Yesterday was the Downtown Halloween Trick or Treat for little children. I saw a costume or two that I wasn't ready for. How about a 3' tall Gene Simmons (life size head of Gene with a extra long tongue hanging down).You can't get much scarier than that.Here is my try. It took me a full 10 minutes to put it together.A cover band that I have exposed you to before, Broken Peach, just released their Halloween song for 2025. It's more fun to watch than to listen to.You may want to turn the sound down or off on this one.   10/31/2025

My exaggerated answer to Titus is: "just stand still, everything will fly by you in the frenzy of the other shoppers". 🙄The Ugly Box Store of Minot has never advertised, it doesn't need to, word of mouth keeps this store busier everyday than Target is on Christmas Eve.What is The Uglee Box Store? First let me clarify the picture above only represents about 5% of the stores square footage. What you do see is only a small portion of the bins in the store. Why is it a madhouse (although the picture above is at a relatively calm time. Check out these prices...No matter which day you go it's crazy. I go on Wednesday when everything is a dollar and I go on Friday when all the new stuff gets put out. What can you get for a dollar? This last Wednesday I got a new pair of shoes, a box with four ... 10/25/2025

I will admit that I get sad thinking about winter being right around the corner BUT once winter is here it really doesn't bother me... until maybe April if it's still hanging on.Winter is a time of solitude. It reminds me of Superman's hideout, it gives you space to think and contemplate.When we want companionship we just open a door and our families are there for us just like Timmothy's cartoon above.I credit the well know friendliness of North Dakota to our long winters. Come Spring we are all joyful to see others out and about. Of course life goes on as usual so we visit at church, at the bar (if you like), and at our occupations if we work outside of our homes. Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter gives us as much family contact as most of us want for a while.All that being said we ar... 10/24/2025

If it were not for Timmothy's cartoon I would not have known about the change of hands of this business. The original owner/creator of the business has been a strong acquaintance for many years. Our relationship began when Valerie was the manager of a local thrift store.She had a dream of being her own boss and took the big step of leaving a comfortable job to pursue a dream.Val started out by purchasing most of the books in the thrift store and other thrift stores. She had nothing but used books. In time she got hooked up with book distributors and today used books account for 5% or less of her inventory.I can not imagine a better ownership then Valeries. She has been a big promotor of Downtown Minot and the writers in our community. You know one such writer,Timmothy, 6 years ago and t... 10/18/2025

We didn't have any Super Sized veggies in our garden this year as we picked most anything that appeared to be getting big. There may have been a zucchini or two that got a little out of hand but nothing like Joe's carrot above.The best we did was one nice sized pumpkin. 13" X 35"                   We don't eat pumpkins but we like them as Fall decor or to carve as Halloween decorations.Here, in North Dakota, this is a good time of year to till a spot for a garden to be planted in the Spring. Our growing season is (in general) mid May and it's pretty much over by mid September. This year has been an exception in a positive way.If you wait until next spring you may miss out of a week or two of the growing season. You may have heard of the "Frost" in the ground. This is exemplified by the ... 10/17/2025

I remember back five decades ago and even further that our High School required Seniors who were enrolled in a science class had to collect leaves (every other year it was insects). Leaves or bugs... I'm glad I did not have a science class my senior year. My brothers and sister all did leaf collections. I found it interesting but again, I'm glad I did not have to participate. I believe my oldest brother did both for extra credit.This time of year I have always enjoyed looking at the foliage in Roosevelt Park. Not this year! Regretfully, due to a flood control project and the simultaneous expansion of The Roosevelt Park Zoo there is NO admittance to the area we love walking and biking through. Thus I will just appreciate my own backyard.The grapevine in our backyard is my favorite.We did... 10/13/2025

