According to the Chinese lunar calendar, we have entered "the year of the monkey." Any excuse for a party, I say, and Miss Jerrianne says if my tail was prehensile, I'd make a fine monkey. I love monkey business! Hurray for monkeyshines! Bring on the catnip and let the good times roll! And for anybody who hasn't quite gotten her New Year's resolutions about getting more exercise up to speed yet, this is your second chance, ladies ... so let's roll!

Here in Alaska, winter seems to have settled in. First we got snow ... lots of it ... twice as much as usual for this time of year. A nice young man came over and shoveled it off our roof. It sounded like Santa Claws and his reindeer were having a party up there. Then great avalanches of snow cascaded off the roof right past the windows. And all those pretty icicles from the heat tape up there shattered and fell into the back yard.

We watched the thermometer drop to 22 degrees below zero and we don't even want to know how much further it fell when we weren't watching it. Then, after a few days of bone chilling cold, it zoomed right back up again, in time for the annual January thaw. What a difference 50 degrees makes! Why, before I knew it, I was back in my pouch and we were driving around town for appointments and errands just like before.

We read in the paper that the sun rose in Barrow, Alaska, for the first time in 66 days. Can you imagine two months with no sunshine at all? I'd be plenty cranky! I can't say that I've minded spending winter time indoors. Miss Jerrianne spends extra time in the kitchen and I jump up on the kitchen stool to watch her. I love the smells of comfort food cooking on the stove and cookies baking in the oven. I'd be happy to help out with the sniffing and taste testing ... but I've had to settle for kitty crunchies.

Sometimes I get an unexpected bonus ... like the frozen pizza box. I don't know how Miss Jerrianne happened to buy a frozen pizza, but she did ... and I got the box! The box has a slice cut out, so she could see what kind of pizza was inside, and that box is full of mysteries. She drops toys and treats inside. I fish them out. My little red bouncy ball looks like a cherry tomato. In it goes. I blast it out and chase it under the stove.

My toys are always disappearing ... most of the bouncy balls have vanished and my favorite mouse has been lost for days. Sometimes I hide my toys and wait to see how long it will take Miss Jerrianne to find them. I like to surprise her, hiding things in places she thinks I couldn't go. Sometimes I hide things so well that I can't find them, either. Miss Jerrianne says it's time we went on a still hunt to find all the missing toys ... so if you don't hear from us for a day or so, we are still hunting!