Springtime on Minot

Not so long ago, on a military base relatively far away, there was a nice quiet little street. Children played, dogs were walked, and besides the occasional snow plow, it was peaceful. The MM residence was like every other on the street; nice yard, decent view, clean air. The view from the front porch was nice. Yes, it was an empty field, and the back of other houses, but it was nice and kind of private. See?

The kids were able to play ball over there, and ride their bikes, and there was a park just beyond that to the left that they could easily get to, and I could see it from my porch. Thanks to the Air Force's new housing plans, now my view looks like this:

And this:

Yes kids, it's Springtime in Minot, and that can mean only one thing-Construction up the wazoo.

No longer will there be children at the park, or even in the front yard for that matter, thanks to the dump trucks zooming up and down what is left of our street. See, they put a gate up right past our house, so we cannot go all the way down our street. And EVERYONE and their dear old grannies is using our driveway as a turn-around. My kids cannot walk to school the way they are used to because of the construction fence. They cannot walk to their friends' houses that are down the street unless they walk about 2 blocks up and over. And I have had to totally alter my running route that I had mapped out for mileage. Sigh....

I suppose I should not complain about all of the new houses because it will benefit the base, and give more people a place on base (and up here, that is a great thing). But I just HATE what is happening to my neighborhood. We were the last place on base left that was not packed in like sardines. No more. In addition to the new houses being built all over the base, they are also building a new BX and a new Shopette/Gas station. It will be great when they are done, but it is going to be a long time. And in the meantime, there will be dust in the air, crowded streets, restricted areas, and lots and lots of NOISE. It's going to be a loooooong summer, people.

And why, might you ask, are they building so much on this barren tundra of a base? The Pentagon announced this week that they are adding another squadron of B-52's and 1000 more personnel to this base! Can you believe that? What I would LOVE to know, is where exactly they are going to put another 1000 people (plus family members) on this already crowded base? They are going to have to start building up, because there really isn't much room to build out. We are surrounded on all sides by active farmland. I wonder how much the Air Force would be willing to pay for a farm or 2 to build on. They will have to build more schools, and more eateries. They will likely have to expand the flight line. The city of Minot is thrilled (well the officials are anyway) because it is projected to bring in about $75 million to the city. I wonder just what Minot would be like if there wasn't the base here. I wonder if there would still be a Minot, ND.

And I wonder how long it will take for me to get orders out of here....Hawaii or Europe, anyone?