Snow Caves and Slickin'

(If the Sildeshows and Pictures don't show up, click the title of this post and they should show up there.) We live in a pretty high snow area. So far, we’ve had almost 9 feet of snowfall, which is much less than normal for this time of year. A few weeks ago, it warmed up to near 40 degrees and rained. Yuck! Then the temperatures plummeted to 20 below zero, so now there’s quite a crust of ice on everything. After a good snow, our boys spend many hours either slickin’, as they call it, or building snow caves.

The first slideshow has pictures of some of the snow caves they built earlier this winter. After their first one collapsed, they figured out that it works better to pile up the snow and let it set up a few hours or more before digging it out. At one point, we had three small snow caves in the yard. After this last snow, they pooled their efforts and built a big snow cave that all of us could have slept in. It was surprisingly strong and well built, especially considering it was built by two 6 year olds. Unfortunately, they crashed it before I got a picture.



Here are two more that they made yesterday when they both crashed through the snow nearly up to their eyeballs. Both of them were beside spruce saplings, and decided that would be a good place for a snow cave. They dug themselves out, broke off some branches, stuck them around, and then packed lots of snow around to keep out the wind. I think their imaginations will serve them well if they ever get stuck out in the woods on a snowy day when they’re older.

Zeke in his snow cave he made with spruce branches
after he fell through the snow up to his eyeballs.

Jed in his snow cave he made after falling through the snow
right beside Zeke. He made it with a spruce tree.

Here are some pictures of them slickin’, as they call it. A few were taken in the yard. Most are at the lake where there’s a steep hill. Jed takes his sled everywhere. You just never know when you’ll find a good hill. (If the slideshows don't show, click on the title of this post above and they should show up there.)