Friday 16 December 2005

A new layer of snow is blanketing everything, thanks to the recent snowfalls. Although we didn't fare as well as some parts of the county and the North Shore, we did collect about four to five inches or so. That brings us up somewhere around a foot of snow on the ground. It is beautiful outside. The trees are heavily laden, and the sun is shining from a bright blue sky. It looks like a perfect December postcard scene.

Two nights ago we were delighted to be awoken at 3:00 a.m. to the tune of three wolves howling in the near vicinity. I had recently read that folks were hearing them howl, but I hadn't been so lucky. During the snowstorm, the temps were up in the high twenties, so Greg had been leaving his window open a crack overnight. When we heard the wolves, he bolted over to the window to see if he could spot them. Despite the thin cloud cover, the moon was shining so brightly through it, it almost seemed like dusk out there. No wolves were right there, but the closeness of the sound sure fooled us. I do wonder, though, How loud would they be if they were just down in front? Their voices carry such a long way that it makes it hard to determine the distance in relation to their volume. Sharlene and Jim had visitors from Alaska that night, Nick and Jean. They, too, heard the wolves, and their two dogs were quite agitated and concerned over this. Several families in Eagle, where Jim is from, have sled dogs. But there must be some difference in the howling of dogs and wolves.

The Geminid meteor showers were to have been visible during the week. We were not given the chance to see them, as the sky was always clouded over. Jean mentioned that she and Nick had seen quite a few shooting stars as they made their way south through Canada.

Our errand runs to town are still filled with moose sightings, though not as many as the night of seventeen. We have seen a couple more bulls, too. One time the UPS man saw forty moose in one trip up and back down. We can't stress enough the importance of keeping a sharp eye on the lookout when driving up the trail at night right now.

We've fired up the bread oven a couple of times this week. It is sure different using it in the winter than in the warmer times of the year. I have had bread burn on the bottom lately, due to uneven heat. But the pizza has been turning out fabulous. Dare I try some Christmas cookies in there?

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