Minot's Old Walking Bridge I have lived in Minot for over 8 years now and it was not until earlier this spring that I decided to actually set foot on the big old walking bridge that crosses the Burlington Northern rail yard tracks in the center of Minot North Dakota. For eight years I had driven by this bridge, wondering if the old humongous wooden structure would be there for ever or torn down the next day. I decided it was time to check it out. Of course I brought the whole family, didn't want to die alone. Much to our surprise the bridge was FAR from rickety. It's made of huge timbers that I think would take about a thousand years to rot. I have been Googling for information on the bridge but have yet to find any information on it. Tomorrow I'm going to post some of the views from th... 05/19/2011

Feeling A Little Dizzy and Cloudy? I'd like you to meet a couple of friends of mine, Dizzy and Cloudy. Yes, they are a couple of clowns. I have had a bad case of the Blues today and I really did not feel like blogging but I dug deep, went to the photo album, found Dizzy and Cloudy and I knew I had found the right post to lift my spirits a bit. Dizzy is no ordinary clown. He has won more awards then one can imagine. You can check out some of his credits by clicking on his picture. For those of you who don't want to click just let me mention Minot Shrine Clubs' own Ken "Dizzy" Gillespie was awarded the most prestigious honor presented by the International Shrine Clown Association (ISCA), the "Clown of The Year" award, at the recent MidWinter convention in Indianapolis. Also Ken (Dizzy) wo... 05/12/2011

Scandinavian Festival, Ticket Sales Start Next Week! The Norsk Hostfest runs from September 28th through October 1st 2011. This year I've vowed to keep everyone well enough informed about Norsk Hostfest that if you would like to come join the massive 4 day party you will have plenty of time to plan. A week from today (05/10/2011) you will be able to purchase your ticket in person, on line, or by phone. Some of the talent appearing this year is Martina McBride, Trace Adkins, The Judds, Charlie Pride, Gaither Hostfest Homecoming, The Oak Ridge Boys and many, many more including entertainers from Norway, Denmark, Sweden, and Finland. There are six stages of entertainment running at all times! Over 296,000 square feet of heritage and fun all indoors under one roof. Don't miss North America'... 05/10/2011

My 400th Post Ought To Be About Schoolin' Shouldn't It? I've been know to talk quite a bit for a guy but even I did not think I had 400 posts in me. And to think the bulk of them have been made just sense last Fall. If you are moving to Minot ND and you want to know the School Districts then here is a map for you. Wich District is the BEST? Well if you ask anyone with kids in the Minot School System the obvious and unanimous answer is the one you live in! I'm not trying to be funny, it's the truth, every district in Minot is full of top notch teachers and administrators. When we were moving to Minot I was determined that my kids would be going to Christian school because I did not want them to be taught the crap you hear about around the country that is so contrary to Christian beliefs.... 05/09/2011

My Sons 1st Extracurricular Activity This week my son, Timmothy, had his first "concert" and the season finally of DRUMKidz. Timmothy has really enjoyed this program and no doubt will be eager to pick it up again next year. You will notice from the shirts the kids are wearing that DRUM is an acronym. It stands for Discipline, Respect, Unity, & Music. The teacher threw in a bunch of other virtues but they really don't make sense for the acronym. I very vaguely remember music class in elementary school and in fact what I do remember was a teacher came in about once every two weeks and we sang for about a half hour. I don't even remember putting on a "show". I can't imagine being an elementary school music teacher. I believe Sunnyside schools music teacher is very talented and very patient... 05/06/2011

Adios Amigo Tio Lalos Across from my home and across the parking lot of the Ball Park from my home is the old Picnic Basket. I guess it was the old "Keg" and quite a few other restaurants in it's day. In the eight years I've lived across the street from it I think it was vacant for about 4 years and then it had been two different Mexican resturants three times. Last time, and two times ago, it was Tio Lalos. The owner's name was Edwardo and he says Tio Lalo's means Uncle Eddies. Edwardo found it didn't work to good to be living in Texas and operating a restaurant here in Minot ND. The City finally decided it was time for this building to go so they would have more parking for the Ball Diamond. I'm not sure if they gave the building away or sold it. Given our sever housing shortage in Mi... 05/03/2011

  WHAT IS FOR SALE IN MINOT ND AS OF 04/27/2011 Homes under $100,000   0 Homes between $100,000 and $125,000   4 Homes between $125,000 and $150,000   5 Homes between $150,000 and $175,000   3 Homes between $175,000 and $200,000   7 Homes between $200,000 and $250,000   13 Homes above $250,000.   20 AS OF 04/27/2011 THERE ARE EXACTLY 52 HOMES FOR SALE IN THE CITY LIMITS OF MINOT* Only 4 homes under $125,000.00. There are 191 pending sales *Single Family, active status  04/27/2011

