A few things we did in Winter
As I look back at the things we did as kids on a farm, lots of chores come to mind. We had to help our parents as we didn’t have hired help. Every now and then a cousin would come and stay for a while but no one stayed very long. Farm life looks fun to city kids but when they see how much work it takes, they soon tire of the fantasy and go home.
Fox and Chickens
Dad was a good boss though he would give us time to play in the afternoon when morning chores were done. We had a big field next to the house, after heavy snow, it looked like a giant white canvas. Dad showed us a game of Fox and Chickens, which he learned when he was a kid. First, we had to set up the course. We would walk behind dad shuffling our feet to make a big circular path in the snow. Then we made a cross in the middle of the circle connecting the top, bottom, and sides. Next on the outside edge of each section, we stamped down the snow in a rectangle-shaped box. These were safe chicken houses.
The way you played the game was one person was the fox and the others were chickens. The chickens walked or ran around the circle. The fox tried to catch the chickens by chasing them around the circle. The fox could cut across on the cross lines to get to a section faster. The chickens could jump into a safe chicken house to get away from the fox. When the fox caught a chicken they were out of the game, when all the hens were caught a new fox was chosen. This was one of our favorite games.
Fort Building and snow Ball Fights
Another game we played was, of course, building snow forts and having snowball fights. If the snow was good enough to make solid snowballs with you could make big ones put them together and make a place to hide behind. It seemed like the boys were always against the girls. There were two boys and two girls in our family, I didn’t think this was very fair as my sister was eight years younger than me. One time the boys were pelting us girls good when dad sneaked into our fort and started throwing snowballs at the boys, that day the girls got to win. Dad was always doing things to even the playing field.
Making Snow Icecream
Mom showed us how to make snow ice cream for a treat after a day of playing outside. We were thrilled because the ice cream was a summertime treat for family picnics. She should us how to find the snow that had not been bothered by us or animals so it would be clean to eat. She would mix milk, eggs, and vanilla together in a bowl them we would go out and scoop clean snow into the bowl and stir until the mixture got thick and frozen. We would sometimes eat it right out of the bowl. We told mom that nothing tasted as good as snow ice cream. It was even better than summer ice cream because we didn’t have to turn the crank on the machine.
***********Contnue Reading**********
Nowadays snow is not a welcome sight. It is pretty when it is falling but I don’t care much for getting out in it. I guess our bodies could withstand the cold more when we were younger. We can’t be sure that the snow is safe to eat anymore and getting around on city streets can be a big problem at times. It is fun to remember those times we played out in the snow for hours and didn’t think anything of the cold.
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