.
This trivia contest is run differently than the Monday night contests. Here there are only 20 questions total and these twenty questions are broken up into three periods. The winner of the first and second periods each win a free pitcher of beer. It was with great satisfaction when our team won both the first and second periods and beat Curt, Matt and Darrel. A few of our team members sent a little good natured ribbing their way.
After the third period there is a final bonus question. The top three teams at the end win prize money. The trivia host named the eight teams playing and their scores which ranged from 83 to 20 out of 100 points.
At the end of the third period we were in second place with 72 points. Curt, Matt and Darrel were in first place with 83 points. They had a great third round and got most questions correct while we only got half of them right. What really hurt us was the 10 point question we got wrong:
"What is the name of He-man's alter-ego?"Curt, Matt and Darrel knew it was Prince Adam.
We were 11 points behind the first place team and 16 points ahead of the third place team. For the final question the teams can wager up to 20 points that their answer is correct. Get the question wrong and you lose the points you wagered.
Knowing Curt and Matt, Ed was certain they would get the final question correct and we wouldn't catch them so he didn't want to wager any points and chance falling out of the top three if we got the question wrong. However I felt we should take a little risk. If the third and forth place teams got the answer correct and wagered 20 points they would pass us. If they wagered nothing and we got the answer wrong we needed to wager less than 16 points while we needed 11 points to pass the first place team if they wagered nothing. In the rush we ended up wagering 14 points as I was certain we had the correct answer.
The question: Name four of the six largest cities in the 27 member European Union. Hint: they all are capital cities of their respective countries.
We answered: London, Paris, Rome, and Berlin. Correct. The other two cities are: Madrid, Spain and Bucharest, Romania.
Unfortunately Curt, Matt and Darrel also got the answer correct. They took first place with 103 out of 120 points while we took second with 86 points. The third place team had 45 points.
For our second place finish we got a gift certificate of $15 towards drinks. I don't drink beer so winning the pitchers earlier didn't mean any more to me than the satisfaction of winning. And I am returning to Montana tomorrow so I won't be here next Wednesday to help use the $15 towards a drink I would like. Oh well.
As usual I walked to the bar. While most people have cleared the snow from their sidewalks almost everyone did not go through the snowbanks on the side of the streets created when the snowplow cleared the snow. So I had to climb (yes, those snowbanks are that high) up and over those banks when crossing the streets.
The bowling alley was filled with bowlers when I arrived. The bar was not as busy but that changed once the bowling league finished and after our trivia contest was over. After trivia was over the bar ran a bingo game. Jeff and Donna played bingo while Ed, Darrel, Curt, Matt and I talked at our table and compared which questions each of our teams got wrong. Donna was one number away from getting a blackout bingo but after a few numbers were called lost. The winner won on a special ball and ended up winning $625.
The bar had free popcorn and I pigged out on it during the trivia contest. I love popcorn.
At the end of the evening Ed offered to give me a ride home. This is the first I had ridden in Ed's car and it is a 'classic'. First, let me describe what coat Ed was wearing. It is a long hair fur looking blond and white colored coat. He looks like a mountain man trapper wearing that coat. Ed says it is a very warm coat.
Now, Ed's car is right out of a movie where the car is a small, old, loud, rattletrap type of car. His car is a bright red hatchback. In the dark, and covered in a load of snow, I didn't learn what brand of car it was but it seemed to be from the 1980s.
My door wouldn't open and I waited for Ed to unlock it. I couldn't hear Ed over the roar of his car when he was telling me the door was already unlocked. Eventually he had to push the door as I pulled on the door before it broke open. The door had been frozen shut with ice.
I got in and sank down and back into the bucket seat. The seat had the feeling of not being attached to the floor, though it was.
The windows already were frosted over on the inside and Ed used an ice scraper to somewhat clear the frost off the windshield enough that he could see to drive. I cracked open my door's window and exhaled out the window. It was cold enough (below zero F) that my breath quickly slipped up and out the window into the night.
I didn't see a shift lever but each time Ed started out from a stop the engine would roar and pop. Ed said he had just changed the spark plugs. As we drove on a side street Ed pointed out a house where a friend of his lived. Between the dark and frost it took some effort to find.
After dropping me off Ed roared off in a cloud of exhaust driving under a street light and into the night on a snow covered road.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Liver, wine, hat
'So.. how does liver sound?'
