Dog Daze 2...

 Went into town the other day to run some errands, then meet my friend Bill for coffee. We do this most every month and it gives us a chance to swap stories and catch up on news. As is usual, the conversation turned to dogs and I mentioned the sled dog pup we got last year had grown into a serious hulk. He wanted to see a picture, so when I got home, we let the dogs off for their free run and then Andy tried to take a photo with her i-phone. Well that didn't work so well, they all thought it was a new treat and tried to eat it. So I sat down on the grass and started playing with a few of them, then called Mac over for the photo. Here's the results...

I keep a bunch of biscuits in the jacket pouch to keep them motivated to stick around and come when called.  Mac was determined to get into it and have some.

When he finally gave up on the biscuits, he decided the next best thing was to lick my face, so then I had to deal with that.

So while Mac kept me occupied, Tamarac (aka Tambo Rambo) snuck around the other side and made his move on the biscuits. Pretty funny how a few dog biscuits can command so much attention.

Dog Daze...

It's been up in the 80's the last few days and it's way too hot for the dogs.

 Mostly been hauling the wood in from the trees cut along the power line and splitting them.

Been trying to split at least two wheel barrow loads a day but with the warm weather, it's hard to keep motivated. We're also getting some forest fires in the area, so cooler, wetter weather would be nice!

Clearing Things Up...

Last summer the power line crew came through and dropped a dozen or more trees along our property (All Spruced Up 5/22/20). While I got a few of the bigger trees cut up and split last summer, there's still a bunch left. But first we had to clear all the brush piles that the line crews left. 

Here's Andy clearing the brush from the downed tress. While the line crews cleaned off some of the branches, there's still a lot left to clip off with the lopers, then stack out of the way The logs in front are cleaned up and ready to cut to length and then be hauled up to the splitter.

While the logs will be split for firewood, the branches are ground up in the chipper and used for mulch. We got the chipper years ago and while it isn't used often, it sure comes in handy when you need it.

Bikin' Again...

The last few years were hard on the Guzzis, first the 650 swallowed all the gas, then the 850 had electrical issues. So after putting off any meaningful work, except for ordering parts, finally got'em back together.

After replacing the ignition switch last fall, the generator light stayed on, so figured it was the voltage regulator. By the time the order arrived, the weather had turned to crap, so it sat all winter. But a rare burst of energy last week had it installed and back on the road. Still runs like a top.

The 650 gas taps had leaked fuel down into the engine and filled the sump. Replaced the taps last year, but then decided to rebuild the carbs. Finished them this spring, then replaced the air cleaners, fuel lines, and filters. Should hav'er on the road soon. Will then have two running bikes again, hard to believe!

Shear Blading and Thermokarst...

Here's your science lesson for today... 

About fifteen years ago, in the early to mid-aughts, there were a lot of forest firses around here. The local government, in it's infinite wisdom, decided to clear large areas of black spruce for fire breaks. This was done by shear blading. Shear-blading involves the use of a track dozer with a blade that shears the trees off at ground level during the winter months when the ground is frozen. The blade is supposed to float along the ground surface leaving the vegetative mat largely undisturbed. 

When clearing a series of fire breaks in the Smallwood Creek valley behind our place, the dozer operator apparently got lost and followed our dog trail, widening and clearing the trail as he went.

The trail after shear blading. The large mounds on the left are the vegetative mat that was stripped off, rolled up, and pushed off to one side. The Ski Doo is parked on the other side on the original trail.

 The state's contractor attempting to remediate the damaged trail with a "mini-excavator." Had they paid more attention to what they were doing and done the shear blading properly, none of this would have been necessary.

One of the gullies that formed out in the valley after shear blading. It's maybe 20-30 feet wide, up to 10 feet deep,  and extends for the length of the cleared area. It can be a challenge to cross with a dog team or even a snow machine.

One of the usual results of surface disturbance to permafrost soils is thermokarst. Karst is a term that's usually applied to limestone sinkholes, but up here it's used to describe the consequences of permafrost degradation. This is evidenced by dips, hollows or gullies produced by the melting of ground ice and subsequent subsidence of the ground surface. A year or so after the clearing,  forgot when, a pond began to form next to the trail right where the Ski Doo was parked in the first photo. Since numerous ponds and gullies were forming out in the valley where the clearing was also done, we were concerned that the erosion would get worse, maybe even making the trail un-runnable. While the state's contractor had attempted to reclaim the damage, we've been keeping an eye on it, even covering the pond with moss and leaves in the spring to keep it frozen longer into the summer.

