Observations from the frozen north

I have, for some time, wanted to jot down some of the strange sights and idiosyncrasies of my home town and state, but I never seemed to have the right forum. Well, dear blog followers, you are my chosen audience.

Since my return to the frozen north last fall, I  have been, at times amused, at times frustrated, and at times awed by my home.

One can determine some details of the area by simple observation of the retail marketing and habits of the merchants.  One of the first things you notice... carts are rarely stored outside.  One must enter the market to get a cart.  Considering how many days are inclement or WINDY, that makes sense.  Also due to the wind....  automatic doors here generally slide open rather than swinging open.  Free papers are never stored in racks just inside doors.  There is almost always a breezeway entrance with two sets of doors, the first set closing before the second opens.  And stoplights are supported by GINORMOUS metal structures akin to steel bridgeworks.
Then you notice that outside is often storage for huge bags of water softener salt, livestock licks, ice melt...  notably missing...  boxes of firewood or bags of pellets.  I am presuming that pellet stoves have never really hit a market here, airtight stoves putting out much more heat and there being no environmental restrictions.  And a box of firewood is just plain silly.  What you do see is cord upon cord of wood stacked in yards.

My next observation has to do with dining out.  There isn't a fast food restaurant on every corner here.  In fact , for a city of this size the fast food selection is fairly limited.  That's okay with me.  I think people eat at home more.  What there is to eat here is beef.  The best steak you will ever put in your mouth.  Truly wonderful, flavorful, melt in your mouth beef.  Like no other place on earth.  Who on earth needs a Popeye's Fried Chicken when you have big, well-marbled slabs of grass fed local beef?  The other thing you notice is every Friday and Saturday night those wonderful steak serving restaurants all sport overflowing parking lots and long waits.  The overflowing parking lot...  inevitably full of BIG four wheel drive, double or extended cab trucks.  Not so many SUVs.  Can't haul hay, calves, fencing, etc. in an SUV.  My little economy car is dwarfed regularly on all sides by trucks.

Dressed up?  You'll fit in.  But you'll fit in better in Wranglers or 501 Levis, cowboy boots, flannel or Pendleton shirt, and a big rodeo belt buckle.  If you've come to town for dinner, those boots will be dressy and polished, not covered in mud and other substances.  It's interesting to watch as the generations mature.  I have seen some peculiar fashion statements here.  A young man in skinny skater jeans, Hot Topic t-shirt, facial piercings.  Boxers in the obligatory six inch exposure on the behind (which, by the way, looks dumb enough with big baggy jeans, but with skinny jeans it is truly absurd).  The Wyoming touch?  A big shiny jr. rodeo champion belt buckle.  Skater?  Bullrider?  Not really a ridiculous stretch.  Risk taker that doesn't mind pain in exchange for glory.

Girls here have a fashion quirk all their own.  Fifty degrees?  Sunny?  That's a good enough excuse for the daisy dukes, halter top and flip flops.  I think blue patches and goosebumps are considered a small price for an early start on the tan.  People here begin to shed their coats at the first sign of a thaw.  Forty degrees is good enough to leave the coat behind.  And on the first day of seventy in the spring?  Car air conditioners come on and complaints about the heat begin.

Politics here are equally as uniquely Wyoming as the weather and the fashion.  This is a REPUBLICAN state.  Red as red gets.  In fact, Wyoming has the most Republican legislature in the US.  Oddly enough, this session the proposal for a ban on gay marriage was voted down.  The majority speaker defended his "nay" vote by reading the definition of conservatism and the credo of the Republican party.  Individual rights should remain with the individual and should not be determined by the government.  Good job.  I can respect that.  No moralistic speeches about the undermining of traditional marriage or the endangerment of our children.  Just simply a statement that one's marriage is, quite frankly, none of the government's business.  I was proud to be from Wyoming that day.

I rarely agree with the politics here. I still proudly display my Obama sticker on the bumper of my car.  I will soon replace it with Obama 2012.  I will always wear a coat when it's chilly.  I don't own cowboy boots.  I drive a little car.  But I proudly claim this as my home.  And those rodeo cowboy, skateboarding, truck driving Republicans are my friends and neighbors.  Although I do wish I didn't need a water softener....