Brutally Cold Snow Days
The Good and Bad Memories
Snow days can invoke good and bad memories, mostly dependent upon how old you were and what your occupation was at the time of the memory.
As I sit writing today at my dining room table, I can look out the window at a beautiful snowfall. The flakes are not large and I’m always amazed at how such small flakes can add up to inches on the ground. It’s a beautiful, peaceful sight at first glance. I can even forget that it’s only 6 degrees. But then I see our trash container sitting at the end of the drive and am reminded that this is the second week in a row that it has not been picked up. At least I appreciate that the company keeps calling to explain that they are trying to figure out how to run their routes while keeping their workers safe from the below zero temperatures and treacherous driving.
Thinking about those workers then brings to mind all the road department workers and power line crews who work long hours trying to keep everyone safer. Worrying about trash pick-up, driving safely two miles to town, and whether our electricity may go out, reminds me of how spoiled we are these days. It brings to mind some experiences of my parents and memories from the days of my childhood.
Mom and Dad’s Snow Days
I never heard my parents talk about snow days of their childhood but they had several stories from their teen-age years.
Horses standing at the hitching post in winter, a heavy fog. Five of the animals. 
Modern day ride.
My dad wrote, “During my Junior and Senior years I was living with Uncle Bruce and Aunt Lois. At 5 a.m. I was called. I dressed in a cold room, went downstairs, lit a lantern, took the lantern to the barn, fed mules and milked. Then I ate a good and big hot meal. Then I took my lunch pail and walked 1/2 mile to school. I was janitor for the three rooms so I got to school first. First I got the three fires going good then I carried out ashes and brought in 6 buckets of coal, then dusted. I kept the three fires going after school too. Sixty-five horses were ridden to school. Some came from as far as ten miles. When it was 0 degrees and below zero, I helped thaw many frozen ears, noses, cheeks, fingers and toes. Schools closed if snow drifted too deep for horses to break through. If one big horse made a track, the rest would follow.”
My mother was one of the horse riders. She wrote, “I don’t remember them ever cancelling school. I remember it was 16 below one morning and I didn’t go. I had to ride 8 miles to school on horseback.” She told me she would ride her horse past many area homes and, if the going got too rough (usually on the way home), she would stop at a house and stay the night there. One of her friends, Frances McClintic, lived about half way home and she often stayed there. I remember her telling me that there was no telephone at home so she couldn’t let her mother know where she was. I cannot imagine how worried that must have made my grandma!
My School Snow Days
I also don’t remember getting out of school many days because of the snow. If we did get out, it was more likely because the buses wouldn’t start. I had to walk down a long driveway to catch the bus. I can remember that when I was in first grade, the bus driver would let me sit on the heater up front to warm up. Mother always made me wear pants under my dress for warmth and I hated that.
I do especially remember one time that school was called off because I had a friend spend the night with me and she ended up having to stay three days. It was Brenda from my class and I can still see in my mind the beautiful pastel pink mohair sweater she wore the entire time there. I thought it was one of the prettiest sweaters I had ever seen and looked so pretty with her strawberry blonde hair.
Our house was old and drafty. We had an electric wall heater that was about 6 feet tall mounted to the hallway wall by the kitchen. Brenda and I set up a card table covered with blankets on three sides and the heater on the fourth side. We spent hours there talking and playing.
What I seem to remember most about cold, snowy days though, is calving. It seemed that we always had calves born on the worst days of winter. It was not at all unusual to find a cow calving on the bare ice, or even in the creek bed. We would load up the half frozen calf on the rotary mower hooked to the back of the tractor and take the calf to the house, often with a very mad mother cow butting the mower all the way. Usually we would lay the calf by the same wall heater until it was warm enough to take out to the barn, but sometimes, we would have to put them in the bathtub and run warm water over them. Then we would have to dry them before carrying them to the barn.
A dismal day for the farmer and the cattle. 
My husband out feeding the cattle probably in the 1980’s. Only a light snow.
Feeding in the cold and snow was no fun chore either. However, it was better than when everything thawed out!
Snow Days in an Old Farmhouse
I’m fortunate. We got indoor plumbing when I was five, but before that, we used a two-seater outhouse. If it was too cold to go out, we had to use a “slop jar,” which would be emptied once a day. I won’t go into detail on this as your imagination can paint a good enough picture to let you know this was not an ideal situation but a common one for most all our ancestors! Nope, I still don’t long for the “good ole days!”
