Sleddin' again...

Finally got out on the sled. While the trails are rough and it's pretty much out of control going out of the dog yard, it's still way better than running with the wheeler.

Andy took this shot when we got back. Not much sun this time of year and was kind of cool (-7° F), but still enjoyed the run

Merry times...

Living up here in Alaska, we kind of forget about the traditional family Christmas, where we used to have three generations of family get togethers. Nowadays, we just have a small dinner with a few neighbors. Meant to take a photo, but like most things now, just forgot.
But did get out for a walk earlier today, where it was near twenty below down in the valley, so took this selfie when I got back.

So Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, or whatever it is you do, just have good one.

Solstice bridge...

Getting out during the solstice, it actually lasts for several days here as the low angle of the sun doesn't really change that quickly, you can see great sunsets...

But the real excitement this week was finding the bridge washed out.

Not a great photo, but what it shows is that the near side river bank collapsed and dropped this side of the bridge about 3-4 ft. So the next project will be trying to jack up the bridge end and then move it to a more stable location. Too much fun. It wouldn't be so bad, but had just replaced the deck and some of the cross pieces a little while back (All decked out...4/25/17).

Changing times...

While we haven't really gotten enough snow to switch over to the sled, the transmission on the 4-wheeler has started getting troublesome to shift and a quick check on the manual shows that to fix most anything there, you pretty much have to pull the engine and split the crank cases. Since that's not likely to happen anytime soon, decided to get the Ski Doo running and break out the sled trail. Now the machine hadn't been touched since last spring, but it usually only takes a little priming to get gas to the carb and it fires right up. Well not this time. So after several hours of futile work, priming, pulling and cleaning the spark plugs, and finally using starting fluid with no result, towed it down to the garage and let it it sit inside overnight. The next day proved to be more of the same, except now I was pretty sure that the emergency stop switch had been hit, shutting off the ignition, so it was way over primed and flooded. So let it sit overnight again, this time with the plugs out figuring with plugs clean and dry, it'd start the next day. Well it didn't, so after a few more fruitless hours, swallowed my pride and called a neighbor who also has an older Skandic. "Did you try new plugs?" he asked.  "No, the old ones are fine" I said. "No, I'll bet they're not, that's your problem." After further discussion, he said he thought he had a spare pair, so I went over and borrowed them. And sure enough, it fired right up with the new plugs. Go figure, the old ones fired just fine when they were out of the engine, but apparently not enough spark to fire up the still damp cylinders.

The recalcitrant Ski Doo, sitting pretty down by the wood piles. If it could talk, it'd probably smirk and say "that'll teach you for not giving me a new set of plugs."

November Summary...

November was unusually warm throughout the state for the second month in a row. All recording stations reported monthly mean temperatures well above average. The highest temperature deviations were recorded at stations in the Interior and the Arctic. The average temperature for Fairbanks in November was 11.7° F, which was 9.1° above normal. The highest temperature was 29° on the 26th, while the lowest was -9° on the 16th.
November precipitation varied significantly between different locations throughout the state. Coastal areas were generally on the wetter side this month, while stations in the Interior were somewhat drier. While Fairbanks recorded a near normal 0.68" precipitation, Delta Junction, just 90 miles away, was the driest spot in the state, at 11% of normal. Snowfall in Fairbanks was 13" for the month. (Alaska Climate Research Center)

With the (relatively) warm weather, reinstalled the splitter and got the rest of logs bucked up and split. Now have the rear blade back on the tractor again, so am waiting for some snow. It'd be great to park the wheeler and start running dogs with the sled. Until then, just wait and watch the sun sets...

Sun time...

This is the time of year when there's not much sun time (about 5 hours) and even when it's up, it's pretty low in the sky. But the low angle does make for some pretty decent sunsets and the alpenglow in the trees can also be spectacular.

We got almost six inches of snow this week, so had to take the splitter off the tractor and put the rear blade on to plow the road and driveway. But since there's still a bunch of wood left to split, may put the splitter back on the tractor if there's no snow in the forecast. I can see why farmers have more than one tractor, cause it can be a real pain having to switch back and forth between implements.

Hook'em up...

Well we're not running on the sled yet, but starting to take the dogs out with the 4-wheeler. It's certainly good to get out again with the doggies and they seem to enjoy it too. Andy took this photo with her iphone, so the resolution's not great.

