The Blizzard of '49

It is ironic that this picture was on my blog on December 30, 2015. Jon, Mary and Anna are visiting us again this week and we may have to go down to the "Bottle Rocket Brewery" again tomorrow to begin a "tradition". We just finished watching an net program on "The Blizzard of '49". I pulled my old Diary off the shelf and read some "first person" descriptions of the event. While the film focused on the western Wyoming and western Nebraska area, we in eastern Nebraska also had a very sever winter.  My narrative summary said: " The winter of '48-'49 went down in history as one of the most severe on record. We had drifts 7-8 feet high around our farmstead. Roads were blocked for several days and we drove through the field

to get to where the road had been cleared."

This 1987 picture of my folks and brother Don, were very much a part of my experience in the Blizzard of '49. It wasn't just a single blizzard "event" here in eastern Nebraska but rather a series of snow storms with high winds during much of January and February. On one occasion Dad, Don and I had scooped out our 600 foot driveway with snow some 4' deep in places. We didn't attempt to scoop it very clean and left 5-6" to drive through. I was driving our 2-door '37 Chevy and when I couldn't get through, went to back up and get a run for it. I opened the door to be sure they were out of the way, and the door caught  the snow bank and popped it right off.  Just another example of collateral damage.