• Sunday-What'sUP February 6 - 10:03 pm

This morning as I was browsing through the guest gallery, it occurred to me that many of these shots will someday be regarded as Shoebox Memories of future generations. In 2107, looking back a hundred years, they will recall the times when snow had to be physically moved somehow. (That was back in the days before the WASV - Wide Area Snow Vaporizer). Actually, that's not too far fetched when you consider how radically things have changed in the last 100 years.

Good thing we have heated cars today. I don't think I would have made a very good pioneer, riding on a wagon in the dead of winter! How spoiled we really are, huh?

Good Morning everyone! -10 degrees and still snowing here in Houghton. Bone chilling temps, enough already.

Well, it looks like they won't have to worry about thawing problems this year with the statues for Winter Carnival, etc! It was only a couple of years ago, I think, when there was a really warm spell (50's or near 60) a week or two before Winter Carnival. That year, some of the big walls, etc, of some of the snow sculptures collapsed. That made for real engineering problems to get those fixed in time for Carnival. I think that was actually worse than the shortage of snow earlier this year for the snow sculptures (month-longs). This year, they knew what they had to deal with (not as much snow as they would have liked in the beginning), and it has been plenty cold to preserve their work.

What is that huge thing all those animals are pulling and where is it.Looks like a lot of people are on it

That looks like a roller used to "pank" down the snow. There is a very large one on the grounds at the Eagle Harbor lighthouse.

It looks like a Christmas Parade Float. What could it be? It's gotta be something big to have that many horses!

Great Picture !!! Sure don't miss all that white stuff on the ground..Got to go...have a 10:00 AM tee time here in Florida. Temp only getting up to 75 today.

Isn't that an ice barge? Cold no matter what.

Yea and just think last month you were all wondering were winter was...lol BTW great pictures. Soon to be a troll but my first vaction when I get back will be in Yooper contry. Cant wait!!!

Now that is a good word----------pank. Never hear that in other places. Only other people I heard use it were from S. Dakota. The horses are pulling a roller used to pank the roads for travel. That would be in the earlier 1900s.

Hey Charlie, 2107 a hundred years back? wow we have really gone up in years and didn't even know it!
You really must proof read your years before you post them!! ;-)

Uhhh, "Happy to be in the U.P.", Charlie got it right.....a 100 years from now will be 2107, right?

I read it right as looking back from 2107!
As a kid it was my job to pank the snow up along the foundation of the house to keep the floors warmer,had to keep the crawl space open to get to the spuds so Mom could make pasties.

I volunteer to be a beta user in my driveway for the Wide Area Snow Vaporizer. --Wait, would it also vaporize buildings, dogs, kids, my garden?? ... Never mind, I will get out the ol' yooper scooper.

I tried panking the snow on my walkways instead of shovelling one year, but by March had to stoop under the honeysuckle arbor.

Can't imagine living in the times when you had to cover up with a blanket and ride by horse and buggy to the nearest town for supplies. There wouldn't be enough blankets to keep me warm. To think the Amish still do it. BRRRR!!!!!

I remember when I first moved from the CC. After a while I got to thinking about all the words I used growing up, pank being one of them. I thought to myself that that just couldn't be a word. I've never used it since. Only in da UP, eh?

http://www.pbs.org/speak/words/trackthatword/ttw/?i=1248 This will clear up the use of pank as a word.

Not only did all these horses and heavy roller pank the snow down on the roads and make travel easier for the population. It was also a very efficient way to distribute manure which could be shoveled off the road in the spring for the garden.

I've never "panked" the snow but I've "panked" my kids.

Having been raised in Houghton, Icould never understand someone not understanding "pank". At 75 years I find myself still using it from time to time. The snow rollers were used for many years on UP roads. Grandfather often told me about the proper courtesy in the old day. When you met another traveler"s sled one was expected to stop,pull over, or at least slow way down. The larger sled had the right-of-way so they wouldn't slip off the hard packed (panked) surface and overturn. If that happened you were expected to get out and help them back on the road.

I forgot--which happens often at this age--I was told years ago that Houghton County was the first County in the UP to plow roads. Does anyone know any thingt about that? Grandfather also said that when the "spring breakup" happened most people didn't try to travel for the slush was too deep.

I didn't know that "pank" was not an everyday word in the English language. I've used it several times through the years despite my move to Texas. I've also used other words that people here do not understand: kitty-corner, hot water heater, unthaw... Even after twenty years of being down here, these words are still part of my vocabulary and come out automatically. Whenever one flows smoothly off my tongue, I am made suddenly and rudely aware by someone countering with "You're not from around here are you."

Sandra! Yup, my move is what made me change the way I talk. I got tired of being riduculed! I did figure out the pank thing myself though and do not say it anymore unless I'm kidding. And yup, unthaw's a good one as well as hot water heater. I'll do that after (after what?) is another one. And the all time best one was always "Why do you always say 'hey' at the end of every sentence"?

Sandra H, I lived in Texas for much of my life, and I have always used the phrase, "kitty-corner", and I've always called the appliance a hot water heater. I'm surprised you get funny looks for those two? What are they calling a hot water heater now?

Is that building in the background the one off US 41 near Quincy Mine? I believe it had a slate roof. I haven't been there in a few years and it may no longer be there. Or it could be that there were a lot of buildings around that looked like that one. With the horses out in front, I suppose thay had to hoof it through some deep, unpanked snow. Also, it looks like a lot of passengers on board for ballast

Re "hot water heater":

Why would anyone need a "hot water heater" - obviously that would be an appliance that heats "hot water")?

If the water is already hot, then it clearly doesn't need to be heated!

Mebby it should be called a "cold water" heater instead, 'cuz it sure does heat cold water!

.

You should see the looks I get around here when I say I talked to my Cousin In Michigan. Oh what was she doing . Shoveling her roof . Doing What!You mean sidewalk . NO you heard me right roof.

I suppose just "water heater" works, but I was raised with the same "hot water heater", too.

Shirley Waggoner (Shirlohio) Thank you for letting me know. I had to re-read it myself. Thanks :-)

And do you all wash your hands with hot soap & water?

Growing up in south central Wisconsin, we had a hot water heater, the garage was kitty corner from the store, and we unthawed our lutefisk! It wasn't until I went to college that it was pointed out to me that unthaw would be "to freeze." Duh - I never said unthaw again.

RCW, remember those snow scrapers on runners? I used to have to ride on one when I worked for Alec Antilla in the junkyard. It had a big lever on it to raise the blade to drop off the snow at the end of the road. He pulled it with a little bulldozer.
Remember those 'hot water pigs'? Little cast iron water heater that we called a 'water heater'. We fed it with the hardwood end trimmings from Horner Flooring Mill. Used to have to do that for mom on laundry day. :o)

I didn't know a hot water heater was called anything BUT a hot water heater. But I suppose technically it is a COLD water heater. I remember the "hot water heater" in our sauna when I was a kid. It was a big tank of water next to the sauna stove. Trolls are always amazed when I tell them we had to go outside to take a bath and take our clothes off in an unheated room, even in the winter. Then when we were done, we had to dodge the skunk who lived in the sauna shed. Those were the days....

In the sauna it is a hot water heater, we touched it to know if the water was hot enough for a shower yet. Sometimes that was not such a good plan, but live and learn. The family has upgraded the hot water heater in the sauna it is actually hooked up where the sauna doesn't have to be lit for it to fully function!

Still entertaining, 17 years later :)

This was such fun reading, especially seeing all
of the familiar names.