Its been cold. Now, those of you who don't know Alaska may say "duh - Alaska -cold in January?". But Anchorage usually has pretty nice winters. Not as cold as Berlin NH or Fairbanks AK. (I have wintered in both of those places.) Not as snowy as my hometown of Rochester NY.
But the last 10 days have been cold. Highs of 0, lows of -25. Our usual crystalline winter days obscured by ice fog. Not like Fairbanks' -50, but inconvenient and unpleasant.
Nonetheless, Christmas and New Years have been wonderful. And Snowzilla has flourished.
Snowzilla became part of Anchorage winters three years ago. A neighborhood eccentric built an 18 foot snowman in his yard full of derelict vehicles and assorted trash. The story was (inexplicably) picked up internationally. Crowds swamped the pretty little subdivision (including me and my sister and nephew) posing for pictures.
This year, in the week before Christmas, local officials served Snowzilla's creator with a court order forbidding the snowman as a danger and a public nuisance. On the evening news, the fellow said sadly that he would comply. The next morning, low and behold, Snowzilla stood tall. A Christmas miracle!
Aalskans sprung into action to defend a person's right to build gigantic snowmen. See www.snowzilla.org for pictures of tiny snowman picketers at City Hall, carrying signs like "Snowpeople have rights too" and "Obama save us".
Last weekend I rounded up some neighbors and went to visit Snowzilla. He was as awesome as ever. I don't think anything could make me happier than a giant snowman.
No comments:
Post a Comment