Snowman!

February is said to be the coldest month round these parts, with the greatest amount of snowfall. Little wonder then that at times I woke up to see this out of my balcony, where it had been clear the night before:

Sharp eyed folks might pick out what looks like a bit of shovel on the right side of the pic on the steps of the apartments next door. That's the landlord's dad, who busts his ass to remove the snow from the carpark and surroundings as soon as it falls so we can drive and walk in safety. What a guy.

Of course you know I'm not going to pass up a chance to do the stereotypical winter thing and build a snowman, so a bunch of us snuck out in the middle of the night and put him together using all the snow that was shoveled together in the middle of the carpark. Here he is, at various stages of completion:



I supplied the carrot nose while my neighbour provided the cap, scarf and slippers. We scrounged up the eyes and buttons from a pile of stones next to the apartment block next door. Not a bad job, if I do say so myself. We called him Heath, in honour of the guy playing our favourite homicidal clown, since he did cark it the day before. Our ten-gallon hats off to you, pardner.

It looks so easy in movies and on TV, but putting the guy together took way more snow than I thought, mainly because it call compacts down when you try and shape it properly. Once the stuff is packed in, it also becomes really difficult to fine tune the shape, since you're now dealing with practically solid ice.

Anyhow, Heath was all ready to greet the kiddies the next morning as they were walking past our place to school. We thought it might have been nice to have him holding a sign which read, "Ohayou gozaimasu", but we couldn't find the materials. Oh well. It would have been funny.