You know it's bad when

After the hottest July on record for the state in which I currently live, it's nice to remember back a few months and appreciate summer because it can always be worse.

Case in point: March 23, 2011 was the day of the worst blizzard I've had the priviledge of driving in yet. What started as an angry gray sky and skiffs of snow blowing across the road in North Dakota quickly became more.

More, you say? Yes, I say. As in much more. Think thick slush in the good parts of the road and black ice in the bad coupled with blinding snowfall, mind-numbingly cold temps and treacherous winds. Sounds nice if you're curled up inside in front of a roaring fire with a mug of hot cocoa warming your hands, under a pile of blankets with nowhere to go for the next 2 days. Not so nice if you're 2 hours from your destination and your eyes are bugging out from all the strain from trying to see where the sides of the road end and keep your vehicle on the straight and narrow between the edges.

You know it's bad when the good, hardy people of North Dakota are cancelling school mid-morning because of the blizzard you're still driving through hours later.

Yup. This is what the aftermath on the good part of the road looked like the next day when we were one of the first vehicles to brave venturing onto the newly opened mostly one-lane Interstate. Not pretty.

So the next time you hear me say I'm too hot - please remind me that on March 23, 2011 I was telling myself that summer couldn't come soon enough.