The 4-wheeler is an '85 Suzuki that I bought maybe 25 years ago. It had been ridden hard, so had to rebuild the rear axle, then replace the tires and brakes. About ten years ago the rascals took off without me and ran it into tree, bending the front wheel and frame. But was able to straighten the frame and replace the wheel, so it's been good to go since then. At some point, put on hot grips and an old windshield from the Moto Guzzi, so it's decent to ride down to near zero. The engine still seems solid and all I've ever done to it is change the oil, spark plug, and adjust the valves. One thing's for sure, just like the dogs, it's got a great motor!

Hosed again...

Was hoping to post something positive this week, after all the bum stuff on the road, but then one of the hydraulic hoses blew out on the backhoe. Installed the hoe a lot later this year due to the extremely warm Oct, so when we finally got to finishing the dirt work, the ground had started to freeze hard. Was almost done filling the dog yard holes when I heard an odd sound from the hydraulics, then noticed something out of the corner of my eye and realized there was a stream of hydraulic fluid shooting off to one side of the tractor. A hydraulic line had sprung a leak, so shut her down real quick. Unplugged the backhoe hydraulics and then was able to drive the tractor back to the spot where the backhoe's parked. Got it unattached with limited loss of of fluid and then checked it out.

Looks like a kink in the hose where it blew out (arrow). Not sure how that happened, though that hose was originally installed a little too long, so maybe it just kinked over time.

The backhoe work's over for this year, so installed the hydraulic splitter to start splitting the wood that's already bucked up.

 Stealth cat, in the background, wanders about while keeping an eye on things.

October weather...

The NWS weather summary for October for Fairbanks...
The average temperature for Fairbanks in October was 34.5° F, which was 10.3 ° above normal. The highest temperature was 68° on the 1st, while the lowest was 2° on the 31st. 
Precipitation totaled 0.52" for the month, which was 0.31" below normal. Snowfall totaled 0.7" at the airport, which is well below the average of 10.8" for the month. 

This likely was the nicest October we've had since moving to Alaska 40 years ago. There were at least three weeks of well above normal temps with almost no rain or snow. Amazing. Got most of the summer projects finished, and while it did turn cold at month's end with about 3" of snow,  the slimy road is frozen now so my neighbors can quit complaining about getting their shiny cars muddy!

Winter won't officially start until the solstice in Dec. But it'd be hard to believe that in the here and now, since it's been well below freezing the last few days.

Road Rage...

We live in an area where there's no maintenance on the rural roads. The state takes care of the main route, Chena Hot Springs Road, but the borough only accepts roads that are up to their current standards. The subdivision is so old that the roads would need expensive upgrades and no one is willing to contribute. So we do the work ourselves, though the condition often varies from mediocre to not so good. One neighbor, who's a heavy equipment mechanic, got a road grader into his shop for repairs. After fixing it, he apparently called a friend of his who's supposedly a retired operator, and told him to "check it out and maybe fill some potholes." So the guy took it upon himself to re-grade the whole two miles of subdivision road, pulling the ditch material up on the road to re-crown it. While this works on well maintained gravel roads, these hadn't been graded in 20-30 years. So what he pulled up was mainly silty muck and occasional cobbles and boulders, probably  left there by the original contractor in the '70's. The road became an obstacle course, trying to avoid the cobbles and boulders while not getting stuck in the mud. Great fun.
So eventually another neighbor got a friend of his to come by and regrade it again. Though he did the best he could, getting most of the muck and rocks off, it's still real slimy when it rains and the ditches are now filled up with muck. Most of the neighbors are pretty upset, they call or stop by to complain, but what can you do, sometimes shit happens, so just move on. Since they don't do much, I've been cleaning up the worst spots with the tractor and rear blade, then installed the backhoe and started digging out the ditches.

Re-digging the filled-in ditches. Tried to keep them shallow so the neighbors that drive too fast don't get stuck when they slide off the slimy road.

Also filling in the the dog yard holes. This is the same spot in the third photo of previous post "Is It Fall Yet" (9/16/18). Used to hand shovel these holes back in the day, but now the hydraulics rule.

First Snow...

Supposed to have gotten our first snow this past weekend, but while it cooled off quite a bit, it stayed dry.

So spent some time up on the roof, painting the garage/workshop and then cleaning out the stove pipe. Andy took this photo cause she thought my system for working on the roof was, well a little different. I just didn't want to fall off!

