Our return trip brought winter quickly back into perspective, all told at least 80% of our drive home was on some combination of slush, ice, and packed snow.  Luckily this year the wind didn't pick up until we were about an hour from home.  So we could at least see most of the time.  Just like last year we left the house with just a couple of inches of snow in the yard and returned to banks 6 feet high.  See picture one.  On the plus side the skiing around town is much improved although Roo is asking for stilts for her birthday.  So she can maneuver in the drifts like a deer instead of being continually high centered.

Back in Grafton the story wasn't much different with a dozen line workers shoveling 18 hours a day to bring some relief to the office roof trusses.  Every year we wait until they bend enough that ceiling tiles start falling down and get the shovels out.  Here are some pictures of the front of the building.  We had to employ a front loader to find the plant entrance doors that were completely buried.  Of coarse accross the street the snowmobile trail was almost bare.

Decorating is one thing that flat-landers do very well.  From 30 foot long fences covered in 3 foot spiders and webs to entire streets coordinating their Christmas decoration.  Its amazing!  Here are a couple pictures from Bismarck this season.  In our infinite lameness we didn't even have our own tree this year.  Just mooched off our friends :)