A bobcat, a new puppy, and a happy new year to you!

I don't know what to be more excited about, so I don't know which order to tell this in. Maybe the most dramatic one first.
Last week, a bobcat killed six of the chickens we share with our neighbors. The bobcat stayed in the coop, hissing and spitting at us as we watched it through a window covered with chicken wire. We kept watching, the bobcat didn't run away, and after a while it started munching and crunching on one of the chicken carcasses. We kept observing it while it dined on its chicken dinner special, growling at us and staring us down every now and then. I didn't know if we should be scared because this wild animal was not scared of us. Did it have rabies or was it just really hungry?

Although I'm mad at the creature for killing our chickens, I am grateful to have crossed paths with such a beautiful creature.  We are also a tiny little bit relieved, because our old-ish chickens had slowed down in the egg laying department, and we kept buying expensive, organic grain for them in exchange for one measly egg a day.  And then we had to buy expensive organic eggs from the store on top of that.  We had been wondering about what to do with these chickens.

Well, the bobcat took care of it.  The lone surviving chicken was captured by friends, and it will hopefully live out its days in their pasture, without being eaten by ravens or eagles or raccoons.

The other exciting news (this one the bubbling-over-with-joy kind) is that we will get a puppy in February.  We met the litter of a Chesapeake-Labrador dog and fell in love with them all, and since we can't have them all decided to adopt one of her daughters.  The puppies are only three weeks old, so we have to wait til the middle of February to take her home.  I think this will give us enough time to get used to the high-impact, high-energy idea of a puppy.  If this one turns out as well as my beloved dead dog Pluto, we are in for heaven.  If not, then... well, there will be a lot of chewed shoes, I imagine.

More excitement this week: snow.  Lots of it.  While our family and friends in the midwest and the East coast are basking in spring-like weather, we are sledding, building snow forts, drying heaps of wet clothes in front of the wood stove, piling lots of wood into said stove, drinking tons of hot chocolate, and sweating in saunas and rolling in the snow afterwards.

With all this snowy weather, Steve is making progress improving our home.  He added on a second bathroom (a good thing with five people in the house), and best of all, a loft for me.  For ME!  No kids allowed!  Since it's high up, it has an amazing view.  I love it and start my day there most mornings, to meditate, count my blessings, and set intentions...  Can you see why I love it so much?

Also, our friend painted Eva's bedroom.  Pink.  Yup, it's officially a girl's room now.

Saunas:  Steve wanted to build a cordwood sauna for a long time, but then kept having children and other projects to finish.  Our neighbors' son got interested in the sauna idea and borrowed some books from Steve.  And this is what happened: Steve gave him the posts, cordwood and woodstove he had squirreled away over the years, and our neighbors' son built the sauna.  It is gorgeous.  We get to use it whenever we want.

Our little family of five took a sauna on Christmas Eve, and we sat and sweated, pounded on drums, and sang Christmas carols in the sauna.  I got choked up when I looked at their beet red, glistening faces, listening to their voices, feeling my heart might burst - not from the heat, but from love.  I feel so lucky to have these beings in my life.

I will leave you with images from the ocean on the boys-only-fishing-trip to the Olympic Peninsula a couple of weeks ago.

Have a happy new year!!!