Salsa in Progress!

With a potential frost looming, we figured it was time to get canning.

 

The Garden Produces!

For a quick midsummer update, the garden is producing interesting and tasty things.

Elderflowers and elderberries (not ripe, but photogenic):

Somerset seedless grapes, turned into raisins for Christmas baking:

Painted serpent cucumber:

Luffa (actual fruits hidden in the vines):

Dilly Dilly!

One of three Eastern Black Swallowtail caterpillars feasting on our garden's self-seeding dill:

A Snowy February

Snow rainbow!

Sunset!

Garden

A Winter Wonderland

After a mid-January frost, the weather station reported absolute calm:

Not Quite Planting Season

According to Gardening in the Dakotas, April 15th is a possible planting date for onions, beets, carrots, kohlrabi, and peas.  That schedule didn't work out so well this year:

Luckily, our new trees haven't arrived, but some lilac buds were visible from above:

Easter Tuesday

Although we did not have a White Easter, we did have a White Easter Tuesday:

And The Mitchell Republic reminds us just how long Winter is:

With snow on the ground and a low pressure system over Canada, Mitchell reached a low of 5 early Wednesday morning.

Alexandria and Tyndall both hit 3 degrees Wednesday morning, breaking records set in 1920...

This winter season, since Oct. 1, Mitchell has received 39.3 inches of snow, which is about average.

The First Day of Spring

The first day of Spring, March 20, 2018:

A few from two weeks earlier illustrate our love of snow drifts:

January, Compare and Contrast

A garden in California, January 17th:

A garden in South Dakota, January 21st:

Out for a walk in California, January 17th:

Out for a walk in South Dakota, January 17th:

Six Weeks Until Winter

State Fair Straw Poll for 2018 House and Governor Primaries

KELO reports:

If [straw] could vote, Marty Jackley would be the Republican nominee for governor and Dusty Johnson would be the GOP nominee for the U.S. House.

The state Republican Party held a "staw poll" during the run of the State Fair at their booth.

Marty Jackley won with 58%, Dusty Johnson with 54%. Click here for the full results.

The primary election will be June 5, 2018.

The Week Before Spring

The orchard, one week before the first day of Spring:

Snow Mountain Sunset

The sunset, from what is actually a long pile of snow created from clearing our road, from last January:

Winter is Coming!

We are expecting 5-8 inches of snow Friday.

Saturday's projected high is -3.

Four days after that, winter begins!

Parade of Lights

From Mitchell, South Dakota on Monday, with the Corn Palace visible to the left:

Already, Two Candidates for Governor in 2018

With almost two years to go before the election, but before changes in state campaign finance laws take effect, it looks like we already have two gubernatorial candidates.

From the Sioux Falls Argus Leader:

Rep. Kristi Noem will not seek a fifth term to the U.S. House in 2018, she announced Monday, and will instead make a bid to become the first female governor in South Dakota history.

...

Although she didn’t say it, Noem’s decision to run for governor was forced by a ballot issue that voters approved last week. Initiated Measure 22, which becomes law on Wednesday, contains a provision barring candidates for governor from collecting more than $4,000 a year from any person or political committee.

Once effective, the language would mean that Noem couldn’t transfer more than $4,000 from her congressional campaign account to an account for a governor’s run. Under current law, federal office holders can transfer all of their money into a state account.

From the AP, via the Mitchell Republic, South Dakota's Attorney General is making a similar move:

Attorney General Marty Jackley said Tuesday that he's forming a political committee with about $700,000 in the bank as he prepares to run for governor in 2018.

...

Jackley, who is barred by term limits from another stint as the state's top prosecutor, said that right now he's "focused on serving as attorney general and making South Dakota safe."

Senator Thune on Obama's Legacy

South Dakota's Senator John Thune, writing in the National Review, notes that "after losing large majorities in the House and Senate" President Obama came to rely on executive actions instead of compromise legislation to accomplish his goals. The result:

In short, most of the president’s legacy is paper-thin and may not outlast his final year in office. Even the president’s two actual legislative achievements may not long outlast his administration. Obamacare is already collapsing under its own weight, and parts of the president’s Dodd-Frank law are under scrutiny by Congress. Thanks to the president’s decision to bypass the people’s representatives in Congress, his real legacy may turn out to be that he doesn’t have one.

This is a good reminder for those who falsely claim that Congressional Republicans have given Obama everything he wanted--he has not had a legislative achievement since before Republicans took the House of Representatives in 2010.

Read the rest here.

More Snow

From the Sioux Falls Argus Leader:

Fourteen inches of snow were reported in the southwest quadrant of the city by Friday evening, the National Weather Service office said. On the other side of town, Sioux Falls Regional Airport recorded 7.1 inches by 6 p.m.

The numbers shattered the previous snowfall record for Nov. 20, which was measured at 3.8 inches in 1975.

We got less than an inch, but it finally feels like winter!

Financial Literacy vs. Money Savviness

After South Dakota's 6th place ranking for Money Savviness, the Center for Financial Literacy gives South Dakota an F for "financial literacy."

How is this possible? Looking only at high school requirements instead of actually trying to measure financial literacy.

Snow is Here

It is our first snowfall of the season. KELO reports:

An area of light snow showers has been working its way from cold air in North Dakota down through eastern South Dakota. No accumulation is expected, however.

We have accumulated a dusting, which should be gone tomorrow. But what better way to celebrate South Dakota Winter Awareness day than with snow! Weather.gov wants everyone to "prepare your home, vehicle, and your family for the onset of winter weather" with various tips and reminders, from stocking up to checking weather reports before you leave home.

Welcome winter!