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039
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EARLY WINTER
Winter on the Western Plains, for the homesteaders, was a dreaded time. If snow and cold came in September, it could be especially hard. The growing season, in Western Nebraska, could be as short at 90 days. Hay for the horses and cattle would have been harvested, but grain crops could still be in the field. Garden crops, such as carrots potatoes and cabbage, could be caught in an early freeze and be a catastrophe. These crops meant basic food for the family. The meat that was most often available was beef or pork, butchered on the farm. Farm families lived very well if crops matured early enough to be harvested.
I remember only one year when we got caught with an early freeze. I think that I was 12 years old, the year would have been 1919. The family was at the breakfast table, when the telephone rang with a series of short rings. This was a call from central that there was an announcement for all on the line. Dad went to the phone, he listened for a couple of minutes, then he hung up the receiver and came back to the table. "There is a snow and heavy wind coming our way, it is as far east as Sheridan, Wyoming, and will be here by night." His words meant only one thing, we had better get ready for a blizzard.
How could this be? This is only September, the sun was shining and not a cloud in the sky, it gave signs of being a warm day. Lawrence and I were just ready to go to school, the storm was a long way from us, and we should have plenty of time to get home before it got as far as Crawford, Nebraska.
It didn't take long for plans to be changed, I was not to go to school. Dad consulted Mumsie for a few minutes, then turned to me and said, "Do you think you could take Blossom and Dick and go to town and get some coal? Frank Lewis will help you load, you should get along very well if you take the river road into town." My first reaction was that of elation; sure I could do it, on second thought it didn't seem to be so good. I remembered that Dad had a problem getting Dick to cross the bridge, the wagon was almost upset one time on a trip to town, when Dick refused to step on the loose planks. When he did step on the planks, he gave a leap that nearly threw us from the wagon.
Dad helped me hitch the team to the wagon and gave final instructions for crossing the bridge and the railroad tracks. His last words were, "You may let the team trot going into town, but walk them when you come home, or you will lose some of the coal."
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Metzger Memories
