Nature and Gardening

Hiya kids. Today I want to to share my Pittsburgh, PA 2026 Igloo. It's not often I get to do this and i'm quite proud of it. It's not often I even get to see one, so just like a metal Mr Rogers, I thought I'd share.

01 / 09 - Pathway Approach

It represents a portion of the clearing of (4) winter storms, all in quick succession. The first (2) storms dropped 12"and 2" of snow in a day, and then five days later (2) storms dropped another 3" and 1"(approx. 18" total).

02 / 09 - Sidewalk Approach

The igloo is built from the 'main' pile of snow shoveled to clear the two-car driveway and hollowed out. There are 5 more piles of snow you'll not see in these pictures that could have easily became another igloo. All of this snow was mostly hand shoveled virgin snow. I'd estimate that it took 24 hours to create the main pile and another 12 hours to hollow it out a bit.

03 / 09 - Stairway Approach

The outside dimension of the igloo are roughly 30' x 20' at its ovular base converging to its apex around 8' of height. As a visual scale reference, the door opening is pretty exactly 2' wide side to side, as I use a 2' wide box to block it and friction holds it in place.

04 / 09 - Lower Driveway Approach

This is actually Revision 1 of the original that was created after the initial snow event. (4) days of cold but sunny left the original igloo to slump a bit. The second storm provided more snow and allowed me to enlarge the insides a bit

05 / 09 - Upper Driveway Approach

Electricity was added after the second storm for reasons I shouldn't discuss. And on that, my mother still hasn't noticed the extension cord yet. If you can, keep it on the downlow that I actually ran power to an igloo. She would not understand or approve since it involves no cats.

06 / 09 - Front Stoop

Sadly, I seem to have lost the photo of the refrigerator. It consists of a turkey hill iced-tea box (what I hilariously call Amish-made furniture) filled with snow and bottles of Cherry Coke and Snapple. This seems to be the only photo it shows in. You can see some of it along the back wall.

Internally, the bubble measures 9' x 5' and extends about 5' high. Sadly you cant stand up anymore (you could initially, but it slumped).

07 / 09 - The Living Room

The new living room, featuring streaming of Buckethead 24/7 as well as new Amish-made furniture. Do mind the verge poking through on the left. It appears that one of the lilac bushes was a bit closer than I presumed. I hope you don't find it too tacky since its unlikely to bloom real soon.

08 / 09 - The Kitchen and Dining Area

All that and TWO bags of chips. The lighting provided a nice ambiance that I didn't realize I needed. More Amish-made furniture.

The heater worked real well too. Sure, it's only reading 32 at the photo time, but it did reach 37 at one point with the door closed for a long period. As a reference, it's been single digits mostly with brief excursions into the mid 20's. My in and out trips cool it off very quickly, but it did its job to firm up the inside face.

09 / 09 - The Door

Welp. I guess that's it. This would've been the slide with the fridge, but, I'm a putz. Oh well. It's a really nice fridge, trust me. Ice cold, you might say. Instead, this slide became a picture of the door. So thanks for stopping by. Don't let it hit you in the ass on your way out. No, really. Sometimes it falls down.

And one last note, friend. Take your lemons and make lemonade. Not all shoveling needs to be useless. The bitter cold or hands of time can't stop a smile. Nothing can. Take care. And really, sorry about that fridge photo. It didn't take honest.