• Thursday-What'sUP January 8 - 09:16 pm

Even in the cold of winter, it's good to get outside and work up a sweat while having some fun, like these guys did building an igloo. Bruce Watters, snapped a few shots of his son Brandon (the tall guy with the green hat) and his younger cousin Mitch, as they enjoyed the construction phase and the fun part, too. I like the third photo of Mitch sitting inside, with the sun shining through the joints of the walls. They did quite a job building this igloo, but it looks like they may have forgotten something... the garage to park that vintage 1971 Ski-doo Elan in. :->

Looks like some future snow carnival engineers in the making.

In case you missed it, here's a thank you note Edie and I posted for yesterday's comments. Have a great day :o)

The igloo is neat, but that old SkiDoo is awesome! What a relic!!

Awesome! City kids don't have this kind of fun!!!What a blessing to be a Yooper!

So nice to see kids playing outside!
Great job!

Looks like fun. My grandchildren have been loving the snow we're getting this year. Our house sits atop a small hill, and they've been making use out of it with their sleds. If it's not too cold this weekend, we'll take them to a larger hill at my son's place.

Our other neighbor has a 10 year son. About 2 weeks ago we had about 2 feet of snow out there to go play in. Then it warmed up and the snow melted. (this was Christmas break for kids) After the snow had melted our neighbor came out to go somewhere. His 10 year old son looked around and asked Bill, 'where did all the snow go?' This kid just sits inside all the time and plays video games, before school, after school. It is just incredible to me. I remember when I was growing up we came home from school, changed our clothes, did our homework and went outside to play til it was time to come in and eat dinner. Then it was time to go back out til it was bath and bedtime. We did that in the winter, too.

OH YEAH! We use to have a big empty field next to our house and we use to get out there with a bucket or empty boxes and build a snow wall at each end of this field and have snow-ball fights. It was fun.

How well I remember making snow caves when I was young and using paraffin candles, which flickered beautifully on the cave walls...the caves were always so warm and cozy no matter what was going on weatherwise outside.

I love the new Day of History videos and can't wait to see what happened on December 28th. This is a welcome addition to the camnotes and videos of the Upper Peninsula. Thanks for the time it takes to research and work out the history, its fascinating.

Barbara
southern IN
[used to live in Marquette]

Future Engineers at Da Tech perhaps?

Nice igloo, but where is the fireplace?

Taylor wants to make one at our house, it will wear him out anyway ;)

Considering the depth of the snow in these pics, where is the snow on the roofs of those houses? Did a warm spell melt it away, or were the roof rakes put to use?

One reason for no snow on roofs is that there is not enough insulation in the attic. Things that make you say "Hmmmm....???"

Great photos; it reminds me of my older son, Jason. Every year, he would build a snow fort in the back yard. Of course, after he graduated from DeWitt High School, he went back home to MTU for an engineering degree. Thanks for bringing back fond memories!!!

Significant rainfall a week or so prior to this photo took care of the snow on the rooftops and provided a thick layer of snow crust - ideal for igloo construction.

This looks like a lot of fun. However, it reminds me of several fatalities over the years caused by kids making dwellings inside snow banks. In most cases, the "cave" collapsed and smothered the kid but in one case, it was too close to the road and a snow plow moved it with the kid inside.

I always wanted to build a snow cave or igloo when I was a kid but never lived where there was enough snow until I was too old to be a kid. I envy them but please make sure the children use caution when doing this activity.

Good points Fred. Now be careful on your cross country ski's.

When we were little Dad piled all the snow from the driveway into a HUGE mound (well, four feet anyway) and packed it down, then hollowed out a cave inside. We called it our igloo. That was in 1960 when I was five. I had broken bones in my foot and was in a plaster cast and couldn't get it wet so was confined to the house. Dad carried me outside and set me in the igloo on an old rug to keep the plaster dry. I thought it was wonderful, and still do. The unexpected interior.