But when we got up this morning, the first snow had arrived.

It wasn't much of a snowfall and had largely melted by late afternoon, but still...winter's here!

Last Ride?...

Switched out the battery from the 850 to the 650 Moto Guzzi and rode down to the Nordale Rd. bridge. Back when I was working, it was my favorite after work ride. Besides being a short but scenic trip, there was a decent size parking lot to loop through. Of course the state, in it's infinite wisdom, had to improve it by putting in designated parking and boat launching areas; in doing so, they blocked off one side, so you can't drive around the loop anymore. It must be great fun on a busy weekend to maneuver a 20 ft river boat and trailer with a crew cab pickup.

The 650 MoGu down by the Chena River

While the leaves are pretty much down now, the temps have stayed in the upper 50's to low 60's this past week, about ten degrees above normal. But the forecast is for cooler and possible snow coming soon.

The "exotic" trees, those not native to Fairbanks like the choke cherry and mountain ash, turn colors later and keep their leaves much longer than the native birch and aspen. The birds must have been eating the berries and crapping the seeds out cause there's little choke cherries growing everywhere!

September summary and then some...

The NWS summary for September in Fairbanks, Ak...

The average temperature for Fairbanks in September was 48.2° F, which was 3.3 ° above normal. The highest temperature was 65° on the 13th, while the lowest was 27° on the 30th. The first frost occurred on the 9th, when the temperature dropped to 30° at the airport.

Precipitation totaled 1.86" for the month, which was 0.76" above normal. While there were no major storms, 1.27" of rain fell from the 20th to the 23rd. No snow was recorded at the airport, but some of the surrounding hills reported light snow during the month.

Chart from Alaska Climate Center

Spent most of the month working on the cabin. About every ten years we wash the log walls and then give it a coat of log oil/wood preservative. This year we also did the back porch and the tool shed, since they hadn't been done in quite awhile. Also did some work on the windows, pulling off the trim,  removing the old fiberglass insulation, spraying foam in the gaps, and finally sealing them with new caulk. 

The cabin should be good to go for another ten years.

Been going to the "Airheads" meeting the last few months. They're a group of BMW riders who meet once a month at one of the beverage dispensing establishments for "barley therapy".

Quite a few bikes showed up since it had warmed up into the sixties. Everything from high tech, state of the art BMW's to some nice vintage iron. I got harangued by one Airhead for riding my Moto Guzzi, not a BMW, so he said he'd do me a favor and sell me one. I told him I come for the comraderie, not the bikes, but thanks anyway. You know what they say, if you can't take a joke, well...

Is It Fall Yet?...

Well according to the calendar, it's not fall until the equinox, but still...

We had our first frost last week.

The leaves have pretty much changed colors.

While the dogs are seriously digging holes...

We're trying to finish the last of the summer projects.

Weather Summary for August 2018

August was relatively cool and unusually wet in Fairbanks. Mean monthly temperature was 55.5°F, which was 0.6°F below normal. The observed maximum temperature was 72.0°F on the 12th and the minimum temperature was 37.0°F on the 31st of the month.
The total monthly precipitation was 4.2", which was 2.3" above normal. The highest daily rainfall was 1.0" on the 5th.

From the Alaska Climate Center

Kept waiting for the Aug. warm spell, there's usually a week or so of near 80°, but didn't happen. Maybe we'll get some nice Indian summer weather this month. Since I've put off most of the summer projects until now, it'd be great to have the extra time to work outdoors in decent weather.

Burt's Bikes...

Finally finished the two reports I'd contracted for one of the "alphabet agencies" (Odd Jobs 6/14/18), so am back to wasting time on the internet. One article I ran across is about Burt Munro. For those who don't know, he was a New Zealand motorcycle builder and racer who set land speed records at the Bonneville Salt Flats when he was close to 70, using a much modified 1920 Indian Sport Scout.

 Burt Munro at the Bonneville Salt Flats in 1967.

There was a movie made of his life, "The World's Fastest Indian". While the bike scenes were great, the rest of the movie was well, not so much. One interesting thing, for me at least, was that they made two replicas of his streamliner for the movie. One, for close ups of the bike,  had a replica of the 1920 Indian motor in it; the other, for the speed runs at the salt flats, used a modified Ducati motor.

One of the replica streamliners used for the movie "The World's Fastest Indian."

