Julie R. Neidlinger: Lone Prairie Art Works

The harvest weekend.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 1 comments link this post

This weekend, I came home from Bismarck and spent time with family and friends. It's right in the middle of harvest, and the guys are out in the field most of the day and on into the night. These photos were taken by Naomi. Her grandpa Frank, her dad Chuck and her brother Charlie are in the photos along with my dad and my brother Jerry.

Today, one of the combines broke down. Jerry and Charlie continued to drive the other two for a while, and the joke was that the two engineers were out driving the combines and the guys with 8th-grade education were fixing them (that's not true, about the education level, by the way).

What I like about the harvest photos you see above is the quintessential harvest moment, the field lunch. It reminds me of another photo and a drawing I did, from the previous generation. I also like the fact that in these photos you not only see three generations, but you see an engineer, an engineer/lawyer, a North Dakota Representative, a man who will celebrate his 90th birthday tomorrow (and still drove combine today), and of course, my awesome dad. I don't think anyone really thought the day would come when these five would all be out working the fields together. I am pretty sure my brother Jerry, after being away from the farm, and out of the country, for so long, is having the time of his life, getting dirty and driving trucks and machinery. It's good to see him happy.

For supper, we women had a meal at our house: Alice, Dorothy, Naomi, Gabie, Erika, Susan, Julie, Mom, and myself. After the meal, Alice and Dorothy told a few hilarious stories about some moments involving past Hampden residents and memories from the farm many years ago.

Earlier in the day, I gave the cat a bath (always a show-stopper moment) and caught up on some baking. Charlie, who stopped in to use the phone before going for a parts run for the defunct combine, grabbed a freshly baked cookie. It was good to get back in the kitchen and bake; it's been a few months. I like baking, and having free access to a real kitchen.

Last night, Erika and Naomi came over and we spent several hours, on past midnight, talking about important things in our lives, ending with a prayer and then a loud crash when the chair (which I had warned Naomi about) gave way. It was an excellent night of friends and laughter and serious talk, too. We also laid plans for a Jane Austen day over Christmas break where we would simply watch Jane Austen movies and wear our elastic-waisted pants and eat junk.

Mom and I have had several good conversations, and I even got in a little "computer training" for her so she has some new things to try on the computer while I'm gone. I put in several hours of piano practice, pounding out Bach and Chopin and music from the movie "The Piano."

The air is filled with the sinus-clogging weight of grain and field dust, the mind and heart full of friends and family. A pretty good weekend so far.

Labels: family, friends, north dakota, photos, summer 2008

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He's not downshifting.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 1 comments link this post

I went out for a run this evening. I was looking forward to a run down the gravel road; I haven't been home for about a month, and while I've really enjoyed my runs in Bismarck, the gravel road is nice. I had on my leggings (no shorts, for it is cooler up here than it is down in Bismarck), and my super-huge KFGO T-shirt that Jack Sunday gave me this summer when I visited him at the KFGO studio in Fargo.

I started off at a brisk but steady pace. I knew I could keep this up for a mile or so, easily. I got to the point of the road where water on each side has required the road to be built up over the years, meaning that there is room for one vehicle and that's it. The shoulder of the road is too soft and you have to stay away from the edge or you'll end up in the water. It was then that I heard the sound of a grain truck behind me.

This is harvest time and today was a big day for it: dry, still, the air heavy and thick with grain dust.

I turned and looked over my shoulder, seeing a grain truck turning out of the yard, fresh from dumping a load of grain in a bin. I picked up my speed just a little bit, since there wasn't going to be room for both of us on this part of the road. I was aiming for an approach at the top of the hill where I could step off of the road and allow the truck to pass.

I assumed it was my dad or brother or someone from our crew, and figured they'd slow down and give me a chance to get past the narrow part of the road.

Then I heard the truck get louder.

He's not downshifting, I thought, but picking up speed. Dang.

I picked up speed, too, up-shifting to high gear up the hill.

The truck grew louder and gained.

Crap! I started running harder, and then dashed across the road to the approach, bent over and gasping for breath.

Panting for breath, I looked up as the truck passed. There waved a neighbor, huge smile on his face, chuckling at my predicament. I had to laugh, too. It had to have been quite a sight, me sprinting up the hill to beat out a grain truck.

It kind of reminded me of a movie I'd seen, one of Spielberg's early films in which a maniacal truck driver terrorizes a guy in a car. The whole movie is, essentially, the truck pursuing the guy in the car.

Needless to say, the rest of the run was much milder, and my steady speed was shot. I'd used up all my reserve. But, it was a good night for running. Minus all the bugs I ended up swallowing, of course. No wind, lots of bugs. That's how it goes on these still, late summer nights.

