What I Did
I’ve decided Saturdays are my days for doing something awesome, every week. I’ve got several things queued. But this last Saturday’s was just excellent.
I made a moai. Moai are better known as “those Easter Island heads”. To make it, I used a huge pile that the snowplow had made, and whittled it into this using a hatchet and a crappy plastic snow shovel I borrowed from Security. I worked on it for a couple hours Friday night, six hours or so on Saturday, and a little more on Sunday. I had forgotten since last year that snow sculpting is some of the most physically draining work there is, so at the end of the day my muscles and bones were telling me, “Damn, you must have really accomplished something!” I love working really hard, because when I’m done, I can eat dinner three times. But for now, I love it once in a while. Maybe I could be persuaded to like it more often, but only for money or if I end up learning woodsman-type skills from it. Okay, so now I’m going to give you a sense of the size of this thing.
That’s right. Eight feet tall, I’m guessing. Fear it.
Since I’m putting up pictures, here’s one of my roommate.
He’s halfway between having his hair parted on the left and having it parted on the right. I had just discovered that he’s parted his hair on the left every day of his life since first grade except once, and he decided to try it out differently since we were discussing it. We were talking about combing because I had just given my hair a thorough combing for the first time in… uh… (long, awkward silence). I don’t know when I last combed my hair before today. I just let it do whatever it’s going to do, usually. But I like to do something with my hands while I’m reading, and I had a long reading today.
Maybe I’ll take a shot with a better background later, so you can see my hair in all its glory. It’s sort of all over the place in this picture, but you’ll notice it’s not tangled like it was before. This is taken by the roommate pictured above. He’s a photographer for the college newspaper.
Next Saturday? I’m thinking either geocaching or bowdrill fire-making. I’ll probably do the geocaching first, so I can find a fireboard and other pieces of wood for the bowdrill. I’ll keep you posted.
Also, Grandma & Grandpa, I got the ginger snaps, and I’ve been enjoying them for the last two days. Mmmmmmmmmm. I had forgotten how much I like coming back to the dorm and being able to pick up a ginger snap whenever I want one.
File under: snow sculptures, photos
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11 Comments
Anonymous
HistoryGlad you are enjoying them. I got them out of the house before Grandpa could eat too many. Did you know there are women who would die for hair like yours? I hope you appreciate what you’ve got. Ha. Loved the snow moai (?) Ellen and Chuck went to Easter Island, so they could judge how realistic yours was. Is its still there? Bet you haven’t had a thaw yet. Ha. Grandma
Chuck
HistoryIf they died for har like mine, it wouldn’t do them much good, would it? I guess they’d look nice at the funeral?
Yep, the moai is still there. But tomorrow through at least Sunday the weathermen are calling for what looks like a big thaw. Though, he’s pretty big, so he may survive for quite a while.
Anonymous
HistoryYes, your moai looks very real. (Well, excluding the color!) Did you know all the real moai on Rapa Nui (their word for their island) were knocked down by infighting among the natives? They had to be restored to their upright positions by volunteers, mostly in the early 20th century. Most moai had hats made from stone from a different mine (the hats were mostly red stone) from where the bodies and heads were carved. But then you’ve probably read all about them. Anyway, we like your impressive snow efforts.
And that picture of you is great!
Aunt E.
Chuck
HistoryI’d heard that, that they got knocked over. I wasn’t quite ambitious enough to make a pukao for mine. Maybe if I’d been doing it the old-fashioned way, carving him horizontally and then rolling the pukao into place and having a team of buddies pull him up to vertical, then maybe I might’ve tried it… but I don’t think he would’ve survived the process.
Anonymous
HistoryLove it, Nathanael. Love it all and your hair and your roommate’s hair. Glad all’s well with you. I miss you terribly. Love you.
Mom
Anonymous
HistoryWOW! I AM IMPRESSED. Did your feet get cold doing this or did you finally find a reason to put shoes on??????? G.Pa What weighs 500 pounds and cackles like a chicken?
Chuck
HistoryI have a shoes rule for winter. If there’s snow on the ground, the following comes into play:
-If I’m just going from one place to another place that’s pretty close by, I won’t bother with the shoes.
-If the other place is far enough away that I’ll start going numb/painful in my toes and fingers, I’ll put on shoes and gloves.
-If I’m going out specifically to be in the snow - as I did when I built the moai - I’ll put shoes on. In point of fact, I put on those boots that you and Grandma got me on the way to Crowduck a couple years ago, at that big shoe store. Was it in Wisconsin? The boots are holding up really well, mainy because I don’t use them very much. They’re very good boots.
Anonymous
HistoryI love your snow sculpting – I used to do a bit myself sometimes. Made the statue of liberty one year. But no snow lately. Too bad. And never anything quite so extensive as eight feet!
Anyway, I’m just writing to ask you what a current kid’s word would be for “goofy” as in “He’s a little goofy sometimes, but he’s pretty level-headed at other times.”
I know, I know, I may have to find a real kid to ask, but you’re such a good word person.
And I’m still looking for the right font to depict a smart kid’s handwriting. Know of any?
Irene
P.S. That manuscript may be coming soon, if you’re still willing to read it.
Chuck
History“Goofy” is still current. I would use it.
As for handwriting fonts, you can just Google handwriting fonts, and you’ll get a bunch (but most of them will be overwhelmingly sucky). After just a couple minutes of searching, my favorite is probably this one called Hanshand: http://simplythebest.net/fonts/fonts/hanshand.html
But browse to your heart’s content. And I’ll definitely read your manuscript if you send it. (It might take me a while, but I’ll read it.)
Anonymous
HistoryI’m not sure “goofy” is still street current. Perhaps in the collegiate snow carving brotherhood is is still current!
dave
Anonymous
HistoryWell, we’re talking about a twelve-year-old girl drama student, so street smart is probably not completely appropriate – I just wanted to make her speech more current than that of a child of the nineteen fifties like the author of the piece. I’m glad you think ‘goofy’ would be okay because it sounds right to me!
Irene