But the most interesting part of the article is that Polaris Industries, who builds the latest version of the Indian motorcycle, are now sponsoring a Bonneville speed record bike using their current engine. Read about here: http://www.thedrive.com/motorcycles/22592/lee-munro-will-attempt-200-mph-on-the-spirit-of-munro-indian-scout-at-bonneville-speed-week

The bike that is being run for the Speed Week trials at the Bonneville Salt Flats .

Back together...

No, not like some long lost friends, but the '72 Triumph (Heads Ups 5/24/18). While it took three months, there were lots of spells where it sat untouched, so maybe spent 80 hours on it. The funniest part was the missing push rod tube, which I had to order on eBay, was sitting in the battery box. It wasn't until after I'd installed the head and lifted the seat to look at the wiring that I found it. So now I've got an extra set, since I found a used pair that were cheaper to buy than one new one.

This is the bike on the left in the fourth photo of the previous post. Not sure what's next, probably put an ad on Craigslist and see if anybody wants it. Be nice to have a little more room in the garage, maybe be able to work on the pickup inside someday!

Back In the Day...

Got some photos from my friend Phil from "back in the day". He moved outside Alaska a while back and it looks like he's been busy, digitizing some old prints.
In the late 70's, there was a group that hung around one of the local bike shops. While it sold mostly euro brands, their speciality was British bikes. Over time, the shop closed down, but the group still kept in touch. Sometime in the mid 80's, can't remember when, we got to talking about having a Brit bike ride, cause by then, almost nobody was riding their older bikes. So surprisingly, since talk often goes nowhere, it happened.

That first year there were only about ten Brit bikes with maybe 13 total. There was only one rule, while everyone was welcome, the Jap bikes had to ride in the back. Of course no one ever enforced it.

In the following years, there were a lot more bikes, the peak year had maybe 25, mostly Triumphs, but a good mix of others. The ride continued for almost ten years, but then ended as people moved away or just lost interest.

Norton Commandos were always a fine looking bike and a real popular ride back then. It's too bad that Manganese Bronze, the holding company that bought Norton, ran it into the ground.

That long haired guy on the left is finally restoring the gray/blue Triumph, (Heads Up 5/24/18), it's about time!

One year a group of Brit cars showed up. One of the Jags had a V-12, an awesome looking motor. The car guys were generally an older, clean-cut, more sedate group than the biker types. They didn't return.

On the way back to town, some of the guys would stage a "coasting race", shutting off their engines and coast down from the top of Cleary Summit, through the switch backs, and down to the bottom at Pedro Creek. Mike would have won on style points alone!

July weather summary...

So here's the NWS summary for July...

The average temperature was 63.9, which was 1.4 degrees above normal. The highest temperature was 88 on the 22nd, the lowest was 41 on the 18th.  Total precipitation was 1.01", which was  1.15 " below normal.

July started off decent, then cooled off to the lowest temps so far this summer, then had the warmest spell in quite a few years. Go figure. So here's some pics of the dogs.

Hangin' out in the shade, they're all good dogs when they think they're gettin' a biscuit.

After they get a treat, they'll settle down for a bit.

Eatin' Out...

No not at the "Y", just forget about it, it's the local restaurants we're talkin' bout here. Not a big fan of going out to eat, so we go maybe twice a year, at our anniversary and Andy's B-day. But this month we had the relatives up, Andy's nephew, his wife and their kids. We originally planned to have them over for a barbeque, maybe some other stuff too, but then just before they got here, she slipped in the garden. It'd been raining a lot, and in trying to catch herself, landed on her right arm and cracked a bone at the wrist. So after getting X-rays and a full cast, they didn't think a partial would work, it was off to meet the relatives at one of the local eating establishments. Fortunately, they're pretty easy to please and the kids were reasonably well behaved, but even so, it seemed like an interminable wait for the food. The only consolation was drinking some pretty good beer while rekindling friendships with rellies. The next day we went out to a different place and had to wait almost half an hour for a table for six. The place was half empty and couldn't even get a beer to ease the pain!

Since they've left, we've been out a few more times, mainly breakfast, I guess cause that 's easier and quicker than me messing up the eggs. But tonight it's good home cookin'... turkey franks'n sauerkraut. I'm beginning to suspect Andy's getting a little tired of my fine kitchen skills,

Heat wave..

