Nachos (along with a brewski) from the Taco House at Okoboji, Iowa. This view is from the southeast tip of West Lake Okoboji, Iowa. October 4, 2011. (Click on photo to enlarge.)
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Just two days ago on January 10, 2012, I was walking outside in Iowa in maybe-mid-50s temps. Wearing sweatpants and a short-sleeved t-shirt. Except for one quickly melted fine dusting of snow several weeks ago, the weather has made it seem like an extended fall, until yesterday..
Yesterday the wind picked up, it snowed, and it is COLD! Any Iowan knows that even now, these teens-temps and blustery wind are mild for Iowa winters.
Because I’m so used to seasons, I’m ready to see some real snow (and at the same time have everyone be safe and sound). Of course, since the ground is frozen, even if it snows the moisture won’t be absorbed very well into the frozen ground. At least Mother Nature won’t have forgotten how to give us some form of precipitation. For those of you who don’t know, in about the northwest third of the state of Iowa, last late-summer and fall we were lacking in any substantial rainfall. The result: little moisture in the ground before it froze this winter. This means little moisture so far for next spring’s crops. If we get snow now, it will likely run off the frozen ground until the ground thaws.
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For my 2009 photo of Taco House nachos, beer and a West Lake Okoboji sunset, click here. For the same from 2010, click here. The photo in this post, and the 2009 and 2010 photos are all taken from the exact same vantage point.
BTW, this post is the 300th for this blog!
(Click here to go to Louise Gunderson Shimon’s blog’s home page.)
Marion Gunderson Art (and the Farmer's Daughter) 
January 12, 2012 at 6:04 pm |
Congratulations on your 300th post!
Nice picture, too.
January 12, 2012 at 7:59 pm |
Last Thursday’s high in Omaha was 66! When I came home tonight, the temperature was 14. No measurable snow here–just spitting. The high temps will soon be back in the 30s and 40s–maybe even 50 on Sunday.
January 12, 2012 at 9:42 pm |
Wow! 300 posts in less than three years. You’ve been busy. You’ve entertained, informed and educated us. Thanks.
January 12, 2012 at 11:37 pm |
Jeff and Clara: Thanks for your fun 300th-post comments. It doesn’t seem at all like that many. Clara, I entertain and inform and educate myself while I’m at it! I remember when “whole language” was the hot concept in education in the early-’90s. When if a student could relate whatever he/she was reading to something “real” in his or her life, it was supposed to help increase reading skills, including comprehension. (Or, something along those lines.) There are lots of things that I post about that, even when many of them involve common sense, if I have to write about them and how they are associated with my life, I think I retain the information better and learn more about them. And, of course, if I forget what I wrote, I can (as any good librarian would recommend) go back and find the information again!
January 15, 2012 at 7:26 am |
Louise, thanks so much for all your hard work in posting all your articles. They area always terrific – entertaining and/or educational – and most of all about topics of great interest.