Wow what a difference a few years makes from snow days then versus snow days now? Actually it’s been well over 50 years since I was that little girl excited to hear that it was going to snow. Back then my brothers and I couldn’t wait for the snowflakes to start falling enough to make our little corner of the world wintry white. I can remember watching meteorologist Don Woods and Gusty, a simple cartoon character he would quickly draw on screen to know if you needed to grab your sunscreen, umbrella or your snow boots. So we would all sit glued to the big old screen television in the living room (like most homes back then that only had one in the family room) and we would pray that Gusty needed his snow shovel, scarf and snow boots.

Of course back then children didn’t get to stay up until 10 o’clock to see all the school closings roll across the screen as you patiently had to wait to see your school in alphabetic order go by. We had to get up early the next morning and watch the 6 o’clock as we ate breakfast just in case we had to catch the bus that came by our house first at 6:30 a.m. since we lived the farthest out on Tiger Mountain. Our bus driver ol’ Clyde Lee would honk as he came by the first time giving us our three minute warning as he went up around the bend to get the McKay boys. Then he would honk again as he pulled up and we all came running out the door to get on the bus before he flew to the next house.

But if it was a snow day and we had watched the words Checotah Public Schools go across that television screen, buddy we were back in our rooms layering up to go outside to play in that wintery wonderland. From making snow angels to making snow ice cream we did it all. We also loved to sled down our big old hill since our house was at the top of that hill. We had a couple sleds if I remember right but our favorite one was this red round saucer one with handles. You would sit in it cross-legged and stuff your gloves into the rope handles then usually someone had to push you to get you going down the hill. Well I had older brothers who had no problem pushing me around. So one snowy day I was pushed by one of them and as I navigated swiftly towards the big ol’ farm truck parked at the base of the hill they both screamed jump off (which I couldn’t being so little and my gloves stuffed into the handles). However, I did slow down a bit as I face-planted into the 20-gallon gas tank on the truck and slipped under it. As they came running to my rescue a little late, I screamed and cried loud enough seeing all the red-colored snow as my mom came tearing down the hill to find that my bottom teeth had gone through my bottom lip. Needless to say that was the end of our outside snow day as momma cleaned me up and then did some tearing up of some brothers behinds for letting it happen. But that was just part of being a country kid, you usually had a lot of fun and you had the scars to prove it.

Snow days were even more fun though when my daddy joined in the fun. We would have the biggest snowball fights. Then he would hook up the tractor to an old hood of an oldsmobile we had and pull us all over the yard and even down the road. We would all be squealing with glee as we slid from side to side and we begged him to go faster.

Daddy also took us out to the pond where we could skate across the ice. Of course it was always after he checked to see if the ice was thick enough. But one time it wasn’t thick enough and I remember hearing the splash as he went through the ice. My brothers and I were all screaming and panicking as the boys struggled to pull him out of the frigid water to the bank’s edge. He was scared too I think but we were all more scared of mama. He already knew she’d be mad and told us not to tell but it was kind of hard to explain everyone being soaking wet when we finally made it inside and we were frozen like a popsicle. Needless to say, that was the end of that snow day too. Mama was madder than a wet hen for sure but she helped strip off all our wet layers and made us all hot cocoa as we thawed by the woodstove that she cranked up with extra logs.

Yes, snow days were fun for the most part when I was a kid. But as we all got older we understood the pressure winter would bring with having livestock and animals outside. I remember too well cropping the ice on the ponds for our cattle to get a drink and beating the ice off the bales of hay. It wasn’t quite as fun and glamorous as making snow men and snow angels. In fact, it was a lot of hard work preparing before the winter storms hit. Plus during the storms we had water bowls that had to be emptied of solid ice and filled with some warm water for the dogs to drink before they got back into their doghouses. It never failed that a calf or two would be born during these horrific snow storms and we would usually have to bring in the calf to keep it warm. Whether it was into the barn or into the bathtub if it was too small, no there was never a dull moment growing up on a farm.

Now that I’m grown up and we don’t have all the cattle anymore, you would think times would be easier but they are not. I have my own crew of rescues (24 dogs and cats) and I absolutely loathe the cold weather. What it means for my feral TRN colony of 12 -15 cats is all of them having to get along. Then all of them have to hunker down together in the cat houses with heating pads or sharing the space under the heating lamps. I have one heated water bowl but the rest of the bowls have to be emptied and refilled with warm water even though it will freeze faster, it won’t cool their bodies down as much. Of course it also means feeding them 2-3x a day because the feed freezes too and then they won’t eat and they waste it. Which feed is not cheap nowadays and it’s easy to drop $100-$200 on one feed trip. Plus I always have rescues (puppies or kittens) in the house and the rest of our crew and also my grand dog and grand cats. So to say we have a houseful is an understatement. There is always a mouth to feed or a mess to clean up but snow days make it even harder because no one likes to go outside in this stuff and then they track back in all the muck and mire.

I also suffer from an autoimmune disease that cold weather causes it to flare up and my fingers split open so that stinks and definitely hurts as well. So though the snow is beautiful to look at through the window or through the lens of a camera it’s not so fun when you run a funny farm and the jokes on you. So snow days then versus snow days now look a little different, but the one thing that still warms my heart is the love of family and fur babies and of course hot cocoa as we all gather around a warm fire and hunker down.