After the Storm

A frosty morning.

This is why you should not build a deck on your house in the Copper Country.

Another snow day for Sam.  All the public schools were closed for two days.

The best cure for cabin fever is outdoor exercise.

Sledding down to the pond.

Of course not everyone gets cabin fever, so who needs exercise anyway?

Time to shovel the deck, starting with the stairs.

The assault on Mount Everest.

Contrary to popular opinion, you do get a little smarter when you get older.  I have had some serious back issues over the years, so I pay a lot of attention to ergonomics when I work.  I use a lightweight aluminum shovel and try to work at a relaxed pace when shoveling snow.  It was the way my father always worked.  He never hurried, but he kept steadily at it.

God gave women an ergonomic advantage for carrying childen - a wider hipbone that forms a natural support.  I see mothers carrying their children like this everywhere, but I have yet to see a man do it.

Rocking and rolling!

Little sisters are fun!

I found that the snow that I had blown with my snogo was packed solid, so I decided to try to build an igloo.

I was able to cut the snow into blocks, but quickly learned why the eskimos use a long snow knife for this purpose.  The shovel tended to round them.  I think a long machete would have worked much better to make square blocks.

But this was just an experiment, so I just kind of mucked my way onward.

Cutting the block.

And lifting it up.

The idea is to lay the blocks in a circle in even courses, so that each course is a little smaller that the one it sits on.

As you can see, my blocks were hopelessly irregular and my courses as flat as a stormy lake, but I learned a few things.  Use a long knife to cut the blocks and do it with a helper.  One cuts the blocks and hands them to the other, who stands inside the igloo and lays the blocks.  That way, you can cut your entrance hole after the igloo is complete.