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Related: Culture Forums, Support ForumsWhat did you do when you were a kid and they cancelled school because of a blizzard?
We used to go out and play in it! No traffic, no people except for us. We could build a snowman in the middle of the street! I really miss those days. We're expecting a biggie now, but I'll just be watching it through the window. Sad.
Brother Buzz
(36,444 posts)jpak
(41,758 posts)Motley Michelle
(17 posts)Blizzard of '77. Indiana. Missed something like 31 days of school. This was back before they had snow days, so we never had to make up those days. But the drifts went up to the roof of the house (a one-story). I would climb up the tv antennae with my sled and cruise right off the roof.
My neighbors also owned horses. So we would go riding bareback in the snow. I would come in completely coated with snow/ice.
redwitch
(14,944 posts)I loved snow days and would play outside until I nearly froze. I always had boots that were impossible to pull off by myself and I remember painfully cold feet. But the news report that school was cancelled never failed to thrill.
I am not thrilled with snow these days.
FSogol
(45,488 posts)had the early stages of frostbite. We'd shed layers of wet clothes in the mud room and Mom would give us grilled cheese sandwiches and chicken noodle soup. As soon as the dryer would dry our snow stuff, we'd be back out again.
hlthe2b
(102,292 posts)sometimes sledding, snowball fights, and then snuggling under the covers, dogs and all for a nice warm late afternoon nap.
Bliss. During the 2003 barrage in Denver (officially 32 inches with 5 foot drifts), I got work snow days (2 or 3, as I recall) and the dog and I (and other cabin-fever afflicted neighbors), hit the large nearby park on snowshoes, x-country skis or just gaitors and boots to trudge through the waste-deep snow (that the dogs were already burrowing through). I remember several people building little "igloos", which one could readily locate from the wafting smells of pot emanating therein. Fun times.
MiddleFingerMom
(25,163 posts).
.
.
... overnight to form a strength-enhancing icy shell -- and then hollowing it out
to create a surprisingly warm (comparatively) hideout -- with snow benches and
snow shelves for the treats and snacks that we'd snitch from the house (we found
out years later that MiddleFingerMomMom would place a lot of treats and snacks
in plain view so that we could do that and have ample "fuel" .
.
Michigan meant skating and sledding and snowforts from which to wage snowball
fights. Sometimes, MiddleFingerMomDad would create an ice rink in the backyard
so that we didn't have to hike over to the nearby creek.
.
That creek/pond skating was COOL. There was a City Parks shack there with a
wood-burning stove so that the kids could warm up and maybe dry out their socks
and gloves.
.
.
We lived 3 blocks or so from the largest man-made waterfalls in the country --
The Cascades. Two sides of the hill had relatively gentle slopes for sledding/skiing,
the back of the hill had an official Soap Box Derby downhill track -- and the front
of the hill had "Devil's Dip" -- a series of quick, steep 5-15 feet drops and LOTS of
fir trees that were perfect for a truly thrilling (and actually dangerous) toboggan
run. We ALWAYS disobeyed our parents who would always shout, "AND STAY
AWAY FROM DEVIL'S DIP!!!"
.
"We will. We promise." (snicker)
.
.
.
Dyedinthewoolliberal
(15,577 posts)we'd grab snowshovels and go door to door offering to shovel driveway and sidewalks.........made a few bucks every time.
RILib
(862 posts)When I was a kid, we always made extra money cutting lawns and snow shoveling.
HERVEPA
(6,107 posts)Ron Obvious
(6,261 posts)I don't think as an adult I've ever felt the joy and ecstasy I would as a kid when school was dismissed early because of a blizzard.
When the teacher, Mr. Douchebag, made the announcement, the whole class exploded into a giant, single-voiced "YAY!!!!" that even made Mr. Douchebag smile.
Ah, happy memories... I rather hated school. you see.
On Edit: typo
zanana1
(6,122 posts)Vicious ones. A day off of school meant a stay of execution.
Ron Obvious
(6,261 posts)A school with nuns was probably worse, although Mr. Douchebag, a fugitive war criminal who masturbated to pictures of Ilse Koch, and his assistant Mr. Anus were no picnic.
In_The_Wind
(72,300 posts)I cannot remember ever seeing that much snow in Atlanta. [img][/img]
NV Whino
(20,886 posts)bigwillq
(72,790 posts)all day until our parents forced us to come inside for dinner.
dr.strangelove
(4,851 posts)I remember the blizzard of 1978. I was in the suburbs of New York and we got nearly 2 feet. We built igloos out of the mountains the plows made and slid down the sides. It was awesome. As I got older, it was sledding down the hills and snowball wars. Eventually I got to the "drinking" age and it was an excuse to drink cheap beer in a friends basement. Snow days rule.
Now I sit at my PC working from home.
DinahMoeHum
(21,794 posts)Indoors: hot homemade soup, card games and board games with the family.
Never a boring moment, even when it was so bad we couldn't go outside.
Populist_Prole
(5,364 posts)In the 1970's the PTB in our school district gave "snow days" seemingly only with the greatest reluctance. Many times even 8 or 9 inches would make them merely delay opening the school and hour, or sometimes 2. As kids, even then we figured money was involved somehow. Today it's the total opposite: Seems like they'll close the school if somebody spills sugar on the floor. Sometimes they'll even announce the closing the evening before stuff even hits. Must have something to do with liability for bus crash fears.
