Christmas, Santa and Oil

I wish I was a more eloquent writer and had a way to truly paint the picture for you but lacking those talents this is going to be a crude description of the Christmas season and Santa Clause in the oil town of Dickinson ND.

The Best Friends Mentoring Program in collaboration with the Prairie Hills Mall and White Drug has hosted the traditional Santa Pictures at the Mall. The scene is an iconic small town america Christmas scene played out a lackluster shopping centers from thanksgiving to Christmas  An overweight Caucasian man wears a velvety suit pulled out of storage and decades old, with a fake beard and a Santa hat, sits on a oversize chair surrounded by fake Christmas gifts and holiday decorations. Parent pay to have their child sit with "Santa" have their picture taken and an opportunity to tell Santa that they have been a good child and want such and such a toy.

We are now 4 Christmas seasons into the bakken oil boom and this year things are about to go oil. Santa has arrived for opening picture day at the Prairie Hills Mall via fire truck. I don't know why that has been done, but its they way its always gone. This year .... Santa is going to arrive in an oil truck, additionally there is going to be a bonus picture day where Santa is going to trade in his velvety suit and be wearing a Red FR (Fire Resistant) Jumper and oil company hard hats.

Now I am not a big fan of Christmas, in fact this year have opted to celebrate Hanukkah instead(might be another blog post),  but I know commercialism is the reason for the season, but i can not help but think that the true history behind this tradition is about the birth of a great spiritual leader and wonder just how far we have been blinded by oil money to even betray the commercial ideals of Santa Clause.



The New Release from the Dickinson Press:

Santa coming in oil truck to Prairie Hills Mall

Chris Hammond and Kris Kringle, best known as Santa Claus, have more in common than a similar first name. They have a heart for children. As Santa, Hammond is arriving at Prairie Hills Mall at 11 a.m. on Saturday. He’ll be riding an oil field truck, escorted by Dickinson fire and police vehicles. The Dickinson High School band will play Christmas carols when he arrives.

By: Linda Sailer, The Dickinson Press

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• Santa

Press Photo by Linda Sailer Dressed in oil field gear, Santa (Chris Hammond) inspects a Hamm & Phillips Service Co. truck with yard manager Heath Herring on Oct. 28. Santa will ride on the truck to Prairie Hills Mall on Saturday.

 Talk about it

Chris Hammond and Kris Kringle, best known as Santa Claus, have more in common than a similar first name. They have a heart for children.
As Santa, Hammond is arriving at Prairie Hills Mall at 11 a.m. on Saturday. He’ll be riding an oil field truck, escorted by Dickinson fire and police vehicles. The Dickinson High School band will play Christmas carols when he arrives.
“Santa loves Dickinson — it’s one of my favorite places to come and visit,” Hammond said.
To recognize the families who are working in the Oil Patch, Hammond will make a one-day appearance as Oil Field Santa from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 3, at the mall.
“I’ll be dressed in a traditional oil field workers’ bright red, fire retardant suit, with Santa work gloves, Santa hard hat, Santa safety glasses and steel-toed safety shoe,” Hammond said. “Santa likes driving truck and getting dirty too,” he said.
The appearance is an opportunity for anyone, especially children with ties to the oil field, to have their picture taken with Oil Field Santa. Families may bring hats associated with their businesses to wear for the photos.
Several hats representing oil field companies will be available for the photos.
Prairie Hills Mall looks forward to having Santa come each year, Manager Peggy O’Brien said.
“For me, one of the highlights of decorating for Christmas is preparing Santa’s home.”
She described the mall’s atmosphere as one filled with excitement and magic.
“Children have a twinkle in their eyes when they meet Santa,” she said. “He listens to their wishes, hands out candy canes and the mall provides reindeer ears for all the kids.”
This is the third year that Hammond is Santa. With homes in Annandale, Minn., and Dickinson, he works in the oil fields, hauling production water. But when the holidays arrive, he makes time for Santa.
He said the magic of Santa is talking to the children.
“The kids are so curious — they want to know all kinds of stuff — that Santa is not a figment of their imagination, that he’s real,” Hammond said. “Kids want to know what’s going on in the North Pole. I tell them about my flying buffalo — Santa’s sleigh is getting heavier so we’re trying to get flying buffalo in my herd. I even have a Max-the-flying Buffalo song.”
While the mall is hosting Santa, the photos are a partnership between White Drug and the Best Friends Program. The cost is $10 for two photos.
“When I met Santa a few years ago, he told me he always wanted to be Santa,” Best Friends Director Kris Fehr said. “He’s very much able to converse with the kids and establishes a good rapport with them. He’s got his regulars who come back, maybe every week. We’re pretty lucky to have him.”
The idea of an Oil Field Santa is an opportunity to recognize the energy industry, Fehr said.
“It might be fun to have a picture of Santa dressed in a fracking suit and wearing a hard hat from a particular company,” she said. “It can be a unique keepsake — how many places get to see Santa wearing oil field clothes?”
A percentage of the Santa photos goes to support the Best Friends — a mentoring program for at-risk youth in southwestern North Dakota.
For more information, call the Best Friends office at 701-483-8615.

