Too Hot

It's hard to believe that a month ago we had frost on the ground. It's currently 73 degrees (F) here at the house. Much to hot to run dogs, and as far as I'm concerned, too hot for hunting moose as well. That was my original plan for the evening, but I think I can wait a couple of days. The odds of my being successful aren't particularly great anyway.

I got home from my Kentucky trip at about 2 am this morning. I was up at 8:30 and by 9:00 I was on the road, picking up my dogs. The first batch was 7 dogs that I had boarded with Mike and Kim Green. I got them home and settled, and realized I was starving.

When I got over to Lynn's place, to pick up the 8 dogs boarding there, Lynn had Good Ole Gump up on the grooming table, working on his coat. She had already groomed furry Chinook, and "was on a roll". Both of those dogs look fantastic. When Gump was gloriously finished, we decided that shy Rose really needed her nails trimmed, so we got her on the table. Rose HATES to have her feet messed with, so we muzzled her (just in case) and I stood by her head to help her cope while Lynn did the pedicure. The nails on her front feet weren't too bad. The two outermost nails on her rear feet were broken off, but the rest were clipped pretty easily, all things considered. That poor, shy girl has a heck of a time when foot care is necessary.

Once Rose was back in her pen shaking off her adventure on the grooming table Lynn, her husband Rick, and I headed to Mia's Cafe' for breakfast. I had no problem downing two eggs, a slice of bacon, two sausage links and two slices of crisp bacon along with a healthy pile of hash browns. All was cooked to perfection as Mia would have it no other way.

With some chow on-board, I headed back to Lynn's, collected the fuzz-butts and headed home with them. Each dog got a chance to free-run and visit his or her buddies in the yard before I settled them in.

Back inside, I arranged to have my septic system maintained, filed a "lost item" report with Alaska Airlines, SeaTac Airport and American Airlines. I'm afraid I lost my noise canceling headphones and IPod Nano during my flights last night. I sure hope they'll show up, but I probably shouldn't hold my breath for very long.

I was nearly first in line when the post office opened at 2, picking up three weeks worth of mail. Highlights of the mail run included a wonderful gift from Kim Fitzgerald, who sent me a copy of Bill Vaudrin's book Racing Alaskan Sled Dogs. It includes some incredibly valuable historical information I'll be able to add to my up-coming presentations. Thank you very much, Kim. I am eternally grateful.

Mike Green came by the house with pictures from his moose hunt. He was able to harvest a fine bull that will provide he and Kim with plenty of winter meat. He has achieved the ultimate definition of "security" in Alaska. He has more than 10 cord of dry firewood under cover and a moose in the freezer. He's officially ready for winter.

My next project was to change a flat tire for the spare on my little utility trailer. The left side tire has been going flat in between runs, and I need it repaired before winter. I'll take it into town with me tomorrow when I take my little car in to finish the heater motor repair, and run some errands. I need to stop in at the UAF library to check out a couple of books for ongoing research, I need to do some grocery shopping, and I'm fairly certain at least one more errand will rear its ugly head before I've finished that town run.

With a bit of luck I should have Friday more or less free to myself. I'm hoping to take some dogs for short training runs with the four-wheeler on Friday, and then head into the woods to look around, with rifle in hand.

Swanny