To (properly) Build a Fire
>> Thursday, February 25, 2010 –
Out and About
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| From Out and About |
In grade 9, I remember studying a compilation of short stories, one of which was Jack London's To Build a Fire. This is the only story I remember with such detail. The climax of the story involved him being lazy and building a fire directly below a spruce. The snow on the spruce eventually warms, falls, and snuffs out his fire.
Silly man.
We are smarter.
Last weekend, we were generously invited up to a friend's cottage. Tatiana built a fire. She's smart. She's an engineer. She built the fire in the middle of the frozen lake. The location of the fire was likely driven more by awesomeness than by winter survival skills, but it still reminded me of the short story and the unfortunate demise of the man who built the fire.
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| From Out and About |
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| From Out and About |
Oh my goodness, I totally remember that story too. I wonder why it stuck with us so well.
When Jeff and Monica moved up to Iqaluit I asked them to go outside whenever it was ridiculously cold and spit to see if it crackled because of that story. They said it never happened but they did send me a picture of a frozen deer encountered after one supremely brutal snow storm.