Winter Vocabulary in the Northern Plains

While winter wreaks havoc across the entire country, it's come to my attention that here in the Northern Plains we use some special terminology, thanks to our enemy, the wind. Here are three terms and their definitions:


(Ground blizzard, North Dakota, I-94. The videographer notes, "between Bismarck and Fargo on Jan. 7, 2011. Temperature near zero, north wind at 30 to 40 mph, visibility not good. We had to watch for cracks in the pavement because we couldn't see the lanes."

ground blizzard--Ground blizzards occur when it is not snowing. The day may even be sunny, but if you are in a ground blizzard, you would have to look up to notice. During a ground blizzard, wind blows already fallen snow, so that at ground level, you seem to be in a blizzard. This is most likely to happen after a fresh snowfall in open areas where the ditches on either side are already full of snow.

Visibility is poor to nonexistent, making ground blizzard conditions very dangerous. Driving, you cannot see vehicles or obstacles ahead or around you. When the wind whips the snow across the road, you cannot see if the pavement is slick.

Recent northern South Dakota ground blizzard conditions caused 150 motorists, many of them semi drivers, to be stranded on I-29 for up to 48 hours! Thank goodness for this little oasis. Here's the scene on the highway, from a news station's helicopter:



(example of finger drifts)

finger drifts--Finger drifts occur when wind blows snow across the road over a period of time and the snow builds up with horizontal "fingers" stretching into the road. Easy to pass through when fresh, after the wind has whipped them into shape, they become hard as rocks and can cause considerable damage to vehicles who ram them.



(from http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/807648, Coed conwydd yn cysgodi Moel yr Iwrch / Conifers sheltering Moel yr Iwrch for SH8354, © Copyright Ceri Thomas and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence)

shelter belt--Sometimes called a "wind break," a shelter belt is an area of planted tree rows, often around a country farmstead, to protect it from the wind. The example photo above is in Great Britain.

What special climate or weather teminology do you use in your region?

No Name-Calling, No Bullying

Freak! Fatso! Shrimp! Blockhead! or worse--much, much worse. "Sticks and stones may break our bones," but words can hurt a loooong time, whether delivered in person or electronically.



We are toward the end of No Name-Calling Week, an organized effort to educate about bullying and eradicate it.

My recent research about bullies revealed that bullies can be just about anybody. They come from all walks of life, social strata, and popularity levels. The one thing bullies have in common is that they themselves were bullied.

In the non-fiction book Letters to a Bullied Girl, two sisters started a letter-writing project to help a girl in a neighboring town who was bullied. Among the letters were several by adults who admitted bullying others when they were younger and who apologized for it now that they understood the hurt they'd caused.

The ugly cycle will continue unless we work together to stop it. The U.S. Department of Education is one sponsor in such an effort, launching the new website BullyingInfo.org. See what one official says about it here.

Many people and institutions ignore bullying or fail to take it seriously (it's part of growing up, they didn't mean any harm, etc.), but the news this past year has shown dire effects for not taking action. All it takes to stop bullying is for one person to stand up.

Author, speaker, and educator Barbara Coloroso recounts the story--told to her by an adult--who was called a racial slur by his elementary school teacher and kicked and called names by his peers. One boy, whose name the victim remembers all these years later, stood up to the others, took the victim aside, and played with him, stopping the abuse. Click Coloroso's name for helpful handouts adapted from the work of Dan Olweus, bullying prevention expert whose program has been adopted by many schools.

According to Olweus and Coloroso,the four most power antidotes to bullying are
1) having a strong sense of self,
2) being a friend,
3) having at least one good friend
4) being part of a group.

Be a friend, have a friend, and may any names you call be sweet.

(photo by Heather Katsoulis, http://www.flickr.com/photos/hlkljgk/2487113840/)

Shed a Little Light: Martin Luther King, Jr.

"There are ties between us
All men and women
Living on the earth
Ties of hope and love
Sister and brotherhood"
--from "Shed a Little Light" by James Taylor




(Click here for all the lyrics.)