Tags: lifestyle, dickinson, santa, local

Dickinson Community Resource List

I have been here for over a year now and have tried numerous times to find something like this. While not 100% accurate it should be a good launching point for anyone looking for resources in the Dickinson Area.

http://www.dickinsoncap.org/projectace/Files/ProjectAceResourceGuide2011.pdf

Holiday Highlight Dickinson ND

Well its the holiday season in Dickinson ND and I wanted to share with those of you who are here and those who are just interested in life here, Ladies Nigh Out, the premier shopping and social event for women in Dickinson during the holidays



see all this years info at: http://dickinsonlno.com/

Around Dickinson

Two tales to tell today, first is that of Gambetto Coffee, for those who discovered this gem in the pizza hut parking lot we were privileged to have found the best coffee in town, the two main Batista knew what they were doing and the ingredients were fantastic. Sadly this hut has been closed and is for sale, with a price tag much beyond its worth. It still sits in the pizza hut parking lot, with a sad for sale sign and reminds us of those months of quality coffee in Dickinson.

One of the gems of Dickinson ND is the NDSU research extension. Last week after crab apple picking we wandered through the park and I captured bits that I wanted to share below.

Century Training Days 3 and 4

Back from my wedding and starting back up with my training for a century. I spoke with my brother who told me that when he was first training he was doing time not distance(which i am doing) and told me that once he switched to distance he made much greater gains... so at some point ill have to make that shift. I am not mentally ready for that as of now however.

The first day back, day three of my training I had absoultly zero desire to get back on a bike, but knowing i had to do something i went for a brisk mile and a half walk ... but its something

Today i work myself up bright and early and biked to work, it was slightly chilly, my fingers got  bit cold but overall it was great!

The start of the American water war

This is far from the first time in my life that I have lived a place with contaminated water. Upon first moving to Dickinson ND I felt confidant that the city water supply was not safe and began buying filtered water at the grocery store. Granted it was purely for drinking when at home, I was still cooking with tap water and drinking tap water when out to eat or at the office. This combination of tap and bottled is something that I did when living in Manila and Mumbai, knowing that the water was bad but also know I could not 100% ovoid it so worked to build a tolerance. However the contamination in these cities that I feared was more due to lake of water treatment that would cause short term problems such as diarrhea. In Dickinson I fear something much greater that will have long lasting negative impacts on my health and the health of those around me. I am willing to forgo the florid and convince that comes with tap water completely now knowing that its public knowledge that the leaking has occurred ... see previous post on the water is going to kill us.

If you have any doubt, I think the fracking in Pennsylvania is a great example of whats to come in Dickinson ND. These are just a few of the hundreds of articles about the pollution of our drinking water.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/20/dimock-pa-fracking-epa-water_n_1368148.html

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jCUQcMjaT-TJqizs7WRB1zIw8rzA?docId=cef00570f618477d8e9fcb53579af91c

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-07-09/pennsylvania-fracking-can-put-water-sources-at-risk-study-finds

http://arstechnica.com/science/2012/07/fracked-pennsylvania-shale-could-be-naturally-leaky/


When living in the developing world we spoke often about water security, the water crisis and water wars. We always thought that they were something we would see in our lifetime and really believed they would start in the mega cities of the world and that western countries would not face serious crisis for at least another generation. Little did we know that our corporate government would pollute our groundwater beyond repair in ever area that they can frack to get richer.


