Yickit: Its not a word...yet » Fargo

My Parent’s Neighborhood Makes the Fargo Forum

eschapp — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 20:46:31 +0000

It’s flood season again. This year my parent’s and some of their neighbors decided to be more proactive by building a clay levee behind their homes. Now they only need to sandbag the front of their houses. Today, the Fargo Forum had a short story about these “private levees”:

Randy Kingsley figured a choice he and three of his neighbors made saved them multiple days of labor in this flood fight.

“Instead of trying to round up volunteers all the time and spending all those man- hours to protect your home, we’re trying to do as much as we can to mitigate our risk,” said Kingsley, who lives on Cossette Drive, south of Fargo off U.S. Highway 81.

Kingsley and three other homeowners contracted to build a private earthen levee to protect the back of their properties, which are along the Wild Rice River.

Construction on the levee started late last week.

“They always criticize the people that live by the river. They say, ‘Why are you building by a river?’ ” Kingsley said. “We’re just taking it in our own hands and trying to eliminate that problem.”

Here’s the Forum’s Photo of the construction. Clicking on the photo also leads to the rest of the Forum article.

When I was home for Thanksgiving, I snap…

eschapp — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 01:23:23 +0000

When I was home for Thanksgiving, I snapped this picture of the new high school in Fargo. I think it is going to be called Davies High. I’m pretty sure that this looks like what people from around the country would imagine a North Dakota school to look like: a big building in the middle of the field. Well, they probably imagine snow too.

Sioux City Cream Soda

eschapp — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 20:55:32 +0000

There are a lot of things I had to give up when I moved to DC: hearing the words bag, and pop; Lefse, hunting, driving everywhere, Michelob Golden Draft Light, and watching the Twins on local TV among many other things. But once in a while here in DC I randomly come across a great fly over country product that I thought I had to give up. I was at the Brookville Super Market in Cleveland Park last week when I came across the best Cream Soda ever brewed:

Needless to say, I bought a four pack and enjoyed it all week long.

I used walk two blocks to Agassiz Food and Gas and grab a bottle of Sioux City Cream Soda on my way to another gas station a couple of blocks further away. Here’s an image of Agassiz Food and Gas. I believe the building used to be yellow. The only reason I would ever step into this station was to get my Cream Soda, mostly because if you stood inside for more than 35 seconds the attendants would start yelling at you about loitering. Seriously. I was probably about 8, so I’m not sure how much trouble I really could have gotten into at that point, but nevertheless I made it a point to limit my time at this store:

Agassiz Food and Gas always had the 59 cent Cream Soda, but didn’t have comic books, specifically the Spiderman Series that I was seeking. But the other gas station didn’t have the Sioux City products, so I inevitably ended up going to both stores. The other gas station appears to be a strange looking office building now:

It was cool to find Sioux City Cream Soda out here in DC. It really reminds me of Fargo, when I really don’t associate too many things with the city. Anybody else have similar product discovery stories? I know Andrew came across Jones Soda in Ireland, which seems to be a similar experience.

Fargo Flood 2009: Part Six Blizzard

eschapp — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 23:29:23 +0000

The water has come down quite a bit out on Cossette Drive, but the blizzard has come rolling in which makes for an interesting situation—well at least it makes for an interesting picture:

Remember, if you are driving near sandbags: Go Slow. We don’t want waves to wear down dikes protecting people’s homes. Stay safe out there.

Fargo Flood 2009: Part One (yickit.com)
Fargo Flood 2009: Part Four Random Pictures (yickit.com)
Fargo Flood 2009: Part Five Friday (yickit.com)

Fargo Flood 2009: Part Five Friday

eschapp — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 19:32:21 +0000

UPDATE: My brother just sent me this picture of what it looks like to get to your house on a boat. Its hard to believe all of the ice in the flood waters. Looks like getting the boats close enough to dry land is becoming difficult because of that ice. But at least he’ll be able to get the pumps into the neighborhood.

Latest Photo from Cossette Drive:

Made it through the night. Everything seems to be holding up so far, and even though Round Hill and the rest of the surrounding area is evacuating I think my parents will stick it out. My brother picked up 8 more pumps for the house and for a couple of neighbors. He should be at Cossette Drive soon, although we’re not sure how many boat trips will be necessary to get everything there. I’ll update this post if I get any more information or photos.

Hang in there Fargo.

Earlier posts:

Fargo Flood 2009: Part Four Random Pictures

eschapp — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 19:11:20 +0000

Here are a couple of extra pictures from south of Fargo I’m been able to get a hold of. All of them are from the Cossette Drive area.

As you can see, people are still fighting the flood and sandbagging out at Cossette Drive. I’ll post more pictures as they come into my inbox.

Older Pictures From Wednesday, Thursday and Earlier Today:

If you have pictures of this area, including 100th Ave, Cossette Drive, or Wild Rice feel free to send them to yickit @ yickit.com and I’ll be sure to post them as soon as possible.

Fargo Flood 2009: Part Three Rising Waters

eschapp — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 18:08:35 +0000

#Fargoflood Parent’s say thing…

eschapp — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 15:10:25 +0000

#Fargoflood Parent’s say things are getting worse south of Fargo. Can’t get culvert plugged. Bags leaking. Moving valuables higher.

[edited for yickit.com] Mom doens’t sound very hopeful that they’ll be able to save the house, so they’re moving everything they can from the basement to the first floor. Pumps are still working which is good, but its going to be a long long day on Cossette Drive.

Fargo Flood 2009: Part Two Updated Pictures

eschapp — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 20:02:53 +0000

Here are a couple of pictures from this morning. The crest has been raised again in Fargo, but at this point I’m so out of the loop I don’t even know what that means. I do know that they are waiting for four more truckloads of sand out at my parent’s house.

Here’s a link to the first set of pictures: Fargo Flood: Part One

Click on the pictures to enlarge them in a new window.

Fargo Flood 2009: Part One

eschapp — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 02:09:54 +0000

Well the Fargo flood is well under way. I don’t know what really to say about this, or maybe I don’t have much to say. I wish I was there to help. The pictures are of my family’s home south of Fargo on the Wild Rice River and the rest of the neighborhood. I’ll include a map at the end of the post. The first three pictures are actually my families home. The worst part is: the county engineer came by late this afternoon and said they have to go higher. So four more trucks of sand will be brought in for tomorrow, and by mid-day the road in the pictures will have water over it. Anybody wanna buy me a ticket home so I can help sandbag?

Here is the map of the area. Zoom out to see where Fargo, Interstate and the Red River are located.

View Larger Map