Cold Railroad

Cold House

Tree Reflected

Zoo Signs

Elevator

Freezing Fog

Xmas Driveby

Pork Chop

Silo

Distorted Reflection

Rhino

Nebraska Football Fans

Giraffe

So sorry to learn these beautiful animals are becoming endangered. In the last several decades their population in the wild have declines about thirty percent. This is a consequence of shrinking habitat and poverty. They are being hunted for meat to feed a hungry growing human population.

Train Engineer

I went on line and found some information about this steam engine. If you are interested keep reading.
"No. 395-104 was built by Krauss in Linz, Austria in 1890. The locomotive, a 0-6-2T, is named Riva and is one of three sister locomotives built in 1890 for the Mori Arco Riva del Garda Tramway (M.A.R.) located on the southern edge of the Austrian Empire at Lake Garda (now Italy). She worked there until 1915 when the rail line was heavily damaged due to the war. She was turned over to the K&K Feldbahn and served on the military railways during World War I stationed at Stryj in Galizien, now Ukraine, until 1939. In the mid 1930’s, at the beginning of World War II, the area was taken over by Russia. In 1939, Germany captured the area and brought Riva to Siebenburgen, then part of Hungary, renumbered as 395-104 and worked the Magyar Allamvasutak (M.A.V.), Hungarian State Railways, until 1944 when the area fell to Rumania. She finished out her days on the Caile Ferate Romane (C.F.R) working on the Alba Iulia Zlatna line until retirement in 1968. From 1968-1973 Riva was owned by Plasser & Theurer of Vienna, Austria. With the help of Union Pacific Railroad, Joseph Theurer, President of Plasser & Theurer, donated the locomotive to Omaha’s Zoo in 1974. Union Pacific’s Omaha shops rebuilt parts of the locomotive to bring the Riva up to U.S. operating standards. By 1976 the locomotive was chuffing along pulling coaches full of delighted passengers once again."

 

Fishy Bike Rack

Carl Laughs

My friend Carl Grupp, retired head of the Augustana University Art Department, is still producing drawings and paintings.  I am always impressed by his work. He has a great laugh. 

Buildings Reflected

Kitchen Wood

Ceiling

De Brazza's Monkey

Gibbon brachiating

Gibbon Mom

Hay Bale

Sacred Stone Camp

Sitting Bull College

Sonic Bloom

Abandoned Trailer

This is on the Standing Rock Reservation just outside Cannonball. Life looks hard here. 

Sledding Hill

Snow Pile

Buried in Snow

For those of you not from South Dakota, this sculpture is based on a painting by artist, illustrator Harvey Dunn called The Prairie Is My Garden. See Below.



The Prairie Is My Garden, Harvey Dunn

Snow Reflected

Unarmed

This is the Sacred Stone Camp on the Standing Rock Reservation. Those in the camp, Water Protectors, are attempting to block the building of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). The Water Protectors have been given until December 5 to leave the camp or get arrested for trespassing on the land. While this land is on the Standing Rock Reservation, it is under the jurisdiction of the Army Corp of Engineers. Law enforcement has been siding with the DAPL and using violence against protesting Water Protectors. I expect more of the same on Dec. 5th.

Loading Soybeans

Oahe Sunset 2

Victorian For Sale

Weighing Beans

Bridge Light

Arts and Craft Reflection

No Spiritual Surrender

No DAPL Car

Ghost Mural

Main "Water Protecter" Camp

Sacred Stone Camp

This is one of the smaller camps of "Water Protecter" protesting the construction of the DAPL oil pipeline across the Standing Rock Indian Reservation. The windmill in the second picture is an electric generator used to charge battery operated devices like cell phones, and cameras, but cell phone coverage here is poor or nonexistent. 

Standing Rock Protest Camp

This past weekend I traveled with friends to visit the Standing Rock Reservation where Indians are protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). There are over 200 Indian tribal groups represented at this non-violent protest, the largest gathering of Tribes since the Little Big Horn Battle. They are protesting the likely oil leaking from this pipeline polluting the water they rely on to live. The water is rivers, lakes, and the Ogallala Aquifer, the largest aquifer in the world that supplies water to eight north central U.S. states. The slogan is: "Water is life". Energy Transfer Partners, LP  building DAPL have used unethical tactics at every stage, and have decided to put a pipe under Lake Oahe, that is the Missouri River, despite not having the proper permits to do so from the Army Corp of Engineers. Energy Transfer Partners have used Eminent Domain to gain access to Reservation land. This may be a violation for two reasons: 1) Eminent Domain is for governments to use for public benefit. This is a private company building a pipeline lacking public benefit. 2) Eminent Domain is a clear violation of the Treaty of Fort Laramie of 1868 giving the Sioux Tribe sovereignty over the Reservation. This Treaty is still valid today.

The Company have also recruited police from surround states to arrest demonstrators for trespassing on private land. All this land is on the Standing Rock Reservation, and land "ownership" is complicated. The company has been fined by courts for digging up Indian burial grounds. The question of who is trespassing on whom is not clear. This main camp has about 3,000 residents (my unscientific estimate), and there are at least four other camps. The main camp has become a small city with medical facilities, mental health facilities, food distribution, food cooking, clothing distribution, a sanitation system (porta-poties and dumpsters), and firewood. Life will be increasingly difficult here with the coming of winter.

Last Sunday about 30 demonstrators were arrested while on public roads after they prayed at the pipeline site and then left. On Monday there were photos posted on Facebook of a herd of wild American Bison which the Pipeline Company has put behind razor wire. It is unclear why they did this or if these buffalo are being fed and watered.

Oahe Sunset