Birthday Boys...

 Most of our dogs are rescues of one sort or another, like Tambo who came from the animal shelter, Missy who's owner had died, or Rudy the meathead, who had an injury when the owner was taking her team out of town. We're not sure when they were born, but we do know that Macs birthday is May 7 and Earl was born "in the spring when there was still some snow around." So while we didn't throw a big party, the two boys did get some extra treats this month.

Here's Earl after he got his treats, he's grown a bit since we got him last fall (My Name is Earl 11/17/21).

Mac getting his pets; all the dogs get treats on "free run" days, so it's not all that special. but they always act like it is, so that's what makes it fun.

Tambo likes to give paw (One Trick Pony 7/7/21), so we're teaching him to give both and sit up. Gus watches intently, cause he knows Tambo gets a biscuit afterwards, so he expects he'll get one too. They get trained, one way or another, whether you want them to learn something or not!

A Bikers Farewell...

One of the riders in our sometimes biker group passed away this week. While I didn't know him that well, I saw him at many of the occasional group rides and knew him as a friendly, soft spoken guy who always seemed fine with everything and everybody. When someone you know passes it certainly gets you to reflect on your own mortality and how life is short, enjoy it while you can. So I was glad to hear that another friend was organizing a ride out to Chatanika Lodge, one of our all time favorite ride destinations (Back in the Day...8/17/18), for a celebration of life, as he called it, for friends and family. The highway to the lodge passes over a steep ridge north of Fairbanks, Cleary Summit, with several switchbacks and s-curves that provide some of the best riding in the area.

Here's the bikes parked at the lodge. There was quite a crowd there when we arrived, so I waited until pretty much everybody went inside before taking some pics. But my skill with Andy's I-phone are limited at best; next time I'll bring my old digital camera. There were at least a dozen bikes and the one that led the ride was a Ducati owned by the deceased, ridden by his best friend. A fitting send off for fine fellow!

Here's a pic of the Guzzi parked at the far end of the line. I usually ride near the back at these events to avoid the crazy riders who always need to be in front of the pack. I had the I-phone camera on video, by mistake, so it just took a while to get it converted into JPEG.

Decked Again...

 As noted in the previous post, the deck railings were pretty much wiped out by the snow/ice that avalanched off the roof this spring. Here's what it looked like after some of that snow melted...

When we first built the deck, it didn't have railings, cause I was afraid this might happen. But after a few friends almost fell off, we decided the deck needed something. The railings were built in stages, after each winter, they were improved a little so that the final result seemed pretty sound. But of course nature rules and just the right combination of snow, ice, and temperature created the perfect storm of ice fall that came off suddenly, in one whole section of roof, that shot out far enough to do the maximum damage to the railing. So rather that repair them, they're just being removed for now, maybe figure out something temporary later on.

While most of the screws and bolts came out OK, some were bent or jammed and had to be cut out with the Saws All. Andy bought it for me years ago and while I don't use it much, it sure comes in handy when you need it.