Looking out the window I am sure that we all had the same view on Tuesday afternoon. We had been given fair warning, and sure enough the wind, snow and colder temperatures arrived almost on que. The National Weather service had waffled in the amount of snow we were going to receive, but when they issued a winter storm warning we all had to accept that for the time being our warmer than normal fall weather had come to an end, at least for the foreseeable future.

The President of the Magic City Lions announced this morning that she had pretty much pushed the limit. “Yesterday I mowed my lawn, and today I am getting the snowblower ready to go,” Tracy shared. I admit that my lawn mower has been stored and the snowblower in place for about 2 weeks. The weather was nice enough yesterday to mow lawn, but you never know. I don’t have a “day of destiny” for storing my lawnmower. But the price we pay for not having the snowblower up and running is sometimes pretty steep. Moving 3-5 inches of snow is always much easier with the John Deere than a shovel, and the older I get the harder that lesson becomes.

And then there are those that wait until the cold and snow seems imminent to put up their Christmas lighting. We can laugh at those show start to put up lights before Halloween, but when the snow hits and it seems that Christmas is right around the corner, all they have to do is flip a switch and voila, the lights are on.
It’s All About Ice

Minot Curling Club
So it’s cold, and windy, and there’s snow on the ground. Let’s just say for now that fall is in our rear view mirror, and winter is the here and now. What does that mean? Curling is right around the corner! The Minot Curling Club is located on the North Dakota State Fairgrounds. Sign-up has begun for winter curling leagues. Stay tuned for more information in next week’s Northern Sentry.

MAYSA Arena
Don’t know much about ice skating. MAYSA arena has public skating and public hockey times available. Check out the schedule on the Minot Park District web site minotparks.com.

Ice Fishing
This is more of a bucket list item for those of you who haven’t experienced trekking out onto a frozen lake (or driving if the ice is thick enough) with your ice fishing equipment and bait bucket in hand. Now some people invest heavily in those fancy find the fish gizmos, but you don’t need to. When you are making out your Christmas list, let your relatives in those warm climates know that maybe a gift card to the local Runnings or Scheel’s stores will allow you to pick up enough ice fishing equipment to at least get you started. Then when the weather gets cold and the ice gets thick, you are ready, or you hope to be ready.

Festival Of The Trees
This weekend a special event takes place in the Magic City, The Festival of the Trees on Friday and Saturday. Once again, check out their website at festoftrees.com. Doors open on Friday at 9 AM. For a complete family experience, I encourage you to help support the Dakota Hope Clinic’s Festival of Trees.

Best Kept Secrets
The Minot Park District web site is certainly a great resource for all of those winter centric activities. Remember, we are just at the start of the winter season. Once Mother Nature gets going, we are hoping for a nice, even blanket of snow that will support popular outdoor activities like snowshoeing and cross country skiing. Living just a few blocks from Oak Park, I can keep track of when the cross country trails are officially opened and groomed.

Making A List
Curling, ice fishing, cross country skiing; let it snow, let it snow…and make sure that you update your Christmas list to include what is needed to take advantage of those winter opportunities that Minot offers.

Today’s Chuckle
Way before “friend” was a verb there were social networks. They were called neighborhoods.