January 9, 2015
The cold, snowy life of a Snowman…
For the first time in over 40 years of living in western Montana I experienced a Christmas without snow in the valley until … On Christmas day our son and his wife climbed into his truck, drove a little higher into the mountains and returned with a load of fresh, new snow and built a Christmas snowman for us.
After Christmas the weather stayed cold and the snowman seemed to enjoy his home in the yard until… On Sunday, January 4th it began to snow and at midnight when I checked on the snowman he looked like this:
And at 8 AM after it snowed all night, leaving us about 9 inches of the white stuff, the snowman had become this snowman/snow cone:
For perspective, he is about 4 feet tall (and his feet are cold).
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Montana Outdoors 
It actually made me smile to read that your son and his wife brought back a load of snow for you to make a snowman. How lovely and funny as well. I suspect that is the kind of thing we would do too. You got your snowfall in the end though! Thanks for the smiles. 🙂
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Comment by Jane — January 9, 2015 @ 9:16 pm
The snow level was only about a hundred feet higher than the valley and it was strange to see all-white mountains and hills and a snow-less valley floor. Since that snow it has warmed a bit in the days and there was a light rain for all of one day. Created a big, wet mess, and now about 6 inches of snow remains with an icy crust on top of it. SHould be more snow in a few days though to cover everything up again!
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Comment by montucky — January 9, 2015 @ 9:43 pm
He needs the extra weight to keep him warm.. That was pretty neat to have snow delivered.. and a snowman to top it off..
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Comment by Mother Hen — January 9, 2015 @ 9:53 pm
We really appreciated the snow and snowman, and the kids enjoyed doing it (accompanied by a snowball fight).
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Comment by montucky — January 9, 2015 @ 11:14 pm
Hilarious!
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Comment by Lynn Millar — January 9, 2015 @ 9:58 pm
Glad I put that hat on him to keep the snow off!
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Comment by montucky — January 9, 2015 @ 11:15 pm
“cool” story
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Comment by Malcolm R. Campbell — January 9, 2015 @ 10:10 pm
Yup, very cool!
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Comment by montucky — January 9, 2015 @ 11:15 pm
So it was just like a pump that needed priming.
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Comment by wordsfromanneli — January 9, 2015 @ 10:16 pm
I hadn’t thought of that, but maybe that was it!
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Comment by montucky — January 9, 2015 @ 11:15 pm
you are right, we have more snow than you did and than you have
we got dumped on, schools closed for two days
wore us all out moving the snow around
so fun that they brought snow back and made a snow man…. memories and present fun
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Comment by Tammie — January 9, 2015 @ 10:28 pm
Yes, I followed the news about your area. The Flathead and Mission valleys got all the snow! From your pictures it was very pretty though!
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Comment by montucky — January 9, 2015 @ 11:18 pm
All I can say is they should have brought the snow back in the truck 10 days earlier – LOL.
Then……… it would have snowed on Christmas Day for you.
Love the image of the snow falling. It must be about 30 years since I was up in the snow skiing in the winter here.
It’s like……. I watered our community garden last Tuesday (as well as the Monday) as I knew I couldn’t stand outdoors in the heat on Wednesday to do it. Well, that 2 days-in-a-row watering, which I would never normally do, made the heavens open up and it has poured rain ever since. In fact, we had flash floods. It’s gone from the hottest summer days to almost winter in the same week.
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Comment by Vicki — January 9, 2015 @ 11:39 pm
I’ll remember that next winter and get an early start on the snowman!
I hardly ever complain about the snow: it’s the ice that I’m not overly fond of, only because it shuts down so many back roads.
What’s the old saying, “It never rains but what it pours…”?
This early in the seasons, it’s not too bad to go from summer to winter for a few days (or from winter to summer for a few days). There’s plenty of the season left to balance things out. That excess rain sure cramps your style though, doesn’t it!
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Comment by montucky — January 10, 2015 @ 12:04 am
Haha, well as the song says, ‘the snowman brings the snow’!! 🙂 Glad that you finally got some! It looks like we’re in for a cold snap too – anything is welcome after this endless wind and rain.
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Comment by Jo Woolf — January 10, 2015 @ 3:16 am
Here we usually have rain and freezing rain up until almost Christmas, then the weather turns snowy and colder and stays that way until into March. This year the poattern has been nuts!
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Comment by montucky — January 10, 2015 @ 10:22 am
What strange weather everyone all over the world seems to be having these days. Good for your son and his wife for sparking that Christmas magic! The only Christmas I ever saw without at least a little snow was the one I spent in Florida. Christmas lights on palm trees just wasn’t the same.
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Comment by New Hampshire Garden Solutions — January 10, 2015 @ 8:05 am
We spent a lot of years in southern Arizona where we had to drive a couple hours to get into the snow but this year we really missed it. At least our high country has plenty now and the real snow season up there hasn’t even started yet. The nearest ski area (only 21 air miles away) has 42″ at the base and 71″ at the top.
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Comment by montucky — January 10, 2015 @ 10:27 am
This is delightful on so many levels, not the least of which is that your kids still are kids at heart. As for the snowman bringing snow, I think that’s called “sympathetic magic” by the anthropologists. You make an image of what you want, and here it comes. I’m glad it worked for you. May you have a lovely, snowy season — for the water as well as the beauty.
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Comment by shoreacres — January 10, 2015 @ 8:45 am
Our kids love the outdoors and know how to enjoy it all times of the year. For that I’m very thankful! We’re still hoping for more snow in the valley and the weather looks as if it is starting to cooperate by getting a little colder.
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Comment by montucky — January 10, 2015 @ 10:33 am
And the name of your snow cone is?
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Comment by Kinzel, Chad — January 10, 2015 @ 9:07 am
His name is confidential… he’s operating “under cover”.
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Comment by montucky — January 10, 2015 @ 10:34 am
From snow man to snow cone…well, it’s better than evaporating into thin air! I love that your son and daughter-in-law brought you some snow for Christmas. 🙂
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Comment by Mama's Empty Nest — January 10, 2015 @ 1:33 pm
All of us thoroughly enjoyed the snowman. Often, simple things can be most important!
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Comment by montucky — January 10, 2015 @ 8:07 pm
Loved the story…You do need a snowman for a real Christmas.
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Comment by Charlie@Seattle Trekker — January 11, 2015 @ 11:12 pm
Well, we sure think we do! Several years after moved back here, my mother was in an assisted living home and each winter we made a point of building a big snowman outside her window where everyone could see it.
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Comment by montucky — January 12, 2015 @ 12:22 am
That’s very nice that you got snow for Christmas, after all. Very nice of your son and wife.
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Comment by Candace — January 12, 2015 @ 10:50 pm
Yes, we appreciated it very much!
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Comment by montucky — January 13, 2015 @ 10:37 am
Love the headgear- is he a snow lumberjack?
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Comment by Watching Seasons — January 14, 2015 @ 8:18 pm
We thought that would be better for the current weather than a Stetson, and that my Stetson would do better in my closet than on the cold guy.
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Comment by montucky — January 14, 2015 @ 8:34 pm
Love the story. Happily snow saved him from freezing! 🙂
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Comment by Sartenada — January 15, 2015 @ 4:03 am
Yes, saved by the snow. As is this link to our childhood.
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Comment by montucky — January 15, 2015 @ 8:58 pm