What were your favorite activities when you had a snow day? As I walk Dolly, the last couple of

[debm55]

Last edited Tue Jan 10, 2023, 06:14 PM - Edit history (1)

years, I saw no kids outside playing in the snow. No one! What was your favorite activity in the snow? Me, I liked to sled ride and if the snow was deep enough, build a tunnel through the snow. Snowball battles, snow angels. etc. Oh, and delicious taste of hot chocolate with the tiny marshmallows when we came in.

[Walleye]

1. We didn't get a lot of deep snow but when we did I remember building a fort one time

[debm55]

2. Walleye, did it hold up?

[Walleye]

3. Not for long it was pretty cold and we had a tremendous snowball fight

And the landscape was very flat, zero hills, so we couldn’t do much sled riding

[debm55]

12. I live in Pittsburgh, lots of hills here.

[Shermann]

4. I enjoyed digging tunnels in the huge snowplow piles

You just didn't want to get caught in there when the next snowplow came through.

[debm55]

22. Shermann, did you have a type of room at the end , so other kids could come in and sit?

[happybird]

5. Sledding

and if it was cold enough, the pond would freeze over solidly and we’d play hockey or kick the soccer ball around on the ice. No skates, just sliding around on our boots.

[debm55]

23. Those rubber boots that you wore over your shoe? We would put plastic bags over our shoes, then in

boots to make it easier to take off. It sounds like you had a great time.

[Ocelot II]

6. We hardly ever got snow days because snow was such a frequent occurrence

that the schools almost always stayed open, though sometimes the start time was delayed. I can' t even remember a single snow day when my school closed - but snow days were more common in rural areas where it was harder for the buses to get through. Sledding on a nearby hilly golf course was a favorite thing, and we did a lot of ice skating. Sometimes we built snow forts. I was pleased to see a very nice, very large snow fort on my morning walk today, so I guess these are still a thing.

[happybird]

9. I went to college north of here

and the first time I woke up and saw a foot of snow on the ground my boyfriend and I were celebrating. Woohoo! Snow Day!

Nope.

Peering over the drifts on the edge of the street, the roads were already plowed bare and everything was open on time. We were used to the whole city shutting down over an inch of snow, lol!

[Ocelot II]

10. We got 15" last week on top of the 8" or so that was already there,

and everything slowed down, but the plows came through and it didn't take long to get back to normal ops. Cities that don't have snow removal equipment have a tough time, though - I remember having to go to Dallas for business when they got an inch of snow and they were completely paralyzed. In Minneapolis we would barely have noticed it.

[happybird]

16. That's what I don't get about DC

They have snow removal equipment. We get a decent amount of snow most years. I’m almost 50 and, as long as I can remember, the city is utterly paralyzed by the smallest bit of snow. It’s crazy they have gotten no better at snow removal in my lifetime!

[3catwoman3]

24. We lived in the DC area for 8 years, preceded by 4...

...winters in the upper peninsula of Michigan, where they laugh at snow, and the blades on the snowplows are 2 stories high (small exaggeration).

DC panics if snow is even forecast, let alone if it actually falls. The bread-and-milk lines form immediately.

[debm55]

25. Happy, same here. We had our large snows at home. But I went to Penn State and they never called off

Snow was put on trucks and taken to Beaver Stadium and dumped. Back home, most kids walked, so kids just walked in the street.

[debm55]

14. Good Ocelot II, I just returned from taking Dolly for her 4 o'clock walk and even though it has not

snowed, there are no kids out. I especially liked snow on weekends. No days to make up.

[rsdsharp]

35. When I was a kid in Northeast Iowa we would occasionally get a snow day.

However, I used to listen to KAAY Little Rock at night. I’d hear the jock say that Little Rock schools were closed the next day because 1/2” of snow was FORECAST. I knew I was going to get up at 5:30 to shovel 6” of snow before walking to school.

[debm55]

36. rsdharp, it must have been hard to shovel that amount and still go to school. The rule around here--

1-3 inches go to school, 4-5 inches 2 hour delay., anything more canceled. It always seemed the big snows came on the weekends.

[rsdsharp]

39. It happened all the time. The winters of 61-62 and be 64-65 were brutal.

It usually took 8-10 inches of snow, or snow coupled with high winds to cancel school.

