Trying to excuse S.D. weather is futile (Is moving to SD a viable option for fed up Californians?)

Aberdeen American News ^ | 9/22/03 | Donna Marmorstein

[ancientart]

Friends from California keep sending e-mails that describe the beginning of a mass exodus from that state. The government is a basket case. Services will be slashed and already obscene taxes will have to skyrocket. Gas taxes are enormous, and gas exceeds $2 a gallon. Exorbitant workers' comp pay is forcing employers to look elsewhere, close doors and head out.

Our friends were considering South Dakota. They had many questions. We were sure that real estate prices would sound attractive.

A $350,000 price for a cookie-cutter tract home there could buy a handsome manse here, maybe with acreage, too, instead of a cramped lot in a subdivision.

A rural lifestyle; slower, calmer pace; stronger sense of community and safety: these are all attractive selling points.

But when it comes to weather, well. . .

Whenever California friends ask about weather, I suddenly feel like someone who has to make excuses for a gambling-addict aunt or alcoholic parent.

Winters? Severe? Well, I don't know. It all depends on how you look at it.

I know I told you it snowed in early October last year, but that was a fluke! Yes, I did say it snowed in May once. Ha, ha!

Winter really isn't as bad as it sounds.

You get used to it. We like it. Kind of.

Have you ever gone ice fishing? Me neither, but it sounds exciting, doesn't it?

Snow is really pretty when it falls on Halloween. It gives a certain luster to an otherwise gloomy holiday.

Somehow, I've never been able to convince my friends to visit in winter and give it a try.

My mistake was in describing winter in glaring detail when we first moved here. Trying to show how interesting our new community was, and how hardy we were, I made the mistake of giving overly accurate particulars.

Now, they are skeptical when I minimize winter's harsher aspects.

Yes, I sent you a picture of the kids in shoulder-deep snow, and clippings of frozen calves and buried cars, but that was the Blizzard of '96! That's a once-in-a-lifetime event! (We hope.) Global warming should keep that from happening again any time soon.

Our friends have looked up climate data. The normal January high temperature is 21 degrees. There is no way to snow them now.

Twenty-one degrees in South Dakota is really quite nice, I say. The sun can be out. It can be bright and cheery, even at 10 below. You wear a hat and gloves, and it's really not too bad. It's psychologically healthier than day after day of fog and rain.

They nod, but they are thinking Texas.

Sledding is a lot of fun. I just discovered a hill last year, and we're going to do a lot of sledding this year.

Gray Davis suddenly doesn't seem so bad.

Frosted trees in February are gorgeous. And you can gaze at them for a full 10 minutes before frostbite takes hold. Even longer if it's above 20 degrees and there's no wind.

They wonder if paying $50,000 in fees before digging that first shovelful of earth when building a home is all that unreasonable after all.

You get a block heater for your car and you hardly ever have to worry about getting stuck in the snow. Besides, where are you going to go in January?

Gas prices, even at $2.50, appear more and more reasonable to them.

Shoveling your walk isn't so bad. If you get a snow blower, it's kind of like mowing your lawn in a space suit.

They figure they can go without California libraries, roads and parks.

I mention that there's nothing quite like a brisk early March jog in below-freezing weather. It gets your blood zipping through those arteries!

But for some reason, most Californians just aren't robust enough to give real weather a try.

[ancientart]

At least the snow is whiter on our side of the fence...

[Endeavor]

Tell them to come to Illinois. We need more Republicans.

[dakine]

good one bump...

[Eala]

Those who are fleeing aren't all Republicans. A lot of those fleeing are liberals, sensing that their days of easy blissful parasitism are over. And as soon as they land in their new locale they'll start demanding the "services" that bankrupted their old home.

It's an old old game, and it's the early locusts who benefit most.

[Endeavor]

Oh well, in that case, send them to New York - they'll get the kind of representation they deserve.

