In Passing...

Last fall I wrote about visiting my cousin Rosemary and her family (Family reunion...9/26/15). When I was a kid, she lived with her husband Chuck just down the street from us until they built a house out in the NW suburbs. They spent a lot of time at our house and being older,  well they were more like an aunt and uncle to me than cousins.

Anyway, what I wanted to mention was Rosemary's visit to Alaska. In the early 90's, she apparently was on a tour of Alaska with her sister-in-law. We got a call from her one day, saying they were in Fairbanks. So we drove into town and picked them up. Now back then, we had an old Ford Bronco. It was great in the winter, four wheel drive and all, but because I'd installed heavy duty rear springs, well it rode kind of hard. In fact, we'd nick named it the bucking Bronco.

So we're driving them out to our place on the Chena Hot Springs Rd. Back then it was a narrow two lane road with lots of frost heaves, kind of like a mogul ski course. I remember looking back in the rear view mirror and seeing their heads bobbing up and down like a couple of bobble heads as we road over the rough spots. I imagined them both getting whiplash and seas sickness simultaneously. But when we got to the house, she never said a word about the rough ride and we had a great visit.

Now one thing to keep in mind is that Rosemary was adopted by my uncle. So even for a cousin, we weren't really related, except by her feelings, the warmth she always had for my family. The nicest thing she ever said to me was that I was real family to her, and that was special, for both of us.

Rosemary passed on last week after a short illness. She was 85. And we never did take that family reunion photo.

NWS March Weather Summary...

"The remarkably warm and dry weather pattern continued into mid March when a short cold spell dropped temperatures to 20 below on the 18th, which was the coldest temperature recorded in the month A warmer, wetter pattern took hold during the last week of the month, when a storm on the 29th and 30th set a record for the most rain in twenty four hours in March, 0.30 inches.

The average temperature was 19.8 degrees which was 8.4 degrees above the normal average temperature of 11.4 degrees. This ranks as the 9th warmest of 111 years of record. The highest temperature was 51 degrees on the 25th which set a new record; the previous record for the day was 50 degrees set in 1999. The coldest temperature for the season remains 29 below which occurred on Christmas morning. This makes 2015-2016 the only winter except for 1976-1977 where the temperature at Fairbanks failed to drop to 30 below or colder, in 111 years of record.

Looking forward to April, the average daily high temperature increases from 35 degrees on the 1st to 54 degrees on the 30th. The average low temperature increases from 8 degrees on the 1st to 31 degrees on the 30th. The warmest temperature recorded at the Fairbanks airport in April was 76 degrees in 2009 and the lowest temperature recorded in April was 32 below in 1911 and 1944. The average snowfall for April is 2.9 inches.

Possible sunshine increases by nearly 7 minutes per day with daylight increasing from 13 hours and 41 minutes on the 1st to 17 hours and 1 minute on the 30th. The forecast for the month of April from the climate prediction center calls for above normal temperatures and near normal precipitation."

The snow was disappearing fast by the end of March.

But then we got a dump of snow in early April. It's melting now, so hopefully it'll soon be gone.

Winter logging...

Mentioned earlier (Back on Track...1/24/16) that winter logging was going on in the valley where our trails run. In the past, they bulldozed out whatever trails they needed to access the logging area and we had to use different trails. So some of us dog drivers got together and formed a group (with the catchy title of Little Chena Dog Drivers and Trail Users Association) and had a series of meetings with the State of Alaska, Division of Forestry, who held the timber sales. The upshot of it all was an agreement that they would put in separate logging roads so that the recreational trails would still be available for others. By and large it has worked OK, though sometimes they block cross trails with their berms and push debris onto adjacent trails. This year, with all the warm weather and lack of snow, the logging road crossings got real icy, so it's not uncommon for the sled to go sideways at the crossing. It's great fun.

Crossing one of the logging roads.

Now, with the latest warm spell, the dog running is mostly over, so it's the time of year to haul in wood (Iron Dog...4/19/09). It's been a race to haul as many loads of logs up the trail and over the hill before the snow's gone.

Hauling in logs, to be bucked up and split for firewood, is a spring ritual. Most of the trees that were  hauled in had already fallen on or next to the trail, so it's kind of recycling, in a way, they get used for more that just growing mushrooms.

