Morning Photo-ops

Sunshine, snow and excited Chinooks. I took over 100 pictures before 10 am. Half of these were taken before my morning coffee.
Willy's favorite position when on snowIt was close to sunrise when they got me up and out.snow is deepThree more inches fell last night but yesterdays foot had condensedKoyuk's turn to be "it"WillyKoyukWaiting to be tagged. They are actually tongue taunting. WillyBrownStone pack

Koyuk is "it" Sneaking McKenzie is "it".Willy is taunting

CedarKoyuk, Queen of the HillKoyuk is "it" again "can't get me" Koyuk Cedar, new Queen of the Hill Cedar & Willy were not into a cold butt, sit-stayKoyuk McKenzie, Dowager of the Hill

And I Thought Yesterday Was Cold

Do not even think about sleeping in when you have Chinooks and there is snow on the ground. They won't let you. I awoke to 4 Chinooks giving kisses and lunching themselves off my body onto each other. With 10" of the white stuff I knew what they were trying to tell me: "SNOW let's go!" 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 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.

So Cold

Ma Nature is not helping at all with the heat pump installation. All of the ceiling vents were open to the outside today. I don't know if there was more inflow of cold air or outflow of woodstove heated air. I do know I sure felt the cold air going down my neck and my little computer desk heater was totally useless.

Kelly had a very tight squeeze into the cold attic above my office.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.

182 Candles

Saturday, all 5 of Iris' and 3 of dad's kids (Bob couldn't join us) along with friends, grand children and great grandchildren too numerous to count were on hand as Dad, 94 and Iris, 88 celebrated their birthday on Saturday. dad Lee and the Lee girlsGeneAnnemeand Lindagrand daughter Natalie and great grandson Lukedad with grand daughter Kendra, grand son-in-law Dave and great grand kids Luke and Abby

Heat Pumps Are Here!

For Christmas we got each other His and Hers Heat Pumps. Other than our wood stove, we have not had heat since the week before Thanksgiving. Our failed heat pumps were one of the first, local, geo-thermal units. The heat comes from water filled coils in the ground and deep in the big pond. The large circulating pump, which had been apparently on its last legs for a long time, died two weeks before Thanksgiving. We replaced it. With the system functioning once again at full capacity, the heat pumps themselves could not handle the pressure and burned up. The two air handlers no longer meet environmental standards, thus had to be replaced. Everything had surpassed their warranty by 10 years anyway. These four units were 200+ lbs each. Luckily for the crew we have a tractor.

I got to play with my weatherproof camera. First the guys had to get to the attic...

You don't just go out and buy a new system like ours. To get energy tax credits we had to have several inspections and complete reams of paperwork. The new system which includes two heat pumps and two air handlers, had to be engineered and built specifically for us.

then the air handler.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 patioMerry 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.

Willow

Willow also got to play with her family in the snow this weekend.

Well Deserved Rest

This morning, while I was giving the camera GPS another program search to document yesterday's run. I came across this picture. I thought I had deleted it. My snow tipped, gloved, finger is over the lens. I must have taken it as I went over a bump while holding the camera. To me, it is funny and typifies trying to take pictures and stay on the sled at the same time. Both my balance and camera technique still need a lot of work.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.