(By New York World-Telegram and the Sun staff photographer: DeMarsico, Dick, photographer. [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons)

Click here for a succinct biography of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

How will you and I shed a little light?

By the Shores of Silver Lake in Winter

I had occasion this week to stay in DeSmet, SD--Laura Ingalls' Wilder's "Little Town on the Prairie." The motel is where Dean Butler, who played Almanzo in the Little House TV series, stays when he's in town. (Check out Butler's blog here.) It is also very near Silver Lake, now a slough, that Laura used in the title of the fifth of her Little House series. (Imagine dried cattails and tall grass poking through ice & snow in the video above. And wind--lots more wind. I did not stop to take my own photo because of the snow and wind.)

This book introduced me to the Little House series, as my third grade teacher read it aloud to us in school. I still remember passages about sliding on the ice, as we had an ice patch in front of our two-room schoolhouse that we liked to slide on, too. Laura describes it this way:

When the sun shone, no matter how cold it was, Laura had to go out. When Ma would let them go, she and Carrie, well wrapped up in coats and hoods, with shoes and mittens and mufflers on, went sliding on Silver Lake. Holding hands, they ran a little way and then slid on the dark, smooth ice. First on one foot, then on the other, with little runs between slides, they went back and forth, breathless and warm and laughing.

Those were glorious days when they were out in the glitter of the sharp cold. Then it was good to come into the warm, close house, and good to eat supper, and through the evening of music and singing and dancing, Laura was the merriest of all.

The book tells the story of building the railroad and beginning the town of DeSmet. It was also the beginning of Laura's adolescence, as she is thirteen in this book and starting to see things from a more adult viewpoint, taking on more responsibilities.

(photo by Matt Howry, http://www.flickr.com/photos/mhowry/617751085/in/photostream/)

By the Shores of Silver Lake won Laura Ingalls Wilder a Newbery Honor Book Award in 1940. Many of the things Laura writes about in this book have become tourist destinations in DeSmet.

While I disagree with Laura about the excitement of being out in the cold, I admire her spirit. What do I like about winter? Staying inside, reading, writing, hot chocolate, the fireplace. What about you?

Best Books of 2010?

(photo by Jeffrey Beall, http://www.flickr.com/photos/denverjeffrey/304220561/)

The last week of December is always time to review, and everyone everywhere is putting out their "best" lists. Here's one you may not have seen that may answer that burning question, "What titles have librarians recommended this year?" The EarlyWord blog gives these answers.

(photo by Larry Page, http://www.flickr.com/photos/96029422@N00/3913113032/)

Other best lists are done by Publisher's Weekly, NPR, and Entertainment Weekly, to name a few. EarlyWord comes to the rescue with links to best books for children from 2010.

In looking back at my Shelfari shelf, I discovered that I'd read and recorded more books than I realized, and many of them were good. My love of series continues with these:
Margaret Coel's newest Wind River addition, The Spider's Web;
Alexander McCall Smith's latest Ladies #1 Detective Agency novel, The Double Comfort Safari Club, and
Sue Grafton's latest in her alphabet series, U is for Undertow.

(By DanielZanetti (Own work) [GFDL (www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons)

Two authors I follow had new books out this year:
Anne Tyler, with Noah's Compass (I liked it, but not as well as a couple of her others, most notably The Accidental Tourist and Back When We Were Grownups), and
Sandra Dallas, with Whiter Than Snow (I liked it, but not as well as her best--Tallgrass).

The great thing about books is that they're new to me if I haven't read them yet, regardless of when they were published, and I made a couple discoveries from years past: Louise Erdrich's, Plague of Doves and
Ivan Doig's The Whistling Season.

(photo by Linking Paths, http://www.flickr.com/photos/linking_paths/1315032351/)

Could I pick one? Mmm...no; each was right for the time I read it. And that's my New Year's wish for you, whether you are reading paper or ebooks or reading aurally, may you find the right book at the right time! What books are on your "best" list this year?

