Southern Sleet and Snow

As you can see, the snow isn't sticking to the ground (yet), but has found a place to land on top of cars and houses.

This week, the high temperature was predicted to be in the 30s, and due to the threat of snow, school was initially delayed -- now cancelled -- for Tuesday, and we were given Wednesday off as well. As it is, we will probably have a delayed start to school on Thursday too.

We woke up today to freezing rain and sleet, but they didn't make the call that only essential personnel needed to show up to work on Maxwell this morning until after my mom got there. They proceeded to close all bridges over the Alabama river between Montgomery and Prattville except I-65 due to ice. Sometime during this process, the sleet and rain turned into a mix of snow flurries and extremely small hail crystals. Needless to say, Alabama is not prepared for "winter weather."

Trudging Throught the Rain and Mud

The camp out I went on a little over a week ago was an amazing reminder of why I love scouting: it rained. A lot.

Almost two months ago, I turned eighteen and aged out of Boy Scouts, though I decided to devote my time to Venture Scouts as a replacement. This past weekend, both I and the only other scout in Crew 111, Katie, teamed up with a one-member crew from Selma and Troop 111 on a hiking trip at the Wehle Nature Center in Midway, Alabama. I took the two hour drive down foggy highways and back roads on my own Friday night, and had a great time with all of the other scouts who met me there.

We were scheduled to depart on our ten mile hike the next morning at 10. Mother Nature had other plans. For comparisons, I went back and took photos from identical locations to show how badly it was raining. What you see is not fog -- it is rain. Torrential rain.

Here are a few pictures of the trail:

The rain had let up about 30 minutes into the hike, but everything was still pretty damp.

In many places, there were long stretches of standing water. To get past while staying relatively dry, we had to walk along the sides, where the trail wasn't as worn down. The only downside to this was the thorns and stickier mud. I nearly lost both of my shoes multiple times, and only managed to keep my balance though use of a walking stick










 In other places, the water wasn't so much standing as running some sort of marathon. Needless to say, we did not cross it.


After we got back from the hike, we decided to do some sight-seeing in the area around our campsite.




We found both a taxidermy exhibit of several kinds of animals that inhabit the area, as well as a petrified tree that hasn't done so in the past 70 million years















Before the sun went down, we made sure to visit the covered bridge at Wehle. This bridge was made in Summer 2000, and is the second longest covered bridge in the State of Alabama. The bridge has only one problem -- vehicles pulling trailers or construction equipment cannot cross due to its apparent lack of linearity. In other words, it's not wide enough for some things to get past a couple of the sharper curves.











After a long day, we finished it with dutch oven desserts -- apple cinnamon and Black Forest cherry cobblers (minus the alcohol of course).

After getting all hyped up on sugar, however, many of the scouts had to wear themselves out during the campfire that followed, singing songs, performing skits, and telling jokes. Even I participated, leading the adults -- who rarely participated in skits -- in a skit about a mad scientist who has designed door-to-door salesmen removers (killers is now too "violent").

New Year, New Me.

Alright, I know I haven't posted in quite a while now, and I apologize. What with school -- well, AP Calculus mainly -- I've not really had much going on that's memorable enough to write about.

To start off the new year, however, I'm going to try to start chronicling my stories again with my very own camera.

This is one of the few years that I have decided to make actual New Year's resolutions, and plan to stick to them. These resolutions are:

        1. Get in shape.

I know I'm not the most out of shape person in the world -- not nearly close -- but there's nothing like being fit to help self-esteem. Or so I've heard. And I'm just not quite satisfied with what I see in the mirror. And I want to prepare for another of my goals this year. ;)

        2. Learn to cook (better)

 

This is my last school year living at home, so I want to learn to cook before I leave home. So far this year, I've already started by cooking lasagna as well as cast iron skillet brownies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

      

3. Get more involved in Scouting again.

I went on a hiking campout a week ago, and loved it. Even though I've "aged out" (turned 18, so can no longer be considered a scout rather than an adult, except for venturing until 21), Benjamin will soon be moving up from Cub Scouts into Boy Scouts, so I'm going to get back into going on the campouts and hikes again, as well as getting more involved in Venture Scouts.

 

 

 

 

 

4. Complete the Fox's Pizza "Big One Challenge."

This one is more trivial than the others, mainly because it's something that my dad and I decided that we'd do once he recovers from his surgery and we both get in better shape or start exercising again (which usually is accompanied by a voracious appetite). Just to give a insight into the challenge, two people have to eat the whole (round) pizza that would fill in the box to the right. They have one hour, only one topping, no standing up, no throwing up, and no bathroom breaks. We sat and talked about what topping we were going to choose, and settled on mushroom. When the time finally comes that we attempt this challenge, win or lose, it will show up here.





This is a brand new year -- a fresh start -- and these are my New Year's Resolutions, and while I may not necessarily succeed with all of them, I plan to try my hardest. What resolutions have you all made? Feel free to share in the comments below. Happy New Year!