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 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, tagged autumn, Black Hills, cold, Fall, snow, wile e coyote, winter on October 10, 2008 | 2 Comments »
Winter has descended on the Black Hills like an anvil on Wile E. Coyote.
I didn’t think I’d have any complaining to do about the weather this year. It has been an absolutely breathtaking fall. There was no freeze in Septemer to kill my pumpkins. In fact, it hadn’t dropped below 40 – even overnight – a single time yet. A startling majority of the trees are still covered with green leaves, like somehow they didn’t get the “Fall has started” memo.
Last Tuesday we must have hit 70 degrees. I was outside in a skirt and short-sleeved shirt having a really lovely day. I opened all the windows in my house and stuck my blanket on the back porch to air out. A few sad-looking wasps were even buzzing around back there. (They did get the Fall memo, they were just trying to ignore it.) I rearranged my bountiful pumpkin plants to maximize their exposure to the sun, the better to make them orange and tasty.
Wednesday was cool but sunny. Thursday was cold but sunny.
Friday: blizzard. Wham smack bam! Four inches of snow in Lead, a couple inches in Deadwood, and even snow in my backyard. I Twittered on Thursday that I had “decided to be ready for snow, just in the nick of time,” but when Friday arrived, it turned out I was wrong.
It isn’t supposed to happen this way, you see? We’re supposed to start having chilly days for awhile, then the sky gets overcast and it drizzles now and then. This gives the trees a chance to come to grips with losing their leaves in a dignified fashion. The smell of wood smoke begins wafting in on the evening breeze. There is apple cider and kids jumping in piles of leaves and turkeys in the oven.
Then, one morning as we drive up to work, we’re supposed to notice that the drizzle is actually coming down in chunks, and I say “ah, it’s trying to snow.” Later that week, I’ll be humming along at work, happily wrapped up in a warm sweater, when I’ll look at the window and giant, fluffy flakes will be coming down for the first time. “Ah!” I’ll say. “Now it’s really snowing!” And I’ll be happy because the weather, which was becoming increasingly dreary, is finally providing some payoff for all that cold and gloom.
Not 70 degrees on Tuesday and 4 inches of snow on Friday. Booo! (And not “I’m a ghost!” boo, I mean “Toss ‘em to the lions” boo.)
There’s snow in the forecast all weekend. 9-13″ in Deadwood. Gaah! I’m not sure what I can do to come to grips with this. Wear fuzzy pajama pants around the house all weekend will be a start. If anyone else has any coping strategies, let me know.
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