"Sure!"
Sunday night I went over to my friend Rod's house for supper and to help him bottle wine. Rod and his wife had recently gotten a half a beef from her relatives and they needed room in their freezer. Hence the liver for supper.
Also attending the meal were Ed (from trivia night) and Alan. The meal and company were very good. Afterwards we went downstairs and bottled two batches of wine Rod was making: Apple and Apple/Rhubarb.
After we were done Rod gave me a bottle of each wine along with a bottle of Pomegranate/Rhubarb wine he had made earlier and was pretty proud of.
When it came time to leave I could not find my cap. My coat, gloves, and ear muffs were all where I left them but my hat was gone. After much searching Rod found my hat. Or what was left of my hat. Rod's dog, Buddy, had gotten my hat and destroyed it. It was my nice Missoula Livestock Auction hat. Oh well.
As I had walked the mile to Rod's house I needed a hat for my walk home in the cold. Rod gave me another one of his hats as a replacement for my destroyed hat.
We had wine with our supper and later tasted the wine we were bottling. The wine Rod was bottling tested to be 10% and 11% alcohol. The next morning I had a little bit of a hangover.
"Sure!"
Sunday night I went over to my friend Rod's house for supper and to help him bottle wine. Rod and his wife had recently gotten a half a beef from her relatives and they needed room in their freezer. Hence the liver for supper.
Also attending the meal were Ed (from trivia night) and Alan. The meal and company were very good. Afterwards we went downstairs and bottled two batches of wine Rod was making: Apple and Apple/Rhubarb.
After we were done Rod gave me a bottle of each wine along with a bottle of Pomegranate/Rhubarb wine he had made earlier and was pretty proud of.
When it came time to leave I could not find my cap. My coat, gloves, and ear muffs were all where I left them but my hat was gone. After much searching Rod found my hat. Or what was left of my hat. Rod's dog, Buddy, had gotten my hat and destroyed it. It was my nice Missoula Livestock Auction hat. Oh well.
As I had walked the mile to Rod's house I needed a hat for my walk home in the cold. Rod gave me another one of his hats as a replacement for my destroyed hat.
We had wine with our supper and later tasted the wine we were bottling. The wine Rod was bottling tested to be 10% and 11% alcohol. The next morning I had a little bit of a hangover.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Trivia night
Monday night I attended trivia night at the Landing Bar. I didn't attend last Monday night due to the bad winter weather. According to the host, Ed, last Monday only one regular team was there and just a few other people.
Darrel, Mona, Jeff and Donna were the only members of my team there. Lots of other people were there also and our team didn't have a table near the front like usual. It was good to see everyone again.
We didn't win. For the first contest we had 15 correct and the winning team had 18 correct. For the second contest we had 15 correct again and the team that won (as the team that won the first contest could not win again) had 16 right. If we only had said "Venus" as to the hottest planet instead of our answer as Mercury! You'd think the closet planet to the sun would be the warmest wouldn't you?
Mona did win the final "quarters" question and won over $14 in change. She found a few nickels in the pot put there by people too cheap to pay a quarter for a wrong answer. Mona guessed correctly that 720 peanuts are needed to make a pound of peanut butter.
I stayed after trivia was over to chat. Karaoke also started. Most all the singers were good with a few being pretty good. One guy sang everything from pop to country to rap and was surprisingly good at all. A few singers were good enough that some couples even danced to their singing. A few times two people sang duets. The odd thing was that the later it got the better the singers were - and it wasn't because of my drinking as I only had one drink the entire night.
Curt showed up after trivia was over. Apparently since I was here last there was a disagreement between Curt and Ed at one of the other bars around town that hold trivia contests and now Curt doesn't come to trivia anymore.
Curt is a decent singer and he likes to change the lyrics to a few songs to make them x-rated funny. To let the woman running the karaoke machine know of his intent Curt would mention he was having trouble reading the monitor and she would joke back to him about his having to wing it. Curt sang two songs over the night with risqué lyrics and I noticed several women at the end of the bar whooped it up enjoying those songs and lyrics.
Curt, 52, now has a 21 year old girlfriend so life is good for him. For part of the night they sat at our table. She seems nice but between my tinnitus, the loud karaoke music, her fast talking and high voice I couldn't understand half of what she said. That is also why I have no idea as to what her name is.
