One Year Ago

A year ago today our neighborhood looked like this.

The Atlas blizzard hit us hard.  Knocking out power, downing trees, leaving behind 41 inches of wind blown snow.  It was epic on our street.  Trapped in our neighborhood for days moving the snow, chainsawing the tree branches, sharing grilled cheese sandwiches.... was a real bonding experience.

   

This past summer our neighborhood had it's first block party.  The main topic of conversation was the blizzard.  Also it was a ton of fun!  The kids (and grownups) had a water balloon toss, the potluck food was good, and we had an impromptu garden tour of all of our backyards.   

We declared we needed to do it again before winter hits and we are all trapped inside.

So our Chili cook-off was planned for the anniversary of the Atlas storm.  

A proper fall get together! 

 I am going to make spiced cider.

And since I'm in charge of fun, I have apples for bobbing, and donuts to eat, hands-free, off string.

 This is part of the reason we love living here in South Dakota.  We hit the neighborhood jackpot. 

In other news: The living room carpet is being cleaned(it's been WAY too long) in preparation for something new being delivered tomorrow!