I know that the calendar says that it’s spring, but since we had snow this last weekend I’m not so sure.
I’ve always hated winter. I think this idea started when we had a terrible blizzard in the 1950’s. My parents, sister, and I were living in the country, and we depended on a road grader to clear our country roads. Although this generally took a few days, we stayed snowed in a lot longer than usual during this particular incident. Since our farmhouse was located 1/4 to 1/2 mile from the country road and our 4 wheel drive jeep couldn’t make it to the snowplowed road, we had to place groceries and other supplies on a wooden sled and pull it to and from the main road. As you can imagine, these were not “fun” trips.
Nighttime wasn’t fun either. We used a kerosene lamp for light. Since my parents had lived many years without electricity, they didn’t seem to mind it. However, this was new to me, and I hated the dark. Although I hadn’t heard of the term “depression” before, I’m sure that I was depressed during this time. As far as I was concerned, light was a necessity.
The relentless cold was another factor. If you’ve ever experienced living in a place with no central heat or air conditioning, I think you’re beginning to get the picture. Keeping 4 of the 20 rooms in an old Kansas limestone house warm was impossible with only two small propane stoves. We had to sleep in unheated bedrooms too so by the time I got up in the morning I was almost warm enough to sleep.
So as you can see, I really enjoy looking at pictures of lovely snow scenes, but I have too many memories from the past to enjoy winter.
Hurry up Spring! J.A.S.