I'm Not Sure Which Was Sillier

Selling a house that serves up sunrises like this as casually as a morning coffee, or never hiring a guy with a chainsaw to top that tree.



A month from now, I bet we'll give anything for a leaf or pinecone standing between us and the view.

Today brought us one step closer to Bismarck. We had a visit from the appraiser for the bank that is financing the people who bought our house. As she looked out the living room window at this:

Her sympathetic smile said it all.

Yeah, I can't believe we're leaving it behind either.

Ahoy to the World

One of our favorite things about living above Lake Washington has been the annual sailing of the Christmas ships. We have managed to catch both appearances above Matthew's Beach this year, watching from our deck and letting heaven and nature sing.

We're curious and excited about the new traditions awaiting us in Bismarck (frozen turkey bowling, anyone?) but were sorry to see the Christmas ships sailing off into the distance last night for the last time.

Merry Christmas, Seattle.

Did You Lose a Bet?

It is fun to watch peoples' faces when you tell them you are moving to North Dakota.

Disbelief gives way to wonder and bemusement. And then comes the inevitable "why?" which Mike and I admit is a great question. We asked it of ourselves hundreds of times over the last few years as moving to Bismarck became a stronger and stronger possiblity.

While we are not the stereotype-y Seattleites you hear about in the Pemco commercials, commuting to work by kayak or some other craziness, we are not far removed from the real thing. I was born here, and Mike's family arrived before he was a teenager. We grew up here, went to college here, were married here. We still say "The Bon" instead of "Macy's." Between us, I doubt we own a functioning umbrella. We stand in the line at Larsen's on Christmas Eve to collect our Kringle. We remember KXRX before it went classic rock. Then talk. Then internet only. Biking the perimeter of Lake Washington is no big deal. Neither is swimming around Mercer Island. SCUBA diving off Alki is a fun thing to do...once. Our recycling bucket is twice the size of the trash can, and needs to be. And we could give you directions to Kurt Cobain's house.

So, back to the why. In July of 2006, Cascade Natural Gas, the company where Mike had worked since graduating from UW in 1991, was bought by Bismarck-based MDU Resources. A Fortune 500 company, MDU is the only organization headquartered in North Dakota that trades on the NYSE.

MDU operates in three core lines of business: energy, utility resources and construction materials. Its specializations include natural gas and oil production, natural gas pipelines and energy services, electric and natural gas utilities, construction services, and construction materials and contracting.

(My elevator speech has been that "my husband is in the fossil fuel business and lots of dinosaurs died in North Dakota." Both of these things are true, but it really doesn't do justice to the story, especially in that the scope of MDU is much larger than just oil and natural gas and not everyone believes in dinosaurs.)

Mike is the company's executive vice president of utility operations services, a job that he enjoys immensely. As MDU continues to acquire other energy companies, Mike's job grows. A commuter marriage was out of the question. So here we are.

How far would YOU follow the one that you love?