No longer complaining about the mud and muck of break up, summer is officially in full swing. Summer a short and manic season in Alaska full of non-stop daylight and the distinctive smell of DEET. And even though we are not on sleds it is still a busy time; mostly getting things ready around here so that when winter comes we are able to spend more time on sleds.
This summer big goals include: working on securing sponsorship for the 2011-2012 race season, making some new dog houses and possibly a new free run yard for the retired dogs, cleaning and repairing all our winter gear, working with leaders on command training, and the ‘non dog related but helps keep me in shape’ goal of running all 8 races in the Flint Hills Series ending with the Equinox Marathon.
However it seems that the smaller goals, the daily To Do list that eat up huge portions of my day. Each day includes the feeding and watering of the kids, or course followed by the scooping. There are shedding dogs to be brushed, buckets to be cleaned, and if you ask the kids they would probably say the daily dose of attention ranks up there on the scale of importance. One of the kids Reece got into a little tussle, and since he is a lover not a fighter, he did not fare so well.
Reece recovers in the living room while wearing the Cone of Shame.
After his trip to the vet and some stitches he is now wearing the ‘Cone of Shame’ and living in the house with Whiskey (the min pin) Guppy (retired Iditarod leader) and Chopper (the cat, who might have identity issues as she was raised in a house of dogs)
An attempt is being made to keep the cabin clean, not always successfully. I have a few small garden beds, although it seems each year I scale back to spend more time with the dogs. And then there is the regular mowing of the ‘lawn’…
I use the word lawn loosely here. OK in front of the cabin real grass is planted and growing,
This is our small section of real grass lawn.
and even though Better Homes and Gardens will never use it as a picture perfect example, it looks passably like a lawn and feels great to walk barefoot on. Now the other approximately 3 acres are also referred to by me as a lawn, but let me clarify. I call it that because I mow it, and in theory there was grass seed spread there a few years back. But it is more of a mix of anything and everything that grows around here kept short by my regular attacks on it with our old mower. (Motorized but push, not drive, for the record)
How does one come to have 3 acres of cleared ‘lawn’ you might ask? Well I am glad you did because it lets me explain why Fire season still makes me jumpy. When we moved out here we actually bought a cabin in the woods. And then in 2004 the Boundary Fire started. It began as many wildland fires do in Alaska, a lightning strike. Conditions were ideal with winds and dry fuel, and it grew fast. Jump forward a few days to make a long story short; not 4 hours after being assured at a community meeting that we would be safe we were evacuating under duress. The roads had been closed and no one was allowed in to help us. We were getting dogs hooked up to a chain we ran between the truck and four wheeler in the dark as night & flying ash conditions caused when a fire is bearing down on you. We were able to run them like this to a very large gravel pit where we knew we would be safe. Ultimately all the dogs were saved, and the cabin managed to not get burned.
We call this fire art, it is the melted metal that was once our dog box.
But everything else was gone, burnt, and melted into oblivion. Garage with all Dan’s tool, boats, greenhouse, outhouse, the generator that was power for the property, dog gear, a winters worth of firewood to heat our cabin, everything. It was weeks before the fire was controlled and safe enough for us to bring the dogs home. That summers To Do list was pretty easy: Clean up the mess.
Since then I have had a healthy fear of fire, and I am sure you will not fault me for it. Luckily this year we are not being threatened by fires… yet. But they are starting and officials are saying it may be a bad year, as conditions are ripe for burns. On the plus side I now have 3 acres of cleared space on the property, they call that ‘defensible space’ and it makes you much safer should fire threaten. Heck they could land helicopters in my lawn now and still have room to set up camp for fire crews. (which, for the record, I would be happy to let them do if we were being threatened)
And so I dutifully mow, knowing full well it will never have a beautiful grassy lawn (without some significant help and hydro-seeding) and that’s fine, I like my Alaskan Lawn. Today is breeze and not too hot, might just have to go mow it. Would be one more thing to cross of the never ending To Do List.
For more about fire preparedness you can read my article in the July/Aug 2010 issue of Mushing Magazine
Some of my pictures from the 2004 Boundary Fire in Chatanika:
Followed by some photos of the new sauna and garage, because Hey ultimately I am an optimist and want to end on a positive note:
This was out sauna and you can see what was left of the greenhouse in back.
And here you can see what was left of the garage.
The new sauna, cordwood construction style building. We were able to use standing dead trees from out property.
The new garage is still a work in progress, taken years to get to this point, but I am happy to report it is much nicer then the one we lost.