So we hiked out there yesterday to check it out, we hadn't seen the pond unfrozen or without snow cover in quite a while. Surprisingly, it's apparently revegetated and stabilized, now it's just a little "tundra pond."  Hopefully it'll stay that way!

Spring? Not Just Yet...

After almost two weeks of sunny warm weather, we woke up to this the other day...

I'd meant to head out on the trail, maybe get down into the valley and check out the creek crossing, but wound up working on some projects around the house instead. By the time we went up on the trail today, this is what it looked like...

Lots of bare ground, not much of the recent snow left and the snowpack almost gone.  But at least I finished up on the sled pack that was started last month. Meant to get'er done for the dog sled trip to the park, but then that was cancelled (Blue Skies 3/21/21), so it sat for awhile. I've wanted to put pockets on the outside so it'd be easier to access the gear. Now I can put spare gloves in one, snow goggles in another, and maybe dog booties in the third. That way the main pack can hold all the ropes and extra gear and I won't have to fumble around, trying to find what I'm looking for, while the dogs are banging to go.

Happiness is a sled pack with lots 'o pockets!

Spring Has Sprung...

This has been kind of an odd winter, with lots of snow storms followed by large temperature swings. The latest was the record breaking dump of snow noted in the previous post. That was followed by a week of twenty below, which broke the all time record low at the airport on two consecutive days, then a week of fifty to sixty above. 

Here's the driveway almost clear two weeks after the record snowfall and cold of early April; contrast this to the photo in the previous post (More Snow... 4/6/21).

The road at the dog trail crossing; compare it to the photo on the New Years Eve post. The neighbor borrowed a Bobcat and cleared off the hard pack, now it's great for driving, but not so much for dog sleds and snow machines.

The monthly summaries by the NWS showed above normal temps in December (+4.3°) and January (+6.4°), while February (-7.9°) and March (-5.5°) were below. Snowfall was the opposite, below average early on and above average in the latter months. Total snowfall for the winter, so far, has been 92 inches (that'd be 2.34 meters to the French).

More Snow...

The weather bureau's been predicting snow for the past couple of weeks, but it hasn't amounted to much until this past weekend. Most of the storms had skirted the area, we'd get maybe 2-3 inches, so barely enough to plow. But then the last one hit dead center and dumped over 16 inches of heavy wet snow. We're still not yet done shoveling!

Like my neighbor said, it's a good time to have a tractor.

With all the snow, the trails are pretty much snowed in, the Skidoo's in the garage awaiting a parts order, so the doggies just get to play in the yard. Good times in the dog yard!

Moose Redux...

 The dogs started barking last night, couldn't see anything, but figured the moose were back. This morning, they started barking again and when I looked out, saw this

This is the time of year when mama moose apparently ditches her calf, they're a year and half old now, and moves on with her life. The calf, hard to think of a baby that weighs several hundred pounds, seems lost, so we assume he's hanging around here since this is the last place he spent time with his mother. So I guess we'll just have to put up with him/her until it moves on with it's life. Thanks mom!

After a couple of hours, the moose wandered off, so we were able to get out on a dog run. Fortunately, didn't see any sign of the moose on the trail. Probably over at one of the neighbors place!

Blue Skies...

I took the dogs out on the ten mile loop again. It was a beautiful day, blue skies with no wind. Everything went great until the second rest stop. They seemed to have calmed down by then, I don't get off the sled on the first stop, so I set the snow hook, walked around and petted them while checking their feet for ice balls. Everything was ok as I went back to the sled, stood on the brake while I pulled the hook, they jerked a bit, but I said "no, take it easy" or something like that, and started to put it in the holster. They all must have hit it at once cause all I remember is flying backwards, seeing blue sky, then slamming on my back onto the trail. I popped up just in time to see them disappearing down the trail. I figured they were long gone, but after walking a half a mile or so, there they were, lined out in the trail. The Manning snow hook had caught in the snow and saved me again. When they saw me, they turned around and came back towards me, getting all tangled up in the process. So after a few minutes of untangling dogs, while the younger ones barked and banged to go, we were on our way again. So that was yesterdays run. What I’m thinking now is that this team, with the three crazy youngsters and untrained leaders. maybe isn’t ready for a travel trip yet. If I lost them out on the some new trails, well who knows where they’d wind up. So I told my friend Bill I was canceling our planned trip for next week to the park. He was pretty bummed out, but hopefully he'll get over it. You have to run the team you have and accept their limitations, not the team you wish you had and do something stupid with them.

