north dakota « Life with the Rogers

Life with the Rogers

My life in the tundra with 3 dogs and a man

Archive for north dakota

Snow follows us wherever we go

February 2, 2008 at 4:46 pm · Filed under north dakota, snow, traveling

Josh and I visited family and friends in Atlanta last week and guess what. It snowed. Now, granted it was GA snow which means that it doesn’t last for long and only causes some mild concern over ice. Well, mild concern for the northern states but for the south this means that people stock up on milk and bread and head indoors to wait it out. Oh, and they also cancel church the next morning. Needless to say, there were more than a few white little snowmen standing as a lone testament to the prior days snowfall. If the kids hadn’t built them no one would believe us that there was snow in GA. Unfortunately I forgot to get a picture.

Here Josh and I are squinting into the sun.

So it was cold in GA. A couple weeks prior to us getting there they had some unusual 70 degree weather days and the day after we left the weather channel showed a bunch of people out jogging in shorts because it had warmed to 50 degrees. We, however, arrived back in Minot to an Alberta Clipper which brought with it mighty cold weather. Let me explain:

Now, I grew up in PA. I know what it means to actually have a winter and actually get snow (ahem, unlike most of GA). HOWEVER, I was in no way prepared for waking up to the guy on the radio announcing that it was 25 degrees BELOW 0 with a 40 degrees BELOW 0 windchill.

Yes, you heard me right. 40 degrees BELOW. That means that you put a negative sign in front of the DOUBLE DIGIT temperature. That means that I don’t go out to the store to get something just in case the car dies and I’m out there by myself. No thanks. I’ll let someone else do that. That means that your dog pees in the living room because he won’t go outside because it is -40 below!!!!

Welcome to the North.

By the way, today we are having a heat wave. The temp is 13 degrees.

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Snow!

November 17, 2007 at 3:27 pm · Filed under dogs, north dakota, snow

I guess we’re going to have a White Thanksgiving…that’s a little off.

Jack loves the snow:

Harper and Bo just want a cookie:

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Update

September 18, 2007 at 8:01 pm · Filed under decorating, dogs, north dakota

I really haven’t posted in a while. I have 2 excuses…1) I’ve been busy. i know, i know, haven’t we all? and 2) my camera battery died. Posts without pictures are just boring, don’t you think?

As far as updates go:

The dogs:

Well we have 3 now and have had 3 for the past 3 months. My has time flown. Let me just say that perhaps adding a 2nd dog to a first dog may be easier than getting 1 dog for the first time but adding a 3rd dog to the mix is in no way easier. At all. Especially a puppy! During the housebreaking weeks (which actually didn’t take that long since Jack had 2 adult dogs to learn from) my nerves at the steady occurence of little wet spots and little stinky presents were stretched to their absolute limit. However, that period, as all periods do, ended and now we have a lovely little routine that they all follow. Of course, the new floors Josh installed to get rid of the nasty carpet definitely helped improve my disposition.

The house:

As I just mentioned, we now have new (ahem…laminate) floors!! YAH!! At first i was REALLY hesitant on installing laminate floors in a 83 year old vintage house but as we went through the process and researched the quality (and the price) I finally came around. The result? I am very happy with them. They hold up to dogs and people and chairs and ladders. However, they do chip and dent when chisels fall from a 5 foot ladder. Ahem. At least that isn’t a constant battle but only a rare occasion.

At last, pictures of the little guy (as we call him) as I have so many of Harper and Bo i thought I’d update everyone on what Jack looks like now.

Here he is looking all cute:

On his first hunting day with dad…he got 4 birds!

and asleep on the new Orvis bed that is guaranteed against Harper chewing through it:

(Bo likes to sleep a lot, too)

And a pre-finished look at Jack and the “Laying of the Laminate Floor” that took about a week.

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Church tag lines

July 24, 2007 at 4:42 am · Filed under church, north dakota

It seems Minot ND is not exempt from the need to advertise and market to cars driving by a church. Have you ever read a church’s sign and thought, Now That’s Clever! No? How about, Now That’s Cheesy! Yeah, thought that might be the case.

Wherever we go in this country we see these signs and it’s gotten to the point that Josh will call me at work just to tell me one as he passes by. We’ve gotten to the point where the church with the best tag line actually gets some kudos from us for it’s originality. Because you know that some guy is sitting in the church thinking how catchy his one liner was this week. He probably saves them up just to spread them out over a 52 week period.

I just have one question, who actually stops their car and goes into the church because a catchy tag line caught their eye and heart? Who are these people? I want to meet them!

