And more snow....

This picture was taken in the early '60s.  It shows our house on Horseleg Road just up the hill from East Madison, New Hampshire.  We usually were there in the summer for camp and extended vacations.  But we very rarely got the  chance to go there in the winter.  Our Christmas break from school was long enough that year for us to make the trip from Wisconsin east to New England.  We planned on lots of skiing and fun.  What we didn't count on was snow, and more snow and more snow.

The house was not suited for winter use.  We had shut off the water and drained the pipes that fall.  But we were tough.  At least we thought we were.  What an adventure we would have.

The selectman had been kind enough to plow the road.  And a neighbor had ordered the oil for the heating stove in the kitchen and wood was stacked ready for the three fireplaces.  The house was built in the 1820's but the previous owners had added a modern kitchen and bath and had redone the fireplaces and chimney so they were in tiptop shape.

We moved into the living room and shut off the rest of the house.  After skiing all day we would come home, heat up the split pea soup that my mom had left on the backporch in the cold, change out of our wet snowy clothes and bask in the warmth of the fire.

Things went fine for a few days.  And then the storm hit.  It blew a gale.  We made it down the hill to the slopes that day but barely made it back before dark.  Entering the kitchen with a full pail of water from the outside well, my brother Paul sloshed some over the side.  As soon as it hit the kitchen floor it turned to ice.  That should have been our first sign that things were going to get dicey.  We heated up our soup and got ready for the evening in front of the fire.  But no matter how much wood we burned, it was still definitely cold in the house.  Surely, we thought, things will be better in the morning. 

The next day we were snowed in.  Paul went out to draw water.  The bucket banged on thick ice.  We brought in pans full of snow and melted them on the heating stove.  Around noon we noticed ice forming on the huge picture window that looked out over the mountains to the west.  Our first thought was what if the glass cracked and exposed us to the blowing wind?  We huddled in the living room, feeding the fire and hoping that the fuel oil for the stove in the kitchen would last. 

The next day was no better.  Was this what our long-awaited vacation was going to turn into.....locked in by snow and wind and no way to get out?  I mean, we were hardy and resilient and up for a challenge.  Just not this challenge.

Finally friends who lived nearby got worried about us and managed to make it up the hill to see what was going on.  We put on a brave front.  Oh yes, we were fine.  Nothing would budge us from our warm and cozy fire.  But the longer we talked the more they insisted that we  abandon our winter-wonder adventure on the mountain and come and stay with them.

And so we did.  It wasn't a very hard decision after all.  The prospect of a nice warm bed and a shower were very appealing.  And besides, we were all tired of  split pea soup.