Puppy photos!

One friend of mine has a kennel, and also does sled dog resscue and placement. Last week, she put out a call that she needed help as she was expanding her dog yard so she could accommodate four Siberian huskies who had been at the local Animal Shelter since February! Our animal shelter strives for minimal euthanasia rates, and often keeps dogs and cats for a very long time. But they often depend on local private rescues to offload dogs and cats that have been there for a a while.

So on Saturday, after I took the girls for our morning walk on the trail (yay for being able to walk freely without fear of meese!), I grabbed a pair of work gloves and headed over. The job was about as pleasant as dogyard work ever gets. The trees had been cleared, and she just needed help moving and spreading this pile of wood chips. The weather was also really perfect: Cool, sunny, and mosquito-free.

The yard on the right is done. The yard on the left is still on the to-do list. Those sibes will have nice digs until they find homes!

Shot of the front yard. This is a hodgepodge of rescues and retirees who are very friendly and cuddly.

This is Polar! Polar's mama was rescued from a severe neglect situation when she was pregnant with Polar and his four sibs. The pups are all well-socialized and have homes lined up, but Mama is looking for a home, too.

I stole these photos of Polar and his siblings from N's Facebook feed:

Above photo by Jen Owen

So cute!

Here is a photo of Mama Topaz. Topaz is sweet and loves other dogs, but is still a bit shy around humans. She's come a long way though since she was rescued! She let me pet her. N is looking for a home for her where she will have another dog for companionship.

While I was poking around in there, I found a photo of old man Clyde. I love this boy. He is sweet and cuddly and reminds me of Roo. He was solid black with just a few white markings when he was younger, but now he has old man white ticking. A lot of tourists think he is a wolf hybrid, but he's so cuddly and personable, it's very obvious he is not.

Above photo by Jen Owen

Clyde a few years ago. Love this big sweet boy:

Above photo by Teh Han Lin

I squoze Polar!

The next day, I went to visit MK, who also had puppies. I did not offer any volunteer work in exchange. I just squoze puppies.

Mama's name is Kona. She has beautiful wolfie-colored eyes. I stole this photo from MK's facebook feed. I think she looks slightly horrified here. ("Seven puppies??? How did this happen to me??")

This litter is being named after Lucky Things: Wishbone, Sparrow, Rabbit, Tortoise, Dragon, Clover, and Seven. Here is a photo of their dad, Cedar. Cedar is a big draft dog. You'll notice how he's comfy in a bed while Kona is being mangled by seven puppies, who are still nursing despite having fangs.

MEN!!

Official greenup!

Apparently ten days later than average! But here it is. Yay! Green buds!

And that Alaskan summer sky!

Here is a Cricket selfie.

And here is a Thistle selfie.

Guess what I have?

I have an APPLE!!!

Mmmmm APPLE!!

Spring arrives at its own pace

A gradual spring is nice, especially one after a winter of high snow levels. Then the snow melts gradually, and the risk of flooding and damage to our dirt roads is minimized. However, hail is a bit of a setback.

Wowee! Look at these!

However, now that enough snowpack has melted so that the meese can access browse, they have quit being hangry, and we can walk at least this one trail system again. Our favorite trail system, behind our cabin, is, alas, inaccessible now due to another reason: a thawed and flowing creek.

This trail is melting out little by little. There are streams of water cutting through at places.

The water is clear and very pretty.

Oh no! COMB!! The other downside of spring.

Winter almost always has one last hurrah. It's like it comes back into the room after it's left, shouting, "And another thing!"

But underneath the earth, the world awakens. A few days after I spotted the rhubarb, I saw the first columbine plants appear.

Here is a Cricket selfie!

And here is a Thistle selfie!

An Unusually Wet and Muddy Spring

Due to our record snow last winter, and the layer of ice that's under that snow damming the meltwater, we are having a weird and muddy spring. The Minor News says that "City public work crews have quickly become inundated with clearing out flooded streets caused by warming weather and a near-record snowfall from this summer."

Look! There are streams of water going down our roads!

Water accumulated behind our cabin and rather than draining through the snowpack, as usual, it got trapped by that ice layer and accumulated water behind it. DL cut channels through that dam thing. (Please note my dam fine pun.)

These buds will burst soon!

And look! My first rhubarb from my new patch appeared!

Here is a zoomed-out photo for context. The snow had only just receded, and the rhubarb was all, "HERE I AM, YOUR FAITHFUL RHUBARB."

Here is a photo of Queen Thistle eating an apple.

And here is a photo of Princess Cricket eating a bok choy stem.

Here is a photo of me squeezing HRH, who tolerates me pretty well now.

And here is a photo of the Princess, incapacited since Daddy got up from their snuggle and left her All Alone.