Man on the Street with Greg Kristapovich
When you get snowed in, how do YOU deal with it? (asked in Twain Harte)
“Most of the time, I just try to keep the house warm. You should just curl up next to the fireplace and read books. Back in Cedar Ridge, we had a real high ceiling, so sometimes the place was impossible to heat. We’d also go out and play, and then come in and just sit by the fireplace. That was the center of our house. It was a while back, probably 1989ish. There was a two-week period…no electricity, no power or any running water. We just froze! Cedar Ridge was completely snowed in! No plows! We would walk to Twain Harte and get groceries and bring ‘em back. And from Mt. Elizabeth, it was about five miles! We started in the morning, my dad, my brothers and myself. We were snowed in so that’s what we did.” - O.J. Abrille, Twain Harte, (pizza parlor manager)
“Read books, play games, board games, which is great! You usually think of games you haven’t played in a while, like Scrabble, backgammon; no Monopoly, there’s too many fights! Or Yatzee’s my favorite, actually. Any dice game. Make sure you keep the fire built. ‘Cause that’s what I had to do. I had to warm baby bottles on a cast iron wood stove, for twins! We didn’t have any propane. It was a cinder-block house. That’s just how it was, my babies and me. The twins were still in diapers. And on the seventh day, I left home, ‘cause I was done! They turned the lights on Christmas Eve, for what was it, an hour. The power came on. And then they said it would be back off! I left! It was back in ’95 on Cedar Springs Road, where the Christmas tree farm is.” – Liz Curry, Twain Harte, (Universal Associate, i.e., teller)
“Color in my coloring books! Remote controller trucks in my coloring book! And dump truck books! And everything else! Or, I will just play around inside with my cars, my hot rods! We made an igloo outside! We dug it out. We were, like, using shovels, and using our hands to scoop it out and patting it down. When we get in there, it’s gonna be a big igloo, for two people!” – Robert Duke, Twain Harte, (1st grade student)
“Play games, cards, jigsaw puzzles. And if you’re with some people you can play games like chess, backgammon. The most important thing is to stay warm and enjoy yourself. Just enjoy yourself. You got to make the best of a bad situation. I always make sure I have everything that I need to sustain myself when I’m not able to get out. Make sure you have candles and some type of survival gear that will make it a lot easier for you. Make sure that you have the necessary things, in case the power’s out, and you can’t get out, so that you don’t go crazy from staying inside an enclosed structure.” – Rob Bell, Mono Vista, (heating and air contractor)
“We don’t get snowed in, ‘cause we always shovel or snow blow it out! We have to shovel, our dog, Tasha will bury her stuff in the snow. So we have to shovel it out! We have to keep shoveling all day long! We have a family of seven, so we get out of there pretty quickly! Everyone takes turns shoveling!” – Andrea Bourquin, Sugar Pine, (bakery clerk)
