Snow brings back memories of Colorado winter

This past week’s rare Thanksgiving storm brought back memories of another storm on that holiday that was a lot more trying.

It was way back in 1993 in Colorado. Snow in that part of Colorado is expected by November, even substantial storms, but this one was a little more of a booger for several reasons.

It was timed to hit late on Thanksgiving day and bring a foot-and-a-half of powder along with sub-zero temperatures for several days. The arrival of this weather corresponded perfectly with my late mother-in-law’s bus schedule out to see us.

This is the woman who moved back to Iowa because she missed winter, but I never believed it.

She showed up a little late and very exasperated with the bus driver’s skills in winter driving. I pointed out that she’d just come over Red Mountain Pass, the most dangerous stretch of winter driving in North America, through the first bands of a major snowstorm.

She still felt like the bus had skidded dangerously close to the cliff side of the road. Knowing that road well, I knew that if they were actually sliding that was the preferred direction since the other side had 1,000-foot drops and no guardrails.

Sure enough the next day by the time our turkey dinner was complete the weather was setting in hard and snow was piling up. It was beautiful, though and we had a good day.

I might point out that this was one of only three places I rented in my lifetime and was a doublewide mobile home on well water with a pressure pump. The next morning I was up before everyone and found there was no water with which to brush my teeth.

I’ve lived in trailer houses before and knew some of the intricacies of such an abode and had checked them all before renting. Turns out it was -10 f, and at that temp all bets are off. Who ever heard of -10 at Thanksgiving anyway?

I was dreading telling my mother-in-law she would have to flush with a bucket. But she took it in the spirit of adventure. This shocked me to death.

She even put on snow boots and made the quarter-mile trek to the mailbox while I laid in the snow to begin trying to thaw the water, since the landlord couldn’t be troubled to come help. She did narrow down the problem by telling me if all the heat tape under the trailer was working then it could be that the pressure pump had frozen. I had done that before. Just go get a shop light and drop it down in the hole (well below the frost line) and it should thaw in a few hours.

The pressure pump finally thawed mid-day the next day, still before mother-in-law began complaining about lack of a shower.

Living where I do these days, I’ve only had my water freeze briefly in the kitchen during the winter storm Goliath. I keep Jerry cans full of flushing water, though, ready for the next city water main break.

Karl Terry writes for Clovis Media Inc. Contact him at:

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