A woman at another table - a so-so singer - had plenty to drink and by the time she left that night she needed the help of the two men she was with in order to stand and walk out of the bar. She had plenty of energy earlier and even had danced to a few songs.
Darell, Mona, and I left around 12:45 am. This time I accepted their offer of a ride home as I found during my walk to the bar that for a third of the distance I had to walk on the streets as the sidewalks were buried under snow.
Darrel, Mona, Curt and others get together occasionally to have a meal and play Cranium. They have a get together planned for this Saturday but I will be back in Montana and will miss it.
Darrel, Mona, Jeff and Donna were the only members of my team there. Lots of other people were there also and our team didn't have a table near the front like usual. It was good to see everyone again.
We didn't win. For the first contest we had 15 correct and the winning team had 18 correct. For the second contest we had 15 correct again and the team that won (as the team that won the first contest could not win again) had 16 right. If we only had said "Venus" as to the hottest planet instead of our answer as Mercury! You'd think the closet planet to the sun would be the warmest wouldn't you?
Mona did win the final "quarters" question and won over $14 in change. She found a few nickels in the pot put there by people too cheap to pay a quarter for a wrong answer. Mona guessed correctly that 720 peanuts are needed to make a pound of peanut butter.
I stayed after trivia was over to chat. Karaoke also started. Most all the singers were good with a few being pretty good. One guy sang everything from pop to country to rap and was surprisingly good at all. A few singers were good enough that some couples even danced to their singing. A few times two people sang duets. The odd thing was that the later it got the better the singers were - and it wasn't because of my drinking as I only had one drink the entire night.
Curt showed up after trivia was over. Apparently since I was here last there was a disagreement between Curt and Ed at one of the other bars around town that hold trivia contests and now Curt doesn't come to trivia anymore.
Curt is a decent singer and he likes to change the lyrics to a few songs to make them x-rated funny. To let the woman running the karaoke machine know of his intent Curt would mention he was having trouble reading the monitor and she would joke back to him about his having to wing it. Curt sang two songs over the night with risqué lyrics and I noticed several women at the end of the bar whooped it up enjoying those songs and lyrics.
Curt, 52, now has a 21 year old girlfriend so life is good for him. For part of the night they sat at our table. She seems nice but between my tinnitus, the loud karaoke music, her fast talking and high voice I couldn't understand half of what she said. That is also why I have no idea as to what her name is.
A woman at another table - a so-so singer - had plenty to drink and by the time she left that night she needed the help of the two men she was with in order to stand and walk out of the bar. She had plenty of energy earlier and even had danced to a few songs.
Darell, Mona, and I left around 12:45 am. This time I accepted their offer of a ride home as I found during my walk to the bar that for a third of the distance I had to walk on the streets as the sidewalks were buried under snow.
Darrel, Mona, Curt and others get together occasionally to have a meal and play Cranium. They have a get together planned for this Saturday but I will be back in Montana and will miss it.
Monday, February 16, 2009
Neighbor snow
This afternoon a unknown pickup pulled into the driveway and sat there while the driver talked on a cell phone. After a bit I noticed the neighbor lady, Faye, from across the street come out and stand by her house. Faye couldn't come over as their yard was buried in snow. I asked my brother to go out and see if Faye wanted to speak with the driver. She did.
The pickup driver had problems with backing out of our driveway when he shouldn't have had any problem. It took him four tries to back out and by the time he did back out I was starting to fear he would run over our mailbox as he was starting to drive off the driveway.
The pickup drove over to another house across from Faye's house, and after problems backing out of that driveway, drove off leaving Faye's husband standing in their driveway. He wasn't too happy.
I went over and learned the guys in the pickup were shoveling snow off Faye's house roof. They had worked for an hour in the morning, shoveled a little bit, then left for lunch after asking for an advance on their payment so they could buy lunch. Why they couldn't find Faye's house after lunch is a mystery.
I told Faye I would shovel the snow off her roof and my brother came over and helped me. We got their entire roof shoveled in about an hour. It wasn't easy as there was lots of snow and it had melted a bit and compacted down. It was harder to shovel the snow than I expected. Between cross skiing yesterday and this shoveling I am feeling a bit stiff and sore right now.
