Mad Mid-winter Camping

After much pressure about a month ago, I finally agreed to sleeping under the stars on Feb 24th with my sisters and my daughter - in Ontario. Everyone else is too cautious (sane perhaps?) to participate in anything but early evening

festivities. The big plan is to have a bon-fire/corn roast/bbq in the pasture at my sister's farm. Then sleep out doors in the middle of the freakin' winter under the stars.

She's started working on the shelter, at the left you see the poles she's planted into the snowbank ... prior to the melt today, that is ... and the tarp will be suported by these posts somehow. That's yet to be figured out. I guess it needs some wine/beer/food followed by some serious planning. Here's her blog with some pictures and some thoughts on the matter. http://www.shadylanefarm.blogspot.com/

Yesterday, while "talking" on msn she suggested that we needed a flag to fly on an occasion such as this. I guess it's kind of like flying the flag outside the palace when the queen is in residence. So I undertook the assignment.

After thinking about it from 5:30 till 6:30 this morning as I enjoyed the comfort of a warm bed in a warm house with a warm body beside me, I give you the completed version. You can see the five sleeping bags ... blue representing the frost-bitten fools who may have turned blue with the cold before mid-night.

Then there's the 30% waxing crescent moon and several stars (there aren't as many visible when you get south of Haliburton so I thought three would be plenty). Heaven knows if they'll even be visible with the forecast (see the link).

http://www.theweathernetwork.com/weather/cities/can/Pages/CAON0473.htm

Below the feet of the frozen fools, you can see the bon-fire surrounded by leftovers from the bonfire/cornroast/bbq, and plenty of firewood, 'cause we're gonna need it. Hopefully the feet of our sleeping bags don't catch fire.

So there you have it. Check for further updates following the weekend. If there's nothing posted here, you can check the Toronto Star. I've taken the liberty of preparing this "Breaking News" if it all turns sour.

TORONTO STAR

Five local women Freeze to Death Within Walking Distance of a Warm House.

Local members of the community state that the women, all raised in Newmarket and ranging in age from 32 to 53, had made some rash decisions in the past, so nobody who knows them is really very surprised.

"They always were a little, you know, different" states one woman claiming to be their "youlder sister".

Services will be held in a phone booth at the corner of Davis and Main Streets when they can find someone who says, "Yeah, I'll go, even though they deserved what they got" .