It’s All About Winter

In case you missed the PSA– I’m now writing for the local newspaper. Some of my articles will come from the blog, and others, like this one, are written specifically for the paper. Enjoy!

I know that around here you’re likely to get the “stink eye” for wishing we’d get snow, but I unabashedly do wish it on more than one occasion each winter. Though, after a week of choring around the ranch in snow, I may regret saying it, especially when we have a lot of it, like we did a few winters ago!

To me, snow makes it really feel like winter. Growing up in Texas, we didn’t see snow much when I was a kid, and winter consisted of a couple 20 degree days, during which we were sure it was “really” cold, and the rest of the time it was in the 40s to upper 70s (and that’s cold, considering our summers last 8 months of the year). Once, on Christmas day, I ran 3 miles, outside, in a tank-top and shorts. It was just wrong, I tell you!

On my first visit to South Dakota in April 2008, I was completely unprepared for what I would experience. As Zach (Ducheneaux) and I crossed the river, I remember asking what was floating in the water. It was ice chunks, of course. It had never occurred to a Texas girl like me that it would 1. be cold for long periods of time, and 2. stay cold enough for said “long period” to freeze anything, because let’s face it, it was never “really” cold in Texas and it certainly didn’t stay that way.

That particular weekend, I experienced my first real-life blizzard. A spring blizzard, of course, and while the day before and the day after were not cold by any stretch, I seriously thought my toes were going to freeze solid. I was informed by the always astute Ducheneaux Boys that it’s physically impossible for something to freeze when the temperature is NOT below freezing. Despite being “frozen solid” that weekend, I moved to this “frozen tundra” of the north.

After spending my first South Dakota winter indoors, driving Zach nuts with my cabin fever, and the second one back in Texas, I’m now known to run around in “freezing” temperatures in nothing more than jeans, muck boots, a long-sleeved t-shirt and fleece pullover, wielding my camera to take photos such as these:

I learned very quickly, once here, that a pretty snowfall, wherein the snow just wafts from the sky, unaccompanied by a brutal North Wind, are few and far between. So I cherish these moments. Frankly, I believe we should cherish every moment we are given, even if at the time we find it crappy. There’s always a silver lining in every dismal part of life – even in the sometimes brutal winters of South Dakota!

What’s your favorite season? Drop me a line and let me know! I’d love to hear from you! jennifer@thesouthdakotacowgirl.com

Happy Trails!