Progress is being made on North Dakota's Military Museum. The site is currently being prepared on the Capitol Grounds in Bismarck ND. The ND State Legislature has approved $39,000,00 in seed money and an additional $78 million will be needed to reach the projected goal to get the museum open in 2027.The men of North Dakota have a rich and diverse military history. It will be nice to honor all those North Dakotans who have served with this new museum.On a personal note I believe that every generation of the Timm family has had at least one member in the military. Most recently, my daughter served in the Air Force for 6 years. My dad served in the Coast Guard during WWII ( a scrawny boy who had to drink several malts to make the weight minimum). A fun note: North Dakota had a Coast Guard ... 10/12/2025

Music students in the area have the opportunity to attend/participate in a music camp, annually, at the International Peace Gardens. What a beautiful site to study at!The International Peace gardens is located half in North Dakota and half in Canada. The flowerbeds are massive and could keep Roy Kelley and his camera busy for a full summer. The International Peace Garden also has a tribute area to the 911 assault on our nation, complete with some of the girders from the Twin Towers.The International Peace Gardens is a very beautiful place to visit. As far as I know you do NOT need a passport to visit either/both sides of the Gardens.The International Peace Gardens are only 100 miles from Minot ND so stop in and say hi to Timmothy and I.   10/11/2025

A challenge has been posted and accepted: ActiveRain Tuesday Zoom Challenge! By Debe Maxwell, CRS In regards to last Tuesdays Zoom call, featuring me 😉, I have to say that I learned as much as anyone on the call thanks to some excellent questions. I also realized I forgot to mention a very important software that is/was very critical to making my past podcasting come across as smooth.That software is made by Leapic and is called Audio Editor 4.0. I originally downloaded it via MajorGeeks.com and at this time I could not find a direct link. You can find it on several "free" software sites, just be careful you don't download any crap with it. Another good "free" program is CapCut. Regretfully I do not remember any tutorials for either of them and just looking at the operating screen is a ... 10/05/2025

A beautiful apple may cause the same reaction in me as it did to Philemon however I'd probably photograph it first. There certainly is a lot of beauty around us to photograph today with all the Fall colors (but as mentioned in yesterday's post "don't eat the leaves").This short video was shot yesterday in Minot's Scandinavian Heritage Park. It was shot around 6PM and the temp was still around 80 degrees. Soon the water pump will be turned off allowing the pond to be drained and of course the man-made waterfall will stop feeding the little creek that consequently feeds the two ponds in the park.While most of the trees in the park are pines you can still see a few trees changing colors. 10/03/2025

Fall, eat it up... but not the leaves. Just for the fact that Fall leads to Winter I've always hated Fall. That attitude has been waning over the last few years as my eyes have been focusing more on the beauty of Fall and my appreciation that it is Fall and NOT Winter. This Fall has been exceptional as it's still in the 80's (as of October 2nd). Typically the trees downtown have lost their leaves and the decorative planters have been removed by now but here is a picture I took less than 10 minutes ago. September was the 7th warmest of all time for Minot ND and believe me, I appreciate it. I am still aware that Winter could strike any given hour but until it does I'll seize the day. 10/02/2025

Just up the block from my home is a beautiful open area that is perfect for kite flying as long as the predominant wind is out of the West (North or South doesn't matter).I wish I would have stopped and visited but my Bride had a mission: get groceries at Walmart.When we first drove by there was only one up in the air at the time. I'd like to know how many ended up flying for this "Kite Fest". I did notice that there were just as many women holding the strings as there were men. This picture also explains why a Easterly wind would be a disaster.Prior to seeing these kites I heard something directly over my head as I stood in my front yard.I usually see the Applebees balloon once or twice a year. It's always a welcome site and someday I'll take a ride in it (I have two friends that cook ... 09/30/2025

First of all I am keeping my promise to show you more of Citizens Alley. Timmothy and I made a special trip over there and I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of work put into the project. Citizens alley is connected to several businesses and on it's own it has a free movie area, splash pad, food vendors and more.Now on to a new subject. I got woke up last night (aprox 11:30 PM) by a loud crash. A police officer in hot pursuit lost control of his squad car and hit a street signal with unbelievable force. Check out these pictures (I did not see the patrol car.One last topic.Is this art?Corbett Field, a historic baseball park, contracted an artist to "beautify" the 12' fence surrounding the park.Isn't that MINOT made out of giant Popsicle sticks special (like a first grader couldn't ... 09/21/2025

