Happy New Year?...

Started off the New Year with a dog run out into the valley. Seemed like a good idea at the time, but bounced off a small spruce tree coming out of the turn around loop, and flipped the sled on its side. I hung on for a while as the dogs careened down the trail, but eventually lost my grip. It was a long walk home. I definitely need to work on their stop commands. They made it back fine with no damage to the sled, but Andy sure was surprised. The next day woke up with a nasty sore throat, which slowly evolved into a head cold. So spent these last two weeks on the couch taking aspirin, vitamin C, and hot tea with Yukon Jack. Probably not the best cure, but worked for me.

Today we got out for the first run since New Years. Had to put in a new turn around to avoid the ubiquitous trees, so then we had a decent run with only minimal angst.

Made it around the new turn around in spite of some skidoo jockeys tearing up the trail.

Back in the dog yard, everybody's happy this time, especially the dog driver!

Christmas Run...

 Spent Christmas day getting all the gear ready and then taking the dogs out for their first run with the sled. Nothing exciting happened after we got'em hooked up and left the yard, that's always the circus part,  so an unremarkable run's a good thing. Spent most of yesterday pulling a groomer with the Skidoo and fixing the bad spots on the trail so that made for a smooth run.  Here's a video Andy shot crossing the road on the way home.

Went to our neighbor's place yesterday for a Christmas eve dinner. It seems to get smaller every year as some people move away or others pass on. Times change but life goes on. Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Second Time Around...

The first cataract surgery went well, so now I get to have the same thing done on the other eye. It's not terribly painful, just feels like pea gravel stuck in the eye, so compared to other surgeries, it's not so much, but still not looking forward to it. Today was the last day to catch up on the things that needed to be done before hand.

It'd warmed up 30 degrees (-14 to +16F) from yesterday, so of course the first priority was to run dogs. I thought I'd be on a sled by now, but still not enough snow. Then took the Ski Doo over the hill and drug a truck tire over the trail. It's pretty rough down in the valley where the mega-tussocks rule, so will wait until there's more snow before switching to the sled. Finally got on the tractor, cleaned up around the dog yard, hauled in a load of birch that I'd bucked up, then scraped the little snow we'd gotten off the driveway. We're supposed to get a big dump of snow in a day or two, so figured I'd get'er as clean as I could before the storm hit. Amazing what you can get done in a day when you have to!

Eye Ballin'...

Today might have been the last 4-wheeler run, since I go into town tomorrow for eye surgery. The cataracts have gotten worse over the years; haven't been able to weld for several years now and the project list keeps getting longer. So after much procrastinating, bit the bullet, as they say, and scheduled the surgery. 

Still hoping we'll get more snow, so I got the Ski Doo wide track running yesterday and broke out the sled trail. It was a pretty bumpy ride out in the valley with the tussocks barely covered with snow. But I only got stuck once, didn't have to walk home, so that's a pretty good ride for me.

Gus and Earl are the regular leaders now. Gus has been pretty serious up front for awhile, and except for getting overly excited at the start, he knows the trail and ignores the neighbors dogs and passing cars. Earl still acts like a goofy pup, just likes to harass Gus and enjoy the experience!

Still 4-wheelin...

 While we did get about a half a foot of snow this week, it's still not enough to put the sled trail in across the valley. The tussocks there are over a foot high, so you need at least that much snow to break out the trail. So until we get some more snow, we'll be wheelin!

The trail's mostly on subdivision roads now, except for a short stretch along side the highway. That part's always interesting, cause there's a lot of traffic going by and sometimes parked cars and trucks block the trail.

It seems there's a bit of relief when you get back to the dog yard, but also a little sad too, as another run's over.

Toboggan's a go...

Last spring the old toboggan, the one in the photo at the top of the blog, suffered a major impact event (Busted  4/7/22). It needed repairs. so I cobbled together a quick fix, but wanted to do a better job, then maybe fix some other stuff too. So last week Andy helped me haul it into the garage to finally get'er done.

This is what it looked like after the fix last spring. The center stanchions are what's left of the laminated driving bow that broke when I crashed. The black top piece is off Andy's old sled.

Made new center stanchions out of some old rough cut birch, then planed and sanded all the wooden parts.

After making sure everything fit together, took it apart and varnished all the stanchions as well as the sled runners. 

So now it's back together, not looking too bad for an almost 40 year old sled. It's on it's second set of runners and third stanchion rebuild, but still not much different from the original.

