That's us on the lake in the photo. We were trying to get a Christmas photo of us and Roxy - but no can do. Roxy was not about to sit still with a ribbon around her neck - so we'll try something else for Christmas. We need to face the sun anyway. It was pretty cold that day - as cold as I think I've ever been. Couldn't take those gloves off but for a second or two.

You can see a sampling of the huge dogs -and these are teacher's pets. That is one of the single women here riling up the white dog - and that huge dog is not even a year old. Her dog Jet is behind her. Tom walks her twice every day. Roxy loves these big dogs - they just run all over her.

Here we are going to school at 8:15 am and it is pitch dark. It lightens up around 10:30 am.

We had a real snowstorm yesterday - 45 mph winds in the afternoon and evening. The house was shaking again like once before. Before, back in October, I paced the floor wondering if we were going to have to be evacuated. But this time, it was old hat. We even opened the window a fraction of an inch so we could hear the wind roar as we got to sleep.

I fell for the second time since I arrived - back into a snow bank that was about two feet deep. I could hardly get back up - tooooo funny! Roxy was jumping all over me and I was trying to hold the camera up so it wouldn't get snowed. The snow is so soft and light and just beautiful.