Anyway, here’s the one that Josh saw today…coincidently the same church that has graced us with tag lines many times since we’ve moved here.

Come Worship in the SON-Shine (on the front)
Our Church is PRAYER-Conditioned (on the back)

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Fireworks Frenzy - Love ‘Em or Hate ‘Em

July 5, 2007 at 7:11 pm · Filed under dogs, holidays, north dakota

We had a small bash at my in-law’s last night and what better way to celebrate Independence Day than by lighting many fireworks? (note, the picture above was taken from the Internet and unfortunately not the scene of our party last night. We did have some good ones, though!)

The fireworks frenzy in North Dakota and across the nation has categorized the dogs in our families into 2 categories:

LOVE ‘EM or HATE ‘EM.

Ahem, the Love ‘Em group. I really should separate these 2 into 2 sub categories. Bo is in the “Neutral” category and Duke is in the “Freak Out and Bang on the Door to Chase Every Firework and Have It Blow Up In His Mouth” category. Hence, Duke stayed inside.

The Hate ‘Em category is a group of dogs that have a broad range of reactions to the big booms. Clockwise: Harper backs up and wants to hide in the thicket and run away, Chena wants to hide behind furniture, Sophie has the worst reaction and hides in a bedroom shaking, and finally, Margaret refuses to ever go on walks again until coerced with treats.

They really should take a cue from Duke and Embrace the Big Booms!

Anyone else have any scaredy-cat pets that have been traumatized again for yet another Fourth??

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Floor Plans

July 3, 2007 at 3:20 am · Filed under decorating, dining room, home office, living room, north dakota

For my family:

As all the family down south will appreciate, I have updated the floor plans for our house. As you may remember, there was a bit of confusion from a certain gentleman when relaying the house specs to his wife when he was in ND and she was in GA. Curtains were bought, furniture was planned, etc etc. Upon arrival in ND, however, the true layout of the house was revealed. This, of course, was after many hours of trying to guess the floor plan from the southern family contingent and said guessing was, in fact, wrong. Windows appeared as if from nowhere and walls were put up overnight.

Anyway, here they are since you can’t be here to see in person and I have yet to get a video camera.:

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Tour of a North Dakota Farm

June 24, 2007 at 5:06 am · Filed under Animals, dogs, north dakota

It occured to me the other day that no one really knows anything about where we live or what it looks like outside of our house. I thought I’d start with getting to know the animals that live at Josh’s parent’s farm right outside of Minot. When I was walking around getting pictures of all of them we counted 17 animals currently getting sustenance from the Rogers’. Let’s start with the dogs, shall we?

First we have a very large and very big teddy bear, Duke the Chesapeake Bay Retriever:

Meet Sophie, the only mini schnauzer that will eat anything, including horse manure and bugs off a car radiator.

And then the cats:

Barn Cat

Digby

Chloe

Tasha

and Linx

The Rabbits, Mr. Cuddles (the white one) and Trixy (the other one):

And now, the horses. Let’s start with the ones they just board, Chaps, Peyton and Rusty, respectively:

And the horses they own, Daisy the Queen:and Jordy (in the background):

and Wildfire:

and, finally, 2 pigs. Meet Porky:

and the newbie, a piglet named Lucy:

Porky meeting Lucy:

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Daily News from ND

April 25, 2007 at 7:53 pm · Filed under north dakota

My mom told me that she heard a funny news story from the Minot Daily News of all places on the David Letterman show and that made me think that I could bring a bit of rural life to you each week in this blog. I literally didn’t have to look very long before I found a perfect 1st story from the local newspaper:

Riding in style

By ANDREA JOHNSON, Staff Writer ajohnson@minotdailynews.com Submitted Photo

Levi Rue and his prom date, Alissa Bachmeier, drove to the New Rockford-Sheyenne High School prom Saturday evening in his father’s 1992 green John Deere 8760 tractor. NEW ROCKFORD – Some young men escort their dates to the high school prom in a muscle car. Some hire a limousine. Levi Rue showed up to collect his date, Alissa Bachmeier, Saturday night in a 1992 green John Deere 8760 tractor.“A few people made bets with me that I wouldn’t do it,” said Rue, a senior at New Rockford-Sheyenne High School. “I guess I won them.”Rue first suggested the unusual method of transportation last Thursday, two days before the prom.“At first she wasn’t sure she wanted to,” said Rue. “She was worried about her dress getting dirty.”But after Rue showed her pictures of the tractor and promised to make sure it was immaculately clean, Bachmeier agreed.“I cleaned it up pretty good,” said Rue.Bachmeier wore a lime green prom dress that nearly matched the tractor. On Saturday evening, Rue drove the tractor from his home near Sheyenne to pick up Bachmeier at her home north of New Rockford. Pictures were taken and Rue and Bachmeier drove the tractor around New Rockford. As well as attending the prom, they stopped for a meal at the Dakota Roadhouse and went to Rue’s grandmother’s house so she could see the unusual chariot.“We got quite a few people who stopped and looked and stared and waved,” said Rue.Rue said other prom attendees came to the prom in older muscle cars and pickups. One group took a “big party bus” to Jamestown and another group hired a limo. His was the only tractor in the parking lot.“It was fun,” said Rue. In keeping with his choice of prom transportation, Rue plans to major in farm management in college next year.

