On 03/22/2015 6:29 PM, Ed Huntress wrote:
On Sun, 22 Mar 2015 16:16:35 -0500, wrote:

On 03/22/2015 11:26 AM, Ed Huntress wrote:
On Sun, 22 Mar 2015 11:09:28 -0500, wrote:
...

Being dryland wheat/milo farmer in SW KS, we pay attention to such
things... (We're in that D3 bullseye in the SW corner)

Oh, that's interesting. I just took a look at some of the animated
drought maps. It looks brutal.

'Tain't good, fur shure...last year ended up not _too_ bad locally,
depending on just when/where local showers fell. We're in fourth year;
unfortunately, the USDA starts the drought clock over at the beginning
of each calendar year so as far as their concerns go, it's a yearly
thing. Were "century farm" this past year; grandfather homesteaded this
place in 1914 so went the the Dust Bowl of the 30s. In looking back,
two years ago we had less total here at the house than any year he
recorded--just under 10" as compared to about 12" was lowest in the 30s.
The early 50s was another stretch here, it holds our personal record
of '55-56 of only 9" for the year. That one was broken by a "blizzard
of the century" in late spring of '57 that lasted from a Saturday
afternoon thru next Monday night at 50-70 mph wind and snow.

'58 began a stretch of very good years, similar to those of the '20s
when grandfather was getting established--if hadn't had that stretch
wouldn't have been able to hang thru the 30s.

Your family was right in there for an important part of American
history. I'll bet they have some great stories.

Have only one Auntie still around...she was grade-school age thru the
worst of the 30s. She had a girlfriend who's father worked for the City
utility in town which was a real gift to have a reliable job at the
time. She said this friend said a final "...and bless Liberal Power
Company!" for a closing bedtime prayer every night.

A great aunt kept a letter from one of my other aunts (older than the
above) who told her story of the week--she had, amongst school work and
other ordinary chores, gathered, washed, candled and packed 96-dozen
eggs. And this, of course, was just one week of a never-ending stretch
of them. The letter ends with the lament "And, oh, the EGGS!!!"

Them was tough folks...

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