Snow comes to kids in Everett

By KATE REARDON

Herald Writer

EVERETT — Tim Erickson is no Jack Frost, but he did deliver snow to one Everett neighborhood recently.

He doesn’t have secret connections to Snow Miser or Mother Nature. And he didn’t even use magic.

It was his Ford 150 pickup he used to haul about 100 shovel-scoops full of snow from Stevens Pass to the 7000 block of Yew Street in Everett.

Erickson’s stepson, 13-year-old Mason Rachey, was delighted with the delivery, so much so that he and other kids in the area packed down the snow and sculpted a fort.

Some snow is still left over for snowball fights, however.

Mason and others who had hoped recent weather predictions for snow would come true were a little disappointed Sunday when nothing happened.

"We were hoping it was going to snow," Mason said. But when it didn’t, Erickson came through with a trip up to the Cascade Mountains.

It’s pretty cool having the only house in the neighborhood with snow in the front yard, Mason said. On Monday, he told his friends at Eisenhower Middle School about the snow.

The pile of snow was three feet high once Erickson shoveled it out of the truck.

"We started making a fort," Mason said. "Then we had the idea of burrowing into it to make a fort."

Mason said he is proud of their craftsmanship too.

"It’s actually really sturdy," he said. "I can stand on top of it. All the kids came over and looked at it and stuff."

Mason predicts Everett will get a taste of its own snow later this week.

"We might have a chance on Wednesday or Thursday, hopefully," he said.

Delivering the snow to the front yard is a tradition that’s been around for about four years, Erickson said.

"I usually do it for the children in the neighborhood," Erickson said, adding that his 9-year-old daughter loves the snow. Since snow doesn’t fall all that often in the lowlands of the Northwest, Erickson said he doesn’t mind hauling it. He’s even talking about another trip later this winter.

"We might as well just bring it down here."