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37 is the new 24

March 5, 2007 at 3:20 am · Filed under north dakota, traveling

Once upon a time there was a 26ft Uhaul, a man, and a trailer. The man decided he was meant to move to the great cold north of Minot, North Dakota. Since he was a man who enjoyed company on great journeys he decided that he should bring along his wife and two beagles. Thus, one early Sunday morning, the man with his 26ft Uhaul and trailer (along with his car) took his wife in the cab and his two drugged beagles, Harper and Bo and set out on the long 37 hour trek north.

And so it began, a slow drizzle and no gas. We filled up the tank at a modest $100.00 in Loganville before heading out on the highway. Our beagles were beginning to feel the effects of the drugs and Bo even decided that he should disregard the D.A.R.E. training we’ve all received and drive under the influence. (see picture). Josh decided that that wasn’t such a good idea. (see picture for Bo’s hazy reaction, esp. the eyes with the film over them).

Up through Atlanta to Chattanooga and over to Nashville. Through Kentucky into Illinois and over to Saint Louis, MO. Across Missouri (and no I didn’t drive as it was dark when we arrived) and skirting Kansas and Nebraska we stayed the night in Sioux City, Iowa. Now, Josh was going strong the whole way into Iowa and past his grandmother’s house in Omaha so we continued on. All of a sudden the No Doze decided they’d had enough of working for the day and clocked out for the night. Josh needed to pull over to stop for the night (the night being 4:00 A.M.) in Sioux City. However, we of course have two dogs with us and needed to find a pet hotel. Since the original plan was to stay at his grandmother’s house I didn’t bother getting a list of where the pet-friendly hotels were on our map. Thankfully, we found one the only catch was that it wasn’t on the outskirts of town but downtown Sioux City. Just imagine me handling two drugged puppies in the lobby of the hotel and trying to relay directions to a parking lot big enough for a 53ft vehicle extravaganza while on a cell phone and you pretty much get the idea of our arrival in Sioux City. Add to that picture Josh outside driving around and around on barely plowed streets (because of course Sioux City just received 12 inches of snow that day and the snow plows were still out and about). The poor guy only found one parking lot his size (that is, the truck size) and it was 7 blocks away. Four hours later (and yes I said 4 hours) 8:30am we were back in the truck after a couple hours of sleep and ready for anything.

Josh did have his first Weighing in experience. We saw the sign that said all vans and truck rentals pull into the weighing station ahead. This is us getting the green light. (It was all very exciting on only 2 hours of sleep).

Soon we crossed the state lines into South Dakota where apparently the snow storm which we missed had dumped most of its snow onto the highways for us to cross. Again, Joanna is not driving as there was slush everywhere. Very slippery. We eventually made it into North Dakota and stopped in Fargo for some much needed hot dogs and bathroom breaks. Fargo is about 5 hours from Minot (maybe 4 if you aren’t in a big truck) so we were on the home stretch. After hitting Grand Forks, Josh decided that he needed a cat nap just until we made it to Devils Lake (about 45 min at this point). I’m up for the challenge especially since it wasn’t going to be a long stretch and he’d take over in less than an hour if I wasn’t comfortable. It’s a nice afternoon with clear skies and hardly anyone else on the road so I was feeling good. I made it from Mile Marker 170 to Mile Marker 169. Barely. If that.

Yes, that’s right. I didn’t even make it a mile before it got to the point that Josh was more scared to have his eyes closed than open and watching me drive. He said that I was playing Pong with the solid line and the dotted one. Well, I tried. Let’s leave it at that. (btw, it wasn’t even the trailer that was the worst part, the trailer was the least of my worries.)

So Josh had all traces of sleepiness scared out of him and he resumed driving. I played DJ and we rocked out the rest of the way to Minot to all our favorite music. I think we arrived around 7pm? It was good to walk in the door to my in-laws and smell beef stroganoff and have a warm bed waiting.