NORTHWEST ARKANSAS — We’ve been having some real winter weather in the Ozarks lately. It is 7 degrees as I write this. It has been awhile since we’ve seen temperatures below zero, but we may soon be reminded of what that feels like. Just when I start thinking that we just don’t have cold, cold winters like we used to have, here comes one.
Back in 1983, when we were living in Searcy, the temperatures got down below zero throughout January. For cattlemen, deep cold like that causes lots of extra work. The water ponds freeze, maybe two or three feet deep and the work of keeping ice broken to give the cattle water is intense. Both my dad and Nancy’s dad were raising cattle back then. We made a trip home to Pea Ridge during that cold spell and I got in on the pond chopping for a couple of days. I was getting around on the slick roads in Ray Patterson’s ’59 Chevy pickup. Ray had the pickup loaded with a load of wood to help give it traction, but even with that, I gauged my speed a bit wrong as I started to turn off from Arkansas Hwy.
72 onto Weston Street and slid into the ditch. Fortunately the ditch was frozen hard and I was able to get enough traction to get going again.
Snowy and icy weather makes a person want to stay in. Nancy and I have been doing that quite a bit during this snow storm.
Nancy feeds the birds out back of the house and they have been coming in droves during the harsh weather.
When the cold wind is blowing, the birds like to perch on the window ledges where they are shielded from the cold air. That situation gives our cat fits. Our house cat, Miss Mia, who is named after her veterinarian, is not allowed to go outside to hunt birds, but she is an avid birdwatcher, especially when they are sitting just through the glass on the window ledge, not six inches from her nose. We have a little table against the window and she sits on the table looking out the window, curling her tail and making this funny, guttural sound in her throat.
So, while we are somewhat housebound, we spend some time watching the cat watch the birds.
I’m thinking back to the years on the farm when we would be snowed in during winter storms. By snowed in, I have to refer here mostly to not beingable to get up and down the roads. When we couldn’t get to town, that was being “snowed in.” Actually I don’t ever recall being confined to the house by wintery weather. For a dairy farm family, things had to be done everyday outside and in the barn, so snow storms or ice storms couldn’t be allowed to keep us inside. The cows had to be milked and fed, the chickens had to be fed and watered and the eggs collected, even if the weather was icy. Also, we kids wanted to get out with our sleds when there was a good coating of sleet or ice on the ground. At least after the sleet or ice had formed and things settled down, we could look forward to some great sledding. I remember back in about 1949, we had snow on the ground then a night of freezing rain and reallycold temperatures the next day. It was a great day for sledding. We could go up to the southwest corner of the field south of the barn, take off downhill on our sleds and ride for what seemed like a mile. Of course the walk back up there felt like a mile too. But that was one great year for sledding.
Of course in icy weather we stayed in the house more than usual. We did a few things that were just for passing the time. One that I recall was puttingtogether jigsaw puzzles.
We had some that were 500 pieces and a few with 1,000 pieces. That was something several of us could work on together. Shortly after W.W.
II, pictures of the great war planes of that era were often cut into jigsaw puzzles.
We also played some board games like checkers or Chinese Checkers (the marble game), Game of the States and later Monopoly. Then, too, cold snowy days were invitations for catching up on napping.
The times of being snowed in were also good for practicing the fiddle or the guitar or the mandolin.
I also got a start on learning to work on pianos.
We had an old Ellington upright piano, built about 1910. After the years pass, the cushioning felts would get flat and hard, the return straps on the note mechanisms would break and the keys would become uneven in height. I spent some cold weather time replacing felts and straps and adjusting the mechanisms. Oddly, the old piano still played.
I’m surprised that Mom let me do that.
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Editor’s note: Jerry Nichols, a native of Pea Ridge, is a retired Methodist minister with a passion for history. He is vice president of the Pea Ridge Historical Society. He can be contacted by e-mail at joe369@ centurytel.net, or call 621-1621.
Community, Pages 5 on 02/09/2011