Labels: my life, nature, north dakota

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The North Dakota capitol sketches: #1.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 1 comments link this post

I've heard a fair share of insults about the appearance of the North Dakota state capitol.

Usually, it's from reprobates wearing NASCAR caps that mistakenly think all government buildings must be Neo-Classical architecture or they are, and I quote a relative, "butt ugly."

On the contrary.

I find the state capitol to be an absolutely beautiful example of what I like to call "stripped down" Art Deco. And inside, it is quite lovely as well.

I like an Ionic and Corinthian column as much as the next guy, but I sure get tired of the insults.

So, today, after studying for almost six hours, I headed up to the capitol to do a little sketching. I'm considering doing many sketches of the building over the next weeks/months and seeing how my interpretation of its essentially clean lines and forms change.

As it is, here is the second drawing I did of the capitol today. The first can be seen here.

I also did a sketch of the mastodon skeleton inside the Heritage Center at the capitol, which you can see here.

You can buy all original three sketches for $12 (plus S&H). Really. That's a pretty good deal.

Materials: Watercolor and/or ink on heavy rag paper
Size: 8.5 X 11
Other: Shipped without frame or mat
Price: $12

Labels: art, capitol sketches, north dakota, summer 2008

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Fried oreos.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 3 comments link this post

I know there are some parts of the country where the answer to the great questions in life are "fry it."

You may remember my experience with my friend Shannon and Oreos. While at the North Dakota State Fair last week for a concert, she insisted I try fried Oreos.

Fried Oreos.

Several things came to mind, which all generally fell into the category of "things against nature" or, at the very least depending upon your religious leanings, "things God never intended."

Here's a brief list:

Skinny jeans on guys
Tattooed makeup on women
Huge spoilers bolted on the back of hilariously nonathletic-looking cars
Women's short-shorts in any size above 12
Fried Oreos

In the course of eating one of these breaded, fried Oreos, my heart stopped several times. Or, at least, I'm quite sure it wanted to.

At the same food vendor, a person could also buy fried Twinkies, roasted corn, and corn dogs. My friend and I briefly discussed the seeming incongruence in food offerings that all the food vendors listed on their stands, but as I think about it, I'm not sure. What goes with a corn dog? Or maybe the better question is, what doesn't?

I know that Julie doesn't go with a corn dog.

At least the guy serving the food was a meticulous hand-washer.

Labels: food, friends, lists, north dakota

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One-pound turkey legs.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 2 comments link this post

Capitol Shakespeare was great. If you live in Bismarck and you have either Friday or Saturday night open, you need to be down on the lawn by the veteran's memorial by 5:30.

The production lasted about 2.5 hours, and I got there about 40 minutes early which meant I was dead center front. I dropped down on my old blanket and read a book until it started. It was a bit of a scorcher for the wait and maybe the first half hour, but as the sun dropped and the breezes picked up, it really was lovely.

The production was fabulous. Twelfth Night isn't my favorite Shakespeare play, but I found myself laughing a lot. The actors who played Sir Toby and Malvolio and Sir Andrew and Fabian -- really, they all did an amazing job. Some seriously funny laugh-out-loud moments. Just excellent. Great comedic timing. Malvolio was put in a burlap bag instead of a "dark room with a slit for light" and the way the actor who played him used the bag and gestures to get laughs...really hilarious. I also appreciated the fencing bouts and the humor used in that. I did fencing in college and it was fun to see the affected mannerisms the actors put on as they "dueled."

I'm glad I went.

I almost didn't.

I had that moment where, as I parked the car and pulled my blanket out of the back and started to walk over, I thought maybe I was tired of always doing things by myself. There's always that brief flash of annoying self-pity when you see people there with picnic baskets and friends, chatting and having a good time with each other. But, I settled down on my blanket, got comfortable, and was soon enjoying myself.

The event sold roasted turkey legs for $8, or chicken drummies for $3. I didn't have either, since I was broke, but the sight of people eating those turkey legs was humorous. The point was to have a Renaissance thing going on, though I'm not sure if the vultures circling high overhead where the grilling was occurring was part of the plan or not.

On Saturday, there will be Renaissance-fair kind of thing happening a few hours before. I won't be in town, and I probably wouldn't go to that, anyway. People in capes creep me out.

Capes are a clothing device that look dashing and handsome on men and women in movies or onstage, but the moment a Ren-Fair devotee decides to bring it out into daily life on the street, it comes off as creepy.

Besides, I can only take so much themed activity. I was at a Scottish festival in Minneapolis while I was there for college, and while it was rather exciting the first 20 minutes, by the time the 12th clan came in and did their bagpipe routine, I was ready to throw my meat pie at someone. I couldn't take the sight of plaid anything for half a year.

