Zeeland, ND

[Woodrow]

Woke up early this morning to a rather unpleasant surprise. We are snowed in. Aabidah has a doctors appointment scheduled for 11 am at Fort Mead. But that is now out of the question. If we are to get to Fort Mead by 11 am we will have to leave here before 6 am. Currently the car is buried enough that we can not get it out of the drive way. From what I see on the weather sites the roads from here to Fort Mead are a solid sheet of ice. Looks like we are going to be stuck in the Winnebago for at least a few days. I'll post a few pictures after it gets light here. Still have about an hour until dawn.

Although it looks like only about 4 inches of flat accumulation that is deceptive as under that is ice.

 

[sister herb]

Thanks about these interesting pictures and information. For me, as European, it looks exciting to know more also about small places there in the USA. Waiting more...

The most reverts seem to be coming from the Native Americans. I was surprised to find Islam is spreading among the Ojibwa (Chippewa) tribes in Minnesota and Canada. Aabidah and I spend quite a bit of time on the Sioux reservations and the people have a desire to learn more about us.

That information were interesting too; actually I know some Native Americans, whose are muslims (from Cherokee tribe).

Thanks again. :statisfie

 

[Woodrow]

Darn weather. I thought I was going to get some good snow pictures. But, the air warmed enough for the snow fall to turn to rain and by the time the sun came up it was gone. But, from the reports we are getting the Roads from the North Dakota/South Dakota border south to Nebraska and Colorado are heavily iced and heavy snow is still falling in the Fort Mead region.

 

[Iris]

The wide open spaces look so nice!!

I always thought living in one of these suburbanlike towns would be so nice and peaceful....but the lack of facilities seem to make it hard.

 

[Woodrow]

Thanks about these interesting pictures and information. For me, as European, it looks exciting to know more also about small places there in the USA. Waiting more...



That information were interesting too; actually I know some Native Americans, whose are muslims (from Cherokee tribe).

Thanks again. :statisfie

Interesting, my second wife was Cherokee. From her I did learn to speak a little Tsalagi. The traditional Cherokee way of dressing is so similar to the Clothing of Arab Muslims there has been speculation that at one time they were Muslim, long before Columbus set foot in the Americas.

 

[zakirs]

Woodrow amazing place you live in .I am jealous.. .. Just a little scary that you don't have emergency services though .

Can i visit you lol

The motor home is awesome . Is that a cadillac car ?.

 

[Woodrow]

Woodrow amazing place you live in .I am jealous.. .. Just a little scary that you don't have emergency services though .

Can i visit you lol

The motor home is awesome . Is that a cadillac car ?.

Yes the car is a Cadillac. An older one, 1999. The advantage is it has the Northstar engine and gets an average of 27 miles per gallon of E-85 gas alternative. Many people here are now using E-85 instead of Petrol. In fact I believe it is next year it will be illegal to sell gasoline in South Dakota. North Dakota is now becoming a major producer of E-85. It is made from corn. The good news is it gives us a low cost fuel source, the bad part is it is reducing the amount of corn that wil be exported as food. In the past nearly all of the corn raised in the Dakotas was exported to other nations. Now, the shift is being that it will be used to make E-85.

You learn to live without emergency services. Or more exact, You learn a lot of first aid and home health care.

 

[zakirs]

Yes the car is a Cadillac. An older one, 1999. The advantage is it has the Northstar engine and gets an average of 27 miles per gallon of E-85 gas alternative. Many people here are now using E-85 instead of Petrol. In fact I believe it is next year it will be illegal to sell gasoline in South Dakota. North Dakota is now becoming a major producer of E-85. It is made from corn. The good news is it gives us a low cost fuel source, the bad part is it is reducing the amount of corn that wil be exported as food. In the past nearly all of the corn raised in the Dakotas was exported to other nations. Now, the shift is being that it will be used to make E-85.

You learn to live without emergency services. Or more exact, You learn a lot of first aid and home health care.

Hmm yes , I personally believe bio fuel is a very bad idea , since people are finding hard to find something to eat and people use it for fuel in their cars! .

 

[Woodrow]

Hmm yes , I personally believe bio fuel is a very bad idea , since people are finding hard to find something to eat and people use it for fuel in their cars! .

It is a catch 22 situation. If we continue to use gasoline, it will mean more food for export, but the ever increasing gasoline prices would render the cost of the food too high for the hungry nations to buy it. It takes a lot of fuel to operate a farm. If memory serves me right it ends up taking a gallon of fuel to produce a bushel of corn.

 

[Beardo]

Gas stations look much different... Could I see the basket where you drop the money?

So you have a car, motor home, and trailer as I see, masha'Allah?

You do the plumbing and all yourself? :X

 

[Woodrow]

Gas stations look much different... Could I see the basket where you drop the money?

So you have a car, motor home, and trailer as I see, masha'Allah?

You do the plumbing and all yourself? :X

I keep forgetting to stop in at the filling station. I promise I will keep a camera in the car and will get you a picture.

We are doing the plumbing, electrical wiring and carpentry work ourselves. Up here you do everything yourself if it is going to get done. There are no nearby plumbers, electricians etc. and to try to get one from Fargo or Bismarck we would have to wait until spring. We will hire somebody to do the roofing but we are not going to have that done until spring or next summer.

