Discussion»Questions»Babies and Kids» Boomers...were you one of those who had to walk to school 5 miles uphill both ways with no boots on through the snow?
No, that was my dad. I had to hike up the snow line, carry back trowels of snow until the snow until it came up to my waist from the school to my house, and THEN walk to school .. 5 miles... uphill ...both ways. And once I got home, I had to take all that snow back up to the snowline... all with no boots or socks (they was just for rich folk). On top of that. I had to milk the cows, fed the chickens, slop the siblings.. I mean pigs, keep the lamps filled, haul in wood for the stove, cook breakfast and supper for the entire family, take the dirty dishes down to the creek two counties over, just so I could wash them,and weave clothes out of old worn out gunny sacks. Yessiree, I sure do remember being 6.
No a boomer. But I did walk home from school once in snow that was above my head. I was 7 but I had tennis shoes and a coat. It was the most fun walk home ever. I tunneled my way for 6 blocks.
We lived in Kentucky for one year, my first grade year. My mother and I walked together for a mile then had to go opposite ways for another 1/2 mile or so.
My brother and I always had to go the two miles to school on snowshoe because the snow was too deep and soft for our dog teams to make any headway pulling a sled.
This post was edited by Kittigate at February 21, 2021 11:29 AM MST
I lived in the country about 6 miles from the school, as did many of the students. I had two ways to get to school, walk or ride the school bus. I wasn't about to walk 12 miles round trip to attend school so the bus worked for me. :)
No we had a small house in town where we retreated to for most of the Winter months. We had a couple of hands who stayed at the ranch to take care of the critters. Come weekends we went out and took care of the stray chores - there were lots of them. In good weather we took the bus into town
My grade school was 5 houses down across the street.
Now have I ever been frozen in a Saddle - the answer is yes indeed. Early and late snows played H_LL with everything on the ranch especially if it was calving season. We used everything to save the calves, Cows and our bulls. Snowmobiles, 4x4's, horseback - whatever. That calf was worth a lot of money.
There was one winter we had an early frost and light snow there were thousands of Ducks, Geese, etc frozen in in Sloughs and still water on the Yellowstone River. We managed to rescued over 1,000 ducks in 2 days. Our retrievers and those of the neighbors worked overtime. All in all we (my hometown) saved over 6,000 birds.