Hello all,

This winter has seen some pretty intense weather…vicious cold, record warmth and tornados in some parts of the country. Well, according to Punxatawney Phil, the most famous groundhog of all, it will be over soon and spring will be on its way.

Fine with me, especially now that Burlington’s Penguin Plunge is over — it needs to be cold for that. For those of you who don’t know, a penguin plunge (also known by other names) involves taking off perfectly good warm clothes and jumping into a frigid body of water. This year in Burlington, it was about 12 degrees F with a biting wind and the water was about 36 degrees F.

I know all those stats because I was down at the waterfront with my two kids watching my wife do the plunge. About 1,200 lunatics took part and raised an estimated $400,000 for Special Olympics Vermont. I usually just send supportive thoughts from a warm distance, but this year, as they say, it was personal.

Stay warm, and thanks for reading.

Liam
liam@smalldog.com