So what have I done? Not sure that the filtered water in this area is even safe, (reverse osmosis is wonderful technology but it cant remove radioactive drilling byproduct) we are buying our water an hour and a half away. Still using the re-usable jugs we have been using since our arrival we have coupled that with dozens of gallon bottles processed in Wisconsin. Stocking up on water each time we leave the area and not sure what we will do to get through four months of having to buy all water even the cooking water.

Extreme?...... yes
Crazy? ....... doubt it
Serious? ...... with out a doubt

Visiting Dickinson

So you have made the decision to visit Dickinson ND. Wonderful! Now the question of what to do during your day here. This would be my itinerary during a nice day:








Breakfast: Dakota Diner (1hour)
         2857 I94 Business Loop E  Dickinson, ND 58601
         (701) 483-9696



Walk at the Prairie Outpost Park (1/2 hour)

188 E Museum Dr  Dickinson, ND 58601          (701) 456-6225 Tour the Dickinson Dinosaur Museum (1.5 hour)           188 E Museum Dr  Dickinson, ND 58601           (701) 456-6225 Visit the Library and work on the community puzzle (3/4 hour)           139 3rd Street West  Dickinson, ND 58601           (701) 456-7700 Lunch: Bogey's  Diner (1 hour)

36 West Villard Street            Dickinson, ND 58601                    (701) 483-3463 NDSU Research Extension and Garden (1 hour)          1041 State Avenue          Dickinson, ND 58601 Patterson Lake Recreation Area (2 hours)           3749 114th Ave. S.W.          Dickinson, ND 58601 Dinner: El Sombrero (2 hour)                  505 15th Street West           Dickinson, ND 58601                  (701) 483-5380 Drinks: Maverick's         196 West Museum Drive            Dickinson, ND 58601                 (701) 483-9777

Rough Rider Days Dickinson ND

If you are thinking a visit to Dickinson is in order I would suggest a visit during the Rough Rider Fair and Expo Days. An array of entertaining events occur. We were only able to attend a handful, having a large fundraiser and a weekend out of town during the days.

The Rodeo was one of the highlights and I wanted to share a few photos:

Dickinson Housing Resource List

Found this today and thought others might find it helpful!

Dickinson ND Housing Resource Guide

Creating Adventure in Dickinson ND

Feeling like a superstar sitting in front of the T-Rex plaza watching hipsters was the start of my adventure. Meeting two friends we got Chinese take out and walked over to the heritage park, where we ate dinner in the pavilion. Crossing 22 again we returned our leftovers to our cars and wondered into the gas station to get drinks. I found blue dads cream soda = WIN. After a check out ordeal, including some girl who did not work there ringing us up, failing at that and turning off all the gas pumps the real employee came in and we were quickly on our way. Slipping behind the station we lit up some sparklers and headed downtown.

First stop was the end of alive at 5, second the esquire club with their high quality collection of bras on the ceiling, 3rd the ROCK where we snagged a guys two songs on the juke box and headed on our way. Walking back to the T-Rex plaza we dipped into a door way and got our sparklers on again. A few blocks latter we lit off some fire works at a church, than a private home and finally a back court yard of a retirement center. Dashing across 22 for a final time we parted ways and went home.


Nothing amazing, but a lovely night to walk, several locations and simple pleasures created a perfect weeknight adventure in Dickinson ND.

Sunday Adventure

After a weekend of weather other than planned around 3pm the sun was out in every direction but north and Hilary grabbed our suits, towels and watermelon jumped into her purple 1998 sedan. The adventure started less than a mile from our house where we stooped to put oil in her car. Neither of us are very car savvy and could not get the oil cap off, within 3 minuets we had a handsome cowboy at our aid. He made quick work of the oil cap and with a few stolen glances by all of us, we had oil in her car and were on our way.


