Changing times...

While we haven't really gotten enough snow to switch over to the sled, the transmission on the 4-wheeler has started getting troublesome to shift and a quick check on the manual shows that to fix most anything there, you pretty much have to pull the engine and split the crank cases. Since that's not likely to happen anytime soon, decided to get the Ski Doo running and break out the sled trail. Now the machine hadn't been touched since last spring, but it usually only takes a little priming to get gas to the carb and it fires right up. Well not this time. So after several hours of futile work, priming, pulling and cleaning the spark plugs, and finally using starting fluid with no result, towed it down to the garage and let it it sit inside overnight. The next day proved to be more of the same, except now I was pretty sure that the emergency stop switch had been hit, shutting off the ignition, so it was way over primed and flooded. So let it sit overnight again, this time with the plugs out figuring with plugs clean and dry, it'd start the next day. Well it didn't, so after a few more fruitless hours, swallowed my pride and called a neighbor who also has an older Skandic. "Did you try new plugs?" he asked.  "No, the old ones are fine" I said. "No, I'll bet they're not, that's your problem." After further discussion, he said he thought he had a spare pair, so I went over and borrowed them. And sure enough, it fired right up with the new plugs. Go figure, the old ones fired just fine when they were out of the engine, but apparently not enough spark to fire up the still damp cylinders.

The recalcitrant Ski Doo, sitting pretty down by the wood piles. If it could talk, it'd probably smirk and say "that'll teach you for not giving me a new set of plugs."

November Summary...

November was unusually warm throughout the state for the second month in a row. All recording stations reported monthly mean temperatures well above average. The highest temperature deviations were recorded at stations in the Interior and the Arctic. The average temperature for Fairbanks in November was 11.7° F, which was 9.1° above normal. The highest temperature was 29° on the 26th, while the lowest was -9° on the 16th.
November precipitation varied significantly between different locations throughout the state. Coastal areas were generally on the wetter side this month, while stations in the Interior were somewhat drier. While Fairbanks recorded a near normal 0.68" precipitation, Delta Junction, just 90 miles away, was the driest spot in the state, at 11% of normal. Snowfall in Fairbanks was 13" for the month. (Alaska Climate Research Center)

With the (relatively) warm weather, reinstalled the splitter and got the rest of logs bucked up and split. Now have the rear blade back on the tractor again, so am waiting for some snow. It'd be great to park the wheeler and start running dogs with the sled. Until then, just wait and watch the sun sets...

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.

Road Rage...

We live in an area where there's no maintenance on the rural roads. The state takes care of the main route, Chena Hot Springs Road, but the borough only accepts roads that are up to their current standards. The subdivision is so old that the roads would need expensive upgrades and no one is willing to contribute. So we do the work ourselves, though the condition often varies from mediocre to not so good. One neighbor, who's a heavy equipment mechanic, got a road grader into his shop for repairs. After fixing it, he apparently called a friend of his who's supposedly a retired operator, and told him to "check it out and maybe fill some potholes." So the guy took it upon himself to re-grade the whole two miles of subdivision road, pulling the ditch material up on the road to re-crown it. While this works on well maintained gravel roads, these hadn't been graded in 20-30 years. So what he pulled up was mainly silty muck and occasional cobbles and boulders, probably  left there by the original contractor in the '70's. The road became an obstacle course, trying to avoid the cobbles and boulders while not getting stuck in the mud. Great fun.
So eventually another neighbor got a friend of his to come by and regrade it again. Though he did the best he could, getting most of the muck and rocks off, it's still real slimy when it rains and the ditches are now filled up with muck. Most of the neighbors are pretty upset, they call or stop by to complain, but what can you do, sometimes shit happens, so just move on. Since they don't do much, I've been cleaning up the worst spots with the tractor and rear blade, then installed the backhoe and started digging out the ditches.

Re-digging the filled-in ditches. Tried to keep them shallow so the neighbors that drive too fast don't get stuck when they slide off the slimy road.

