North Dakota

Last week an acquaintance (one who is a life-long North Dakotan) sent me the following list of ways to know if you live in the great Peace Garden state. The statements are to the tune of Jeff Foxworthy's comedy routine. After living here a little over a year we understand most of these statements.

If "vacation" to you means going shopping for the weekend in Grand Forks, Fargo, Minot or Bismarck, you might live in North Dakota.

If parking your car for the night involves an extension cord, you might live in North Dakota.

If you're proud that your state makes the national news primarily because it houses the coldest spot in the nation, you might live in North Dakota.

If your local Dairy Queen is closed from November through March, you might live in North Dakota.

If you have worn shorts and a parka at the same time, you mightlive in North Dakota.

If you think that ketchup is a little too spicy, you might live in North Dakota.

If you measure distance in hours, you might live in North Dakota.

If you often switch from "heat" to "A/C"in the same day and back again, you might live in North Dakota.

If you can drive 65 mph through 2 feet of snow during a raging blizzard, without flinching, you might live in North Dakota.

If you see people wearing hunting clothes at social events, youmight live in North Dakota.

If you've installed security lights on your house and garage and than leave both unlocked, you might live in North Dakota.

If the largest traffic jam in your town centers around a highschool basketball game, you might live in North Dakota.

If there are 7 empty cars running in the parking lot at Wal-Mart at any given time, you might live in North Dakota.

If there are more people at work on Christmas Eve Day than on the opening day of deer gun hunting season, you might live in North Dakota.

If you design your kid's Halloween costume to fit over a snowsuit, you might live in North Dakota.

If driving is better in the winter because the potholes are filled with snow, you might live in North Dakota.

If you consider Fargo exotic, you might live in North Dakota.

If your idea of creative landscaping is a statue of a deer next to your cottonwood, you might live in North Dakota.

If the sunbelt to you means Bismarck, you might live in North Dakota.

If you find 0 degrees a little chilly, you might live in NorthDakota.