My cousin turned 50 years old today.  And over today and the next few days we have the 50th anniversary of one of the worst Iowa blizzards on record.  Something my parents and their siblings talk about even now.

As I understand it my mom worked as a nurse at the time and she wound up not being able to go home for a few days because she and dad were pretty much stuck.  She worked at the local Mercy hospital and he was on the farm and they were both stuck where they were.  They had winds of up to 40 to 50 miles with a few gusts over 65mph.  Over $100 million in livestock losses and 14 people died - mostly from heart attacks from trying to clear the snow.  When I went to high school they still had the first generation of teachers there and one of them told me that about a week later the snow was all gone. 

Today it's a fairly nice day as early April days go.  It's in the mid 50s down here in Dubuque now.  It's probably going to be in the 60s and 70s early next week.  Ever since my cousin and I came along just over two years later we've had the whole range of weather about this time of year in the upper Midwest.   I think even up by Minneapolis the snow will be gone and things will start greening up again in the next week or two.