View Sunday Drive in a larger map

Passing through some intense construction along Hwy 94. The westbound side was compleatly closed for around 12 miles and the entire road is being removed and rebuilt, thus the eastbound side has become one lane with the traditional passing lane becoming the westbound lane. Not too bad on a Sunday but I cannot imagine having to pass along this during a high traffic time.

We found ourselves at Schnell Recreation Area, which on the map looked to have a lake near by, however we drove around the camping area and found no such lake,  but it is well maintained campsites if you are looking to camp for a night or two.

Continuing on we plunged into the North Dakota back roads venturing further and further from the interstate system. The gravel keeping our pace leisurely, the utter absence of traffic and the sparse farm buildings calmed our minds and spirits. Beauty in abundance we let the hills guide us, pastures of brilliant greens, thousands of birds, adorable calf's, cuddly sheep and even a fox were our companions as we slowly sought first a lake, than civilization and finally ice cream.

Picturesque farms keep our companionship till we found a paved Hwy 8. Worried about the closed overpasses along Interstate 94 we headed north to see where this drive would take us. Reaching 200 we knew that everything had changed, trucks, power lines and greed took over the landscape and we rushed towards Killdeer, passing through Hayliday, Dunn Center, past Lake Ilo and into the edge of the Bakken storm.

Our quest for civilization had brought into the cuffs of mordor, where getting ahead is possible in a nation that is failing however the price is your community, history, environment and soul. Drawn in by this striking reality and the illustrious potential of ice cream we entered the once quaint town of Killdeer. Ice cream was found and highly satisfying in a sea of clay caked, exhausted laboring men.

Our serenity from the traditional North Dakota quickly dispelled into a conflicted inner panic about our existence in this patch, the inherent desires that the cash flow creates and the self hate that develops with the liquid gold.

Finishing our creamy treats we headed south on hwy 22 home to Dickinson. The cows remained delightful and the dragged landscape of the Killdeer area brought us glimpses of potential till the heavy traffic, long days and burring pumps escorted us back to our apartment.

Refreshed, confused and longing we concluded our Sunday adventure, glad for the opportunity and experience.

Someone Is Going To Die Out On The Roads Up Here . . .

Posted on December 29, 2011 by Jim Fuglie

Somehow, yesterday, when I posted my Weekenders report on this blog, I missed the second half of an e-mail sent to me by a Williston friend. I feel badly, because the most poignant parts were missing. So I’m going to reprint his e-mail in its entirety today. Here it is. There’s nothing I could add to this that would make his point any more effectively.

Here is the problem—-far too many things do not get reported.  We hear of all these sexual assaults but never read a word about it.  People know it is happening.  Talk to any person that works at social services about what they now see happening in the community.  Never a word is printed.  All of the assaults and fights with injuries—old news that is not worth printing anymore.  Fights every weekend at bars that require medical services.  A huge number of “hit and runs” HUGE number, Huge.  Never a word. 

Out of state license plates are everywhere.  Drive through any apartment parking lot and it is all out of state.  My neighbors still have WA plates after 15 months—and those are expired.  A huge percentage of workers that can’t pass a drug test with one company, but are hired by another. There are a lot of people that believe the city wants a lot of things kept quiet as to not alarm people, but also not to let too many negative things out there.  We all know many of our “city fathers” and local politicians are making a ton of money as long as this continues.

Then there are the everyday issues.  Try to get any type of medical treatment. Hope you do not have an accident because the body shops are 2 to 3 months out. Oil change, a couple weeks wait.  Motel rooms are non-existent.  Families that have some sort of tragedy and have relatives come, no place for them to stay—makes for a pleasant experience when they have to pile in a relative’s house and sleep on the floor the night before a funeral.  Day to day life is like no place else.   We sure are glad our state has a surplus. 

