Kindly readers keep responding to my recent columns about advanced weather forecasting and the great Nebraska blizzard in 1888 that killed hundreds of school children who died from exposure trying to make to their prairie homes from their one-room schoolhouses.
This week’s response to those columns comes from Irene, the “egg woman,” with a family story about another deadly blizzard other than the one in 1888. Here’s her story:
“Your column on the 1888 blizzard in Nebraska reminded me of what my mother told me about a blizzard in early March of 1927. My mother, age 20, was the second of seven children. Her mother, my grandmother, was in the hospital at McCook, Neb., after giving birth to the seventh child.
“The younger sister of my grandmother and her young son from Colorado were visiting the family on their farm about 30 miles from McCook. My mother, her aunt, her older brother, and her 4-year-old brother decided to visit my grandmother and the new baby at the hospital in McCook. The school-age children including the aunt’s son were left at the one-room country school.
“When they began the trip home, it was snowing hard. They came upon two children trying to walk home, so they put them in the car and took them to the childrens’ home. As they proceeded after letting off the children at their home, the group realized they would not be able to reach their farm, so they went back to the house where they had left the children and asked to stay. The children’s father said, ‘No.’ He gave no reason. There were two salesmen at the house, and they, too, were not allowed to stay.
“The group, which now included the salesmen, decided to go back to the hospital in McCook. Soon the Model T would go no farther, so they began walking. One of the salesmen was carrying a heavy suitcase. It probably contained his wares. He refused to give it up, so my mother grabbed it and threw it into the ditch. After walking a while, my mother thought she saw the hospital on the other side of a field. The others thought she was hallucinating, but they followed her across the field. She had been correct. They knocked on the hospital door, however no one came, so my mother used her knee to break the glass. That got some attention, and my mother and her companions were given supper and warm beds.
“Several years later the hospital suffered minor damage from a cyclone. The Catholic sisters who ran the hospital jokingly told my grandfather, ‘We thought it was your daughter.’
“What happened to the children at school? The neighbors took them to their own homes. My mother told me no one worried about the children, as they knew the neighbors would take care of them. Would that happen in today’s society?”
***
I read an article recently where some bio-scientists were growing actual wood in their laboratory using a gene-manipulating technique similar to that of growing “fake meat.”
The scientists were making plant-growing cells similar to stem-cells in animals. Their basic cells came from a common flower. And then some way they were programming those cells to morph into “tree wood” cells.
As if that bit of science isn’t crazy enuf to wrap your brain around, how about this? The scientists believe that ultimately they can “grow” the fake wood material into any size and shape they desire.
So, the future of buying one-piece wooden furniture might be to order a lab-grown chair or table direct from the “fake wood” store — grown into the size/shape you order.
I swear I read the story. I’ll leave it to you to believe it will happen sometime.
***
It wuz “take your child to work day” at the local short-line farm machinery factory where a young farmer worked as a welder during the day shift. The farmer/welder’s 8-year-old daughter was all excited about the visit and had been for weeks. In preparation to the visit, her dad had done his best to explain in advance all about his job, his work place and his co-workers.
On the big day, as the farmer/daughter pair were meandering around the factory floor, the daughter began to cry and get cranky.
Her concerned father bent over and asked his daughter what wuz wrong. The little gal continued sobbing so loudly that a group of co-workers gathered around.
Finally, the little gal sobbed out why she wuz so unhappy. She sobbed loudly, “Daddy, where are all the goofy, ignorant clowns you said you worked with?”
***
Ol’ Jay Esse from Colorado sends me lots of wise words to end my columns with. Here’s a few off of his stack that’s accumulated on my desk:
Life is too short to drive boring cars.
If a cow doesn’t produce enuf milk, is she a ‘milk dud’ or an ‘udder failure?’
Advice to men: You should always look both ways before crossing a woman.
Why do TV news reporters spend a half hour giving us bad news and, yet, end their programs by telling us to “Have a good evening?”
At my age I’m old enough to not believe everything I read — including the bathroom scales.
Have a good ‘un.
