The Curious Phenomenon of the Snowless Northwest

Cats are smarter than dogs. You can't get eight cats to pull a sled through snow.
-Jeff Valdez

First off, I want to say if you are using Internet Explorer, please stop. This inferior browser does not display my blog properly. I would recommend switching to Mozilla Firefox (www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/) Opera (www.opera.com) or Safari (www.apple.com/safari/) I have tested each of these browsers and they work right. Do yourself a favor.

That aside, I will get to the topic of this post. Snow. I know that word produces many strong feelings, but please attempt to squash those. I want to discuss what I have entitled "The Curious Phenomenon of the Snowless Northwest."

Where I am living there is no snow.

While I know that statement produces strong feelings of jealousy, please attempt to squash them. Its not that snow doesn't exist, its just that we haven't received any yet. The weather has been perfectly balmy, in a cold, clammy sense of the word. Sure, we have received plenty of rain, (well at least I think it's rain, it does seem to have some sort of identity complex, can't decide if it wants to be frozen or liquid) but no snow whatsoever (except for that one time, but it doesn't deserve to be called snow.) You might be wondering why that is such a curious phenomenon. I will tell you:

I live in the most northwestern corner of Montana. Like 70 miles from Canada.

You see, back "home" (Iowa) they have tons of snow. Back at other "home" (Wisconsin) they have tons of snow. But here, nope. Nothing. The strangest thing about this is that I am several hundred miles more north than any of those places. It really confuses me. But, it is certainly not boring.

I have much to be thankful for,
-Matthias

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Santa Claus

I stopped believing in Santa Claus when my mother took me to see him in a department store, and he asked for my autograph.
-Shirley Temple

Well, I must say that I admire Miss Temple for her deductive reasoning. If I would have read that quote yesterday afternoon, I would have even agreed with her. But, experience outweighs any form of belief.

I met Santa Claus.

The real one. Really, I did. I have pictures to prove it. Its actually a rather interesting story. You see, his elves were being lazy so my friend (not my sister) Anna and I had to go help him wrap presents. He fed us delicious chili, and then we had a fun night wrapping.

You don't believe me.

Santa lives in a trailer here in Libby. He says that Libby is as good as the North Pole any day. I must agree. Santa doesn't have a whole lot of monetary possessions, but what he does have he spends on presents for families who have even less than him. Santa chooses several families every year and gives them lots of presents. He rides around in his sleigh, dressed in his traditional clothing. Everything about him is as real as real can be. Real beard, real glasses, real stomach, real sleigh, real hat, real suit.

He is the real Santa, and he really touched my heart.



















Oh! I have some exciting news, now you can sign up for e-mail notifications! Every time I post, you will receive a handy little e-mail in your inbox telling you! Its almost as good as Santa. Look for the sign up box to your right.

-Matthias

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