A picture may be worth a thousand words...

... but they won't necessarily be honest. Here we have Linden the rope-a-dope looking very ladylike. Autumn, the proud and stubborn leader, usually photographs like she's been abused and has self-esteem issues, but here she's just cleaning herself.

Overslept...

... but we still made our run to the river park this morning. It's still raining, but at least August rain is normal rain, for Fairbanks, and I think I'm getting used to it because it seemed a lovely morning. The air was clear and crisp. When we arrived at the river, there was a beaver doing acrobatics in the swift, flood-fed current. I was amazed at his strength. Going against the current and going with the current were the same to him. Just a flick of his tail and a push of his paw, and he went any direction he liked. He slapped the water surface with his tail and dove under and surfaced minutes later in unguessable locations.

And down behind some trees, where there is a nice shelf on the bank where some people like to picnic when the weather is nice, and which had been underwater for the previous week, was a red satin bra. It had been raining all night, and the park was muddy, but this couple who was young enough not to have a place of their own had decided that the river park was a fine enough love nest for them.

Energy Rebate

This is big news, considering that heating oil is up to 4-5 dollars a gallon. Yup, more than gasoline for cars, even though it's less refined.

Wow

For the past three days now, off and on, the clouds would part and we'd see this glowing yellow ball in the sky. It would briefly thaw our faces and warm our spirits, and then the clouds would come back and it would disappear again. Hmmm.

Well, we are going to walk Ester Dome this weekend, rain or shine. The girls deserve a nice muddy hike to irritate their dad with their muddy paws. :)

Adopting them has turned out very nicely. They were obviously well-raised, well-trained, and well-loved, which makes them significantly easier than most adult adoptions, so we've really lucked out. We have all of the pleasure of their company and affection, without having dealt with them as puppies. No potty training, no loopy puppies tearing around the house and knocking things over. No chewing, no drool. No getting up in the middle of the night or in the early dawn to empty a tiny puppy bladder. No cleaning of squishy, smelly puppy crap. They came to us like Athena, sprung fully-grown and ready to go!

Misc Photos

The Tanana has gone down at least a few feet, and our little silty beach is partially exposed again. It continues to rain, but since they've closed the dam on the Chena Flood Control Project, the river should continue to go down. I only wonder, when will they open the damn and drain it out? During breakup, so we'll have additional water in with the melting ice? Early Summer, when hopefully the river will be able to cope with it? Hmmm...

Anyway, here are some miscellaneous photos.

Here is our outhouse. It's pretty typical of Alaskan outhouses. Simple, rough-cut wood. Nothing fancy or exceptional. I took this for my brother-in-law, who was curious to see it.


I comb a fuzzball of undercoat out of each dog every 2-3 days. Down from every day during Spring! Over Winter, I do not brush or comb them at all. They don't shed at all, and don't need it.


Linden still has strong outdoor instincts. She still sleeps curled up in a ball, with her nose tucked under her tail.


Autumn, in contrast, sleeps like a house pet!

Bwahaha

Flood humor, and dry cabin humor:
Free water for dry cabins

Edit: I should mention that that isn't my posting. I just think it's wonderful. :)

State Fair Photos

A lot of them. Apologies to folks with slow connections, but I have a pretty lousy connection myself, and I can deal.

Finest shot of the day. A smiling behbeh goat!


Goat that looks like an alien:


Behbeh goats cuddling together:


Goat smiling in her sleep, just like Autumn and Linden!


A nice sign on a gray, dreary day:


Here are photos from the weight pull. The heavyweight winners generally pull in the 1000+ pound range, and are St. Bernards or newfies. There were no newfies yesterday. :( So disappointing. I like newfies.

There are not allowed to use anything but voice commands to get the dogs to pull. Some of these dogs, I think, just didn't "get" what was being asked of them. This one goofball just sat like a doofus while his handler called him.


And tried to explain to him.


And his dad coaxed him.


He just wanted a belly rub!


In the midweight competition, the winners are usually malamutes. Malamutes are a-freakin-dorable. The look exactly like Linden and Autumn, only HUGE, well over 100 pounds.

Here is Adorable Malamute Who Posed #1.


And here is Adorable Malamute Who Posed #2.


Unlike St. Bernards, Malamutes are generally perfectly happy to pull.


But they also need their belly rubs!


Carnival!


Junk food!


Reindeer!


Smiling goat!


A calf who tried to slobber me! His big ol' tongue came out with a slurp!


Piggie snoots!


Behbehgoatsbehbehgoatsbehbehgoats!


Lamb. This lamb was the soffftest I had ever felt.


Giant purple... something... what is this called?


Cabbage 1 for the weigh-in!


12.26 pounds!


Cabbage 2!


Cabbage assembly thus far. I didn't have the patience to wait (weight!) the entire 3 hours for all cabbages to be weighed. The winner is generally 30-60 pounds, depending on the weather that season.


And finally, remember how I told you that the locally grown tomatoes aren't that good? I lied. This is from the farmer's market last week.


Junk food tally:
1 basket of deep-fried halibut (the only deep-fried thing, Rena! Just one!)
1 roast corn
1 reindeer dog
1 cup of ice cream from a North Pole creamery
1 plate of local veggie bits (carrots, green beans, broccoli, summer squash, etc)

Not too bad, right?