Here's the snow hook that saved my butt again. This is maybe the third time in the 25 years or so that I've used it that it stopped the team after I lost them. It was custom made by a former neighbor, Ned Manning, a machinist who built it for a friend. He apparently was never paid for it, so repossessed it and gave it to me. While it's seriously heavy, it does a fantastic job and I thank Ned, at least in my mind, every time it holds the team in place. 

Ides of March...

 Just saw something on line today about the Ides of March (Ides...3/15/13), you can Google it up, but for me I realized it was the middle of March before I'd gotten the dogs out for a long run. Whenever it seemed like they were ready to go longer, it'd snow 3-4", drop to 20-30° F below, or the overflow would make the trails un-runnable. But today was the day when the gods smiled on us, the weather was great, maybe ten above, the overflow had frozen over from the last cold spell, and the trail was good to go. When we got over the hill and down into the valley, they normally start to slow down, but instead they took off, like they smelled a moose or something. Well that wasn't good, but soon I smelled it too, the unmistakable smell of a 2-stroke engine. So there was a snow machine out, no big deal I thought, we'll never see him since he's probably going a lot faster than we are. But no, there on the first long straight away was a snow machine, obviously going slower than we were. So I slowed the dogs down, this is normally the fastest part of the run, but we kept gaining on him. Then I saw the dog,  running in front of the machine.  He had probably stopped to give it a rest. So I stopped too and yelled "trail, dog team." Figured he'd get going, but no, he just sat there, didn't hear me, I guess. But the dog sure did, it started jumping up and down and headed straight for us. All I could think of is dog fight, vet bills! But he must have called it back, as they soon took off again. So I held well back and we stayed slow until they were out of sight. Fortunately they were going the same way, so the dogs, that were still chasing them, followed on all the turns. Well the rest of the run was pretty uneventful, except for crossing the overflow, which is always exciting, and we finally had our longer dog run. 

Heading home across the flats, the dogs going really well under bright blues skies. Like my friend Mike sez, "it don't get much better than this".

Look Who Followed Me Home Part 2

 Just like the previous post, this was another routine dog run out into the valley and back. The only thing of note was the new trail markers set out by a local club that was having a dog race. They do it most every year and it's no big deal, they only use a small segment, maybe 3-4 miles of the same trail we run. and so far, had never seen any of the racers. So after we got back, unhooked the dogs, gave them a snack, then went over to start the tractor. It had snowed a couple of inches overnight, so wanted to get the driveway plowed. Right about then the dogs started barking, so walked back towards the dog yard and saw a dog team where the trail starts/ends. Behind that team was second one, bunched up in the little space left to them. The lead musher was screaming at his dogs, who were certainly confused by it all, so couldn't figure out where to go. When I finally got down there, he hadn't paid any attentions to me up to then, I yelled "what are you trying to do?" "Going to take that trail there" he yelled back over the cacophony of the dogs. Well that was the tractor trail to the garden and compost piles, so told him no, he needed to turn his dogs around where they were and go back on the trail they came in on. He didn't want to do that but eventually convinced him that was the way go to get back to the race. Surprisingly, he quickly turned his team around, and after a short stop, passed the team behind him and was soon gone. I helped the guy behind him get turned around, gave him directions to get back to the main trail, and then he was gone too. From what he said, they apparently missed a marked turn, saw our tracks in the fresh snow, and followed them thinking it was a race team. The whole thing took just a few minutes, but seemed a lot longer.

Didn't have a camera, so this is a pic of our team after todays run. Imagine two teams lined up here, with ten or more dogs each, barking and trying go somewhere, anywhere else!