While we were on the roof a car that had been with the pickup came back. Apparently the pickup got stopped by the police because the pickup's license tags had expired. Then the pickup ran out of gas. Faye had her husband get them some gas so they could come back and retrieve their shovels and ladder. I noticed they had problems in backing out of Faye's driveway as they left.
To say these guys were not the sharpest sticks in the woods is a major understatement.
Faye will have my brother and I over for supper later this week as thanks.
The pickup driver had problems with backing out of our driveway when he shouldn't have had any problem. It took him four tries to back out and by the time he did back out I was starting to fear he would run over our mailbox as he was starting to drive off the driveway.
The pickup drove over to another house across from Faye's house, and after problems backing out of that driveway, drove off leaving Faye's husband standing in their driveway. He wasn't too happy.
I went over and learned the guys in the pickup were shoveling snow off Faye's house roof. They had worked for an hour in the morning, shoveled a little bit, then left for lunch after asking for an advance on their payment so they could buy lunch. Why they couldn't find Faye's house after lunch is a mystery.
I told Faye I would shovel the snow off her roof and my brother came over and helped me. We got their entire roof shoveled in about an hour. It wasn't easy as there was lots of snow and it had melted a bit and compacted down. It was harder to shovel the snow than I expected. Between cross skiing yesterday and this shoveling I am feeling a bit stiff and sore right now.
While we were on the roof a car that had been with the pickup came back. Apparently the pickup got stopped by the police because the pickup's license tags had expired. Then the pickup ran out of gas. Faye had her husband get them some gas so they could come back and retrieve their shovels and ladder. I noticed they had problems in backing out of Faye's driveway as they left.
To say these guys were not the sharpest sticks in the woods is a major understatement.
Faye will have my brother and I over for supper later this week as thanks.
Here is some of the snow I shoveled off their roof.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Rod's CANDISC photos
My friend Rod sent me a link to the photos he took on his 2008 CANDISC bicycle ride. He has over one hundred photos that he took during the 2008 ride. Nice photos. Lots of North Dakota scenery and bicycle photos. On his web page are links to photos he took on CANDISC rides: Rod's photos
CANDISC is a week long and runs the first week of August each year. I rode CANDISC in 2000 and 2002. They have a handful of routes and each year the route is different. The 2000 route we rode on through western North Dakota and the Badlands is the same route CANDISC took in 2008.
Rod said that this year, unlike when we rode it in 2000, the roads in Western North Dakota had a lot of traffic on them from all the oil exploration activity. Or 'a lot' relatively speaking by North Dakota standards.
CANDISC is a week long and runs the first week of August each year. I rode CANDISC in 2000 and 2002. They have a handful of routes and each year the route is different. The 2000 route we rode on through western North Dakota and the Badlands is the same route CANDISC took in 2008.
Rod said that this year, unlike when we rode it in 2000, the roads in Western North Dakota had a lot of traffic on them from all the oil exploration activity. Or 'a lot' relatively speaking by North Dakota standards.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Friday the 13th
Yup. It happened yesterday. Friday the 13th.
My brother's computer quit and I had no access to it all day. The computer wouldn't boot up because of a missing or corrupted file. The error message said to use the original CD-Rom to fix the error. The computer wouldn't use the CD-Rom.
I was on the phone to Microsoft. Or I should say Microsoft India as at times I had to ask the person to repeat words. I don't remember his name but at least he didn't come up with a fake American name.
He must have been new as he was starting from the basics even though I explained I had tried them and they failed. As time went on he spent more and more time taking a break and consulting with colleague's on things to try. Eventually we came to the belief it was a hardware problem. My brother's computer is pretty old.
Well... this morning the computer now works. So either it is a hardware problem or the Friday the 13th curse is real.
I am glad it is working (and I quickly made a fresh backup of my files). Last night I felt lost at my inability to check my email and surf the web. I was pretty bummed out about it. But today is a better day.
My brother's computer quit and I had no access to it all day. The computer wouldn't boot up because of a missing or corrupted file. The error message said to use the original CD-Rom to fix the error. The computer wouldn't use the CD-Rom.
I was on the phone to Microsoft. Or I should say Microsoft India as at times I had to ask the person to repeat words. I don't remember his name but at least he didn't come up with a fake American name.
He must have been new as he was starting from the basics even though I explained I had tried them and they failed. As time went on he spent more and more time taking a break and consulting with colleague's on things to try. Eventually we came to the belief it was a hardware problem. My brother's computer is pretty old.
