SO WHAT If I Don't Mow!   The home behind my kids is one of about a dozen nice homes that were built about 4 years ago. They have the river in their backyard. With the flood last year they had the river runnibg through the house, about 6 feet deep in the living room. All of these homes are in the mandatory buy-out plan thus they have all been abandoned. Tina and Timmothy are about 5 feet tall so the tallest weeds are about 7 feet tall. Regretfully about 20% of the homes that were lost to the flood have yards just like this. Imagine living next door to one. We are very lucky that both neighbors on either side of us have rebuilt their homes and are taking care of their lawns. One neighbor is also taking care of the one next to him (not mine) in an effort to keep those weeds from seeding i... 07/19/2012

SUNSET ACROSS THE STREET I snapped this sunset scene from my own front yard hoping to catch a little more color then I did. However I like the way the clouds showed up as I didn't even notice their unique texture when I took the picture. It was a beautiful day with the temp in the upper 70's, maybe low 80's. I have really been caught up in yard work replanting grass being it was all destroyed in the flood. We have a long way to go but to see the areas that I have replanted start to fill in has been a real joy.  It's nice to stand in my yard this year, opposed to last year when at this time I would have been standing in 6' to 8' of rushing water, and just enjoy nature instead of fearing it. 06/25/2012

Large Industrial Site in Minot for Sale Check out this heavy industrially zoned property centrally located within Minot North Dakota in the heart of oil activity.This large 47 acre parcel is ready to accommodate many different uses. It's highly visible with well water, septic sewer, railroad and truck access.Listing Price is currently $2,700,000 and features 20 acres with buildings zoned M-2 as well as an additional 27 acres of agriculture.Buildings include:70' x 160' pole barn35' x 50' office50' x 50' sales area40' x 40' shop with overhead doors50' x 100' open space with sidewalls26' x 40' metal building Contact Signal Realtors Kristen Boen and Duane Peterson for more information and view the complete details here: Visit Minot Commercial for all commercial real estate in Minot. 701-852... 06/13/2012

WHO LET THE DOGS OUT? Prairie Dogs That Is! When this spring arrived, my first spring in this office location, I thought it was cool to see a gopher/prairie dog. It was a sure sign of spring. They are so cute and they just play so much it's got to make you happy. They also whistle. Problem is... they dig, and dig, and dig. They also breed faster then rabbits. The office yard now has a zillion holes in it, makes mowing a bumby ride. What to do? The neighboring office (people I like) have a Scottie named Lilly and she loves to go after the gophers. She hasn't caught one yet and I doubt she ever will. I don't want to accidently poison Lilly trying to get rid of my non-rent paying guests. There are so many holes in my yard it would take as much water as the flood to drowned them out. I coul... 05/23/2012

Hey Man, You Got Any Grass! After the flood much of the vegetation was killed off, everything from grass to trees. After all they were underwater for more then a month. Many folks, like myself, were thrilled to be able to get back in our homes once they were re-constructed. Our yards did not hold nearly the importance that re-building our dwellings held. Very few of the thousands of homes that had to deal with the disaster had time to put seed down last fall. Still today, nearly a year later, less then 50% of the homes in the valley are completed and inhabited by their pre-flood owners. I'm not a yard manic but when you have a two school age children and a dog it's nice to have a yard. Keep in mind those like myself who re-built have just spent thousands to restore our homes, an all mud... 05/22/2012

  The Landscape Changes When You Are The Land Of Opportunity! North Dakota, particularly Western North Dakota, had seen slow but steady growth for the last decade or two. Minot North Dakota had seen “better then” slow and steady but only by a thin margin. That was until The Minot Air Force Base added another bomber wing and at just about the same time the US Geological Team announced the largest oil find ever (and anywhere) was under Western North Dakota. Rumors abounded about how Minot North Dakota may grow as large as Houston Texas over night. I think everyone I know or had visited with was very excited to be living in the midst of an economic boom while much of our country was facing/dealing with economic disaster. Imagine a town of less then 30,000 people looking to grow to 100,000 ... 02/22/2012

OFFICE SWEET OFFICE THERE IS NO PLACE LIKE OFFICE Office Sweet Office. It's small, it's ugly, but it's mine. After a summer of conducting business out of my mother-in-laws basement, Starbucks, and the public library, I finally have an office to call home office. With all the positives it's easy for me to overlook the ugly color of the building (which I will repaint this spring) and the fact that the interior needs a little spritzing up. The next big step is to get that secretary I've talked about for 2 or 3 years. I hired one and she quit before she started because she didn't like the interior colors of the office. This despite the fact I told her she could pick new colors and I'd paint! I thought the colors were a little loud myself but I kind of like them and now that I've added some... 01/03/2012