But definitely take in the production here in Bismarck if you are able. I'm telling you, I had a wonderful time tonight. Even if I was by myself.

Labels: my life, north dakota

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Stinky.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 3 comments link this post

Do you know what you find on the drive between Cando and Bismarck?

A lot of country music radio stations, and a lot of roadkill skunks, and not much else.

I can't help but believe there is a connection.

Labels: nature, north dakota, observations

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The last bison.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 3 comments link this post

Back on May 2, I had a brief message on my Twitter update that said I was out to shoot bison, but with a camera. It was quite a day.

I made a much longer film for Michael and Colleen to keep as a kind of visual reminder of the bison herd they sold. The longer video detailed the day that started early in the cold morning and ended with a trip to New Rockford and back. However, here are a few of the exciting highlights in this shorter video.

Here you go. The herding of the last of the bison. Two bulls, named General Sherman and Ivan the Terrible.

Labels: friends, north dakota, video

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We still have hockey.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 2 comments link this post

A friend emailed me the link to a video that, if you're from North Dakota, you'll at least understand and, if you're an NDSU fan like I am, you'll find it hilarious. I chuckled out loud several times. Nothing like a little more fuel on the UND-NDSU rivalry.

GO BISON!

UPDATE: The video has been pulled, obviously. In the grand tradition of stuffed shirts that can' take a joke, it has been removed. It wasn't, however, the first effort at using that video clip to make a bit of a hockey joke. There is another video (and others, since it has become rather common on the internet to use that clip, apparently). It isn't, however, as funny. I have a strong feeling that the real reason it upset people in high places wasn't so much the Hitler aspect, but because of the personal pot-shots taken at college administration officials. Perhaps Kupchella didn't want anyone to know he frosted his hair. Tough to say.

Labels: north dakota, video

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Interview: Troy Sterling Nies

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 1 comments link this post

::Troy Sterling Nies is a fellow North Dakota artist from the opposite side of the state. He has composed music for some wonderfully off-beat and independent films. Frankly, rather than writing a bio, which can be found here, I'm going to get right to the Q & A.::

Q. You have education and training as a paramedic and as a musician. I generally hate questions like this, that attempt to tie seemingly disconnected things together...but do either of these occupations help the other? Or do they function as two totally different, disconnected things that you happen to do? What led to your interest in becoming a paramedic?

It's a bit of a long story, but it started with the death of my father in a motorcycle accident in 1996. He was the type of person that believed in taking negative events and negative energy and converting them to something positive. I started working in Fire and EMS in 1999 and went through the progression of firefighter, CPR, EMT and eventually became a paramedic in 2004.

As a paramedic I see the spectrum of human emotion - when I've delivered babies it's the joy in Mom's face. Sometimes I see epiphany on an elderly person's face when they are just crossing the threshold from life to death. I see anguish in family member's faces when I have to tell them their loved one died even though I did my best.

I believe that people who work in EMS are exposed to some of the most raw forms of human emotion - we see the 5 stages of grief all too often:

Denial - "It can't be happening."
Anger - "Why Me? It's not fair!"
Bargaining - "Just let me live to (insert task)."
Depression - "I'm so sad I can't feel anything else."
Acceptance - "It's OK - I'm ready."

Certainly the "dark-side" out-weighs the "light side" in EMS. I suppose that this is some of the reason why many of my compositions tend to lean toward that "dark-side." There are certainly events from my paramedic profession that have inspired me in my compositions - I just wish there were more uplifting ones.

Q. I'm guessing your big break as far as music composition was the score for the silent film "The Call of Cthulhu" -- how did you get the opportunity to compose the score for part of that film? What has happened to you professionally since that film? What opportunities have arisen?

I found the website to H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society (HPLHS) while searching for more information on Howard Philips Lovecraft, one of the fathers of American-Gothic Horror/SciFi Fiction. Also, being a literature and movie buff I found it very exciting that they were attempting a silent-film rendition of this Lovecraft classic. I submitted my resume, but was politely turned down. Almost at the last instant, I was contacted by HPLHS and they said that their composer backed out on them and they wanted me to take the position. It was an insane scramble to compose 40+ minutes of music for the feature as we had less than a month or so before it was to be premiered at the H.P. Lovecraft film festival in Portland, OR. It's been shown in over 30 countries now and has become a cult-classic.

As a result of scoring this film, I've seen more of the USA, visiting film festivals and other events. HPLHS has provided me more opportunities scoring radio dramas, theatre productions and also the next film, "The Whisperer In Darkness."

Q. In looking at your web site, there's a general interest in Lovecraft, et. al. When did you become interested in this genre of fiction? What other ways are you involved?