By the time I came along, our farmhouse was pretty modernized. Mother told stories of how snow could sift down through holes in the roof when they first moved there.
We had a very large living room with a stairway that led to two upstairs bedrooms. A gas stove in the living room heated it and the upstairs rooms. Often, heating them in the dead of winter became too costly. So, we would close the door to the living room and not heat that part of the house. Later, we got electric baseboard heat. Though not as often, we still would close off the rooms because of the cost of heating them. As a child, I didn’t really have a bedroom. My mom and dad had a downstairs bedroom and so did my grandma, who lived with us. I slept on a daybed in the family room. This was a real treat because I never had to go to bed until everyone else did.
When I got older, my bedroom was upstairs. But, we still didn’t heat that area of the house when it was really cold. I still remember the wonderful flannel blanket that I had on my bed. It was double the length of a regular blanket so that it could be folded in half. I slept between the layers and my feet never got uncovered. It was green with yellow stripes and the best blanket EVER! Sometime in high school, I got an electric blanket but still preferred the other one.
Snow Days as a Teacher
I’d hazard a guess that the happiest people to hear that there is a snow day cancellation, would be school teachers. We could have just finished Christmas break but it wouldn’t matter. Snow days were highly anticipated and loved by teachers! I think it must be because when a teacher is on the job, there is absolutely no single minute where there is mental down time and that can be extremely tiring. Nothing sounded better in the middle of winter than a day where you could stay home snuggled in bed with a good book to settle your mind.
I do remember one really bad storm when my oldest daughter was in high school. We hadn’t been able to get out our gravel road for four days. Amy and I finally followed the snow plow down the road. The drifts were so high, it seemed as if we were in a tunnel. When we reached the end of the road, there stood a television reporter with a cameraman. They wanted to interview us about our experience of being snowed in. I’m sure they were hoping to hear a sad story as they asked if we had run out of medicine or other essentials. I replied that I was about to go nuts without a Coke! I must have also been craving adult conversation as Amy said I just took over the conversation, even when they were trying to ask her questions. I don’t think they aired our story!
Others Always Have it Worse
This winter has hit me harder than usual because it’s the first one spent in Missouri since I retired in 2013. We have been fortunate to spend weeks or months of our winters in Florida. But, whenever I start thinking negatively about circumstances, I always try to find some positives. Today, I think, at least I don’t live where two of my best friends from high school live — Marsha in Minnesota and Jann in Wisconsin. Then I think of our Canadian camping friends who regularly have winters of 35 below zero. I have never been jealous of their winters.
At least we don’t have cattle to care for anymore. At least we are retired and can just sit by the fire looking at the beautiful snowfall out the window knowing that there are others working tirelessly to keep us warm and safe. At least we don’t have to cut wood anymore to heat our house (although it is the warmest, most comforting heat of all). At least we have a home to protect us.
Snow Days
I appreciate the fact that I live in a state where we have snow days. God created all the seasons and they are each filled with wonder. If you have never experienced the utter silence of a beautiful snowfall, add it to your bucket list. It is so awe inspiring to take a walk outside while it is snowing, especially in a rural area where the snow deadens all sound.
It’s easy for me to find the positives as I finish up this post a day after starting it. I’ve included a picture of the same view but the snow has stopped and the sun is shining and it’s 21 degrees. However, I know there are many people suffering through this storm and the cold temperatures. Please join me in praying for them.
I hope this post has brought back some good snow day memories for you. Please post them in the comments.
And, don’t forget to click like on this post and share it. Thanks!
P.S. If you still don’t like snow days, check out this link where my pastor explains why they are good.
Your stories brought back wonderful memories. I, too, grew up in an older farm house and have many memories of cold winter days, snow piled high against the back porch. Our home had three large rooms downstairs and wide pocket doors to close off the front room. It was meant to be the sitting room but we used it as a dining room and closed it off in winter. My large upright grand piano was in there, so when my father and I wanted to play music, we had to open the doors and turn up the heat. He played the guitar or mandolin and I played the piano, and we both sang. When my youngest brother was old enough, he joined us with his trumpet or guitar. Oh, how I love the memories of playing music on those cold winter nights and snacking between songs on the plates of homemade cookies and candy my mom would put in there on the dining room table to keep cool.
Thanks for your comments. Sounds like we had some similar experiences. By the way, I didn’t know you play the piano!