TRIBULATIONS OF 1996-97
Halfway through the winter of 1996-97, I found myself questioning my family’s decision to make North Dakota our home.
Blizzard after blizzard often stranded us at home, making it impossible to get to work and school.
Our teenage son was quickly inducted into the unofficial defensive winter driving club. I am grateful for the many people who pulled him out of deep snowdrifts and ditches.
I remember distinctly a snowdrift that formed in our rural backyard. It nearly reached the power line that went through our yard.
According to Prairie Public Radio, the Grand Forks Herald named one of the winter storms “Hannah.” I, too, had some names for the umpteenth blizzard to hit us, but they can’t be printed here.
It has been a couple decades since that infamous winter. My hubby and I are still here – older and somewhat wiser. We are crossing our arthritic fingers in the hope Old Man Winter will take it easy on us for another winter, but the word on the street is it’s going to be a rough one. In that case, I had better find some good books to read and learn how to make hot toddies.
Judy Bennett
Northern Plains Electric Cooperative
TRYING TIMES
I don’t know which was the worst, but I recall four bad winters.
In 1942-43, I was in the first grade in a country school, and my father’s truck got stuck in snow a mile from home. He had to carry me home, then my mother put me to bed with warm blankets, as my legs had frostbite. There were no warm snowsuits or boots back then.
In January and February 1948, our school was closed for six weeks, as the teacher and students could not get there due to the snow. We all passed our grades anyway. A plane dropped mail and groceries in our yard.
In 1949-50, I was in high school when blizzards hit again. The National Guard tried to open roads, but winds drifted them shut, so they later went into fields to make a new road.
I was boarding in Mott, but got home one weekend and my parents had to hire a plane for me and a neighbor to get back to school. The snow was higher than our clothesline. Mott had major flooding that spring, and we all had to get painful typhoid shots.
In 1974, a blizzard came up suddenly and the school bus left our oldest daughter with neighbors 3 miles away because of low visibility. She had a serious asthma attack with no medicine. When we finally got her, we took her to the Elgin hospital, where she was treated for dehydration.
Technology and equipment have changed much since those trying times.
Marlene Kouba
Slope Electric Cooperative
BLIZZARD OF MARCH 1975
During the blizzard of March 1975, we had about 90 to 100 cows to milk every morning and night. The milk truck couldn’t get here, so we had to open the spigot on the bulk tank after milking and let the milk go down the drain.
We had pigs at that time, too, and I remember carrying water to them in 5-gallon pails. I fell as I was trudging through the snow with the pails and lost all the water I was carrying. I wanted to cry, but I couldn’t since I thought the tears would probably freeze on my face, so I told myself just be strong and go on.
After the storm was over, the snowbanks were so high, you couldn’t see the fence or the corral where the pigs were. The snowbanks were so hard, the pigs walked out of the corrals and were all over the yard.
I remember freezing my face bringing the cows in and later peeling the skin off my face. The snowbanks were so hard, I remember the huge Versatile tractors ramming into the snowbanks to break them loose.
The National Guard was called in to help on Highway 16.
We didn’t lose any animals, which made me thankful.
It was a storm I will never forget!
Brenda Maus
Goldenwest Electric Cooperative
UPCOMING READER REPLY QUESTIONS
February: What is the best advice you would give your younger self?
Deadline for submission: Jan 12
March: What do you love about your small-town grocery store?
Deadline for submission: Feb. 11
Published replies pay $25. Email to ndliving@ndarec.com or mail to READER REPLY, North Dakota Living, P.O. Box 727, Mandan, ND 58554-0727.
