PANHANDLE WINTERS

Fall always brings back memories of trick or treating on Halloween (and I did both!), marching in the band at football games, and the winter holidays spent indoors during mostly frigid days and nights in the Texas Panhandle. There's nothing like playing a reed instrument at halftime during a football game in 20-degree weather with snowflakes swirling around in the omnipresent high winds. Musical instrument keys and reeds freeze and stick while fingers become frostbitten. Someone once told me that people from the Panhandle were not only the friendliest but also the hardiest of humans. After all, it had to be tough to survive the harshness of winter. When one grows up in cold and windy winter weather, it takes many years for bones to thaw after leaving the Panhandle behind. Somehow, we endured.

Living in a semi-arid environment over 3,000 feet above sea level meant we had to be creative when it came time to decorate for Christmas. What few trees and bushes that existed were bare in the winter. Christmas trees were hauled from the mountains a few hours away and sold at exorbitant prices. None of us were wealthy, so the creative souls made Christmas trees out of two or three stacked tumbleweeds after spray painting them in various colors and adding lights. It was a beautiful sight!

I was in middle school in 1962 when we had drills during the Cuban missile crisis. We were instructed to hide under our desks with our hands over our heads in anticipation of a nuclear-armed Soviet missile heading for us at any minute. It was a frightening time, not unlike what current children are experiencing today as they prepare for potential school shootings. As I recall those times, I chuckle as I wonder how in the heck would hiding under a desk save us from a nuclear missile?

Thirteen months after the Cuban missile crisis, President Kennedy was assassinated. His death meant the loss of childhood innocence for many of us. The bleakness of the Panhandle winter seemed a natural accompaniment to the pervasive sadness we all felt. I remember silence most of all, as words were useless.

There were plenty of good times during winters in the Panhandle. One might think that we could make spectacular snowmen, particularly with the frequency and amount of snow that falls. Unfortunately, the snow was of powder consistency and not easily molded to make sculptures or snowballs. Hopefully, the snow my mother used over 50 years ago was at least fresh! There's nothing like snow ice cream, though! Before the government forced the Phillips Petroleum carbon black plant to add filters, glistening white snow would quickly be blanketed in black. Many years later, we would learn that carbon black, used to make rubber tires, emitted carcinogenic chemicals into the air. The hours' workers are exposed to the materials are now limited by OSHA.

We loved being pulled in sleds behind cars during our youth after heavy snow. I'm not sure if parents would allow such a dangerous activity today, but we certainly enjoyed it! The Panhandle is primarily flat, although canyons in our immediate area enabled adventurous kids to locate the edge of a cliff to slide down.

Some of my childhood friends happily remain in the Panhandle. Many of us who no longer live in the Panhandle comment that we're glad we escaped the snow and wind of winter. Yet, there remains a yearning for the sights and sounds of our youth, no matter how far we've roamed.

The season's first snow hit the Texas Panhandle on October 24, 2019.