Newspapers, Louisiana warming?, LaSalle Parish, La.
Submitted by Jack Willis
Date: 11 Oct 2004
Source:Grass Roots and Cockleburrs
Date: 13 Oct 2004

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Louisiana warming?

There is much hysteria being churned up in the media today by the "tree
huggers" concerning global warming, with a steady parade of scientists to
the Antarctic to measure the ozone layer, the protective layer of atmosphere
surrounding the earth. No doubt, green house gases, gasoline engine offal,
coal-fired power plants and related industrial emissions are legitimate
causes for alarm, but is there sufficient evidence of a definite warming
trend caused solely by all of the above, or is it cyclical facet of the
fickleness of Mother Nature?
This question is a perpetually resurrected topic of conversation every time
we "geezers" gather to hold lively discussions targeted at solving major
world problems.
During these seminars, the aged, wrinkled sages would recall and shuddering
of recollections of long miserable nights huddling as a child under every
quilt and comforter your mother could spare, including two Walker hounds in
an oft-vain attempt to stay warm. What warmth in the house in which you
resided, where you could sometimes see the chickens walking around under the
house, was generated by the family wood-fired cook stove, a wood heater or
two, and a open hearth fireplace where over 90% of the generated heat went
up the chimney. Childhood wintertime memories of the 1940's often were
interwoven with memories of icicles hanging at every groove in a corrugated
tin roof, and the water dipper freezing in the water bucket inside the
house.
During the winter of 1940-41, probably during late January, or early
February there came a humongous snow,  that as I remember was about three
feet deep in our front yard, and staying around for almost a week. The sun
finally broke through on about the fourth day and we all trooped out into
the front yard to break the tedium of being cooped up for what seemed days
without end. About the time we got out near the front gate, here comes Mr.
C.I. Humphries driving down the street in a brand, new 1940 model Plymouth
automobile and I remember my dad remarking," He's going too fast", and about
that time he hit a patch of what's now called black ice, and the car went
into a skid. He ended up with the bulk of the front end including the wheels
hanging off the side of a bridge spanning Ford's Branch, which ran near our
house.
Then in the fall of 1947 around the first of December, I was in the seventh
grade in the new Jena Elementary School building when it went to snowing and
sleeting about 10 o'clock one Thursday day morning. It kept getting heavier
and around noon the snow and sleet was beginning to stick which necessitated
the dismissal as soon as everyone completed lunch. Phone calls had gone out
to all the school bus drivers resulting in them circling the buses by one
o'clock and away everyone went. Freddy Holt and I headed home, got out our
warm clothes and BB guns, and for the next two days we bird hunted until our
hearts were content, as we ended up wading through nearly four feet of snow
in open fields and higher in drifts.
I maintain until this day that you just haven't endured wintertime until
you've had to chop litered pine splinters and fetch in stove and heater
wood. The wood box was kind of like cows that didn't stay milked; the wood
box didn't stay filled up either.

GR&C (10-13-04)                                          JMW