It must have been the wet rainy day that drove me to my cleaning frenzy. “Time to clean out the closets”, I thought to myself. After all, the holidays are quickly approaching and the house will be full of out of town guests! Little did I know that my cluttered closets would open the doors to so many memories tucked away. Amidst the boxes of papers and old framed pictures was a box of various trinkets, cards and perfumes from my mother. Sighing, I remembered this would be the ninth winter without her. I picked up the nearly dried ...continued...

Arrived in Stockholm Sweden last night, resetting our body clocks is difficult. Did a gear check and discovered some things we still needed. Asked the hotel for directions to the best outdoor equipment store. Was told it was a short 35 min walk away. Got there and it was pretty much a GAP store with coats. Good news is we wandered around a bit and found the best glove store in the world. Nothing but wall to wall gloves. Heading to Longyearbyen in the morning. ...continued...

Before I took this quiz, I thought that I had a fair amount of knowledge about other cultural views because of many courses I have taken that have exposed me to different cultures. I was surprised, however, to find out that I still have a very long way to go. I answered 16 of the 23 questions correctly and many of the questions I got wrong involved practices in different cultures and how they differ from my own. I do not think that I have prejudices per say, I try to be a very nonjudgmental individual when meeting new people. I like to try to learn as much as I can abou ...continued...

GHOSTBUSTERS …If there’s something strange in your neighborhood, who you gonna call? If there’s something weird and it don’t look good, who you gonna call?…Ghostbusters. In the middle of the night my wife, Karen, heard a loud bump. She awoke to see a ghostly figure of a man standing next to the staircase. He was wearing a biker’s outfit with a yellow bandanna wrapped around his head. “Tom,” she shouted, waking me up. “What’s wrong?” I asked. “There is a man standing next to the stairs,” she gasped. ...continued...

Today we woke up to more of the same. A howling wind and violently flapping tent walls. We discovered that the wind, which is from the north, is rapidly pushing us back to our start location from yesterday. We call it a hamster wheel when the ice beneath our feet moves as quickly south as we move north. Since we are tent bound I have felt a survival mode kick in with both of us. I found myself hoarding the last of my Pop-Tarts as I secretly tried to eat them inside my sleeping bag, denying their very existence when questioned by Mike over the noisy wrappers giving me up. From the crunching ...continued...

As a part of a division 1 college cross country team, I am true thankful for the opportunity that others could only wish for... Unfortunately, theres always a dark side to everything that happens in my life. As a freshman, I ran terribly. I was nervous, scared, and always depressed. I was varsity but with terrible times. I grew and matured as most college kids do and by my sophomore year I was leading the team. I consistently ran in the low 19s and led the team with an iron will to win. The down side is that my coach despises me because I am not the type of athlete who sucks up or lays at some ...continued...

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THE VICKER’S YESTERDAYS His collar was turned up against the wind because it WAS a dark and stormy night. The gale pushed against his body and tore at his cape pulling at the only clasp till it gave way. Father Roy grabbed at the cover between his now chilled body and the fierce storm. “Why couldn’t the church find its way clear to pay the contractor to add another button or two on these things.” he muttered. Father Roy had been in his study enjoying his third toddy when Sister Olivia called. She n ...continued...

From the start it was like a secret society. You needed to know the handshake or password to get information. I guess that is why it took so long to start this incredible journey as a writer. Since the age of six, when I first started to read, a book was always under my nose. This started it, and from that point reading the written word became a very important part of my life. I could not tell you how many books I have read, or plan to in the near or far future. It started in 2011, when an uncontrollable desire to write short stories took over. I would hammer out words between work assig ...continued...

In the end, our society will be defined not only by what we create but by what we refuse to destroy. (John Sawhill, former president of The Nature Conservancy) A reflection of ourselves Our national parks and preserves are located in all regions of the country (Our National Parks), but they are in need of help. From budget cuts, discussed previously, to climate change this remarkable American creation, which goes back more than 100 years, is under threat in the 21st century. Shrinking available water supplies affects ecosystems and species survival. Non-native plants, insects, snakes ...continued...

There are moments in your life, as you look back, you can say “That was it! That was a pivotal moment!” For me it was my fathers’ Green Box. My father was the patriarch of our family. A depression baby raised in rural Missouri, the city boy just could not adapt to the slow pace of grazing cows, plowing corn and balancing on the railroad tracks. The city called to him so deeply that at the age of 14 he ran away. Kansas City had all the draw a young country boy could possibly imagine. Yet his naivety wa ...continued...

In order to prepare for this trip Mark and I went to a 3 day shakedown camp with the guides in January. We spent two nights in a tent at minus 20 Fahrenheit. The guides talked about knowing where all of your gear is at all times. They would say for example to keep your lighter in the same pocket and if you need it, it is there. And as soon as you are done put it back because it lives there. This is crucial in the arctic because we have limited space and you need to keep track of your gear. Too much energy is spent looking for something and if you are freezing you need it right away. Anyone ...continued...

FIRST CHRISTMAS ©2014 By Rolland Love rtl@kc.rr.com The last sound I heard as I drifted off to sleep was the howling wind. In the middle of the night I was awakened by a scream from the back bedroom. My dog Trouser came over and licked my face. I sat up and draped a wool blanket around my shoulders. Then slid out of bed and walked across a cold hardwood floor. I found myself standing at the bedroom door. The scene was strange and scary, like something in a dream. Sitting on white wicker tables, one on each side of my mother and father’s bed, were ke ...continued...

Our only source of water yesterday was saturated with salt crystals so we had to drink salty water all day. Had four dog team leaders fired today by Maher. Sadly he is running out of qualified candidates, unless of course me and mike qualify. Mike and I tried the good cop bad cop method with the dogs. I would treat Ersus with kindness and respect ( one of the fired leaders) Mike would speak sternly at him. After 2 seconds of Mikes technique Ersus cowered away and peed on the spot. My favorite of the dogs is Stephy. A huge dog with a good temperament. Stephy traveled with me on the helico ...continued...

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