Tuesday, February 12, 2008

WINTER MEMORIES

Wendell was just mentioning that he remembered Thanksgiving back in the 1950's.. big snowfall.. 36".. They lived on a dairy farm and had to get the milk out. He said his brother Jim put chains on the tractor and drove to Rt 8 with the milk.. a matter of about 3 miles. It took him all day.

The neighbors down the road from them had a baby that needed milk formula. Wendell's dad rode one of the work horses to their home to deliver supplies. The snow was as high as the horse's belly. One had to shovel a path to wherever one wished to go.. Wendell says he dug tunnels to play in.

I don't remember that snowfall, but I was pretty little then.. likely a toddler.

I do remember sled riding on Menk's hill. It was adjacent to our home in Upper Burrell. We didn't have enough sleds, so we used anything that we could sit on to go down the hill. It was a fabulous ride..long and slippery. No trees as there are today and clear sailing all the way to the bottom. Dad was a television salesman/repairman, and had lots of huge boxes that we took apart and used for a sled. You could pack a lot of kids on a big piece of cardboard. It actually went better than a sled. In the evenings, the neighborhood kids would come around and we would throw water on the hillside to make ice for a starting point. I can still remember being thrown off the cardboard as we went flying down the hill.

It was Wendy who rode down a long hill on a tobaggon at a sled riding party when she was nearly a teenager. She refused to sit in the front position saying "We'll wreck and I'll break my leg".. so one of the adults got into that position and not long after, they crashed, and he did break a leg.
I think my brother Bill broke a finger in a tobaggon accident.
I've never ridden a tobaggon, and I think now would not be a good time to test one out.

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