No snow? An ice sculpture will do

With a little Cajun ingenuity and some help from Daddy, a group of siblings and their friends managed to find something to mitigate their disappointment in not having snow to play in Wednesday.
The Landry family woke up Tuesday morning to a work of art in their front yard. After a few “oohs” and “aahs” the children decided this was art that was meant to be whacked, crushed and thrown. Alas, an adult, Susi Billiot, aunt to some of the youngsters, stepped in and stopped them until the ice creation could be preserved for posterity.
Nine-year-old Grace Landry said her father, Jason Landry, came up with an idea for the kids based on something his family had done when he was young
“My Daddy did something like this when he was a kid,” said the smiling youngster. “His daddy put up a hose pipe on a sign at his house and it froze overnight.”
Using that idea, the Landrys left a hose dripping under the carport during a previous freeze to the delight of the youngsters the next morning. But they went for a more elaborate project and creation this week.
Grace and her 11-year-old sibling, Harvey “Jay Jay” Morgan, described the construction of this week’s ice sculpture.
“Daddy put together these aluminum rails and tied a push broom right here,” Jay Jay said pointing out one side of the sculpture as he skirted around pieces of ice on the ground that the youngsters had whacked off. Then taking a few steps toward the back he pointed out a second broom that crisscrossed through the contraption.
With younger brother Gavin Morgan, 7, giddy with laughter, he somehow managing to keep his tongue from sticking as he licked an icicle at the bottom of the sculpture.
Grace pointed out a frozen table that should be considered a part of the project. It was frozen over with an apron of icicles dangling from the table that had somehow managed to escape being broken off yet.
“All this is being held together by tie wraps,” Grace explained as she pointed to several points where the wraps secured the original frame before it was cemented together by frozen ice.
By the time Grace and Jay Jay finished the detailed explanation of the sculpture’s design and construction, Gavin had tired of licking icicles and began rummaging through the broken ice at the bottom looking for a missile to hurl.
Picking up a handful of frozen ice, much as a kid would pick up a snowball, the smiling 7-year-old looked at the reporter and with mischief percolating in his words and intent asked the reporter, “Can I throw this at her?” pointing with his gaze his intended victim.
The reporter, loath to be responsible for the prankster’s actions, began to explain that he should direct that request to the aunt who at that time was just out of the sight of the camera.
But Gavin’s actions made it plain he was not seeking permission with the request, he was merely wishing to give advance warning of his intentions as he let go his salvo of ice that fell harmlessly at the feet of his intended victim.
Thus signaled the beginning of an ice-tossing event and when the ice on the ground became scattered, the Landry ice sculpture was doomed to further destruction as kids tore into it with glee.