Hi everyone,

 ‘…..the big chill’

The snow is here.  Get used to it – 5 months ahead in the freezer.  Yesterday, we were happily walking in the paddocks that surround our farm and this morning we awoke to the colour white – everywhere.  All the teachers are connected on a daisy chain of contacts and soon we received the news – ‘no school today’.  Ah too bad!  We have to sit at home and watch our 150 channels with our satellite dish TV, make coffee and ‘chill out’.  But, it’s not all good news - soon, I realize that the car won’t start.  After the usual checks there’s only one solution – ring our nearest town – Highmore, 20 miles away, and arrange for a tow truck.  One of the other teacher’s drops in and reminds me of the “6 P’s” for South Dakota as we prepare for winter.  “Don’t be offended: but,  Prior Planning Prevents P--- Poor Problems”.  OK – fair enough!  He laughs and as he leaves, suggests we make a snowman to pass the time during the day. The snow gets thicker – 6 inches.  The snow ploughs are in operation up and down the highways. Late afternoon is very dangerous on the roads.   By that stage the snow has melted somewhat and around sunset the water turns to ice making driving extremely hazardous.  On a somber note – two women died in an accident about 50 miles from here today.  The next morning we have a two-hour late start to school because of the icy conditions on the roads.  One of the local buses doesn’t quite make it to school and skids off the road into a ditch.  Fortunately, a tractor passes by and pulls it out.  This morning it was minus 11 degrees Celsius outside – inside it was a cosy 25 degrees Celsius: thank God for central heating.  Welcome to South Dakota – this is the start of the ‘big chill’.

150 channels on our T.V.

Regards,

 

BK and Kate