© 2024 Kansas City Public Radio
NPR in Kansas City
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Snow Day Stories

Frank Morris
/
KCUR

After the two snowstorms that slammed Kansas City, even the bravest of winter weather enthusiasts found their schedules disrupted.  A lot of people spent their snow days digging their way out. But besides shoveling, many locals did something unanticipated, whether it was dealing with the loneliness of a power outage, or kicking back to play Call of Duty.

INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS:

“I’ve got my snow days nailed. They all pretty much look the same: fire and food and movies. I was so excited I couldn’t sleep. I was up watching out the window. I immediately started cooking. We had a jigsaw puzzle going; we had Bailey’s in our coffee; we had lots and lots of movies. I made goat stew, chili, meatloaf, all kinds of comfort foods.” --Nancy Nicolay, nurse at Trailwood Elementary School

“I was home alone, and fortunately for the people across the street, they had power. But unfortunately for me, I could look out across the street and see their warm glowing lights, so I was kind of sad and lonely. I could really feel what I was missing out on…the neighbors next door were going to the motel, so they asked me if I wanted to come and I thought, ‘Oh, I’ll just stick it out,’ but it wasn’t until later when it was dark and I had the flashlight that I wished that I had gone. That was probably the loneliest part was after dark set in.” --Laura Taylor, Museum Educator at the Toy & Miniature Museum of Kansas City

“In the four houses just right around my house, all the women were out shoveling. There were no men to be seen, so I don’t know whether we were saving our husbands from heart attacks, or we just needed to get out of the house and stop cooking and cleaning so…we all met together in the middle of the street and were talking and we’d go from one house to the other and all just helped each other, so it was a nice coming together time.” --Shereen North, secretary at Trailwood Elementary School

This story was produced for KC Currents, which airs Sundays at 5pm with a repeat Mondays at 8pm. To listen on your own schedule, subscribe to the KCCurrents podcast.

KCUR serves the Kansas City region with breaking news and award-winning podcasts.
Your donation helps keep nonprofit journalism free and available for everyone.