Thursday, February 11, 2010

Snow excavation


I'm not sure Brian or I has ever experienced a single snowfall like this one, though for both of us it brings back memories of other great snows: central Ky, winter of '78; Boston, May '93; Ithaca, yearly (OK, partly kidding).

But for Emily and Hazel both, this is new territory. Sledding in the yard doesn't work, because the snow is too deep. I can't x-country ski through it. Even Brian's snowshoes, which we tried for the first time ever, didn't quite work, though I know that's probably because of our inexperience rather than the depth of the snow.


One activity which works perfectly (besides shoveling! That's going great, I tell you....) is snow-caving - right next to our own driveway. So yesterday, after we got out driveway clear enough to be functional, we made two forts: one tall, and tall enough for Hazel to stand inside; one long, twice my body length, with entrance, exit, and an escape hatch for safety.

Because as much as Brian and I feel like we've done this before, we haven't - not with the girls, of course, but never with our own driveway to shovel, our own snowpiles to shift and tunnel on our own. I'd helped make a decent snow fort or two in my life, but never one which required a head lamp and a sled to see and reach the interior.

Hazel and I saw a sign on a snowpile on our way home from grocery shopping: "Snow for Sale". I guess we don't need any more, but I bet I could buy some more, real cheap, and we could make more tunnels. If we needed to.

1 comment:

Clint said...

What fun! Other than the first snow back in the first week of Dec. ours has been to cold to pack. It is just mostly piles of fluff. You have inspired me to try to do some of that with my kids this long President's weekend if it warms up enough. We got another about 10 inches on top of what was already on the ground. Looks like fun!