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   I’ve been watching this guy.  He lives in the wetland behind us, and every once in a while he ventures out onto the lawn.  Also living in the wetland:  ferrel cats, deer, beaver and/or mink, depending on who wins the war over the lodge.  And snapping turtles.  Those guys are Ugly.  And before we know it, the spring peepers will be awake.  It’s a good day when I look outside and see this guy, though.  I’m thinking of naming him George. 

  In last Friday’s local paper, under the Adopt-A-Pet section, were pictures of about twenty cats and dogs, and also Rupert and Roberta, a chicken couple.  They preferred to be adopted out with their three sons.  How funny is that?  I was tempted to adopt them in retaliation of my neighbor’s barking dogs.  Cockadoodle-doo!

We are experiencing some computer problems with the weather server, so if you notice the weather history or current weather not downloading, that is why.  Randy is working on it. 

Speaking of weather, I hear that it looks like an old-time winter out in Idaho this year.  Yesterday Dad told me the snow was above the back bumper of the old pickup truck on the East side of the garage, and that is a level measurement.  Joyce estimates 2, 2.5 feet.   St. Anthony piles their street snow in the middle of the road instead of removing it, so it must be a bear to turn corners in that town.  Mother ventured to Idaho Falls with Aaron yesterday, and they stopped in St. Anthony to leave Aaron’s kids with Joyce.  Joyce said she and Lee and the kids skiied down by the river and she watched a beaver.  It’s nice to hear that they are enjoying the winter, though the cold will get them this week.  We think it’s cold here, but they are expecting wind chills up to -35.  The winter of 73 was a bad one–it was -42 when Randy and I got married, and that was ambient temperature, not wind chill.  That’s it from the weather channel today.

   I’d love to go to Yellowstone in the winter–maybe next year.  Randy and I are thinking about next month’s big celebration.  Our 35th anniversary falls on the three day weekend, President’s Day.  Yellowstone is a little far for a long weekend.  The City is a little bit close.  Maybe Boston.  Or Washington, though I’ve sworn off the city until W leaves town.  I can’t believe we’ve been married this long.  It seems more like 34 years…

  So, anyone want to fess up?  (Edited 1.13.08)  So here’s the story about the clock.  A couple of years ago I knocked the moose clock off the wall, and the 2 fell from the face, where it took up residence lying next to the 6.  It didn’t interfere with the function of the clock, so we just put the moose back on the wall.  Fast forward to this holiday season.  We left Craig, Ginny and their kids and Nicholas and Tiffany-Ann at our house while we hurried to Audrey’s bedside in Portland, Oregon.  After a few days, everyone returned to their respective homes.  Last night Randy noticed that the 2 was back in it’s appointed spot between the 1 and the 3.  We laughed and laughed.  It’s a miracle!  We figured that Craig noticed it and fixed it.  (Sorry Nicholas, you were never suspected.)  We wondered if he would fess up to his good deed, and thus the post with the clock.  This evening I was talking to Ginny, and mentioned the clock post, and she told me that she had forgotten all about it–Claire had accidentally knocked the moose clock off the wall, and when they noticed the 2 lounging around the 6, Craig thought he’d better fix it.  Hey, whatever it takes!  Thanks, Craig for fixing our mistake!  By the way, does anyone know anything about the snow blower?

Libby set me to thinking about all of the places we passed through in 2007.  Randy’s list would be much, much longer, because he and Craig did the grand tour of the northern tier, of course, during the move to Maine.  But for what it’s worth, his list would include places like Fargo and Gary, Indiana.  So he isn’t too far up on me.  Here’s my list of interesting (and some not-so-interesting) places we’ve been to in the past year.  Audrey and I debated whether Boston should be included, since we just drive around it, usually, and don’t go into the city too often now that the Beisels live in Maine.  In no particular order:

Yarmouth, Falmouth, Cape Elizabeth, Portland, Freeport, Brunswick, Scarborough, and York Maine. 

Bridgeport, Connecticut.

Goshen, New York City, Suffern, New York.

Jackson Hole, Wyoming, West Yellowstone, Montana

Denver

Driggs. 

Moscow, Idaho

Portsmouth, New Hampshire

Portland Oregon, Portland Oregon, Portland Oregon. McMinnville, Oregon.  Lincoln City.

Boston and Worcester, Massachusetts.

Seattle, Washington.  Pasco/Kennewick, Washington.

Hoboken, Jersey City, Ho-Ho-Kus, Mahwah.  Beautiful downtown Newark, New Jersey. 

 Obviously this isn’t everywhere we went, just the lowlights and highlights, and it shouldn’t be too hard to tell which is which. 

Oh, and Pocatello and Salt Lake City.

I don’t count Blackfoot. 

Wherever your travels take you in 2008, I hope you have fun.

  Here are a few photos from Christmas day with the grandkids.  Claire loved her fruit.  The avocado and eggplant were popular items..

  She is an angel in her wings.

  The kids made a gingerbread house. 

  Noah read riddles for the talent show.  His delivery was hysterical.

  Claire got plenty of reading in, too.  I guess her head was cold. 

  Noah, the typical four-year-old. 

                Three cute girls.  And Gavin, almost.