What a wonderful scene, to look out my window and see endless acres of freshly fallen snow, the trees laden as if they were decorated with cotton, the birds snacking at their feed station, gingerly picking the seeds out of the snow where the north winds have blown them. Not only is it beautiful scene but it also brings a sense of peace and tranquility.
However, my greatest joy is that I do not have to plow snow today! What a great way to end the year, no more wind shield time and listening to Merle Haggard on my eight track sound system in my plow truck. If I spend much more time in that truck, I am going to have to upgrade my sound system or find some of the eight track tapes that I have in storage, Merle is getting a little old. Somewhere I have a eight track tape of Bing Crosby singing "White Christmas" which would at least provide a little mood music.
I would get me one of those "eye pods" but with that thing sruck in my ear, I would not be able to hear the sound of my finely tuned engine and smooth transmission, of course it is a little difficult now that I have gaping holes in my muffler. The other snow plowers look at me with envy because they think I am driving a diesel. "Dutch" has always been my faithful companion, riding shotgun as I plow snow, but I think the gas fumes inside the cab have been getting to him as he is always begging to stick his head out the window, perhaps I will find time to work on that that so at least one of the windows will roll down. The old truck has a few minor problems, but we will keep her going since we will need to use it at the "Hole In The Wall", to do a little grading and leveling after the spring floods. Speaking of that, I have already reserved the snow machine trailer from the Bear Clan so we can move the new project into the campground as soon as all of you are available to be here to assist in the moving project. Would like to see you, but don't rush right down as I have not yet started construction. It is on hold until we get rid of all this damm snow.

On Wednesday, we had our second blizzard of the month, white out conditions and cancellation of a Christmas get together with the Bear Clan, lower peninsula family and visitors from LA. But, I did have the opportunity to plow snow for most of the day on Thursday.
This morning I woke up at 6:30 am and checked the weather conditions, the decks were nice and clean from the shoveling the previous day. Turned on the coffee maker, watched my morning news and by 8:30 a.m. we had six inches of snow on the decks. As the picture indicates, once outside, I had no problem seeing the house since it was the largest pile of snow, but it took Dutch and I an hour to find the snowplow and dig it out. We spent the remainder of the day plowing snow, again! It was falling as fast as I was plowing. Finishing up this evening it was still snowing and continues to plummet us, so I guess I will plow snow again tomorrow or give up and spend the rest of the winter watching it pile up. I love the snow so much! If you were wondering, the Hole In the Wall is not restricted to access by snow machine, snow shoes or skis - it will be spring before the plow gets in there again.


I did discover a new fishery that I think we should explore. A group of biologist in Japan have discovered the habitat of the "giant squid". They did get some very good photographs of them in their natural habitat. One of the biologist rigged up some trolling gear. It appears to be a flasher and he used squid as scent. They managed to hook one of the "giant squid" and get it to the surface. Upon reaching the surface, it died before they could get it released, it measured 24 feet long. Now 24 feet does not seem that great of a length, however, when you put it into the proper context, this squid was eight feet longer than the boat that the "Bull Moose" uses to troll in Cook Inlet. Remember that boat several of you spent the day on while fishing lower Cook Inlet for King Salmon last spring? "Giant Squid" and "Submarines", perhaps Jules Verne had a greater knowledge than he is credited. As for me, I am not going to fish with squid ever again!

As for the big news today, just watched the video feed of the hanging of Saddam, they did not show the actual hanging, just placing the noose around his neck - the only thing I have against this execution is that they used a "new rope", that was more than he deserved. As "Gus" (Robert Duvall) said in the movie Lonesome Dove as he was preparing to hang an outlaw, "It is a pleasure to hang someone like you, now go tell it to the devil"

Today is the 1st Anniversary that you have not been in our lives, but rest assured that a day does not go by that you are not in our thoughts and hearts. We miss you "Big Guy"! Keep all the "angels" smiling and hopefully, you have been given a good horse and saddle to ride.

Terry and I would like to thank our families in Anchorage for giving us such a wonderful and memorable Christmas. It was very special to share this time with all of you. We appreciated your hospitality and all the extra work that you went to in preparation for such a large gathering. All of our love to each of you.

Happy New Year,
Dad and Mom

P.S. Please share the sausage!

Wishing All Of You, A Very Merry Christmas. My Next Few Days Will Be Dedicated To The Full Enjoyment Of The Season. Wishing Each Of Well, Hoping That Santa Is Good To You, But You Have To Believe.
P.S. If You Are Waiting For My Yearly Christmas Letter, I Have Changed Traditions, It Will Be A New Year's Letter This Year.

Have you ever wondered, which Christmas carol is the most popular? It is interesting, that out of the top twenty Christmas carols, only four songs of the twenty were written in the last twenty years. The oldest Christmas carol on the Top 20 list was written in the 16th Century, "12 Days of Christmas" and it is #2 on the list. The #1 Christmas carol in the Top 20 was written in 1949. "Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer". Jingle Bells, #6 was written in 1857! The most recent carol to make the list was Mariah Carey's, "All I Want For Christmas (Is You) in 1994. One of my favorites, "Silent Night" is #7 on the list and was written in 1816.