Out to the Whites...

Went out to the White Mtns. to run dogs with my friend Bill. We did the same trip Andy and I had done back in 2012 (Last dog run...). It was a bit of a slog going in, as the trails were drifted over in places due to recent snow and high winds. There was a lot of running and pushing to get the sled up the steep pitches, but we eventually made it to the cabin. The next few days were beautiful, sunny and not too windy, so like it always is in the Whites, good weather makes for good times. The trip out was easy. The BLM trail crew had groomed the trail while we were in there, so we almost flew down those steep sections of trail that we had struggled to climb earlier. Too much fun.

Bill's team climbing up the ridge-top trail.

Following Bill back to the cabin.

We had beautiful sunsets,

and a full moon every night.

Spuds and Barney at age eleven; still running up front after all these years.

Back to winter...

After one of the warmest winters on record (Warm enough? 3/6/16), it's finally returned to typical winter weather:
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FAIRBANKS AK 3/19/16
 ID           STATION                HI   LO                                              
PAFA  : Fairbanks Airport    17 / -20
PAEI  :  Eielson AFB             16 / -18
PANN  : Nenana                    16 / -20
PATA  :  Tanana                     16 / -21
But for running the dogs, it doesn't get any better than this. Gave the older ones (Barney and Spuds) a day off, so just took the five youngest. Pretty interesting run, since none of the younger leaders know their commands yet. But we made it around the trail and got home just fine. Like most of the time out on the trail, it's just too much fun.

Ides of March again...

The Ides of March are here again. As I've noted before (Ides... 3/15/13), the Ides were a time of celebration for the Roman new years, which culminated in mid March. So here's one of my first posts (maybe the one I've most liked), which just happened to have been posted on the Ides of March. So just party on.
Almost Spring...
It was minus 15° F this morning and with the wind blowing, it certainly feels a lot colder. A good day to run dogs. Most of my dogs are large and fuzzy, not the sleek houndy/pointer crosses that you see wearing coats and booties at the race track. I wouldn't say my team is slow, but I round my run times to the nearest hour.  This is also good weather for the musher with a hangover; I call it a medicinal dog run. Not that I get hangovers much, well maybe a few, but the cold air really does clear the head.
(Originally posted 3/16/09)

Headin' up the trail through the ubiquitous black spruce.

Warm enough?

The remarkably warm and dry weather pattern for Fairbanks continues. February 2016, much like January and December 2015 was warmer than normal and exceptionally dry.  Alaska's warm winter is predicted to last until breakup.
Much of the state was also unusually dry, according to the NWS. Denali National Park headquarters and McGrath saw their second driest midwinter seasons on record. Fairbanks had, by far, the lowest precipitation (and snowfall) of any December through February in more than a century of climate observations, It snowed 2 1/2 inches in the three months and rained 0.13 inches. (Taken from: http://www.adn.com/article/20160301/mid-winter-months-break-temperature-records-across-alaska).
The dog trails are getting icy, not so bad that you can't run them, but it's a lot more interesting when you go out. Going side-ways on the turns puts new perspective on the question "how'd it go today?"

Here's a shot of the dogs taking a rest from the heat. The breaks are a lot longer now so they have time to cool down.

Leap year...

Leap year occurs when an additional day is added to keep the calendar year synchronized with the astronomical or seasonal year. The goal of most calendars has been in keeping the vernal equinox on or close as possible to March 21.The term "leap year" likely originated because a fixed date in the Gregorian calendar normally advances one day of the week from one year to the next. But following the insertion of the leap day on February 29, the calendar advances two days due to the extra day. (Largely taken from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leap_year).
It goes on, but you get the point. From my perspective, there should be something different here. The "extra" day really doesn't matter because it's just like having March first twice. Who cares about that? Maybe an extra day to run dogs, so OK, that's fine. But how about if they put it in Dec. 31? There'd still be the correct adjustment for the seasons, since the leap day occurs between the solstice and the vernal equinox, but then every four years you'd have a two day new years eve party. How great is that? Am I the only one who thinks of these things? Come on, now's the time to start organizing, "the new calendar party". Makes a lot more sense to me than the so called "tea party".
So for a lack of anything else, here's some more dog photos:

Headin' for home through the black spruce.

