Last week, when school was canceled due to the storm that dumped a foot and a half of snow on Detroit Lakes and the surrounding area, Christian Tigges spent his time building rather than relaxing on the couch.
After about 20 hours of work, Tigges had built himself an igloo -- not just hollowing out a snow pile but crafting blocks and actually building the igloo.
"We used to build big snow forts three or four years ago when there was a lot of snow, but we haven't had any snow in a lot of years," the DL senior said.
"Monday when there was no school, I was looking for something to do and decided to start trying to build an igloo."
He said that he took some buckets from home and would fill them with snow. Since the temperatures wasn't quite right to keep the blocks together, Tigges would take the buckets packed with snow into the garage, set them next to a space heater to partially melt the snow and then take them back outside to freeze solid.
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"It's going to take quite a few days of warm weather to melt it," he said of the creation.
Since it's been up, Tigges has watched a movie in the igloo with his girlfriend, and family has come to check it out as well. He and some friends also plan to spend the night in the igloo when it gets a tad warmer outside.
"It insulates heat pretty well actually," he said.
When they watched the movie in the igloo, Tigges said they started with a tarp on the ground to keep moisture out and then layered it with blankets for warmth. He then grabbed a portable television with a built in DVD player and an extension cord and enjoyed time in the igloo.
"I'm going to school for engineering so it was a little bit of a challenge, which was cool."
He didn't go in with any kind of engineering plan, but he said once into it, it was interesting to watch how the blocks rested against each other.
He only had one block fall off while he was trying to pack it with snow, he said, so it was a successful project.
"It's a pretty good success rate."
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Now if only the temperatures would rise a bit to try spending night in it.
Follow Pippi Mayfield on Twitter at @PippiMayfield.
