East River Ice

From webcams around Sioux Falls on Wed morning.  Is that water or ice on the insterstate?

Florida: Not Just About Sunshine

On a drizzly Saturday, why not thrift shop? Warm by Minnesota february standards, Lakeland offered up a pleasant "beach alternative" for our intrepid travelers. After a visit to the stylish yet minimalistic Peace River Thrift Shoppe, they entered the sensory overload habitat of 360 Unlimited. Wow. Is there such a thing as too much cool stuff?

If I Had a Camera,

I'd camera in the morning, I'd camera in the evening, I'd camera all the live long day. I would camera a nice sunrise shot accross the pasture with the Alabama hills on the horizon. I'd camera up some pine trees, and some mudholes and lots of bugs, but not too many pretty ones. I'd camera this groovy thunderstorm from my hotel window even though it wouldn't really show up that great because thunderstorms through windows rarely do.

Spring Finally Sprung in Topeka

We had a nice day in the 60s today. I went hiking in the woods at the governors and hit a wet spot and fell completely down on my bottom. Didn't get hurt, but later ran into an ATA (Al Type Alert) and he fell down last winter and broke 4 ribs. I counted my blessing (1) that I only got muddy. Lets see, the midland fawn lilies are blooming in the woods, first wildflowers of spring.

It was no way to start the new year...

We have made it through our first severe weather. It has taken everything I have to force my little feet into socks for the past few days, the seemingly endless soupmaking, the curling up under flannel sheets, braving those first 5 minutes before the car warms up, it was all too much. The sadness of having to look at my frost-bitten bouganvillia was almost more than I could bear. That is why I just have not been able to post lately. But things are looking up, it is back to the 80's and sunny so now you can look forward to some more posts!

Snow Falls Early in the Hills

Snow fell in the Black Hills less than a week after the last wedding guest departed the HIA. Unfortunately I did not have a camera with me to show the stunning view of snow in the branches of the pines and the mist rising off Deerfield Lake early Monday morning, September 10. But don't worry about us. It got over 90 again yesterday.

Beating the Heat Last Weekend

Temperatures remained high over the weekend, reaching at least 105 degrees in Rapid. However, hanging about in the shade of various rocks behind Sylvan Lake was pleasant, with temperatures perhaps in the high 80's to low 90's.

Pictured above are friends of Denise who had just completed a morning's worth of climbing before the sun drove them away (to Hill City to have Bomb Pops),

OR

They are strangers who happened to be wandering about and agreed to have their picture taken so Denise could make the HIA audience think she knows people who do fun things.

What do YOU think? Should we have a poll?

Oh yeah, in other news, that same day there was a really hot fire out Nemo by Steamboat Rock that was getting ready to take out the Rolling Hills subdivision when
a 6 million dollar rain knocked it down.

We Held Out As Long We Could...

but we had to turn on the AC tonight, it is officially summer in Florida.

Cat 5 Bitch Twister sets down near Yeehaw Junction

"It came from g'damn nowhere" said Floridian G. Wortham.

"After a stop in YeeHaw Junction headed towards Ft. Lauderdale, I was driving and all of a sudden this Catagory 5 Bitch Twister sets down right beside me. Let me tell you, a mini cooper is mighty tight quarters for a Bitch Twister to go off in".

"It was hard to determine exactly what was going on with all of the profanity, klenex, and sandals flying about the compartment, but I think stepping in chewing gum was the cause."

"Gum...on a sandal..."

Mullypalooza Rocks, Cheers, Bores, Eventually Annoys

(Vermillion, SD) - South Dakota-born Floridian Molly W. recently brought her own special brand of delightful banter, humor, gaeity, and insight to family and friends in South Dakota's hottest and quaintest southeastern college town. Accompanied at first by her hilariously droll and straight-shooting Nebraska gal-pal Mindy, Wortham was a welcome sight for eyes that had not set upon her since UK Wedding-a-Ganza 2005.

Charmed at first by Wortham's witty and observational bon mot's regarding gnats and chill, Wortham's loved ones, assured the endearingly cranky witticisms would fade as soon as Wortham acclimated to the climatic environment she herself had lived in for over 30 years, continued to celebrate the very special homecoming of their beloved friend.

Feted with a Mexican lunch, a sushi garden party and a slumber party, special appearances by Claude and Justin, and rollicking rock outs at Carey's Bar (which recently acquired pleather lounge furnishings in anticipation of "Mullypalooza") Wortham appeared to enjoy her time, often sporting giggles and her own charming signature duck laugh.