At this time Citizens Alley is only open to humans and certified service animals (You MUST have a State Certification on you to bring in an animal). Citizens Alley is privately owned yet open to the public. Visit their website for detailed information. The schedule for this weekend is:Citizens Alley is truly an alley. It is an area between two old buildings on Central Avenue, downtown Minot ND. The two buildings were purchased by an architect and although very old they have been reborn into new businesses. It is a very attractive setting yet I found only one good picture on the web. I will try to head over there and take a few shots for you.     09/19/2025

The Norsk Hostfest is the second largest event held in North Dakota. The largest is the North Dakota State Fair. Both are held in Minot and they are held just two months apart.The Norsk Hostfest is the largest Scandinavian festival held in America. Just like everyone is Irish on Saint Patrick's Day everyone is Scandinavian during the week of the Norsk Hostfest.Everytime I blog about this people say: "Maybe Next Year". Well if this is your year to attend I hope you let me know so I can see you there. 09/18/2025

Timmothy is not just a contributor to The Northern Sentry (The Minot AFB newspaper) he also reads it. Even though this store, Second Snaps, is right around the corner from our office we were unaware of its existence until Timmothy read the article.Second Snaps is a store offering gently used children's clothing. You can read more by clicking on the photo above which takes you to their FB page. Parents with children are often looking for ways to save money and finding good clothing at a reasonable price is a real blessing to those on a tight budget.This shop is a little off of the beaten path but I think it's worth the time to find it. The store occupies a small portion of what once was the Eagles Club in downtown Minot. I'm headed over there just to take a look at the old club and it's ... 08/16/2025

At least Titus chewed his food. We all know people (especially teenagers) that inhale their food. The older I get the more time I take to enjoy the flavors on the plate in front of me.I think the most frustrating aspect of Real Estate to both Buyers as well is Sellers is the total amount of time between an accepted offer and the closing is the time in between. It can also be very challenging to the new Real Estate professional who has not yet learned how to deal with that Time period. Unless you are working with a cash buyer who is willing to wave all contingencies a closing period of 4 to 6 weeks is the norm in the Minot ND area.It is vital that the Real Estate professional takes the time to explain what is coming up for both the Buyer and The Seller in an effort to help alleviate the ... 08/14/2025

Once again Timmothy's cartooning, written a month in advance, is far more accurate then the weather guessers.This year may be the most unusual year of weather in my region ever. We had a blast of summer (a week long) in March, returned to Winter (not Spring) and then Summer kicked in a good month later than usual. On top of that we have had far more rain than usual and almost no misquotes or hornets. It's strange.In a normal summer we usually have one to 10 days of over 100 degree weather but we have not had one triple digit day yet. So why has our AC been running a lot over the past two months? Humidity!AC dries out the air. This is an important thing to keep in mind especially if your home has ever been inundated with flood waters in the past. Our home was inundated with flood waters ... 08/10/2025

This post is not about politics although we certainly are in a political pickle at this time.The City converted my favorite tennis courts into four Pickle ball courts. I get it, pickle ball is more popular than tennis at this time. The only problem is that with all the work that is currently being done to keep the Mouse river in it's banks it is almost impossible to get to them.I will be eager to show you new pictures when the flood alleviation project is over.This is not a complaint or a rant, it's an informative post.Roosevelt Park as it is/was. White outline. I just noticed that it kinda looks like a wind-up duck.The current Zoo outline (red).The finished expansion of the Zoo. Blue outline.It may not look like much from the maps above but it really is a good sized chunk of the park b... 07/26/2025

Every year on the Saturday after the first day of The North Dakota State Fair Minot hosts The State Fair parade. Yesterday was that day. Typically there are 200 entries into the parade and I'd love to show them all to you put I narrowed it down to 8 with the feature picture above being one of the eight.   07/20/2025