Mia, Thank you so much for the kind words. Dr. Smith had practiced medicine here in this county for 50 years. There are just no words to explain how important he was to everyone here. He was not only a fine physician, but a well-respected much-beloved leader in our community. Today I believe we will have the largest and most well-attended funeral ever held in this county as everyone comes together to celebrate the life of this remarkable person. Bon, I want to be mad, but instead I find myself trying to look at the situation that occurred as a tragic accident and I truly have compassion for the gentleman who hit him. A couple of years ago, a young girl suffered fatal injuries in an accident involving a miniature train here. It would have been understandable if her parents had shown anger and bitterness toward the gentleman who was driving that miniature train, but they didn't. They showered him with compassion, forgiveness and love instead of anger and bitterness. Their example of such grace and wisdom in the midst of such a terrible tragedy reminded me that we can choose how we react to tragedy, and they chose to react in the most incredibly loving way possible. I believe their actions set an example the rest of us here in this community will try to emulate for the rest of our lives, and even now at this time of such heart-wrenching grief, I hope we all remember that the person driving the vehicle that hit Dr. Smith surely deserves compassion and forgiveness as well. Was I angry when I thought of the senselessness of the accident? Sure, but you cannot dwell on that anger and you have to let it go. For this community to heal from this tragedy, we have to focus, I think, on how Dr. Smith lived, not how he died, and we need to celebrate everything he meant to everybody here for so many decades. It is hard when a community sees one of its true heroes pass away, but this community will get through this. People here in Love County take seriously the fact that 'love' is a part of our name, and I know this will sound silly, but it is true. Every single person I've ever met here will do anything and everything in their power to help someone else, whether it is someone they know or just a stranger passing through town. It is what makes living here so special. People here in this county do not have an "us" or "them" mentality. As a community, we have a family mentality, that everyone here is our family and we all have to love and take care of each other. It is simply the most amazing place to live. We live in and with love for everyone here every day. I think of our community, no pun intended, as love in action every day. I do feel better about y'all burning cedar knowing it is inside a cast iron stove. I assume such a stove would contain the sap and not allow it to escape. It is good to know the fire department is nearby and that they have a good, sturdy building. I know from experience that it takes years of planning and fund-raising to get a fire station like that funded and built, whether the department is a professional one or a volunteer one. It took us three years to get our fire station built, and a few more years to get the entire interior of it finished to our satisfaction. Unfortunately, until you have an official fire station building, your department cannot apply for government grants (which are hard to get anyway because so many departments need them and competition to earn one is fierce) and you surely cannot easily get a loan either. You really aren't a fire department without a station, as far as governmental grant-funding organizations are concerned. Looking back, I am amazed we ever were able to scrape up enough funding to build our station (which is huge and beautiful to us but not fancy). We owe a huge debt of gratitude to the Sam Noble Foundation, based in Ardmore, which gave us a significant grant that paid for a good-sized portion of our fire station. We wouldn't have this station that allows us to serve our community within their generosity. Tim said to tell you that the ash from cedar is sort of sticky like creosote and builds up in the stovepipe, so y'all need to keep an eye on it and clean it out as needed during the winter season! We just don't want a terrible tragedy to happen to y'all. Dawn

Here in the Selkirk Mountains near the Idaho/Washington State line, I've been doing garden clean-up while the storm was hitting the Central Rockies. The high temperature yesterday was 58 and the hardy greens are still growing fairly well. A sulfur butterfly flitted over the garden into the gentle breeze momentarily causing me some bewilderment. At first, I thought it was one of the final plum leaves blowing off the branches into the wind - a charmed moment. A lady bug clung to my pants leg as I left the garden but then wanted out, out, OUT as soon as 4 walls surrounded her. I suspected she didn't have a great deal of foresight but helped her along its way. Ah, the joys of living near the 49th parallel. Steve

Well, I've seen geese the past few days... but today I hit the triple-header (comes from being able to work with a window for a change, perhaps): snowdrops are blooming away, the grackles are here, and my first robin in a very long time made an appearance and broke into song. Unfortunately, the snow melt revealed I've got moles or voles in my front bed, home to columbine, astilbe, crocus, tulips, hyacinths, coral bells, and some jacob's ladder. ARGH!

Well another snow fall.UUUGggh. We got about three inches so far. Its still coming down farily good. How much did everyone else get this time around? Sure looks more like winter. Only good thing is its not gonna last long, to be in the 40's this week with rain in the forcast.Spring is a comin, slowly but surely:) Just one more snowfall for the kids to enjoy, and the kids at heart.