Nothing Say Memorial Day Like A Hot Bowl of Chili

...is a statement you understand if you live in the Rocky Mountain West.  Yesterday morning I sprung from my sleep 3 minutes to 7:00 am and realized that all our beautiful spring plants were coated in a heavy white blanket of snow and the sprinklers were about to add a coat of ice.  The weather reports leading up to this Memorial Day weekend warned of winter weather advisories but I can't help but wonder how many Rocky Mountain natives are sitting in lawn chairs in T-shirts commenting on how warm it feels while in reality are nearing hypothermic levels.  They no doubt packed up their camping gear (and snow tires and chains) and left for the mountains at the crack of dawn uttering phrases like, "I'm from Montana.  When I go camping I'm all in." Or, "32 degrees, pfffft....can't forget my swimsuit."  Or, "Someone bring me a cold beer.  It's in that snowdrift outside of the tent."

The forwards tend to circulate the internet about "You know you're from (insert notorious state here) if..." and they're always good for a chuckle.  Here are a few more to add to the lore:

You Know You're From The Rocky Mountain West When...

1. You have chili on Memorial Day.
2. You scrape the snow off the grill to have steaks the day before Memorial Day.
3. Your laundry has shorts, fleece pants, tank tops and ski gloves all in the same week's load.
4. You can't mow the lawn this week because it snowed last night.
5. You got to enjoy the flowers from your apple trees for one day before the wind knocked them all into the yard.
6. Your garden is enclosed in various forms of supports, pulley systems, PVC pipe apparatuses, blankets, old bed sheets and heat lamps so you can actually grow a few veggies between the frosts.
7. You pick plants based on how weather resistant they are instead of how nice they are to look at (or in the case of my parents, you pick them based on which ones the deer won't eat).
8. Your kid's diaper bag has: sunscreen, sunhat, shorts, 6 blankets (all various weights), a fleece vest, a winter coat, a jacket, a pair of mittens, socks, a rain slicker and no room for a diaper.

 Yeah...so it's been done before but this week made me laugh.  Especially since it's supposed to be in the low 30's tonight and 75 by Thursday.