A Beautiful Day on the Tanana

We finally thought of a place where we could ski without worrying about moose encounters, a place with wide-open visiblity. The Tanana River, of course! We met Jeff and Jenn, who were the girls' former handlers back at Dew Claw. They have three dogs, one of whom is Petey, Thistle's nephew. They were also kind enough to take these videos for us!

After the Storms, Discussion

Local science writer Ned Rozell wrote a very nice writeup about the implications of the recent back-to-back storms. The rain in the middle put an inprecedented ice sheet on top of the snow base layer, and it's causing a lot of problems. We have not been on the neighborhood trails since the storms, nor has anybody I know. The deep interspersed layers of snow and ice have made travel difficult for moose, so they are using a lot of human trails and roads. That ice layer has blocked a lot of their food sources, so they are also hungry and stressed, and they have been reported to be attacking humans and dogs all over the interior of Alaska. Some biologists have estimated that most of the calves will not survive this winter, and we can only hope that the adults survive. This makes me feel incredibly sad. Moose are not predators, but there are very few things that can hurt them. Their biggest challenge in life is that their caloric balance is so fine; they need to eat enough to survive winter. And now their food sources are blocked. It's not looking good.

Another reason I've been avoiding skiing or skijoring is that, although a local volunteer trail groomer has nicely groomed the top layer of snow, and it would be lovely to ski on, that underlying layer of ice is still there. If a moose were to walk down the trail, their hooves would punch through the ice, leaving deep, ice-lined holes that would be very easy for the dogs to hurt their shoulders on.

Sigh. Between being unable to ski and STILL working and teaching from home, I have to admit that this is the first time that I'm feeling a bit worn down.

I just have to keep reminding myself that I'm still extraordinarily fortunate. I have a home, loving spouse, family, friends, a safe home, adequate food, a good job, health insurance and access to health care; I'm fully vaccinated and boosted, my ankle has healed up well with no issues, and, and, and! I have many blessings! But still feeling very bummed.

The Ned Rozell article has me feeling bummed, too. Foxes are dying? Voles are dying? Of course, everything he says makes sense. Well damn.

Let me post some dog portraits.

Thistle looking happy and queenly:

Cricket looking uncharacteristically dignified:

Cricket bellyrub selfie:

Selfie with Thistle:

And after the storms...

I found this photo floating around Facebook. So this is the result of our two snow storms (fairly normal) with the ice storm in between (not so normal):

Photo credit: Unknown

That was hard to deal with! For those of us that plowed/shoveled after the first storm, the ice covered the driveway! For those of us that did not, digging out after the third storm involved breaking through that layer of ice! Moose are really struggling, too. Their browse is under that ice, and every step they take requires a lot of extra effort, during a time of year when they are already running lean. They are also traveling along human corridors, since we have plowed/graded them. I'm afraid this will be a low survival year for them. :(

Here is a photo of Miss Thistle eating a bok choy stem:

And here is a photo of Miss Cricket eating a bok choy stem:

The side roads in our neighborhood had not gotten plowed after storm #1, so they were covered with thick snow. All of the grading/plowing companies in Fairbanks were severely backlogged, and our area is prioritized below higher population density areas in town. So nobody could go anywhere for a while. We had stocked up on groceries in between storms #2 and 3. The girls and I decided to skijor our morning run loop on the roads. How funny! Looking at this photo now, it does not look like a road! It looks just like it was taken on the trail system!

Looking up the road in the opposite direction:

Took off my mitten and stuck it on a pole for a selfie!

Some giant rig had gone down here! Look at the giant tire treads! I wonder what it was.

The snow was really deep in some places. At this point, all of the risk-averse people are staying home, and the bold people are attempting to drive, with varying degrees of success.

And we're back! That's our cabin on the left.

Looking behind to the main road we'd just crossed:

The winter light is very pretty!

The next day, I decided to snowshoe down and break our spur to the main trail system. I could barely see the trail:

Even my snowshoes sank!

I made two passes, so the trail was 4x snowshoe width wide. That way when we skijor, the girls can run side by side.

My first pass:

Before:

After:

However, when I got out to the main trail, it was still unbroken, alas. We'll have to wait until some snowmachines go first and break a trail. I think the dogs would be willing to do it, but it would be hard on their wrists and ankles with that ice.

Look at the back yard! That lump is the guest dog house. It doesn't look very inviting, does it?

Sweet Miss Thistle gets a bell pepper:

Do you think Princess Cricket is comfy? I sure hope she is comfy.

APPLE!!