Saturday, March 27, 2010

The Bare Naked Snowman


Sometimes I feel like I am going through a drought about things to write and sometimes my ideas do not coincide with my opportunities for writing. But it seems I always have something to say after the grandkids have visited. I wrote on my Facebook page today asking if anyone knew what it was like to live through a tornado sucking all the wind and energy out of your house. I sort of liken it to the moment the grandkids and mommy and daddy walk out the front door to go back home.

Sudden.
Instant.
Quiet.

And I'm not sure why it is particularly noticeable this time. It is possible that I am noticing the changes every time I see them now. Herewith comes the Bare Naked Snowman story...
It was snowing to beat the band, and finally after a winter of blah snowfall; we were getting cotton ball flakes, big beautiful ones! The weather for the last two weeks had been in the high 40's to high 60's with one 70 degree day thrown in for a spring tease. Great weather, unusual weather for the high desert here. But predictably unpredictable. And of course, the two days that The BoyZ were here it was just the unpredictable part that played out. But that's okay. They don't get snow in Corvallis, or at least not snow you can play in. As it snowed and built up quite a layer on the deck, Grandpa "Kpaw" shrugged into his winter coat, plopped on his camo fedora and went out to shovel. Evan and Eric are just the right size to fit in the living room window and watch the show, so as they stood on the window sill (mind you this is only 6 or 7 inches from the floor) Kpaw promptly tossed a load of snow at the window. Ear piercing squeals and belly giggles ensued. When he was done shoveling, Kpaw set the snow shovel down against the front of the house and began to round out a snow ball. He set the palm-sized ball upon the railing of the deck and fashioned another snow ball just a hair smaller than the first and set that atop the bottom ball. Another ball took shape even smaller than the second and that one was placed on top of the middle ball. Grandpa rubbed his hands together and came inside saying, "Look guys, Kpaw made a snowman for you!" And then a quiet little voice pitched, "Kpaw, it doesn't have any eyes." So Kpaw found some sunflower seeds and went back outside to give the little bare naked snowman some eyes. Back into the house to take off his coat and hat, Kpaw heard this, "Kpaw, it doesn't have a nose or a mouth." And then we heard the scream! "Kpaw! Kpaw! The birdths are eating the snomans' eyes! The birdths are eating it's eyes!" Kpaw threw open the front door and shooed all the birds away so he could save the poor tiny almost-bare-naked-mutilated snowman from further decimation and destruction.
Once again Kpaw found a sunflower seed for a nose and took a permanent marker out to draw a mouth for the not-so-bare-naked snowman. Kpaw was satisfied with the dressed out snowman. Inside the door and taking off his hat and coat, Kpaw heard the little voice once more. "Kpaw, it doesn't have any armth" and that's when Kpaw concluded, "That's okay because he tucked them all inside to stay warm!"
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