Transcription
Irene
NORTH POLE, Saturday, 1-29-77.
Dear Family,-
WOW! The coldest winter in 106 years! 52 m.p.hr. winds, drifting snow, blizzard conditions, zero visibility, airport shut down! Early in the week when the “heat-wave” had the thermometer up to between 10 and 15 degrees, the forecast for the weekend was a return to more bitter cold, more snow and more wind, possibly creating blizzard conditions. As much as I wanted to be at Jeannie’s surprise party for Bill to help him celebrate his 50th birthday, I pictured the Chicago airport closed with zero visibility, requiring my plane to land us in St.Louis, [sic] thereby making me miss the party. So I drove out to the Akron-Canton airport, turned in my ticket, and phoned Jeannie I would have to miss the BIG occasion. As the return of bad weather started Thursday night, by Friday morning the drifted snow in my driveway was so high that I would have phoned the airport and cancelled my flight then, so I wasn’t confronted with having made a wrong cancellation earlier. Now I am going to be interested in hearing how the weather was in Freeport.
It gives me a feeling of awe when MOTHER NATURE shows her power. And I don’t mind the temporary hardships - they create interesting experiences and serious problems and challenging solutions. Annie has had a kaput heating system and frozen pipes, Jeannie has had frozen pipes with Bill performing a “do-it-yourselfer” job with 60 ft. of heating tape, and Judy and John have had their share of winter problems. Now it is going to be interesting to hear the story each of you can tell about how you got through yesterday and today. Here’s my story:
Friday morning started off with the problem of getting my Volare backed out to the street. That took about 20 minutes with many repetitions of getting stuck and unstuck. Upon returning from my standard breakfast at Dodie’s (with the new substitution of two cups of hot tomato juice for my former two cups of half-n-half “pale amber” – thereby supporting the boycott on coffee), I did not try to get through the drifting snow in my driveway, but pushed in just far enough to get the rear of the car clear of the ploughed street. When I went to lunch I could not find a parking spot at Dodie’s where I could be sure of not getting stuck, so I drove all the way out to Fairlawn to Baulin’s, where they always keep their parking area ploughed. I went into the news store there to get the noon B.J. It had not arrived yet (it was about 1:00 p.m.) and when I asked how soon it might arrive, the answer was that they were closing for the rest of the day. So I had to go over to the restaurant without my B.J. to read (I had read the P.D. at breakfast) and was told that they were closing in 5 minutes. I said, “What can you give me in 5 minutes” and was told the kitchen was closed but they still had hot soups at the counter. So my quickie lunch consisted of a bowl of hot soup, a cold piece of banana pie, and a hot chocolate. On the way back from lunch I stopped at the gas station where they have ploughing service, and while he was filling up my tank I asked him about getting their plough truck out to my house. He asked if I was a regular contract customer. When I said “No” he said their truck had so many contract customers to take care of that it would not be able to get around to me for several days. So I went hunting for a truck and saw one working in the driveway of a home. I stopped, walked into the driveway and asked him if he was interested in a job on the corner of Merriman Road and Palisades Drive. He said “Sure, I’m just finished here.” Whereupon he followed me home, ploughed my driveway in 5 minutes, and charged me only $10.00 (a rate of $2.00 per minute, which I was glad to pay). Once in my garage again, I closed the doors and stayed home for the rest of the day, dining in the evening on Lipton’s instant soup and hot chocolate, made with Annie’s Sunbeam Hot Beverage Maker. To be a good citizen and conserve gas, I have turned my thermostat down to 20. I am wearing three layers of underwear which keep me comfortable at 20° downstairs (upstairs it stays at about 16°), and when I go out I put on three layers of lumberjack wool shirts, being dressed just as I am up at the Hessel Winter Carnival. (The above degrees are Centigrade, the name that I was taught at Henry School.) Now let’s hear from the rest of you.
WTranscriber
Cindi RokeLanguage
English