Now I'm a Believer!

Since Monday all the weather men have been forecasting a snow of "Epic" proportions for Northwest Oklahoma. Now I'm Sooner bred, Sooner born and... when I die I'll be Sooner dead. In other words, I've been here a while and usually we get a few inches of snow... maybe 7 or 8" during a good storm, but those guys were saying "Epic" as in "one for the ages"... they were even comparing it to the storm of 1971, which I remember. So being the natural born sceptic I am... I wasn't buying it.

Somewhere around 4:00 am Friday morning it began thundering and lightening illuminated the sky. I continued lightly sleeping and could hear what sounded like sleet striking the windows and metal roof of my house. My immediate thought was, "Yep, I'm still in Oklahoma"... after all, where else can you enjoy an early Spring morning thunderstorm accompanied by sleet? Daylight broke and I noticed my truck was covered with a thin sheet of ice, and light snow was beginning to fall, but I still wasn't buying the whole epic snow storm deal.

The day progressed and enough snow/sleet accumulated on the ground that Brenda, Shane, Ashley, Lacy and Tristen (niece and great-nephew), and Lori Davis (family friend) could sled down the slight incline leading away from our house. By evening it had finally began snowing and appeared, by sunset, that we may get several inches. When I went to bed, around 2:00 am, my scepticism was taking a serious hit.

I slept until 8:00 am (probably would have slept longer but the phone rang). When I finally got up and looked out the door, I was immediately greeted by a 5' snow drift that spanned the entire length of our house! As I gazed down our drive toward the main road, the place where just the day before the family had been sledding, I saw drift after drift after drift.

My truck was surrounded by a drift that was better than bumper high, and since my 4 wheel drive stopped working a day before the storm (how convenient is that?), I knew it was stuck. Our Nitro was sitting in less of a drift, so I thought I might as well try to make it out in it. So, I got in, put er' in 4 wheel drive and planted my right foot flat on the floor board... made it about 50 yards before paring in a snow bank for which I was no match. Later in the day, Brenda and I walked about 3/4 of mile, through knee deep snow (in some places waste deep on Brenda) and caught a ride to Tish's house with Shane, Ash, and Lacy. After shoveling a path to our friend's mail box for her, and hanging out at with the grandkids for a few, Shane let us out at our rendezvous point and we walked back home, this time finding an incredible blessing... someone had brought in a tractor and plowed through the drifts all the way from the road to our house (1,000'). God is good!

As I write, Brenda, Shane, Ash, Lacy and Tristen are sledding down the hill just west of our house. Yes it is 9:15 pm and dark outside. But what can I say? It's not often we get an "Epic" snow storm in Oklahoma.

As for me, well let me just say it like Micky, Mike, Peter, and Davey would say it... "Now I'm a Believer!"