Out to the Whites...

Went out to the White Mtns. to run dogs with my friend Bill. We did the same trip Andy and I had done back in 2012 (Last dog run...). It was a bit of a slog going in, as the trails were drifted over in places due to recent snow and high winds. There was a lot of running and pushing to get the sled up the steep pitches, but we eventually made it to the cabin. The next few days were beautiful, sunny and not too windy, so like it always is in the Whites, good weather makes for good times. The trip out was easy. The BLM trail crew had groomed the trail while we were in there, so we almost flew down those steep sections of trail that we had struggled to climb earlier. Too much fun.

Bill's team climbing up the ridge-top trail.

Following Bill back to the cabin.

We had beautiful sunsets,

and a full moon every night.

Spuds and Barney at age eleven; still running up front after all these years.

Back to winter...

After one of the warmest winters on record (Warm enough? 3/6/16), it's finally returned to typical winter weather:
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FAIRBANKS AK 3/19/16
 ID           STATION                HI   LO                                              
PAFA  : Fairbanks Airport    17 / -20
PAEI  :  Eielson AFB             16 / -18
PANN  : Nenana                    16 / -20
PATA  :  Tanana                     16 / -21
But for running the dogs, it doesn't get any better than this. Gave the older ones (Barney and Spuds) a day off, so just took the five youngest. Pretty interesting run, since none of the younger leaders know their commands yet. But we made it around the trail and got home just fine. Like most of the time out on the trail, it's just too much fun.

Ides of March again...

The Ides of March are here again. As I've noted before (Ides... 3/15/13), the Ides were a time of celebration for the Roman new years, which culminated in mid March. So here's one of my first posts (maybe the one I've most liked), which just happened to have been posted on the Ides of March. So just party on.
Almost Spring...
It was minus 15° F this morning and with the wind blowing, it certainly feels a lot colder. A good day to run dogs. Most of my dogs are large and fuzzy, not the sleek houndy/pointer crosses that you see wearing coats and booties at the race track. I wouldn't say my team is slow, but I round my run times to the nearest hour.  This is also good weather for the musher with a hangover; I call it a medicinal dog run. Not that I get hangovers much, well maybe a few, but the cold air really does clear the head.
(Originally posted 3/16/09)

Headin' up the trail through the ubiquitous black spruce.

Warm enough?

The remarkably warm and dry weather pattern for Fairbanks continues. February 2016, much like January and December 2015 was warmer than normal and exceptionally dry.  Alaska's warm winter is predicted to last until breakup.
Much of the state was also unusually dry, according to the NWS. Denali National Park headquarters and McGrath saw their second driest midwinter seasons on record. Fairbanks had, by far, the lowest precipitation (and snowfall) of any December through February in more than a century of climate observations, It snowed 2 1/2 inches in the three months and rained 0.13 inches. (Taken from: http://www.adn.com/article/20160301/mid-winter-months-break-temperature-records-across-alaska).
The dog trails are getting icy, not so bad that you can't run them, but it's a lot more interesting when you go out. Going side-ways on the turns puts new perspective on the question "how'd it go today?"

Here's a shot of the dogs taking a rest from the heat. The breaks are a lot longer now so they have time to cool down.

Leap year...

Leap year occurs when an additional day is added to keep the calendar year synchronized with the astronomical or seasonal year. The goal of most calendars has been in keeping the vernal equinox on or close as possible to March 21.The term "leap year" likely originated because a fixed date in the Gregorian calendar normally advances one day of the week from one year to the next. But following the insertion of the leap day on February 29, the calendar advances two days due to the extra day. (Largely taken from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leap_year).
It goes on, but you get the point. From my perspective, there should be something different here. The "extra" day really doesn't matter because it's just like having March first twice. Who cares about that? Maybe an extra day to run dogs, so OK, that's fine. But how about if they put it in Dec. 31? There'd still be the correct adjustment for the seasons, since the leap day occurs between the solstice and the vernal equinox, but then every four years you'd have a two day new years eve party. How great is that? Am I the only one who thinks of these things? Come on, now's the time to start organizing, "the new calendar party". Makes a lot more sense to me than the so called "tea party".
So for a lack of anything else, here's some more dog photos:

Headin' for home through the black spruce.

Nothin' better than all six pullin' their weight up the hill.