About 3 weeks ago I let you know that I hired a couple of students from the Minot State University Business College to help me get caught up and also to upgrade my technology. One lasted one day and the other, John, is still with me but struggling with all I've thrown at him from AR to entering listings, to upgrading part of my website. I asked John to give us the scoop on what was happing at school and he wrote the following. Now I'm not sure why some of the words below are high lighted unless he had links set up for me to attach to them. If that's the case... oops on my part but it's only a few hours till Easter so I will have to check that out when he returns to the office on Wednesday. By the way that is John over there to the right. I did not have a sudden burst of hair growth and ... 04/23/2011

 The long winter of Midwest and Central North Dakota, has become a huge issue with spring thawing as rising water levels are getting very close to new record highs. This has made "Ace Is The Place" (Ace Hardware) and other hardware stores very busy in the Minot and surrounding areas. Ace Hardware located at 1600 2nd Ave SW in Minot, ND has great customer service and sells lots of items for quick fix projects.   People have been recently calling and asking the local news station "KMOT TV" questions about Sump pumps and other accessories to withdraw and direct water away from homes. KMOT TV decided to visit the local Ace Hardware store and do a live interview to answer any questions for the people of Minot and surrounding areas. After that news got around people knew they could rely on A... 04/20/2011

WHO STOLE THE COOKIES? WHO STOLE THE COOKIES? When I was told my daughter Tina was Alice from Alice in Wonderland in the 5th Grade school play I was really proud that my little girl was Staring in the play. Whoops, this play featured the star of about every children's book in the library (but I'm still proud). The play was adapted from something the teacher found on the Internet. It was a Who Done It. Someone stole the cookies collected for charity at the library. The culprit(s) could have been: Sherlock Holmes or any of his 3 investigators, Alice in Wonderland (played by the Fabulous Tina Natalie Timm), Cinderella, Snow White, Peter Pan, Goldilocks, Aladdin (Oh what the heck I bragged about my daughter so why go one with the list of 21 more characters. I won't tell you who done it just... 04/19/2011

A Special Ball Diamond, Paying It Forward I just wanted to share with you briefly about a special project underway in Minot ND to help the physically disadvantage enjoy the sport of Baseball. The "Dream Catchers" have sponsored baseball for the physically disadvantaged in Minot for some time but now they are fundraising for their own, handicap friendly field. They have been using the public field in South Minot but it isn't always so friendly. The picture above shows the special field that was installed in Fargo ND (300 miles away) for the same purpose. The project is being spear headed by Harvey Herslip of Minot. The Dream Catchers were founded by Michelle Bliven. If you are a huge fan of Extreme Home Make-Over you may remember that they built a house for the Bliven Family. Michelle ha... 04/19/2011

Minot North Dakota Housing Snap Shot 04/11/2011 WHAT'S FOR SALE IN MINOT? Homes for sale under $100,000.00 as of 04/11/2011     = 1Homes for sale between $100,000.00 and $124,999.00   = 3 Homes for sale between $125,000.00 and $149,999.00   = 5 Homes for sale between $150,000.00 and $174,999.00   = 2 Homes for sale between $175,000.00 and $199,999.00   = 6Homes for sale between $200,000.00 and $249,999.00  = 20 Homes for sale over $250,000.00                               = 19 AS OF 04/11/2011 THERE ARE EXACTLY 57 HOMES FOR SALE IN THE CITY LIMITS OF MINOT* Only 4 homes under $125,000.00. There are 181 pending sales *Single Family, active status  When viewing these figures keep in mind that Minot North Dakota is a town of 40,000 that experienced at 15% growth last year alone. To say we... 04/11/2011

Oak Park Realty Supports The MSU Business Center. Those of you who stop by my blog on a regular basis know I have had horrible luck finding an assistant. Well I had one of those "Light Bulb" moments and thought why not contact the Minot State University Business Center and see if a student would be interested in some hands on experience. Well I put out an advertisement and 3 students responded. At this point I've hired two of them and I just might hire all three. Now I want you to meet John. Hi everyone. My name is John and I am in my 4thsemester with Minot State University. I will be majoring in Management Information Systems. I am grateful to get the opportunely to work with Bob Timm as I am getting more hands on experience. He will help me keep up to date on Information Technology an... 04/01/2011

