After reading Sandi's story today, thought I would share with you and just wondering how ya'll are doing out there whereever you live during this time of year??? Amazingly, here in Northeartern Washington state, we do NOT have any of that 'white stuff' that falls fr the sky...if I spell it backwards I keep hoping it will stay away- W O N S - does that means we 'wons'...[grin]. The boys did get me a sno blower so that will help the ole achy bones when time comes to start the shouveling. Temperatures here have been pleasant enough for this time of the year, around 30-40, we had abt 4 days of heavy rains, which our pasture and pond now over floweth and the native geese and ducks are enjoying the fresh moving waters. I sure can relate to alot in Sandi's story as I do live on a ranch in the woods and all our 12 cord of wood was cut and split by my sons & friends earlier this summer; we had a new roof put on; redid our whole pasture fence so burro's and mr goat won't be going for midnite adventures; even got all the loose tin back on the barn that flew off & came unscrewed on some windy autumn days & got our hay in before the rains. We do raise alot of our own pork, chickens, etc..and my sons are very avid hunters so I can alot & jerky venison as well as fish we catch & we have a nice garden. I know whats its like to think abt the critters in the winter. Our geese, ducks, chickens, guineas & rabbits all run loose and I am always concerned there is enough insulation & heat lamps in the chicken house and little hideaways for the rabbits to find cover around the yard or in the barn. We toss a whole bale of straw to the last 2 piggies we have & as nite falls to ck on them, they are buried so not even an ear is visible. We have a well only 16' deep as we live abt 1/4mi fr the Pend Oreille River but we keep a heat light in the well house the boys built over the top of the well when they were in HS & I even keep a lite on for the 8 outside cats in the garage as well as ole blankets for them to cuddle & stay warm. The boys put in an underground electrical line with a plug outlet by the water trough long ago, so we can plug in the trough heater to keep the water fr freezing & critters have fresh water. Its really amazing once one thinks abt everything one needs to do to be 'winter prepared' even today if you live where there is cold & in the country but I would not take anything for this living. I truly enjoy it, but I understand like the Pioneers of ole, that preparation for winter comes by the middle of summer, even for this ole transplanted Texas gal. My one enjoyment we have already been taking advantage of is the hot tub we got this summer & truly there is nothing like being in 104 deg water, telling stories, listening to the sounds of nature & gazing to the falling dusk over the Canadian Rockies to our North. How blessed we are, right, having a few more conveniences than our ancestors in 1792 & Thankful they made it so we COULD be here too! May you all be blessed by Sandi's story. Merry Christmas fr the 'Cook Ranch'. From: Sandi Gorin <sgorin@glasgow-ky.com> To: KYRESEARCH-L@rootsweb.com Subject: TIP #421 - KENTUCKY SNOWSTORM Date: Thu, 19 Dec 2002 06:55:10 -0600 TIP # 421 KENTUCKY SNOWSTORM "As I look out the window there is a little bit of snow remains on the ground, left over from a storm late last week. More is predicted, but most of Kentucky doesn't suffer from a lot of the big snows of the past. While reading the old newspapers, there seems there used to be a lot more snow than there is today. I love snow - but now, older than I was ... only on Christmas eve and Christmas Day! But while watching the weather reports from around other parts of the United States, I began thinking of how the early settlers coped with the snow. We see reports of people going for over a week without power in North Carolina, and of traffic snarled on slick roads. What did the pioneers do? Go back in your mind to Christmas 1792. Kentucky was a fledgling state - the Commonwealth of Kentucky - oh, that sounded so wonderful to the early pioneers. They had staked out their land, built some sort of a cabin, fought off the Indian attacks, and brought their families from Virginia, the Carolinas, Pennsylvania; all to this wonderful state called the Kentucky. The state was changing ever so slowly from being the land of blood to the land of peace. Rich soil, beautiful streams, every sort of wildlife imaginable fired the passion in the souls of those early brave men, women and children. The crops of spring and summer had outdone themselves in production. The soft breezes, the sound of the coyote in the distance, the magnitude of the stars overhead; all held promise of a glorious life. As the whispering leaves began to change into their fall wardrobes of gold, red and brown, the husband knew that the days were getting shorter and that he would have to lay in a supply of firewood, meat and provisions for the coming winter months. As evenings began to come earlier, he hurried his pace even more. Chopping wood which seemed like it would take an eternity until his shoulders and back ached so he could no longer lift the axe over his head. He finished the storage area for the crops, normally built into a hillside or in a sheltered place if possible, with the door opening in so the snow piles would not keep him from getting to the food their