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Saturday, June 22, 2013

Life On Buffalo Ridge Has Its Benefits








I know that the middle of the US has terrible storms, much worse than  the ones that we get in South Dakota /Minnesota area on Buffalo ridge. Knowing that does not make me less frightened  when I am told to take cover the storm is going to pass over where I  live. Living on Buffalo ridge can be harder than living else where but it does have its benefits. Storms when they hit are usually less harsh than 20 miles away. Why are they? Because the ridge is some kind of weather divide. I have no idea why except that 20 miles away is about 700 feet lower than where I am in either direction.
 Yesterday was no different than any other first day of summer, I looked at the radar on on line no watches , no warnings, I gave a small sigh of relief, storms no matter how small scare the  heck out of me but I pretend they don't, a left over from raising kids and being in control. A half hour after i looked on line , my son called and said, Mom the storm will hit where you are in about 15 minutes. WHAT STORM? It is a bad day when you can not believe the radar on line.
So the winds starts blowing, the rain starts spattering, the world turns dark, the street lights come on. thunder booms lightening flashes, I took my walker to my little hallway sat down on it ( it is an uncomfortable seat but anything in a storm). What to do, well I got out my phone and called my sister in law in the UP and asked her to check my weather, she did and I found that her radar on line works much better than mine. Yup, there was a storm, yep there is  another one behind it, she asked," Can you bend over quickly"? I asked why, she said," bend over and kiss your ass good bye,  the tornado is  right over you". Well the computer generated  tornado was actually over the town twenty miles away, whew!! There was none on the ground thank goodness.
So there might not be shopping malls, kids hang out around bonfires instead of shopping, the income generated is mostly farming or taking care of the largest percent of the county's population, old folks like me. But we have lakes, we have prairie flowers, we have hills, get to smell mowed hay, lilacs in he spring. Ice fishing in the winter, the sound of kids laughter playing without out worrying about being abducted , never mind the neighbors junked vehicles parked in his yard,
The first day of summer blew in like always and we on Buffalo Ridge went to bed on time, slept well, woke up and checked to see if there were any trees down, made coffee and started the second day of summer on Buffalo Ridge.

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