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Yep, its been a mite nippy up this way.
But that didn't stop four little gals from Texas from having a great time in the Northwoods of Minnesota. BTW, all the four women who participated in SURVIVOR: MINNESOTA are now resident medical doctors.
Here's a link to the videos and photos of our weekend ==> SURVIVOR: MINNESOTA
Several years ago, our daughter Autumn and three of her classmates from Texas A&M Medical School needed a little sabbatical from their studies and "skipped" school. They flew up here from Dallas, Texas and wanted to experience what life is like in the frigid Northwoods in mid-winter. Well, let me tell you - they got a heapin' servin' of it. The ski slopes and snow tubing hills were CLOSED due to the dangerously low temps and windchills in excess of -40ºF. Everyone was advised to travel only if necessary and to "stay inside". HAH! They don't know crazy Texan women very well, now do they?
For five days and four nights, these little gals stayed "off the grid" in our little one room cabin - and as you can see - the night time lows bottomed out at -31FºF ACTUAL TEMPS. That means when you step out onto the porch to grab an armload of firewood or visit the outhouse, your nose hairs freeze immediately and your eyelashes frost up and grow icicles.
But that didn't keep these gals from frolicking in the Northwoods. They ice skated on a frozen lake and played in the snow. I took them on a midnight hike when the ice crystals hung suspended in the air like glitter and the stars were so close you could touch 'em. I showed 'em constellations they had never heard of and shared with them Aninishinabe folklore and legends of the Northwoods.
During the day, we hiked the trails and identified different species of trees and identified the tracks of our "neighbors" including the showshoe hare, squirrels, fox, porcupine, grouse, mice, deer, and the timberwolves.
We did "science experiments" in the frigid temps that included tossing boiling water into the air to see it vaporize and explode. Then we blew bubbles to watch jackfrost form on them, then watched as they began to implode and fall to the ground - leaving only shattered cellophane-like shells behind.
After a great deal of thought, my wife and I decided that we would devise our own version of SURVIVOR -the popular CBS TV "reality" show. We called it
SURVIVOR: MINNESOTA
and we even designed and painted a logo for it.
After breakfast one morning, we announced the game and explained the competition.
The game challenged the contestants both mentally and physically. And through competing in this "game" we attempted to educate these gals in the ways of emergency preparedness and winter survival and self-reliance.
There were three survival scenarios:
1. Lone Survivor in a Plane Crash in Winter in Alaska - 8 seconds to choose from 12 items to keep you alive
2. Stranded Alone in an Automobile in a blizzard with just the contents of a three-pound coffee can for survival. They had to determine what items to fit in the coffee can to keep themselves alive for three days .
3. Falling through the Lake Ice/ Survival Techniques. Survivors had to determine what do and when do it in order to survive.
In the plane crash scenario, the contestants were presented with choices to make - we had 12 items displayed on our kitchen table for them to choose from and they were given 8 seconds before the items would go up in a fiery explosion of leaking fuel. Their choices and how they chose to use them would determine whether they lived or died. Their choices were scored and they were allowed to justify their choices. Then I explained to them what the BEST choices were and how they could be utilized. It was amazingly eye-opening. None of the girls picked the two best choices and all of them chose the two "most dangerous" items on the list. Believe me when I say the girls learned a great deal and are much better prepared to "think outside the box" and make good choices in the event of an emergency.
After the mental challenges, I then instructed the girls to dress for the elements and to head outside. Even dressing for the outdoors was timed!
When the "Survivors" made it outside, it was obvious some were better prepared than others - some were wearing cotton gloves, one had even grabbed two different boots! Some had to go back inside and redress which added to their overall times. It was -20ºF during the competition.
Each girl had to put on snowshoes and pull a sled to the woodpile, load 10 logs, pull them up hill to the cabin, stack the logs on the porch, then snowshoe to the well, pump a bucket of water from the well (thats forty full strokes of the pump handle), and carry it to the porch of the little cabin, then snowshoe over and pickup a rifle and "shoot a moose" (a balloon with moose faces painted on them hanging from the trees in the woods).
Watch one of the competitors by "clicking" the photo below:
After each girl had accomplished this, they were told that their lives depended on this next task - they were given 5 minutes to go the woods and collect whatever they thought they might need to start a fire. Then they were given only 6 strike-anywhere matches and a piece of sandpaper.
With frozen fingers and runny noses each girl struggled to keep the wind from the blowing out the little flames they had started with pine straw and birch and oak leaves and twigs. Only Karina, the medical student from Russia, had though to gather papery birch bark and her fire grew bigger and brighter and cast off rich black smoke.
Click photo below for a video of the firebuilding contest:
The standings were announced and the winner was crowned SURVIVOR: MINNESOTA! A fur lined "Mad Bomber" hat was the grand prize and the winner wore it proudly back to Texas.
The competition opened up lots of dialogue about survival skills and emergency preparedness that these women had never considered. And it sooooooooo much fun.
