Hours of daylight – 8:47
Weather: Chilly, high overcast, very light flurries.

New Year’s eve eve.

I may be a bit off in my day count. I find it hard to believe I’m only five days away from my one-year anniversary of moving here. One year ago today we were in Oregon, having just arrived in Astoria after driving up the coast from Umpqua Lighthouse. The weather out there was rainy and mildly chilly… perfect for hanging out in bookstore/coffee shops during the day and bars at night.

We met up with our friends at the Fort Stevens campground as planned and toured the nifty little town of Astoria. As any good New Yorker knows the richest man back in the day was John Jacob Astor. Such New York landmarks as Astor Place and Astoria, Queens bear his name. The Astor Place subway station has beavers in the decorative tile work reminding us one way the Astors made so much money: the trade of beaver pelts. He financed numerous forays out West and it was some member of his family that settled, and named, the town of Astoria. Thus there was an Astoria on the East Coast and on the West Coast. Not exactly a family of modest egos, eh?

This New Year’s, however, I will not be making a last-minute beer run to Corky’s Corner Store while Annette, Seth, Katy and Marion relax in one of our rent-a-yurts. We will be heading out to Scott Burchill’s farm, snowshoes in hand, to tramp about the fields of Wisconsin and welcome the new year in the company of more animals than humans; a good thing.