In spite of Wortham's avid and enthusiastic participation in Vermillion life, however, the critical asides chiding South Dakota's severe welt-inducing insect population and 50 degree-ish weather did not fade with time as was hoped, but rather gathered momentum to such a point as to foresake all other points of conversation.

Numbed at first into boredom and later, total annoyance, Albert Fish, with whom Wortham mostly lodged, said: "Ya knoooow....it's Molly! One would be worried if she wasn't at least a trifle bitchy. But then, as the days dragged into weeks, and her crabby drone overpowered even that of the swarms of humming, biting gnats, I found myself going to my happy place quite frequently. And by happy place I of course mean my bathroom. Or sometimes SpeeDee Mart. The bathroom at SpeeDee Mart, I mean. Anything to escape (and here Fish's voice switched to a bitchy falsetto) 'Oh! Why is it so cold! Oh! Why won't these gnats leave me alone! Oh! Why are you already going to bed, Al, it's only 4:30 in the morning! Oh!'"

Even the initial delight of blood relations turned to beleagurement and eventually intolerance.

"I left victims in the disaster-stricken river basin of the Jim River -- people yearning for food, shelter, dry clothing -- to spend time with my sister whom I love," enjoined Claude Abeln. "Yeah, I bet the citizens of Redfield who lost their homes and their jobs to floods and tornadoes would love to have the luxury of whining about (and here Abeln's voice switched to a bitchy falsetto) 'not being able to find their cute jackets when its just soooo coooold outside, and worrying that their latest bug bite might undo the amazing wrinkle repair provided by pricey cosmeceuticals.'"

Abeln added: "Thank god Justin arrived in time to distract my attention toward titillating tales from the noodle factory."

Worst hit by the unseasonal bitch front was Wortham's younger sister Renee. Having recently built a popular following of writers and artists with her uplifting guidance for the book The Artist's Way, Abeln said her sister's presence at group meetings was a "nice change of pace" at first. But then, Abeln reported, things simply got out of control.

"Okay, so like we talk about being positive about stuff, right? Like, if you can imagine it, you can make it happen, you know?" huffed Abeln. "And, okay, maybe some people might think it's corny, but it, like, works for us and stuff, okay? And so then Molly's at our meeting and she's all like (and here Abeln's voice switched to a bitchy falsetto) 'Blah blah blah blah blah! Oh! Look at me, I manifested Jim Bravo, I manifested Jim Bravo!' And I'm like, yeah, wow, crazy, what are the chances? What are the chances of running into Bravo in Vermillion at Carey's for chrissakes. Like, oh, I don't know, 99 out of 100? And what are the chances that Bravo would have some quirky shit from a Sioux City thrift store that Molly might be interested in? Oh, like 110 in 100 maybe?"

'Oh! I manifested Bravo! Oh!' Abeln continued in a bitchy falsetto. "Oh! You're about to manifest my wedge boot in your ass is what you're manifesting!"

"Molly shoots a few fish in a barrel, and - blammo! - she's mastered the ancient art of channeling positive creative energy and is 'manifesting,'"Abeln added. "Gimme a break."

"I don' know," friend Katy commented. "Tuh listen to her, which'n franky, we all jes' kinna' stopped doin' after 'bout the fift day, you know, you'dda thunk she'd ne'er spent a day on the praaahrie. I mean, I know it's no penninsuhlaahr or tropical pare dise, and we're all real happy she n' Gregg have done real good for themselves down there, him going to Fuji 'n all. But it ain't like she did'n grow up bein' et by gnats and skeeters and eatin' commod cheese and vittles jes like the res' of us. Sheet. An' she wans us'm to go down there and visit her!? Now how we goan 'ford Sundee togs fer that, I aks you?"

Bitch Front Moves Out of South Dakota

Vermillion residents breathed a sigh of sweet relief as a fierce bitch front moved out of their now quiet again town. They had been plagued for days by the front, which left most extremely fatigued. "I'm just so happy to be able to walk down the street and not have to hear about how cold it is, or how bad the bugs are, or have all the dead birds pointed out to me." Said one clearly relieved resident. Another local pointed out the front moved on the same time as Mullypalooza rolled out of town. The same day a bitch front warning was issued for Lakeland, Florida.

Great, Another Excuse for Iowan To Not Visit Florida

Recent sneak tornados that strike in the middle of the night will surely give well-known Iowan Kevin Klagge another reason to not visit Florida. Past excuses included hurricanes, gator attacks, christians, bugs, heat, people not wearing socks, and elderly drivers.