The experts seem to have been confused over where our October snow storm came from (now known as the Blizzard of 1997.) One reporter in the Denver newspaper said it wasn't El Nino, it was cold air from Canada that collided with warm air from somewhere else, another said it was the first storm from El Nino and that the Christmas Blizzard of 1982 was probably an El Nino storm too. All I know is that a ton of the cold white stuff was dumped on Commerce City and the whole Metro area. Our winters have been so nice lately I've been a bit overconfident -- I don't even own a pair of boots. The October Blizzard of 1997 was an unwelcome greeting to winter.

Reports are that the storm was even worse than the 1982 Christmas snow. That's the year we were going to my daughter's for dinner but we were snowed in. We lived in Lochbuie and since my daughter was cooking the turkey and we couldn't go anywhere we put on boots and waded through hip deep snow to the Lochbuie store. We bought the only meat we could find and ate hot dogs for Christmas dinner. Somehow they didn't taste much like turkey.

Since that day I think I'm a bit wiser because now when I heard that a huge snowstorm was headed my way I went to King Soopers for enough groceries to be snowbound in comfort. Everyone else went to the store too because it was crowded and got worse as the storm raged. A friend related that the shelves were nearly empty by Saturday. She and her son-in-law got stuck four times in the King Soopers parking lot.

Our concern was over my grandson Bill who drives a tractor trailer truck from the DIA vicinity to Colorado Springs. He leaves at 1:00 in the afternoon. That Friday night as the storm got worse and as I grew more concerned I got out my secret weapon against worry and used it. I prayed a lot that night and so did his mother. When I called Bill's home Saturday morning at 10:00 a.m. his wife said he didn't get home, he spent the night at work, along with hundreds of others who spent the night in the DIA vicinity.

At least we knew he made it back and wasn't stranded on the highway. He later said that it took him five hours to get back from Colorado Springs and that he could feel our prayers for him as he was driving through blinding snow. Pina Boulevard was full of stranded cars. Bill had a cot to sleep on but food was scarce. The men went to a Conoco station close to his work for food. That short trip took two hours. No one came to clear the roads so they dug themselves out and took Tower Road to get back to Commerce City. Finally at 5:30 Saturday afternoon Bill and a friend got home. The friend stayed all night, he couldn't get to his home until Sunday because of the roads.

Once when we lived in the country we were out of lights for four days, had no water, but we did have gas so I melted snow and boiled it to drink and wash. At times like this I think about the life the pioneers lived. They had cold outhouses, coal oil lanterns, their heat was wood, coal or cow chips. If they could get out on snow packed roads they rode in a one horse open sleigh. It might be fun once a winter, but I think the fun would dim if you had to ride in a sleigh all winter.

I've decided it's time I went shopping and bought a pair of boots. If the real El Nino comes and hits us who knows what we would be in for? El Nino is so well known now they're naming food after it. I don't know what's in it, but El Nino Chili is probably a real blast.