Well I guess we've gotten our heat wave; from the NWS:

Temperatures will rise into the 80s and may even reach 90 near the AlCan Border today. Record to near record high temperatures are expected east of Manley Hot Springs and south of Fort Yukon.  High pressure remains over the area with very warm air aloft pushing west and north over the interior out of Canada. The Thermal Trough lies along the north slopes of the Alaska Range today and will drift north to the Upper Yukon Flats tonight.  Several record highs were recorded yesterday and Fairbanks tied its record of 88F.

Officially it hit 88°F, but it was a lot warmer in the sun.

So took advantage of the warm, dry weather and refinished the deck with wood preservative stain. Maybe I can get out on the Moto Guzzi, now that's finished.

Finally reported..

Spent the last two weeks reviewing, checking, and summarizing hydro survey data from a project that I worked on years ago. Seems like there's a potential lawsuit, so they want all the information verified in a final report. But for me, reading the notes is like a time machine, bringing back memories. While I don't remember everything, there's 20 field books that cover over 15 years of survey work, there's still a lot of remarkable stuff to recount.

There was the time we almost sank the survey boat. We had just finished the cross section and while unhooking the boat from the tagline, it swung side ways to the current and started to tip over as it filled with water. The woman working with me immediately jumped overboard, but I was finally able to get the line free from the boat before it sank and motored the half filled boat to shore. Poor B. had to wait on the far bank, soaking wet, while I bailed out the boat and retrieved the gear that went overboard. She probably still hasn't forgiven me. Too much fun.

Then there was the winter trip when, after s series of landings to drill the ice and get water measurements, the battery apparently died and the plane wouldn't start. We took turns hand cranking the motor, but it didn't even fire. After discussing options, the pilot tried one more time and wonder of wonders, it started. It apparently was flooded, so just needed some time to clear the carburetor. Kind of an exciting take off, since by then it was almost dark on the river, but a lot better than sleeping out at twenty below.

Then there was Larry, river guide extraordinaire, who was always ready to get us to a remote survey site, help fix some broken equipment, or put us up in his cabins down by the river. He had a quick smile, a funny story, and a strong opinion on most everything. Larry passed on a few years ago and is missed by all who knew him.

June weather...

Fairbanks June 2018

Mean monthly temperature was 58.8°F, which was 1.6°F below normal. The observed maximum temperature was 86.0°F on the 21st of the month, the minimum temperature was 36.0°F on the 12nd of the month. The total monthly precipitation was 0.6", which was 0.8" below normal (Alaska Climate Center).

June started out warm, then had a week of cool, rainy weather. Didn't break any records, but the usual cold spots reported frost. That was followed by the warmest day of the year so far. Crazy weather, you'd almost think there was some kind of climate change thing goin' on. Fortunately our great president is right on top of things. He's sure that it's the Chinese causing all the weird weather, manipulating the jet stream, so in response he's imposing the Trumpian tariffs. Surely it'll make America great again!

Finally got the 850 Moto Guzzi out for a ride. Switched out the battery from the 650 and headed out of town on Chena Hot Springs Rd. Unfortunately, everybody must have left work early and driven two cars; it was real busy, but nobody was in a hurry, so traffic was going around fifty. Maybe Friday afternoon's not the best time to take a ride? Kind of ironic cause when I take the pickup into town, it seems like everybody wants to go 70-80, so get tail-gaited and passed a lot. Anyway, once I got turned around and headed home, had a good ride since all the traffic was going the other way. Having an open road with "clean air" makes all the difference!

More Odd Jobs...

Back to cutting wood this week after Andy pointed out several dead spruce that needed to go. While we did get a couple of cords of firewood hauled in this spring (Gettin' Wood Enough...4/15/18), it's all bucked up, split, and stacked now, so it's always good to have more ready to go.

Unlike hauling wood with the Ski Doo, it's a lot less work using the tractor.

The pile of logs slowly turns into stacks of firewood.

The other job comes from the proposal that was submitted a while back. It was accepted, so now I get to collate, review, and summarize fifteen years of hydrology survey data. While I don't mind doing this in the winter, just finished a similar project last year, it's not my idea of the ideal summer job. So be careful what you wish for, I guess.

It's a lot more fun to go out in the summer and collect survey data than to analyze it.

And then took the 650 Moto Guzzi out for a ride and, big surprise, ran out of gas again. That machine really needs a gas gauge.