Day 13 of Thankfulness.

13. I am thankful for Minnesota, which is where we are from. I am also thankful for Minnesota jokes or references ("Ohyahyoubetcha"). The paragraphs below are courtesy of Jeff Foxworthy, and I grabbed them from my cousin-in-law's Facebook page. Is cousin-in-law a real term? Anyway, Minnesota jokes. They made me smile while reading them, and laugh a bit, too. You may not understand them if you aren't from Minnesota, or the surrounding area. ;) I have bolded the most applicable to me.

For a long time, I was slow to claim Minnesota as the place where I was from. I always claimed South Dakota, even though I only lived there my first four years. It has taken me moving away and then coming to visit a couple times for a few short bittersweet weeks to make me realize that Minnesota is where my roots are. I am thankful for that.

If your local Dairy Queen is closed from September through May, you may live in Minnesota.

If someone in a Home Depot store offers you assistance and they don't even work there, you may live in Minnesota.
> This may have been applicable if I had lived in a different area of Minnesota, but we didn't have a Home Depot anywhere close.

 If you've worn shorts and a jacket at the same time, you may live in Minnesota.
 > At the barn. Often. Complete with boots.

If you've had a lengthy telephone conversation with someone who dialed a wrong number, you may live in Minnesota.

 If "vacation" means going to Sioux Falls, SD for the weekend, you may live in Minnesota. 
> When I was home last winter, my Mom, sister, and I went to Sioux Falls for a weekend to spend the weekend at a hotel with an indoor water park. This last time we were home, I went with my Mom to Sioux Falls while she had a conference and spent the night before heading to Omaha.

If you measure distance in hours, you may live in Minnesota. 
> This can't just be a Midwest thing...right?

If you know several people who have hit a deer more than once, you may live in Minnesota. 
> Poor deer. :( I don't even know how many deer I have hit, but I have managed to never hit one.

If you have switched from 'heat' to 'A/C' in the same day and back again, you may live in Minnesota.

If you can drive 75 mph through 2 feet of snow during a raging blizzard without flinching, you may live in Minnesota. 
> During the winter of 2009, it was blizzarding around Christmas time. I decided to stay out at the farm, and try to make it in for work. I wasn't driving 75 (the only place I know of a 75mph speed zone in Minnesota is on the interstate), but was going close to the speed limit. I made it, surprisingly, about 2 or 2.5 miles before getting absolutely stuck in a snow drift in the middle of the road.

I had to call back to the farm, and they came out for me in the truck. I had to walk partway to get to them, because they weren't quite sure how I made it in my car. Yeahhh, oops. We made it back safely to the farm but I did end up with frost bite on the back of my leg. A couple weeks later when the frostbite was still disappearing, I ended up with sunburn on my leg when I flew out to visit Dan for a weekend.

If you install security lights on your house and garage, but leave both doors unlocked, you may live in Minnesota. 

If you carry jumpers in your car and your wife knows how to use them, you may live in Minnesota.

If you design your kid's Halloween costume to fit over a snowsuit, you may live in Minnesota. 
> While we made the kids' Halloween costumes a couple weeks ago, I was reminiscing about having to wear a snowsuit under my costumes at least a few times when I was in elementary school. When I asked Jess if she ever had to do that, she looked at me as if I had three heads.

If driving is better in the winter because the potholes are filled with snow, you may live in Minnesota.

If you know all 4 seasons: almost winter, winter, still winter and road construction, you may live in Minnesota.

 If you have more miles on your snow blower than your car, you may live in Minnesota.

 If you find 10 degrees "a little chilly", you may live in Minnesota.

 If you know how to pronounce Shakopee, Waseca and Lake Wobegon you might be in Minnesota.
> I can almost bold this one, but I don't know how to say Lake Wobegon. Whoa-beh-gon? Whoa-beh-gone? Minnesotans, help me out.