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Rick Houser

It seemed that the end of November we got off school because of Thanksgiving. Within a month we got out of school for at least two weeks because of Christmas and a week later New Years. Late fall and early winter became a time when we got frequent breaks from the grind of going to school. But after New Year’s and our return to the daily routine of learning and tests etc. we would look forward to that next holiday and a pause in our schedules.

Sadly, no matter how we looked at a calendar the next day scheduled off was Good Friday that began the Easter week end. This was either late March or early April. Three and a half to almost four months from our return from Christmas break in a school child’s mind this was a period of time that added up to forever!!

Yes, eternity confronted us and all we could do was hope and pray for the one and only way to get a break. That was to wake up and see the world covered in SNOW! A lot of snow was almost a positive sign that school would be closed and we would have to stay home. Snow days weren’t as frequent in the era of my attending school. A small snow was only a small inconvenience at that time. I have been on the bus and seen it slide and the wheels spin causing the bus to become unusable to move and the schools would finally give in and call school for the day. Also, in the years I was a student the canceling of schools wasn’t on the TV and the internet didn’t exist. But we did have our trusty Phillco Radio that we hovered around as the school closings were read off on the half hour. My parents arose before 6 am to listen to the weather report for the day so dad could plan his day and mom would listen to the news that might have happened over the night. My parents were avid about what was the news. From 6 a.m. until the 11 p.m. news they kept aware.

On a morning when the world was white and the flakes were falling, each flake looking large and falling silently soft to the ground and increasing our chances of a day away from the classroom, there was only one way to be certain and that was to catch the closed schools reports. As a report began we would increase the volume so as not to miss our alma mater. This could be frustrating also. The schools were read off alphabetically and I was attending Moscow. That was half way through the alphabet and seemed to take forever. (This was another positive reason to attend Felicity.) Once you heard your schools name there could be a good amount of cheering. Since it had been announced on WLW radio it was official and the results were final.

Once knowing school was out our plans turned to other events to do for the day. I always would run outside and make a snowball and throw it at any target I could find. Packing a snowball gave some idea just how well the snow was going to pack. In the morning we made a snowman in the back yard. It was a given that my creative skills were poor as my snowman revealed. (Thus why the back yard.) By mid-day my brother Ben and I would head for the hill in our barn yard where we had a great place to put our old sleigh to work. One thing I didn’t think of all day was missing school. When I got into high school and could drive I would head to Jim and Rick Jennings’ farm as they had the ultimate hill to sleigh ride on. Their hill seemed to be endless in length and steep in grade. It was so well liked that the hill would be crowded with all my friends from school. We liked to sleigh after dark and Jim and Rick would build two fires to give us some light by. One fire was at the top of the hill and the other was near the bottom. Since there was a fence at the bottom the fire was a warning signal to stop or suffer hitting the fence. Again there were no thoughts of missing school. The only time that topic came up was near the end of the day when the question would arise did we think there would be school called off again tomorrow?

It seemed in the winters of 1965 and 1966 we had sizable snows of a foot more or less. Add some wind to the snow and there would be drifts that increased the odds we would be off another day. One year we were out for an entire week. This was so great. Late January or early February getting a sizable and timely break from the grind of learning. Rarely did the old radio let me down and not list my schools name. In those days the snows were welcomed. The soft look of a world that had all the appearances of a clean and pure earth were a sight I think even though we liked it we took too much for granted. In the winter the world was asleep and appeared mostly in black and white and not too pretty.

Sadly, the snows would slowly melt and the earth would warm up and even though we knew better we still listed to the radio only to be disappointed and gave us cause to begin preparing for our return to the classroom. The return wasn’t all that bad as the first day back we all had tales to share of what we did on our unexpected holiday. I think the time off caused us to calm down and let our teachers have some time to teach without noise from the students for a brief period of time. The one question I would almost always be asking myself was “did I do my homework assignment?”

Rick Houser grew up on a farm near Moscow in Clermont County and loves to share stories of his youth and other topics. He may be reached at houser734@yahoo.com.