Fort Fraser

The long weekend (for us) just past gave us some much needed time to catch up on a smidge of domestic entropy that was growing dangerously close to breaching our ever-weakening containment shield, as well as some just as much needed spousal time.  We actually went to a fancy hotel for Sunday brunch (surprise for Amy) and then out to a movie.  'Twas awesome!

(Thanks to Granny and Grumpy for taking the boys for a day and a night.)

All the added time also allowed for us to do something with the vast amount of snow that was sitting (far too virginally) all over our front lawn.  It cried out for despoilment like a bride on her wedding night.  (Our front lawn specifically because we can be relatively sure, there, that there's nothing scatological about it.)

Thus, goaded by my wife, and aided by two of the enthusiastic neighbour kids (amid a handful of shovels), we cleared the beginnings of a front yard snow fort.

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Here, Tavish paws at the entrance corridor to the fort proper.  The Panama Canal was built in this sort of way.  Only with dirt instead of snow, it was much warmer there, and the relative volume of material moved was off by several orders of magnitude.  The child labour part totally matches though.

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In this picture (now in the fort courtyard), as in the one above, one can see how important a role duct tape plays in protecting toddlers from the encroachment of snow.  I cursed myself later on for not doing the same at his wrists after he took a bit of a spill and started to wail like his fingernails had just been ripped out. 

(They hadn't.)

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Declan, content mostly to supervise and remain relatively snow-free, piped up with the occasional comment like, "I don't think I like the cold very much."

You know, just in case we couldn't interpret his facial subtleties.

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Amy, shoring up the main outer defenses of the fort, has the courtyard cleared down to the grass.  In total, I think it measures about three metres (10') to a side with a short corridor connecting it to the driveway.  If the weather holds up (i.e., stays cold enough) we'll see if we can reinforce the battlements this coming weekend.  Not sure about the weather cooperating though: it's been positively tropical temperate here lately -- a couple degrees above freezing, even!  Stay tuned...

Comments

[Mark]

Wow. High of about 68 F here today, and expected 63 tomorrow.

I feel for you guys, even though you obviously don't need me to do so. I could revel in that much snow for about a day or two, and then I'd probably be finished.

Snowflakes up there are kind of like Republicans down here -- it's fun to rake them all up into a pile and maybe even build things out of them, or write your name by peeing on them, but eventually you start thinking, "couldn't they all just melt already. Damn!"

See, I don't like to get political on my blog, but I can on someone else's!

[marian]

Above freezing! You lucky dog. Kids around here go out in t-shirts if it's above freezing. This morning we're at -14F (-25C). And just forget about the wind chill. Maybe we'll have your weather next week. Snow forts are great. One winter we built an actual functioning igloo—back in the winters when we used to get real snowfall, not the miserly stuff we get these days.

[Moksha Gren]

Ah, a post after my own heart. Three cheers for snow forts!!

You guys have a heat wave, we got hit with an arctic cold blast...meaning we have realtively the same temperatures this week. But we have no snow to play in [sniff sniff]

[Moksha Gren]

Mark - Nice...make your political jokes where Charles can't argue, eh?

[Amy]

Is there and American using Canadian slang on here??? hmmm it is a good thing we like you Justin.

[Simon]

Mark,

Your politically subversive statement was delightful and entertaining. Let me just say this: OBAMA'08!! Now that he's won Hawaii, that 10 primaries in a row and he has Hillary on the ropes. Huzzah!

Marian,

Kids around here are in T-shirts when it's around freezing too. They're still bitterly cold, but dammit, they look cool!

Moksha,

We don't have nearly enough piled to dig into (nor is it dense enough even if it were deep enough), but I do think we could withstand a significant bombardment from the sidewalk.

Amy,

Yeah, I think we like Just.... erm, Moksha. At least enough to put up with him in a virtual realm.

[Just....erm Moksha]

It's true...I'm much more difficult to put up with in person. Just ask my wife.

Sorry for co-opting your Canadian slang. It's tough to be surrounded by such International coolness without trying in vain to fit in. And with that, I'm on my way over to Timmie's for a double-double.