Weather shenanigans

Minor News sez., "It's official: 2014 wettest summer in a century in Fairbanks"

In other news, the Richardson Highway is gorgeous, rain or shine:








Linden LOVES road trips. The other dogs go to sleep; she sits up and smiles out the window.


A pack of wolves!


Summit Lake:


Termination dust! August snow, y'all!


WOLF drinking!


Black wolf at Paxson Lake!


It is my sincere hope that this photo goes viral, without any attribution or explanation. Panic! Human-acclimated wolves at Paxson Lake! Then it shows up on snopes with the explanation, "This 'wolf" is a dog called Starbuck."

Kerflop

Alaskan huskies--bred for 15,000 years for physical and mental toughness, and finally put to use as collectable cuddly toys the same as beanie babies.

Annual blueberry trip to the White Mountains!

Last weekend, DL, M, K, M2, and four dogs and I headed out to the White Mountains for a blueberry picking trip. DL and I got six quarts... not too shabby.

DL consulting Autumn while packing:


This is Lee's Cabin:


DL enjoying the sun:


As the dogs do similarly:




Starbuck sez, "Life is a long road, which is best traversed wi--A SQUIRREL! Oh hey CHEESE!!! CAN I HAVE CHEESE?!?"


Nice view, eh?

We were awoken at around 3 a.m. by a yipping, howling dog team, and come outside to watch our first aurora of the season!

The gracious ladies check out the interior:


And of course, 1:1 ratio of blueberries to oatmeal at breakfast the next morning!


Autumn and DL snuggling when we get home:




Two bees on campus, one fuzzy and one nonfuzzy:

Alaska eatz

I've been hooked on buying fresh, local eggs from the feed store, which purchases eggs from a variety of local farmers. However, their supplies are unreliable, and they often have strange alternatives, such as goose eggs:


The following week, I guess the Egg Gods decided to compensate on size and overshot, with quail eggs:


Here we have our veggies for the week, from my CSA at Rosie Creek Farm:


Despite the record rain and low temperatures, and a late spring freeze that destroyed the early plantings (we've already been warned we'd get no end-of-season giant pumpkin this year), farmer Mike and his team still crank out a looooot of lovely veggies!

Dogs are very good at taking naps.

Autumn sez, "I gots my bone, and I am on my cowsch."


"My minions stay on the floor."


Napping in the sunshine on top of Murphy Dome:


Autumn looking impossibly sweet on top of Murphy Dome:


Four! Four fuzzies in one photo! Ah, ah, ah! Vahnderful!


Linden looking gooberdy even in her sleep:


Autumn again because OMG how cute is she???




Starbuck in bliss:


Starbuck selfie!!


Zzzzzzzz...

The Alcan photos I've owed you

Continuing in reverse chronological order, I present to all nine of my loyal readers, the rest of our Alcan adventures, or at least the parts I bothered to photograph.

Here we have the bustling metropolises of Wyoming, which is 49th in the US in population density (just above Alaska):


Little Bighorn, site of Custer's Last Stand:


A waterfall in Jasper:


Athabaasca Glacier:


Athabasca Falls:




Idiots getting out of their car to photograph a bear:


Very agile sheep!


Enhance!


Elk!


Stone Sheep!


Muncho Lake!


DL!


Wild Columbine!


Another shot of Muncho Lake!


We saw manymany bison, including behbehbison:




One of our more picturesque pee breaks:

A storm was coming!

We crossed (and peed at) more scenic creeks and rivers than you can shake a stick at:




Kluane Lake, where were spent the first night of This Grand Adventure:


The beginning of the AlCan:


Farewell, Tanana Valley!