Happy Belated Holidays to you and yours, especially if we missed you by phone or card (although our cards were sent after Christmas, so you may still be waiting)! Our door is filled with cards and pictures from the people we love. Thank you! We miss you all.
Jake and Daniel have been taking advantage of some recent non-windy days by driving out on the river to try out the jig sticks. Since we don't have our own auger, Jake watches out our river-mouth-facing window to see where other people are fishing, and as soon as they leave, he bundles up himself and DJ and drives the 4-wheeler down to occupy the hole, minimum ice-scooping and no chipping required. (We've tried ice-fishing without an auger, and spent nearly 60 minutes with 3 people chipping away at the ice with a razor-sharp pointed, long metal pole ... and still had over 3 feet of ice to go to reach any water or fish... so now we either go with someone who has an auger, or find a whole that is fairly fresh so we only have a few inches of ice to chip through rather than several feet.) It reminds me of driving around Kalaloch Campground waiting to find our (the Gunnings') "ocean-front spot" -waiting for the previous tenants to vacate while we drove around over and over again to see their packing progress.
The last several days have been bitterly cold... too cold to fish, in my opinion, although a few "soldiers" have stayed the course and continued to catch smelt and tom-cod at -30 something Fahrenheit. We have been burrowed down, sipping hot cocoa and playing Wii while we wait for the thermometer to read at least -20 or higher before attempting any non-mandatory outdoor activities.
Other than the cold, we are doing quite well. Daniel and Jonah both seem to be changing daily... learning new things, keeping us on our toes (even when we should be sleeping, at times), growing, making us laugh, and being the centers of our little Unalakleet universe.
Take care, everyone... especially our Spokanite followers. We will keep you, the city, and the nearly 80" of melting snow in our prayers.
Janelle
