12/25/08 - If you ever wondered what happened to Cindy Lou Who when she grew up - now you know. She left Whoville, moved to Sawbill, got married and changed her name to Cindy Lou Hansen.

Happy Holidays everyone.

12/17/08 - Our snow-pack has settled to a very satisfactory 18" now, but the recent snow was so cold, dry and fluffy that it is very hard to travel through. Even our big trail grooming snowmobile is having trouble handling it. We decided to snowshoe most of the ski trail today to pack it a bit and give the trail groomer some help. The 5 kilometer snowshoe trip turned out to be surprisingly difficult, taking us about an hour and a half. The dogs came along, although Phoebe had to be carried for about half the distance. Afterward, everyone was tired and a little stiff.

The ski trail leading away from our house after we broke the pristine snow with snowshoes.

Tired trail breakers at the end of the trip.

12/14/08 - Our two college students are home from Montana, triggering the urge to select our Christmas tree. We ventured out into the teeth of a significant snow storm to find a non-traditional tree. After much discussion, we selected a multi-forked birch.

Snow fell at more than an inch an hour today. We got 12" from this storm, followed by bitter cold and high winds. Winter is good in northern Minnesota!

Carl, Roy, Homer, Clare and Phoebe Hansen cram into the back seat of the pickup truck to go tree hunting.

The tree felling crew at work. How many people can you see in this blizzard?

Roy was a big help straightening out the lights.

After all the fun, the final result drew ooohs and aaahs from the crowd.

12/1/08 - Cindy and I traveled to Missoula, Montana for the Thanksgiving holiday to visit our children, Carl and Clare, who are both students at the University of Montana. We had a wonderful time in that beautiful part of the world, feasting, playing cards, hiking in the Rattlesnake National Recreation Area (no snakes seen), and attending the Montana Grizzlies football game (they won!).

Carl and Clare protecting Cindy from rattlesnakes.

While we were traveling, my brother, Karl, and his wife, Lee, Sawbill-sat for us. They brought along their two dogs to add to our three which ended up being quite a pack! They enjoyed the quiet time (they normally live in the bustling urban center of Grand Marais, Minnesota) and took advantage of the frozen lake for hiking.

Lee exercising the pack on Sawbill Lake.

Also, while we were gone, Tim Velner and Gus Gustason stopped by for their annual Thanksgiving visit. For many years they camped in the Sawbill campground for Thanksgiving, enjoying a boil-in-a-bag feast, biking, hiking and touch football in the snow. This year they had to forego the camping and football, but kept the biking part of the tradition alive. - Bill

Tim Velner, from Duluth, rides in the snow at Sawbill.