I’m not sure what month the blizzard of 1949 occurred in McAdoo, Texas, but I do remember it was very cold—this being the first memory of my life. My grandparent’s farm was on the flat plains of West Texas where the wind chill factor always pushed the temperature down. When we were finally allowed outside, my cousin, Robena McCoy, and I went for a walk out near the barn, where we discovered a baby goat frozen in the ice. Not far away was a chicken frozen in the ice. The small pond was completely frozen over and we were able to run and slide across the ice. Next to the pond was an old cotton wood tree where we would climb and swing as young children as we grew older. All of the grandchildren remember that old cotton wood tree that is no longer there now.
My grandfather had a building that housed cotton seed which was used for planting the next crop. The grandchildren would all enjoy playing in the cotton seed where it was warm and cozy. We would often tunnel holes into the cotton seed and crawl through them. We had to be careful not to crawl over the tunnels for they would cave in and we would have to start all over again.
About the same time, my cousin Robena and I were playing in the lot with the young calves. We accidently let one out of the gate and ran to the house to tell our parents that one calf had escaped the lot and was going down the road. Our parents simply said to follow the calf so he doesn't get lost. We did follow the calf for about a mile and in about a half hour my dad came along and told us to drive the calf back to the lot. Robena and I did drive the calf back up the road and my dad opened the lot gate and he was back inside.
As I think back on this, (in 2020) our parents gave us the responsibility to return the calf to the lot and did not seem to make a big deal that we had accidently let the calf out.