Easter Weekend

Easter Weekend

By Allan Olson

It finally feels like spring might actually reach the frozen tundra of northern Minnesota. It was so warm this past weekend that the snow was falling off our garage – so much so that it blocked the entry or exit of our vehicles. Yes, I did try to drive into the garage despite the pile of snow and no, I was not successful and no, I did not push my luck for fear of damage to the vehicle. Instead, late Friday afternoon I enlisted the help of Nikolai and my nephew Mike to do some shoveling in front of the garage. We removed the heavy snow that fell off the roof and some more that they had knocked down.

With that task done, I turned my eyes to the roof of my house and pondered if I wanted to climb up and tackle the snow that remained on the roof. I went in search of the ice cleats that I haven’t used in about three years and, surprisingly, they were right where I put them after we moved to the new house. I struggled to pull them on over my almost too-big boots, then grabbed the ladder and headed for the roof. I got on the dormer of the entryway – which I had already cleared, and got on the house and started pushing the snow to the ground. It felt like the process would never end; I’m guessing I was up there for about an hour, but it felt like three. I made sure to target whatever kid was running by below with a shovel full of snow once in a while; most of the time they escaped the snow bombs, but once in a while I scored.

Once the main roof was completed, I crawled back onto the entryway dormer and was inching my way carefully to the edge where I planned to jump onto the snowbank I had just created, when I felt myself slipping. I had no way of stopping – the dormer was slippery, and down I went. I landed right where I had intended to anyway, in the snow bank. I narrowly missed the porch rail and a large chunk of ice that I had removed from the entryway roof.

So, added to the pain of shoveling/pushing snow I also had to endure the pain of falling off the roof. But I survived, and it wasn’t really that bad. Next up was supper, which consisted of steaks and burgers on the charcoal grill. Mmmm! Everything was grilled to perfection.

While I was clearing the house roof, the two boys had managed to get the rest of the snow off the garage roof. I thought about moving that away from the garage doors again, but decided to leave it for now. The next morning, I went to get the van out of the garage to packing for our weekend trip to Lake of the Woods, but soon realized I was stuck in the garage. The snow was piled a little too high in front of the van outside of the garage. I called the boys, and they were both quick to grab their shovels again so the van could be freed of its prison.

On Saturday afternoon we visited at the in-laws’ place, and I hung out with a few nieces and nephews and even got to hold my almost-youngest nephew. After a few minutes of crying, we came to an understanding: he could cry all he wanted, but it didn’t matter – I was going to hold him. This worked fine until his cousin (my niece), who is a frequent babysitter of his, came back into the room, and then he didn’t want anything to do with me. Go figure. The rest of the kids played outside, and at least two of them required a change of clothes, including Abigail, who “accidentally” sat in a mud puddle.

We retired for the evening at my parent’s house, and the next morning we had a surprise visit from my youngest nephew. It was only the third time I’ve been able to see the little guy, and while the visit was short, it was still great to see him.

For Easter dinner we feasted on ham, turkey, potatoes, deviled eggs and other fixings. The kids decided they wanted to play outside after I already had their outdoor clothing packed. I relented and helped them with their winter clothing. They had a wonderful time playing in the snow with their cousins and riding the sled behind my brother’s snowmobile.

At about 4 p.m. we got the kids and Bob loaded up and headed down the road. The first one to fall asleep (about a mile down the road) was Bob. It was a quiet ride home, with all the kids taking a nice long nap. Fresh air is a wonderful thing. The remainder of the evening was quiet, too, and we are all ready to spend a weekend close to home.

Once again we managed to not have time for a single geocache while at Lake of the Woods, but one of these trips we are going to find some. Count on it.

Thanks for reading, and remember to watch out for school buses on the roads; they are carrying a precious cargo – our children. Also please exercise caution when venturing out on the lakes. Thanks for reading, and have a great and safe weekend. For more of my columns visit: http://allan-crazykids.blogspot.com.