Well... this morning the computer now works. So either it is a hardware problem or the Friday the 13th curse is real.
I am glad it is working (and I quickly made a fresh backup of my files). Last night I felt lost at my inability to check my email and surf the web. I was pretty bummed out about it. But today is a better day.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Roof dog
Monday and Tuesday it snowed another 3.3 inches here in Minot. Plus winds of 35+ mph with higher wind gusts.
Theresa alerted me to a recent photo showing how much snow Minot has. The dog looks just fine with being up there.
Minot police say they get lots of calls about animals but this one was different. A caller reported a dog on the roof of a house. Animal control officer Dick Schnell said the snow in the back yard of the dog's owner's home apparently was high enough for the dog to walk up onto the roof Tuesday.
Schnell said they were "very cooperative, very nice people," who were "very surprised" their dog was on the roof.
"Just when you think you've seen it all," he said with a chuckle.
______
Information from: Minot Daily News, http://www.minotdailynews.com
(AP Photo/Minot Daily News, Dave Caldwell)
Theresa alerted me to a recent photo showing how much snow Minot has. The dog looks just fine with being up there.
Minot police say they get lots of calls about animals but this one was different. A caller reported a dog on the roof of a house. Animal control officer Dick Schnell said the snow in the back yard of the dog's owner's home apparently was high enough for the dog to walk up onto the roof Tuesday.The dog, which appeared to be a border collie mix, seemed perfectly content to be there.
"A neighbor from across the street called us and said, '"You're not going to believe this,"' Schnell said.
The dog was in a fenced yard with a kennel and apparently just wanted a better view from the roof's peak, about 25 feet in the air, Schnell said.
"He would sit on top and look like, 'It's pretty cool up here,'" Schnell said.
Schnell tossed some treats and tempted the dog to the roof's lower level, but the dog would not come down until the owners got home.Schnell said they were "very cooperative, very nice people," who were "very surprised" their dog was on the roof.
"Just when you think you've seen it all," he said with a chuckle.
______
Information from: Minot Daily News, http://www.minotdailynews.com
(AP Photo/Minot Daily News, Dave Caldwell)
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Bill update
I learned today that Bill is doing better. He is now out of the drug induced coma, off the ventilator and breathing on his own. He still has a long recovery.
"I'll add that his surgery was successful. The surgeon was pleased, was the report coming through a surgery nurse. Of course, when the surgeon came to explain the surgery, he said it was good. Three catscans show no further bleeding. It is not known yet how he will come out of this."
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
It's the economy, part 2
According to the New York Times and Boston Globe the economic downturn has hit men far harder than women.
As Layoffs Surge, Women May Pass Men in Job Force
According to the Boston Globe, over the past year, "1,069,000 fewer men are working than a year ago. 12,000 more women are working." (http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2008/12/05/losing_jobs_in_unequal_numbers/)
I first heard of the New York Times article while flipping through cable news channels last week. Campbell Brown on MSNBC was discussing it, though she focused on negatives about unemployed men.
And Campbell is not alone in not being sympathetic to the plight of unemployed men.
Democrats Say Stimulus Slights Women
The Montana Democratic women said this in late January even though according to an analysis of Obama's stimulus plan, 49% of the jobs created by his plan would go to women even though 82% of the job losses were experienced by men. Welcome to the new economy.
As Layoffs Surge, Women May Pass Men in Job Force
Women are poised to surpass men on the nation’s payrolls, taking the majority for the first time in American history.
The proportion of women who are working has changed very little since the recession started. But a full 82 percent of the job losses have befallen men, who are heavily represented in distressed industries like manufacturing and construction.
According to the Boston Globe, over the past year, "1,069,000 fewer men are working than a year ago. 12,000 more women are working." (http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2008/12/05/losing_jobs_in_unequal_numbers/)
I first heard of the New York Times article while flipping through cable news channels last week. Campbell Brown on MSNBC was discussing it, though she focused on negatives about unemployed men.
Unemployed men’s child care duties are virtually identical to those of their working counterparts, and they instead spend more time sleeping, watching TV and looking for a job, along with other domestic activities.Campbell Brown - ever the feminist - focused in one the previous comment in the article and trashed men for "spend more time sleeping and watching TV".
