I’m not following the directions exactly, but I am going to try a rain garden this year.
As far as I can tell, a rain garden is a low spot that collects rainwater and runoff water.  The area contains plants that use the water.
Read more about the concept here.

This AP article published by Minot Daily News states that North Dakotans have been spending money for things like motels, restaurant dining and other fun things…an indication that the economy here so far is doing relatively well.
State taxable sales are up 21 percent.

Swine Flu, or the H1N1 virus reached North Dakota around Mother’s Day, according to this KX News article.  So far there have been four confirmed cases in the state. 
The North Dakota Department of Health has posted this page showing swine flu statistics and a map of where the cases have occured.

I knew that North Dakota was the first state in the nation to oust a governor, but I didn’t know that it was tried a second time.  Here is a very interesting bit of North Dakota history from 1934, from Time magazine.

Okay.  Maybe THIS is the place to go for North Dakota fun facts.
I’m sure the tourism department gets hard data for the facts it posts.  Who knew that the parking meter was invented in North Dakota?  Or that we apparently could be behind 216 billion crayons?

This is the site to go if you want to learn some interesting new facts about North Dakota.  I stumbled upon this by accident and really enjoyed some of the fun new trivia I read.
This is such an odd, happy place to live!

Property taxes are an issue in North Dakota.   Bismarck Tribune reporter Brian Duggan takes a look at them in his two-part series. 
From the article:
When lawmakers converged in Bismarck this winter to tinker with tax codes and tax relief, they knew something was going to be different this session — namely the state’s $1.2 billion in [...]

The floor debate on a bill to stop the sale of small bottle rockets in North Dakota may have been about the risk of fire, but the testimony in committees included a separate safety hazard:  protecting the eyes. 
Read more here.

This is the North Dakota I love.  In spite of the soured economy and slightly higher unemployment rates here (we’re still the second lowest in the nation), our tourism industry is still going strong.  If you’re looking to go abroad, try Australia.  We had luck with car hire Australia.
It even grew in 2007.  Read Crystal [...]

Some North Dakota lawmakers say we should be focusing our efforts on prevention of abortion by providing better prenatal care.  The idea is that better prenatal care would alleviate some of the stress women in vulnerable circumstances are feeling that leads them to consider abortion.
Read more about it here.