1. When I was growing up in Fargo, ND, I don't recall school being closed very often for bad weather. It only happened during an actual, meteorologically verifiable Blizzard: heavy snowfall, high winds (35 mph), 1/4 mile visibility--something like this:
2. Fargo had enough of these, but if one happened on the weekend, we were out of luck.
3. Almost nobody rode to school on a school bus in those days. Because I lived half a block from the 1 mile cut-off for ridership, I had to walk. So people who decided to close the schools didn't have to worry about the streets being closed. But when I woke up on a school day, and I could hear the weather stripping HOWLING, chances are it was a blizzard, and if so, there would be no school that day!!
4. Huzzah!! So, what did we do? We went outside to play in the snow!! We built snow forts, dug caves in the biggest, tallest drifts, and slid down them, too. The snow was too dry to make good snowmen or snowballs, but we had fun. And we were out of the house. Some of us shoveled our walks (and our neighbors's walks). Nobody drove a car during the WWII years, so we didn't have to shovel any driveways. The only traffic was the city bus, which ran about every hour/half hour, and we would catch rides on the ice-covered streets by grabbing the bumper when it stopped for a stop sign.
5. Here and now, there is no snow outside, no wind. I can see way across the street, and the schools started 2 hours late. This is what it looks like now:
Good grief, XE, there is grass showing in the photo! I hope the forecast was for an additional 24" of snow within the next 8 hours to warrant closing the schools.
ReplyDelete1) I went to school in Tulsa OK and Kansas City MO, and you can lay money that even though we saw snow, the schools were never closed because of it. I remember walking home (20 blocks) from school during a blizzard - in the woolen sweater that had seemed appropriate when I walked to school that morning. I loved it!
4) During WWII, we always had a vehicle of some sort - either the old Ford truck onto which little flatbed Dad had built our "house" or, later, a 1938 Plymouth. Dad spent a lot of time patching tires, but that car was the ad hoc taxi that he operated in Tulsa. In Kansas City, we walked everywhere. There was a streetcar line at one end of our dead-end street and a bus line at the open end of the street; but, who had a nickel to ride them?
BTW: Hunky Husband is taking training at the FEMA Emergency Management Institute in Emmitsburg, MD, this week.
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No cars in Fargo that I recall. One of our neighbors had a cutter,
Deleteand he gave us a ride home from the skating rink he encountered us.
I'm afraid I have NO PATIENCE with the people who carry on about "wind chill". buncha pussies!!
Hope HH has a good time in MD. Not too bad there. XO, m.e.
DeleteThey are keeping HH and the other students pretty busy. They have homework at night so no time to do any gawking. He has been complaining about the wind chill (you tagged him!) He quieted down a couple of days ago when I countered with the -10 that we had here. Of course, immediately after I dumped HH out at the airport, I came back home and climbed back into bed (it was 4:30am when I got home.) When I next arose, I had a full-blown cold - and have been house-bound ever since.
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oh, my! poor poor (as they "say" in ASL). Holding you in the beautiful, healing light! Meanwhile, they have a ski area in Emmitsburg. LOOKS like it's practically in town (if that's where he's staying). I have an online pal in PA, and she was mentioning the WIND, and she's uphill/wind from where HH is. We had the same mid-20s temp + wind yesterday, but I never got out of the house, more's the pity. I was planning to walk to the swimming pool, but rethinking this now in light of all the viruses around here. had lunch with a good pal two days ago. she's just recovered from a 2-week cold (not flu), and her husband still has it. They got it from their grandkids who visit every weekend. Stay warm!!
ReplyDeleteThank you, XE, I am glad to have only a cold. The flu can be so much worse! I'm totally unfamiliar with Emmitsburg; but, the address is: Emergency Management Institute
Delete16825 S. Seton Ave., Emmitsburg, MD 21727
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Interesting that HH is staying on Seton Avenue. There is a big religious organization there in honor of Elizabeth Seton, who is some kind of saint or honorable (almost saint). All I know about Emmitsburg is that, and the ski area, and that it's just barely south of the Mason Dixon line. and the first time I googled it, I got this message: "are you sure you're not looking for Emmitsville, MD???" Never heard of that!! and HH is there. Love finding out about my neighborhood!!
DeleteHope you are feeling better! do you have hot lemon and garlic drink? Enjoy!!
Oh, yuck, ME - even with a cold I wouldn't want to drink lemon and garlic! *making a face!* I started out with nearly a gallon (after dropping it, splitting the neck, and leaking out about a cup's worth) of cider, a 14.8-oz can of Land O Lakes Cocoa Classics Chocolate Supreme hot cocoa mix, 4 2-liter bottles of Fresca, lots of canned soups and all of the water I can drink. Fortunately, when I arose to take HH to the airport Sunday morning I could tell that I was probably coming down with friend BS's cold; so, I stopped at the 24/7 Walmart on my way home to stock up - using the self-serve isle (which I normally eschew) so as not to make anyone else handle my germy stuff!
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ReplyDeleteduplicate, don'tcha know.....
DeleteMy youngest grandson lives out in the country and goes to a little country school on a little country school bus.They've had at least one snow day so far this winter, and I'm sure there are more to come. Mostly because the blowing snow makes the roads impassable with white out conditions. I'm happy that there are snow days. I don't want my precious grandson on a bus in those conditions.
ReplyDeleteour kids went to country school, and the bus for their end of the run was an old taxi. We called it "Yvette"--too many foreign movies, etc.
DeleteIn the winter of '48, in the UK, I was 4 and the snow was over my head deep.
ReplyDeleteToday it's +6°C here and I'm riding my motorcycle around.
Climate change, I guess.
Heck, Stu, with two data points I can draw any curve that I wish; so, we can show that climate change is making the world colder and colder. *sorry!*
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Give me a data point and a place for any curve drawn through it, and I can move the world ;-) endquote;
DeleteYou show Archimedes no mercy, Stu.
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So glad you're riding around on your motorcycle!! I am walking around, enjoying the winter!
ReplyDeleteWe got up to 54, yesterday. It's supposed to get to about that temperature, today, and I am hoping to feel like taking a short walk - farther than to the mailbox!
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Is this the beginning of the January Thaw? Or is that a volleyball tournament?
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