Snow Cave

Christmas morning, my husband decided it was a good idea to scrape up all the snow in my parent's backyard and build a snow cave. There had been about a foot of snow on the ground before we got there but much had melted. He insisted there was enough. We got my younger brother and his wife to help us out. Hub and I had snow shovels and were working on the area surrounding the cave site. They had a wheelbarrow and were working in the far corner of the yard. I'm not exactly sure how long we shoveled but my best guess is about 2 hours. We shoveled the snow off of over half the yard, and it's not a small yard. When the pile was about 5 feet high, Hub was satisfied that we had enough snow. We went inside to let it settle for an hour.

My brother stayed inside with his son while we headed back out. Hub had a garden trowel and began digging into the side of the mound of snow. My sister-in-law and I formed the snow he dug out into a wall. We spent at least another hour doing this, Hub scooping out the middle like a giant Jack-o-lantern and my sister-in-law and I forming a wall.

The dogs were running around the entire time, leaping over the wall and going inside the cave to check on Hub.

Denali helped dig it out.

My nephew was curious but not brave enough to go in.

I was on the inside so pulled him in, which resulted in much shrieking and sadness.

View from the inside

The dogs then got their turn to hang out and they loved it!

That night Hub and I went back out with the girls and a bottle of rum. I carved our initials in the roof, snuggled with Kaytu, Denali almost caused a cave-in by jumping on the top of the cave, and we only spilled one drink.

We went to visit friends and were gone for four days. The cave survived. It was a little shorter and the wall had been breached by prancing puppies, but it was there.

The logical thing was to see if Zebulon and Everest would like it. I figured Zeb would either be in love or would freak out. He loves to be outside (though is never out without direct supervision) and amazingly enough he even loves snow so I was betting more on the side that he would love it. Hub put him down outside the entrance and he walked right in! Love.

He then stood outside the entrance looking as majestic and proud as a fat ball of fluff can.

I held him while Hub got Everest. We were both expecting Ev to be scared but he surprised us by loving it as much as Zeb did. He was awestruck.

I'm not sure how much longer the cave will last but it ended up being well worth the hours of labor it took to form it. The roof may collapse before too long but it's in the shade most of the time and there is enough snow that parts of it will likely last until Spring.