Many of the unemployed men interviewed say they have tried to help out with cooking, veterinarian appointments and other chores, but they have not had time to do more because job-hunting consumes their days.
And Campbell is not alone in not being sympathetic to the plight of unemployed men.
Democrats Say Stimulus Slights Women
Members of a Montana Democratic women's caucus called on President Obama, Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer and other fellow Democrats Tuesday to direct stimulus money to industries that employ women. They say the current focus on "shovel-ready" projects, such as building improvements, favors what are traditionally male-dominated industries.
The Montana Democratic women said this in late January even though according to an analysis of Obama's stimulus plan, 49% of the jobs created by his plan would go to women even though 82% of the job losses were experienced by men. Welcome to the new economy.
Monday, February 09, 2009
It's the economy
An interesting mix of articles I read recently.
First off is a New York Times article about farm living:
The next articles I read from Forbes and the New York Times are on how these tough economic times on Wall Street are hard on gold digging women.
Will The Recession End Gold Digging?
It’s the Economy, Girlfriend
First off is a New York Times article about farm living:
The Agriculture Department came out with its Census of Agriculture last week, and the headline was that the number of farms increased by 4 percent from 2002 to 2007, with most of the new farms being small, part-time operations.It seems with the nation's farm policies that one is either small or big, big, big.I am in the small farm category. But that's ok. This national slowdown/recession isn't affecting me much. After all, if you don't have much to start with...
A closer look at the numbers shows that American farming is becoming a story of extremes: of really big farms and really small ones. Consider that about 900,000 of the nation’s 2.2 million farms generated $2,500 or less in sales in 2007.
By contrast, 5 percent of total farms, about 125,000 operations, accounted for 75 percent of agricultural production.
The next articles I read from Forbes and the New York Times are on how these tough economic times on Wall Street are hard on gold digging women.
Will The Recession End Gold Digging?
It looks like the economic downturn is producing a dating downturn too. At least this is true in financial centers like New York, where an unhealthily intimate bond between mating and money has persisted down the decades.
It’s the Economy, Girlfriend
Dawn Spinner Davis, 26, a beauty writer, said the downward-trending graphs began to make sense when the man she married on Nov. 1, a 28-year-old private wealth manager, stopped playing golf, once his passion. “One of his best friends told me that my job is now to keep him calm and keep him from dying at the age of 35,” Ms. Davis said. “It’s not what I signed up for.”
Once it was seen as a blessing in certain circles to have a wealthy, powerful partner who would leave you alone with the credit card while he was busy brokering deals. Now, many Wall Street wives, girlfriends and, increasingly, exes, are living the curse of cutbacks in nanny hours and reservations at Masa or Megu. And that credit card? Canceled.
Some women in the group said the men in their lives had gone from being aloof and unattainable to unattractively needy and clinging. Others complained of being ignored — one, who called herself A.P., wrote on the blog that three weeks had passed without her boyfriend “asking a single question” about her life. Another wrote, fearfully, that her beau had told her to make a list of their favorite New York restaurants before the bad market forced a move to the Midwest.
“Next time you are stressing over some finance guy, remember that he is just a math-club nerd,” one woman wrote after recounting a breakup. “This recession just bought everyone an extra two years of the single life.”
Saturday, February 07, 2009
Bill
I missed some bad weather back in the Flathead Valley. Friday they had a day of freezing rain and ice. Schools were even closed.
I just learned that on Friday a member of my hiking group, Bill, fell on the ice and hit his head when walking outside to get the newspaper. He ended up with a blood clot in his head and underwent three to four hours of surgery to save his life. These next three days are critical for him. Please keep Bill and his wife in your thoughts and prayers. Bill is 75.
This makes three years in a row where something bad happened to someone back in Montana when I was in North Dakota. A couple years ago Bill blacked out and crashed his car. Last year Joyce's sister died suddenly. Now this.
I just learned that on Friday a member of my hiking group, Bill, fell on the ice and hit his head when walking outside to get the newspaper. He ended up with a blood clot in his head and underwent three to four hours of surgery to save his life. These next three days are critical for him. Please keep Bill and his wife in your thoughts and prayers. Bill is 75.
This makes three years in a row where something bad happened to someone back in Montana when I was in North Dakota. A couple years ago Bill blacked out and crashed his car. Last year Joyce's sister died suddenly. Now this.
