Window to the World...

Window to the world is an idiom describing something that provides insight, knowledge, or a broader perspective outside one's immediate experience. Well in this case, it's been more like an out of body experience.

Trimming the excess expanded foam from inside the new windows, while Andy takes the photo from the deck, capturing a nice reflection of the trees behind her.

It started last year when we decided to replace the last of the old barn sash windows. They got iced up every winter from trapping moisture between the panes, so we had been getting a few new windows every so often. This time I talked to my friend John, who has a small construction outfit, about ordering some. "I'll come by and check it out" he said in May, so June and July went by and no John. I finally called and offered him some old motorcycle parts laying around the garage if he'd come out. When he does finally get here, we have few beers, load the parts in his pickup, and he leaves, telling me to just measure the rough openings of the windows and send him the dimensions. So I did that and his wife Sue, who does the ordering, told me it's be 6-8 weeks for delivery. Well August and September go by and the windows arrive the end of October, just in time for the first snowstorm. 

With the window installation postponed until spring, I mentioned to John I might need a hand with the larger ones, since they were replacing several double barn sash. He offered one of his carpenters, who was close to retirement and likely be available for part time work then. So this spring, Larry comes over after most of the snow is gone and looks over the place, asks a few questions, and says he'll do the job. "But I don't usually give estimates, it'd just be by the hour, $80. Figure on two days" That was a bit of a surprise but everything costs more now and that's what the plumber charged last time. It's only money, right?

The old barn sash and new window after installation.

Larry showed up on Thursday and we got all the windows installed on one day. He was pretty efficient at his work and I ran around being his "gofer" so things went better than planned. The  last thing he did was spray insulating foam around the windows. He talked about how he needed to trim the excess before it expanded too far and made a mess, but got busy and apparently forgot to check before it was too late. 

The green and white expanding foam covering the window frame like malignant worms.

Larry offered to stay longer and clean up the windows, but for $80 an hour, figured I'd could get'er done myself. So I spent about four hours cleaning up the windows over the next few days, that's the picture Andy took from the deck. Now all I have to do is replace all the trim boards, inside and out, and I've got all summer for that. No sense being bored!

Rasputitsa...

Breakup has arrived, or as the Russians call it, rasputitsa, the season of mud.

This time of year, the dog yard slowly turns into a slushy mix of melting snow, straw and mud. The upper dog yard, to the right, has been cleared of snow, so will move the dogs up there as soon as it dries out.

The driveway's clear of snow and is pretty solid, at least in the middle, so you just have to be careful where you drive.

The road's clear too after scraping off the melting hard pack of snow and ice after going over it most every day last week with the tractor and rear blade. It's always good to see the snowmelt flowing in the ditches and not down the road!

April's Change

After the coldest March in over fifty years, April's been too warm. The trails out of the dog yard into the valley have softened up and are starting to disappear. Then the moose came back and post-holed much of what was left of the trail. So I guess the dog running days are over for this winter. Here's some pics...

Heading up the trail in mid-March, still pretty cold then with lots of snow.

Heading for home on the last dog run at the end of the month. The snow's starting to settle and melt back from the trail as the warming sun does it's work. Did get Earl to run up front for a couple of trips across the valley over Sawmill Hill and back. We'll make a leader out of him yet!

Company!...

Back in the day when we had visitors, friends or relatives over, we said we had company. Don't hear that expession so much now. Anyway, we had company today, a female moose.

At least I think it was a female, the males have shed their antlers by now, so not sure which.

She obviously found a birch tree to her liking and proceeded to munch on the lower branches.

Apparently the upper branches have more food value, so she tries to reach up as high as she can get. The dogs sure got excited, barking and running around while she had her snack. We don't get as much company as we used to, so it's fun to have visitors now and again. 

Cold and Colder...

Minus 33 this morning, hardly looking like spring is just around the corner. But it does warm up in the afternoons now, so getting out with dogs isn't too uncomfortable.

The snow we had last month hasn't hardened on the trails yet, so slow runs have been the rule.

The dogs have been running great and seem to enjoy the cooler weather.

Back in the yard after a good run out into the valley. This normally is the time of year when we'd be running longer distances and doing trips. But with the weird weather we've had, some trails are still not broken and cold temps limit how far you want to run.

Flashin' Around...

February turned out interesting, to say the least. After a couple of weeks of normal winter weather, it started to snow and kept it up for over ten days. Wound up with about three feet of snow falling and spending many hours plowing snow. Then it turned cold and the last five days have been thirty to forty below. Needless to say, didn't do much dog driving the last few weeks. But there's always time to read stuff on line, like the blog called "Progress is Fine, but it's Gone on for Too Long". Here's a photo from a post about Flight Magazine.

Now the article wasn't about the aircraft on the cover, but it reminded me of something else. Then it came to mind, the cockpit of the aircraft resembled the front of the spaceships in the old Flash Gordon serials. When I was a kid back in the day, I didn't care for cartoons too much. I preferred the old time movies and serials they showed on Saturday mornings. My favorite, of course, was Flash Gordon. Fighting Ming the Merciless to save Earth with the help of Dr Zarkov, who designed their spaceship, The Baron, and even the duplicitous Queen Azura. A perfect thriller for the cold war era when the old Soviet Union imperiled life as we knew it.

You have to wonder if the British aeronautical engineers at Handley Page who designed the Victor bomber hadn't watched the Flash Gordon serials when they were kids!

Interestingly. Ming's Mongo spaceships bore a striking resemblance to Zarkovs. Convergence of great ideas or cheap special effects? You'll have to decide, but I thought they were pretty cool when I was a kid.

De Tourin' the Dogs

As mentioned earlier (Out with the Dogs 1/30/26), a large gully is blocking the main trail we use to run dogs. I've been clearing a trail around it and finally got it finished. 

The old trail's on the right, with the gulley in the distance, while the detour's on the left under the sunset. Kind of hard to see in the low light we get this time of year.

Heading back towards the detour after running it on the way out. Kind of exciting on the first run through, bounced off a couple of trees, but no blood no foul, I guess. This will give us access to all the trails in the valley now, so we can start doing longer dog runs. This is the time of year when the days are getting longer and suns up enough to feel some warmth, perfect dog drivin' weather!

Out with the Dogs...

 Now that the sled trail is in, mostly been running dogs out into the valley. Unfortunately, the thermokarst gullies that have been forming in the fire breaks and dozer trails (Out and About 3/24/25), have grown and blocked another trail. So until I can put a detour around the newest gulley, it'll be short and sweet dog runs.

Coming home up the back side of the ridge, the sun just barely clears the ridge top now.

After crossing the road on the way home, happy dogs heading to the yard.

Back in the yard, there's no tired dogs on these short runs.

First Sled Run After Freezing in the Dark...

 The cold spell that started in early December finally ended; thirty two days where it didn't get above 0° F and almost 3 weeks of 40 below or colder. Amazingly, it didn't set any records, but it was the longest cold spell like that since 1980. So I was waiting to post about the first sled run and now it's here, 6 weeks since the last dog run and that long a break set a record for me. 

Andy hadn't made it out to the road yet when we came barreling down the hill on the way back and crossed the road in front of her.  She got a quick photo of the dogs as they passed her along the trail, while I was hidden behind some trees. I guess it'd be a good photo to post for those who don't want to be seen on line.