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.