Upon hearing our school being closed, we usually went back to bed for an hour or so, then went out to shovel walkways/driveways, build snow forts, go sledding, and come inside hours later all red-skinned ( and happy ) and with voracious appetites.
One thing about our snow days though ( at least in my day ) was they were padded into the school year. If the school was never closed due to weather, we'd get a "snow day" off in May or so.
Myrina
(12,296 posts).... and usually the 'day after', we'd head over to the park/ice rink and either sled or skate (or both).
Response to zanana1 (Original post)
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RebelOne
(30,947 posts)But the schools did close during extreme cold weather because they did not have adequate heating.
a la izquierda
(11,795 posts)He's take the day off and we'd go sledding . I remember one year we flooded the yard so we could go skating. When I was a kid, there would sometimes be ice boat races nearby (I grew up in the '80s).
zanana1
(6,122 posts)The wind is up, too. God--I love to watch a good blizzard.
baldguy
(36,649 posts)surrealAmerican
(11,362 posts)... was to build an igloo. I never did manage to - even a "big" snow was never quite enough, and I didn't exactly know what I was doing either. By the time I was old enough to be able to figure out what needed doing, I was old enough to be required to shovel off the driveway and sidewalk. That alone left me chilled and tired enough to spend the rest of my day inside.
When I was a kid they had this tool ... the "Snow block" or something like that.
On TV there was a successful igloo.
In my yard... usually a somewhat deformed snow fort...
Hayabusa
(2,135 posts)we here in Central Missouri had this large blizzard that dumped over a foot of snow on the ground. School was cancelled for about three days. Roads were closed with a police order to arrest anyone on them that didn't have four-wheel drive. My mom and I walked from our apartment to my grandparents' house for the day. It was only about 3/4 of a mile, but I still remember being bundled up and making the walk through the desolate streets of our small town. I also remember my cousin and her boyfriend making an emergency run into Columbia (15 miles away) to bring milk and bread to my grandparents. I had the most fun playing in that snow.
applegrove
(118,683 posts)closed the school due to snow, thought I do remember it being closed one day because it was too hot.
Hayabusa
(2,135 posts)I wasn't so much a kid but in high school. We were supposed to have this tremendous blizzard that would dump a whole bunch of snow and ice on the area. We still had school, but it was limited to half a day. It started snowing and that was truncated even more, turning the last hour or even less of the school into a mad yet organized dash to each classroom where the students could get their assignments for the next session (we had Black days and Red days).
Three years later, I was college and another big blizzard hit, right on the day of finals. My mother, God bless her, took off work and drove me the 35 miles to college in the heavy snow. The highways hadn't even been cleaned off at the time and the number of accidents we saw... I think we averaged about 10 MPH on the journey and the normally 30 minute drive turned into a 2 hour marathon.
Initech
(100,080 posts)av8r1998
(265 posts)Football in the park in the snow.
You could play as rough as you wanted and nobody (usually) got hurt.
Hell, when it snowed, Mom sent us outside, and said "Don't come back till dark".
Moondog
(4,833 posts)RebelOne
(30,947 posts)because the schools would shut down in really cold weather because they did not have heating. In fact, they did not even have air conditioning, but the schools did not shut down because the temps were in the 90s. We had to just sweat in the school rooms. This was in the 1950s.
Moondog
(4,833 posts)A few years, maybe (I've seen your posts for a while).
I mostly went to private schools (long story, multiple divorces involved) which may have had better climate control. Did public the last couple of years. Never cancelled for heat or cold. Graduated HS in 67. Turned 17 a few months later. I looked older, and dated older. I doubt if we met - I was the kind of kid your mother probably warned you about.
Wait Wut
(8,492 posts)I liked school better than home and I hated snow, even as a child. Being born and raised in Chicago (in November) was a cruel joke.
Love the city, hate the weather.
rug
(82,333 posts)Pilgrim Hill.
mrmpa
(4,033 posts)our house was on a level part of the street. We were surround by 3 streets that were hills. Went sled riding down the street that was a one-way going up. This meant no cars could attempt it & the street was mine. Stayed out almost day only going home for dinner, and after dinner a couple more hours outside.
LiberalElite
(14,691 posts)femmocrat
(28,394 posts)We even had to walk to school, imagine that! (Pennsylvania)
I remember one time that school was cancelled when I was in junior high. We went sled-riding, built a snowman, etc. We used to love sledding at night under street lights.
nolabear
(41,986 posts)Grammy23
(5,810 posts)we did get snow from time to time. Once when I was about 10 or 11 we had a doozey of a snow storm that made us miss school for several days because the streets were full of snow and there were ZERO snow plows that far south. My sister and I decided one afternoon we wanted to make some fudge and got a pot of sugar, cocoa, milk, butter and a few grains of salt going on the stove. We cooked it for what seemed like enough time but clearly was NOT. We poured out the chocolaty goodness into a pie plate and sat it outside the back door in the snow, hoping it would harden up. We waited, poked our fingers in it to see if it was nice and firm like fudge is supposed to be. It never did because we had not cooked it long enough. We finally gave up and ate it with a spoon with the help of our neighbor, Tommy, who was only too happy to help scoop up that almost done fudge. It is one of my happier memories from childhood....