My grandmother, Sonja, instilled a love of books in me at an early age. She first handed me J.R.R. Tolkien's, The Hobbit when I was in the 5th grade. I spent many summers with my grandmother in New Salem. We were either in her garden or in the orchard. We had many talks about literature and music (she was also church organist for many years). She later gave me The Lord of the Rings trilogy and said it was "required reading." Reading that was the beginning of my love for literature including fantasy and science fiction. My grandmother also gave me her piano and was responsible for the start of my piano lessons. I remember my mom getting mad when my dad, grandmother and I were all watching "Alien." Yes, I had a cool grandma.

Q. What music projects have you worked on since then? What are you working on now? Do you have any projects that are not related to films i.e. composing music for a performance by an orchestra?

I've worked on a number of independent films, most recently, a documentary/horror film entitled, "In Search of Lovecraft", which will be released soon. I also compose for theatre; recently for Theatre Banshee, a theatre production company in Burbank, California. I composed incidental music for their productions of Henry IV, Part 1 and Of Mice and Men.

I'm preparing the score for 40+ minutes of music from Henry IV, Part 1 to be performed by a local orchestra hopefully. I recently collaborated with Bismarck woodwind trio, 'Apollo Trio' who performed and recorded my Of Mice and Men music. Currently, I'm finishing up a composition commissioned by the ND Music Teacher's Association which will be performed at their state conference at Bismarck State College in June.

Q. Do you create the final music on computers and keyboards, or do you do some work with orchestras or other musical groups? Have you worked with musicians in the state of North Dakota on any of these projects?

It all depends on the project. I'm a pianist, so much of my composing starts at the piano. For most independent films, I score orchestral or electronic music - I then do what is called a "mock-up" on the computer. Software now in the music industry has advanced to a point where many people have a hard time discerning between a "real" orchestra or an electronic one. I've worked with a number of ensembles and orchestras in North Dakota as well as other places - in North Dakota I've had works performed by Missouri Valley Chamber Orchestra, Bismarck-Mandan Symphony Orchestra (BMSO), Trio Apollo, as well as a number of other musicians.

Q. How does being from a sparsely populated area of a sparsely populated state affect your work and your travels for your work? (Los Angeles, etc.)

With the internet, it really doesn't matter where you live to "do" to work. As far as being hired to score a film, it's pretty much a necessity to live in Los Angeles. Now if you are A-list composer, you can live pretty much anywhere as you could afford the $1,000+ it costs to fly out of Bismarck to Los Angeles! (LOL - but really, no joke, it's TERRIBLY expensive to fly out of Bismarck! I'll add my name to the list who wishes we had better options in the air-travel dept.)

Q. Have you thought of moving permanently from North Dakota? What are your reasons for staying in the state?

I won't lie and say it hasn't crossed my mind. I still believe that I can live here in North Dakota and get my music heard. It is my goal to bring 'film music' to North Dakota. I believe I have a good start with building rapport with Missouri Valley Chamber Orchestra and BMSO. I like the idea of giving our musicians the opportunity to play for recording sessions and performing film music - an opportunity that they would only be exposed to if they lived in Los Angeles.

Q. Do you think your location has made it more difficult to find work? Or, has the "Internet age" helped reduce any geographical limitations?

Living in Killdeer doesn't limit my ability to compose. It does limit my ability to fly out to meet with potential filmmaker collaborations etc. I'm still working on the solution to this. On the projects I have worked on, internet has proven to be a very valuable tool. I used Skype and iChat on a daily basis.

Q. Was it always your intention to compose music for films or were you interested in composing music in general?

When I was 5 years old, I listened to Beethoven's 5th in C minor and the "Star Wars" soundtrack over and over and over on my Fischer-Price record player. I knew I wanted to compose music and play the piano at that age. My dad also exposed me to a wide variety of great music including Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull, Moody Blues and a number of others.

Q. What is your work process? That is, how do you go about writing a film score, or composing a piece? How do you pick your key themes?

Every project is different. I usually watch the film and I start to hear music in my head at that point. I really like directors who have notes for their movie - ideas of what they envision for scenes - because, really, you are there to realize their aural vision. I'm a visual composer - I can look at a picture, drawing, scene, event and I'll think up music that could go with it. I'm always walking around looking at things - there's a soundtrack always playing in my head.

Q. What are your thoughts on being a composer? On being a composer in North Dakota? What would you say to someone interested in doing the same?

