Without a doubt, 'tis the season to keep the fire going at hearth and home!  As I backed out of our garage on Lilac Lane this Tuesday morning of January 6th, 2004, my car's thermometer registered 22 degrees.  Not too bad for spending the night in a finished, attached, insulated garage on the tundra. 
But in the two mile-drive from my door to Main Street Victoria, where I retrieve my mail on a daily basis, I watched my car's thermometer step backward with each blink of the eye until it reported a negative 5 degrees!  I've never before taken note of such a drastic or fast temperature change.  For those of you who reside in Celsius or Centigrade or Rio Linda Country, I'm speaking in Fahrenheit.
And, no matter what language you speak, it is now very cold in Victoria, Minnesota.  As we say to each other after church every Saturday night or Sunday morning, "Cold enough for ya?"
Yes, indeed, it is a well known fact that babies and puppies should not be playing outside in this kind of weather.  Tender skin and lungs become frostbitten, but if you're a minnow, then it's a different story, of course.  If you're a minnow you can play outdoors as long as you stay under the ice.  Gills are accustomed to all of that cold blooded stuff, as you well know from Fish Biology 101.
Seems there've been a lot of minnows playing under the ice lately, and I am so fortunate to be a recipient of the fruit of these frolicking holicking occasions.  Just last week Melanie Menth (of Victoria House fame) gave us a bag of fresh frozen sunnies.  Delicious, Mel!  Thank you, dear granddaughter of Ray and Frannie Schmieg, husband of Chad, and mother to Mitchell, Benjamin, and Jacob.  You are the cat's meow!
And then Kathy Kraemer (due also to the generosity and of husband and sons) gave us a bag of fresh frozen sunnies.  Wow!  There's nothing better under the sun.  Absolutely scrumptious.  Thank you, Kathy and Kramer Kids, for feeding the hungry.  You're the best.
And the best fishhook finder this month is Theresa Kerber of Chanhassen, not because she's the only one who found the fishhook hidden in the last issue of the Gazette (in the Jan Olinger ad on page 34 of the December, 2003, edition), but because she's the only one who had her name pulled from the minnow bucket.  Congratulations, Theresa!  Your $10 will be on its way in a few days, as soon as I defrost.
Meanwhile, you're all welcome to entertain yourselves by searching for the fishhook hidden in this January, 2004, edition of the Gazette.  Hiding that fishhook every month is about the easiest thing I do.
And it's easy for you to enter this contest.  Simply drop a line to Box 387 in Victoria, MN 55386 telling of the location of the fishhook and sinker in the mail.  Then bite your lip for a while but not for too long or you could draw blood, and nobody wants to draw blood on a cold night in the tundra.  And remember, no matter the time of day, it always pays to keep your spirits above room temperature.