Welcome to the Year of the Dog, which up here means the Year of the Sled-Dog (or the Danish Super-Police-Dog). It's hard to believe that I've just passed the half-way point of my first year in the Arctic, and am now entering the "home stretch." The days are starting to get a little longer each day, the sun will soon be making its first tentative appearance from below the horizon, and everything bodes well for another 5 months of exciting & bizarre adventures, complete with photo accompaniment, of course. My wish for the new year? A decent photo of a real, live musk-ox, or wolf, or polar bear. But as the old saying goes, be careful what you wish for...