Retired...a tale of woe and intrigue

We bought the tractor early in the winter of 92/93 when it looked like we were going to have another record breaking season like 90/91. We had 148" of snowfall that winter (that's over 12 ft or almost 4 meters to the French) and no way to plow it. The JD dealer didn't have any compact/utility tractors in Fairbanks, but they did have a used one, a model 870 in Soldotna, down on the Kenai Peninsula. So sight unseen, we ordered it up. Since then, we have used it for so many things besides plowing snow, it's hard to believe you could survive here without one (Grrrate 6/19/11).
The other day I noticed that a large crack in the sidewall of one front tire was starting to bulge out. Now it's had lots of cracks for sometime, even had a flat that had to be fixed a while back, so I thought no problem, we'll just bring it to a tire shop and they'll patch 'er right up, be just like new. But when I brought it in, they took one look and said nope, can't fix that, needs a new tire. So a couple of hundred bucks later I was the proud owner of a brand new 7X14 R1 tractor tire.
But then I got home and compared it to the other front tire, they're not quite the same, width and height wise. Now that's no big deal with a regular tractor, but this one's special; multi-speed tranny, triple range axle, four wheel drive model, so the tires have to exactly match up. So I call them back and they say that was the only one in stock, but they'll call when they get more in. So a few weeks go by, no call. I finally call them and sure enough, they lost my number but had the tires. When I go out to take off the other old tire, the new ones completely flat. So then I have to jack up and block the front of the tractor to remove both tires. The new one comes right off, but the old one's never been off in 25 years, so it took a breaker bar with a two ft pipe extension to loosen the lugs. By then the tendonitis in my elbows was awesome.
The next morning I took them into the tire shop, expecting the worst. Fortunately, the shop foreman is there, listens to my tale of woe and intrigue, and offers to replace both tires (old and new one) with two new (matching) tires and tubes, while only charging for the one. So now the old JD has two brand new tires. Can't wait to do the rear ones.

The new front tires, good for another 25 years?

Annual Maintenance...

Just like a motorcycle or snow machine, a dog team needs maintenance too. Besides vaccines, food supplements, and regular exercise, the younger dogs need to be trained to take over the jobs that the older more experienced ones have been doing. The most important, of course, is lead dog. Now we're training Jabba and Easter (or little Missy as Andy calls her), to take over for Barney and Spuds, who are both eleven. Jabba's been running up front for awhile now and he's doing great (Out to the Whites and a new leader...4/1/13). Just started with Missy (or pissy Missy, as I call her, cause she's so full of piss and vinegar). She gets to go up front after the turn around and we're heading for home. So far she's doing fine, but it should be interesting the first time we have to pass another team.

Missy and Barney up front, ready to rock. Obi, behind Missy is already rolling.

Headin' for home down the valley bottom.

Runnin' with Bill...

Every once in a while my friend Bill brings his dog team over so we can practice running two teams (Trail Report 2/22/10). The dogs get really excited when there's another team close by, so we do this occasionally to try to get them used to it. Did some passing practice on the way back home. Bill's dogs did great, ours not so much. Like they say, just keep on practicing, but don't give up your day job. But of course this is my day job now, so maybe I need to start volunteering? Had a great day for it though, sunny and about ten above, so really enjoyed getting the experience.

Takin' a break on the way out.

Bill's team on the way home.

Back on track...

After a short diversion to politics (Yuge announcement...1/21/16), it's back out to the dog trail, a lot better place to be.
They (the two rivers dog mushers) had a race down through the valley where we run the dogs. Usually they skirt this area to the east, but probably due to winter logging going on in the area they normally use, they ran through almost the entire valley from west to east. I was kind of psyched, thinking we'd get a bunch of passes with other teams, which seldom happens now with only one other dog musher in the valley. But despite expecting to meet the race leaders on the way back home, we didn't see any other teams. Kind of disappointed afterwards, but we did almost get run over by two snow machines on a blind curve. The dogs ran by them just fine, so at least they got some practice passing, even if it wasn't what was expected.

Crossing the pond near the creek.

Takin' a break down in the valley.

Yuge announcement...

