About four or five inches of snow has covered the ground today, Dec. 8, 2017, and more flakes are falling as I write. Now and then this area of northeast Georgia gets a good snow. After retiring from the Air Force, with Florine, my wife, and Amy, our daughter, we returned to the general area of my youth. We saved our money and bought a wooded acre, and lived in a trailer until we had a house built. Later we paved the long lower driveway.
One day after a snow fell between two and three feet deep, I used a big snow shovel to clean off our lower driveway, doing it all without a break. My back was sore going to bed that night. To get out of bed the next morning, I had to roll over on my stomach and slide off, then hold to the bed to stand up. A muscle spasm along my spine had me limping for about two years.
Thinking of big snow storms in Georgia, back when I was around 15 years old, in Germany Valley of Rabun County, Georgia, our family lived in a wood frame house with a shingle covered roof, built by Grandpa Dock Dickerson and Neal Justus, my dad. It was a good house but not insulated like modern homes. We did add insulation later on. One winter a bad snowstorm raged all day and all night, howling out of the northwest. The next morning, a fine film of snow lay on the foot of my bed, blown through tiny cracks! Yet, with a heated brick wrapped at my feet, and under thick quilts, I slept warm and cozy.
Back then flocks of snowbirds and sparrows remained through the winter months. By the fireplace we cracked corn and added old corn bread and biscuits, which we scattered under the hedge alongside our home. I was tall for my age but snow came above my knees! A bitter cold spell came afterwards and we spent much time around the fireplace. We kids cracked black walnuts and Mother made hot chocolate to drink. She also cooked a walnut cake and we made home ice cream.
The hard freeze after this snow may cause more hazards. We must take care, feed the birds, travel only as necessary, and stay prepared.
