Just call me Nemesis…
Unless you live in eastern South Dakota, you have no earthly idea of what winter is like. Us “East River” South Dakotans call “West River” the banana belt. Oh sure, they may get nasty blizzards and some of them have been downright tragic. An October blizzard a few years ago killed a number of cattle and wreaked havoc all over the Black Hills.
However, I can’t tell ya how many times I’ve watched the weather for the state on KELO News, the CBS affiliate, based in Sioux Falls. On the eastern edge of the state, Sioux Falls will show temps in the single digits or low teens and Rapid City, near the west edge of the state will be in the 40’s and 50’s. It creates a certain kind of bitterness…which I’m at a loss to explain fully. Or at all, for that matter.
I can’t tell you how many people have confidently told me – “Oh hey, I’ve lived here or there (you pick) and I know what a tough winter is like. I’ve learned not to sneer. Instead I just smile and say “Oh, I’m sure.” A few years ago a friend moved from Utah to South Dakota. Again, that confident assurance. “I’m from Utah, I know what winter is like.”
About mid-February I got a frantic call from said friend. “This weather is trying to kill me! It’s icy and the wind is blowing my car off the road!” Oh, you mean you don’t have sustained winds over 30 mph with gusts over 50 mph for a week or more at a time in Utah?? Along with a foot of snow that’s drifting? And wind chills in the -40’s? Dang! Who’d a thought…
I always get a kick out of my Florida friends oohing and ahhing over the winter pictures I post on Facebook. Yes, it’s beautiful. And deadly. They just don’t get the deadly part. They have no idea that from sometime in November or December until usually late April, every step you take has the potential to wreck your life.
Beneath that beautiful snow is usually ice, so every step you take is like walking on eggshells. Forget for a moment and voilà! Sprained ankle, screwed up back or hips or neck. Need I go on? You can never relax, not even for a moment, and especially not when you’re driving.
For those of us who have called South Dakota home for upwards of 40 years, the influx of new residents due to our state’s no lockdown status during the pandemic is dismaying. I mean, I can’t blame them for wanting to escape the suffocating lockdowns and mask mandates, but it’s over now, so maybe you’d like to go back to wherever you came from? Please?
I became an avid Amazon shopper during the pandemic. Yeah sure, “shop local.” To this day I’d rather spend a few minutes on my laptop ordering stuff I need from Amazon than fight the traffic the extra 9,000 or so per year increase in population in Sioux Falls over the last four years, with no changes in infrastructure.
Which brings me back to winter. These people don’t know how to drive in snow. Or deal with snow. At all. For me, with my Mustang sporting four studded snow tires, this is a nightmare. The very last thing I want is to be rear ended or broadsided by someone who’s moved here from California and doesn’t know how to navigate snowy streets and roads.
I can’t for the life of me figure out why anyone would want to move here anyway. Our summers are hot, humid, buggy and short, starting in June and ending in September. Yeah, we might have a long fall, but lately our springs have been wet and cold, with snow possible in May. I remember going to a horse show one Mother’s Day when we got four inches of heavy snow.
Oh well! This had been a rant, for sure. I wish all of you good people, as well as all of the imports from other states into South Dakota, a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS and a MOST BLESSED NEW YEAR!
Here are a few images of Falls Park in Sioux Falls, decorated every Christmas. Enjoy!
The ROWAN MILANI CHRONICLES 