Happy Birthday Trask

The BrownStone Cascade Peaks litter was whelped July 25, 2013. Each puppy was given different color rick-rack and a unique registry name using the Chinook language names for different Cascade mountains. In birth order: Wy'east (Mt. Hood), Mr Navy; Loowit (Mt. St. Helens), Ms Pink; Pahto (Mt Adams), Mr. Red, Karuk (Mt Shasta) Mr. Green; Klah (Three Sisters), Ms Purple; Koma (Mt. Baker) Ms Yellow and Mazama (Crater Lake) Ms Orange. I hope to feature each of the pups this week.
I have always wanted a boy named Trask after the famous Oregon frontiersman and his namesake's Trask mountain and Trask river (a premier Chinook spawning river). When I finally chose which boy to keep, I changed his registry name from Wy'east to Trask.
Trask weighed 11 oz when he was born

By week 4, he was 5lb 8oz and actively exploring his environment.

At 8 weeks old, Trask was a 17 lbs 8 oz pawfull for his mother.

By three months, Trask was doing his best to keep up with the rest of the BrownStone pack and developing quite an independent streak.

At 3 1/2 months, Trask joined mom Koyuk and grandmom Cedar for his first dryland mushing experience.

He lead a team of 11 Chinooks.

The goofy, gangly, gnat brain, boy had completed Puppergarten and earned is AKC STARS obedience title at 4 months.

In early December, he had his first experience in harness, on snow.

What was to be just a photo-op turned into a tangled race down the hill.

By 6 months, Trask was 50.6 lbs and ...

the CGC class "wild child".

At 7 months Tule Loowit joined Trask, Koyuk and Cedar for our one and only sled run of the season.

At 8 months Trask started to do short trail runs with Koyuk and Cedar.

At 9 months he took his first rig run in harness. Trask is a mushing maniac. By the time we ended our run, he was not only pulling me on the rig, but Cedar and Koyuk too. In fact after this run, I had the bike shop put bike brakes on the rig to supplement the disc brakes.

At 10 months he participated in the Bark-in-the-Park Run with a pack of 1000 or so other dogs. I was so proud of how he handled himself around all the the people and dogs. Trask loves everyone and feels the need to greet each and every one of them - thus we did a more rapid and zig-zag run than I had anticipated.

Trask LOVES his bones. Like a toddler with a pacifier, he always seems to have one in his mouth (when he doesn't have something else he shouldn't have gotten into and be chewing on earning him the name "Trash collector").

11 months old and such a happy boy.

Trask is bigger than Koyuk and Cedar.

At 67 lbs Trask still has some growing to do but he is turning into one handsome boy.

Happy First Birthday to my 66.4 lb, "snuggle bunny", "wild child", "lover boy" "Trash collector", "gnat brain", "goofy boy", "Trask-off!", "mushing maniac", "CGC class clown" "Trasker".

BrownStone pack birthday party. "Enough with the pictures already.".

Very Special Guests

I am so lucky. My niece Amanda from Nevada included a stop here during her family vacation. Last summer Trask suckled on Keegan's toes...

this year Keegan's cheeks were the perfect height. Trask couldn't get enough. He was forever sneaking kisses.

Keegan

After unpacking the van, Noah with Keegan and me with Cadence headed for a quad trip to see the logging equipment. Heavy rain in the morning made for muddy and sometimes challenging driving.

These kids are in LOVE with big machines.

 Dad, Noah, helping the kids down.

The earth mover.

Keegan and Cadence had a blast pushing buttons and pulling leavers. It was a good thing the key wasn't in place or they would have had the big tractor on a roll.

While the kids "logged", the dogs checked for food possibly left by the actual loggers.

Keegan helping his dad drive the quad through the new oak savannah.

Trask joining in the family picture being taken by Cadence.

 This family needs a quad.

We picked berries for desert while dad cooked us lunch.

 Amanda with their foster baby.

 I really do need to weed and mow the garden.

Koyuk was on the lookout for unattended berry buckets. Between everyone eating berries as they were picked and the dogs raiding the low-to-the-ground buckets carried by the kids, not that many berries made it back to the house.

Tractor time. Siblings sharing the tractor seat was fine for pictures but squabbles for control of the wheel made it unsafe for movement.

A quick family picture and...

 Cadence was off.

Cadence drove by herself all the way from in front of the house to the pond and only very reluctantly gave the seat up to Noah and Keegan.

 After a short ride to turn the tractor around, Cadence resumed solo driving.