Nothin' better than all six pullin' their weight up the hill.

Retired...a tale of woe and intrigue

We bought the tractor early in the winter of 92/93 when it looked like we were going to have another record breaking season like 90/91. We had 148" of snowfall that winter (that's over 12 ft or almost 4 meters to the French) and no way to plow it. The JD dealer didn't have any compact/utility tractors in Fairbanks, but they did have a used one, a model 870 in Soldotna, down on the Kenai Peninsula. So sight unseen, we ordered it up. Since then, we have used it for so many things besides plowing snow, it's hard to believe you could survive here without one (Grrrate 6/19/11).
The other day I noticed that a large crack in the sidewall of one front tire was starting to bulge out. Now it's had lots of cracks for sometime, even had a flat that had to be fixed a while back, so I thought no problem, we'll just bring it to a tire shop and they'll patch 'er right up, be just like new. But when I brought it in, they took one look and said nope, can't fix that, needs a new tire. So a couple of hundred bucks later I was the proud owner of a brand new 7X14 R1 tractor tire.
But then I got home and compared it to the other front tire, they're not quite the same, width and height wise. Now that's no big deal with a regular tractor, but this one's special; multi-speed tranny, triple range axle, four wheel drive model, so the tires have to exactly match up. So I call them back and they say that was the only one in stock, but they'll call when they get more in. So a few weeks go by, no call. I finally call them and sure enough, they lost my number but had the tires. When I go out to take off the other old tire, the new ones completely flat. So then I have to jack up and block the front of the tractor to remove both tires. The new one comes right off, but the old one's never been off in 25 years, so it took a breaker bar with a two ft pipe extension to loosen the lugs. By then the tendonitis in my elbows was awesome.
The next morning I took them into the tire shop, expecting the worst. Fortunately, the shop foreman is there, listens to my tale of woe and intrigue, and offers to replace both tires (old and new one) with two new (matching) tires and tubes, while only charging for the one. So now the old JD has two brand new tires. Can't wait to do the rear ones.

The new front tires, good for another 25 years?

Annual Maintenance...

Just like a motorcycle or snow machine, a dog team needs maintenance too. Besides vaccines, food supplements, and regular exercise, the younger dogs need to be trained to take over the jobs that the older more experienced ones have been doing. The most important, of course, is lead dog. Now we're training Jabba and Easter (or little Missy as Andy calls her), to take over for Barney and Spuds, who are both eleven. Jabba's been running up front for awhile now and he's doing great (Out to the Whites and a new leader...4/1/13). Just started with Missy (or pissy Missy, as I call her, cause she's so full of piss and vinegar). She gets to go up front after the turn around and we're heading for home. So far she's doing fine, but it should be interesting the first time we have to pass another team.

Missy and Barney up front, ready to rock. Obi, behind Missy is already rolling.

Headin' for home down the valley bottom.

Runnin' with Bill...

Every once in a while my friend Bill brings his dog team over so we can practice running two teams (Trail Report 2/22/10). The dogs get really excited when there's another team close by, so we do this occasionally to try to get them used to it. Did some passing practice on the way back home. Bill's dogs did great, ours not so much. Like they say, just keep on practicing, but don't give up your day job. But of course this is my day job now, so maybe I need to start volunteering? Had a great day for it though, sunny and about ten above, so really enjoyed getting the experience.

Takin' a break on the way out.

Bill's team on the way home.

Back on track...

After a short diversion to politics (Yuge announcement...1/21/16), it's back out to the dog trail, a lot better place to be.
They (the two rivers dog mushers) had a race down through the valley where we run the dogs. Usually they skirt this area to the east, but probably due to winter logging going on in the area they normally use, they ran through almost the entire valley from west to east. I was kind of psyched, thinking we'd get a bunch of passes with other teams, which seldom happens now with only one other dog musher in the valley. But despite expecting to meet the race leaders on the way back home, we didn't see any other teams. Kind of disappointed afterwards, but we did almost get run over by two snow machines on a blind curve. The dogs ran by them just fine, so at least they got some practice passing, even if it wasn't what was expected.

Crossing the pond near the creek.

Takin' a break down in the valley.