The event of snow, a word not foreign to those of us who live in Minnesota, brings many things to mind; sometimes so many I tend to ramble. As I have said before, English wasn't my best subject in school, but my own memories and tales told by my family are important to me and may take a week or two to relate.
I hope you find them interesting, as well as help bring "Whatever Comes to Mind" for you, too. As a writer, I know I have done my job if I am able to get readers to think of their own stories.
There wasn't a lot of interest in snowmobiles around Geneva before my dad got his first winter toy, a second-hand Polaris snowmobile. It was built like a tank and just as heavy. Everybody had a good laugh because that year we got little if any snow until the boys’ state basketball tournaments. That seemed to do it every time — they bring in the snow, and we got a "doozy" that year.
Nobody was prepared for that much snow at one time. My dad had a glorious time delivering everything from people, to mail, bottle gas, groceries, and what not. I remember someone commenting that they didn't care if it didn't even snow the next year, they were going to have a snowmobile just in case, and Geneva reached its peak in snowmobiles.
Snowmobiling was the thing to do. When the snowmobile crew went like a convoy down to Nodine (a small community close to Houston, Minnesota) to snowmobile with Everal and Lenard Lageson, people in the area stood outside on the streets and stared like they'd never seen such a sight before. They told the Lagesons they "must have rich friends.” The next year when we came back for another visit we were astounded because it seemed like everyone had a snowmobile and the hills, valleys and trails just reached out to them.
My oldest daughter was just a baby (she and I didn't take part in the ride), but we met up with the group at one of the many tavern/restaurants in the area. Krista was sleeping so I laid her, wrapped up in her warm blankets, on a pool table. As the snowmobilers arrived, they shed their gear and tossed it on the table until someone yelled, "Hey, there is a baby there!”
I can imagine what I'd think now if someone did that to their baby. I was lucky, not one person turned me in for child abuse!
Many of our local snowmobilers back then also traveled up to the Duluth and Mackinac, Wisconsin area where there was a lot of snow and places to snowmobile. Many of the men discovered a "ski jump" area and every man that went up there tried out the ski jump and came home with broken windshields on their snowmobiles.
My mother had a Raider snowmobile, which had "cat tracks." That snowmobile was terrific for going up and over the snow piled in the ditches. The snowmobile was so heavy it would sink in the soft snow, but it was great on the hard packed snow piles.
Looking back at those good old days, mom says that some of the things they did were not very smart, an observation most of us came to realize, as we get older.
My nephew, Kade, was born in the middle of October, and my mother made him a snowmobile suit and would take him along with her. She would put him down in front of her, between her legs, which would keep him out of the direct wind, but all of the exhaust would come back at him.
Mom wonders now if that little suit was warm enough, as the material she used really wasn't that thick. Manufacturers later made snowmobile suits that were really warm for those long rides in the wind and snow.
A few times there were about 100 snowmobiles taking part in trail rides. When traffic got heavier and heavier and restrictions were placed on riding on the roads, snowmobile trails were developed.
It is funny the things that one forgets and how something, like a big snow storm, comes along and triggers your memory.
Snow seemed to be prevalent in the arrival of more than one family member. My aunt, Phyllis, and her soon-to-be-delivered daughter, DeLoyce, had a hard time getting to the hospital from their farm southwest of Ellendale in March of 1951. The snowplows could only "punch through" the snow banks to a mile from their farm, so they made an improvised sled for Phyllis out of an old car hood. They also couldn't get home again, and spent several days at my Aunt Ellen’s home in Albert Lea. That same snowstorm also resulted in a minor airplane crash near Ellendale; the airplane skis couldn't accelerate in the snow, and the airplane went up on its nose. My cousin Jim owns that same airplane today. When he restored it, he had the mechanics leave the wrinkled cowling on it. "It's part of the airplane's history," he said.
The birth of my second daughter, who was born on the 10th of April, was proceeded by a short but freakish snow storm that trapped her dad in Albert Lea and me at my parents’. We had to get the snowplow out to get me there before she was born.
My nephew Cameron was born during the Super Bowl storm, back on the 8th of January in 1975. What started out being a rainy day turned into a full-fledged snow day and mom was ever so glad that Kaye had been able to get to the hospital before the storm really hit hard. The blizzard would have prohibited anyone getting through to get her to the hospital. Kaye and Cameron had to stay in the hospital an extra day, which wasn't to Kaye’s liking, as she hates hospitals. When they were finally able to come home and realized that traffic was only one way and traveling almost like through a tunnel, she understood why she had to stay that extra day.
Next week I will share a few more winter memories.
Some of our Star Eagle readers have commented they like to read about events such as family and school reunions, birthdays and anniversaries, and birth and wedding announcements. In order to read about these important things we need our faithful readers to pass along the information to us. If you have news please contact me via e-mail, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.; by postal mail, P.O. Box 192, Geneva, MN 56035 or telephone, 507-256-4405.
Birthdays and Anniversaries:
• Thursday, March 14th: National Potato Chip Day! Laura Katherine Worrell, Connor Duane Klemmensen, his 5th; Sierra Christine Krause, her 4th; Brian Cerney, Brent Huber, Marcia Hutchins, Lee Loverink, Mark Finch, Kathy Molenaar, Trevor Titus
• Friday, March 15th: Angie Haberman Lyman, Marvel Beiser, Andy Ditlevson, Robin Jepson, Judy Lunning, Tim Phagan, Steve Clausen, Tony Motl, Julie Peterson, Don & Cindy Gould
• Saturday, March 16th: Ava Pospesel, Blair Pospesel, Al Batt, Cortnee Langlie, Judy Waage, Tyler Lewis Hagenbrock, Jackson Taylor William Churchill, Harold & Pat Wayne, Hugh & Karen O'Byrne
• Sunday, March 17th: St. Patricks' Day, Ashley Marie Hagen, Shannon Weckwerth Pacholl, Mike Cady, Dakota Ray Janning, Nicole Hanna, Patrick Wobschall, Harvey Zicafoose, Mandy Galbraith, Joel Hill, Jenifer Jensen Pietari, Carol Scott, Kevin & Marsha Jensen
• Monday, March 18th: Ashley Marie Hagen, Lynn Sommer Eaton, Chad Cornelius, Randy Brandt, Michelle Bartness, Dan Enzenauer, Matthew Larson, Wanda Stanley, Kent Toft, Matt & Jennifer Van Hal, Dean & Sue Westrum
• Tuesday, March 19th: Samuel Bartness, his 1st; LaVern Klocek, Jill Rye, Jill Neitzell, Tyler Crabtree, Bethany Butler, Tori Lynn Sage, Wyatt Marcus Westergrin
• Wednesday, March 20th: Jayda Moon, Tricia Renae Hanson, Nicole Christensen, Neva Lembke, Gary Reichl, Jim Butler, Tammy Harpel Nielsen, Winfred Bergdale, Shelly Hoeve, Billy Jo Johnson Schwierjohann, Dennis Olson
Surprise somebody. Call someone. Send a card and make their day. Little things mean a lot.