I'd say GO FOR IT! We need more composers in North Dakota. I would warn them, though, that it's very difficult to get performed. Our orchestras are dollar driven like any other organization. "New music" is almost a swear-word in some circles of the orchestra administration. We live in a dominantly conservative demographic. New music = noise to many and the orchestra committees are worried about losing sales - and rightly so. We don't want to lose what we have, but in order to grow, I believe that they need to try new works, at least 1 or 2 a season. It's the only way to education and "desensitize" (laughing here) our audiences.

Q. What are your top musical influences? Composers?

Beethoven and Bartok are two of my favorite in the orchestral realm.

On the contemporary side, I have a hugely eclectic library. I would say that as far as influences throughout the time line of my musical life they would include: Pink Floyd, David Gilmour, Roger Waters, Jethro Tull, Moody Blues, Tangerine Dream, Radiohead, Clannad, Enya, Danny Elfman, John Barry, Coldplay, Keane, Muse, Patrick O'Hearn, Phish, R.E.M., They Might Be Giants, Skinny Puppy, Martin Denny, Les BAxter, U2, Yes and a pile of others.

Q. Anything else you'd like to add about music, North Dakota, hobbies, etc.?

I love art, art history. I enjoy drawing and painting in water colors, acrylics. I have an obscene amount of books, some read some not read - and I continue to buy more. Hiking, canoing and camping/exploring are great escapes - especially in the Badlands of North Dakota. I love cats and am similar - although I think I've used 4 or 5 of my 9 lives. Any artists composers, adventures - I'd love to collaborate - contact me!

-----------------------------------

Troy's Work:

Cthulhu Links:

Buy:

In the News:

Composing a craft of love (Bismarck Tribune)

Links:

Troy can also be found on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Just do a search.

Labels: interviews, north dakota

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Hillary, Barack, and the Bonspiel.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 1 comments link this post

This weekend, Grand Forks is hosting the 2008 World Men's Curling Championship. A grand bonspiel. Rocks and brooms.

In about 30 minutes, Barak Obama will be the keynote speaker at the North Dakota Democratic Convention. Later, depending upon when Camp Clinton arrives in this great state, Hillary will speak. The sandwich between these two speakers is ND Sen. Joel Heitkamp*, whose radio show I was listening to while driving down to this crowded black hole known as Grand Forks, North Dakota.

Talk about your traffic.

I've never seen anything like it, even on the Saturdays when half of Manitoba comes down to shop at Target.

The Alerus center, by all accounts I've heard so far, is filled to capacity. This puts the number of people there, from what the radio talking heads figured, at 16,000. All Joel Heitkamp and Heidi Heitkamp and newly nominated Jasper Schneider (for insurance commissioner) could talk about was Obama. A group of women standing by the KFGO table, when the show went to commercial, must have reminded Heitkamp that Hillary had supporters, too. Which Heitkamp pointed out before getting back to Obama.

All in all, I could it was an exciting event for all present at the Alerus Center.

Too bad for Bob, the Disgruntled Democratic Ticket Holder, who phoned the show live from the Columbia Mall Parking lot (one of several places around town designated as parking areas once the Alerus lot quickly filled). He was pretty irate, standing in the parking lot, holding a ticket, having just been informed the free shuttle buses were no longer running because the Alerus was full and they were only going to let the few thousand lined up around it inside before "closing the doors."

"There are hundreds of us here, pretty upset," he said, "because they aren't letting any more people in." He told of how he had driven up from Fargo just to hear Barack.

Ooops. Even planning went awry.

Heitkamp pointed out that this would be rather ugly public relations mark for the N.D. Democratic Party, having made available more tickets than there was room. I remember when President Bush came to Fargo. They told you where you had to go to get the free ticket.

And the next day, they printed the tickets in the newspaper.

Speaking of newspapers, today's Grand Forks Herald had a full page, full color ad supporting Obama and comparing him to Gandhi, King, and Mandela. It also lacked a specific notice on who paid for the ad. I thought you couldn't do that.

Politics.

Regardless, it's a bad, bad day to be in the southwest part of Grand Forks. It's a parking lot.

And also, rocks and brooms.

UPDATE: Rob Port gives his opinion on the ND Democratic event.

----------------------

UPDATE 1: And now, after Dorgan speaks, we get Pomeroy who says that if Clinton had been president during Katrina, like he was when Grand Forks flooded in 1997 and recovered so well, New Orleans wouldn't be in the mess it is today... this, for the introduction not of Clinton, but Obama. Why do they let him out of the back room? And now, Conrad joins in the love-fest. He, at least, threw in a "we're glad to have Sen. Clinton join us this evening...we extend a warm North Dakota greeting for Senator Clinton as well."

There is, incidently, a winter storm warning for the region starting tomorrow.

So, warm North Dakota greetings, candidates.

