Hurray for Snow!
Finally, it's snowing here.  I know most people were looking forward to a long set of weeks before we received snow, but I'm not one of them.  My gardens and farm are my baby.  I've always felt the farm in winter is like a sleeping child and best left to rest quietly and comfortably under its blankets and not awakened from its nap until it was ready in the spring.  This late fall early winter without snow was like seeing my child sleep restlessly with no blankets.  The trees were dormant but had no covering or protection from the bitter nights.  I'm glad for the snow.  Snow is always so quiet.  It's one of the things that makes living in North Dakota great, the peacefulness of a snowy day.

I'm very excited now.  I had been feeling almost lost, like I needed a purpose or a project.  This Sunday while Barry took his shift at the local bar I tried to make mittens.  It didn't go well and I ended up with a mess and no mittens to show for it.  If anyone has a very simple mitten pattern to share with me, I'd appreciate it.  So with this attempt at creativity failed, I just felt like there was something else I could or should be doing.  Last night that chance came.  We received a call asking if we would host Dr. Colin Skinner who is walking from New York to North Dakota to raise money for Hospice programs all over the country.  Since my father passed away from cancer in 2002 and the hospice workers were such a help to him and my mother - of course I said yes. 

This morning I went online to check out Dr. Skinner and his quest.  You should do the same.  You can visit these two web sites for more information: http://www.freewebs.com/drskinnersite/ or http://www.nationalhospicefoundation.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=258.  This is an amazing journey for such a good cause.  I really want to be a part of it and help Dr. Skinner.  I'm hoping to have time to decorate the classroom and bunkhouse for his arrival in a really festive way and my friend Bernie Solwey at Tenderfoot Socks has already agreed to donate a pair of socks for him.  In reading his journals he made metnion of a trip to a store to buy socks and hoping that they wouldn't give him blisters.  Tenderfoot socks would be the perfect give for anyone who is on their feet a lot and if they bring some comfort to his journey I'll be so happy.  You can check out Tenderfoot Socks - a real live company right here in our region - by looking at their web site: http://www.tenderfootsocks.com/.

Watch the channel 8 news tonight or in the next couple days, I'm sure they will have Colin on the news.  He's traveling from Grand Forks to Larimoure to Lakota to Devils Lake to Churchs Ferry then on to Leeds, Knox, Rugby, Granville and Minot. 

Stay warm and safe in the snow - and feel blessed that now our sleeping gardens are getting the rest they deserve while we work to give some rest to a dedicated traveller.