Who Says An Old Dog Can't Teach YOU New Tricks??? Jack is a 12 year old mutt. He loves to fetch but we've never known him to actually catch a ball. Even at the age of 12 he will run after a ball much longer then your arm will hold out throwing the ball. Jack has never done steps. He will run up them (in shear terror) if he has to but forget him ever going down steps on his own. So what will he do if he is in the mood to play fetch and no one is paying attention? He just throws his ball down the steps and expects YOU to go get it. This is new behavior he's learned since we became (flood) refugees living at Grandma's house while our home is being rebuilt. With my office being downstairs (until I relocate into my new space sometime this month) I am usually the one Jack makes fetch the ball... 11/06/2011

HURTING CONTRACTORS NEED TO HEAD TO MINOT ND It's been a while since I sent out a plea for contractors to come to Minot if they want business. Business that they can charge full price for, rebuild their companies and retain their good workers. Minot and Western North Dakota is, and will remain, America's major boom area for a minimum of 5 years and more likely for 20 years. In the last week it has been re-affirmed that Western North Dakota is sitting on more recoverable oil then Saudi Arabia. WAY more! For several years now I've been posting about our major shortage of workers. ANY entry level job, even McDonnald's, is now starting it's people out at more then $10.00 per hour with benefits. Truck drivers are getting $100,000.00 a year or more. Carpenters, electricians and plumbers are g... 10/29/2011

CLEANED and SANITIZED....Really? Buyer BEWARE! If you are buying a home that has been in a flood situation or if you are a Realtor working with homes that have been in a flood situation you really need to understand what to expect when you hear the words "Cleaned and Sanitized". As an Active Realtor in an area that has suffered from wide spread flooding I am very concerned about what is being sold as "Cleaned and Sanitized".  The following pictures are from my own home that stood in 6' of water for more then a month due to the flooding. These pictures are AFTER $3,000.00 of cleaning and sanitizing by a very reputable company that spent 3 days (144 man hours) in my home. The scary thing to me is that after the cleaning and sanitizing I could easily have said "good enough" and started she... 10/24/2011

31 Days Of Positivity! Celebrate Your Heritage! 31 Days Of Positivity! Celebrate Your Heritage (or somebody elses) Let's start October out with a MASSIVE dose of positivity! #1) VOLUNTEER! I love going to the Norsk Hostfest every year. Admittance is a bit spendy but it's free for volunteers. Volunteer shifts are only 4 hours and you can stay all day. It's a week long party celebration and many people volunteer every day. Volunteering to do something good helps make me feel more positive. #2) GET OUT AND MINGLE! I don't remember the numbers but I believe this event brings in 100,000 people or more. Gotta mingle in a crowd that big. #3) PARTY! That's what it is... one big party. #4) CELEBRATE YOUR HERITAGE! I'm German but some where in there I must have a drop of Scandinavian blood. Just ... 10/01/2011

Our Uninvited Guest Pink, our uninvited guest. Yesterday my daughter Tina discovered this little girl hiding in our lilac bushes. We went door to door around our block and also asked the mail carrier if they could identify her and lead us to her owner. I also called the Police Department and the Newspaper but again no luck. She is a great puppy, a little shy of men as if she has had a bad encounter, but she is as sweet as can be. We would love to keep her but we already have a dog and we are selves are still guests in this house while our flood stricken home is in repair. If you own this pup or know who does we would love to re-unite you/them. Pink is well groomed, well behaved, and seems to be potty trained (no accidents in 24 hours). I would imagine that someone out there is missing ... 09/20/2011

I've Got Windows.... and Walls Too!!! Most people don't go around bragging that their house has walls and windows but I'm going to. Every step of rebuilding after a disaster seems so painfully slow. Even the smallest step forward seems like a huge victory. The replacing of damaged wall boards, the starting of the wrap around the house, and most of all the addition of windows (all happened yesterday) feels like the first victory in conquering the monster that destroyed our home last June. There have been many steps in getting to this point. Watching the flood waters recede, removing most everything we owned from the flood ravaged house and placing it on the curb and then removing much of the structure of the home and also placing it out on the curb to be taken to the landfill. Then ther... 09/14/2011

