There has been such a lot going on up and down the gravel that I
hardly know where to start.

The other day Tyler came into the house.  He had been in what
Papa calls the "Millyard" cutting lumber for the feeding shelter
he and Kent are building behind the shed.

He was tickled about what was going on up and down the gravel
that day.  He said (and I am sure this is a paraphrase), "Papa's dryer
is messed up, so he has Dennis Meyers coming to look at it later.
Jim has a repairman coming out to check on Jenny's satellite.  And,
Jenny called Papa yesterday because there was a lake in her yard
from a broken pipe, so Pa has Carl Proehl coming out to look at
it.  And, on top of that, Jenny didn't get the message that Carl is
coming out so she drove to town to try to find a plumber.  And,
Uncle Jim just drove to town to look for her to stop her getting
another plumber, since one is already coming out.  There sure is a
lot of coming and going today on the gravel!"

The sawmill had been out of commission for awhile because of a
messed up motor something or other.  Everyone is tickled pink that
it is up and running again.

At Fernnook Lodge, that is the house Mike and Deb are building,
the big news is that the cabinets are partly there.  A few months
late, but this is Ripley County.

I think that from now on I will refer to Mike and Deb's house as
The Lodge, Dad's house as The Big House, and our home as
The Farmhouse.

Then when people want to know where we are eating I can say,
"Well, dinner tonight is at The Big House...or The Lodge...or
The Farmhouse."

Sounds so comfy and warm and friendly and all.

The other day I was gone, and when I got home Kent took me over
to the side of the shed and showed me something and asked me to
guess what it was.

I had not a clue.  It looked like a huge spider, but it was all catawampus.
Turns out it was the chimney brush.  Kent was cleaning the flue while
the fire was going and dropped the brush down the chimney.  Then
he had to scramble down to put out the fire so he could take apart
the bottom of the flue to retrieve the melted, spidery looking brush.
Neither one of us are sure why he did it when the fire was going. 

We had some really cold weather during the end of December and
beginning of January.  The pond froze over enough for us to slide
around on it.  The granddies loved it.  We saw a turtle, some predatious
diving beetles, a salamander, and a walking stick all under the ice
moving about in the water.

There was a grand game of ice hockey to boot.

Then Tyler had Elsie and Kathleen help him to drag his Christmas
Tree out onto the pond to create fish habitat when the ice melts.

Cold as it was here, it's been much colder in Montana where
Trenten and Anne are.  Derrill and Becky spent three weeks
there starting Christmas Day.  During the first 10 days of their
visit the mercury didn't even hit zero for a high.

That's cold.  Here's hoping for a chinook wind for the Farmers
and some spring peepering for us!