Happy New Year, MMXII!

It's Sunday morning, January 1st, 2012!  I hope everyone had a safe and fun New Year's Eve.  Can anyone tell me why Dick Clark continues to be part of the night?  I'm hoping he was holding out for the 40th anniversary, and is not going to call it quits.  Kelli swears he called out "....fifteen, fourteen, fifteen, twelve...." during the countdown!

Brady speeds down Hemlock Road on a plastic sled, chased by the dogs.

We just missed the East Coast ball drop live, then caught the West Coast version, then went to bed and so missed the Alaska timezone one, or at least us old folks did:  Brady and Faith stayed up.  We took a nice chilly walk in the 36 degree weather, after missing the live ball drop from NYC.  There is still lots of snow.  We saw a few fireworks, then headed home.  Brady and I had fun throwing snowballs at each other.  The dogs got a good walk, and we got energized by the chilly weather and fresh air, so drove out looking for a party!  The streets of Craig were empty.  The Moose Lodge had a few cars, but seemed pretty quiet.  The Hill Bar had more cars, but was quiet, too.  The Craig Inn, or what we call the Pink Bar, was all lit up with  six or seven neon beer signs, versus the normal single one.  There were about six people milling around outside, more action than I've ever seen here.  This is the one bar we were warned away from:  regular fights, for one.  Most of the time you can't even tell it's a bar, open or not.  It's a classic example of the islands apparent disdain for signs proclaiming their name:  many places of business have no outside clue they are in business.  Weird.  It does stand out though, with the entire front of the two-story building painted pink.

It was really a beautiful drive to Craig and back, as was the trip to Thorne Bay earlier in the day.  That trip was through a Winter Wonderland.  It took us about an hour to drive over there.  It is a very scenic little village, notable for no homes with two or three or six junk cars out front.  It, too, sits on a bay, as does every community on Prince of Wales.  We saved over $20 on a 40 lb. bag of Kirkland dog found, so well worth the trip.  Other items are much cheaper too, plus, I heard a question while paying that I haven't heard since we moved here, one that is very common, and useful, in San Diego:  would you like cash back?  I nearly fell over!  The AC grocery stores in Craig and Klawock won't give cash back.  It's one of the differences that make me wonder if we are still in the United States!

Quinlan chases Brady and Faith as they sled down Hemlock Rd.

This morning, the snow is off all the trees and it's a thinner on the ground.  The weather station at Klawock Airport doesn't report any overnight rain, so it must be the warmed 40 degree temperature and winds that worked over the snow.  It's great that Brady got his wish, a very White Christmas!