Really, it's almost been a year!?

Has it really been nearly a year since my last post? It seems that after my mom and brother came last summer and took Jbaby back home with them, I forgot about my blog. I am going to try and do better again. We shall see how long this lasts.

Well, B and I have survived our first summer in North Dakota. Which you may not think would be that difficult. It actually gets really hot in the summer, it surprised me! Also, TORNADOS! I had my first run to the walk in freezer and wait for the tornado to pass over our building moment! Pretty wild! However, there are not many thunderstorms here. I miss North Carolina summer thunder storms. The heavy rain, wind, crazy thunder and lightning come after a day of miserable heat and humidity. I miss sitting in front of the glass door and watching the lightning storms and watch them pass. Leaving the sky blue again and the smell of summer rain all around.

The worst part about summer in North Dakota is not the weather, the heat I can deal with. The random tornado drills aren’t that scary. What is scary, is the state bird of North Dakota….the blood thirsty, out at the crack of dawn even if it is still 60 degrees outside, will bite you through your pants while you are walking your dog, pesticide resistant, will last through a nuclear attack….MOSQUITO.

DAMN YOU MOSQUITOS!! As soon as the weather is nice and your toes and fingers start to thaw and you think it is safe to go outside, the mosquitos are there, ready to attack. Blake of course doesn’t get bitten. I think that should say something about him. I could go out with four pounds of mosquito spray and wrap myself from head to toe in mosquito netting and still be covered in itchy red bumps.

BUT! The good news about spring/summer in North Dakota, grilling out, bonfires and yard selling!

As well as surviving our first summer, we have lived through our first winter. With only one instance of thinking I was going to die in a snow drift during a white out blizzard on New Year’s Eve, I made it through the winter unscathed. I will not be providing any further details about how or why I was in the snow drift or how I thought I was going to lose my hands to the cold and have them replaced by hooks.

I will say that, the winter is survivable! You think you can prepare yourself for it, you think, ok, it gets to be -40degrees, ok, I think I can handle that. YOU HAVE NO IDEA UNTIL YOU EXPERIENCE THAT. People who say that anything below 0 degrees is all the same, obviously has never felt anything below 0 degrees because they would never say it again. Some days when I had to go out, I would just get mad. I would be so mad at how cold it was, how it literally burned into your bones and you can literally feel the snot freezing inside of your nose. There were several times that B and I had snot sickles. Sexy, I know, but a common thing here in January.

Another thing you don’t get used to, walking on ice. There is no cool or graceful way to do it and you fall, a lot and you see other people fall. It’s funny, because to me, there is nothing funnier than seeing someone fall, especially all the way down…on their backs…with their legs up in the air. But up here, to the “locals” it’s just another thing. EVERY ONE SLIPS AND FALLS. I still think it is funny, not when I do of course, but it is very funny to see my husband, slipping and flinging his arms around in the air trying to catch himself!

Now, here we are, working on our second year here in Grand Forks. I can’t believe it has been a year. Getting ready to start our second summer and looking forward to all the things that are happening in our lives this year
More to come, very soon!