Posted in Life, Signs, tagged Black Hills, blizzard, mistakes, South Dakota, winter on December 26, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
This is a game of “What’s Wrong With This Picture?” Do you see it? Even if you do not currently live or reside in the Black Hills, you can probably figure it out.
No, it isn’t the second Latest News headline inserted to correct a typo, which typo was then not removed, though that’s also pretty funny. Here, let me highlight it for you:
Right. Now here, to illustrate what 115 degrees and foggy looks like, is a picture out my front window:
Posted in Random, tagged babies, blizzard, conception, pregnancy on December 8, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
It wasn’t until a chamber mixer this evening that I realized how many people I know who are expecting babies in the next couple weeks. I know four of these women personally, and heard about three others at the above-mentioned mixer. Before I could stop myself, I said, “was there a storm?” Happily, I don’t think anyone quite understood what I meant (since one person answered, “yeah… the moon must be full”). But by then I was curious.
I’d like to share with you an excerpt from my Twitter history.
Today will probably be spent by everyone in the state in anticipation of the Storm To Come.
10:57 AM Mar 22nd from Echofon
** Does the Blizzard Dance **
9:23 AM Mar 23rd from Echofon
No gloves or fuzzy hat. So much for that snowman.
12:37 PM Mar 23rd from Echofon
Only in SD when a blizzard is approaching would there still be plenty of milk and bread in the store but absolutely no ground beef.
3:09 PM Mar 23rd from Echofon
Snuggled in cozy at grandma’s house with a fire and a jimmied-up internet connection. Let the snow day begin!
3:10 PM Mar 23rd from Echofon
Going to make an epic trek over to the Gulch for some dinner. Yes we called. They’re open. Hehehe.
6:26 PM Mar 23rd from Echofon
I was worried the Gulch would be closed but it was the happening place to be! A nice man with a plow offered to drive us home. We walked. 
9:23 PM Mar 23rd from Echofon
Blue skies, smiling above me! Nothing but blue skies, and a four-foot drift in front of the door…
12:34 PM Mar 24th from Echofon
I rest my case.
Posted in Life, tagged Black Hills, blizzard, cats, cold, rapid city, snow, snow drifts, South Dakota, weather, winter on November 6, 2008 | 6 Comments »
I’m snowed in! Hooray! I’ve been waiting to get snowed in since I moved into this house. We’ve had a few other good blizzards, but the hazard of working in Deadwood is that you usually get snowed in there with no chance of getting back to the house. Last night, we crept home at about 30 miles per hour (took a little longer than an hour) and when we woke up this morning, here’s the sight that greeted us out the bedroom window:
Beautiful. Now why is it on mornings when I work I can’t pry myself out of bed to save my soul, but on mornings when leaving the house isn’t even an option, I can’t go back to sleep? I have no idea. In any case, I got up and went to see if I could scope out the damage. The windows and doors are all crusted over with snow and ice, making it nearly impossible to even see outside.
The cat, who has been frolicking happily outside every day since last spring’s snows melted, was totally baffled. Just three days ago, it was 79 degrees here. She has been sitting by the back door all day, staring at the snow drift, unable to figure out why we won’t let her out. I finally pried the door open – six inches is about the best I could do – and held her up so she could see. She blinked in confusion a little before trying to step out onto the snow. I fished her back inside where she threw a fit as I dried her off, then immediately resumed her post by the door. Poor Minou.
Too curious to leave well enough alone, I shoved into my boots (still wearing fuzzy pajamas) and tried to get outside. I could only open the front door about six inches, so I went through the garage. The side door there opens inward and the drift outside that door was only about a foot high.
It is SO cool outside. My pictures won’t really do it justice because the wind is blowing so hard I couldn’t leave the shelter at the side of the garage. In some places, the drifts are nearly six feet high. The fence you see IS six feet high, to give you an idea. In other places, you can see the grass. It’s really beautiful and really white. I love it.
This one was taken through our bedroom window into the back yard.
The other corner of the back yard. My garden is under there somewhere. Poor carrots.
The front yard, snow sculpted up and around like sand dunes. Really cold ones.
And here’s the reason I couldn’t get out the front door. Too cool.
Posted in Life, Theater, tagged blizzard, cold, snow, spring, storm, weather on May 2, 2008 | 3 Comments »
How do you know spring has arrived in South Dakota? Why, the five feet of snow on the ground, of course.
Spring blizzards are as common around here as deer on the side of the highway, but it’s been several years since we’ve gotten such a doozie. The last was April 2006, when a literal 5 feet of snow fell over 24 hours, collapsing the roof of the Walmart in Spearfish. That was the day after I left on a plane to go to Greece and get married, so I missed it. Getting married was a good excuse, but I love blizzards, and I was just a little disappointed.
So of course our big blizzard would come the day my play is supposed to open. Argh. At least we got to rehearse last night. I was worried they might cancel that rehearsal, then we’d open tonight without even one solid run under our belts. But no, we rehearsed, and even though we were missing several major characters, the people who did come really stepped up to the proverbial plate and did a fantastic job filling in. (Larissa and Patricia, you guys kick butt!)
Right. Anyway. The show is canceled tonight (*sob!*). I’m parked at my parents-in-law’s house watching as they shovel and snow-blow their way through drifts of snow topping four feet high. That’s my car you see above, and below are several other shots I took. The videos were picked up by CNN after Dustin submitted it to iReport so now we are (or at least our blizzard is) famous.
Dustin proudly proclaims that he is Heinrich Schliemann, and he has just finished excavating Troy.
That dark streak at the bottom of the window? Yeah, that’s the snow. The fuzzy blob? That’s Willie.
Out on the back patio. There’s a four-foot retaining wall behind those chairs, below the bird-feeder. Really!
Monday, they’re predicting temperatures in the 60s. I look forward to seeing the landslides in the canyon.
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