Monday, January 28, 2008

Death in North Dakota

Monday January 28, 2008

Today Dusty’s Meteorology teacher gave the class a severe warning about the weather. Tonight it’s expected to get down to -30 with a wind chill of -60 and gusts of 45mph wind. This is life threatening weather. So will classes be canceled tomorrow??
Nope. Maybe in Texas but not here.

I'm very excited because I hopefully have another interview on Wednesday. As some of you know I'm not to happy with the Construction job but I plan on sticking it out as long as I have to. The interview is in Fargo which is an hour and half away but the job is here in Grand Forks. So keep your fingers crossed for me!!

Saturday, January 26, 2008

12 More Weeks of Winter

Saturday January 26, 2008

Now that Dusty and I are gone all day for school and work the dogs have been staying in the basement. And apparently Grey has gotten a little bored down there.
First we figured out she’s been playing on top of the air hockey table. So we blocked it off…. That did not please her.
Next we think she and Lynus had a disagreement and some where in the cross fire his bed became the victim (you can see by the shredded foam every where).
Finally Grey decided she was tired of winter and it was time for summer. So she found the box of summer clothes and unpacked them.



The battle field:







What??? There's nothing goin on down here... It was Lynus.



Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Construction 101

Wednesday January 23, 2008


So I learned a few things today:
  1. Construction offices are dirty.
  2. Construction people are dirty.
  3. It might be useful to know a thing or two about construction if you plan on working in a Construction environment.
  4. Don’t put Quick Books on a resume if the only thing you really know is what you learned in high school…. 5 years ago.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Workin 9 to 5

Tuesday January 22, 2008

YEA, finally a job!! I am proud to say that after a full month of hard searching I finally found a job! I’ll be working for the Tony Anderson Construction Company. It’s a small construction company that does a lot of work for the University and the City. But I’ll have plenty to do. I’m the only girl in the office. So basically I am the office. And nope, I don’t a darn thing about construction, but that’s ok.

I start tomorrow morning. I’m so excited!!

Not the Same Old Texas

Tuesday January 22, 2008

The people of North Dakota are CRAZY! On Sunday by the time church started it was only about -10 maybe -8 outside and moms brought their babies dressed in little sleeveless dresses with out a sweater or tights on. And there were little girls running around in Flip Flops! Seriously! First of all, it was icy and snowy and second it was -8! Its one thing to be in Texas during winter with out leggings or in flip flops, But when it’s -8??!!!

I’ve also decided that Grand Forks is where the reject meteorologist come. Our forecast is on average 10 degrees off. Today was supposed to have a high of -2 and its curently 5. It was also supposed to be very windy and snow. I guess that’s what happens when you live in a frozen abyss all the good weather men live where they get paid more.

People here have their own vocabulary. (But then so do Texans) Here, instead of something being to expensive it’s spendy. The other day at Target I actually heard someone say “Oh, that’s spendy.” And of course everyone has a Minnesota accent. They also talk about the Flood of 97 like it was 9/11. Don’t ever joke about the ‘Flood of 97’. They even have a monument for it. I don’t think any one actually died, but they did have to canoe through the streets for a week.
I don’t understand how people didn’t expect it to flood. The average snow fall is 40inches and that year it snowed over 100inches! Some how less then 1/4 of the people had flood insurance. What did they think was going to happen when all the snow melted?



So Dusty and I came down stairs to find Grey chilling on our couch just like this.

Friday, January 18, 2008

Blistery Weather

Friday January 18, 2008

So this weekend is a killer. I’m actually glad I don’t have a job yet so I can stay inside all day. Its -12 out The cold takes your breath away. You can feel it in your lungs and when the wind blows it completely cuts through your clothes, no matter how many layers you have on. Trust me, I put on quite a few!! It mostly hits you in your legs and face. And in case you were all wondering, Yes the snot really does freeze in your nose! Ask me after this weekend if I still like North Dakota.

The dogs don’t really care how cold it is. They love playing out side. But the snow and ice is so hard on their little feet. Lynus can barely be outside for just a few minutes before he starts limping. Grey and Mira love to dig burrows into the snow then shove there noses down and smell, smell, smell. I wonder what the heck is down there that smells so good? I guess we’ll find out in spring!

Sunday and Monday it’s going to snow again. It’s beautiful when it snows here, the flakes are so FAT! You can actually see the crystals and designs. And it’s so dry and powdery that the flakes dance and roll across the road.





Grey was not happy about sitting in the cold snow.



Mira after she plowed her nose around the yard.





Grey in time-out.

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

The Big O'Town of GRAND FORKS, ND

Wednesday January 16, 2008


Well we made it!

A total driving time of 20 hours (including 15 bathroom, gas and rest stops). Only going 70 mph max made it a really slow car ride. And it wasn't the most scenic trip I've ever been on. Looking out the window there wasn't anything to see but fields and fields of farm land flat as pancakes (and not the yummy ones) with an occasional cow or two. But we sure saw a lot of snow! After Oklahoma everything was completely covered and I haven't seen the ground since. It's actually really nice because in Texas it barley snows enough to cover the ground and then its gone by noon. Our house is pretty tiny. It has two rooms and one bath. One room is barely large enough to fit an air mattress next to the desk (so I hope those coming to visit aren't claustrophobic). The bath has what I call a half shower and by that I mean you can't stand to far back or you'll hit your head on the sloping wall behind you. The basement was pretty scary at first. I've never seen a real basement before so needless to say I was reluctant to go down. We attempted to sweep it out and only succeeded in creating a large cloud of dust which settled into a larger problem of making our clean laundry dirty again. And now we let the dogs stay down there! We also have no pantry, no coat closet, no linen closet, and no hallway closet. We've been very creative in where things go.

Dusty started classes last Tuesday and this week he started his PT class at 6:00 am every morning. It's basically an hour of running, push ups and sit ups! He is so sore but he's actually doing better than most of the class. Soon he has to cut his hair to millitary buz.








Our pretty little house. Our's is the right side.




The scenic view to North Dakota.


And our little house elf

This is pile No. 1 of the ice Dusty shoveled off our drive way.

This is pile No. 2


As you can tell the neighbors hadn't shoveled all year. And they still haven't offered to help or say thank you. They don't really like us. They made a complaint to management that our dogs were playing on their side of the yard. But management told us not to worry because she shouldn't be there too much longer. Apparently they don't like her either.





This is a mountain of snow in the back of the Wal-Mart parking lot. It's actually a really small mountain compared to Mt. Target. Mountains like this are all over town. Its the only terrain we have here. In case you didn't know North Dakota is the flattest state in the US, really!




Yes, this is a Full bathroom view. Notice the half shower. And no that isn't a full tub it's a half sized tub also.