MOWEAQUA – No greater love hath man than a granddad for hisgrandson.
John Craig actually has seven grandchildren, plus twogreat-grandkids, but was particularly struck by plight of hissnow-loving 4-year-old grandson Robert Eytchison. Wee Robert,knee-high to a snowman, has got the snow pants, the snow boots, anice warm hat and gloves and, well, no snow to play in. Not amiserable, solitary flake.
Mother Nature appears to have stuck the celestial snow machine inneutral and cranked up the thermostat instead: The temperaturegoing into last weekend hit 60 degrees, for goodness sake. Facedwith this kind of monumental disappointment, Craig did what anyself-respecting grandfather would do.
He fired up the Internet and aimed his search engine toward “snow.”He just knew some do-it-yourself solution had to be out theresomewhere.
“Years ago, I remember some old guys saying you could make snowwith air and water and pressure,” says Craig, 46. “So I keptsurfing.”
And then he bumped into a site called “SNOWatHOME” and discovered awinter wonderland of home snow-making machines. He saw a blizzardof pictures and videos showing yards dripping with snow, kidssnowboarding off their back patios and skiing down their driveways.Proud fathers stood amid this fluffy, white nirvana, basking in thewarm glow of familial admiration, their faces adorned withconfident smiles that said they could now stretch out their handsand touch the frosty face of God. Or at least make it snow wheneverthey darn well pleased.
This is what Craig wanted to do for his grandson, and for hisextended family. But professional snow-making gear can get ratherexpensive. SNOWatHOME’s high-volume “snowmaking pump” sells for$2,698, and the top-of-the-line snow-making nozzle attachment willadd $948 to the price. Happily, the generous website does offerfree plans for thrifty flake fans to cobble together a more modestsnow production unit at home, and Craig opted for that.
He memorized the blueprints and marched confidently into Menards togo snow shopping. Craig didn’t tell his wife, Marlene, what he wasdoing and she could only look on, bemused, as he began assemblingpipes, valves and bits and pieces into a, 18-inch long, $33contraption right there in the plumbing department.
“So he puts all this stuff together and says, ‘OK, I am ready tocheck out,’ ” says his wife. “And I says, ‘What is it?’ And hesays, ‘It’s a snow machine.’ And I just rolled my eyes and said,‘OK, Honey. Another toy.”
But icy mockery notwithstanding, the distaff side of the family isalso rather keen on frolicking in the snow and was quite impressedwhen hubby got the weird-looking thing, which looks like a kind ofwatery ray gun, to work. Explaining exactly how it makes snow iscomplicated, but Craig has the pipe and valve assembly hooked up toa pressure washer and an air compressor that together produce afinely calibrated mist that falls to the ground as snow.
“The first time I tried the thing it made slush,” says Craig. “Yougot to play with the fittings and get the pressures just right.”When you do get it right, you see that mist coming down, and it’ssnow.”
The one bit of Mother Nature he still has to rely on is outside airtemperature – 20 degrees is ideal – and then he’s all set.SNOWatHOME even has a “snow-making weather tool” so enthusiasts cancheck when conditions will be optimal.
Craig’s dream is to deck out his yard as an isolated winterwonderland and is seriously considering investing in a preciselycalibrated multi-nozzle snow-making attachment that will allow himto cover more ground and give his grandson an adventure toremember.
The rolling avalanche of granddad’s snowy enthusiasm sweepseverybody along, and his wife is now dreaming of a whitepost-Christmas season. “It will be so cool,” she says.