Rainbow

Today was a typical Oregon spring day: pouring rain, hail and brilliant sun. I took this picture from my office window. The rainbow beckoned. I decided it was time to give the dogs a long run.

I called the dogs. Trask came to me drooling, huffing and whining. One look and I ran for the peanut butter and Benadryl and shoved them in his mouth. He was too swollen to lick the spoon. His whole body was hives under his vest. Before I took off for the E-vet, I checked around the house to see what he had gotten into. I couldn't find a thing - which was highly unusual since he is always getting into everything. All I can figure is that he tried to mouth a bee out in the kennel.

Trask at the E-vet one hour later after a double dose of Benadryl and steroid and epi shots. (This was the same E-vet where Willy died.)

Poor boy.

I have again checked the house and can't find anything (but the contents of the plastic recycling bin which the others got into and played with while we were at the E-vet).
Four hours later Trask still has monster jowls but the hives are gone. He was too restless to stay quietly in his crate and Koyuk continually bugged me to be in there with him so I let him out.

Rainbows always make me think of Willy. Was he watching over Trask? Was he telling me to check on Trask? Coincidence? Probably. I don't know. 

Lost Dogs

The habitat property ridge is a dogleg L with the long, east/west ridge-line being about a mile. The north/south leg is about 1/2 mile. The ridge itself is 300-500 feet high elevation gained and lost. Normally I take the dogs parallel to the ridge for about a mile then up over the east end and drop down another 1/2 mile to the back pond. They take a swim to cool off and we return.

 The north side is lush.

 The south side is oak savanna.

By the time the dogs get down to the pond, they are more than ready to cool off.

Unfortunately there is a large, foul, well rotting, buck carcass not that far from the pond.

With a lot of coaxing I was able to call Cedar and Trask off of it and to the pond where they ensued in a great game of Chinook tag.

Finally Koyuk came down for a drink and to cool off.

As soon as she showed up, Trask and Cedar headed back to roll in the carcass.

Now I had three really smelly dogs and the inviting carcass to pass by on the way home. I decided to take the very long way home west along the ridge base; up to the top of the south leg; along that leg; back east along the top of the ridge then drop down again and the mile home. The dogs had never taken this route.

Before we headed out, I took them to a stream to hopefully wash some of the yuck off and make sure they were well hydrated.

 We are going up the dogleg.

Once we got to the top of the main ridge, the dogs caught scent of the carcass way down below. I snapped this picture not realizing it was the last I would see of them for a couple of hours. .

This ridge is way too steep to take the quad, thus the long distance from one side to the other. I fruitlessly whistled for 1/2 hour then rushed home; grabbed the cell phone; got more gas and headed out. But where to go? We weren't back to an area they knew when they took off. If they had gone down to the carcass as I suspected, would they take the normal route back home? Would they stick together? They were pretty tired by the time we got to the top of the main ridge and it was getting late. I called Dave and headed out on our normal run. No one on the carcass or at the pond. I then traced the long way up the dogleg ridge. Still no dogs. I went back to our normal trail and headed home. The happy, smelly, wet dogs were still panting heavily when I walked in. They had beat me by just enough to go inside the house and crash on our bed. There are times....

Perfect Morning

Impressions of my perfect morning: The shaded ground crunches underfoot. Shoulders warmed by the morning sun. Comfortable chair. Steaming coffee. Dogs excitedly running about. Flowers ready to burst with glorious color.

This was the first morning of 2014 I have been able to enjoy my morning coffee outside - something I relish. Until now the sun has not reached the patio early enough for this luxury.

Another rite of spring: the bees arrived. The drought in California forced to bee keepers to move north earlier than usual. Time to ready the garden for a well pollinated bounty.

BrownStone Birthday Party

Today was a belated birthday celebration for Koyuk. I posted this picture on FB and someone thought the scarf said "Party Pooper". Really? It says "Party Pooch".  All my canine kids get to wear it on their birthday.

Getting the BrownStone pack to pose is always a challenge. I caught this picture of McKenzie and Cedar while Trask and Koyuk were in route to check out my treat pocket which was full with special birthday treats.

 BrownStone Birthday Party.

Happy 4th Birthday Iditarod Litter

Four years ago while the 2010 Alaskan Iditarod Race was being run, the BrownStone Iditarod Litter was whelped. Chinooks are sled dogs. The Iditarod Litter pups were named in order of racing checkpoints - Willow to Nome. The 2014 Iditarod race continues as I type with mushers still on their way to Nome.
Here are just a few favorites out of hundreds of litter pictures.
The Iditarod litter taking their first sled ride.

Eight puppies were whelped but saddly, Galena and Nikolai only survived a couple of days.

 Dressed for St. Patrick's Day

 Their eyes were still closed when they first explored grass with mom Cedar.

Puppies have very sharp teeth.

Cedar found puppy gruel a much better feeding option.

The puppies continued to explore their world and enjoy the loving adoration of many human friends during their 8 weeks here.

Cedar could not get enough play time with her puppies.

 The last individual pictures before going to their forever homes.

 BrownStone Iditarod Willow

 BrownStone Iditarod Takotna (Muku)

 BrownStone Iditarod Kaltag

 BrownStone Iditarod Koyuk

BrownStone Iditarod Elim (River)

BrownStone Iditraod Nome

Beautiful, Wet, Morning Run

With Ferrari in the shop getting her brand-new, broken, brake cable replaced (the bike shop guys had never before seen one brake) and a secondary set of brakes put on (just in case), it was back to running the dogs with the quad (not that my bruised and battered body minded). While McKenzie stayed to watch the house, we headed out - with the camera of course.
We have had torrential rains. The trail was marshy. My old quad tracks were flowing streams on the steeper sections. The morning the sun sparkling off water drops on hanging moss added magic to the lush beauty of the woods.

When we got near the back pond Trask was going so fast he seemed to fly through the oaks...

and water.

The dogs love the pond and chased each other through the shallows.

The chase continued as they ran back up and over the ridge.

"Beat ya!"
"Pfittt!"

Wet, muddy Trask near the end of the run trying to avoid in inevitable bath they all were about the receive.