Snow, Birthdays, and Thanksgiving

The snow has been falling fairly steadily here. Lot's of play time out in the snow for every one.
Here is a picture of skiing along the frozen Eagle River

Playing outside with the dogs. Notice the icicles dripping down the side of the yurt.

Snowy Yurt.

No two snowflakes are the same.

Leo and and his second birthday.

Thanksgiving Settlers of Catan.

I've been boarding down the driveway lately. Pretty Fun!

3 Blinding Sun Bursts

I just wanted to show this short video. It's a time lapse of the sun moving across the sky in the Eagle River Valley. On November 18th, we got 3 glimpses of the sun, one 10 minute showing and 2 twenty minute ones, about 50 minutes of direct sunlight. By Thanksgiving there won't be any sunlight and we won't see it again until some time at the end of January. Anyway, here is the video from 10:00 to 1:00, photos taken every two minutes.

Bear Tracks, Light, and Cabins

With fresh snow in the area, it is a lot easier to see what critters have been around and where they are going. Here are some grizzly bear tracks on a frozen tributary of the Eagle River.

The low light conditions have really been contributing to some dramatic landscapes. This picture was taken around 11:00 AM.

Nicki had a 5 day weekend and we took full advantage of it by skiing/skijouring out to a one room public use cabin on Eklutna lake, just north of us. We had a fast ski in on a well packed trail. Then, about 8 inches of snow fell over night. Here are Nicki and Leo enjoying the sunrise from the warmth of the cabin.

Here is a picture of the sunrise from down by the lake where Ben was enjoying the sunrise in the freezing cold. Click on it for a larger view.

The way out was not nearly as fast with all of the new snow. I didn't see my skis for most of the trip out. Here is a picture of the dogs who are pulling Nicki, who is pulling Leo with my sled attached to the chariot.

My sled kept flipping and really slowing us down so Nicki agreed to add it to her load. What an amazing woman. On the way home we stopped for hot cocoa and pizza. A truly amazing combination.

Halloween and Ice

A demon enjoying a raging fire? No, it is just Leo in his Halloween costume. Can you guess what he is? Same thing as last year except funnier because he is walking and talking. This picture was taken at the Alaska Zoo, where we went trick or treating. He had to wear full snow gear beneath his costume so he even waddled a bit like Yoda.

Leo was also very into this whole Jack o' Lantern idea and even named each pumpkin after a member of his family. Try to guess who is who.

We have had clear skies and very cold temperatures for the past few weeks, and while skiing has gone down hill (ha ha), the ice has been amazing. Here is a picture of some hoar frost (feathery ice crystals) that have been forming outside of the yurt.

It has also been cold enough for Eagle River to freeze over. Once the ice gets thicker and we get some more snow you can actually ski and snowmobile on the river all the way up to Eagle Glacier at the head of the valley. The hoar frost on the river was a couple of inches tall which is big. Here is a panorama of the frozen river. Click on it for a larger picture.

Last but not least, the reason for all this cold. No sun. We have about 3.5 hours of it now. I did a time lapse of the sun moving across the sky. Unfortunately, I didn't think about doing it until after the sun rose and right before we are starting to cloud over again. So here is a time lapse of about a half hour after sunrise, 11:00, and until sunset, 2:00. If I can I'll post a better one later.

Get out and vote!

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!

Snow, Moose, and Phonelines

The snow line has been dropping nearly everyday and is currently about 2000 feet above the yurt. Ski time!! I told a friend recently that I was thinking of hiking up and skiing something. He said, "Dude, winter lasts 7 months up here. No need to rush." He's probably right. I'll just let the snow come to me. New winter project: Splitboarding. Here is a picture of the snow across the valley from our yurt.


This morning we were visited by a family of moose. I never knew they traveled in herds, but a herd of them (5) walked behind our shed this morning. You can see two of them here. It might be a bit like playing I spy.



You see that white line running across the ground behind these two bull moose in the next picture. Yeah that is my temporary phone line, and when they decided to leave they both got tangled up in it (one with it's horns) and snapped it in two places. I was so enthralled with the imminent demise of my phone line I forgot to take a video. It was pretty funny......until I had no phone service.


Here is one of my splices. And yes the phone is working once again.