Hello, it’s Joe Snow here!

Dec 13 2006

Hello, it’s Joe Snow here. Well, I must say, I sure miss the north when it looks like we’re going to have a green Christmas way down here in southern Ontario (as usual?). I’ve been running around all across this vast country the last couple months, and I’ve hardly seen a flake of snow.

These last few weeks I’ve been slowly travelling back from the east coast, and it wasn’t until December, while camped on the Restigouche River on the northern border of New Brunswick, that I finally got some snow. Even then it melted the next day when it turned into rain.

Up in Quebec, I got a chance to visit the Snow Prentice, and we went out shopping for warm boots for her first season on the snow castle. Quebec City seems to be far enough north that there was some snow there, and we know they build a big castle there every year too. Maybe the Snow Prentice and I should have gone and spied on their castle to see how they do things, but I guess it’s still too early in the season.

What we did see that was pretty impressive was a great big slide that they build right in the city, right under the Chateau Frontenac. They build a wooden frame, and then fill it up with ice, so what they end up with is a slide about 150 metres long. It’s pretty steep, and they have special toboggans for it – maybe more like bobsleds. Apparently it’s REALLY fast.

There was one other thing that the Snow Prentice and I found in Quebec that we mailed to the Snowking. He might not have received the package yet, though, so I won’t ruin the surprise here.

Anyway, I’d better go – it’s really too warm for sitting around in the house. Maybe I’ll head down to the beach… If only it would snow!

Snowbelle's kicking my butt to keep blogging

December 11,2006

Only twenty days left of this year and the Snowking Crew are getting psyched up for some Building.

Snowbank Frank, Shiverin' Sam and I spent yesterday afternoon blowing some snow around the site and we're almost one hundred percent sure how it's all going to come together. Almost!!

Mother Nature has been co-operating nicely with lots of snow being dumped on us on a regular basis. But Wally Wind seems intent on blowing it all down the bay, so, I cut some thin wafers of snow to build a small wall to catch the snow. I call this snow farming because the end result is a bunch of snow deposited in the quarry area that will be used for snow blocks. People always ask where we get our snow from and this is the snowbank that we make our withdrawls from.

I got an email from our Snowprentice and she was hanging out with Joe Snow not too long ago. She's said she'll be along shortly and luckily she has secured a place to stay that is handy to the site which will require no commute on the Snowball Express. Joe Snow has yet to check in but he did pass along his greetings via the Snowprentice. We expect to see him crawl out of his winter lair in the not too distant future. Hopefully everyone has a nice and safe holiday.

Remember that driving your snowmachine while drinking or at excessive speeds could lead to heartbreak or even headbreak. So STAY SAFE!