A WINTER REMINISCENCE

 

Ina was pleased with the panoramic effect of these two photos. 1934

In February 1936, my grandmother wrote the following to my dad:

We have about three feet of snow and it is cold. It began piling up week before last and we have had sub-zero weather off and on ever since. A week ago Friday at 9:30 p.m., it was -12 degrees. That’s the coldest we have noted. Yesterday a.m., it was -8 degrees, this a.m. -6 degrees. The highest we noted today was +4 degrees. Dad keeps a lantern in the cellar “of a nite” and nothing has frozen. At Musser’s it registered -19 degrees. Reports from Saskatchewan are as low as -55 degrees, Montana -40 degrees. I dread to think of Pearl [a daughter living the farm life in Alberta]. They were on a little trip to Stettler in January and got onto ice and nearly had an upset. Then they couldn’t get the car out of the ditch and started, so Al [Pearl’s husband] had to go for help half a mile away while Pearl sat in the car at -31 degrees. Sometimes they use a sleigh in such weather.

Grandpa and Dick the Dog, 1934

Ina continues: The front door is corked up. We have been using the dining room evenings during this cold weather. It is so much warmer, but I’m going back to the living room as soon as possible. I make a little fire in our room every evening now so that the bed is warm. I warm my clothes by the stove.

Taken in the 1920s

Brrrrrr! Winter on the farm was difficult in that era. My grandparents didn’t have indoor plumbing, so Grandpa hauled water, and of course, it fell to him to split and carry firewood into the house. They heated with wood – no furnace. And especially in remote areas, this was common in that era. As we know, it’s tougher to tolerate cold temps the older we get. Even though Mike and I sleep in a cold room by choice (his), I’m grateful when I get up in the middle of the night that the bathroom is just the next room instead of outside.

Bess has been sleeping inside on her pillow the last couple of weeks while the nights are cold. She expects this now, but Mike will probably convince her to retire to her kennel again when it’s warmer. KW