While on the subject of Christmas carols, recently a copy of a re-written carol was delivered to me, which I would like to share with you but the young artist wants to remain anonymous, as she is afraid that it may effect future Christmas gifts from grandma.


GRANDMA GOT RUN OVER BY A REINDEER
(Chorus)
Grandma got run over by a reindeer,
While walkin' the Beach Road
You can say there's no such thing as Santa
But for me and Grandpa, WE BELEIVE!

She'd been drinkin' to much Zinfindel
And we begged her not to go,
But with her wine glass in hand,
She stumbled out the door and fell in the snow.

When the Park Ranger found her Christmas morn
She was layin' face down in the ditch,
There were tiny hoof prints on her back
and inciminatin' red paint marks on her slacks.

Chorus (Repeat)

We are all so proud of Grandpa
He's been takin' this so well
He is till watchin' football
Drinkin' rum and playing poker at the Inn.

It's not Christmas without Grandma,
All the family is dressed in black.
And we just help but wonder,
Should we open her gifts or will Grandpa want them back.

Chorus (Repeat)

Now the Turkey is on the table,
We are using Grandma's favorite china.
We will surely miss her,
But would someone pass the potatoes so we can eat.

Grandma got run over by a reindeer
While walkin' the Beach Road
You can say there's no such thing as Santa
But for me and Grandpa, WE BELIEVE.

Have you ever stopped to consider if someone was to offer to sell you a little extra cash, especially during the Christmas season. How much would you pay for One Thousand Dollars?

Throughout this past fall, a specie of bird that was thought to be extinct has once again been spotted by a large number of people. This could be a discovery almost as important as the Arctic Polar Pig or the Arctic White Gecko that was recently highlighted on the blog site of the Plumma.

This is the Ivory Billed Woodpecker, thought to be extinct for the past several years. However, I believe that I have solved the mystery pertaining to the evolution of this beautiful bird. I believe that it was originally a native of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. A review of historic Alaska artifacts revealed several ivory carving and tools that resemble the bill of this particular specie. It is my conclusion that the bill of the Ivory Billed Woodpecker was used as an awl in the sewing of animal skins to make kiyaks, parkas and mukluks. Due to the hardness of the ivory, it was most likely also utilize to inscribe scrimsaw carvings. However,the question remains why did this specie of birds leave the arctic wilderness? At times, we look beyond the simple solution in an attempt to discover the reality. The simple reason that these birds migrated from the Arctic was that all the trees died, a Woodpecker needs wood to peck and not that many trees are available in the refuge area since the concept of global warming. It is my concept, that the birds migrated inland into the region's of Alaska that is heavily timbered. The likelihood for their habitat was the Kenai Peninsula and upper part of the Alaska Peninsula. In the 1990's the Ivory Billed Woodpecker has handed a banquet when the Spruce Bark Beetle infestation swept through the timber at both of these locations. Although, the birds thrived for several years due to the infestation and abundant food source, over the past three years we have seen this infestation decline rapidly. Recognizing that their population had increased and their food source was depleting, the Ivory Billed Woodpecker once again started migrating out of the area in search of a new environment. Their migration route took them into Montana, Idaho, and Colorado as each state went through the same infestation that was experienced in Alaska, except in this case it was the Pine Bark Beetle. It was by coincidence, that large flocks of the Ivory Billed Woodpecker got caught up in the weather pattern of hurricane Katrina. Due to the prevailing winds, large numbers of these birds ended up in Louisiana only to find lush forests of good timber with a lot of bugs. The recent sightings of the Ivory Billed Woodpecker has been in that state and number in the hundreds.
Now some may not take visions seriously, however, as the reigning Grand PooPah, head of the Eagle Clan it is my responsibility to name the new clans as they enter the fraternal order of family clans. This past spring, with a lot of soul searching I experienced a vision, consequently my grandson and his family was granted the name of the Woodpecker Clan, in honor of this traditional Alaskan bird, the Ivory Billed Woodpecker. I am sorry, but I am forbidden to describe the vision that appeared to me from the beyond but it involved a bottle of rum.

Now that you have had time to contemplate the original question, how much would you pay for $1,000.00 Dollars? I am sure, most of us would make an attempt to purchase it as cheap as we could, that is only common sense. In fact, I am sure there are those among us that would try to get it by offering free coupons for all kinds of products. The fact remains, anything less than $1,000 would be a good buy. However, would any of us offer more than $1,000.00 for the item? Evidently, there are those out there foolish enough to do this. The fact is that one person paid $2.3 Million dollars for $1,000. Why would anyone be so silly. The item was a $1,000 Bill printed in 1890 and it is one of two known to exist.

My youngest daughter has a check for a $1,000 almost that old for a thousand dollars, I bet she would sell it a lot cheaper than 2.3 million!