UPDATE 2: Conrad has invoked Kennedy, who visited North Dakota once upon a time. You can't have a Democratic convention without invoking Kennedy. That's a rule.

UPDATE 3: Sen. Conrad just endorsed Obama. The applause was noticeably less than earlier responses to Conrad's comments. Applause throughout this next bit was noticeably spotty. Conrad gives his reasons:

1. Obama asked him to support him.
2. Obama never supported the war in Iraq.
3. He got it right in 2002 by not supporting the war, and he will find the right way to bring the troops home.
4. Not enough experience not valid. He had the experience to get that judgment right.
5. It doesn't matter if he hasn't served "long enough" in Washington. (Lame joke about Dick Cheney, the favored whipping boy, follows, with the point being... Oh. Now he invoked Abe Lincoln's inexperience in Congress before being president. This is rich, coming from Conrad, who has been in Washington for an eon.)
6. We need someone to get results and move us forward.
7. Obama relates to everyone in the U.S.
8. Obama has Midwestern values. He has good values.

Obama takes the stage to the sounds of U2. Sigh. People are still trying to get inside the building.
And now, I'm off to the medical lab, doing my bit to keep healthcare affordable.

* I wrote about Heitkamp in action in this post.

Labels: north dakota, politics

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On the radio.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 5 comments link this post

The Lone Prairie Blog got a mention on South Dakota Public Broadcasting's Dakota Midday show.

Jon Schaff, of South Dakota Politics, joined a few other guests in talking about blogging. When asked by a listener about women bloggers of the Dakotas...Lone Prairie gets a mention.

Thanks to Schaff for the mention. You can hear the full broadcast here (links directly to MP3 file) at least for now -- I don't know how long the link will be good. Schaff starts talking at around the 27-minute mark, and the discussion on women bloggers in the Dakotas begins at the 32-minute mark. And good ol' Lone Prairie comes in at 33.52. (Yes, I'm willing to be a self-promoter and mark it down to the seconds.)

Links: One of the blogs mentioned in the written-by-women column is Prairie Roots, which is a fine blog that I had not been aware of. Another that was mentioned was Flying Tomato Blog.

Labels: blogging, north dakota, promotion

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Swearing like Looney Tunes.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 3 comments link this post

Going to work was a waste; I'm sure I didn't even cover the gas it took to get there and back. The wintery weather had me leaving early and I now sit here, at home.

I'm constantly amazed at my own disconnect with the obvious around me. All morning, working at my computer, I'd noticed a lot of white outside the large glass windows of the store, and I certainly understood that there was snow and wind, but it never occurred to me that there was snow and wind.

"Julie, you might want to go home earlier today, or you could get stranded here in town," a co-worker finally said to me.

"Why?" I asked. "Is it storming?" She looked at me oddly. My intelligence is well known among my co-workers.

"Haven't you looked out the windows?"

"Oh. Right." Now I just felt silly. "I guess I didn't realize..."

I didn't realize there was winter weather right in front of me, but, while on the phone with Network Solutions listening to annoying background music which was periodically interrupted by a voice telling me that higher call volume and inclement weather meant longer support call waits, I did find myself thinking -- not kidding here -- that I hoped there wasn't any snow on the servers.

"You should probably go a little early today," she said.

So I called my dad and asked what the weather was like in the far north regions that I know as home. He agreed that an earlier leaving time might be advisable.

I punched out at the time clock, and then opened the side service door. The wind immediately stole my breath and replaced it with ice crystals. Trudging to my Jeep, I began muttering about the shoes I was wearing.

I was wearing shoes, when I should have been wearing boots. I wore my snow boots yesterday, when it didn't snow, and so today, when it was snowing, I didn't. My snow boots, incidentally, are what I call Captain Jack Sparrow boots; if you saw them, you'd understand. They are very pirate-y, and evidence of an idiot who goes shopping for snow boots at the peak of the season and is relegated to whatever is left.

I threw my purse into the Jeep, and started it up. The heater, which started to die about three weeks ago, began squealing. Apparently there was a flock of banshees inside that I hadn't gotten around to eradicating (i.e. fixing the heater) yet.

My muttering increased to what I call a "Looney Tunes swearing" level¹.

I shut the door to let it heat up and stop squealing, stumbling back inside the store. I couldn't take that racket; I'd tried, on the drive in, turning up the radio to drown out the noise, but even the AC/DC song the local rock station was playing couldn't cover the shrieking.

Toni was sitting at the break table. "Back so soon?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'm gonna let old Bessie get through squealing before I go back out there," I said, pealing off my jacket, cap and scarf. Toni burst out into laughter as I explained the heater situation.

