For a farm family fun comes whenever you have the time. Most of our fun was done at home. We had a few minutes and we made use of it. First, it was the children, then the grandchildren. We loved to make snowmen. We rolled the biggest ball around the yard, then set it where we were going to build. Usually, it was mom and the kids who got involved with this. We had snowmen ready when Dad came up for lunch.

We usually made our snowmen with three balls of snow. The snow had to be just the right consistency to roll and pack. Once we had the three balls set on top of each other we began to embellish them.

The children always wanted to put hats and scarves on them. Of course, we had to use a carrot for the nose and stones to make the mouth. Sticks made the arms. Once they were built, they stood in the yard until they melted naturally. Then we collected the embellishments and brought them in to be washed for another day.

I also worked with the grandchildren making snowmen. The procedure was the same except this time we had to make either one big snowman or three smaller models. I will say that it sure cleaned off the lawn. That way the lawn was green again quite soon. Often the grandchildren had a snowball fight part way through the process — or they left for a while to ride on the saucer or sleds.

I had an old runner sled that turned out to be the favorite sled because it went the best in the snow. I bought some plastic ones to keep here and I also had an old saucer left over from their mom and dad. If we walked way up in the yard and made a curved path, we got quite a ride. Usually, it was up to grandma to blaze the trail so the sleds worked.

At that time, I had a one-piece snowsuit that I made for myself so as not to get snow up my back. I think I put two patterns together to make my creation. It was not exactly pretty, but it did what it was supposed to do.

Another activity that we enjoyed was skiing. I am not talking about the fancy type with downhill skis, I am talking about some old skis made of wood. The one pair belonged to my husband. They had long since lost the straps to hold them on so the kids just put their boots in and away they went.

Sometimes we skied up on the hill at Hickory Heights. Sometimes we went down in the fields at the farm. I remember one time we asked the family that lived next door to us to ski with us. I think they brought their own skis. My husband wanted to take a movie of the family skiing. He wanted to get a picture of the ski going down the hill on its own.

We had such a lot of fun that day with the sleds and the skis. We came back to our house for cocoa and cookies to get ourselves warmed up. Incidentally, this was my children, not the grandchildren.

My son and his family had some draft horses for a while. The whole family plus a few others hitched them up and we took a hay ride — in the snow. There was not much snow so the roads were OK. We were all bundled up to keep warm. I think his little boy was still in a car seat so he was small. My granddaughter was able to move around. Her brother had not arrived yet.

That day we put goulash in the crockpot while we enjoyed our ride. Then it was back to Hickory Heights for our supper. We did a lot of impromptu things in those days, but it was always around the farm. My husband was very particular about when he milked his cows. He was consistent with the timing so the cows’ bags would not get too full.

One time we took our new toboggan up to my sister-in-law’s farm to slide. All of a sudden, the children came running in the house crying. My daughter got her hand caught under the toboggan and peeled the skin back. Since she was the smallest one, they all felt bad. My sister-in-law bandaged it up after a thorough cleaning. She never did go to the doctor. We just made sure that she did not get an infection and it healed. I believe you can still see the scar when her hand gets cold. This is some fifty years later!

Although we had some snow, it is gone now but I am sure we will get some more so we can enjoy some winter sports.

Ann R. Swanson lives in Russell. Contact her at hickoryheights1@verizon.net.