New Years Eve...

 While 2020 has been a pretty bad deal for most folks, we've been lucky enough to avoid most of the problems. Since we're retired, we seldom go to town, maybe once a week, for groceries, gas, or whatever project supplies we need and always mask up. We spent thanksgiving, christmas, and new years by ourselves. Not our first choice, but better than getting the covid, I guess. But we still get out and do stuff.

Here's the old sled, silhouetted with the Dec. sunset, ready for another dog run. It was built years ago from some Tim White sled parts and rough cut birch wood. The runners, driving bow, and most of the birch stanchions were replaced over the years, but the original sled parts remain. Hopefully, it'll last for many more years.

Here's a shot of the team at the road crossing. A couple of weeks ago we were almost hit by the postal truck. Apparently, for the first time up here, they deliver packages to your house if it doesn't fit in the road side mail box. Talk about a special delivery that almost went postal! Anyway, he was able to stop and didn't take me or the dogs out. So now Andy goes up to the road crossing a while after we leave and watches for our return. She took this pic when we were crossing the road on the way back. It's a nice sunset sky!

Solstice stuff...

Here's some of the doings during solstice.With less than four hours of daylight now, the solstice is a major event up here as the days finally stop getting shorter. Because of the low angle of the sun, the days on either side are within a few seconds of the solstice, so we actually get to enjoy three shortest days.

Mac, the super sled dog pup, is doing great. He's now the largest dog in yard, so we sure hope he stops growing.

Put a plow on the new wheeler. It came from the old one. I'd given it to a neighbor years ago, who passed it on to a friend of his. He never used it, so I got it back for a six pack of beer.

While the rear mount fit, the front one didn't, so got a pulley guide on ebay and hooked it to the winch. Should be able to clean up snow in the places where it's too tight for the tractor.

Some of the old sled dog gear needed repairs, so this is a good time to fix it. The sled bag and a couple of the harnesses were chewed on by squirrels, so it just took some extra webbing and material, with lots of cursing at the sewing machine, to get'em fixed. Thanks to Andy, who gave me a time out when things got out of hand.

Bigfoot...

No, not Sasquatch or the Yeti, this was a large canid's footprint. The other day I went over over the hill to work on the dog trail. Since it was pretty cold, near ten below, figured it was easier to walk than try to start the old Ski Doo.  I walked up to the ridge, saw where my neighbor had walked his dog, and continued past his tracks down the other side. The light was getting poor, sunset comes early in Dec, so quickly started to shovel snow at the first bad spot. While shoveling I happened to notice something odd on the trail, so bent down and looked at this:

At first I didn't think too much of it and continued to shovel snow. But after finishing that spot, figured maybe it was a good idea to call it a day and head back home. While it's not uncommon for wolves to pass through the area and move on fairly quickly, well, yah just never know if one's sticking around. The next day I went back with a camera, a ruler, and the old .45. So I took a few pics, then went on to finish shoveling the rest of hillside trail. Never did see any other wolf sign, just a couple hundred yards of tracks on the trail before they went off in another direction. So was it a wolf or some neighbors overgrown malamonster? Who knows, but it's kind of cool to think some lone wolf passed through the neighborhood, especially if they're long gone!

Fall's finished...

Well not exactly, it's been winter-like weather up here for nearly a month now, but just finished the last of the fall projects, insulating and sealing the ceiling.

Started off by sealing the length of the ridge pole with expanding foam spray. There's always been a problem there with frost forming on the outside. Standing on some old boards the were recycled for scaffolding.

Caulking the gable ends with an adhesive caulk before installing the trim boards.

Putting up the final piece of quarter-round trim; it only took forty years to get'er done!