I live and write on Lingít Aaní, and gratefully acknowledge the past, present and future caretakers of this beautiful place, the Jilkaat Kwaan and Jilkoot Kwaan.

Listening to the forecast is humbling. It’s supposed to stay this windy (50 mph or so) and pretty cold (warmer, like 18) until Friday. They are playing hockey at the rink and the ice is good on Rutzebeck Lake. (But be careful, as always.) The ski club has set tracks at 25 mile, where there’s lots of snow. ( The dividing line between ice coated town and a winter wonderland of snow is about four-mile.) The sun and the fire are keeping the living room cozy.

My tree is always up until Epiphany (tomorrow) January 6th and the 12th day of Christmas. But this year I’m a little off, and since it is doing so well,  it will stay here through Wednesday when we are having a Haines family Christmas dinner. Our holidays sort of float, but it works.

Speaking of fudging whole seasons, there is a hummingbird in Haines that has never left. Lisa and Mike are feeding her like crazy– or Lisa said maybe him as it could be a sub-adult male-  in this cold spell to keep it alive. One feeder of hummingbird juice is inside thawing while the other one is hanging outside freezing, and they switch them every hour. I saw Lisa at the grocery store and told her I hope it lives. This is not her first January, so she knows better than to bet on it one way or the other. “We can only do so much, and then let nature takes its course,” she said.