The Summer that Wasn't

Although it was sunny today, the graph from the National Weather Service tells the rest of the story. We've had the wettest summer on record up here, and it hasn't been pretty. I have friends who still have a foot of water standing in their yards and more seeping into crawl spaces and basements beneath their homes.

That is soon to end, however. This morning the temperature was 30 degrees here at the house, the first hard frost of the season and a sure sign that freeze up is on the way. I won't claim to be disappointed. If wet stuff is going to fall from the sky I'd much rather it be in the form of snow rather than rain.

National Geographic Contest Update:

As of this morning, our entry in the National Geographic Expedition's Granted contest is competing against 308 others. The deadline for submissions is tomorrow, so they will probably get a few more. Another group of dog mushers has submitted their own project, which is somewhat similar. They plan to go shorter mileage, but over a more challenging route. Their laudable goal is to draw attention to the impact that a proposed commercial road will have to people living within that region, which is also part of our intent. I hope that one or both projects makes the "cut" to be finalists in the contest. Obviously, I would prefer it be ours.

Finalists will be announced on September 16th, and the outcome will be decided by popular vote between the 16th and 29th. Don't worry, I'll post a reminder here when the time comes and will no doubt be nagging you to vote early and often.

Chicken House:

Trish and I spend much of yesterday moving the new chicken house into place. That required removing the old one, which was a considerable effort. Putting the new one into place was relatively easy, because I was able to sling it from straps under the loader bucket of the tractor to move it around. It's currently in serve and the birds seem to appreciate the additional space it creates in their yard.

Two of our buckeye hens checking out the expanded chicken yard.

That brings us up-to-date on this R&R thus far. I've many more tasks to accomplish, but with the cooler weather the most important of those involve preparing for the new training season. It won't be much longer and I'll have videos of our working dogs to share.