Heavy, wet snow around here eventually means no power. No power-no water. Dogs had to wait to frolic until I took a shower, put on my ski clothes and made coffee. Priorities after all.
Normally I can walk under these branches with my arms up stretched to touch them.
The dogs had a blast playing Chinook tag while I cleared the snow off the kennel roof and a path to get firewood. Come 10 am and we were without power. I did not worry because the power company had robo-called to say they were going to cut power between 1200 - 1500. I just thought they had started early. The outside opening (see yesterday with John climbing out) to all heat duct vents was only covered with a piece of partially blown away cardboard. Cold air again had direct access to all ceiling vents. Without electricity the air circulator and ceiling fans were not on. The wood stove fire could barely keep up with drying my numerous wet gloves, boots and hats. 
No problem. I kept warm shoveling and throwing snow balls for the dogs to catch.Last night Dave wondered why we no longer had satellite TV...
By noon I figured we had enough snow (over a foot) to go for a sled run to get the paper. It was really tough going. The snow was the consistency of wet cement. We made it past the first and second downed trees by running over branches and through the deep ditches I had dug a few weeks before when the road washed out. Somehow I actually managed to stay on the sled. Then we came to a large Doug fir that had fallen from the high side of the road. Willy first aimed to take us under the butt end, 3' off the ground but nicely turned on command to go around the top. That is when I saw the downed power line tangled in the tree branches inches from them. I braked the sled and ran forward to make sure they turned around away from it. I must have frightened them. Once around they shot off back down hill. Unfortunately I had the run-away strap on my wrist...
Big Ouch
The dogs got their end-of-run treat. I called the power company and headed back out with my chainsaw and loppers to clear the trees. My camera battery died so I did not get to document the sled tracks going through the ditch, over alder and cedar tree branches and aiming under a fully branched, large, tree tangled with our powerline. 
Too cold indoors. Once the road was cleared it was time to let the dogs out to play while I shoveled the foot of heavy snow off the 20'x50' flat roof.
My heroes, the power company team. Power was restored at 1620. 
Still snowing as I type. Wonder what adventures tomorrow will bring. I do know that it will include shoveling out the hot tub. I ache.
By noon I figured we had enough snow (over a foot) to go for a sled run to get the paper. It was really tough going. The snow was the consistency of wet cement. We made it past the first and second downed trees by running over branches and through the deep ditches I had dug a few weeks before when the road washed out. Somehow I actually managed to stay on the sled. Then we came to a large Doug fir that had fallen from the high side of the road. Willy first aimed to take us under the butt end, 3' off the ground but nicely turned on command to go around the top. That is when I saw the downed power line tangled in the tree branches inches from them. I braked the sled and ran forward to make sure they turned around away from it. I must have frightened them. Once around they shot off back down hill. Unfortunately I had the run-away strap on my wrist...Big OuchThe dogs got their end-of-run treat. I called the power company and headed back out with my chainsaw and loppers to clear the trees. My camera battery died so I did not get to document the sled tracks going through the ditch, over alder and cedar tree branches and aiming under a fully branched, large, tree tangled with our powerline. Too cold indoors. Once the road was cleared it was time to let the dogs out to play while I shoveled the foot of heavy snow off the 20'x50' flat roof.My heroes, the power company team. Power was restored at 1620. Still snowing as I type. Wonder what adventures tomorrow will bring. I do know that it will include shoveling out the hot tub. I ache.
The dogs alternated between watching it snow outside and trying to figure out what was going on above their heads.
Poor John ended up with a plumber's crack full of snow.
The guys left early. It was just too cold (and slippery). The good news is: because they quit early, one air handler is still working so we can circulate wood stove heat into the bathroom and bedroom. Once the air handler is off, we will have 2-3 days of heat only near the wood stove. All is white outside now and still snowing hard. We are expecting 3-6" snow tonight/tomorrow. If the guys couldn't come back to work tomorrow, had they disconnected the air handler, it would be even more days of total house coldness. Good news also is: 4 dogs to warm the bed.
dad Lee and the Lee girls
GeneAnne
me
and Linda
grand daughter Natalie and great grandson Luke
dad with grand daughter Kendra, grand son-in-law Dave and great grand kids Luke and Abby
The dogs thought this was interesting but would much rather have been catching snowballs thrown by the crew.
heat pump to the roof top
"come-on. it's snow. let's play"
the second heat pump to the patio
Merry Christmas once all the ducting is replaced, new insulation installed, heat pumps and air handlers are replaced and the old ones disposed of in an environmentally safe manner. 
Today is rainy and lazy. Cedar, Willy, Koyuk and I are beat. McKenzie is a pillow while checking out the world from the upstairs dog couch.
My new camera is supposed to give me GPS coordinates of each picture and a distance log of where I went. In the ideal world, I would be able to stop, take off gloves, go through the menus for the correct settings, calibrate the compass and shoot. I must have missed a set-up step at the beginning of the trip. I did not get a GPS reading until this point a good 2.5 miles from the van.
The distance between the last picture and this one was 3.1km. 
These two pictures were 5.3 km apart.
Last week I determined by comparing this cut bank with Google earth, that this point was 4.1 miles and an elevation gain of 763'. The dogs were still going strong so I decided to take them another 1/2 mile+. We successfully negotiated a turn without tangled dogs, me being drug or even falling off the sled. I went to take a picture and all I got was a grey screen. I could not even turn the camera off to re-boot it. As we flew back down the road, I decided to shoot random shots for GPS and see if I could get a scenic picture of the dogs running along the tree lined road framing Diamond Peak. I figured that even if the camera just took grey, it would at least save my GPS points. Wrong. So no tangle free turn-around or ending pictures. AARG! Oh well, it was a beautiful day to be on the trail and the downhill ride back to the van was exhilarating.
No matter how little, Snow = great fun for Chinooks
Mother and daughter - Cedar and Koyuk
Silly Willy
Regal McKenzie
"she kissed me"
"did not"
The Waldo Road is popular with snowmobiles. The conditions were cement hard, snowmobile tracks with widely varying depth. In other words, really tough to control a sled. Some of the tracks were a foot or more deeper than ones that they cris-crossed. The dogs were really excited and ran fast while I held on and tried to take pictures. (Think standing on 1.5" wide boards while on the back of a bucking bull and holding a cell phone size camera in the gloved hand that should be holding onto the steering bow.) We climbed 550 feet in 2.5 miles. The dogs were going so well, we continued on a good 1.5 miles. I didn't have a clue as to what I was taking pictures of or the camera settings. All I could do was lift the camera with my gloved hand during what looked to be a smooth spot and shoot. Of course my gloved hand changed settings with each picture.
I thought I had taken several pictures of the dogs with Diamond Peak but this is the only one on the camera. The dogs were headed downhill with solid footing. We flew. I was just hanging on and occasionally snapping away with my huge gloved hand. And oh yea, snow on the lens.
Van in sight. The dogs are pulling even faster if possible. I am standing with both feet on the brake. There is a steep berm between me and the van. I really did not want to fly over it.
The end.
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