Local gas price in NW Minn. as of April 30,2011

I decided to blog about the effects of the gas prices on myself and my family. I will post each day that I fill up at the pump. I drive roughly 20 miles to and from work which ends up being roughly 50 miles with the driving around town on daily errands. Buying a fuel efficient tin can of a car is nonsense because of the winters here and the type of work that I do requires a truck or a work van. Many of my neighbors and friend and most people in Minnesota are in more or less the same predicament I am in.

I would love for someone to come up with a fuel efficient truck that I could afford. It would require four wheel drive so I and my family would not die in a snow bank when the roads drift over, something that happens in Minnesota. It would have to be able to plow snow and go off road. It would have to hall large loads and be able to pull a trailer ( I make a living by hauling stuff from time to time) It would have to last a while and be easily and affordably repaired. I just do not see Detroit cranking out practical hybrid fuel efficient four wheel drive truck. In fact I am worried that in the future we may be forced to fix our old trucks just to have something around that works as a utility when we are all forced to drive mopeds and peddle cars, and just as a thought I would like to mention how do you heat an electric car in Minnesota when it is -20F. I bet no one has even thought of this problem, because they do not live here.

The answer is probably fuel efficient oil / diesel type of work vehicles and I have done some reading on this being a solution and do know from experience that farmers and contractors in Europe do use diesel for work. Americans view oil and diesel as dirty but used correctly this is not the case and if there were a shortage we could grow oil seed crops that would meet the need for large trucks and farm vehicles. A Prius hybrid just isn't going to haul a load of grain or sugar beats.

Now today I spent over 80 dollars just filling up my work van and my wife's car. I have not filled up the old ford truck yet. I hate to think what that will cost.

Fuel cost: $3.87 per gallon

Total for today $85.53

Not much left a pop and coffee.

Trading Post on KTRF Radio

If you live north of Plummer Minnesota and East of Grygla Minnesota, chances are you have listened to KTRF's Trading Post presented in the mornings 8:35 am Monday through Saturday. Cards that are dropped off at the radio station or are put in the mail are read over the radio, with the older cards from the day before being read first. Then the next part of the show is where people can call in and say what the have for sale or are looking for.

It is fun to listen knowing how the local culture is and some times is good for a laugh. Anything can come up from some one looking to give away "good barn cats" to selling a coil for a model A Ford. The trading post is currently being sponsored by Hardware Hank of Thief River Falls. Transcripts of what was posted can be seen at: http://www.trfradio.com/trading_post . You can also listen live to the broad cast at:http://www.trfradio.com/page/listen_live.

Death of a Mail box.

Sometime last week our mail box was the victim of the county snow plow. I had blogged about it previously and put up pictures before of the mail box with and with out a Christmas ball, smashed and unsmashed. It is a good thing we took down Christmas ball or it may have ended up shattered or in the next county. We had high hopes this one was going to make it to summer. We were even thinking of painting it green.

While driving to work I notice my neighbors mail boxes some are plain and some are shaped like barns, John Deere tractors or fish. I am jealous I would like a mail box like that.

This is the first time that I have seen the mail box pole taken out. I am waiting in great anticipation on how the county handles this. It may be a while its cold and the ground is frozen. Good thing the mail goes to the post office!

United Methodist Church Thief River Falls Minnesota

One of the most unique buildings in Thief River Falls is the United Methodist Church. It is pictured in most of the literature promoting Thief River Falls. I thought it would be interesting to show it from a different angle with snow late in December.

Big Honkin Christmas ball on Mail box.

While walking through the Christmas isle at Menard's we came across the biggest Christmas balls I have ever seen. The first thought was to put one on the mailbox. The next thought was how funny it would be if the snow plow hit this.

St.Hilaire Cut Across

St Hilair starting point.

A well traveled road in North Western Minnesota is Co. Hwy #3 / Center St W. It is well known to local people as the cut across or the St. Hilaire Cut Across. The county highway number changes to Co. Hwy #21 once you cross into polk county.
This whole area of Minnesota is laid out in a grid like pattern of mile squares with roads going due north and due south about every mile. Rivers, bridges and trails cause some roads to deviate from this but for the most part it is a grid and the "Cut Across" is no different. The reason I guess it is called the cut across is because it cuts across from the St Hilaire, Thief River Falls area to East Grand Forks and Grand Forks North Dakota. In the Winter this can be a difficult road. There are some open areas where the wind can pick up snow and make it difficult to see the road. The only town on this lonely stretch of hwy is Sherack. Sherack is just a group of houses and grain elevators with out a gas station or store front. There are some stories about a ghost who hitch hikes between Sherack and East Grand. I will leave the ghost stories for another post. See http://www.strangeusa.com/ViewLocation.aspx?locationid=5696

From Sherrack you can see the lights of East Grand Forks at night.











The railroad tracks you cross before you cross Highway 75.









The Highway sign you see before turning south on Frontage Road 220 to go to East Grand Forks.

Thank You Andrew Freeman for my block heater

US patent #2487326 was developed by an electrical engineer from North Dakota named Andrew Freeman. This simple device has made life much better for us who live in areas where the temps do not just get below freezing but BELOW ZERO. We take it for granted and I have heard silly arguments that, if the car or truck is maintained you don't need a block heater. This may be true, but a warm block means warm oil flowing around vital engine parts. Cold starts are dry starts with nasty blue smoke blowing out the tail pipe. The best advice I have seen on block heaters comes from metrompg.com and lists many different kinds of block heaters and heating systems for the fozen northern car or truck. Link:http://metrompg.com/posts/block-heater.htm. See also: http://adams.areavoices.com/2010/12/01/block-heaters-a-true-piece-of-north-dakota-heritage/ and also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Freeman