Sledding, Hurt Dogs, and Getting Colder

We took Leo on his first sledding trip. A nice grassy slope in Eagle River (he is scared of going down our driveway) was all we needed to let him go for it. He even got to ride down by himself once.


He ended up getting a little bored of that so we started training him for some biathlon (skiing and shooting) competition. This is for next winter of course and only squirt bottles for now. But, look at the intensity in that kid's face!



In sadder news, I almost cut Georgie's leg off with a pair of metal edged skies. We were making some backcountry turns when she ran in front of me and decided to stop. I ran right over her and the result was a 2 inch gash that exposed muscle, tendon, ligament, and all that. (Sorry about the graphic stufff, Dad.) The vet got her all stitched and bandaged up and she seems to be feeling fine. No ball throwing for 3 weeks though.



It just keeps getting colder and colder. Here is what our thermometer read earlier this evening.



S0, we are keeping warm but we still have 2 months until solstice. The Sun comes up behind the mountains about 10:30 right now and sets again around 3:00, although it's light out from about 9:00 to 7:00. The temperature on the shady side of the yurt hasn't been above freezing in a couple of weeks and we are dealing with some pretty major ice build up. (Pictures of ice and icicles later.) Nicki and I spent a short sunny afternoon breaking it up with shovels and hammers and trying to get some vitamin D. I hope you all are warm cozy right now. I am. I'm in the yurt.

SNOW, 100 mile per hour winds, and a new dog

Snow has definitely come to Eagle River and the yurt. We haven't had any huge dumps yet but here is a picture of the yurt after a 4 in snow fall.



And, here is a picture of it later in the day after it cleared up a bit and some of the snow melted.



A couple days after this snow the valley really warmed up and we ended up having 80-100 mile per hour winds rip through. The yurt held structurally but we almost lost our dome skylight and a piece of the outside wall fabric came loose. The fabric was flapping like crazy during the wind and was incredibly loud. We lost power for about 6 hours and telephone for about 12. Talking to some of the long time locals around here it sounds like that storm was as bad as it gets, thankfully. With a little bit more tightening down I think we will be in much better shape for the next time this happens. Sorry, no pictures I was too busy keeping my home in one piece.

Leo has taken a big liking to the snow. (surprise surprise) It turns out that our driveway is an excellent sledding hill. Here is a picture of Leo throwing snow on his poor dad.


It was decided that Georgie needed a companion so here we are introducing Major. (We are working on changing his name to Ranger) He is a sweet.... large dog. He has a bit of refining to do in terms of commands but he is calm and good with Leo. Georgie isn't exactly thrilled about sharing the house but she'll get there. Here is a picture of Nicki with Georgie (left) and Major.


Finally, a picture of the Eagle River Valley just beginning its snow covered winter.


Nicki and I have each gone out skiing and hopefully we will soon have enough snow to start pulling Leo around on the sled too. Winter fun here we come!