February continued our cold trend. "They" (whoever they are) say that this winter was the coldest on record for the state of Michigan. Last year, we had so much snow. It started and didn't stop for most of the winter. It was also very, very cold. But this year, even though we had a bit less snow, the temperatures were constantly below zero. We had lots of "snow" days from school but snow had nothing to do with it. It was just too cold. And instead of years past where we'd have a below zero day or two and then it would warm up at least for a day or two, this year it was just below zero every day for weeks on end. It was pretty rough. Especially because the rest of the country seemed to be having early spring--even in Cache Valley, which I always thought was the coldest place on earth with its canyon winds and zero winter sunshine. But even they were having winter days in the 50's and 60's and even a few in the 70's! Everyone kept posting pictures of themselves in shorts and tee shirts doing fun outdoor things like breathing without icicles forming around their mouths and opening their car doors without an ice pick. We were a bit jealous. But we made it through and took advantage of every "warm" day to play outside. "Guys, it's 15 degrees out! What are you doing in the house on such a beautiful day?"
We had a crazy adventure with a rodent trying to keep warm in our house this winter! One day Kalen asked me about the nibbles in one of the apples in our fruit basket in the kitchen. I told him I thought it was the little girl I babysit who can be sneaky with food sometimes. But there was one week where she was sick and didn't come where we noticed that nibble spots were continuing to happen. We starting paying closer attention and realized that nearly every morning, we'd find just one section of one apple in the basket chewed on. And then one day we found that a bag of popcorn in the pantry had been chewed through and there were a bunch of empty husks that were left over. Another day, the bag of rice had a little hole in it. So it was apparent that something was in our house and eating our food. Whatever it was, seemed to be very careful to make as little mess as possible. We wondered if maybe it was a mouse but we've had mice before and they left their little droppings everywhere. So far, we hadn't found anything. Then one day, we did find some droppings in the pantry. And they were most definitely not the mouse variety. They were quite a bit larger than that. So we wondered if maybe it was a squirrel or a rat. Kalen tried an experiment where he sprinkled powder all over the top of the microwave where we keep the fruit bowl so he could see if it would leave some paw prints. One morning, we found some marks where the visitor had tried to climb up behind the microwave but the powder must have made it too slippery to pull itself up because what we found were two streaks of claw marks where something had tried to climb up but had fallen back. It was pretty freaky! So when my dad was here for Taylor's farewell in January, he bought us a live animal trap to see if we could catch it. We would put an apple in it and set it every night and every morning it would be empty. But after a couple of weeks, one morning Kalen got up early to take Kendall to Seminary and he heard a commotion in the kitchen and went in to find a very angry and frantic rodent trapped in the cage! He woke me up and told me to come and look at it to see if I could tell what it was. It wasn't a squirrel but it also didn't look like a typical rat with the pointy nose and teeth and a bare tail. This actually was kind of pretty and had a furry tail--it looked like a large gerbil. Kalen and Kendall took it with them and dropped it off on their way to Seminary and I did some research online. I think what we had was a wood rat (or pack rat) since it definitely looked like the pictures I was finding. However, they are quite rare in our neck of the woods, so I wasn't positive. But I couldn't find anything else that it could be, so I really think that must have been what it was. I felt terrible that we didn't think to take it to the Nature Center. I bet they would have loved to have a look a it. Oh well. I hope it found a warm place and made it through the winter!
The kids had fun one day making a little snow family. Spencer even made them a little puppy.
We heard often from Taylor and he was doing great. He was sent to the Mt. Pleasant area a few hours north of St. George close to Manti. His companion was an elder from Alabama who was at the tail end of his mission. They wound up making things work despite some personality differences and they kept very busy teaching a few investigators and working with some inactive members. Their area covers 15 wards and 2 stakes! We are so happy that he adjusted so well and in spite of extreme fatigue is loving his experience as a missionary.
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