Trump, the greatest circus performer since P.T (a sucker born every minute) Barnum has had his yuge announcement: Sarah Palin is endorsing him for president. Just when it seemed like she'd crawled back under the rock that she'd hid under after resigning as governor of Alaska and burning her bridges on Faux news and the reality show circuit, she's back. Her rambling, almost incoherent speech is little changed from her failed stump speeches in 2008. As one pundit remarked, "the only thing Palin hates more than Obama is punctuation."
But the best part is still her almost total lack of knowledge of how the government works:
Palin was asked on CNN what position she would like to have in Trump’s administration. Without missing a beat, Palin said she’d want to head the Department of Energy — but only so she could eventually get rid of it.
“I think a lot about the Department of Energy, because energy is my baby: oil and gas and minerals, those things that God has dumped on this part of the Earth for mankind’s use,” she said. “If I were head of that, I’d get rid of it.”Palin also said that, as energy secretary, she would give individual states more control over oil and gas development within their borders. 
However, the Department of Energy does not regulate oil and gas development — that responsibility goes to the Department of the Interior. The Department of Energy mainly oversees U.S. nuclear programs and conducts energy research. The current Energy Secretary, Ernest Moniz, is a nuclear physicist.

(http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2016/01/19/3740724/sarah-palin-donald-trump-endorsement/)

One thing's for sure, Sarah Palin's no nuclear scientist.

Cold weather runnin'...

The warm spell that started after Christmas is about over, so we've got to deal with cold weather that normally comes in January.  While it hasn't been really cold yet, it's been cool enough (-10 to -15); that's still something you need to pay attention to when you're out. Haven't had to break out the Carhart arctic gear or Eddy Bauer down parka yet, but it's getting close. Ran today with my normal gear, light parka and overpants, and it was fine. but soon, as the distance increases and the temps drop, well it'll be a lot more interesting trying to stay warm.

Hooking 'em up again...

The cold spell that started just before Christmas ended rather quickly when a chinook blew into the valley (http://ak-wx.blogspot.com/2016/01/chinook-winds.html). It soon got above freezing and broke high temperature records all over northern Alaska. It was almost too warm to run dogs, but did manage to get them out a few times during the warm spell. Now that it's cooled off again, we're finally back to a regular training schedule.

Taking a break on the way out.

Heading up the hill on the way home.

So here's the weather bureau's summary for the month:

Monthly weather summary for December for Fairbanks, Alaska...

December 2015 was another tranquil month  with very little snowfall and no extreme cold temperatures.
The average maximum temperature was 6.5 degrees above which was 1.7 degrees above the normal maximum temperature of 4.8 degrees and ranks as the 28th warmest of 111 years of record. The average minimum temperature was 10.8 below which was 2.1 degrees above the normal minimum temperature of 12.9 degrees below and ranks as the 31st warmest of 112 years of record. The mean temperature was 2.2 below which was 1.9 degrees above the normal mean temperature of 4.1 degrees below and ranks as the 27th warmest of 111 years of record.
The highest temperature was 45 degrees which occurred on the 30th. The temperature soared to break a daily high temperature record as a result of strong chinook winds blowing over the Alaska range. This temperature shattered the previous record of 35 degrees set in 1982. The average temperature departures from normal were 36 and 32 degrees on the 30th and 31st and helped push the monthly average above normal where most of the month of December hovered at or slightly below average.
The coldest temperature was 29 below, which occurred on the 25th, and is the coldest temperature of the season to date.
December 2015 was exceptionally dry with only 1.1 inches of snow falling, which ranks as the 98th snowiest of 101 year of record. Normal snowfall for December is 12.1 inches. The snowfall melted down to a paltry 0.07 inches which ranks as the 5th driest of 101 years of record. The normal precipitation for December is 0.64 inches.
Looking forward to January...the average high temperature drops from 2 above on the 1st to zero by the 12th and then climbs back to 3 above by the 31st. The average low temperature drops form 16 below on the 1st to 18 below on the 14th and then climbs back to 16 below again by the 31st. The average temperature continues to drop and bottoms out at around 8 below which is the lowest monthly average temperature for Fairbanks. Temperatures in January have ranged form 52 above in 2009 to 66 below in 1934.
While average snowfall in January is 10.3 inches, as much as 40.2 inches of snow fell in 1993. Possible sunshine increases dramatically during the month with 4 hours and 1 minute on the 1st increasing by an average of 6 minutes per day to 6 hours and 49 minutes by the 31st.
The outlook from the climate prediction center calls for above normal temperatures and near normal precipitation.

The sun just barely clears the ridge top in early January.