WATCHING SNOW BANKS GET HIGHER IN ‘49
DID YOU RANK THAT SNOWBANK (BY THE YARD LIGHT)?
I listened to this rancher’s tale of woe
Regarding the ’49 record snow;
(Because it wasn’t very long ago
Fargo had 100 inches of snow).
He said, “It was before the days of TV;
We watched the snow blow, we watched it in 3-D.
Your talk of all the tea in China, then,
We had more snow and snow banks, way back when!
SNOWBOUND IN THE BARN/WE GET THE DRIFT
With three days of blizzard and blowing snow
We couldn’t see but, could get vertigo.
Stranded in the barn, waiting for daylight
The cattle and hay warmed us all that night.
But, we couldn’t see to the house that day
We drank warm milk and then snoozed on the hay.
At chore time we fed, watered, and milked cows
And gave milk to the dog and cats and sows.
STANDING ON A SNOW BANK
Both day and night couldn’t see the yard light;
So we milked cows and spent another night.
The snow banks were so high from this crowning ‘blow’
To climb these snow banks we’d need a ski-tow!
The snow was swilling; it was so pure white,
We could have gotten lost and with frostbite.
And later that month, the yard light burned out
I climbed the snow bank with lots of self-doubt.
CHANGING A YARD LIGHT BULB
Would I fall through the snow, over my head?
A suffocation was what I would dread?
That’s half the story I was out and about,
I had to bend over and shovel it out!
While on top of that huge mountain of snow
I saw o’er the treetops and the view below.
As far as I could see it was pure white;
The year I stood there, and changed the yard light.
A SNOW JOB? NO BIZ LIKE “SNOW” BIZ
Watching them search for feed, a buck and a doe;
And if Santa came with his “Ho, Ho, Ho,”
He could have landed on the huge snow bank
And walked to the roof, without a gangplank.
The snow banks were a sight in the moonglow,
Then we heard of ‘more snow’ on the radio.
You could be questioning my hindsight
Of standing here and changing the yard light.
BENDING OVER TO READ THE YARD LIGHT?
The electricity went off that night
So we played cards and ate by lantern light.
The Snowmaker almost ran out of designs;
As it piled up to the electric lines.
Barbed wire didn’t stop the blowing snow.
We melted snow for batt’ry water, bored, you know.
The rot’ry plows came to clear the road that night
From the snow bank top, I bent to change the light. *
* IT WAS STILL LIT!
Orv Alveshere, ©1997
