Stories to tell my grandchildren...

Oh yeah I have many, but two that I think are really cool, are the snow storms of 1967 and 1996.

In 1967, in Chicago in the month of January we had a recorded snow fall amount of 23.0 inches of snow. As a kid I loved it. I recall shoveling the snow and having two huge walls of snow on either side of me. All traffic stopped running and the grocery stors soon ran out of stuff since the trucks could not get in to deliver. As a kid I did not care about that, I just enjoyed the snow. I remember my friend Junior and I dug out some snow and nade and igloo where we played. I had a cat named Tiger at the time, he had never gone outside but when we were going out one day he ran out the front door and sank all the way down into the snow. I thought he was dead, but no, he jumped out and kept running, I did not see him for 2 weeks after that.

There were mounds and mounds of snow everywhere. People could not find there cars, and when they did, where were they going to throw the sno? The main streets had abandoned vehicles all over. These were the vehicles of those that got stranded in the storm not being able to drive anywhere. I am sure that for many it was a nightmare, but for me it was one of the coolest times of my childhood

Well, that is when I was a kid. 'fast-forward to January 1996, not in Chicago, but in New York. I arrived in New York during the beginning of a 27.0 inch. snow storm that hit the city. By the time I arrived in Yorktown Heights, where I was going to train for my first guide dog, the state was pretty much paralysed. I was no longer a kid, but since I did not have to worry about food or cleaning up the snow or getting anywhere, I loved it. I kept telling everyone how this was my second big snow storm. I could not see all the mounds of snow as I had in 1967, but I new how it looked. We still got our training in, even though most of it in the beginning was done inside of malls.

This storm made us as a class get really friendly with one another. It was like a nice new family. I really enjoyed my month in New york.

I will always remember those two snow storms. They both left me many fond memories.