A Polar Bitannic Expedition!

My brother Mark is one of my heroes.  He's three years younger, a lot smarter, and a lot funnier.  When we were kids living in Northern Virginia, he came up with all sorts of weird stuff.  When we'd get a good snowfall, we'd all suit up and head out, and this was known as undertaking a "Polar Bitannic Expedition!"  We imagined all sorts of rugged hardship,

but were usually back inside withing 20, max 30 minutes.

Against all meteorological odds, it decided to snow in Raleigh (yes, Raleigh!) today, and to make those odds even steeper, it snowed more than they predicted!  

They have closed schools around here for the threat of snow that never even happened, so this was pretty cool.

After accomplishing anything worthwhile we could think of, by evening Paula and I were beginning to suffer the early stages of Febrem cameram, or by its common name, Cabin Fever.

"Time for a Polar Bittanic Expedition!" she bravely exclaimed, pulling on all sorts of rarely-used anti-cold clothing.

It really was beautiful outside, with the snow still falling softly.

 The neighborhood looked magically different.

Paula's gardens napped peacefully.

I think we were out for even longer than the Polar Bitannics of my youth, come to think of it.  However, it's still nice to get back and warm up your toes.

North Carolina has a great solar snow removal system.  Everything shuts down for a day or two, the sun comes out and it all goes away.  The city only has three snow plows, and I'm not making that up.  However, it's fun while it lasts.

We hope that your Expeditions go as well.

Dave & Paula

PS  I still can't figure out where he got the 'Bitannic' thing, but the grandkids even say it now...

Freeze Out!

What goes around comes around, and once again I am in Scouts, this time as the Assistant Scoutmaster for the 12-13 year-olds.  

As W. Somerset Maugham once said, "Tradition is a guide and not a jailer."  However, you just gotta do some of the things that have stood out in the past, including making Scouts really non-dangerously cold on the annual Freeze Out!

This year we opted for Hawksbill Mountain on the edge of Linville Gorge, one of the more picturesque places in North Carolina.

It took the usual hour or so to hike to the top from the road, and all seemed great as the temperature wandered around in the 30's and 40's when the sun was up.

And then the sun went down.

And so did the temperature - down to 10 degrees, and the wind kicked in around midnight.  When I got up at 2 AM to check on my young charges, I found three of them still yucking it up in their tent.  The fourth frightened me by not answering for a minute, but he woke up and said he was warm.  The other adult had opted to sleep in a hammock, but admitted in the morning that he got a bit woozie when the wind picked up.
The next morning was very cold,

and we packed up and headed down the mountain.  

The guys voted for 'brunch' at Chick-Fil-A instead of trying to cook something on top of the windy mountain.  Sheesh!

Anyway, back to going outdoors with the Young Men.  Stay tuned for more adventures.

And meanwhile, we hope your electric blanket is working.
Dave