"Every day is a journey, and the journey itself is home."

(quote by Matsuo Basho)

We're home! We slept in our own cuddly little beds last night. We had the best cabin Christmas. Click on any photo below to go to the photo stream and see many, many more.

Tuesday 23 December: We drove through a couple of snow storms on the way up, but even so it wasn't bad driving. There was snow on the roads, but our 4WD totally handled it. Sometimes we had to drive slowly, sometimes we could almost travel 65MPH, and we made it from Salt Lake City (where most of my family lives) to the cabin in one long day. We unloaded the car and trailer and then crash-landed into beds, exhausted.

Wednesday 24 December: Woke up to a few inches of new snow. We did our minimal Christmas decorating—put up the small tree, a few ornaments, and the one string of lights, put the presents under the tree. And then the kids went out into the wonderland of snow, which they did every day. We decorated a gingerbread house, which we ate that evening (Christmas Eve!) while we watched a Christmas movie.





So many presents...

...we even had to stuff them around the back of the tree :)



(this one is after all the kids were in bed and all the presents were out)

Thursday 25 December: Woke up to a few inches of new snow, and it snowed all day. Christmas morning was wonderful, everyone was thrilled with their presents, which is always a relief for the parents. They played happily for an hour or two, and then bundled up and went out into the snow again.












Friday 26 December: More new snow that continued all day, more playing with toys, more enjoying the cabin.









Saturday 27 December: We'd gotten at least six more inches of snow, so we all went out for a last romp. Then it was indoors to pack, clean up, and make Christmas cookies. :)







Sunday 28 December: The first morning we didn't wake to a layer of new snow, which was great since we'd plowed out the evening before in preparation for getting the car and trailer back out of the driveway. We left early and started the journey home. Near the cabin it was snowing lightly, but within an hour and a half as we approached Coeur D'Alene, where Blaine's grandparents live, it was slushy rainy snow. The further south we went, the warmer it got and the rainier it was. If someone were telling me this as a story, I'd think, that makes for easier traveling. But it didn't. It was slushy and way more slippery than just the snow was, and we went slower. By afternoon it was clear we wouldn't make it home. So we decided to stay in a motel. This is a pretty rare thing for the kiddles, and they were excited. We got a "suite" (which is two queens and a pull-out bed in the sofa *eyeroll*) and watched a DVD before sleeping hard. This was the one and only time during the trip we had internet access, and Emma was so excited to check her final grades for the semester. She got all A+ again, all seven classes and both extra-curriculars. SO PROUD OF HER.




Monday 29 December: Breakfast, driving, picking up everything from Salt Lake we'd accidentally left on our way through, visiting family, and then, home. We had to shovel out our walks and driveway before we could even pull in and unload. It was a lot of happy, weary Ls that finally flopped into bed yesterday evening. :)

So glad we went, despite all the work it was to pack everything up there and back, and the long, long drives.

Have yourself a merry little Christmas!

The L family has crazily chosen to pack up the tree and everything else and drive 850 miles to have a cabin Christmas in northern Idaho. I hope you have a very happy holiday!





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Now playing: Mannheim Steamroller - It Came Upon the Midnight Clear
via FoxyTunes

Newly discovered Christmas song of the year

Jesu, Son Most Sweet and Dear

Blaine was in a special, by-invitation choir for a Christmas performance last Sunday. They practiced for about six weeks beforehand, and I went to listen to the final practice. I blubbered like a baby during this song. The soloist—a good friend of mine, fellow homeschooler—her voice is so much prettier than this soloist's, and so well suited to the song.  It was such unalloyed beauty I couldn't stop weeping. When I heard it again at the program I cried again, a little less uncontrollably that time. And now that I've just purchased the song from iTunes I suppose the time for crying is past, and the time for enjoying has arrived. I like the harp in this recording even better than the piano accompaniment Blaine's choir had.

It's lovely. Give it a 30-second listen, if you're so inclined.

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Now playing: Soli Deo Gloria Cantorum, Almeda Berkey, Director - Jesu, Son Most Sweet and Dear
via FoxyTunes

That's my boy.

