FROM RAY AND EVELYN RICHER AT THE LOON'S COVE ON SANDY BEACH ROAD:

Ray ran into Ted Chase in town today and he mentioned that he had seen two otters by his camp… first time in a very long time (down his way) according to him. Ray and I see them often up here and forget that sometimes others miss seeing them… this year we had four visiting the shoreline off and on… just as the ice was first crusting over in the cove; we figured it’s a family. These are a couple of the shots of one of the guys… one shows him making himself at home on the loons nest… the other had just downed a fish…

We here at Joe’s are so fortunate to have these lovely playful guys visiting us from time to time… they are so much fun to watch!!

Well, aside from having a grouse on our front porch yesterday morning we have had the usual sightings…. Lots of birds at the feeders, and many deer in the back yard bedding down at the edge of the woods, and an occasional mink hopping across the front yard (we think he lives in the waterscape) and of course lots of rabbits… Haven’t seen the fox yet but he’s around and it’s a bit early for the bobcat sightings (over here anyway)… A couple of weeks back, we had a deer on the ice that a pack of coyotes chased down until she broke her leg running and they unfortunately had a mighty fine feast…

That’s it from here… Merry Christmas to all!!! It sure looks like mid winter here, and we aren’t even officially into winter yet!! But it’s so beautiful!!! And there is MUCH more coming, I’m told!!

Here’s our puppy family now… our Dalmatian, Abbey, died last week at 13 years old, so we have these little “angels” to keep us goin’!! And they do!!! They love the snow… we got them some harnesses and Ray is going to build a sled for them to pull… (They love to run and we know they are capable of pulling up to 50# each… (We need more dogs to pull us around though!!) But they could always pull a camera!! HO HO HO!!! We thought Santa might use them someday… (ya think????)

Stay out of the snow-banks!!! Stay warm!!
Blessings, Evelyn and Ray

We are truly sorry to hear about Abbey - she was a very sweet dog. We know what it's like to lose a faithful and dear pet, but I'm sure having the "little guys" around helps take the sting out of missing Abbey a little, at least. They are cute as can be - I'm sure they'll do their very best to make your holidays bright!