It's pretty hard to avoid the sounds of Christmas today. I've already rang the bell by the red kettle when I was also selling hot dogs for "The Horn of Plenty" and I've heard them just about everywhere I've shopped as well.  It's pretty hard to escape the Christmas music if you are downtown where my office is too.With the lighting of Minot's official Christmas tree downtown and the decorated light posts it's also looking a lot like Christmas as well.  11/27/2023

TODAYI am going back into the sales business. Not for profit but for one of my favorite non-profits, the Horn of Plenty. I will be at one of the 5 Market Place Foods stores selling Hot Dogs today and Saturday.I had to dig up this old pic of Timmothy.2023 is the 40th year that the KHRT Horn of Plenty will provide help to hurting families in a 90+ mile area around Minot by by providing food, toys and a ministry gift that proclaims the Gospel of Jesus Christ.Check out the NEW Artist!Earlier this year a timid young lady came to have a document notarized while I was in the Art Gallery. I had to draw out of her that she likes creating "natural" art using earths elements. Here is a sample:There is no paint used in her work, it is all dried flowers, leaves, etc. The artist is Shayna Rodriquez a... 11/16/2023

In the Minot area if you were to ask someone what brought them to Minot the top three answers would be:#3) Oil#2) Born Here#1) The Air Force (or I'm a Military Brat)I'm sure you are aware that this Sunday is Veterans day BUT did you know there is actually National Military Brat's Day? Really! It's in April 30th.In doing my research for this post I came across an Army site that has some good information on it titled Growing up as a military child. Click on the page title to learn more, it's a good read.If my daughter (Tina) ever "settles down" and has children I'm sure her kids will learn that phrase as she has already sworn she will Be Air Force Guard as long as the Air Force will let her. 11/09/2023

Before you go to a Convenient Care Clinic you may be interested in my story. This may not apply to everyone as I am retired, on Medicare/Medicaid and am on a fairly fixed income so DOLLARS are a factor in the story and the second factor is simply TIME. A small amount of background: Minot is a small city of 50,000 and we only have one hospital, Trinity Health. We had two but that is another story (of trickery) about Trinity Health.A little more background about my blog post title. I have liked every employee, doctor, and administrator I have met from Trinity Health including the hospital President. The horrible only applies to my experience with policy.The situation: While walking to the front door of the church for Sunday worship both feet slipped out from under me. I landed HARD on my ... 11/09/2023

With Veterans Day coming up at the end of the week I wanted to relay my thanks to all the young men and women who volunteer to defend this great nation.This is my second entry into the November challenge by Debe Maxwell, CRS to express (once a week during the month of November) what we are grateful for.Every branch of the service is to be honored as together they are the greatest military in the world.BUTI am, of course, most thankful for the United States Air Force being my daughter is part of it through The Wisconsin United States Air Force Guard.Tina started her journey into military life in High School through the Jr. ROTC program here in Minot ND. She was in the program for 3 years until she graduated. After High School graduation she looked into what the Air Force could do to help... 11/05/2023

If you have not yet prepared your home for winter you have about 12 hours to do so as our first winter storm is predicted to pummel us this evening.It's a little early for our first winter storm, even in North Dakota, BUT here it comes... up to 8" of snow from this evening through Thursday.While it is not unusual to experience a snow prior to Halloween a winter storm is unusually especially one of the magnitude predicted for this one.If you have a snow thrower get it out of the shed. If you need a shovel you best get one today because there will be a run on them tomorrow and you may be lucky to get one at all.Last of all, if you have not driven on snow before go slow! Keep your distance from the car in front of you. Get snow tires. Don't ever lock up your brakes or you will slide into t... 10/24/2023

Minot is home to two restaurants that bill themselves as "Diner"s. There is the Sonic's Chain at 1601 35th Avenue SW . Then there is the local Krolls Diner. Krolls has always been a big favorite of the community, especially the German community as they specialize in Knoephla soup, Fleischkuechle, and of course Sausage & Sauerkraut. They also have great American platters that are usually bigger than your stomach.Kroll's diner has great food BUT they also have great advertisements featuring their two German ladies. Their website is NOT Kroll's but SitDownAndEat which is their slogan. Check out this 30 second video.I couldn't find the original ad but all spots used to end with a big German waitress ordering us to "Sit down and Eat!" 09/28/2023

