In this issue T'is the Season to Be Jolly Tra La La La Tra La La Trails Strike the Harp & Join the Chorus Don We Now Our Gay Apparel TrivEa Time Sing We Joyous All Together

Thanks for reading.

Bruce

T'is the Season to Be Jolly

Winter in the Northwoods - a beautiful time of the year! As we all get caught up in the hustle & bustle of the holiday season, we here at the Center just want to take a minute to wish you and yours a blessed and safe holiday season.

We also encourage you to push back from the feast at the holiday table, don the winter woollies, and get into the outdoors. Whether to ski, snowshoe, or simply stand quietly and take in the still beauty of the woods in winter, let us all reflect upon what a gift nature has provided those of us fortunate to live here in the Northwoods.

And may we all recommit to our shared responsibility to maintain this precious gift.

However you celebrate, may you and yours find peace, meaning and beauty this holiday season.

	Tra La La La Tra La La Trails
As we prepare this newsletter, we are experiencing a couple of days of temperatures in the mid to upper 30s, followed by freezing rain. The ski trails our crew worked so hard to prepare certainly deteriorated a little, but rest assured, we'll be back out there grooming just as soon as we possibly can - as soon as the weather allows. Speaking of grooming crews - if you can spare a couple of hours a week and would like to join our grooming crew, we'd love to hear from you. No experience neccessary - orientation and training provided. Just give me (Bruce) a call and I'll fill you in with details of what a commitment to the trail grooming crew entails. We continue to update our web-page trail report very regularly - at least twice a week, and more often if conditions change. Check it out at the link below:   Click Here for Ski Trail Conditions... »

	Strike the Harp & Join the Chorus
Lots of good things happening at the Center - and some great programs for the whole family to join in! Details of all our programs can be found on our website. For your convenience, you can use the link below. There's a couple of programs we'd particularly like to mention: During the week between Christmas and New Year, there is a whole slate of exciting activities including dog sledding, fisher-tracking and new for the little ones: Holiday in the Woods. This program is designed just for 6-10 year olds and will be offered on Friday December 30, from 10 am through 2 pm. Cost is just $20 per child for a day filled with fun activities in and out of doors. Call it our gift to the grown-ups - give the adults in the family a break as we engage the kids for the day. And looking forward a little further, don't miss our trip to the Bayfield Ice Caves on Saturday February 25, 2006. This will be an all day affair with transportation and afternoon appetizers included in your registration fee. It promises to be great day of fun, food, fellowship and learnin' - who could ask for anything more?! Finally, don't forget our new lecture series "Nibbles 'n' Knowledge" (N'n'K), held in the main lodge at Camp Jorn on the third Thursday of each month. We start at 5 pm with drinks and hors d'oeuvres then start the lecture at 6pm. Its a little more casual than your usual lecture - but then, that's what we're all about here at The Center. Making learning fun, regardless of the age of our audience. Our thanks to all our Nibbles 'n' Knowledge sponsors, and particularly Headwaters Real Estate of Presque Isle, for underwriting the entire cost of last month's program by DNR educator Christian Cold. An entertaining and thought provoking speaker, who typifies our N'n'K presenters. Click on the link below for more details... Please Take Me to the Program Schedule »

	Don We Now Our Gay Apparel
At least, that's what usually happens when you go to a party! And this year the Center plans to throw a party. July 2006 will represent 10 years since we opened our doors - and surely that is a good reason to dress up and celebrate. Planning for the event is in its very early stages, but we invite those of you who like to throw a good party to join our Birthday Celebration Committee. Among the ideas proposed are: a reunion of YCC Alumni; some sort of official recognition of our first Board of Directors, volunteers and staff; a Krazy Kayak race; a concert; or a birthday party for our furrry, feathered, and finned friends. If this sounds like the sort of activity in which you'd like to be involved, call the Center at 715.543.2085 or drop an email to Marilyn Gabert - the first person (yay, Marilyn) to offer to help put the event together.   Marilyn, I'd Like to Help Plan the Birthday Party »

	TrivEa Time
Last month's TrivEa question: In most camp environments pulling kitchen duty was not considered a choice job. Here at the Statehouse Lake YCC camp though, campers actually sought out KP duty. Why? Answer: We've been told by a number of YCC Alumni that they liked the "perks" that went along with Kitchen duty - one in particular. It seems that for most of the YCC campers, their daily cleanng ritual consisted of jumping into Statehouse Lake, and maybe sitting briefly in the sauna. Access to hot showers was apparently restricted to staff, cabin supervisors and the favored few. AND, to those on KP duty. After weeks of sweating in the sauna and rinsing off in the cool waters of Statehouse Lake, I guess peeling potatoes for hours on end was a small price to pay for the luxury of a hot shower! Since this is an express pre-holiday season version of the E newsletter, we did not prepare a trivEa question this issue. So feel free to put your thinking caps away for a few weeks and enjoy the holidays without the stress of testing your noggin! We'll be back in January with another brain-teaser - be ready!

	Sing We Joyous All Together
As members and friends of the Discovery Center, we all share a love of our natural environment and the many recreational activities in which we are able to engage by virtue of living here in this paradise called the Northwoods. Yet with constant news reports about environmental degradation the world over - pressure to commence oil drilling in National parks in response to dwindling world oil reserves, wholesale deforestation of tropical rainforests, oil spills in the ocean, loss of species diversity, and the projected impact of global climate change, it woud be very easy to become despondent about the future of our planet. But one of the many positive aspects of life here at the Discovery Center is our collective commitment to empowerment and to shared responsibility. We know there is much we can do to ensure the future of this remarkable place for our descendants. I was struck by the closing remarks of Chris Cold at our last "Nibbles" program. He concluded his presentation on threatened wildlife by saying: "we can howl into the darkness I guess, or we can light a candle". I'd like to think that here at The Center, we've not only lit a candle, but by pitching in together, we are keeping that candle burning. Your passion for the Center as a volunteer, or donor, or presenter or program participant helps keep that candle burning. May that knowledge warm you and illuminate your days this holiday season.

Discover More - use these links to find lots more information

Nature Notes Bird Club Job Opportunities

Trail Conditions Volunteer Page Program Guide