Snowshoe Hare Ethical Dilemma; Holiday Shopping: A Giveaway!

Greetings, Friends!

It's cold here! So cold, even salt water is freezing - check this out:

Beach at low tide... Obviously, the freezing point of salt water is lower, and once it freezes, it isn't hard and brittle like straight water, but rather slushy, with a less integral crystalline structure. Good to remember when you're making ice cream next!

Aside from a very cold hour or so outside, that I'll tell a bit more about in a moment, I've been inside and online much of the day so far, working and also getting some holiday shopping done. And in the spirit of giving, I've decided to do a giveaway today! CSN stores sent me a one-time gift-certificate for $35 and rather than use it myself, I'm going to share it with a reader! I hope that it'll help someone with their holiday shopping. Remember, treating yourself is a very legitimate part of that! Continuing the 'leapfrog' structure of this post, I'll explain how to enter the giveaway in another moment!

I spent an hour or so today out in the very very very cold, helping Phil rig up some protection from the ravages of the exploded snowshoe hare population for our trees. They breed so fast (like, well, rabbits!) and from time to time the population explodes. Pretty soon, if things go like usual, it'll crash again because the lynx population will explode and eat them all. But in the meantime, we have many trees here, not to mention a raspberry patch, that have been lovingly planted and tended: and trees take a very long time to mature here in the far north -- and the snowshoe hares are eating them right down to the ground, or, if they're not big enough for that, eating all the bark off of them! They even ate the above-ground remnants of our mint patch (it should come back from the roots, as should the raspberries): no animal eats mint!! An ethical dilemma for sure, and protecting our trees is one of the best strategies.

OK - to enter the giveaway (US and Canada only, I'm afraid):

1) Visit CSN stores, come back here and leave a comment saying what you'd love to purchase from them.

2) Tweet about this giveaway, including a link to this post, and come back and leave a comment saying you did so.

3) Become a follower of my blog, and leave a comment saying you've done so (or that you are already).

4) Mention the giveaway on your own blog, and comment here that you did.

Winner will be chosen by selecting a random number and matching it to the winning post. (Winning post, haha!)
I'm going to run this through next Tuesday, December 14th, in the hopes that the winner will then have time to get their purchase selected and shipped to them in time for the holidays.

Good luck and much love!