The Pillbox

After church yesterday, we took advantage of a once-a-winter opportunity (two feet of snow), and did some serious building. The Hill boys had begun to build a snowpile the night before, with the intention of making it an igloo. We, um, built on that idea. And we just kept building. Some of us - the visionaries, you might say - saw almost limitless opportunity in the snow in neighbors' yards, and continued to shovel even after a small room had been hollowed out of the igloo. We continued to shovel when the football game started. We continued to shovel during halftime. We went in for the dramatic Fourth Quarter (the Pats are pretty predictable in that regard), and came right back out before the cheering crowd at the Razor was finished showering itself in celebratory cold confetti. We shoveled until the mound was about 100 square feet at its base, and worked alternately to hollow out the inside.

Currently, you could fit ten or twelve people in there without much effort; there's a load-bearing pillar helping to keep the roof up (where it will hopefully stay for a few weeks at least). There are shelves, a flooring board and rug, two lawn chairs, a drink holder, a mail slot, a ceremonial outdoor throne, spray-painted signs, three windows at the chain link fence that anchors two sides of the Pillbox, and even a handicap access mechanism.

The division of labor was rather complex, as with any major engineering project in the complicated world of Boston contracting. Specifically:
Daniel: Rich dude who commissioned the building
Steve: Founder and President, Pillbox Corporation
S: Chief Architect
Petes: Foreman
Craig: Union Rep
Ali Baba: Disability Access Consultant
Dubya: El Jefe, Mexican day laborer
Noah, Hope, Elizabeth, Faith, others: Day laborers
Geffkie: Sub-contractor
Kitchie: Corporate donor
Mom Hill: Mayor
Pops Hill: Building Inspector

Don't let the titles fool you, though - the list is organized with most work put in at the top (well, except for Daniel), least at the bottom. Upon completion, we grabbed candles and munchies from the house and the five guys went and hung out and chatted in the Pillbox for an hour. Good times, memorable times.