WHEN WINTERS WERE WINTERS!

       This mild winter to date reminded me when one particular winter was one that just didn't quit. It was 1961 and we had just moved to Laurel, Iowa from our farm home south of town. The home we moved into was owned by our Uncle Pat Laverty and was just a block north of the school.

      At the time it sounded like a good idea to work for the school shoveling snow on the sidewalks around the school. Besides I had worked at the school during the summer and how hard could shoveling a little snow be?

  I should have passed on this one. The winter of 61-62 was during my senior year and I did shovel snow for the school. And, I mean with a shovel. There were no snow blowers or they did not have a little tractor with a blade. Nope! A shovel! Thank goodness I wasn't responsible for the drive ways. 

      That winter it just snowed and snowed and the snowed some more. And, it never seemed to melt off. Those side walks were like canyons. I lifted that snow up and up some more. Only a few months earlier I was riding leisurely around the school grounds on a riding lawnmower. Those winters were winters!