family would need. Potatoes, beans, preserves, hams, beef, anything to tide them over. Next he had to check on the livestock if he had been fortunate enough to have a small herd of cattle, pigs, chickens, geese along with his horses and oxen, dogs and cats. He asked himself if he had harvested enough hay to last the winter - and he remembered the hours spent in the open fields with a sythe, swinging it back and forth in the hot sun. [Oh, to have some of that warmth now!] The hay had been piled in high stacks, row after row in the animal shelter and he checked to see that there was room for all the livestock and provisions to keep them alive through the long winter months. Water! He'd have to rely on the spring down the hill for that, the spring shouldn't freeze over but he'd had to make trip after trip up and down that hill to furnish enough water for his family as well as his animals. Inside the cabin, the wife was working furiously at getting preparations made too. She made extra of everything and found little cubby holes to store food stuffs in. Her fingers were becoming calloused - she had helped swing that axe too, and had been busy at the spinning wheel trying to get warmer winter clothes for the children. They normally went barefoot but now they needed shoes for the winter. Before the days became too short, they would walk or ride to the mercantile, a 10 mile journey perhaps. If they didn't have the money to buy the remaining goods they needed, they would barter or run a charge account. The wife carefully looked over the shelves knowing how much she could spend to the penny. Sugar, salt, perhaps a little molasses, a patent medicine if she didn't know how to make her own medicine. Hmmm... just enough for a spool of thread and some jeans material. Fresh fruit - how wonderful that sounded, but the cost of just one apple would take the rest of her money; it had been shipped for many miles and the cost driven up with each mile. Maybe she could afford 4 apples for a Christmas treat. Then, in the middle of the night, the snows came. The winds were so strong that the father could barely push against it to get outside to care for the animals in the morning. Everything was white, everything looked alike as he tried to find his way to the barn. Water, they needed water. As he slipped and slid to the spring, he might make the awful discovery that the spring had indeed frozen. Chopping away at ice, he climbed and fell until he reached the barn again - trip after trip. Then the family. The children were so excited, not noticing the cold like the parents did. Cheerfully sticking red noses out the door, they wanted to play, but the father knew that they could not go out in weather like this. The window, only one in the cabin, had been covered with old cloth, they hadn't gotten this window glass that some people were raving about. The winds blew so hard that the mother had to stand by the window and hold it down. She was rushing back and forth to keep the fire going and told the father that they must have more logs for the fire. The baby's crib was moved closer to the fire, she was so young and couldn't take this cold. They had shoved their own straw mattress over as close as they could without letting it catch on fire from an ember from the fireplace. And the snows came. Day after day without reprieve. The livestock was suffering; he'd found a couple of the chickens frozen in the corner the day before. They had stopped laying eggs totally. Carefully, he gathered up what geese and chickens he could, trip after trip, and brought them into the warmth of the cabin - if warmth is what it could be called. He made a little nest in the corner for them and the fowl settled in contentedly. But he couldn't lose his horses; he needed them to ride. And the few cows were getting scrawnier and mooed almost constantly - he could hear them above the howling winds. The calf was gone by next morning, frozen as it lay next to it's starving mother. "Lord," he prayed, "we're not going to make it if the snows don't stop, please stop the snows." By morning, the sun was glistening on the snow, piled in places as high as the roof of the cabin. Sunshine! A little dripping could be heard from the roof as the icicles relaxed and started thawing. A moo was heard from the barn, but it was not the plaintive crying of previous days. It was a restless mooing of a cow who had been cooped up way too long. Day by day, the snows decreased on the ground and the little gurgling of the spring could be heard between the delighted giggles of the children who had rushed outside to play in the snow. They had made it, the firewood had held, the food supplies were still plentiful. But as the mother and father stood in the doorway they knew that this was only December. December 25th and they shared those precious apples. Merry Christmas friends! Sandi" (c) Copyright Sandra K. Gorin, 19 December 2002, All Rights Reserved. sgorin@glasgow-ky.com Col. Sandi Gorin>Publishing: http://ggpublishing.tripod.com/ GORIN worldconnect website: http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/~sgorin SCKY resource links: http://www.public.asu.edu/~moore/Gorin.html = KYRESEARCH Mailing List ==== _________________________________________________________________ The new MSN 8: advanced junk mail protection and 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail