Warming Up for Spring

Weather is the topic that has been on everyone’s mind these past weeks.  Things like “Global Warming” and “Climate Change” creep into our conversations.  This prompted me to wonder how many out there remember prior winters that were similar to what we are having now.  That in turn prompted me to unlock my Grandmother’s diary and check out her entries for the months of March.  Grandma’s entries were sporadic.  She might have made an entry for the early 50’s and then skip to the 60’s but the reason for this family information is what I learned from reading about the early days of March.  The first week of March in 1950 brought lots of snow and cold.  Apparently Opheim was rather isolated as most roads were drifted shut.  No travel for most vehicles, including school buses and mail deliveries.  In fact one entry tells me that the mail delivery person and rural school children spent the night in Opheim due to blizzard conditions.  That would be why rural children had a “snow” home.   I can remember making a trip to Opheim during the winter when the snow along the road was piled higher than the car.  I am going to hazard a guess that it was about that winter.

I know that other towns in our area got to deal with the same types of situations, like when the Glasgow schools got to keep all the kids in the gym and class rooms overnight due to blizzard conditions. I am also sure a lot of you readers could share a lot of stories from country schools concerning winter storms. 

So---if you run into someone from the older generation and complain about our weather, you just may get an “I remember” response from them.  We do have a lot to be thankful for, better equipment, communication, etc.  But I do recall a young person that had accepted a job in Opheim telling me that she was advised to always have a week’s worth of groceries on hand during the winter months.  And that was in the more recent years.  So, be prepared for unexpected weather at home or traveling.  Looking forward to Spring!