The North Dakota State Fairgrounds is being overrun with Norwegians, Swedes, Danes, Finlanders, & Icelanders. Once again it is North Americas LARGEST Scandinavian festival, the Norsk Hostfest.It's a four day party of ethnic food, entertainment, and shopping. The food is fantastic with top Chefs from Scandinavia and other worldwide locations. Entertainment also includes international artists on multiple stages through out the party grounds every day of the festival. There is more then an acre of shopping featuring mostly hand made items.There is so much to see at the Hostfest you must visit at least two days and of course if you want to see the main entertainment attractions you need to be their all four days.If you can't make it this year I hope to see you next year for the 48th annual ... 09/28/2023

The picture above shows the new City Hall from Third Avenue SW and what you are actually seeing is the 2nd and 3rd floor. The 1st floor is accessible from the 2nd or 3rd floor via stairs or elevator. I bring this up because the building does have an entrance from 2nd Ave SW where the City rents out space to two businesses that are not City related BUT access into the City Hall portion is locked. I want to point out that ONE of the excuses the City Council gave for their lavish spending is they did not have enough room in their old building. You didn't have enough space but now you want to rent out space you are sure to grow into???Above is the "Old" City Hall. As much as I searched I could not find when it was built but obviously it is NOT all that old. The information I seeked was behi... 09/27/2023

Yesterday I posted about the first floor of City Hall and focused on the BIG spenders, the City Council. You may have noticed that the offices were numbered in the 200's. That is because as you enter the front door as pictured above it is the ground floor from 3rd Ave. There is an entrance from 2nd Ave BUT although much of that floor is City Hall you can NOT enter the City Hall from that door. The 2nd floor If you walk the open stairway to the 2nd floor you can not ignore the beauty created by the skylight above. At the top of the steps you will find the following offices.Above is the North lobby, with the tables it appears to be a meeting area. The South lobby appears to be more of a lounge. (next picture)Most noticeable on this floor is the City Clerks Office.There are several other o... 09/26/2023

Minot's NEW City HallI am going to walk you through the new City Hall with pictures and a little commentary in 3 parts with each part a separate floor of the building.This and the following 2 posts are part of an entry into a blogging challenge put forth by Dr. Paula McDonald and Kathy Streib titled Let's Get Serious About Writing a Blog Series. First let me be clear that the Minot City Council LOVES to spend money. Minot is the 4th largest City in the State but out spends the largest by a very substantial amount. The amenities are nice but our taxes are as insane as our City Aldermen/women.First of all let me point out that it is right across from the funeral home... very fitting... death and taxes.The location is that of the old Wells Fargo building downtown. Most important to the big... 09/25/2023

Swimming pools in Minot North Dakota are hard to find. The men and women stationed at ther Minot Air Force Base are lucky to have their own pool facility.Our summers are just to short to pay for the expense of installation and maintenance of a private pool. Every year I see someone purchase an above ground pool but I don't believe I've ever seen the same pool the following year. In fact, more often then not by late summer said pool in ruins before fall.The City of Minot has a wonderful pool complete with a water slide and splash pad.Obviously the City pool is an outdoor pool and even though it it heated it is no match for our winters. The City pool is open from Memorial Day through Labor Day. The day after Labor Day the dog is open to pet owners who have dogs.As far as I know the only p... 08/20/2023

I actually borrowed the title of this post from another one of Timmothy's cartoon strips about Titus and Philemon eating strawberries but I am going to use this one to give a plug to the Minot Farmers Market in Oak Park. Our Farmers Market only opened July 6th and will most likely close in October this year.You can click on the picture below to open a new window into the Farmers Market website.How can I possibly tie a cartoon about red lips to Real Estate. Well, if you are looking at homes and the basement is very dark but you can make out a coffin... get out!  08/01/2023

As a bit of a News Hound I am well aware that most of the country has been dealing with extreme heat for close to two months but believe it or not North Dakota has been in the 70's for the most part UNTIL NOW.We are now in the 90's for highs, just in time for the North Dakota State Fair. I love extreme heat during the days of the fair. If you think that is strange it seems so does everyone else.Besides all the fun of the midway and food there is the opportunity for people to show off their talents through displays that include everyday individuals, and local organizations. One such area of displays include Artist and Photographers. My daughter Tina thought she would give it a try and put in an entry for the 1st time.Congrats to Tina for winning Best of Division& Best of the Show.What a ... 07/24/2023

