It seems that winter weather has caught up with us, a little earlier than usual this year. Or could it be that we are kinda spoiled? For the past 3 years, we have been living in the banana belt.  In  today’s world with all of the modern technology, we usually know well in advance when to expect blizzard conditions.

Thinking about winter weather brings to mind how different it was back in the 30s when some of us were attending grade school here in Saguache. I don’t recall that we ever got weather forecasts on the radio — however we did hear a day or so after severe storms struck other places. Local stockmen were quite expert at predicting the weather. Animals can tell us an awful lot about the weather if we are smart enough to understand their sign language.

The recent blizzards in Eastern Colorado took a toll of some 30,000 cattle and other livestock. Many local people remember the terrible whiter of 1931 and 1932. Lots of cattle drifted with the blizzard and were later found frozen to death standing against fences. Orville Werner remembers helping Tom Ashley drive horses from Rite Alto Creek to the Ashley home ranch, 6 miles east of Saguache. As Tom and Orville rode through Moffat they visited with Bill Albert who told them the thermometer had registered 55 degrees below zero early that morning. No wonder the lunch the fellows were carrying was frozen solid!

Whenever I waterproof my leather boots, I think of how it was when we were kids. My Dad always rendered the fat from a buck deer he killed in October. This fat was stored on a pantry shelf in one pound Hills Bros. coffee cans.  When needed, the grease was heated and rubbed into the leather. After the waterproofing cooled, it left a white coating on our boots.

About an hour after arriving at school and our classmates were nice and warm, the smell of about 20 pairs of shoes and boots thawing out is an odor I’ll never forget! I am sure some of that buck tallow was carried over from last year and was a bit on the rancid side.

(If this turns out to be one of those old-fashioned tough winters we can always blame El Nino.)