North Norway

NORTH NORWAY — Saw Bruce Cook on Thursday and he told me I didn't write a column last week and you know what, by golly, he was right. When I have nothing to say I wisely abstain from saying anything. Not always however.

We purchased this house from the Cooks and have never regretted it. Bruce said they have two golden retrievers now and he is delighted to be sitting in his recliner and have one of them drop a slurpy tennis ball in his lap, asking him to play. If I understood him correctly, the Cooks are going to Telerude, CO sometime this winter to attend a family affair. Hope some of the snow out there has melted as they have had aplenty. Good place to ski but not easy to get to from here.

Outside today it is eight below zero and we have a variety of wildlife feeding. Ducks, a lot of them. Where are they staying, I wonder. Turkeys as usual, blue jays, chickadees, nuthatches, titmouse, woodpeckers, crows, mourning doves, there is constant activity. With corn going up in price don't know how much longer we can feed the whole community.

The Shillings addition is coming right along. Gives us something to watch, the comings and goings, lumber delivery and the like. Ryan's golden retriever comes up and takes delight in scaring our birds. I open the window and tell him to scat and he talks back to me with a woof. But he goes. If Dell is working out in the yard he comes up to say "Hello." Our cat looks at him out the window and cannot make up her mind what to think.

We had a Super Bowl Sunday lunch at Pat and Charlie's last Sunday. We had wings, pizza, salad, cold drinks, coffee, chips and seven layer dip, brownies, the works. Good stuff. For the most part, I was disappointed in the ads and entertainment during the Super Bowl. Glad I wasn't paying millions for it.

We had lunch recently at Crosstones with Brad and Judy Barker and got caught up on the news. One of their sons, Dennis, joined us also. He had some interesting tales to tell, some of them concerning Dana Morgan, when they worked on the same job. Judy has been recovering from surgery on her foot and hope she is all O.K. now.

We went up to Bethel with Pat and Charlie to see the ice tower. It was unimpressive at that point but according to the photo in the paper has grown a lot larger now. We ate at Pat's pizza, always good. And dropped something off at Tony and Cheri's place. It made a nice outing and we saw the huge rolling pin by the factory in Locke Mills.

Matt Kimball shoveled off our roof and part of the garage roof also. So let it snow, rain or whatever. We are ready as we can be. Consulting the Farmer's Almanac, if we can make it through the first week of March we have it made.

Reading a flyer I picked up, it said 20 percent of Americans share a bed with a pet. Another 20 percent sleep on the floor while the pets have the bed to themselves. We share. What do you do? Till next time, enjoy each day. We only have a certain number allotted to us.