Here’s to the babies in a brand new world,
Here’s to the beauty of the stars…
Here’s to the travelers of the open road,
Here’s to the dreamers and the bards…
Here’s to the soldiers on the desert dunes,
Here’s to the farmers in the fields…
Here’s to the preachers of the sacred Word,
Here’s to the loving God who heals…

Here’s to you, my little loves, with blessing from above, now let the Day begin.

Just sharing a friendly good morning with you and the windmill perched near Farmer’s Livestock southeast of Bismarck and some lyrics modified from one of my favorite songs by The Call. Have a great weekend.

I’m always fascinated when finding these wells out in the middle of an otherwise nondescript field. The metal protruding from the ground around this one leads me to believe that they were previously powered by windmills, which were then replaced by a handle. This one sits along north 15th Street here in the Bismarck area. Do you suppose it gives ice cubes in the winter? 🙂

I’d gotten into quite a habit of featuring North Dakota’s ubiquitous windmills for a while there. These days, not so much. Chalk that up to the fact that we’ve been so incredibly busy around our house that I simply haven’t had much time to run around with the ol’ camera. I got a rare opportunity to do so the other day, and of course a windmill was among the photographic targets acquired.

I think I’ve figured out how they keep Lake Mitchell full of water…it’s right next to a well!

Sorry, I’m feeling silly tonight after some late-night garage time. I wanted to play with my pressure washer and my air compressor, so I had to figure out how to use both. Obviously I washed my air compressor with my pressure washer! Then I used the air compressor to push the water out of the washer’s hose as I coiled it to put it away. I like putting tools away…I’m one of those people who scrubs down his lawn mower, including under the deck, before oiling everything and putting it away.

It would take a LONG time to catalog all the neat little places, like Lake Mitchell’s recreation area, that surround the Bismarck-Mandan area. I found a few a while back when I took a little jaunt down some gravel roads that took me up that way, popping out somewhere near Wing, before turning back to park the camera for some family time. I have some interesting photos from Lake Mitchell that I’ll post in the near future.

I was out running around with a friend last night and, after a brief stop at Applebee’s, we found ourself out by an old familiar waypoint in my GPS: this windmill. It was dark except for the (in this case) inconvenient light of a full moon, so I took a long exposure. You can tell by the streaking of the few visible stars in the photo. Clouds were starting to roll in on the horizon and the moon was ruining any shot with a clear star field in it, so we packed up and kept driving around.

One nice thing about being a couple of Christian guys is that we can be out after midnight and our wives don’t have to worry about whether we’re out drinking, cheatin’ on them, or other nonsense. That’s if a Christian guy is actually walking the walk. In our case, we are. So it was just two dudes in a truck with a camera and some good conversation.

This contraption sits atop a hill near Double Ditch. At a glance from the highway, it looks like a well. Upon closer examination, however, it appears to be something else entirely. I’m not sure what…but what looked like the spout of a well is actually a brush. I’m sure it must have some sort of ranch-related use, but I’m too much of a city kid to surmise what that might be.

Journey just a little way up Highway 1804 from the top of River Road, and you’ll spot this windmill at the top of the hills to the east. It looks like a prime location to catch some wind, but sadly this windmill won’t be spinning unless it finds itself in a tornado.

By the way…I’ve probably pointed it out before, but I will again: did you know that Highway 1804 (on the Bismarck side of the river) is numbered for the Lewis & Clark expedition’s trip to the northwest? And did you also know that Highway 1806 (on the Mandan side of the river) is numbered for the expedition’s return?

It never fails: the day after I clean and apply Armor All (or any other shiny tire protectant) to the tires of my truck, I find myself out on a gravel road. Do you know what happens then? Yes, I come home with a truck that looks like it’s rolling on 31-inch donuts with dust sprinkles stuck to them. Today was such a day.

There were some redeeming moments to the trip, however, such as the few minutes I spent on north 26th Street where it turns to gravel. That’s where this windmill stood, with some darkish clouds rolling in from the west. That’s where I got tonight’s photo. I did a run-n-gun kind of thing where I didn’t even get out of the truck. I simply rolled down the window, shot away, and moved along. Sometimes I can take an amazingly crisp handheld photo, even with one of the cheaper lenses in my arsenal. This was one of thoes days, too.

I was going to do some sort of sunset thing, but that really didn’t pan out. It’s rare that one can actually plan a photography outing, so we take what we can get. I also found some other neat stuff to photograph. Some I’ll have to go back for, but that’s why I keep a GPS stuck to my camera bag or clipped into the dash of the truck. When the opportunity arises, I’ll be there!

If you haven’t tried 26th Street all the way north, I highly recommend it. Have fun…it goes a LONG ways!

When I had more time on my hands, I used to do a regular Thursday Night Sunset series. Lately it’s been more of a target of opportunity, as I haven’t been able to set time aside for as many photo adventures. This was from one of my favorite windmills this weekend.

I wasn’t sure what I was going to do for sunset, and then time got away from me. This was one of my “old standby” locations, and I dashed to it just in time to capture the last bits of color from the waning sunset.

I just love old farmsteads, old wellheads, and old windmills. This weekend at the downtown street fair I ran into my junior high art teacher, Mr. Paukert, who I haven’t seen since 1982 or so. As it turns out, he has an eye for the same sort of North Dakota features, and was selling his work. I was glad to see him and to be reminded that I’m not the only one with a soft spot for the sights of North Dakota.

My little boy and I took a drive west of Mandan tonight and caught this shot. It’s like a formula for success on this website: an old windmill, the buttes west of Mandan, and a blazing red sun with a power line tower in front of it!

Little PJ is such a treasure. He was patient when I’d jump out of the truck for a quick photo. He held my finger while we drove, and smiled at all my funny faces. I’m so blessed to be his daddy!

There’s a lot of other neat stuff to see west of Mandan. I hope to post the photosin the near future.