Wednesday, February 04, 2009
Snow photo
Current snow piles in North Dakota. Apparently Minot has had over 50 inches of snow so far this winter. This is less than the 60+ inches we have had in Montana. I read in the newspaper today officials are concerned about some flooding around Minot when the snow melts this Spring. It all depends on how fast it melts.
Tuesday, February 03, 2009
Late arrival
I am back in NoDak now. It was a late arrival as I never got here until 3 am, well past the scheduled arrival time of 9:22 pm. It seemed as if we lost time all along the way. The cause was train engine trouble, something I suspected when I saw a BNSF train engine as the lead engine when the Amtrak train arrived in Whitefish.
A freight train arrived at the station before the Amtrak train. Walking along the top of the train's grain cars were ducks looking for spilled grain.
They would walk single file along the cars hopping from car to car. A very young girl seeing the ducks screamed "Ducks!" to her father and the ducks, and this unnerved the ducks.
I also noticed that freight train cars throughout the day had more painted graffiti than I usually see.
Instead of the normal midsection of the train I was directed to the last coach car. While there were a good number of people in the station waiting to board the train I was the first to board this train car. It was empty except for one person when I boarded it. So I got my pick of seats. The train never had many people and I don't think our car was even 1/5 full.
Another difference was there seemed to be few people getting on/off all along Montana. Most destinations I had seen listed Chicago. Far fewer for a Minneapolis destination than what I normally see.
One cute woman was going to Minneapolis. She sat in another part of my train car. While I first noticed her in the train station, I never spoke with her as I guessed she was half my age. I suppose I could have as she was traveling alone and either slept or read a book. Conversation usually is a nice change of pace on long train trips. Did I mention that she could have been half my age? I didn't want to come across as a creepy old guy.
Minot seemed to be a popular destination as a good percentage of passengers were going there.
I saw the train attendant who had been rude to me last September when I took the train to Seattle. I wasn't in his car. I did see him again when I got off the train to walk around at the Havre stop and again when I got off the train in Minot. Each time he looked at me and I could see he was trying to place me.
The view on this trip was different than usual. It was due to the the time. Since we left after noon and not at 7:46 am the light was different as we passed through western and central Montana and it was dark in the eastern third of the state. With the light and fresh snow I spent more time looking out the window as we passed through the mountains.
East of the mountains it was easy to see it was very windy. Flags were straight and electrical lines and cable swayed in the wind. I saw a different view of the mountains: I didn't. The wind was pushing the clouds west of the mountains up and over the mountains completely covering them, as seen in the photos below. I have seen satellite photos on the local weather forecasts showing the jet stream blowing clouds over the mountains but this is the first time on the ground that I have seen this.
I would take short naps throughout the day and fell asleep soundly after we reached North Dakota. The train attendant woke me up 5 minutes before we arrived in Minot else I would have slept through it.
My brother was at the station at 3 am to meet me. It was cold with a temperature just above zero F. Quite a number of people were in the station waiting to board the train. A surprising number of train passengers got off the train to take a smoke break. Anything for a cigarette I suppose. In the cold they didn't seem to last beyond one quick cigarette.
At 3 am it was no surprise that there was no traffic on the roads once we left the train station.
A freight train arrived at the station before the Amtrak train. Walking along the top of the train's grain cars were ducks looking for spilled grain.They would walk single file along the cars hopping from car to car. A very young girl seeing the ducks screamed "Ducks!" to her father and the ducks, and this unnerved the ducks.
I also noticed that freight train cars throughout the day had more painted graffiti than I usually see.
Instead of the normal midsection of the train I was directed to the last coach car. While there were a good number of people in the station waiting to board the train I was the first to board this train car. It was empty except for one person when I boarded it. So I got my pick of seats. The train never had many people and I don't think our car was even 1/5 full.
Another difference was there seemed to be few people getting on/off all along Montana. Most destinations I had seen listed Chicago. Far fewer for a Minneapolis destination than what I normally see.
One cute woman was going to Minneapolis. She sat in another part of my train car. While I first noticed her in the train station, I never spoke with her as I guessed she was half my age. I suppose I could have as she was traveling alone and either slept or read a book. Conversation usually is a nice change of pace on long train trips. Did I mention that she could have been half my age? I didn't want to come across as a creepy old guy.
