Keep on the sunny side

Generators, buildings, 12 V portable refrigerators and radios are just a few of the things that can powered by the sun.

That brilliant star illuminated snowscapes here today. A welcome sight after a week of relentless winter storms.

Where its rays warmed the carpet, the cat and the dog flopped down for naps.

Without sunshine our bones grow brittle. Attitudes, too.

Today's radiation renewed my little photovoltaic soul -- I absorbed enough energy to make it through February.

Clothes make the man

That early South Pole explorer Ernest Shackleton saved himself and his 27 -man crew is a testament to human perserverance.
The 1907 expedition was stranded for 22 months in Antartica after their ship broke apart in thick ice. They all survived, thanks to Shackleton. He gutsily shoved off in a life boat for a far-away island-- the home of whalers who would rescue the team.

At the turn-of-the century, even well-appointed adventurers had only ordinary wool shirts, felt jackets and leather boots. And their clothing eventually got wet and froze.

Insulated gloves, a down-filled parka, Thinsulate-lined boots and optically-superior Oakley sunglasses cover me in winter.

Bet those guys would have killed for my gear.

Ernest: If you get another life, go for the GORE-TEX endorsement.

Photo: http://www.thegeminiweb.com