Just My Opinion - By Mary Kilen
Someone Give Mother Nature A Kick
Again, this week the bipolar nature of “spring” in North Dakota is on full display.
Dale and I left for Vegas on Wednesday around noon. Before we left town on Wednesday morning, snowflakes were flying in the air and it was cold. I decided to leave my coat in the car. After all, it was warming up some and it’s not that far from parking to the airport and I really didn’t want to throw my coat in my suitcase. Dale, on the other hand, put his in his suitcase.
We landed in Vegas to 90 plus degree weather. The shift was a bit of a shock to the system, but one we happily welcomed. The sunshine felt amazing.
Thursday was in the mid to upper 80s, even if it was a little breezy. I’m not sure if we brought that with us or not.
On Friday, I looked at Facebook and one of the first posts I saw was about how the roads had gotten slick really quickly around Kenmare. I thought, that doesn’t sound right. I checked in with Christina and sure enough. We were enjoying temperatures in the upper 70s and it was snowing at home.
Nothing makes you want to get on a plane and come home less than hearing that kind of news.
We left Las Vegas around noon. When we landed in Minneapolis it was raining and it felt pretty cool on the jetway going from the plane into the airport. It was just trying to prepare us for coming home.
Landing in Minot, it was a rush to the car to try not to freeze to death. I was really wishing I had been more like Dale and put my coat in the suitcase. We got in the car, turned on the seat heaters and waited for it to warm up.
I woke up Sunday to a fresh dusting of snow. That was not particularly exciting since we were driving to Bismarck for Abel’s first communion and the boys’ party celebrating Carter’s confirmation and Abel’s first communion.
It warmed up some on the way to Bismarck, but not as much as we had hoped for. At least it wasn’t snowing on the way there or back. We got to spend a few hours with family and friends before we headed back.
We watched the news when we got home and listened to the predictions for a storm this week starting on Tuesday. As I’m writing my column, I just finished watching the forecast for anywhere from a trace of snow to around a foot, depending on where you are and how the storm tracks. Oh, boy! Amanda was less than excited when the kids’ schools sent out a reminder to make sure kids had winter gear this week.
The weatherman is telling me they are watching for another “possible round of precipitation”, translate as snow, for Friday of this week.
I know the weather is unpredictable. It can snow into May. But, come on! It’s Spring! I shouldn’t be watching a forecast that calls for snow all week after we’ve already gotten colder than normal temperatures and snow in the past week.
But we will remind ourselves it could always be worse. That is not a challenge to Mother Nature, simply an observation.
Meanwhile, I’ll look back on our trip to Vegas with a lot of great memories. We got to enjoy some warmer weather. We started our trip with our tradition of massages. We did some walking through various casinos and stores. We did a little shopping and a lot of eating. We tried out some new places and enjoyed nearly all of them. Maddee came up to visit one night and that is always a highlight of our trip. We checked out a Cirque du Soleil show. There was some gambling and I didn’t lose all of my money. We stayed someplace new again as we are still trying to figure out where we want to stay after the Mirage closed. We may have found it this time as we really enjoyed our stay.
The break from the cold and snow just reminded me that spring should be here to stay soon and summer is on the way. I just have to be patient and hope that it is sooner rather than later!