[rurallib]

7. Very few snow days. If school was closed

We were pretty much stuck inside for the day -except for shoveling the sidewalks.

[debm55]

15. rurallib, did you get paid?

[rurallib]

18. At home, no. But the neighbors would pay

Some of those days were very tiring.

[a kennedy]

8. Sledding, ice skating, just being outside, if it wasn't to cold, but we were always outside.

I know about kids nowadays……all inside EVEN during the Summer. Video games I’m sure.

[debm55]

26. a kennedy, have to agree. they have these huge pools in their yards and never use them in the summer

[debm55]

34. Wow, you are lucky. Love to see kids playing in the snow--laughing, enjoying themselves and others.

[50 Shades Of Blue]

11. Probably staying inside and watching tv or reading, LOL!

I don't really remember. I did love to play outside in the snow, going sledding and making snowmen, so I'm sure I did some of that on snow days, too.

[debm55]

19. Shades, thank you, forgot about the snowmen and the carrot for the nose. They didnt use salt for the

Last edited Tue Jan 10, 2023, 06:17 PM - Edit history (1)

roads. they would have slag from the steel mill on the back of a truck and a guy would shovel it out. Made sled riding sort of hard. But we never used the main streets--only the double dip hill near my house. It was the place to sled.

[50 Shades Of Blue]

27. We used the sidewalk in front our house, which was in a neighorhood on a hill.

We could see down the hill if we were about to run over anybody on foot!

[debm55]

33. 50 Shades, you were lucky, only the houses on the main street had sidewalks. I lived on a side

street. Had to walk in the middle of the street to get anywhere.

[happybird]

13. The blizzard we had a few years ago

Maybe 2016? My ex was gone for several days plowing for the state so I was home alone and not feeling too well. When the snow stopped, I waited for a enterprising kid to come knocking on the door. I even had cash on the kitchen counter, plus hot chocolate packets, marshmallows, and a thermal cup with lid, all ready to go as soon as a knock came. Not one single kid was out shoveling! In my day (grumble grumble) you could make serious bank shoveling for people in your neighborhood. That, and mowing yards.

[debm55]

20. I think we had a blizzard around that time too. Husband was in Florida for a conference. My neighbor

cleaned the driveway for me. It was how the kids made money back in the day.

[Cartoonist]

17. Downhill sledding

We had a great street with a super hill and minimal traffic. The whole neighborhood got in on the fun. Later, the city minimized the slope.

My dad wouldn't let us build a snow hut. He kept knocking them down. He didn't want it to collapse on us.

[debm55]

29. Cartoonist, do you remember you had to have the right kind of snow to build anthing. Too soft snow,

and you couldn't roll it. Looking back, I can see your dad's point. but back then--no holds barred.

[Mad_Dem_X]

21. Staying inside mostly, playing Barbies with my sister

I'd go out in the snow for a half hour or so, but I'd get tired of being cold and wet, so I'd go back inside. LOL

[debm55]

30. Mad, I hear you! Sometimes it was cold. Would take a break and then back out. It's old becasue now

that I'm older, the cold bothers me.

[yellowdogintexas]

28. We mostly just got out and played in it if there was enough

In southern KY, out in the country with nobody around. Sometimes we made a snowman.
Of course since we were out in the country and it was the 1950s we made snow ice cream.

No hills. No places to skate even if the ice was thick enough!

I did a LOT of reading and we made fun stuff to eat.

We acquired new neighbors across the road when I was 11 and in addition to minor snow activity we played marathon games of Monopoly

The little town nearby had a very short hill with a nice deep slope and a long stretch at the bottom. The boys would hose it down every morning and we would slide down it all day. Nobody was going to drive it anyway.

[debm55]

31. Wow, yellowdog, the hosing sounds great. Did you sit on the sled and have someone push you down or

did you run with your sled and dive on the ice with it?

[yellowdogintexas]

52. what sled? broken down cardboard box is more like it

and yes we ran up on it. Of course.

I think there were a couple of folks with sleds. There were usually 10 to 15 of us playing on that "hill"

That was the year we had 2 weeks with no school, all because the school buses could not navigate a hill up in the north part of the county, which kept 1/3 of the student body out of school.
It's a nasty hill in dry weather!

