As our summer days grow shorter, sunset becomes a dramatic Alaskan event. Perhaps it is the novelty of an increasingly dark evening after months of light. Perhaps it is the timing, nearly midnight in July and progressing earlier on a daily basis. Perhaps it is the low angle at which the sun depends below the horizon. Regardless, it lends itself to beautiful moments.
The transition from summer to fall has arrived. Summer tour equipment has been put away and fall training for the dogs is in full swing. As in the summer, the dogs are pulling the four wheeled vehicle for fall training. While we live in a spot that is great for snow and cool summers, we challenging trails for fall training. The terrain is rough. There are lots of bumps, ruts, and puddles.
It takes a extreme concentration to take the dogs around the loops. You must constantly be aware of upcoming obstacles and be ready to slow the team down before they reach it to walk slowly across. These trails also take a beating on the drivers and I know everyone is looking forward to the cushion of snow when it arrives. Max is excited that we added a “monster truck” to our fleet of sleds and four-wheelers. We plan to put it on tracks for the winter and allow the the dogs to pull it in lieu of a sled, providing a warmer environment for Max to help with longer training runs.
The puppies from last summer, Otter, Oodles, Ozark, O-Ring, and Oakland are gaining confidence and milage. They are trying their turn at lead and learning to cooperate with nail trims and harnesses.
The puppies from this summer are growing fast. The Q-Litter: Quonset, Qantas, Quetzal, Quebec, Quickdraw, Q-Ball, and Quigley, are nearly the size of the adult dogs in the yard. It won’t be long before they try their turn in harness.
The R-Litter: Riggins, Rivet, Ramrod, Riptide, and Ringo are on their tails. It will be fun watching them grow into their personalities and their big feet.
As the summer season came to a close, Mike, Max, and I had a chance to drive into Denali National Park as part of the road lottery. This is a yearly event where you can sign up for a chance to drive your own vehicle on the park road during select days in September. While Mike thought that the traffic led to less of a wilderness experience, we did enjoy the chance to see animals and mostly having a day long vacation together.
As the local summer tour businesses have closed, they are generous to our school system. Remaining food is distributed. We got about 100 of the box lunches Aramark sends out with visitors who take the Tundra Wilderness Tour. The students enjoyed these extra snacks, they were a perfect amount to keep them going during math class even if they may leave you hungry during an eight hour bus ride.
I am so excited for the small steps of improvement as we work on the interior of our home. When we moved the house in 2009, we never finished the interior. Our focus was on making sure that the dogs had what they need and on developing the tour buildings to help support the dogs. We are finally working on the interior. Mike added the first half of our double level log staircase last summer and now he is adding the floor. Watching the floor go down, I think back about all of the experiences on the old floor. I am brought back to our many years with our running water, the hours of preparing dogs and supplies for the Iditarod, watching my son crawl for the first time, the dogs who lay upon it who are no longer with us. I secretly walk across the unfinished floor in my socks relishing in its lack of splinters, marveling over the lack of cracks for endless dirt to fall in.
This next month will lead us into a much more wintery feel. It had been remarkably hot during the end of September and early October. While the wood stoves are going, we have not yet gotten to frozen ground, snow and ice, and the challenges of getting vehicles to start. Max keeps asking about whether winter is longer than summer. He has determined that he will judge winter by when studded snow tires are allowed on our roads: September 15th-May 15th.
As the days continue to get shorter, we go from remarkable sunsets to remarkable sunrises. Just as the summer sunsets are made striking in part by their timing, so too are the winter sunrises occurring mid-morning giving a moment of pause to reflect on the beauty of experiencing yet another day.
Until next time, I hope you are all having as much fun with your dogs as we are with ours. Mike, Caitlin, and Max