Christmas Tree Magic

(photo http://www.sxc.hu/browse.phtml?f=view&id=223106)

Have you put up your Christmas tree yet? This tradition dates back to 14th century Eastern Europe and comes to the US from Germany and England.

Though Christmas trees have been controversial--are they pagan or Christian? Are they environmentally friendly? Should they be real or artificial?--they never fail to delight.

Our entire state celebrates by decorating trees at the Capitol. My colleagues and I got a chance for a quick tour this month. Each tree is decorated by a town or organization, with ornaments depicting a certain theme.

Some towns celebrating special anniversary years have town families' pictures on their ornaments, such as the tree from Bristol. The Operation Military Kids tree has ornaments made from military dog tags. Even the tree toppers go far beyond the typical angel or star. The tree from the town of Claremont, in the northeastern part of the state, has cattails on top, representing the slough country surrounding the town.

The spectacular South Dakota tree was decorated by the SD State Historical Society and commemorates the Capitol's 100th anniversary. My colleagues and I appreciated the creativity of our fellow state citizens and were impressed by the splendor of rows and rows of trees. See more here.

Why the wonderment? Maybe it's the oddity of seeing a tree indoors in the dead of winter. Maybe it's the beauty of the ornaments. Or maybe it's the glow of the lights.

When my brother & I were kids, a family friend always invited us to her home when she had decorated her tree. She'd turn off all the house lights, and we'd ooh and aah at the lights on the tree, especially transfixed by the bubble lights.

Outdoor Christmas tree lights are just as awe-inspiring. Our city creates Winter Wonderland at Falls Park each December, decorating over 200 trees! In this cold, dark land, those lights are a warm, welcome sight. See it here.

Whether your tree is up yet or not, whether it's more "Charlie Brown" than "House & Garden," grab a cup of tea or hot chocolate, and enjoy this tribute to Christmas trees. Merry Christmas!



What is your favorite Christmas tree decoration?

Blizzards Then and Now

Our first blizzard of the season hit Saturday, December 11 (ignore the date on the picture; it is not set correctly for some reason) . After dumping seven inches of snow swirled by wind gusts up to 53 miles per hour, this storm went on to collapse the roof of the Metrodome in Minneapolis and wreak havoc across the northern Midwest.

Major interstate highways were closed. We were smart enough to heed the warnings to stay put and were happy to do so. We had shelter, electricity, food, running water, and things to keep us occupied (books, TV, Christmas card writing) while the storm roared outside.

The storm reminded me of a book I read last year, The Children's Blizzard by David Laskin. It's set in our region during the blizzard of 1888, called the "Children's Blizzard" because so many children died. The book is a riveting account of prairie settlement, extreme weather, the fledging weather service and its ineptitude and politics, the science behind the weather, and the families that suffered. It's a touching book in many ways.

Nowadays, the weather service is less political and much more accurate, thanks to modern technology. Communication about weather is easily sent and received. Fabric for outerwear, boots, and gloves has improved. As a society, we have learned a lot about dealing with extreme weather. Still, people caught in it die every year.

The Children's Blizzard suggests in its conclusion that this part of the country should never have been settled, as it is not fit for habitation. It does take tough stuff to live here, but a sense of community keeps us looking out for each other and helps us laugh with each other--we're all in this together. Fortunately, in modern times blizzards don't set us back for long. Here's a typical scene in local neighborhoods the day after the storm:
Another dire blizzard account set in our region is Laura Ingalls Wilder's The Long Winter. This one, from a young teen girl's perspective, shows the effects of weeks of deprivation as supplies could not get reach town during the blizzard of 1880-1881. This story has a happier ending than the book mentioned above, with the train getting through in time to save the settlers.

Some things in this region have not changed when it comes to blizzards. The weather still rears its ugly head, and we must still be prepared. When blizzards hit, we hunker down, concerned for those who might be out in it. Forced from our daily business, we are reminded of what's most important--life, loved ones, and simple pleasures--and are thankful for what we have.



What stormy weather stories can you tell?