As I drove past the capitol on Boulevard Avenue, I noticed something peeking: the boom of an obviously very large crane. Circling around to the north I found the Wanzek guys lifting materials up to the top of the capitol with a large crane capable of lifting 275 tons. This looks like the same monster that was parked on North 9th Street to help lift new elevator parts and stuff to the top of St. Alexius.
The capitol will be undergoing some limestone reclamation and repair in the near future, making for some interesting closures around the grounds. It'll be interesting to see this local landmark get a facelift inside and out!
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( 3.1 / 139 )
I had the opportunity to pore over some boxes in the garage last night which my mom brought to me a year or so ago. I knew they contained old Peanuts paperback books and even some Archie comics, but they contained a lot of other cool stuff as well. Among those items was an envelope of State Spelling Bee memorabilia from 1983, the year I was a semi-finalist. I was the Mandan & Morton County champion that year, which is what got me the trip across the river to eat Beef Stroganoff, play Centipede in the arcade between rounds, and make some new friends as geeky as I.
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( 2.8 / 134 )
This long stretch of rusty fasteners caught my eye while poking around on another of Bismarck-Mandan's best kept secrets: a bridge to nowhere.
This bridge sits along the walking/bike path by Hay Creek on the east end of town. Apparently it used to carry rail traffic but there are no longer any train tracks leading to it from either end. The rails have been removed from the bridge and so have any structures connecting it to anything, but someone has propped long boards up to provide pedestrian access to it for the brave.
One other rusty nut that I have in my photo collection is this one on the old Northern Pacific railroad bridge across the Missouri. While taking photos of the flood last year I looked up and saw this, and I figured it was a neat photo to grab for later. Here it goes.
I've got some other interesting fastener photos around here somewhere, perhaps I'll cobble together some for a future post.
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( 2.9 / 174 )
I took my boys out to Fort Lincoln to poke around with our cameras and watch the weather roll by. Rolling by is exactly what it did, missing the park entirely. The clouds did plenty of rumbling as they drifted past. My guys thought it was pretty cool that we could see rain and wondered if it was going to hit our house as it started to dump south of Bismarck. It was getting close to bedtime, so we headed back to find out.
Along the way we spotted a rainbow, something that hadn't yet manifested while we were atop the hill. We stopped for a quick photo op and then headed back to town. Yep, our house got rained on. We had just enough time for a snack and some bedtime stories, then it was off to bed for them. I'm about to hit the pillow myself.
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( 2.9 / 158 )
This is a view that few people get to see. The glowing red on the other side of that smoked glass is a vortex of 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit reaching over two hundred feet high. It burns powdered coal which has been cleaned and dried, making it a very efficient and clean source of power. And it's right here in North Dakota. You could put the state capitol building inside this boiler!
When you hear about "clean coal technology" you should note that North Dakota is pretty much the epicenter of innovation. At this particular power plant, by the way, over $200 million has been spent over the past thirty years on development of environmental technology. New processes have been brainstormed here that are of interest to power generation companies all over the world!
By the way, April 22nd is called "Earth Day" by some. This day was so named in order to fight global cooling back in 1970. That should tell you right there how much credibility the global
Back to the photo. The power coming from plants like this powers homes, businesses, hospitals, schools...you name it. It provides life-saving heat in the winter and cooling in the summer. It powers information technology, life support systems, manufacturing, and who knows what else. Yet there are those deranged individuals who wish to vilify the energy industry and treat such technical innovation with disdain. They're truly detached from reality and I welcome them to relocate to a third world country if they find nobility in primitive living.
Incidentally, the Bible talks of people who worship creation rather than the Creator in Romans chapter 1. This is nothing new. Actually, the people pushing this climate agenda wouldn't be pushing it at all if the solution wasn't global socialism. That's why I choose to have a Festivus of sorts, one that recognizes the value of the technology and innovation that makes this country great. I'm not the one who brainstormed this answer to Earth Day, but I am certainly on board. Happy Industrial Revolution Day and/or Romans Chapter 1 Day!
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( 2.9 / 352 )
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