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Snow storm prompts memories of childhood snow days

The big snow storm of January 2026 was a pretty good one.

We have in the past seen much worse and we love to talk about them whenever anyone complains about the weather. The older you are the worse the storms were, too.

Snow storm prompts memories of childhood snow days Back to video

I remember one time in the ‘70s we had so much snow the valley in the road where the bridge is in Otterville was completely level with both sides which had an added five feet, too.

We nailed blankets up on all interior doors to the living room, stoked the Franklin fireplace and welcomed all who needed a place to stay warm. It was actually fun since some of the neighbours (we all knew each other back then) trudged to each other’s houses for various meals making it all a fun adventure. I am sure I have told that one before but it always comes to mind when people grumble about the weather.

This January, as I sat in comfort with the gas fireplace and cook stove and enough food in the house, I was thinking of those old times when this kind of weather was pretty normal for winter. As I enjoyed the ‘window weather’, I was remembering when I was a kid in LaSalette and how much fun it was.

When we had a snow day we played outside, sledding down the hill behind the barn or skating on the pond down by the crick. We built snow families, made snow angels, forts and had ferocious snow fights. Because there were five of us, we had enough on each side to keep it all interesting. We still had chores, which meant going, through snow up to our knees, to the barn to feed and water our horses and the cows and pigs when we had then.

No snow suits back then so we dried our layers of soaked pants, sweaters, coats, hats, scarves, gloves and boots, in front of the heater in the dining room, registers all over the house and even some in front of the oven.

We have lost a lot of that fun with the onslaught of cell phones, computers and digital remote learning. I feel sorry for kids today because they still have to do school work when they have a snow day. No unbridled freedom, fun and frivolity.

Something else we have lost over the years is darkness.  I grew up on a farm so no streetlights nor neighbour’s porch lights. When we turned out the lights at night, unless there was a bright moon, it was really dark.  We had a small flashlight on our nightstand to use if we had to go to the bathroom. These are no longer needed because the house is aglow with lights from all the technology available these days.

When I fell down the stairs my brother brought me three portable phones and placed them strategically around the house so I could always get to a phone if an emergency arose. They each have a red light. My land line has a red light. The TV box has a red light when off and a blue light when on. The box that runs my computer has some constant and some randomly blinking green lights. Two flashlights plugged into outlets each have a red light, which turns green and the light comes on if the hydro goes out. All the power bars in the house have red lights and all the CO and smoke detectors have white and red lights, although they only blink occasionally. The microwave has a green light; air fryer has a blue light as does the switch on a lamp in the dining room. All the digital clocks have illuminated faces including the one on the stove. I have an outlet near the sink in the kitchen which has a green light.

There is no such thing as “dark as night” anymore.

twocentsworth40@gmail.com

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