Sunday, April 26, 2009

Apr 25 - Fargo Force Wins!!! (111/365)


We went to the hockey game last night and it was fantastic! The Force ruled the ice! That puck saw more airtime than a soccer ball! They all skated with speed and force and swept the other team.

First photo: Ref has the puck and ready to throw it into the game.

Second photo - puck is airborne!

The Fargo Force won 2-0.

Apr 24 - I29 (110/365)


This photo was taken as I was heading wouth on Interstate 29 towards Fargo. Yes, the flood water is up ON the interstate forcing traffic to use just one lane.

Apr 23 - Sandbags (109/365)


It is amazing where I find sandbags. There is a house I can see from the interstate where the water is all the way around it. It sits up on a little bump, not even a knoll, just higher than everything around it.

Instead of describe it, I believe I will try and get a photo. Of course, I can't stop on the interstate, but maybe I can talk dh into a drive :)

Apr 22 - Caution (108/365)


Well, it looks like the river is going down and the days are getting warmer. Now the real fun begins; cleanup time!

The water has really done some damage around here.

Apr 21 - Flag (107/365)

Salute to our MILITARY
My great admiration for those enlisted
In spite of fear, courage existed
Love for a homeland from across the ocean
Indeed fortified through your devotion
Trials, fear, lonely days and toil
All to protect our American soil
Respect, honor and appreciation
You deserve it all for protecting our nation!

~Tammey Brown

Apr 20 (106/365)


Watching Uncle Skyler as he participates in his first play!

Apr 19 - Birdhouse (105/365)


This beautiful, weathered birdhouse held out through the bitter winter. I watched as it was tossed about by the wind.

Friday, April 24, 2009

Apr 18 - Elephants at the circus (104/365)

Okay, I know they aren't great photos, but we had so much fun! The had the lights down and the spotlights up. We were about half way up the stands and in the middle, so we had great seats. We took our 9 yo boy, the 5 yo grandson and the 2 yo grand daughter. My adult daughter also joined in the fun. My stepsons maternal grandparents, aunt and cousin also joined us. We took up the whole row! My little grandson absolutely adored my stepsons grandmother. Later he told me she was a very nice gramma and I would have to agree with him. lol

We let them get cotton candy, which normally is a huge no-no. It just didn't taste like it did when I was a kid. I remember really liking it back then. I think I enjoyed the circus as much as the kids did. I'm the first to admit it though, I'm just a big kid myself! I clapped and cheered right along with them!

Apr 17 - Exotic Blossoms (104/365)

Speaking of my moms house (see yesterdays post), my mom has an *amazing* green thumb. I can't remember what she said this flower was called, but usually she gets a few blooms. This year, WOW!

I swear, my mom can grow anything. One time, she was at my house and saw my poor plants. I did not inherit her green thumb. She took pity on my plants and took them home. Now one of them had been brown for some time lol

I kid you not, a few months later I'm at my moms house and I ask her, 'Wow Mom, where did you get all these plants?' She laughed at me and told me those were my plants! They were full and healthy and gorgeous. ALL of them! Even the 'dead' one.

So am I very surprised that these exotic bulbs, in a pot in her basement, would be lulled into blooming for her? Nope, not at all. She just has that way about her.

April 16 - Not all bad..... (104/365)


Ok, tired of the flooding photos? Here is another one! This one is just stunning though, I think. I don't know how these leaves and this pod actually made it through such a crazy winter and wet spring, but here it is. Lazily hanging out in the gutter right in front of my mothers house!

I went to step over it, stopped, grabbed the camera and took the photo. My daughter laughed at me. After all this flooding, this was such a sign of spring for me!

Apr 15 - Flooded Roads (103/365)

A few days ago I posted about how the farmers build their roads and driveways from the main roads to their farm houses (and I use that term lightly as many of these homes are just exquisite!) up higher than the fields to keep the run off from corrupting their roads.

Well, in this case, the water won! Here the flood water has gotten deep enough, and swift enough, to take out this farmers drive way/road completely.

Note: The mailbox looks funny because I blurred the name on it.

I see this more and more frequently lately. I don't know where all of the water is coming from, but it seems to still be running full blast!

My heart really goes out to all of the families impacted by the flood this year.


We are winning the war, but the battles are exhausting. I can't go to a coffee house, grocery store, or even the gym without hearing talk of flooding. Fargo is now talking about cleaning up all of the sandbags.

I'll get photos of those this weekend. It is unimaginable.

Apr 14 - Whirlpool (103/365)

Now this is something you don't see every day! The photo from yesterday was a corn field under a few feet of flood water. The geese and ducks were at the far east side of the field.

There is a drain that lets the water off of the field, under the road and to the other side. Imagine how much water it takes to fill the river, go up and over the banks, cross miles of farm land, be draining from the field fast enough to cause this whirlpool AND be enough water to keep this field FULL of water 24/7. It has been like this for weeks now.

This water goes on and on and on and on. Here is another drain just south of the first one. As you can see here, the water is draining as fast as it is pouring in.

It's quite the sight.

Apr 13 - More Birds (102/365)


These white birds are much larger than the ducks and geese that I'm used to seeing.

There are more ducks and geese this year than I've ever noticed before. It's probably because there is more water out there than I've ever seen before!

They can be found in every puddle! The ditches have water in them - and ducks! The fields have water in them - and geese! The field by my house has standing water in large puddles - and more ducks!

