When I was a little girl I couldn’t wait for it to snow so my older brothers and I could go sledding down the hill at my childhood homestead. If there was enough snow, Daddy would even hook up his little tractor to an old car hood and pull us all over the yard as we squealed in delight. We didn’t care how deep the snow was, whether it was a couple inches or several inches. We just loved building a snowman, making snow angels and having a big snowball fight. We also liked to tempt fate and skate out across our frozen ponds. As I look back over fifty years ago, I realize now that snow days were some of our best days or at least some of our most memorable.

We had moved to the Tiger Mountain/Pierce area from the Oklahoma City/Yukon area the summer before I turned four. Though all we knew was living in city limits, my parents had been raised on farms in the country and wanted us to experience that same way of life. So when my grandparents moved to Tiger Mountain, we followed a few years behind them in the summer of ‘72.

Living on 80 acres and farming another 160 acres with cattle and crops, it didn’t take much to turn me into a country girl that loved running around barefoot all summer but hated having to put on boots for the winter. However, my grandmother knew the importance of a good pair of boots or waterproof galoshes to go over layer after layer of knee high socks. Sometimes I swear they would dress me in so many layers as we went to feed the cows that I could barely bend my arms or legs. Of course, all those layers came in handy when I got older and had to help put out the cubes and chop the ice on the pond so the cattle could get a drink.

I have so many great memories of playing in the snow. I also have some harrowing stories like the time we were all skating on the frozen pond and my dad fell through the ice. It took both my brothers to get him out and a scary lesson was definitely learned that day. I also have scars in my bottom lip from where my brother pushed me down the hill in a round saucer sled. I was going so fast and toward the old truck at the bottom of the hill but I couldn’t get my hands out of the straps with my big ol’ gloves on. Fortunately the big gas tank on the truck finally stopped me. Unfortunately, I hit it full force and put my teeth through my bottom lip. It’s amazing how red snow can turn with your blood pouring out of your mouth but my brother’s backside was redder after my mama got ahold of him.

So many memories of long ago flood my mind. I remember when we got the worst snow storm we had ever seen and snow drifts were three feet or more. I plowed through that snow on county roads in a poor Pontiac Grand Am to get to my parent’s house to tend to animals. Then about a mile from the house I got stuck in a snowbank and had to start walking. Thank goodness my grandma had told me to always keep a pair of boots and an extra blanket in the car. As I put them on and trudged through the snow I was thankful I listened and more thankful when my neighbor was out feeding his cattle and came to my rescue.

Nowadays, I prefer to look at the snow through the living room window with a cup of hot tea and honey in my hand. It’s beautiful as it covers the ground, the bushes and the tree limbs. I love feeding the little birds and watching them. My silly pit bull pup Sterling also thinks the snow is amazing and runs circles around our storage shed as she tears through the snow and shoves her nose under the snow drifts. I laugh at all her antics and again I’m reminded that snow days are definitely the most memorable days of all and I’m glad I still get to enjoy them.