I would like to see our state politicians come to Williston on their own dime, find their own lodging, need some medical care, and have a car problem.  Not be shuttled around by the mayor and council.  Oh, and when they are driving they can see the nasty looking mancamps, the disgusting disregard for how our landscape has been trashed, trucks everywhere, the 350 vehicles they will meet between Alexander and Williston which is 24 miles.  We never see a deer or pheasant anymore.  Stories from drivers that have a contest to see just how many deer they can hit. Destroyed roads.  The land has been destroyed–it is not the scenic place it has been for ages.  Sad. 

Worst of all, snow today and tomorrow, which means someone is going to die out on the roads up here.

Wish this kind of stuff would make the Herald but do not expect that to happen.  Surplus is good for some, but the impact sure is expensive.  

Finding those voices more inline with my own ... http://theprairieblog.areavoices.com/2011/12/29/someone-is-going-to-die-out-on-the-roads-up-here/

The housing instability continues

Home no more: Dickinson couple, whose rent more than doubled, leaving town after 11 years

A sign that reads, “Raised rent from $750 to $2,000” on one side, and “Greed — one of the seven deadly sins” staked in front of a small house on Second Avenue East caught the attention of many passersby Thursday.

By: Jennifer McBride, The Dickinson Press

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• Leaving

Jimmy Serna talks about a jump in rent, which has led him and Pam Lynch to decide to leave their Dickinson home of 11 years, Thursday afternoon in Dickinson.
• Leaving 2

Pam Lynch and Jimmy Serna talk about a jump in rent, which has led them to leave their Dickinson home of 11 years, Thursday afternoon in Dickinson.

 Talk about it

A sign that reads, “Raised rent from $750 to $2,000” on one side, and “Greed — one of the seven deadly sins” staked in front of a small house on Second Avenue East caught the attention of many passersby Thursday.
Beyond the sign, Pam Lynch and Jimmy Serna could be seen moving furnishings and goods from the small white house with blue trim to a truck and camper.
With numerous rental rates on the rise due to increased oil activity in southwest North Dakota, like them, many people are finding new places to live.
Lynch and Serna said it was a surprise that their landlords decided to jack up the rent, and gave them a month notice. Now, after 11 years, they will be moving to a trailer.
“To them it is a house,” Lynch said. “To us it is a home.”
At age 75, landlord Joe Miller said he and his wife, Marie, are ready to get out of the rental business. They concur that they increased the rent, but they gave the couple a chance to purchase the property, of which he said they couldn’t meet the conditions.
“We have decided to sell the property and that’s our intent,” Joe Miller said. “We gave them a notice a month ago telling them that the rent was going up.”
Lynch said they have no problem with the raise in rent, but having to come up with an additional $1,250 for the month in 28 days is just too much.
“I’m not mad at them, but I am disappointed,” she said. “I understand — I would want a piece of that pie.”
“A little loyalty,” Serna added, is all they asked.
Badlands Board of Realtors President Susie Lefor said there has been a steady increase in renters purchasing homes in the area over the past year.
“Your house payment is going to be lower than your rent payment,” she said.
When it comes to landlords selling, besides some who are retiring, Lefor said it’s “predominantly no.”
She has seen more multi-level units being sold rather than individual ones such as homes. “There are some jumping at the opportunity because it is a sellers’ market,” she added.
Miller said he and his wife sold their other two rental properties last year and this will be the last before they are out of the rental business.
“We’ve treated them fairly,” he said, adding they could have asked for much more rent over the years.
The front-yard sign will likely be uprooted today as Lynch and Serna pull up their stakes and work to turn a new location into a home.

Tags: pam lynch, jimmy serna, real estate, oil, news, dickinson, rent, housing, greed

An Early Summer Evening

Seven in the evening and its still brilliantly light out. We head out for a short stroll over to the Elks to meet a fellow couch surfer.

 Our walk leads us past this mini park complete with local rocks decorative sidewalks and a bench to view the street traffic. The mini park was an Eagle Scouts project about a decade ago.

 Its full on summer, with the trees having bright early season leaves, an oasis for critters and birds.

7

A not so lovely walk in Dickinson ND

A while back I highlighted many of the lovely finds when walking in ND, this post is the other side of Dickinson. We had beautiful weather and great conversation as we passed through this more commercially developed north part of town.

Movie Theater, Dickinson ND