Eventually, I got out on the road and headed to a store to run the errands -- kitty litter! fabric softener! -- I had planned to do after work. I was trying to breathe as little as possible, which is really tough. The windows were fogging up, no surprise considering the heat source responsible for keeping them clear.

"For all your shrieking, can't you expel some hot air?!" I hollered at the heater. I yell at my car a lot. Yelling, of course, made the windows fog up all the faster.

Let this be a lesson to you.

I started smacking my hand against the steering wheel in annoyance. It's because I'm Irish. I blame my irrational, quick temper on that, rather than take personal responsibility.

All that smacking of the steering wheel made the windows fog up even faster.

Even faster!

Let this be a lesson to you.

Arriving at the store, having driven blindly thanks to a near completely fogged windshield with only a fist-sized patch of clarity (talk about your metaphors for life), I left the motorized beast to run and (hopefully) clear the rest of the windows in my absence.

Once the errands were done and I was on my way out of town, my winter storm survival instincts kicked in and I stopped at the drive-through coffee shop to get an iced mocha.

-----------------------------

¹ Looney Tunes swearing sounds something like this: "ricken fracken shricken dracken". Think Yosemite Sam.

Labels: friends, my life, nature, north dakota, work

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That's a lot of sausage.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 2 comments link this post

I blame that mock investigative Geico commercial that refers to Jed Clampett as "out shooting food" for making me view wildlife not as majestic creatures but as food.

Like grouse, being chunks of flying meat.

Last night, driving home from work, I passed a herd of about 40 deer huddled up in a field. Then, two miles later, I passed another herd of about the same number. Then, four miles later as I was nearing our farm, lo and behold...another herd of about 40 deer.

"That," I found myself thinking, "is a lot of sausage."

I don't even like deer meat.

I'm disturbed by my thought process in this matter.

Labels: my life, nature, north dakota

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How to survive the cold in North Dakota.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 6 comments link this post

In response to a reader who wondered how we survive the cold in North Dakota (see comments section here), I've decided to compile a handy selection of tips.

Make sure you have a house or apartment or some other similar shelter.
Go inside that shelter.
Turn up the heat.
Behave normally.

Now, if you find yourself outside, these next tips will come in handy:

Purchase a heavy coat. You will find these available in fine retail stores everywhere.
Purchase gloves. You will find there are many options. Pick warm ones, any color.
Purchase a hat. Leave your hair vanity behind.
Purchase Chapstick. Cherry is overrated.
Purchase warm socks and shoes/boots.
Use these purchases.

I have previously blogged on snowstorm survival here.

The snowstorm/car survival tips seem to be more of a serious nature, but the general "how do you survive the cold up there" is vague at best. It's not always cold, and when it is -- well, that's just the weather for that day. You just keep going and then, spring arrives. I really don't understand the question, though I think it's more of a way of stating "man, I can't imagine living in that cold."

How do we survive the cold up here? I don't know. How do people survive the heat of the desert? How do people survive the thin air of the Himalayas? How do people survive excessive bratwurst in Germany?

Why, you become acclimated, that's how.

But I'm sure my handy lists will be useful.

Labels: lists, north dakota

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The Badlands are also in the west.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 6 comments link this post

::Read the earlier article that I wrote in response to the January 2008 National Geographic article on North Dakota here. It will help in understanding this continuation.:

The Badlands are also in the west. I just want to point that out, in keeping with the idea that the western portion of the state of North Dakota is often used as a stand-in for the entire state. This, again, after reading the recent Grand Forks Herald article in which the editor of National Geographic responded to criticism on a recent North Dakota story.

"This article was not intended to be a profile of the state," Editor-in-Chief Chris Johns said. "Of course there's more to it than that."

The title of the National Geographic article in question was "North Dakota: The Emptied Prairie."

Hmmm.

Granted, the word "profile" doesn't appear in the title. However, the name of the state does. It seems to be a bit of a semantic dance on whether the article was a profile, was about the whole state, was a sad love story borne of memories of better days, or made for good page filler.

The Herald article goes on to show how all involved in the article love the state of North Dakota, would love to spend more time here, and love photographing the old buildings.

That is all lovely. Like I said: we all love a sad love story.

I've seen the discussion on the web about the article, and how futile it is to get into a "I agree with the article" "well, I don't" round-and-round argument. I do not ever say, in my earlier post, that the facts given by Bowdon were wrong, but I do say, again, that the interpretation of the facts are open to...interpretation. Not to mention the use of excessive adjective abuse in which, in all manner possible, the article was meant to show decline and death of "the emptied prairie" instead of showing that though a way of life may be falling into the past (small towns, lots of small farmers), the entire state was not falling away with it. What way of life anywhere is not falling into the past? It is one thing to be sentimental and sad about it, but to depict it as some kind of state-wide irreversible decline is quite a leap. Did anyone expect horses and buggies to still be in use when trucks and cars made their appearance? Why should we expect other holdovers from the past to treck on into the future unchanged?