[South Dakota]

aaaack, who says that the weather in Aberdeen is the same as the rest of the state? It is quite the contrary in the southern Black Hills. Winters here can be cold, very cold but for the most part they are 36 degree average days. We get some snow but never, feet of snow, and the wind does not pick it up and blow it up your a$$ like in Aberdeen

[Eala]

I'd love to. Especially those settling here in The Peoples' Soviet of Washington, aka The Evergreed State. Sadly, the liberals seem to be a bit more resistant to Seattle's gloomy dark depressing winters than are conservatives.

[txzman]

I love Watertown SD, but only in the late spring and summer! Things die in autumn and don't get found 'till April :)

[ancientart]

Who says that the weather in Aberdeen is the same as the rest of the state? It is quite the contrary in the southern Black Hills

Yeah, I know. You're in the banana belt. You've even got trees and mountains--don't think we're not jealous! And, since we're honest with our California friends, we do tell them they'd probably be happier in Rapid City than up here in the flatlands of NE SD.

[baltodog]

My wife and I have come to the conclusion that in order to get away from the leftists, the welfare recipients, and the general liberal-give-me-a-handout-because-I-deserve-it population, you have to move somewhere where it is physically difficult to live.

[edchambers]

I rode a motorcycle threw three winters in Germany and 1 in Korea.It ocaisionally reaches the low 20s here in central CA in the mornings but just because I survive it doesn't mean I like it and want more of it.I think I'll take my chances and stick around thankyouverymuch.

[CyberAnt]

Interesting perspective!

[AgThorn]

South Dakota? I could probably take the weather ... but trading David for Senator Dashole .. that would be too much!!

[AgThorn]

Davis ... not David ... excuse my typing in the dark!

[DugwayDuke]

I lived in Utah in the mid-90s and witnessed exactly the process you described. A lot of Californians had migrated there due to business closings in California. Too many of them were forced too move and as soon as they arrived they began to re-create California in Utah. They simply did not see the link between the regulations they had imposed on California and the destruction of their jobs.

[Aracelis]

If they can drive properly, they're welcome in Colorado...

[Walkingfeather]

what you also have to take into consideration is the very short days in winter. When I moved out of California when I was first married it snowed yes.... but the days are very short in winter in the north. Add that to the fact that you can not go out side with out dying because you didnt wear the proper clothing.... well.... I moved back. You have to take it as a package. Yes you can adapt to a new place but where ever you move people will not greet you with open arms because you are from california. They will look at you with suspicion. And if you move to a place that has had a large influx of Californians recently the locals will be even more resentful... so just keep that in mind.

[Walkingfeather]

what you also have to take into consideration is the very short days in winter. When I moved out of California when I was first married it snowed yes.... but the days are very short in winter in the north. Add that to the fact that you can not go out side with out dying because you didnt wear the proper clothing.... well.... I moved back. You have to take it as a package. Yes you can adapt to a new place but where ever you move people will not greet you with open arms because you are from california. They will look at you with suspicion. And if you move to a place that has had a large influx of Californians recently the locals will be even more resentful... so just keep that in mind.

[Cuttnhorse]

Good stuff, the same thing happens where I have a place in eastern Idaho.

The Californians discovered the place and only visit during the beautiful summer months. They come in the Fall to hunt and think everything is swell. They bring the little woman up in July and she also falls in love with the area. They retire, sell their place in S. Cal. and buy a place in Idaho on 5-acres so they can have a couple of horses, just in case the grandkids actually find the place. The nearest "big" city with a mall is a three-hour drive in good weather.

After a couple of winters with the occasional minus 30 lows, and minus 17 for a high, there are FOR SALE signs blooming in the spring, like so many green leaves on a tree. They sell out and head for Sun City somewhere else.

I love it!

[Cuttnhorse]

My wife and I have come to the conclusion that in order to get away from the leftists, the welfare recipients, and the general liberal-give-me-a-handout-because-I-deserve-it population, you have to move somewhere where it is physically difficult to live.

Exactly...and financially difficult to live as well. That's a big problem where I'm going to retire...you have to bring your money with you. Fortunately, I lived there for 12-years and can't wait to return.