Colder and Darker, and the Best Christmas Tree We've Ever Had!

Well, here I go again, failing my blog followers.  I'm blaming the much shorter days and the colder weather for keeping us all inside more, and hence not providing for good blogging material.  It's been averaging about ten degrees colder this visit than when Kelli and Jared and Henry were here in October.  The length of daylight is also much less.  Combine that with required naps of Henry and, well, honestly, some laziness on our part, and we have been spending more time in our nice little log house.

Kelli and Jared went out today, to do some shopping and sight-seeing.  Kelli says it was the longest they have been away from Henry since we left San Diego.  That's not good, but is:  at least they got a nice break.  I hope they don't have to wait until I come visit in February before they get another nice long time out together.  

It’s rainy and windy, but about 43 degrees, not bad.  Kathy started her vacation today, a very good thing.  Henry has caught a cold, poor baby.  It doesn’t really bother him much, except at night, as he has trouble breathing and sleeping.  Otherwise, he’s still pretty much the Energizer Baby!

Yesterday Jared took Henry to the Unnamed Restaurant to check it out and get some coffee.  He reported that the customers were all rough looking men, but all were nice to he and Henry.  The coffee was tolerable.  We haven’t eaten there yet, put off by it’s looks and rumor that all the cooking is done in the old school bus attached to the building.  Kathy heard they have the best burgers on the island though, so we are planning on doing take out.

Later Jared and Henry and I walked to the Klawock River Trail.  It was raining a bit, but the hood for the backpack Henry rides in works great, and Jared and I were prepared, too.  It was very quiet over there, compared to our last visits:  we scared up two flights of small ducks, and about four bald eagles, and that was it.  We walked along the shore down to the short waterfall, where the view upriver is better, across the large pond formed by the waterfall rocks.  No bear tracks this time. 

We went to Ruth Ann’s for dinner a earlier this week, and had a great time.  We all had halibut of one recipe or another, all delicious.  We took the petite serving size, so even had some room left over for excellent desert.  Our waitress was very good, too.  What a great dinner. 

We stopped by the Craig Library and Kelli got six books out, three for her and three for Henry. 

Looks like I’ll be flying to San Diego the end of February.  Gonzaga Bulldogs come to USD once a year for a basketball game, and Kelli and I haven't missed this game since she graduated.  

Tuesday we finally ventured out to find a Christmas tree.  Someone told me I just needed to visit the Forest Service office and get a free permit, but the lady at the desk told me I didn’t need one, that we could just pick any reasonable tree on the Tongass and it was mine.  So, we drove down to the 20-mile Spur Trail on the road to the ferry landing at Hollis.  We turned up the dirt road to the trailhead, and soon ran into snow about six inches deep.  Luckily someone had been up the road before us, so left a nice set of double tracks.  It was still slippery driving.  The road slopes up gently, so the snow got a little deeper as we drove.  We were also fighting the coming darkness, so didn’t have unlimited time.  We stopped about half way to the trailhead, concerned about both deepening snow and dwindling daylight. 

Bundling up, we walked up and down the road, looking for the ideal tree.  We already knew we were looking fo a small spruce, the most Christmas-like of the evergreens that grow on Prince of Wales.  Finally we found one, and I pulled out my new pruning saw and we had our Christmas tree!  We strapped it to the top of the car, and slipped and slid our way down the road and back to the highway.   Once home, we cut off some lower branches, attached the tree stand, and into the house it went.  Only then did we realize we had a very sparse tree, oops.  Oh well, we will decorate it up and celebrate its story and it will be our best Christmas tree ever!

We had an excellent dinner at Ruth Ann's Restaurant on Tuesday night.  I would not have gone back to this place, due to the very poor service and high prices the last time we ate there, but Kathy wanted to give them another try.  We had an excellent waitress, and a delicious meal.  We all had halibut dinners, and all were really good.

 

Merry Christmas Everyone!