More Fun in the Snow

 On another snowy day, we decided it would be fun to go sledging down the driveway.  We put little Waverley in his thermal sock again and used one of the mushroom trays to keep him dry and warm.

Polar and Grizzly had cleared one side of the drive, so the post people and the milkman could get to the house safely, but the rest was still covered in deep snow.  You can see it's almost as deep as Endon is tall.

Hanley found the toboggan we had made two winters ago, when we last had heavy snow, and he and Endon raced down the slope in it, until a big hole in the snow ahead meant they had to stop.

'Boo!' said Hanley.  'This is one of Polar's huge welly-prints.  We were lucky not to crash into it.'

Hanley and Endon pushed the toboggan back up the hill and asked me to give them a push, then jump aboard too.  

'We'll go even faster with you on board,' Hanley insisted.  'The heavier something is, the more momentum it has.'

But the toboggan isn't really big enough for three bears and, after just a few seconds, I was struggling to keep my balance.  Then I fell off the back of it!  That unbalanced the other bears and the toboggan tipped over and crashed.

We all got covered in snow but no-one was hurt, because the snow was very powdery under the thin, icy crust.  Hanley and Endon scurried back to the top of the slope and started sledging again straight away.

Little Waverley wanted to try sledging too, so I lifted his tray up onto the snow and pushed it down the hill.  'Wheeeeee!' he cried, really enjoying himself, so I pushed him back up for another go.  I found another, bigger, plastic vegetable tray to make myself a sledge and soon all four of us we sliding about. 

'I think we could all fit in Sonning's tray,' said Hanley, who was still trying to work out how to go as fast as possible.  'Endon and Waverley need to get in with me, then Sonning can push us, to get us started, and jump aboard once we're moving!'

We really whizzed down the drive this time, until we skidded into Polar's welly-print and all fell out - except Waverley.

Having gone as fast as he could in a sledge, Hanley Bear decided he was going to build an igloo.  He used the smaller plastic tray to make snow bricks, by pushing it across the drive to fill it with snow.

'The snow needs to be firm but not too tightly-packed,' he explained. 'We want to keep the tiny air-spaces between snowflakes, as that's what makes it a good insulator.  If we squash it into ice, it won't be as warm inside.'  

 
Soon he had made a circular wall of snow-bricks, although he had to ask Polar for help, as the walls were soon too high for him to reach.

There was just about enough room inside for all four of us and, as there was a cold wind blowing from the north-west, Endon, Waverley and I decided to shelter inside, while Hanley carried on building.

Hanley used the long vegetable tray to make the last few roofing blocks.  Once he had all the blocks in place, he packed extra snow in between them.

Endon went out to help him for a little while, while I looked after Waverley.  The igloo was now getting very warm and cosy inside.  Soon Endon came back in, but Hanley was still busy outside, packing extra snow onto the roof and around the doorway.

Finally, Hanley was happy with his work and scrambled in through the small doorway.

'I don't think I'll be able to get out through that!' I said, seeing how Hanley had to wriggle to get inside.

'Don't worry, duck!' said Hanley.  'We can easily make the door as big or as small as we like, but it's good to keep it as small as possible for now, to keep us all warm.'

We were very cosy in our igloo but, unfortunately, we had forgotten to bring any snacks with us, so after a little while Endon wriggled out and asked Polar if she could bring us some biscuits.

'It's nearly lunchtime, little bears,' said Polar.  'You might be warm in the igloo, but your paws will be getting wet, so you had better come indoors soon.'  

We spent a few more moments smoothing the outside of the igloo, then made the entrance even smaller, so it would make a safe shelter for any little mice in the garden.

Then we went over to the Christmas tree.  We thought about doing some climbing, but Polar came over and gathered us all up in her woolly hat.

'You have got wet paws, bears, and your jumpers and trousers are quite soggy too - come in now and get dry!'

Polar fetched a big towel to dry us all.  She had to brush out little balls of ice from the fur in my back paws!  Then we all put our pyjamas on while our clothes dried by the radiator.

There is still snow on the ground, so we are hoping to go for walks and have some new adventures in the snow this week, so look out for more posts soon!