ALL REAL ESTATE IS LOCAL SO WHY NOT RELYLOCAL? A friend of mine who used to work for a local lender excitedly told me about a new venture he was off on. His enthusiasm certainly made me want to listen. Van has done his share of traveling as a professional drummer, playing with many big bands that you would have heard of, yet he settled into Minot because of his love for this community. Van told me a quest for a new laptop computer redirected his focus from the big box stores to shopping local. The short of the story is that laptop experience made him want to promote business that is owned and based in our own community and not Bentonville Arkansas. Enter RelyLocal, a network of websites that are all linked, all uniform, all to promote the businesses LOCAL to YOUR community. Van has been... 03/31/2011

Specials are not something SPECIAL, They Are Taxes!   Sometimes Realtors forget that not everyone knows our lingo. If you are shopping for your first home and your agent has never explained specials to you then take comfort that you are not alone. I work with a lot of First Time Home Buyers and it is actually rare that as I ask if they are familiar with special assessments that the First Time Home Buyer knows what specials are. The first thing you, as a First Time Home Buyer, needs to know is that Specials is a term referring to Special Tax Assessments on a property. A good example would be if you purchased a new home in a new development the City places a "special" tax on your home to help pay for the new services such as the water main, the street paving, and sanitary sewer. The life ... 03/23/2011

PARTY, PARTY, PARTY with Martina McBride, Trace Adkins, The Judds and more! What do you do if you are Scandinavian (Norwegians, Swede's, Danes, Ice Landers) living in Minot North Dakota? You throw the BIGGEST darn Party you can over 5 nights and 4 days by inviting about 75,000 of your bestest friends. How about inviting Martina McBride, Trace Adkins, The Judds, Charlie Pride, The Gaithers and many, many more. Throw in some commedians, artists, crafters, actors, great food and of course adult beverages. Let's use all the buildings on the Northg Dakota State Fair grounds and also see if we can top last years RV attendance (which I think was about 5,000 units). What the heck do you call this??? Norsk Hostfest 2011 Norsk Hostfest, THE LARGEST SCANDINAVIAN FESTIVAL IN NORTH AMERICA,says come... 03/18/2011

BUILDING BRIDGES THRIFT STORE, 6 of 6 Minot Thrift Stores This is my final report on Minot North Dakota's 6 Thrift Stores. Building Bridges is located at 19 2nd Ave SE Minot ND. I don't know a lot about the mission of the store but I believe it supports on or more Catholic mission in town. It has some what odd hours as it is usually not open until noon and then only for a few hours. I was told today by one of the two volunteers present that they really have trouble finding volunteers to keep regular hours. She said they get tons of donations but can not keep up without the volunteers. Sooo if you are looking for a mission of your own why not volunteer to help out this thrift store. The prices are right at this store and they will bargain if you think a price is to high. The store is a b... 03/12/2011

NO SAND FOR YOU!!! (said like the Soup Nazi) NO SAND BAGS FOR YOU! In the 8 years I've lived in my home there has been a "rain event" every year that fills the street in front of our home, the neighboring Ball Park parking lot, and the main arterial just a half a block away. Several times the water had lapped right up to the house when freekin idiots non-concerned SUV drivers barreled down the street (evidently compensating for a lack of manhood). This is a problem the City denies happens despite repeated news coverage and even slipped admissions that the storm sewer system is inadequate and actually scheduled to be replaced. I guess it is "no problem" for the City that it's tax paying residents are flooded out as long as the City doesn't have to deal with it. As a side note I have to t... 03/10/2011

The Mennonite Upper Midwest Relief Sale The annual Upper Midwest Relief Sale and Quilt auction is always held the first weekend in April so this year it's April 1st and 2nd. My bride and her side of the family spend all weekend at the sale admiring the quilts and just enjoying the fun atmosphere of the auction. There is also all kinds of food I only see when this Mennonite group meets here in Minot. The quilts are awesome, some will even sell for more then $1,000.00 Every penny of the auction goes to the Relief Fund. You can't Pay It Forward better then that. The only thing more awesome then the quilts is the way the money is used to help those out in need. If our government was run as efficiently as the Mennonite Relief Program we would have no waste at all. 03/05/2011

Minot North Dakota 7th Day Adventist Thrift Store This is Post #5 of my 6 Thrift Store Posts. Welcome to The Seventh Day Adventist Clothing Center and Thrift Store in Minot North Dakota. What makes this Thrift Store so unique is that most of the clothing is not for sale... it's FREE! Actually there are many things that make this one unique. The store supports or is supported by the church right next door. The store is only open one day a week (Tuesday) from 10AM to 3PM but I think it is certainly worth marking your calendar and stopping in. They have everything any other Thrift Store has and on the items they charge for they charge very little. They are GREAT people to visit with as well.     03/02/2011