The wiring is proving to be a nightmare. The original wiring was probably done in the 1930s and is quite a fire hazard. I have redesigned the wiring layout and am doing far in excess of national standards. The smallest wiring I am using is 10 gauge and I am encasing it all in metal conduits with 4 separate ground rods. The basement is getting all GFCI outlets as are the kitchen and Bathroom. I've put in a 40 circuit breaker box and each room is getting individual circuits. In the case of the Kitchen there are 2 separate 110 volt circuits and one 220 volt. The basement has three 220 circuits and 4 110 volt. One will be 50 amps for some of the wood working tools we use for hobby work. The laundry room is getting two 220 volt circuits and one 110 volt. (OOOps, Where I wrote 110 should be 115 and where I wrote 220 should be 230)

 

[Grace Seeker]

Darn weather. I thought I was going to get some good snow pictures. But, the air warmed enough for the snow fall to turn to rain and by the time the sun came up it was gone. But, from the reports we are getting the Roads from the North Dakota/South Dakota border south to Nebraska and Colorado are heavily iced and heavy snow is still falling in the Fort Mead region.

Woodrow, sorry you didn't get your snow pictures. Would you settle for: The Diary of a Man Who Moved to South Dakota, with picture attached.

 

[Woodrow]

Woodrow, sorry you didn't get your snow pictures. Would you settle for: The Diary of a Man Who Moved to South Dakota, with picture attached.

That is too close to the truth to be funny.

I do caution any readers to be aware that the language gets to be a little rough, but is actually the sentiments of many who move to the Dakotas.

What is strange is the actual snow falls are not all that heavy. Some of the more southern states get more snow. However because of the extreme cold up here the snow is not the soft fluffy stuff, it is very fine ice crystals that act more like dust. The snow falls aren't bad but the drifts are like in the picture. The snow drifts like sand dunes and you can expect your house to be buried under a drift. Every thing that is not flat level with the ground gets buried under drifts.

 

[Woodrow]

Since we have been having such nice weather for the past week. The fields are dry enough for the grain to be harvested. Yesterday evening I heard a loud noise and realized the soybean field just to the north of us was being harvested. Quite an interest machine. I took some not very clear pictures of the harvester. Keep in mind this machine is about the same size as a typical 2 story house.

The field is about 10,000 acres and by morning it was all cleared. The harvesters do run all night long and it amazing to see how fast a field is harvested.

 

[Alphadude]

wow its amazing and i think thats what i call a normal and peace full life

 

[yasin ibn Ahmad]

Lovely thread, surprising information.I really liked this thread .Thanks for sharing Woodrow.I wouldn't believe if someone said a state in the US has a population under 1 milion.Is there any other states having low population?
and do you call it a city where you live? coz i thought cities have higher population.
looking forward to more pics and information

 

[Woodrow]

Lovely thread, surprising information.I really liked this thread .Thanks for sharing Woodrow.I wouldn't believe if someone said a state in the US has a population under 1 milion.Is there any other states having low population?
and do you call it a city where you live? coz i thought cities have higher population.
looking forward to more pics and information

All of the Central Plains States are very sparsely populated. In spite of the large cities that most people associate with the USA, the USA is really quite empty and most of it is Farmland. The largest exports from the USA are food products. Mostly grain and vegetable products. No matter where you live, if you eat bread the flour most likely came from the Americas either the US or Canada.If memory serves me right the USA and Canada produce over 85% of the flour used in the world. Add to that virtually every corn product world wide comes from corn raised in the Plains States.

The definition of city is defined by each state. North Dakota calls every incorporated area a City. Currently the smallest city in ND is Maza with a population of 5, Ruso held that distinction for a long time with a population of 3. But, Ruso had a big population increase last year and doubled in size and now has a population of 6.

While the USA is the third largest country by population, because of it's large size the population density per square mile is quite low.

With an average population of 84 people per square mile. The USA is one of the least densly popilated areas in the world. For comparission the UK has a density of 650 per square mile.

Check this link: http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0934666.html

To put North Dakota in perspective we have a population density of 9 per square mile making it one of the least populated areas on earth.

 

[Iris]

Yeah that's true. I for one, always got the feeling that USA is not very densely populated. UK on the other hand, definitely is!! I doubt they have much of plains and farmland either.

North Dakota sounds like a lonely place...even from the name of it But the pictures give such a peaceful image of it all. I love peaceful places )

 

[zakirs]

The definition of city is defined by each state. North Dakota calls every incorporated area a City. Currently the smallest city in ND is Maza with a population of 5, Ruso held that distinction for a long time with a population of 3. But, Ruso had a big population increase last year and doubled in size and now has a population of 6.

Lol 100% population increase .. What could have happened? May be some relatives came for a visit when the surveyor came

 

[Woodrow]

North Dakota is one of the last places the glaciers from the last Ice Age melted. Alot of our Ground water is recently melted glaciers. The ice age did much in shaping the topogrphy of the land. Trees are not native to most of North Dakota, so any trees you see are most likely recent (Within past 50 years) plantings by the land ownners.

I haven't gotten out much in the past week to take any picturs but I did find a number of pictures of the surrounding area here.

I uploaded the pictures to photobucket so I don't hot-link to them. These 4 pictures come from the same source. the source is given at the end of the pictures.

Those pictures are taken from the website of NDSU (North Dakota State University)

Visit the site here: http://www.ndsu.nodak.edu/nd_geology/nd_glacial/index_glacial.htm

Click on the pictures at the site and you will get cosiderable information about the picture.


In spite of it's low population, ND is not the least densely state it is only number 3 two other states are less Densely populated. Montana has a density of 4 people per Square mile and Alaska has a population density of 1 per square mile. In Area Alaska accounts for nearly 1/4 of the total USA land area.