noon
The snow did not fall this time , it simply spilled out of heaven , like thousands of featherbeds being emptied . That afternoon the kitchen was a carpenter-shop ; the men brought in their tools and made two great wooden shovels with long handles . Neither grandmother nor I could go out in the storm , so Jake fed the chickens and brought in a pitiful contribution of eggs . Next day our men had to shovel until noon to reach the barn -- and the snow was still falling ! There had not been such a storm in the ten years my grandfather had lived in Nebraska . He said at dinner that we would not try to reach the cattle -- they were fat enough to go without their corn for a day or two ; but tomorrow we must feed them and thaw out their water-tap so that they could drink . We could not so much as see the corrals , but we knew the steers were over there , huddled together under the north bank .