Minot seemed to be a popular destination as a good percentage of passengers were going there.
I saw the train attendant who had been rude to me last September when I took the train to Seattle. I wasn't in his car. I did see him again when I got off the train to walk around at the Havre stop and again when I got off the train in Minot. Each time he looked at me and I could see he was trying to place me.
The view on this trip was different than usual. It was due to the the time. Since we left after noon and not at 7:46 am the light was different as we passed through western and central Montana and it was dark in the eastern third of the state. With the light and fresh snow I spent more time looking out the window as we passed through the mountains.
East of the mountains it was easy to see it was very windy. Flags were straight and electrical lines and cable swayed in the wind. I saw a different view of the mountains: I didn't. The wind was pushing the clouds west of the mountains up and over the mountains completely covering them, as seen in the photos below. I have seen satellite photos on the local weather forecasts showing the jet stream blowing clouds over the mountains but this is the first time on the ground that I have seen this.
I would take short naps throughout the day and fell asleep soundly after we reached North Dakota. The train attendant woke me up 5 minutes before we arrived in Minot else I would have slept through it.
My brother was at the station at 3 am to meet me. It was cold with a temperature just above zero F. Quite a number of people were in the station waiting to board the train. A surprising number of train passengers got off the train to take a smoke break. Anything for a cigarette I suppose. In the cold they didn't seem to last beyond one quick cigarette.
At 3 am it was no surprise that there was no traffic on the roads once we left the train station.
Monday, February 02, 2009
Leaving on a late train
I should be on the train now on my way to North Dakota. Yup, the train is late. Way late. Over four and a half hours late.
The train is so late that "Julie" from Amtrak called me with an automated phone message an hour after the train was to leave the Whitefish station to let me know the train was late; this was the only train to North Dakota today; and that "she" appreciates my understanding in waiting for the train. "She" said the train was late due to a "service disruption". I wonder if there was a freight train derailment slowing my train?
My poor brother. If the train continues to be as late he will be getting me at 2 am instead of 9:22 pm. *argh*
And I woke up to an inch of snow this morning. Where did that come from? Another great job by the weather forecasters.
The train is so late that "Julie" from Amtrak called me with an automated phone message an hour after the train was to leave the Whitefish station to let me know the train was late; this was the only train to North Dakota today; and that "she" appreciates my understanding in waiting for the train. "She" said the train was late due to a "service disruption". I wonder if there was a freight train derailment slowing my train?
My poor brother. If the train continues to be as late he will be getting me at 2 am instead of 9:22 pm. *argh*
And I woke up to an inch of snow this morning. Where did that come from? Another great job by the weather forecasters.
Sunday, February 01, 2009
Back to the Dakota
Monday morning I am taking the train back to North Dakota to visit my brother and work more on mom's estate. Amtrak had a fare sale and now is a good time to go.
Somewhat of a busy day for me today. I cleaned my wood stove in preparation of leaving. I even took apart the pipes that lead from the stove to the chimney and cleaned the soot out of them. A dirty job and so was I when I was done.
Then I did a thorough vacuuming of the house. Bits and pieces from the firewood invariably fall here and there and get stuck in the carpet, not to mention the dust from the ashes when I clean the stove.
And I took time to put stuff away outside and lock up.
I am using my gas furnace for heat today. Partly because I don't want ashes to clean tomorrow and partly to make sure the furnace works. This is the first I have used it this winter. I prefer the heat from my wood stove.
I am packed already. Usually I am packing well past midnight. Then again I don't have as much stuff to pack this time as I won't be gone as long.
Somewhat of a busy day for me today. I cleaned my wood stove in preparation of leaving. I even took apart the pipes that lead from the stove to the chimney and cleaned the soot out of them. A dirty job and so was I when I was done.
Then I did a thorough vacuuming of the house. Bits and pieces from the firewood invariably fall here and there and get stuck in the carpet, not to mention the dust from the ashes when I clean the stove.
And I took time to put stuff away outside and lock up.
I am using my gas furnace for heat today. Partly because I don't want ashes to clean tomorrow and partly to make sure the furnace works. This is the first I have used it this winter. I prefer the heat from my wood stove.
I am packed already. Usually I am packing well past midnight. Then again I don't have as much stuff to pack this time as I won't be gone as long.
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