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As I sit writing this, remembering last week when we ran a photo of a man waterskiing on North Lindstrom Lake, the radio keeps cutting into our 80’s music with a “special weather announcement.” My stomach just dropped.  It is officially beginning, the winter weather scare tactics. Monday afternoon, we are being warned of a winter storm named... wait for it.. Goliath.  Yes, they named a winter storm.  We have come to a point in our world where we are naming a simple winter snow storm. Not only are we naming them, we are dedicating round the clock coverage on the weather channels.

Basically if you have not made it to the stores to stock up on necessities before Monday night, you might not make it.  Fortunately, at my house we are fully stocked, we have one bag of ramen noodles, one packet of oatmeal (instant so it won’t help when the power is out), some Wheat Thins from 7 months ago.  If you see smoke coming from south Chisago City, it is just our family burning the dining room table to stay warm.  Thank goodness for the weather reports, without them I wouldn’t know to cut our table and chairs up for kindling.

So I woke up Tuesday morning, guess how much snow Goliath left us? Maybe two inches.  Five days of hype, five days of striking fear into our hearts, five days of stocking our shelves and buying six snowblowers, and we get two inches.  Look for a garage sale soon in south Chisago City.

Remember folks to be safe this New Year’s Eve.  Please have a plan for a ride home if you are going to drink.  Also, there are still great places that  have openings for New Year’s Eve festivities in our area.  We have some amazing restaurants and bars that would love to see you on New Year’s Eve.

As the New Year approaches and a fresh year begins, I wanted to take a minute to reflect on a few things.

First off you the readers. Words can’t begin to express how very thankful we are to have you.  You are the most intelligent, honest, caring readers any newspaper could hope to have. On top of that, you are smart enough to question things when they just don’t seem right and let us know if somethng needs to be looked into more deeply. You always answer the bell when asked for charity, assistance with your neighbors, or any community needs.  For that, I say thank you. I also would add that I am so very proud and humbled to be part of this amazing community.  

I also waned to talk a bit about our advertisers.  We have the best business owners in the world.  We have formed a wonderful relationship with them over the years. We absolutely could not exist with out your loyal business.  We have changed our business plan over the years to how can we help your business?  What can we do to ensure your business will be here tomorrow and next year.  We have thrown away the notion of chasing the dollars, and embraced the mindset that if we help your business succeed and stay open, then we in turn will succeed and stay open.

So to the wonderful businesses that advertise in our paper, I say thank you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. We will continue to serve you to our utmost best.

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