This is our second full winter in our house in Parkston. We moved in in March 2021 and so we're coming up on two years here in this town of 1,500. We moved away from South Dakota in 2011 when my federal employment took us to Millington TN (outside Memphis). After nine months there, I was promoted to a new position with the U.S. Navy in Pascagoula MS, on the Gulf Coast. After almost six years there I retired from the federal government, we moved to Ironton MO and managed a 30-room inn for 9 months, before departing for Lincoln NE.
We had our first taste (in several years) of a real Midwest winter in Lincoln in 2018-19 when that city received 55 inches of snow. But we were renting an apartment so weren't bothered with clearing the snow ourselves. Six months later we moved to Branson MO, only 10 miles from the Arkansas border, on the urging of Barbara's cousin. Too many hills for us (the Ozarks). We lived there about 18 months before deciding the Midwest was where we wanted to retire.
So early in 2021 we began searching for a suitable home in a small southeastern South Dakota town. We really weren't particular which town. We just liked the idea of small-town living in a state known for its conservative values. Besides, I grew up in South Dakota and Barbara grew up in Nebraska. After finding very little available in small towns, we saw a house listed in Parkston. We immediately planned to visit, found it and the town to our liking, and bought our retirement home.
There's so much to like about living here. We live right across the street from one of the city's parks, so it's fun to watch people walking their dogs or kids playing on the playground equipment there. The city has a lot to offer for a very small town, and being only 21 miles from Mitchell (15,000) and 61 miles from Yankton (14,000), it seemed a good fit.
As in many small South Dakota towns, the people are warm and friendly. As Barbara was vacuuming the carpet in our new home shortly after we moved in, the daughter of the previous owner stopped in, thinking we were the cleaning crew. She struck up a conversation with Barbara, and today they are best friends. And our first night in our new home, our neighbor came to our door with a pizza, and later her daughter brought us cupcakes! What's not to like about all that!
We've spent thousands of dollars updating our house -- new light fixtures, moving appliances upstairs, improving the lighting, new flooring and carpeting, enclosing the entry... too many improvements to list them all. Moving so late in the winter, we didn't experience much bitter weather that first month. And our first full winter here turned out to be quite mild in comparison.
Nothing quite prepared us for the blast we've received in the winter of 2022-23! We've received approximately 50 inches of snow already this winter, and unlike some places we've lived before, once the snow falls here it doesn't melt (much) until spring! And as I write this, spring is still 6 weeks away, with most of February ahead, March is usually a snowy month, and snow in April is not uncommon.
After last year's mild winter, we elected not to get a snow blower. Our driveway isn't very long and neither is our sidewalk. But this year's snowfall -- approximately 25 inches in just one January storm -- was too much for most snowblowers. But nearby "angels" have several times come to dig us out with their tractors. What a blessing to have such good friends!
It reminds me of the winter of 1968-69, when as I recall we missed 19 days of school, almost all after the Christmas vacation. The snow around our house in Alexandria was so high that we could only enter and exit through a side door off the driveway. The snow was so high we walked from the snowbank on to the roof of the nearby Sunset Motel. I have a picture of me standing on a snowbank with my mom's clothesline at my feet. What memories!
The snow is piled so high outside our front window now that we can barely see the park across the street. A dear friend shoveled 2-3 feet of snow off our roof a couple weeks ago, and we have been so blessed with these acts of kindness. Good friends add such warmth to a cold, cold winter.
Spring will come eventually, and it will bring a new set of problems but, as is often the case, the moisture is badly needed for crops, gardens, lawns, recreation, etc. We take the bad with the good. At least I can wait a while before sharpening the lawn mower's blades. :-)
