"I talked to Brenda on her way home from work..it was snowing so hard that she couldn't see her house from the end of her driveway. Ralph was plowing the driveway and she said it snowed about 4" while she waited for him to get to her..about 300yds". April 2008
"This weather stinks. Laura is stuck at a gas station in Summit, SD. because they can't see 10 ft. in front of them. They don't even know if they will make it home tonight"!! April 2008
"In the winter of 1940/1941.....we were living above a small feed store, about two blocks east of that theater, on the same street. I had walked to the movie, without a coat, because it was such a warm evening. Half way through the movie they stopped the program, to tell the audience, there was a terrible storm ragging outside, and no children should leave alone, but wait for their parents to come to get them. Since none of my family knew where I had gone, I was in a bad spot. I was only nine and one half years old, but I decided to sneak out when no one was looking. Since home was only a couple of blocks away I was sure I could make it. I went hand over hand to the corner east of the Avalon ( the M & D cafe was on that corner then ), put my back to the wall and then ran straight ahead until I ran into the building across the street....then doing the same thing, in order to make a right turn, ran south on 3rd, until I hit another building, I think I was a clothing store at that time. From there I went hand over hand for about a block until I found my home building......Quite an adventure".
What is your winter story? If you have ever lived in the snow belt, you have one. We have read stories of people trapped outdoors and found frozen when the storm was over. We have read novels where farmers put ropes between the house and the barn so they could care for the livestock. It the true story of Clint in the 1940-41 storm, which we believe was in mid March, 70 people died.
I think I was in ninth grade when I got caught in a snow trap. Like my daughter, I can generally remember what I was wearing! It was a plaid dress with red leotards. We got off the bus and the announcement over the paging system at school said for all bus riders to get back on the bus. It was 8:30 in the morning. School had been canceled.
Instead of getting back on the bus, a group of us trekked through the snow drifts of Third Street to Jane's house. My leotards were soaked and our coats were white with the snow sticking to us because of the wind. The weather worsened and Becky Ferber and I walked to her house. It was starting to get dark and I really wanted to get home. Mother was in a panic.
In those days, everyone who lived in the country had an alternative place to go if the buses couldn't run. Mine was to be my grand parents. The streets of Thief River Falls were impassable, if I was going to their house, it would mean a walk of greater than a mile. Daddy was in town too, although he had been at the bar all day and in no condition to drive despite four studded tires on his pick up; the snow was too deep and the highway was not plowed.
Daddy had a plan to get me home. Mind you, this could only happen in a small town. He called the lumberyard and asked Johnny to pick me up in a loaded lumber truck which had chains but had not delivered the load. We picked Daddy up at the liquor store, and Johnny drove toward the farm. The wind had swept the area by the road lamps clean, Johnny turned in, I got out and waded to the house. No, daddy didn't come, he wasn't finished with his party.
That would be the last time I would not get on the bus. And, if any of my children are reading this, it cemented the idea that you come straight home from school and make your plan for the rest of the day afterwards.
This morning the sun is brilliant. The snow is melting off the sunroom roof, it is greater than 25 degrees. By the end of the day, the snowblower used this morning and left out for the neighbor to clean his drive, will be sitting on dry pavement. The 38 cancelations listed in the newspaper do not include Fargo. Cars are moving along our avenue; our city has been plowed.
Perhaps the next time it will be December. Perhaps.
It has been a long winter.
e
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