I’ll admit. The ten year old that hides inside me has been getting a little excited about the scenes of all the snow in other parts of the province.
Yes, the grownup that pretends to be an adult (most days) is very happy he doesn’t have to shovel all that snow. Especially his back. His back really is happy with not shoveling. Possibly his heart, but that had repairs done a few years ago and still feels pretty good.
But the inner child still wants to play in the snow.
It seemed like we would get more snow, back when dinosaurs roamed the earth and played with us as children. It may have just been that I was a lot shorter, so it just seemed the snow was deeper. But I really think we used to get more. And one of my favourite things to do with all that snow? The snow fort. At least our version of the snow fort.
First, find a big drift, suitable for excavation. Yes, you could use that big pile out by the end of the driveway, but there were issues with that. There was always the “don’t dig in that our the snowplow will come by and bury you”. That may have been true, but that was adults talking so we paid little attention to that anyway. Mostly it was the fact the pile at the end of the driveway would contain chunks of ice, which made excavation much more difficult. So it was only used if suitable drifts were not readily available.
The start would be to try to hollow out the drift, using the snow you dug out to build walls around the door to your secret hidey hole. There were always great plans involved. Usually, the structures were never quite finished, at least not the way we had hoped. At some point, someone would poke a hole in the side or the top, or a body could come crashing through in an attack from a neighbouring fort.
But it was a lot of fun. At least, that’s the way I remember it. And that inner me still wants to give it a try. I’ll dig the hole. You make the snowballs. We’ll need plenty of ammo.