[debm55]

53. Yellowdog, you have county schools in Texas? We have school districts. Each city runs their own

school and decides the schedule. though it's common knowledge, if the Pittsburgh School District(which only includes the city ) the rest will shut down. What did you do to keep yourself occupied for 2 weeks? PS At Penn State, we would take trays out the Dining Hall and use as sleds.

[yellowdogintexas]

56. Kentucky. Counties decide on closings, but

if 30% or more of total school population will not be able to get to school, schools would close. Since we only had one high school it did not take much to hit 30%.

That two weeks was due to snow, followed by melt, followed by ice. Lather Rinse Repeat. Now we had a steep hill up in the north end of the county with a bunch of curves which iced up very badly every night. The assistant Superintendent lived at the bottom of that hill. He would get up at 4 am every day and attempt to drive up the hill. If he had difficulties, we would not have school.

Down in the lower 2/3 of the county we did not have a hill like that, but we did benefit from the Clifty Hill. We did have a lot of students who lived on back roads and could not get out to meet the bus if it was running.

Our snow removal was a couple of guys on the back of a pickup with salt shakers.

Keeping myself occupied? Lots of reading, and since by then I lived in "town" I was out on that dinky hill with my cardboard at least part of the day. My friends would get together for marathon board games at one of our houses. I had lived out on the farm for so long I had no problems entertaining myself

[Archae]

37. Our back yard was a hill.

Due to the west winds, we'd get these drifts in the back yard, 4-5 feet high, we'd dig snow tunnels into them, then when a little sister would walk on the "roof" and collapse the tunnel, we'd use plastic "snowboggans" to go down the hill from the house down to my Mom's garden, which was just bumpy plowed dirt and snow.

And we would go into Sheboygan, to Kiwanis Park, they had a hill that went down in 2-3 "steps," we'd use those big truck tire inner tubes, bouncing on the way down.

[debm55]

38. Archae, wow lucky you.So you could go right out your door and play. Great. We had those truck inner

Tubes also. They were great for sledding and for floating in the water during the summer.

[Archae]

40. Summer for floating on, winter for bouncing down Kiwanis hill.

I was fortunate that my BIL worked in a shop changing truck tires.

We loved those.

They BOUNCE!

[surrealAmerican]

41. I would always try to build an igloo.

I never managed to complete one. We rarely had enough snow, and I didn't really understand how to close off the top.

[debm55]

42. surreal, you need a "hard" snow for an igloo. I tried once with "soft" snow and it just didn't make

it. So decided to do the tunnels. Thank you for sharing your experience.

[Ocelot II]

47. You have to wet the snow fort so the snow ices up and becomes solid.

That's the only way to make a big one out of soft snow that's safe and won't collapse.

[debm55]

50. Ocelot II, I never knew you could wet the snow down. I just figured, with a soft snow, it was out of

the question. 58 years later I find out I could have built igloo. Thanks for the information.

[kacekwl]

43. Definitely snow forts and

Mega snowball fights. The forts got quite elaborate. We had no parks, hills anywhere nearby so sledding and ice skating was out until one of us made a rink in the backyard. Good times.

[debm55]

44. Kacekwl, oh snowforts and snowball fights-fun times.

[Tripper11]

45. Road hockey and building snow forts!

Always loved those days. Spent them outside getting soaked with those old timey non water-proof clothes. Come in for lunch, but everything on the radiators to dry, put on your second set and right back into it!

[debm55]

46. Tripper, oh yes, the radiator. Had to careful with the rubber boots though. Since I'm from

Pittsburgh, we always heard the story of Sidney Crosby's father flooding the basement, it would freeze and he would use the dryer as his goal to hit. I don't know if you are familiar with the Pens, but he is the captain.

[Tripper11]

49. Quite familiar with Syd the kid

Being Canadian, I was brought up on and in hockey. Started playing when I was 6. Loved it! But this was back in the 70;s when things were more, ahem raw. Equipment was minimal at best, but man, it was great!

[debm55]

51. Did you play in the Juniors or was it a pickup game?

[Tripper11]

54. Oh no not junior, I wasn't big enough or good enough for that

It was minor hockey, played for the local town. we played other towns in the area for our little prizes!

[debm55]

55. Thank you. Tripper