Something Wicked...

"Storms in the Distance, or South Dakota's Light Shows."

I've got just a few posts from South Dakota that I will thrust upon you Ozark-info-seekers here.  But hey, it IS an Ozarker's travels, so - ya' got that goin' for ya'.

This last visit to my Dad's in SD was a humdinger, filled with family, food, travels, partying, sight-seeing, and mostly a lot of laughs.  

Good family is so good to have.  

One thing this Ozarker has really noticed about South Dakota is the storms.  We think they roll in quickly in the Ozarks; but I'm beginning a theory that its the fact we can't SEE them. Unless you're keeping your eye on the radar, you are often surprised in the Ozark hills.  The trees are tall, the hills are, well, hill-y, and weather has a tendency to build over the top of us (storms don't always roll in, they often "pop" up).

In SD, however, storms are all around you that never hit you.  Makes for great little light shows in the distance on a gorgeous evening.  For example, this little humdinger we witnessed before the rest of the fam showed up on this last trip. I heard something rolling in the distance.  It had been such a clear evening and day.  So, I grabbed my poor camera and...

...took off running.  Obviously.

My "method" of photography here was to keep clicking.  I only took 14 shots if that tells you how constant the lightning was.  It was unbelievable.  The sky seems so huge in SD, and the storms in the distance are even more, somehow, ominous than the ones right over the top of you.  Please note the little raindrops on my little camera as I'm clicking...I'm clicking...

It looks like, why, yes.  Yes, I think something wicked this way DOES come.  Wait, huh?  Its very exciting, anyway.  This is as close as this one came.  But I would like to shout out to all the South Dakotans out there.  You guys sure can handle stiff winds and full grocery carts.  And I'm talking on a daily basis.  That's a little trick ya'll have to teach me. My 3 year old got blown across a Wal-Mart parking lot, and I think people just looked at me like, "What a terrible mother; and where are you from, anyway? Eh?" 

Truly though, they're hospitable, warm, friendly, helpful pepole.  And - you live in a beautiful, awe-inspiring state SDs.  Party on, Sturgis!!!  Thanks for letting us parade the kiddies through pre-party.  We are like, total posers, and we all, like, all of us, like totally got shirts.  And I think, like, totally we are all just letting our friends think we totally went to Sturgis.  I know I am.  Totally.   (Hey - I didn't SAY I did, I just didn't say I didn't.  Heh heh.)

Yours truly,

American Bad-Ass

Hints o' Haints

This is completely out-of-season, totally inappropriate considering my last post was, not only a month ago exactly, but the Fourth of July. Truly, folks, this is completely in keeping with my thought process.  

I am not a linear thinker.  So on that note...

I am getting SO excited about fall being around the corner I really couldn't resist the temptation of posting these photos my man took a couple weeks ago. 

Not to mention that being gone from "My Cozy Ozarks" really starts to dwindle your relevant blog fodder after awhile.  Bummer.

Somebody's gotta cue the, "Carrie", music here.  As in stop, click on the link, and then scroll down.  If you cheat, you suck.

Volume low and creepy.  Good. Good. Great.

Okay.

Ready?

Sure?

You should really open this in another window to enlarge.  (Can't ruin our creepily ambient movie music, right?  Take a good look, folks.  This is a bright and sunny day.  And this was taken three weeks ago.

eeeeks. this could BE the "Carrie" house... 

Let's pray.

Nobody else seen "Carrie" lately? No one?  Anyone?

*crickets chirping*

And, could I say, "Carrie", one more time? Cuz' its just SO much fun dealing with italics.

"Carrie"

This house is so scary.  It seems mad. This is something straight from the Foxfire books, such as, "The haint were standin' up in the top winder, an' I could see her plain as day, holdin' that baby a' hern"... 

So I haven't really read the Foxfire books, but I have flipped through the ghost, or "haint" [haunt], stories.  CHILLING.  I mean, let's chew on this for a sec.  What the heck is scarier than plain, simple ghost stories told by hard-working, simple people that live in the dark, deep woods all the time - and those hard-working simple people are recalling the ONE time they saw something that scared the tar out of them.  I mean, when they're scared, I am telling you, 

I am OUTTA THERE.  

The Foxfire books. Check them out some time.  This is kind of what our set looks like...

We were holding out on posting this, because we have so many spooky, abandoned places around here, we wanted to do a series throughout October of some of these places. "Haints, boogers, and witches..." is how the Foxfire series describes them.  

Boogers?  Really?  Did someone get something wrong in definition-land at some juncture; because I know I'm not the only one that in modern times that read that and thought..."scary boogers? yikes..."

And I think Foxfire 2 is the one I was flipping through. Though technically not an Ozark region reference, our people and those of the Appalachians run very parallel on many levels, especially back in the day.  I've heard the most horrifying supernatural stories from the most plain-spoken, hard-working people; and you know why?  They believe them with all their heart and soul.  Doesn't matter if it was Lester's Great-Granpappy that lived down the road or who, but by-gosh-by-golly, 

"...that's a true story, now."

Oh, and heads up. Severe lack of sound structure and a severe streak of yellow will probably limit the number of interior shots of these spookies; but the outside is good enough.  For me.

So consider this a teaser for now. Oh, and didn't you love the music?  Told ya' so.

The designer in me says, "fixer upper, gorgeous, just FABULOUS hints of southern combined with prairie architecture, complete with second-story screened sleeping porch, blah-blah-blah-buh-blah..."

The chicken in me just says, 

"run, stupid, run".

oooOOOOoooh.  Just cain't wait 'til...