My Snowman Looks Like Mozart
During the unusually early snowfall last week, my daughter and I built a snowman -- for the first time. You're probably thinking, "For goodness sakes, you live in Pennsylvania, how could you have not yet built a snowman with your kid?" It's not that I can't build a snowman, or am a deadbeat Dad, it's just that there isn't that much opportunity here in Central PA, meteorologically speaking. Despite an average 47 inches of snow per year (we had 85 inches the year before last), the snow is usually accompanied by high winds creating sub-zero wind chills, especially at my location which has no wind- breaking trees. Anyway, here he is. A masterpiece by no means, but we were proud, and he was very easy to build. The ground was so warm, we rolled up huge snowballs like it was glue.
So in summary, it's often just too cold to play outside after a snowfall here. And if it weren't too cold outside, the snow is the wrong consistency. Consistency can make or break a snowman. Here in Central PA I've seen it snow with the temperature near zero and that stuff is dry -- like sand! You really need temperatures just above freezing to get that wet, compactible snow that you need for snowman building. That explains why it seems like I built a lot more snowmen when I was a kid -- I lived in North Carolina, where wet snows around 35 degrees are common. In fact, this snowman reminded my of those from my childhood because it had a lot of green grass and leaves mixed in, because this was an unusually early snowfall for PA, and because when I was a kid in North Carolina, the grass really didn't turn brown in the winter.
This was a little Calvin & Hobbes-ish but I decided to take a photo each day to document the melting of our snowman. I was impressed that he pretty much melted top to bottom, with no breaking-off-of-body-parts and his arms even hung in there until the last minute.
Most of you have probably constructed a snow man, snow woman, or snow person at some time. If you haven't, you've probably seen it done on TV. But just in case you haven't, believe it or not, there are instructions for building a snowman online. If you live in a warm climate or you aren't going to get any good wet snow this year, you can build a snowman online.
MY SNOWMAN LOOKS LIKE MOZART
After taking the Day 2 photo, I noticed something I hadn't with the naked eye. My snowman's torso looked like a face, in fact, that of Mozart. Now, I'm not one to find religious icons in my french toast with breakfast, but this really creeped me out. So after an hour of searching online I found a royalty-free artist's rendition of Mozart's bust. I have pasted the two together below, with a middle fade. You be the judge.
