Happy New Year & Penguin Dipping From Texas

New Year's Eve was a very rough night for me. Horrible hangover this morning. Horrible.

Okay, the sad truth is on New Year's Eve I went to bed 4 hours before the New Year began. I'd been feeling ailing all day long, so, before 8, I decided to end the misery and go to bed.

This morning I woke up to find something irritating my eyes real bad. As in stinging. I've decided I'm a victim of my Chesapeake Energy neighboring Barnett Shale gas well.

I got a comment yesterday from Sedro Woolley. That is a town in the Skagit Valley of Washington state. The commenter was my favorite commenter, Anonymous. I also get comments from Sedro Woolley from Miss CVB. Anonymous was not Miss CVB because she's a girl and Anonymous said, "This Sedro Woolley boy is doing this tomorrow. Can't wait!!"

What is it that Anonymous can't wait for? Well, it's the Clear Lake Penguin Dip. Clear Lake is a clear lake near Sedro Woolley. On New Year's Day a lot of people strip down and run into the lake and then get warm by a big fire. A great time is had by all.

So, this morning, with it being the first morning of the New Year, I decided to show solidarity with the Clear Lake Penguin Dip and be there in spirit, if not in body. It also seemed somehow fitting that my first blogging of the New Year include the information that I went in the pool this morning.

It was below freezing at the time. I almost had a bad slipping incident when stepping on a frozen puddle at the pool's edge. That could have been all kinds of bad had I slipped. Next day's news, "Mysterious Death, Body Found Floating In Pool New Year's Day."

I am not starting the New Year with any unusual resolutions. Just the regulars, like lose weight to lose that awful beer belly I've grown in the past couple months. And to go visit my mom and dad in Phoenix.

Clear Lake Penguin Dip

I am up early. Again. Though not quite as early as yesterday. This morning's early wakeup came after 4.

I'm being cranky right now because Fort Worth is still keeping my pool closed. It is 65 outside right now. It was warm yesterday. My pool water is likely a somewhat swimmable temperature. Certainly, more so than the last time I got in it.

My closed pool became a current issue this morning while reading my old hometown newspaper, online, that being the Skagit Valley Herald. There was an article, with pictures and video, of the New Year's Day 18th Annual Clear Lake Penguin Dip.

Clear Lake is only a couple miles from where I used to live, in Mount Vernon. My nephew, Joey, lives in Clear Lake. I don't know if Joey was a Penguin dipper. My longtime reader may remember me blogging about Clear Lake last August, when Clear Lake was the site of the infamous Mannequin Murders.

About 100 men, women and kids ran into the 34 degree Clear Lake, when a Countdown Clock reached zero. Apparently there was a lot of screaming and shrieking when the Penguin Dippers hit the water.

There were 2 large bonfires on shore to warm the Penguin Dippers, after they quickly got back out of Clear Lake.

The Clear Lake Penguin Dip began in 1990. I had no awareness of this event when I lived there. I suspect I would not have participated had I known