Trask And His Bones

Trask almost always has something in his mouth. Most often it is a bone. Today he upped his booty. He decided the horse skill I had in the landscaping might be worth a chew.

Our property was once horse logged. When the horses became elderly a shelter was built by the back pond; daily deliveries of cob were made; and they were free to roam. Years ago during exploration trips, my niece Emily and I found the three skeletons and brought back the skulls. One has been in my rhody garden ever since.
Six dogs and 21 puppies ignored it but not Trask.

 Yeah you Trask

The Woods Were Dark and Deep

Dave is concerned about a possible lawsuit so I have been asked to redact this post: Here goes with the sanitized version and some new pictures.
The McDougal brothers purchased the 60 acres NE of us. They are known for "resource harvesting" as they call it. As soon as we found out about the sale and proposed clear-cutting of the property, the neighborhood association held an emergency meeting to see if there was any way to stop the McDougals. We were able to have the creek running through the property listed as needing to be protected (a 50' no-cutting strip on either side).  Today when I heard the trees falling, I took the dogs out for a look-see. The dogs knew something was up. Their tails were up on alert as we approached cutting area.

The new high-tech "harvesters" are awe-inspiring. Almost as fast as they can drive, the trees are cut. No chainsaw whine. No shouts of  "timber". No crashing. Hundred year old trees are lifted as the cut is made, de-limbed and then set down.  All that remains are stumps and rows of limbs.

Easy to tell where our fence line is. Our side has been set aside as a federal forest sanctuary. After hauling the logs and burning the slash, theirs will be barren.

Of course no dog run blog would be complete without pictures of the Nooks.

Trask

 Koyuk

 Cedar

Friday - May 30 - Three days - two loggers - two machines - 40+ acres,

Our view from our house.

My Heros

Yesterday my sister, Linda and brother-in-law, Chuck ran in the Half Hero Marathon. The marathon honors all vets - especially the wounded and those who did not make it home. The proceeds go toward helping disabled vets. I am not sure why it is called the "Half Hero" because all vets are our heroes not half of them or just the half that is still together as it was before they went to war. I would think "Hero Half Marathon" would be a better name but it must have been taken. I digress.
Both Chuck and Linda are recovering from major orthopedic surgeries. Being just a year and some younger than me, I miscalculated my sister's running ability. She beat me to the finish line by 45 minutes. I was still on the freeway when she called with her "where are you?"

Just as the dog's feet touched the ground, the sirens and fire engine horn blasted. The dogs and I jumped: "whoa-what the?". Every finishing runner got a heroes salute from the police and fire department as they crested the last hill toward the finish line. Appreciation salutes were also awarded by Nam Vet motorcyclists stationed at every intersection.

Chuck is a true military hero. He was career army before retiring disabled. He is the most honorable man I have ever met. He is kind, generous, thoughtful, honest.... there aren't enough accolades to describe him. My sister is my hero. I am ZPG. She bore and raised my 2.5 and her 2.5 beautiful nieces. She is a successful business woman. Her humor and drive have helped her thrive even with a major disabling disease.
To these two heroes in my life and to all American heroes: thank you.

Yeah! Tule Loowit Came Over to Play

Snow was on the ground the last time Tule Loowit, Trask, Koyuk, Cedar and McKenzie all saw each other.  When Tule got out of the car, there was a brief "you seem familiar but we are not quite sure who you are" period of reunion.

That awkwardness over and the play began. Without seeing their distinct collars, it was often impossible to tell who was who as they zoomed around.

Tule and Trask still going as the others one-by-one dropped out for a rest in the shade.

Eventually a cooling swim was in order. My best guess on this trio is Koyuk, Trask and Tule.

Trask chasing Tule...

 Tule chasing Trask...

"Got ya" as she rolled him off the bank into the water.

Soaked Trask and Tule taking a breather.

 Tule checking out Trask's tonsils.

Trask and Tule ran, chased, played, swam... for over two hours with the others occasionally joining in. When it came time to leave, neither wanted to separate.  It took all my strength to hold Trask back from chasing Tule's car home. Both of them whined in desperation as if their hearts were breaking long after they were out of sight - Tule until she arrived home. Fifteen minutes later when I got the still crying Trask into the house, he ran upstairs and continued his rant as he stared out the window. His cries then became a head-back-howl joined by the others. I have never heard a spontaneous howl from my dogs. It was both a fun treat and an earsplitting riot of sound and excitement.

Trask crashed after dinner - exhausted but still wanting to play.

Tule definitely needs to schedule more play-dates.

Week in Review

The week before last it poured here. Dave was at a meeting in the mid-west. Friday the storms moved east as Dave flew west. Dave: "I got out of there just in time." Tornadoes delayed his flights by 10 hours and he just made it through Denver before 3 foot of snow fell. By Saturday it was sunny and hot here. Dave was anxious to mow the lawn which had grown considerably while he was gone. Kay Lee: "the garden still has standing water. I sink in the mud when I walk." We: discussed how the ditch system we had dug last fall had failed to keep the garden dry.
After getting stuck the past two years, Dave has strict instructions to stay out of the garden with his monster Kobota mower. Being below the water table, deep ditches from those adventures hold standing water much of the summer. 

He could not resist the challenge of mowing knee high grass. Once again my tractor came to the rescue.

Much of my week was spent with me in muck boots weed-eating the rest of the garden while the dogs enjoyed the spring sunshine.

Lupin brought her family for a visit and excess plants from the greenhouse. Getting all five Chinooks to sit still for a photo proved impossible...

a visit from the girls and Lupin is just too exciting.

Mom McKenzie with adoring Lupin

The weather was in the 80's and the pond an attractive distraction. The girls were almost pushed in by the attention seeking dogs.

 WaterNooks

After the really fun interlude, it was back to pulling weeds, rototilling and planting.

The rains have returned. Today, Trask and I entered the local humane society's Bark In The Park 2.5 K Fun Run-walk-drag with a team from his CGC class and another 1000+ dogs.

Trask has never been to the park thus has never experienced so many interesting smells. He even stopped to smell the roses...

 and reluctantly sat for a posed picture.

Trask has also never seen so many kids, human legs or dogs.

He impressed me with his wonderful, easy, sociability (even the crouching TV camerawoman got a surprise kiss as she looked through the lens). I impressed everyone with my sustained strength while holding on the leash throughout the event.

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Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day BrownStone Moms

McKenzie - Christmas litter 2003, Thanksgiving litter 2004

 Cedar - Iditarod litter 2010

 Koyuk - Cascade Peaks litter 2013