Macklin's snuggling on my lap because he jumped off the kitchen counter (snitching chocolate, a different story altogether) and it was so high/so far it hurt his feet when he landed. So he's on my lap, the tears still not dry on his cheeks. I just gathered everyone to work on math, and Libby's in the school room playing with three little horses she got as a Christmas present from someone. Macklin takes time out of his busy sniffling/snuggling schedule to say, "Yibby, it's maf time, not horsey time!"

That's right, son. You tell her. *eyeroll*

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Now playing: Mannheim Steamroller - Coventry Carol
via FoxyTunes

All I had to do was ask an entomologist

Have you ever wondered what the point of mosquitoes is? I have—more times than I've been bitten.

Now I know. Copied and pasted from a comment in "Ask Marilyn":

Timothy Schowalter at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, writes:

Marilyn: I believe that your answer to the question about eradicating mosquitoes needs some elaboration. (November 9, 2008) Mosquitoes, like many insects, have a bad reputation because they often conflict with human goals, but their role in natural ecosystems is more complicated than most people appreciate. Not all mosquito species feed on blood, and relatively few species feed on people. Many are specialized for feeding on reptiles, birds, or other animals and do not seek humans. Non-human-feeding mosquitoes are important regulators of their host populations. Of course, human-feeding mosquitoes may be important in the regulation of human populations, but that is a source of conflict.

A few mosquito species feed on multiple vertebrate groups. It is these species that vector West Nile Virus and other diseases among groups. Some mosquito species are specialized predators of other mosquitoes and do not feed on blood at all. Although you are correct that there are relatively few predators that specialize on mosquitoes (other than the predaceous mosquito species), they are an extremely important component in the diet of small fish, birds, bats, and other vertebrates, as well as other invertebrates that, themselves, are important food resources for many animals.

Eradicating mosquitoes would severely reduce the food available to the next nutritional levels in natural food webs and ultimately would reduce many vertebrate populations, including commercial freshwater fisheries. Mosquito larvae are ecologically-important bacterial feeders in aquatic food webs. Reducing their numbers could lead to greater stagnation of aquatic habitats. You are correct that other insect species might increase in numbers and might even fulfill some of the mosquito's ecological functions if mosquitoes were eliminated. However, not all potential replacements are able to live in the nutrient-poor habitats occupied by mosquitoes (such as tree holes, pitcher plants, bromeliads, and stagnant ponds), and many do not feed on bacteria, increased abundance of which could cause other problems in the absence of mosquito grazing.

Furthermore, most of the species that could potentially replace mosquitoes are other types of midges, and many are nuisances themselves, such as the black flies and no-see-ums. We cannot foresee all the consequences of species disappearance, but given the known ecological importance of mosquitoes, their disappearance probably would not be as benign as you suggest.

As for interactions with humans, many mosquito problems are the result of human activity. Humans have transported several species, such as the yellow fever mosquito and malaria mosquito from Africa and the Asian tiger mosquito, to new habitats where they are freed from their natural predators. Specialized predators in the new habitat often are not adapted to recognize invasive species as prey, so it may take some time before natural controls become effective.

Many mosquito species breed prolifically in rain-filled pots, old tires, and other debris. Because most adult mosquitoes do not fly far from aquatic habitats, we could reduce mosquito populations greatly in the vicinity of humans simply by eliminating these human-associated habitats. In other words, sanitation alone would prevent much human-mosquito interaction and would be less expensive, more effective, and more ecologically-responsible than attempted eradication. Sanitation would permit more restricted use of pesticides in targeted habitats.

Incidentally, one of the best contemporary methods for reducing mosquito populations is adding to stagnant ponds and lakes a specialized form of Bacillus thuringiensis that targets mosquitoes, with little, if any, effect on resident aquatic organisms. One of our pest management challenges is the rate at which mosquito (and other insect) populations are becoming genetically resistant to insecticides as a result of frequent exposure. The growing popularity of automatic misting systems that maintain relatively constant exposure to the insecticidal mist in gardens, patios, etc. is likely to increase the development of insecticide resistance, making control even more difficult.

Marilyn responds:

Thank you. Readers, Dr. Schowalter is a professor and head of the Department of Entomology at the Louisiana State University Agricultural Center.

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Now playing: U2 - The Fly
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