higher up and farther in

yesterday was kind of a big day in snohaus and i was excited to tell you about it, but it was dark so there are no pictures.

i wanted to figure out how far my tunnel has gone up because i didn't actually measure or do the math and only just eyeballed it, but that's a little hard to do when it involves irregular curved surfaces that change from day to day.

you can lay in exact lines in snow but it still settles and melts and compresses as you go, and between that and working inside and outside it's tricky to tell exactly how things will line up. of course, i use rough measures; eye level is about five feet for me, if i only look straight ahead. the sled is longer than a yard. i keep meaning to measure it or maybe bring out the yardstick, but i think maybe approximate lengths are good enough.

but the thing is that i have to know, sort of, where that tunnel is coming up. i have to know how close it is to the place where it will meet the second room that i haven't dug yet. i need to know if the angle is too steep, or not steep enough.

and then i had this idea: snow is translucent. i figured i could lay flashlights on the outside right up against the walls and then go in the tunnel to look for the light spots and then be able to mark on the outside how far up and along it's come.

of course, to do such a thing you have to wait until it's dark out. cr thought maybe i could have laid a big tarp over it.

that's funny, because cr hasn't seen it yet, and she doesn't really know how big this thing is. i have no idea where i would get a tarp that large outside of a military or industrial setting! and who has the energy to schlepp a thing like that around?

anyway, by my little dots of light i figured out that the top of my tunnel has reached the height of the raised walkway and that i'm only four or five feet from the place i need it to come out, so another day or two of digging will finish that.

now the tricky bit is still going to be building that second dome large enough to carve a small room out of it. the awesome thing is that i have figured out that the base will be so large that when i get done putting in the top room, there will be room in the base for a small room down in the trench.

trench?

you didn't remember mention of a trench, did you?

ah, well. there is one. tomorrow will be a big build day, and i promise to take pictures. i do not promise to have the energy to post them right away, because if i move all the snow i want to tomorrow, i am going to be cold and tired and need a nap.