This past winter, persons wanting to check on the weather forecast need not to have relied on their computer or cell phone apps. All they would have needed to do is call me and find out when I had scheduled a hair appointment because I cancelled every single one from around the first of December until about three weeks ago — all because of the weather. Even when I rescheduled the appointments, they had to be cancelled, too.

This sounds crazy, but during the winter the lane leading into the house is prone to drifting, even if there’s just wind and no snow coming down. So there’s always the chance that I can’t get the car up to the house, not that the snow doesn’t drift around the house, too. This past winter the car had to be pulled out because it was high centered in snow and once was stuck in the ice. Anyway, this is all to say that I have to be cautious about getting stuck in the snow.

Besides that, driving in blizzard conditions isn’t fun, and there have been plenty of days with squalls this year. Since I live seven miles out of Craig and my husband Lyle is no longer here to rescue me, I don’t take chances.

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So on mornings when the wind was starting up or the sky was threatening snow, I cancelled my hair appointments. My hair grew long, and it no longer had the curl provided by a “perm” (a hair wave provided by chemicals). I tried to do my hair without much success. Finally my hair got to looking so bad that I took to wearing a hooded jacket with the hood up and tied when I did get to Craig. It probably looked a little more ridiculous on a sunny day. I’m convinced that people were thinking, “There’s that little old lady with the pink hooded jacket.” Even at home I ran to put a hood over my hair when somebody came to the house.

Finally, I lucked out. About three weeks ago I was able to keep an appointment to have my hair cut and curled. I made an appointment for a “perm” the next week. Boy, I felt like a million dollars. I drove home without a hood over my hair. Hair didn’t fall over my face. The curl didn’t last very long without a “perm,” but it was great while it lasted.

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“Perm ” day arrived. Guess what? Storm again. My hairdresser jokingly said that she’d schedule another appointment for me during the summer, but she did find a time last Wednesday. I made the appointment! My hair is curly again. I left my hood off. I let a breeze blow through my hair. During feeding time, when I was bent over putting hay through the fence, a cow put her head over the corral poles and onto my head. She probably forgot that I had hair.

My hair appointments weren’t the only ones to be cancelled this winter. You may have noticed that my column has been missing in the newspaper some weeks. It has been a challenge getting it into Craig, but things are looking up!