In the wee hours Eino and me drove by the MTU Campus to see some hot competition on this cold night in the Copper Country. Our thanks to Donn de Yampert for sharing his stroll through the statues earlier this week.

Look at the detail of that last one. It's just like the Charleston House!

For a peek at the all-nighter action, be sure to stop by da Tech Winter Carnival site.

There sure were some nice blue skies that day! Good pics. Wow, Toivo, you sure are on the ball. I was just taking one last peek at the bridgecam to see the weather up there before going to bed, and lo and behold, Thursdays pictures were up. It's not even Thursday here yet. Cool! Thanks! (11:40pm)

These snow statues are amazing works of art. I've been watching the progress on the web cam and have never seen anyone working on it. I thought the pixies (or the UP eqivalent) worked on it overnight while nobody was watching!! I've just checked out the web cam and there they all are working away and doing a magnificent job. Not a pixie in sight. That Charleston House is so attractive and it's for sale - I'm almost tempted. I'm a bit concerned about how the snow can be shifted from the roof as it's quite high up.

Delta Sigma Phi! Go Beta Pi!

Where is the Charleston House located?

Toivo - do you ever sleep? Thanks for the beautiful pic's of the snow sculptures. The webcam only gets one little corner. I was wondering what the big arm was attached to (pic #2), and now that I can see it, I'm still not sure if it's a monster or an ogre, or ??. Are these sculptures supposed to be from a fairy tale?

Charleston House is located alongside the Best Western Franklin Square Inn on College Avenue in Houghton.
Thankyou,
Donn

The theme of this year's winter carnival is "Fairy Tales in Northern Gales", so yes Kathy, the sculptures are all from fairy tales. What a great time to be in the Copper Country! I'll be up there this time tomorrow!

The Charleston House is on beautiful College Ave. with other historical college residences and homes. The Best Western Franklin Sq. Inn is at the end of Houghton's city main st. that turns into College Ave. The Charleston in several blocks east of the Franklin Inn. The treelined, sloping backyard of the Charleston is granted a view of the Portage canal running parallel with College Ave. and Houghton's main st.

It is a beautiful time of the year here in the Copper Country with the Winter Carnival going on at MTU and all, however, we need to keep our eyes open for all the school buses transporting our children to and from school daily. In the past month or so, I personally know of 3 accidents that have involved school buses stopped on the highway and vehicles being unable to stop in time. One accident was very serious. Especially with our highways in the shape they are in (icy), we as drivers need to slow down and be a little more cautious. Not only are the highways icy but the school buses are covered with that "white gold" from all of the travel on the country roads. I do realize they are hard to see until you are upon them.

Toivo, how "cool" for you to have been able to see all the one-nighter action close up. I had to settle for watching the Tech cams (http://www.mtu.edu/alumni/) to see what was happening there. It's mesmerizing to watch the "pixies" move around, scooping snow, icing things down, making the letters. The Sig Eps were out in full force, and so were lots of others from the scenes seen on the other campus cams. Take a minute to check them out -- they're awesome! (Can't compete with our own pasty cam, of course, but a close second!)

I bet the pic with the monster/orge is Shrek!!! Can't wait to take my annual statue tour with my 10 yr old and see if I am right.

Could this be ' JACK AND THE BEANSTALK ' ??????

It is indeed Jack and the Beanstalk -- check out the Tech cams page (http://www.admin.mtu.edu/urel/cams/statuecam1/motion-lg.html) to get a better look.

Charleston house is on College Ave, just on the other side of the base of Prospect Street. Older locals will remember it as the Remington's home.
Love watching the progress of the statues.

Indeed the second statue looks like Kruschev in his "We will bury you" speech from the cold war days. Fortunately, Mr. Kruschev is the one who is buried.

Thanks for the info on Charleston House. Forty years ago two high school buddies and I tried to make a little money by offering to paint Prof.(?) Remington's house for $200. We picked it because it had the worst case of paint peel in our neighborhood. He wasn't interested. Best deal I didn't make! The job would have taken all summer and at least one of us would have taken a bad fall!

here's more info...
http://www.charlestonhouseinn.com

Anybody know who has it listed, I can't quite make out what it says below the "For Sale". And what's the asking price? I'm just curious. thanks...

Abbreviated By Appointment

That is so awesome! Looks like A LOT of hard work! Also wanted to comment on the Bridge Cam... I just noticed you could click on it for an almost full page enlargement, which was never there before. That's GREAT!

Well, I am going back to my sculptures... They are made out of red clay, in the absence of snow! HAHA!

You are oh so right.Red clay we have plenty of!

Those are cool pictures of snow things.

Its good to see that Professor Remington's old house finally got a paint job...but pink!! I remember hearing year's ago that he couldn't afford to paint the house because it was so big so maybe they got a discount on the color, ay..Then again it looks like the place is for sale so the paint job might have put them in too much debt.

There is a huge Victorian home in Eureka,CA painted pink and appropriately named"Pink Lady". The Victorian homes on the West Coast are elaboratly and beautifully painted in many colors from whites to all of the rainbow hues and even into the darker greens,dark blues, browns and yes, even putple.. so Professor Remington's old house is in good company.

great pic's of the snow statues, as a family I remember going past them each year on a sunday and they are still as detailed as ever. homesick/homesick more than ever.

I had always heard that Smiling Jack never painted his house because it would increase the tax value! Though he finally broke down several years ago and had it painted a pretty cream color. Later he sold the place to John Sullivan (of UP Engineers and Architects) and his wife. They are the ones who painted it pink and turned it into a bed and breakfast.

Toivo must still be sleeping after couple early days posting.

Anyone else remember sitting through Smiling Jack's classes trying to stay awake? I heard the tax increase story, too, from his daughter, so I think there was at least a little credibility there. John and Helen Sullivan named it the Charleston House after a number of beautiful homes they loved in Charleston, SC. They totally restored the interior to its original Victorian beauty -- it's really a wonderful house.

GOT LOVE IT!

GOTTA LOVE THOSE COLLEGE STUDENTS

Back in the 60's we would trudge from campus along the sidewalk in the creaking snow right by Smilin Jack's poor dilapidated "palace" on the way to Dee Stadium to watch the Huskies play another exciting hockey game. Louie Angotti, Jerry Sullivan, Gary Bauman and company were always contenders for the WCHA and NCAA titles back then. A cup of hot chocolate and Fritz's noisy band would keep us warm between periods. During WC we played broomball at the Dee without any jerseys or other fancy equipment. These webcams are a great way to experience the U.P. from afar and to remember the past. Thanks for the website from a Tech man.

Not only did I have Smilin' Jack, I had him for Econ at 7:45 in the morning! Besides coffee, I found the only way to stay awake was to ask questions.