Waning Color and Winter Prep

The yellows are still bright on the birches and popples. The summer birds have noticeably departed, but the geese are still flying over. The chickadees are looking for their feeders, but we won't put them out until the bears are denned up. Along the hillsides, I can see sandy dens of foxes . On the trail camera I've caught some furry tails and the many deer that are everywhere.

The dogs are shaggy looking from thickening fur, so there's a lot of brushing going on. (and vacuuming).

Yesterday I bought some new roofing for dog houses, so that will occupy me for a few days.

The rains thoroughly soaked everything, but we've had some stiff winds drying things out.

We still need to add some more doors to dog houses and fill in the trenches from draining the pens.

But, looks like yet another warmish week ahead, so not too much harnessed running yet.

Light snow in Fairbanks

This is the link to a downtown web cam in Fairbanks: http://www.arcticcam.com:16080/cam/

There is light snow, in Fairbanks, and 22 degrees. That will grease the ATV trails a bit, I suppose.

If our rain yesterday had been snow, I'd be out digging my way out. It filled pens up to house bottoms and required deep trenching in some. For the dogs, the added insult was a thunderstorm last night... enough already, they said.

Still hoping for cooler weather. Glad for the rain , however.

Link to Aliy Zirkle/Allen Moore Blog: Fall Training

Aliy's and Allen's blog says it all about fall training. It describes very well the chaos of hooking up dogs early in their professional kennel or any training kennel. We don't hook up as many dogs, but the chaos is probably just as prevalent. This is the link to their SP Kennel Blog: http://spkenneldoglog.blogspot.com/ And I did empathize with Aliy's comment about the occasional black eye or swollen lip from exuberant dogs... they're just SO happy to be going.



Also we use the xback harnesses, only using the ManMat for our lead dogs, so our dogs have necklines, but the discipline and freedom of the no necklined team is incredible once they've learned it. The freedom it gives the dogs as they run is readily visible in some of the Iditarod photos of the teams using this setup.

Welcome to baby Sam!

Kaz Zirkle and Ray Crow have a wonderful new baby boy, Sam, born October 6th!
Congratulations to Kaz and Ray and all of the family!!

Record Heat

Whew, the hot days are behind us, this morning it is in the 40's. Saturday and Sunday we had high 80's and I filled water buckets and pools just as if it were mid summer.

Fortunately rains came with the cold front and it seems as though we'll have a more normal October week, although 60's for the weekend ahead.

Chena and Sulatna

Each day with Chena and Sulatna is a gift now. Chena's heart is failing. She has Cushing's disease and various other ailments. For now we are able to keep her comfortable and she still takes one early morning walk. Sulatna's tumor continues to grow and is inoperable this time.

In this photo they are ready for their morning walk. They are just the best house companions and I'm savoring every day with them. Chena has a built in clock and still supervises the schedule... she knows when it is time for her breakfast, her walk, time for me to feed and give treats. She also knows when it's time to close down for the day and supervises that as well.

Winter Blog

We will transfer to our winter blog as soon as the monsoons of fall stop. The pens have been full of mud/water from the recent rains, but we need and love the water. Hopefully the rivers will benefit. Our winter blog link is: http://windypups.blogspot.com/



Last night I went to check my boats and the little whaler was nearly sinking from the recent rains, bale, bale, bale. The lifejackets were floating. We have waited all summer for some good rain.



Re: wildlife, a little fox came up to the house the other night. I watched him/her approach and tried to get his/her photo but was not too successful as s/he startled as soon as I went out on the deck. There are still scent posts dug and marked each morning. S/he may be one of the diggers.