No doubt it is natural to be sad about the change while you realize you're in transition, but to turn it into a memorial in a glossy magazine and attribute the entire death of a state to the process is not really what I'd call excellence in journalism, or non-fiction.

However, the clincher to the entire Herald mea culpa is the ending:

Johns has read the many letters and e-mailed comments -- both good and bad -- from North Dakotans and former North Dakotans who've reacted to the story.

"We've received many positive letters," he said, and the message in a lot of them is that the magazine "got it right."

Johns said the magazine has featured North Dakota in favorable stories in the past. "In April 2004, we did a beautiful story on the Badlands," he said.

Actually, the feature was on the South Dakota Badlands.

North Dakota, South Dakota. Same thing. All Badlands.

It is as I said in my earlier post: the focus on the western half of North Dakota is likely out of seemingly more interesting history, more photogenic landscape, and more crumbling buildings, but it really isn't all of "the prairie" and if you're going to talk about the "emptied prairie", get the hell out on the prairie further to the east and have a go at it.

There are abandoned buildings and sad stories galore, there, too. Plenty of heartbreak ripe for the taking.

UPDATE: North Dakota made ABC News' "Person of the Week." Check it out. See both ND-related videos from this story at ABC News here.

Labels: current events, north dakota

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Growing hemp.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 1 comments link this post

I was at a trade show/conference a few years ago when I came upon a booth with information and materials regarding industrial hemp. I was more annoyed than anything; it looked less like a serious booth promoting an agricultural product and more like the merchandise table at a Pink Floyd concert. Associating a hippy/marijuana look to a booth does nothing but promote the idea that industrial hemp is waiting to be rolled and smoked. Nevertheless, avoiding the man who seemed to have avoided shaving and bathing for quite a while, I maneuvered into the booth and picked up some pamphlets.

Industrial hemp is not akin to growing enough smokable product for all the potheads in North America. Nevertheless, it is seen as a "slippery slope" issue for those concerned about it ushering in legalized marijuana. Support from marijuana proponents does little to help:

Jack Herer, an admitted longtime marijuana smoker and member of HIA, is universally recognized as the "patriarch of the modern hemp movement." He admonished attendees of this first HIA conference, "Don't forget that the joints you smoke and the fiber you make into clothes are the same plant." The article went on to say, "Some hempsters strained to get Jack to acknowledge that hemp just might be the most realistic avenue to legalization of marijuana."

[...]

Chris Conrad, first HIA President and current board member, recently appeared on High Times' "Top 25 Pot Stars" list. High Times quoted Conrad as saying, "I'm amazed at how many of the predictions I made in the late 1980s about industrial hemp and medical marijuana have since come true. We've linked ...(various groups)...into an alliance that knows hemp is here for good. Now the pot smokers need to come out of the closet to win their equal rights."

Whether or not the full legalization of industrial hemp will bring marijuana in as a legalized substance does not change the fact that industrial hemp is not the same plant and does not have the ability to make you wasted and stink up your college American History class while sitting there, bleary-eyed and stoic, oblivious to the need for a bar of soap and some running water, ruining the education experience for your fellow classmates.*

Dave Monson, from Osnabrock, North Dakota, has been having a devil of a time trying to make such a point. He's been trying for years to make a point of fulfilling the requirements and following North Dakota law which says, essentially, that the state's laws are enough. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), however, thinks otherwise. In a recent local newspaper article (no online link), Monson indicated that the key roadblocks to growing hemp, besides the DEA, are the cotton and paper industry. Hemp would be quite a challenge to those industries because of its fiber potential -- it makes a great paper, and you don't need to own and cut down huge swaths of forested land to get your paper.**

Because industrial hemp is part of the family from which the Dooby Brothers hold family reunions, it is restricted by the DEA. In keeping with that line of familial restriction, though, I wonder why the state hasn't seen fit to rid flower beds of poppies. They are of a family from which we can get heroin, after all.

My mother will have to cease and desist from making kolaches!

The state of North Dakota is admittedly unique in that it has passed laws and made efforts to allow farmers to grow this crop. The state's Department of Agriculture tri

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He's not downshifting.

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The North Dakota capitol sketches: #1.

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One-pound turkey legs.

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The last bison.

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Interview: Troy Sterling Nies

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Hillary, Barack, and the Bonspiel.

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Swearing like Looney Tunes.

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That's a lot of sausage.

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How to survive the cold in North Dakota.

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The Badlands are also in the west.

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Growing hemp.