a piece of the prairie

As if we didn't have enough changes and announcements this year ...

Today Corey and I officially became the proud owners of 17+ acres north of Mandan, ND.

The land is located on Hwy 1806, about eight miles north of Mandan, across the highway from the (new) Harmon Lake.


We already know there are lots of deer and pheasants in the area (Corey identified their tracks) and fish in the creek (fed from the lake). Corey is especially looking forward to some snow - we've got a few great sledding hills.

The sunrises are amazing.

Looks like Corey might actually make a real country girl out of me ...

Softball and WNDF: Giant's Sunflower Seeds

Corey's softball season is officially in full swing. They had their second week of games tonight. His team had softball last Wednesday too - but it was snowing, raining and very very cold. Miserable weather to be playing softball but they played through it.

Tonight was much better.

They won both games and celebrated with a few beers in the parking lot. Such a great preview of all the fun the three-day weekend will bring.

In honor of softball season starting, I stocked up on sunflower seeds.

Here's a plug for Giant's Sunflower Seeds. They come from Wahpeton, ND, (yay North Dakota!) and they are delicious. My favorite flavor is the BBQ ... but that bag is almost gone already so I took a photo of the dill pickle flavor, which is also quite good. I can't sit through a softball evening without a bag of seeds.

Can this be a WNDF (Weird North Dakota Food)? It's not necessarily weird, but it is from North Dakota. I'll make the executive decision that yes, it is a WNDF.

Sunflowers and North Dakota go hand in hand. Did you know that National Sunflower Association is located in Bismarck, ND? Yeah, so that was my random nerdy fact of the day.

Anyway, in the summer, Bismarck seems to be surrounded by a wall of the big yellow flowers. They really are huge. And so incredibly tall. Photo taken by me in August 2007

Alright so I have another fun nerdy fact for today - the ND Horizons Blog uses one of my sunflower photos for it's heading graphic. Check it out.

North Dakota

Today was a big day for North Dakota.

We made headlines for our winter weather. Blizzards, lots of snow and frigid temperatures. It's March? Really? I'm 99 percent sure we had the coldest temperatures in the nation today, with highs near 0°F and windchill temperatures down to about -30°F. Burrr.

And tonight in sports news ... in its first year of eligibility, North Dakota State University (Corey's alma mater) is going to the men's NCAA basketball tournament. Way to go Bison! I especially like their mascot, surprise, surprise. Pick the Bison when picking your brackets for the tournament :)

Today, I found out that North Dakota is the only state to have never had an earthquake. This is only true when you factor in the age of the state and what magnitude of ground shaking qualifies as an earthquake. But, regardless, I find it to be a nice (and comforting) fact. I'll take blizzards in March if it means no earthquakes.

Milk ... it does a body good

I despise milk. I'll drink chocolate milk every now and then but I avoid white milk at all costs. I'll consume it if it's in food but I've never been the type to sit down and drink a tall glass of milk. I have milk in my cereal every morning ... but I use the spoon to strain the milk out of each bite. Yep, that's how much I avoid milk. ack. yuck.

So it was pure luck that the sample dude in the grocery store lured me to try a small taste of chocolate milk. I was pleasantly surprised at at the tastyness of it. I was even more impressed when he said the milk was from his farm, from his cows just a few miles east of town. How cool is that?! I was gosh darn impressed, I even sampled the white milk. I got it down without gagging - I was impressed with myself ... and the milk. It actually tasted good. 

The packaging is quite charming too. "Bessy's Best - Milked and bottled fresh at Bessy's family farm in Sterling, ND"

Have you seen this milk in your local grocery store? I'm curious ... let me know.

I should also mention that it is a "Pride of Dakota" product - made in North Dakota.