I imagine that Titus and Philemon's world is no larger then they can or have seen. If Joe walked around the house he walked around their world.Timmothy Timm is a big fan of "Catch and Release". He doesn't like taking the life of anything other than flying insects. We have only gone fishing once and I'd be curious, had we caught anything, what his reaction would be.People do fish the river a block away from our home but river fishing to me is to throw a carpenters line out with a hook and check it a hour later to see if I caught a catfish or a bullhead. Just a little further down the line is the North Dakota Game and Fish pond at the Fairgrounds.The pond on the Fairgrounds is open all summer and no fishing license is required being it is catch and release.I suppose there is an easy tie i... 07/20/2023

Last Saturday was one of the days I bring home "a lot of treasure".  Timmothy wrote this strip over a month ago, far ahead of my junk buying binge, but it was right on the mark for my past Saturday.Each year Minot's UCC church hosts a rummage sale to support our local chapter of the Boy Scouts of America.I don't know where this small church gets all the rummage every year but looking at the picture above imagine three rows of rummage (treasures) extending across the picture stacked chest high and you will have a good idea of what they had.Just a few of the treasures I brought home were a nice guitar amp, two easels for the art gallery, an sun tent in an unopened box, and more. I could have easily loaded up my cargo trailer had I not restrained myself. All for a "free will" offering.Mayb... 07/18/2023

I love the 10 days of the North Dakota State Fair. It all starts this Friday in Minot ND. Although I posted the entertainers in the banner of this post they are not the reason I go to the fair. In fact I've never seen a single one of the acts in the 20+ years I've attended the fair.I go to the fair to rub elbows (NOT literally). I go to enjoy the crowd, see and speak to friends, and I go to prospect! Typically, I believe, the State Fair draws 300,000+ people. When I was an active RE professional I would bring a few cards along and give them to the people who would ask "what are you doing these days?".Even if you have 100 reasons you don't want to go to the fair they should ALL be out weighted by the fact that being seen is good for YOUR image and visiting with people is great for your r... 07/18/2023

 In the heart of North Dakota, Fargo boasts a thriving arts community that adds a unique charm to the city's cultural landscape. From prestigious performing arts schools to modern entertainment venues, such as Trollwood Performing Arts School, The Lights, FM Community Theater, Moorhead High School Theater, and Straw Hat Players at MSUM, Fargo's artistic offerings have a profound impact on the real estate market. In this blog post, we will delve into these creative hubs and explore their influence on the housing market in Fargo.Trollwood Performing Arts School: Cultivating Creativity:Nestled on the scenic banks of the Red River, Trollwood Performing Arts School is a haven for young talent. With its annual summer musicals held at the magnificent Bluestem Center for the Arts, Trollwood dra... 07/10/2023

While I don't think of myself as invincible I do agree with Joe that my home is my fortress and I too feel safe there.About that drip... roof leaks are/can be very tricky. The last time my roof leaked it manifested it self as a leaky window. While that sounds simple it was NOT. I caulked around the window to no avail. A good and trusted contractor (who doesn't do roofing) said: "Bob, you have a leak somewhere on your roof and it's just trickling down to that point. He was right.Who to call in Minot for your roofing needs.Jessen is the BEST! Period. That being said if you are looking for the lowest price in town you will NOT find it here. What you will find is kind, courteous people and a GREAT warranty that they actually live up to. You can call them at 701-838-2687.As far as home secur... 06/26/2023

Selling a home is a significant decision that requires careful consideration. Whether you're downsizing, relocating, or simply seeking a fresh start, understanding the motivating factors behind selling your home can empower you to navigate the process with confidence. In this blog, we will explore five common motivating factors that often drive homeowners to sell their properties. By identifying these factors, you can gain a deeper understanding of your own situation and make informed choices regarding your real estate journey. Change in Lifestyle: One of the primary motivating factors for selling a home is a change in lifestyle. As life evolves, so do our needs and priorities. Growing families may require more space, while empty nesters may desire to downsize and enjoy a simpler, maint... 06/12/2023