It's a genuine case of no pain, no gain for Watford City.

The North Dakota Department of Transportation will open bids for a Main Street improvement project later this fall.

When the project - at upward of $5 million, the biggest street improvement project in the town's history - is complete a year from now, Watford City's "main drag" will have a brand new look.

But it will entail major disruption and upheaval throughout the 2008 construction season, starting in April.

People will just have to grit their teeth and bear it. The pain will be worth it, said city engineer Lowell Cutshaw.

The humpy look of the street due to drainage issues will be gone, replaced with a concrete surface and a median. The sidewalk on the east side will be widened and new tree plantings, colored crosswalks and 56 decorative light poles will add character to the street.

The old swaying overhead power lines also are going underground.

Some improvements also are in store for Highway 23 east of Main Street, including walking paths and new storm drains to direct runoff into Cherry Creek.

Cutshaw said it's inevitable that everyone would like to have their omelet without breaking the eggs, so to speak.

For the duration, though, access to Main Street businesses will be by alley entrances only.

Cutshaw said the DOT estimates it can knock two months off the construction timetable if it tears up the entire street in one go, rather than do one side and then the other.

Cutshaw said it will go easier if people work together to minimize problems.

The city's share of the project will be $2.5 million. The DOT expects to get final plans to the city by Sept. 21 and open bids Nov. 16.

- McKenzie County Farmer

Sharing the past

Janet Neuenschwander, of Minot, was surprised and delighted back in 1968 when her husband came home from a business trip to New Town with a gift for her.

It was a pottery bean pot, the only one on the shelf at the Three Tribes Stoneware, a business that no longer exists.

Her husband, Norman Neuenschwander, a sales representative, was making a call in New Town on behalf of Swift Meat Co.

For 40 years, the beautiful, handcrafted pot was used in the Neuenschwander kitchen to bake beans for family picnics and other outings.

It has stood the test of time and looks as perfect now as it did then, with its green-tan glazing, fitted cover and handle.

Last month, Janet Neuenschwander took the bean pot to the North Dakota Pottery Road Show at the Knife River Indian Villages near Stanton. She found that not only did it have a great deal of sentimental value to her since her husband's death in 1999, it had a surprisingly high cash value to pottery collectors.

Rather than sell it, Janet Neuenschwander carefully wrapped the bean pot in a bath towel and presented it to the people of Fort Berthold to be preserved and displayed at the Three Affiliated Tribes Museum in New Town.

Marilyn Hudson, museum historian, said the museum is thrilled to have the bean pot in its stoneware collection.

Hudson said the pot has the 3TS symbol, and, while the pot is not signed, it's believed to have been made by James Walker, the master potter for Three Tribes Stoneware.

- New Town News

Hooked on hobby

At 50 times six hours, Irene Horner is just 300 hours away from her goal.

The Napoleon woman is a regular whirligig with a crochet hook, a craft she learned when little from her own mother.

One of her projects was a full-length crocheted tablecloth that she gave to her mother and now has herself. She crocheted nine more just like it for each of her own daughters.

She also makes a variety of other items, like doilies, but she especially enjoys crocheting decorative pieces that have a family name centered in the fancy stitching.

Her goal is to get to 1,000 "names," and so far - at least as of last week - she had 950 of them to her credit.

She also had one in the works and five on a waiting list, so it likely won't be long until she's completed her first thousand and can start her second. Each one takes about six hours to complete.

She only charges $3 a letter and says the pretty crocheted names make great gifts for a special occasion, especially in a frame.

Horner said crocheting is a good hobby for her and she tries to make time for it every day.

- Napoleon Homestead

Dance for life

John Karlberg, of Crosby, didn't quite make it to his 100th birthday. He died five days too early.

But he lived plenty long enough to give this good advice to a grandnephew who wanted to know what it takes to live so long.

"Dance every day," Karlberg told the young man. "It's the best exercise you can get."

During his own lifelong dance, he took some chances. He lived, loved, lost and loved again.

"There were good parts and sad parts," he said of his life, two days before he died.

His mother died when he was young and so did three of his brothers and sisters, all of tuberculosis.

He had eight years of school and then worked around for farmers before learning the boilermaker trade in Idaho.

Looking back, he wasn't sure how many times he married.

"How many wives have I had?" he asked, his fingers twitching as though trying to grab the right number. "I think I had about four of them. They were all good workers."

He enjoyed good health, but didn't think his impending 100th birthday was much to brag about.

"That's too much," he said.

Turned out, that birthday was one dance he didn't make.

- The Journal