Dozin' off...

Spent the last few weeks driving a dozer out on Nome Creek off of the Steese Hwy. The BLM is doing a reclamation project on the old dredge tailing piles that are left over from mining in the 1920's and 30's. Their aim is to move the piles away from the creek to reduce the erosion and sedimentation and flatten the piles to promote revegetation. This should improve the fisheries, since there's a small run of salmon near the mouth of Nome Creek, and create moose browse. Besides all that, it's just a lot of fun to get out and drive a new piece of heavy metal every year, especially one that's nearly as big as the garage.

Road Trip...

After flying to Chicago to attend our niece's wedding, we stopped in Portland on the way back. Rented a car and drove down to near Coos Bay where our friends Larry and Jeanne live. The drive down the coast was pretty spectacular and, unlike Alaska, the roads were in great shape. Larry and Jeanne love the area and took us on a long hike along the coast to see the sights. When we left, we went the long way back to Portland stopping at Crater Lake and then through the high desert area near Bend. If it weren't for the ignorant drivers, it would be a really great road trip.

Take a seat...

I got the old Moto Guzzi in '89 from a friend who wanted to buy a Harley. It is a 1975 850T with about 10K miles. Ran great but had some oil leaks and rust issues. Rebuilt the leaky front master cylinder, replaced the tranny seals, and repainted it. The seat had some rips but so what, we'll deal with it later. Well I finally decided to get it fixed this summer since the foam was really starting to show. After sending out many emails to try to find a seat cover, I called a local outfit, Fairbanks Upholstery, and they said sure, bring it in. After they removed the seat cover and foam, the rust on the top of the seat pan was incredible. So had to take it home, sandblast and paint it, then take it back the next day. And now I have this great seat, looks brand new, and it only took twenty years to get'er done.

Timber...

Doing some work on the cabin addition and decided to timber frame it. That led to trying to make the timbers myself. The old Partner chainsaw wasn't really up to the task, so had to get a new chainsaw. Finally got going on it again and have the main long timber almost done. Lots of work, but it'll be pretty satisfying when it's all done.

Rollin' on a river...

Floated the Gulkana River with my friend Mike. He had some survey work to do there and then we'd have time to fish and enjoy the river afterwards. What I didn't realize was the size and extent of the white water through the canyon rapids and for several miles downstream. Pretty intimidating when we looked at it from the portage and it was really wild when we ran it. Mike did a great job rowing the raft and we never came close to hitting any rocks. It made for some good stories and lots of comments for the rest of the float.

Dog Psychology

When I was training the dogs for the White Mtns trip, several of the older ones weren't doing so great, so I called my friend Lynn to see if she had any extras. She often takes in unwanted sled dogs and as it turned out, she had a young male that was eager and ready to go. While he is a super hard working dog, he is also very shy of people. I figured he would come around in a while, but after two months, he's still almost as shy as when we got him. We thought maybe bringing him into the house might help, so he's been coming into the basement regularly. There's an old couch there that he loves to sit on and share with the cat, who seems bored by it all. But as soon as we take him outside, he gets all freaky again. Maybe he just needs a couch for his dog house?

Bridge Work...

The dog trail crosses a small creek a little ways from our house. When the old bridge collapsed, my neighbors, my wife and I built a new one. Now every few years, we need to do maintenance on it. The bank sloughing led to moving it a ways downstream, then a corner of the deck broke and needed more support. I guess it's kind of like that poem about making fences, except that here it's good neighbors that build bridges.

Iron dog...

Now that the dog runs are over, it's time to haul in fire wood with the ski doo. During the winter, I cut up dead and down trees along the trail and stack them up, then bring it back in the spring. When I first started to run dogs, I did all the trail work on foot, skis, or snowshoes. The wood was hauled by me and the dogs. A few years ago, I broke down and bought a snow machine. Then built a trail groomer. It occurred to me that with skis attached, the groomer could double as a sled. So now I haul a lot more wood than I did. But maybe not quite as much fun as it used to be.

Tax Day...

Finally got the taxes done. Used the E-file option for the first time. It seemed like a good idea until it came back, refused by the IRS. So so after several more unsuccessful tries, I finally called the IRS. They found the error and I filed it again. It finally worked, but what a waste of time. Unlike the so-called tea bag protestors, who apparently didn't know that teabagging was gay slang for oral sex, don't understand that most folks are getting a tax cut, or maybe want to go back to the nineteenth century and not pay any tax, I don't mind paying something. But it should be a lot easier to file. I don't know if a flat tax is the answer, but the current system is a joke, on us. 

Last dog run...

The weather has finally warmed up, it's been getting to near forty the past few days. Looks like this could be the last dog run of the year. I ran the younger dogs in one team, then took the five oldest in another. My old leader Springer is 13 and his half-litter mate Luna is 11. They ran all winter, mostly short distances, for my wife's occasional dog run. She calls them the Alzheimer's team. They still get all excited and go like heck for the first hundred yards or so, then slow down to a slow but steady trot. A lot of sled dogs don't even live to 13. Springer still has the same enthusiasm he had as a pup, even if he can't run as fast or as long anymore. I guess there's a lesson there somewhere.

Flight Time...

Drove down past Big Delta to help my friend Mike do a survey on the Delta River. I go down there several times a year, it reminds me of what it used to be like to work for a living. It was a fine day, sunny and warm, until just a few miles north of Black Rapids, when the wind started to blow the snow around. At the survey site, it was nearly a ground blizzard with snow drifts blown across the road. Mike was already setting up the equipment, so there was no discussion about doing the work with that wind howling, we just got started and worked until we finished. What would normally have been an easy two hour job took twice that long under those conditions. Afterwards, we talked about working in that wind and laughed about how miserable it was. Big joke. Mike wanted to take a picture, so I stood out on the river like a ski jumper trying to fly. It almost worked.

White Mountains Trip

Took the dogs on a trip with my friend Bill up to the White Mountains Recreation Area, about fifty miles north of Fairbanks. The BLM maintains a system of cabins and trails there. It's about as close as you can get to a Brooks Range wilderness experience and still be only about an hour from town. The weather was brutal the first day; the wind was from the north at about 20-30 mph and at one point blew me and the sled down off the trail unto the scrub brush that grows on the hillside there. Bill's dogs were leading and they ran great into that wind. Barney, my fearless leader, also ignored the wind and kept my team going. As Bill said when we got to the cabin, the only good thing that happened all day was that we made it there. The next two days were much better weather as the wind died off and the temperature got well above zero. A crew from the BLM stopped by the cabin, so we made coffee and enjoyed their company for a bit. On the second day, we ran into some overflow on the creek crossings. One of my older leaders is deathly afraid of the water, perhaps it's overflowbia? Or maybe that'll be when he's over his fear of overflow. The trip out was a bit of a slog, with fresh wet snow, but the dogs continued to do well. It's always a little amazing how they respond, they're really born to run.