After the snow storm, the snowman

It’s been a week since the snow storm, and roads have long returned to a driveable state, although the gravel roads are still soft and rutted. The last few days were much warmer, and big puddles have replaced snow in many spots.

Still, there is a fair bit left even now, and of course there was much more on Easter Sunday when a group of family and friends gathered at our house. The sun was shining brightly in the afternoon, and it was warm enough to sit out on the deck on the west side of the house – a bit like sitting on an island, surrounded by a sea of white.

The under-thirty crowd soon decided the snow was perfect to build a snowman, and went to work with  much enthusiasm. It wasn’t long until tracks from the rolled-up snow criss-crossed the lawn, some almost, though not quite, laying bare the tan grass underneath. Roll after roll of sticky snow was added to the ever-growing pile which, for a long time, looked rather formless. What would it be in the end? A tower? A pyramid? Just a big ugly lump of snow? More volunteers joined the effort, and the assembly line was perfected: there now were 'roll starters’ - female, and partly a bit older - who passed on their product to one of the strong young project initiators. Like the snowball, the crew of snow pushers necessary to manoeuvre the building blocks kept growing. Three guys, three pairs of arms and legs gave their all to move the snow rolls to the building site, then, in one huge last effort, muscles straining under the weight, one roll after the other was lifted up with a 'one-two-THREE!'

Finally the construction was deemed high enough. Now it became clear that the mass of snow was not intended to become a pyramid at all: this was going to be a bona fide snow giant! The shaping of the body and the head was not an easy thing to do: the whole thing was about twelve feet high, after all, and steps had to be fashioned on the backside so that the sculptors had a foothold. With much good advice it took shape. Rocks had to be found for the eyes and the mouth, a carrot for the nose, and the horses’ 20-l water pail was deemed to be the perfect hat. Never before had a snowman even close to its size taken up residence on our lawn!

Now, of course, the big question is: how long will it last? Later, when we had moved back inside for coffee and cake, bets were taken and written down for the date of its final demise. Estimates range from very optimistic (April 22^nd) to very gloomy (May 18^th), with a cluster right around the end of April/beginning of May.

So far, although the lawn has lost much of its snow cover, the snow giant is holding fast. Its shoulders are sagging a bit, and it has bumps and cavities where none were before, but its dead-tree arms are still raised in a benevolent gesture, almost like a blessing.