Also filling in the the dog yard holes. This is the same spot in the third photo of previous post "Is It Fall Yet" (9/16/18). Used to hand shovel these holes back in the day, but now the hydraulics rule.

First Snow...

Supposed to have gotten our first snow this past weekend, but while it cooled off quite a bit, it stayed dry.

So spent some time up on the roof, painting the garage/workshop and then cleaning out the stove pipe. Andy took this photo cause she thought my system for working on the roof was, well a little different. I just didn't want to fall off!

But when we got up this morning, the first snow had arrived.

It wasn't much of a snowfall and had largely melted by late afternoon, but still...winter's here!

Last Ride?...

Switched out the battery from the 850 to the 650 Moto Guzzi and rode down to the Nordale Rd. bridge. Back when I was working, it was my favorite after work ride. Besides being a short but scenic trip, there was a decent size parking lot to loop through. Of course the state, in it's infinite wisdom, had to improve it by putting in designated parking and boat launching areas; in doing so, they blocked off one side, so you can't drive around the loop anymore. It must be great fun on a busy weekend to maneuver a 20 ft river boat and trailer with a crew cab pickup.

The 650 MoGu down by the Chena River

While the leaves are pretty much down now, the temps have stayed in the upper 50's to low 60's this past week, about ten degrees above normal. But the forecast is for cooler and possible snow coming soon.

The "exotic" trees, those not native to Fairbanks like the choke cherry and mountain ash, turn colors later and keep their leaves much longer than the native birch and aspen. The birds must have been eating the berries and crapping the seeds out cause there's little choke cherries growing everywhere!

September summary and then some...

The NWS summary for September in Fairbanks, Ak...

The average temperature for Fairbanks in September was 48.2° F, which was 3.3 ° above normal. The highest temperature was 65° on the 13th, while the lowest was 27° on the 30th. The first frost occurred on the 9th, when the temperature dropped to 30° at the airport.

Precipitation totaled 1.86" for the month, which was 0.76" above normal. While there were no major storms, 1.27" of rain fell from the 20th to the 23rd. No snow was recorded at the airport, but some of the surrounding hills reported light snow during the month.

Chart from Alaska Climate Center

Spent most of the month working on the cabin. About every ten years we wash the log walls and then give it a coat of log oil/wood preservative. This year we also did the back porch and the tool shed, since they hadn't been done in quite awhile. Also did some work on the windows, pulling off the trim,  removing the old fiberglass insulation, spraying foam in the gaps, and finally sealing them with new caulk. 

The cabin should be good to go for another ten years.

Been going to the "Airheads" meeting the last few months. They're a group of BMW riders who meet once a month at one of the beverage dispensing establishments for "barley therapy".

Quite a few bikes showed up since it had warmed up into the sixties. Everything from high tech, state of the art BMW's to some nice vintage iron. I got harangued by one Airhead for riding my Moto Guzzi, not a BMW, so he said he'd do me a favor and sell me one. I told him I come for the comraderie, not the bikes, but thanks anyway. You know what they say, if you can't take a joke, well...

Is It Fall Yet?...

Well according to the calendar, it's not fall until the equinox, but still...

We had our first frost last week.

The leaves have pretty much changed colors.

While the dogs are seriously digging holes...

We're trying to finish the last of the summer projects.

Weather Summary for August 2018

August was relatively cool and unusually wet in Fairbanks. Mean monthly temperature was 55.5°F, which was 0.6°F below normal. The observed maximum temperature was 72.0°F on the 12th and the minimum temperature was 37.0°F on the 31st of the month.
The total monthly precipitation was 4.2", which was 2.3" above normal. The highest daily rainfall was 1.0" on the 5th.

From the Alaska Climate Center

Kept waiting for the Aug. warm spell, there's usually a week or so of near 80°, but didn't happen. Maybe we'll get some nice Indian summer weather this month. Since I've put off most of the summer projects until now, it'd be great to have the extra time to work outdoors in decent weather.