Team Nookies Easter Run

I haven't made it to the mountains with the sled this winter.  The mountains are my sanctuary. Easter morning was a now-or-never opportunity. The weather prediction was for a major, wet, snow melting storm. Sunrise did not bode well...

 but as the fog lifted, a clearing over the mountains could be seen.

We drove to the Ray Benson Sno-park on the Santiam Pass since being the highest altitude Sno-park, it had the best possibility of snow covered trails. We found several feet of snow at the trailhead.

 The temperature was in the 40s. The snow was ungroomed and sticky as we flew south.

 Our first view of Mt. Washington about 1/2 mile into the run.

 Gravet Butte cliffs about 1 mile.

 A pause to catch our breath and take in another view of Mt. Washington.

 The mountain goes in and out of view as we round corners.

 Our turn-around/snack point about 1/4 mile past the Circle Lake trail junction.

 The sun came out briefly as we headed back uphill and north.

Mt. Washington on our way back.

 First look at Three Finger Jack.

 A long way, mostly uphill as the storm looms over Three Finger Jack.

A last look at Mt. Washington. At this point the dogs convinced me that we needed to take a trail off to our right. I was clueless and have found that the dogs are usually correct at trail junctions near the trailhead. I knew we were close because I could see Hayrick Butte.

Our shortcut took us straight north (from south of the TH on the trail) past the east end of the Sno-park and around to the north end adding a little over 1/4 mile plus a drag across the parking lot to the south loop where the van was parked.

The dogs spotted the parking lot and headed full speed off a 7' high cutbank dragging me and tangling themselves.

By the time we had drug the sled across both loops and the center snow island of the parking lot, Team Nookies was a tired, tangled lot.

 Dogs watered and fed. Van loaded. And a last look at Three Finger Jack.

 Clouds made this shot difficult but the sled is cradling Mt. Washington.

We made it home just before the thunder, lightening, hail and pouring rain.  A very Happy and Adventurous Easter for Team Nookies.

Easter Vinebunny

On April Fools Day, Vineman became Vinebunny.

 Koyuk was not impressed.

 April 8th Ma Nature gave us another blow.

Vineman's mask was no match for the tree toppling winds but air conditioned Vineman only slightly tipped. Soon after this photo, the bunny mask completely disappeared.

As a child, my sister and I were dressed in a new dress complete with a fancy hat, gloves and purse. (Lind is wearing my hand-me-down dress. I could not find a favorite picture of Lind and me the year before in the same, matching dresses.)

Even at 6 years old, I was a fan of dogs.

An April 15 search of Trask's favorite stashes located the mask. Bunny Mask found, VineBunnyman needed a fluffy tail, fancy hat and basket purse for Easter.

 VineEasterman gained a heart and lost the slightly creepy mask for a Easter Eve photo.

Happy Easter Eve from Koyuk, Trask and Cedar. (I didn't even try fancy hats on my fur kids. I have a hunch they would be as excited about wearing them as I was.)

Waiting

Papa BrownStone Cascade Mt. Trask just in from lolling in the grass.

Miserable mama Mountain Thunder Calamity Jane lolling in the whelping box.

Papa Trask

Trask is about to be a papa again. His few hundred thousand swimmers had travel in a tube, via Fed-ex from Portland to Chicago to accomplish the deed.  But, two survived.
Mom Calamity Jane is relieved a second pup was found this exam.

You can see one skull, shoulder and spine near the top of each view. Looking for the spine makes them pop into view.

Dog Treats, Bears and Cougars

This saga starts with a really good deal on NY steaks. Around here we feel that if you are going to eat meat, eat the best. If you can get a great price on the best, stock up. However you can't stock up if the freezer is full. "Clean out the freezer" has been on the top of the to-do list for a couple of years now but has been largely ignored. Each season's harvest of fruits and vegetables along with Costco packages of  beef and chicken have been just crammed in until freezer capacity was maxed.
Before I could clean out the freezer, I had to empty the bottomless compost bin. We have had a long standing (20 year) joke about how no matter how many harvest scraps and coffee filters we add to the top, the compost bin never fills up. I knew that out-of-date frozen fruit and vegetables would probably exceed even it's "bottomless" capacity. Time to clean out the compost bin. Twenty plus year's of worm castings are compact and heavy. After a couple bucket loads taken out the bottom door, I realized that the only way I was going to empty it was to tip it over and move it. Of course I had to make a new place to move it. That done, over it went. Using a garden tub I made enough trips from the compost bin 50' to the Kubota to fill up the dump bed. Then I took several trips with the tub to the chip pile to cover up and fill in the first compost bin location. (Rotting compost can be deadly to dogs so I placed 6" deep of chip to dissuade them of feasting). I could/should have used the wheel barrow but it was full of firewood and unloading the wood into the house would have been another step. Multiple trips with the garden tub seemed the best option at the time.
Since I need my Kubota dump bed to continue my Icemegeddon cleanup, I had to empty it of worm castings. Due to standing water in the garden until August, my garden consists of tractor tires with rims cut out. Each year I dig out the old dirt and refill with compost before planting. I have not yet dug out the old dirt but decided the worm casting are so rich, mixed in with last year's dirt, I would still have excellent vegetable beds. Last month we had record rain fall. The standing water in the garden is up to 10" deep in places and the ground is very soft. A simple trip to dump worm castings evolved into getting the tractor to wench out the stuck Kubota. De-winterizing the roto-tiller and tilling in the worm castings ended that task and filled my boots with water in the process.

Work supervision crew.

The new steaks were still chilling in the refrigerator. Now it was finally time to clean out the freezer. All of the frozen vegies and dried fruit went into the garden tub and meat into a large cooler. Multiple trips throwing away labor/energy intensive preserved fruits and vegies were made to the quickly refilling compost bin. I am sure the poor worms were in shock after being bombarded with frozen beans, tomatoes, peppers and fruit.
Then came time to sort the meat. Both age and 8 days without power had caused a lot of freezer burn. Some was still edible. Some was good to be cooked and made into dog treats and the rest had to go. We don't have garbage service out here. On the way to town, I chased down a garbage truck to see if I could persuade him to take my cooler of frozen meat for some cash but he declined.
Plan B. A couple days ago there was a very large, dead raccoon on our drive. When I came back from my town trip, it was gone. Apparently major predictors have moved back in close to the house. Known bear, cougars, lynx and fox inhabit a far corner of the property. I decided to leave them a feast and hopefully draw them away from the house side of the ridge. I drove with my cooler to the far corner of the property; scrambled over the tiddlywinks of ice downed trees until I found bear and cougar tracks and; left a frozen feast.
The steaks were still chillin' and it was almost time to put them in the near empty freezer but first they had to be shrink wrapped. That done, it was time to create training treats for the somewhat patient dogs.

"OK, now where are our treats!"

Sorry guys, the meat has to defrost before I can slice and dry it into jerky.
A Really good deal on NY steaks turned into a really involved series of tasks. But now I can erase "Clean out the freezer" from the to-do list and I have a stash of NY steaks; the dogs have NY steak jerky and; the predators have large helpings of meat to enjoy for my efforts.