HAT TIPS
Hello,
This past weekend was the big storm in the east. Now it did turn into a dang sure snowstorm. But unlike storms here, their snow will melt in a few days, the sun will come out, the cherry trees will blossom, and all will be well. Here, you get a storm in October, and that snow will most likely be there until May. There are some years when it doesn’t even melt, just wears out.
Three weeks ago, Washington got an inch of snow and ice and their world came to a standstill. But this big storm was in the forecast and they actually made it through pretty good.
I get a kick out of watching the weather reporters. They bundle up and stand in a drift or a river. Holding onto umbrellas or hats and scarves. The one I enjoyed this weekend had ski goggles on! Really! Ski goggles on while he was giving the weather report. I bet his wife was even embarrassed.
There were a few reported deaths from shoveling snow. I always warn Shirley about shoveling too fast.
It’s kind of like that saying I saw on Facebook. “If you find me dead on a jogging path, you will know I was killed somewhere else and my body dumped there!”
I don’t suppose there is anything scarier than a good old Dakota whiteout. You know the kind I mean. One where you don’t dare go forward because you can’t see the road at all. You have Shirley hanging out the window trying to see the edge of the road. You don’t dare stop because you might get hit from the back.
One time Kenny and I were hauling a load of yearlings to Nebraska and got caught in a blizzard in South Dakota. It was a ripper. Somewhere on 281 we came to a junction where several trucks had stopped. We turned our truck east and shut down for the night. Wind must have been 70 mph and snowing hard. Visibility was less than zero! By morning we had drifted in and our fuel was gelling up. We got the truck creeping ahead and made it into Woonsocket. That’s right! Woonsocket! At Woonsocket, the guy that owned the bar also owned a feedlot. He got his loader running and cleared snow so we could get the cattle unloaded. We spent the next three days between an old hotel and a bar and steakhouse in Woonsocket. And that’s all I’m going to say about that, because Shirley reads this column.
But the best blizzard story I can come up with this morning relates to a friend I had in the Legislature years ago. He had stopped at the Pour Farm south of Minot on his way home. Well, it was pretty nasty and he needed a break from the road. If I had been there, I wouldn’t have let him leave. You know, “friends don’t let friends…” Anyway, he stopped and visited quite awhile. And when he took off he shouldn’t have been on the road. And luckily, he wasn’t for very long.
He ran in the ditch a bit down the road. And being a good law abiding citizen he was determined to not speed. That snow was blowing by his car and he kept both hands on the wheel. He held that speedometer at 55 mph for several minutes, not realizing he was sitting still.
The patrolman walked up to his window and tapped on it! Yeoww!!! You can imagine how that old boy jumped! To this day, he has never taken another drink.
I miss him.
Later,
Dean