Not All Celebs Are "All Talk & No Action" Often when celebrities open their mouths off stage they prove "even a monkey could do this job". This often holds true when they campaign their "special cause" like saving the planet earth by purchasing a CFL bulb for their 4 million dollar tour bus. I'm proud to report that Minot native Josh Duhamel has proven that he is a man of action not only in The Transformers but in real life as well. Mr Duhamel has always remained active in the Minot community and is an active entrepreneur owning the finest restaurant in town. With one forth of his home town of Minot being destroyed by our recent man made flood Mr Duhamel decided it was time to spring into real life action. Josh asked his wife, Stacy Ferguson, if she would co-host a fund raiser for the ... 09/07/2011

Get To Know Your Minot Public School Board Members I think it's wise to know who your local School Board Members are, after all, they have a lot of say in YOU child's education. When I read the paper I am often surprised at what some school boards around the nation feel is "right" for a child's education. I am thankful that The Minot School Board for the most part has not embraced some of the crack pot things I read about in the paper. I am glad that the only things that upset me with The Minot School Board is their refusal to take bids on items that could save tax payers a substancial amount of money and also it bugs me that they allow the technical department BS them into believing that Apple/McIntosh will prepare our kids for the world after academia. The Minot School Board is: Nanc... 09/03/2011

School Supply List for Sunnyside Elementry in Minot ND Hopefully you did NOT miss orientation day yesterday at Sunnyside School but if you did and if you missed the supply lists posted at Kmart and Walmart here it is. Please pardon the highlighted items as those were what we needed personally for our own Sunnyside student, Timmothy. The flood that destroyed the river vally of Minot was particularly hard on several elementary schools. School has been post-poned a week and is scheduled to start on Tuesday September 6th. Many think that another postponement is inevitable. Some schools were totally destroyed and are meeting in temporary classrooms. Word has it that some have no desks, chairs, teaching materials and so on. It's going to be interesting. I can only encourage you to keep checki... 09/02/2011

What I learned In School Today by Bobby T This post was inspired by Myrl Jeffcoat who commented on my last post, asking how Broker School is going. Today was a definite school day for me. While I only spent 2 hours in the classroom today (virtual classroom) I also spent an hour with my representative from Home Warranty, whom I strongly recommend, and I spent some time at my 9 year old sons school for his orientation and then at my 11 year old daughters school for her orientation. ND requires 60 hours of class prior to being able take the Brokers exam and yet there is no place in ND or anywhere else that I am aware of to get those 60 hours in other the on-line. This is really so much fun trying to learn to study again after nearly half a decade.. trying to put ones life back together ag... 09/01/2011

Free Music, A Nice Little Bonus! I love those little individual serving pecan pies. I picked up a four pack the other day at a bread thrift store. This was on the box. I liked the music well enough that I want to share it with you. The pies were pretty good to but they are gone now so sorry I can't share those with you. I'm not sure what the association is between pecan pies and CW truck driven music is but it works for me. We have two excellent bakery thrift stores in Minot ND. If you live here and you are unfamilular with them they are close together with one just off the SW corner of the Kmart parking lot and the other just SW of the Broadway and 20th Ave MarketPlace Foods. Bonappitite! 08/25/2011

This Flooded House - Rebuilding Help Aug 1 2011 7:09PMKXMCTV Minot Thousands of people across north-central North Dakota are facing a bleak financial future because of the Mouse River Flood of 2011.Jim Olson has information about how other disaster have been dealt with - and how others in this flood are being treated in today's edition of "This Flooded House".Many victims of the 2011 Mouse River Flood are having to recover largely on their ownFor people who suffered losses in excess of the $30,200 maximum payout from FEMA, the finances are daunting(Florence Anderson, Minot Resident) "$30,000 won't do it." (What kind of damage did you have?) "Way over the max. I came from Hawaii, sold my house there and put everything I had in here and I don't know how I'm going to do it." Many people a... 08/02/2011

GOSH, I Hope This Headline WRONG! Please note the sign to the right of the Movie marquee. The river crested a few days ago and has dropped about 2 feet at this point. This is the first time I've seen my office since the mandatory evacuation. That evacuation will most likely be in place another month yet me my area of town. I may be able to return to the office in about two weeks. I hope my color copier enjoyed the bath. Now a post I did NOT get up from Monday. This 4th of July my family and I are celebrating our day at "The Festival Of the Parks". While the two large parks in Minot are still under a lot of water a much smaller but very beautiful park is working out fine. The theme for the event is "Forget The Flood!". Everything is free. Free T-shirts, free foods, and free entertainmen... 07/06/2011