Apr 12 - Snow Geese? (101/365)

Just north of Fargo the river is still very high and spreads out over the land. It is a real draw to the birds! I think these are snow geese. I was shooting from quite the distance with a zoom lens! That is how wide this water has come up over the banks of the river and across the fields.

Apr 11 - Where to park (101/365)

The farmers around here have been through it all. When they built roads to their place, they built them higher than the farm land. The farmland fills with water as the snows melt and the river rises.

Many people have to park out on the road and walk in to their houses. The river water is up to, and over, their roads and driveways. To continue to drive over the soft mud would tear up their road.. so they walk.

Just like the previous photo, there is not normally water here!

Apr 10 - Flood waters (100/365)

There is not normally water here at all! I took this while driving west over I29. The river is actually locate well to the right (east) of this interstate!

Normally you would not see any water from this vantage point at all!

Apr 9 - Flooded Corn Field (99/365)

I'm so sorry I'm so behind! I've been taking photos of the flooding because there isn't much else to take photos of! I did try to mix it up though.

This is a flooded cornfield north of Harwood, ND (which is just north of Fargo). The little dots are birds! If you click on it, it will open to full size and you can see all of the birds out in the water. I saw ducks, geese and what I think are swans! I'm not sure and I could not get close enough to them to really tell.

Friday, April 10, 2009

Apr 8 - Geese (98/365)

Wow, guess it has been a week for birds! We were standing outside visiting when all of a sudden the sky erupted in noisy chatter!!

We looked up and for miles we saw what seemed like strings across the sky! I quickly realized it was what looked to be thousands of geese migrating north!! It was an astounding sight!

They were very high in the sky and what you see here is nothing to what filled our view for miles around and could see them far to the south, east and west of us. The 'strings' went on and on for several minutes! The unbelievably loud cacophony of the birds filled the air.

These birds must have set stopping places, like favorite resting spots, on their path north because we see a lot of them sitting on the ice of ponds and lakes around here; not on the water, but on the ice as many of the bodies of water here are still frozen!

I realize I left the roof of the neighboring house in the bottom of the photo, I felt it helped to ground the photo a little and make it less of a large blue rectangle ;) I didn't dare run back in the house for the zoom lens to get more of a close up of the birds. Besides, it was the amazing number of birds in the sky that inspired today's blog post.

Note: I did know a group of geese was a gaggle, but I did not know if they were flying it was called a skein! Thanks Nicky! :)

I shared this photo with a very bird savvy co-worker and he says they are likely snow geese. I am going to go looking for close ups this weekend!

Apr 7 - Kite (97/365)

Oh this was such a nice sight! Even with snow on the ground and a touch of winter still in the air, this adventurous soul was out with a kite! There is almost always a breeze, if not an outright wind, here all the time.

This was such a fun bit of color to see in the sky!

Apr 6 - Eagle!! (96/365)

What an amazing treat! I'm used to seeing falcons, black birds, what I think are some type of seagull and tons of little birds... however this is the first time I've gotten such a clear photo of an eagle!!





For whatever reason, this little white bird was very agitated to have such a predatory one circling so lazily above where we were.

Apr 5 - Falcon (95/365)

I love Falcons, I actually love all wildlife and really enjoy photographing them. Living on such an amazing expanse of prairie does not allow a great opportunity for photographing wildlife.

My husband and I went to Alexandria, MN to a resort and on the way we saw at least twenty majestic falcons sitting in the trees right off the interstate! Driving down the interstate did not allow me many photos and every time we pulled over to get a photo, those wily birds took off!

We saw another 20-30 falcon sightings on the way back home! It was amazing. I loved it. I had to use my zoom lens and stop, be prepared, and snap quick to get these two photos before he was gone!

Apr 4 - Otter (94/365)

My husband and I love to take drives around the area with the camera. I don't know why, but I enjoy taking photos of the large animal statues around here. There are a lot of them in MN and ND, it's actually quite surprising.

Anyway, there is a large cow in Salem, ND and Bison in Jamestown, ND, there is a fish in Wahpeton, ND and I found this new one that I hadn't seen before.

We were in Fergus Falls, Minnesota which is located in Ottertail county on the Ottertail river, so I guess it isn't so surprising that they have this HUGE otter! Isn't he cute? LOL

I will photograph the many large animals and share them here. They all make me laugh!

Apr 3 - Nests (93/365)

There is a little island out in this pond. Normally it's a pond, however right now it is still an ice skating opportunity! It might be April, but we still have snow and ice!

If you look at the base of the tree you will see a nesting (or getting ready to) pair.

I hope to go back here later in Spring/early Summer and see these nests full!

Apr 2 - Must be Spring! (92/365)


Does anyone else have this problem? This is the second time blogspot has done this to me! I can not force it to upload this photo correctly. It's crazy. I can even turn it in the software and save it and it imports it turned up like this!

Anyway, I saw these Geese out on a frozen pond. It made me laugh. The third one came up and the one chased him away. Then the first two seemed to kiss!

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

April 1 - Fargo - 10-26" of snow (91/356)

Thank goodness it wasn't rain! We got almost a foot of snow yesterday. Some areas around us got as much as 26" of new snow! Many businesses that had not closed for the flood were now closed for the blizzard. It made for a very eerie landscape.

When all of this melts the river will crest again, but the authorities have all said they are confident it won't get anywhere near as high as it was. Right now the river has dropped four feet in just a few days! Wooo hoo

(The white bubbles are indeed snowflakes :)