Replaced the poly rope and bungee bracing for the back supports.with an aluminum X-brace off an old Tim White sled that's been gathering dust in the garage loft. Maybe it'll help this sled turn better than a skid of logs!

Skidooed...

 Last spring I pulled the old Skidoo into the garage for some long overdo maintenance. After getting it up on the lift table, figured I had all summer to getter done. So last week I finally got around to working on it. Jacked up the front end, removed the skis, and replaced the ski skins and carbide runners with new parts I had ordered earlier on ebay. Of course they didn't quite fit, so spent a few days drilling and filing new holes, then bending the metal studs to get them installed on the skis.

Wanted to grease the suspension, but all the zerks are plugged solid and the replacements I had didn't fit. So will do that next time or maybe the time after that?

 Got'er started on the second pull and now it's sitting out in the wood yard, waiting for more snow. It did turn a lot better with the new ski parts, so at least one thing's fixed!

First Dog Run...

 Been trying to get the dogs out for a run for awhile now, but finishing summer/fall projects seemed to take prescedence. But after a couple of snows and some hard work, finally got'em out for a run.

Andy took the photo after we got back into the yard. Missy, at twelve, ran great. Gus did his usual crazy dog act in the yard, but did well up front until we got back, then flopped into the snow, presumably to cool off. The amazing thing to me is how much Earl has grown, he's almost as big as Tambo now. Running dogs, it's a way of life, I guess!

And here's the end of the second run. A little warmer today, so there's some hot dogs...

First Snows...

Had our first snow on the second, right on time according to the weather bureau. It all melted the next day, but then we got another storm that dumped a couples of inches.  

It looks like it might stick around for awhile.

Just finished winterizing the tractor and installed the backhoe for some late season dirt work and the annual filling-in of the dog yard holes.

With the forecast of more snow and colder temps, I guess I better get to it; it's always a race to finish before the ground freezes too hard to dig. Winter comes early in the interior!

Equinoxed...

We're past the equinox, had our first frost, and the leaves are coming down. So I guess it's officially fall. Figured I'd better get some bike rides in before the snow fell, so rode a ways out towards Two Rivers. 

The colors were kind of disappointing, this area was partly burned by a forest fire, so maybe not the best spot for a photo op.

Took another shot in the driveway. The sun had come out by then  so the colors were a lot more vibrant.

Fall Colors...

 A little later than normal, the leaves are finally turning. The fall colors usually peak around Sept 10, more or less, so we're running about a week late. It's probably because we haven't had a frost, or even much cold weather,  yet. Here's a few photos from today;  probably be more colorful in a few days.

While the birch are getting yellow, the aspen are still green.

Temps this morning were in the low forties outside, not bad for mid-Sept. Inside, it was the sign of the beast.

Some more photos, looking up the driveway.

A day later and the colors have intensified...

And a few more days later, the colors on the birch have peaked, while the aspen remain slightly green...

Jak Se Mas...

 I grew up in a midwestern town that was mostly Bohemian Czech. When I was a kid, you seldom heard English in the stores, most everyone spoke Czech. You'd hear the phrase "jak se mas" (how are you) all the time. As I got older, the town began to change as people died or moved away and other ethnicities moved in. By the time I went off to college, you seldom heard Czech spoken anymore. So It was a big surprise when I heard about a Czech-Slovak reunion happening a few years ago in Fairbanks. Eva, a young woman from the Czech Republic had settled here and started a family. She wanted to meet with fellow countrymen and women. The first meeting was just before covid hit and had maybe 30 or so people show up. It was a treat to sample Czech cooking again, even if I didn't know what each dish was, and hearing the language, which I don't speak well,  that was interesting too. Covid put a stop to the reunions, but just last week they had another. So here's what Eva wrote in her followup email:

"Ahoj Cesi a Slovaci,

dekujeme moc za hojnou ucast!

Thank you everyone so much for coming to Czech-Slovak Gathering 2.0 :) And we are sorry if you couldn't make it, but hopefully we will see you next time! Around 54 people came to our gathering and we were very pleased to see how much good food and baked goods and drinks you all brought to share with others!"

They had a catered meal instead of potluck so it was good to know what I was eating this time. Apparently the meal was cooked by a local Moldovian restaurant (who'd think there'd be one up here), so not exactly Czech cooking, but still OK. Eva plans to have another in two years, so we're hoping it will happen again. Here's a group photo she sent with the email...