She did consent to picking up her family for a short ride and picture as she drove back by the pond.

This family needs a tractor.

At this point, Keegan was quite determined that he should be driving something so he was moved to the quad while Cadence expertly parked the tractor in the barn.

How well I remember Amanda, not much older than her daughter Cadence, driving the tractor. I am so glad her family finds the same joy and excitement.

Determination

Yesterday was another hot - now smoky - day.  With the property next door clear-cut, I am determined to get an unobstructed view of the Three Sisters mountains. (Sacred is a word I could use for how I feel about these mountains). To that end, I spent the day cutting 20' off the top of a wayward plum tree. I wanted to do the pruning before the hundreds of thousands of plums ripen creating a huge sticky mess, swarms of yellow jackets and upset canine stomachs. Climbing the tree; using a handsaw off a 4" diameter, sucker branche; climbing back down; pulling down the fruit laden, tangled branch; lugging it to the burn pile; repeat... necessitated multiple cooling swims throughout the 96 degree day. I grabbed the camera for a few of these swims.

Being as I am a determined sort of person, while treading water and using a camera without a view finder, I remain determined to get a good photo of the iridescent blue dragonflies on the waterlilies. I am getting closer.

This morning Trask woke me by dropping a bag of stiff elk hide on my face. Oh Sh#*! I flew out of bed knowing exactly what he had gotten into this time.
Trask is proving to also have a determined personality. He has gotten into things none of the other dogs ever even thought about: sewing cabinet - check; dog food storage, locked garbage can - now metal, strapped and screwed to the wall; screw down lid compost bin - check; sunflower seed bin - check; all cupboards - check; box full of computer and misc cables - check; backpack - check; garbage can now also strapped and screwed to the wall...  I have no more high places to put stuff he has desired. During the night he opened a drawer containing embroidery threads, material and supplies. Then after playing with and distributing them, he opened a drawer containing fly tying feathers and furs. After spreading the furs and feathers about amongst the embroidery supplies and, eating several of the feathers, he brought me the elk fur as a wake-up present. Life around here is never dull.

Kids, Dogs and Water

I invited Kerstin and the girls up to chase around with the dogs in anticipation of my niece coming from Nevada with her family. Since the dogs frightened my great niece during her visit last summer, I wanted to make sure they were well socialized to running, screaming kids - and I wanted to see Kerstin and the girls again. It has been way too long since they last visited.

 Anna running with Trask.

The temp was in the 90's. After the initial, excited chase, the dogs immediately headed for the back pond to cool off.

The girls decided the back pond was too muddy so they headed for the large front pond.

Of course you can't be beside a pond on a hot day without taking a dip.

 

Lupin watching over her girls.

Trask decided that swimming after Anna would be great fun. I have never seen him swim that far and he actually swam out several times.

While everyone dried off, Trask tried his bubble-net fishing technique in the big pond. Again no luck.

I can't wait to share the dogs and ponds with my niece and her family. And, I can't wait for Kerstin and the girls to come again. This promises to be a long, hot summer and I have the perfect place to cool off while the dogs run free.

Run, Ride and Visit

What was predicted to be another 90 degree day started with a ka-boom - and black sky - and wind - and cold. Cold enough to run the dogs.  Dave has not been to the back of the property for months and had not seen any of the logging. Trusting the lightening was far enough away, we filled his scarcely used quad with gas; dressed the dogs; and were off.

 Koyuk

 Cedar

 Trask

To restore an oak savannah, all of the pine and fir must be removed from the area.

After checking out the logging and a quick dip we were off sort of...

Anyone that knows me, knows I always have a piece of rope near by. Dave's quad gave him fits on the way over the ridge and completely died near the pond. To get back home I steered his quad while he pulled with mine. The dogs showed the way.

After our wayward adventure, we took Trask to Tule's house for a playdate and Sarah to make us a book shelf. My original plan had been: buy the boards; have the hardware store cut them to length; screw shelves on with L brackets; screw to the wall. Sarah is a woodworker extraordinaire. I now have dadoed shelves with edged and trimmed boards built to correctly fit the space. And Trask had a blast while Sarah measured; cut; sanded; glued and nailed away.
The day warmed considerably during the playdate. After about 45 minutes of chasing around I finally got them to sit still for a quick picture.

 Tule Loowit.

 Tule has a trampoline. It took quite a bit of coaxing to get Trask to join her on on moving surface.

It was way too hot to paint the bookcase when we got home.  So using that as an excuse, I joined exhausted Trask for a sound nap.