The next mornin started like any other mornin, with bacon fryin and coffee perkin and the whole house smellin like the finest Bistro in New York! That is until John roused himself to go feed the animals. He grabbed his warm boots and coat and muffler, got fixed up and headed for the door. He wrestled with it fur a few minutes and then huffed in to his pa and said, “Pa, did you put a new lock on the door? It won’t open! I cain’t get out to the animals!”

  “What?” his father said. “No, I didn’t do anything to it. Maybe one of your brothers is playin a prank on you. Go ask them.”

  John went to Carl and Timmy, woke them up and gave them what for! “Ok who’s the wise guy and made the door so it won’t open? How am I supposed to get to the animals to feed them this mornin?” He was all steamed up!

  Carl and Timmy both got up, yawnin and stretchin and Cal followed him to the front door and said, “Nobody’s trickin you, John. Sometimes the door just gets stuck. Just grab it like so and

  give it a little hit by the knob and there you go!”

  Nothing happened. Carl hit the door harder and tried again. “The knob is turnin, but the door won’t open! What is goin on?”

  Karen ran in to the room, shoutin,”The snow is buryin us! Look out the window! No, you have to go upstairs; you cain’t see out the window down here!”

  Her brothers looked at each other and then ran up the stairs!! They gawked out the window with their mouths hangin open enough to catch a fly, if it hadn’t of been winter and there had been any around!

  Timmy was the first to say anything. “Well, I’ll be!”

  Carl said, “I ain’t never seen anything like it! We ain’t never had so much snow! I knew it was snowin hard yesterday, but this beats all! Well, brothers, we are just goin to have to improvise. Ok, we can jump from up here, but whoever does is goin to sink, so we have to go prepared to dig our way to the front door.”

  By this time the whole family had heard the news and were all upstairs gaspin and gawkin out the window!

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  Pa said, “Well, I never!”

  Cora and Karen were already puttin on their snow gear and Timmy was openin the window to jump. Pa said, “What do you have to dig with, in case the snow goes over your head, Timmy?”

  “Oh, yeah, hand me that chamber pot, John,” Timmy said.

  “You ain’t thinkin clearly!” John said. “If’n you jump with that old chamber pot, you are goin to have pee and poop splashin all over you!”

  “Oh, yeah, you are right. Thanks fur savin me findin that out the hard way, John!” Timmy said sheepishly.

  Pa brought out a big ol shovel he hadn’t had time to break in yet that he was plannin on usin to clear away underbrush at the new moonshine spot and handed it to Timmy.

  Timmy grabbed it up and jumped out the two story window and promptly sank in the snow till he was sittin on the ground and had to look up to see the top of the snow! John and Carl followed him and laughin, all three started diggin toward the front door! Pa watched all of this goin on and said to Lucy, “Now honey, this is why I should have made that wraparound porch to include the front doorway. I had the doorway stand alone cuz it seemed easier to get outside just goin through one door, rather than goin through the front door and then through the door on the screened in porch! Well, it’s worked up till now, but today is a mite different!”

  Hattie had gotten dressed and grabbed her little beach shovel that she had never had occasion to use, not having ever been to the beach and was sittin on the window ledge when her mother caught her. “Land Sakes, child! Don’t jump! We won’t find you till spring when the snow melts! Karen come over here and be ready to dig Hattie out after she jumps!”

  When Hattie did jump, she jumped waaaay out into a pile of snow her siblings hadn’t touched and ended up with her little bottom down and her arms and legs stretched up, all folded in half! Karen rushed over and started diggin like crazy and Cora helped too! Hattie was laughin and helpin to dig herself out, too!

  Once Hattie was upright, the girls started diggin their own path to the henhouse! The race was on! It was the boys diggin to the barn and the girls to the henhouse! Carl had gotten all of the snow away from the front door so it could open again. Every once in a while Lucy came to the front door and called them all in for hot chocolate and to warm themselves by the fireplace. She was vigilant, makin sure nobody got frostbite. None of them were used to this deep snow and frostbite could sneak up on you. Lucy remembered her grandfather had his foot amputated because of frostbite.

  After a very active mornin, gettin to the animals in the barn and the hens in the henhouse, and feedin everyone, the excited but weary Higgins family made their way to lunch. As they had more hot chocolate with bologna sandwiches, the chatterin drove Earl and Lucy to their room fur a little peace!

  After cleanin up, the kids went out to the field and dug tunnels just fur fun!