When I started writing this, I wondered if there happened to be a measure word for groups of snowmen like “a murder of crows” or “a tuxedo of penguins”. Most of these interesting words are terms of venery – or words used by hunters. Since no one hunts snowmen, there isn’t a ready made word for gatherings of them. Drift actually refers to groups of pigs, but I thought it was particularly appropriate for snowmen.
This drift occurred Saturday. After I walked the boys for the last time, I sneaked outside and had fun building the biggest snowballs I could manage. I had two snowbies (snowbys?) facing the road and another lying on its back gazing at the stars. By morning when I could get pictures of them, one was listing seriously to starboard, and the other had lost its head completely. (It is a shame because under its head is a lovely hydrangea hat that I had given it.)
I found out later that the neighbors had fun speculating about the supine snowby that appeared overnight. Did he fall over, or was he just lazy?
That yellow snow? Don’t ask.
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