Ursa December 24, 1994 - February 13, 2009

Ursa was my friend, companion, and protector for nine of her fourteen years. She taught me so much. She continued to do her job until the day she died. When she was unable to sit or stand, she lifted her head and smiled at me with her eyes.

Ursa watched the sun come up and transverse the sky and as it started to set, she crossed the rainbow bridge very peacefully, with me beside her. (Thanks Veryl, for that wonderful sentence!)

She chose a spot with a good view, well protected by her friends. I was able to get her onto a rug, and covered with blankets. We spent the day together, Ursa nobel and uncomplaining as always.

Early in the day a raven landed atop the nearest tree and spent several minutes singing a chortle song. 

Ursa's Last Day

Berna stood watch from the northwest, the back of the house.

Jesse and Charlie watched from the top of the hill.

Even Millie, who was always challenging Ursa's Queen status, stayed by us, guarding from the south.

The geese came by, either to pay tribute, see what was happening, or to steal water. I'm not certain which.

But they spent most of the day nearby.

Random Thoughts

Cold night

standing still

watching stars.

Hard to imagine

half a world away

heat, fire and devastation.

Shining Points of Light

Clear and dark night sky

Gibbous moon not yet risen 

Stars in full glory.

A Samoyed Reading List

The Samoyed email list SamFans is friendly and helpful. The people are as full of life and love as the dogs they share their lives with. The list is also blessed with the presence of a very talented and funny man, Dave Wiley. We are all waiting for his book of humorous stories to be (written and) published. Dave does sports writing online, and has stories published in Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover's Soul. He has kindly agreed to let me share this post.

As always happens on dog lists, someone wrote asking for reading material. Below the question is Dave's response.

I would also love recommendations for Samoyed reading material, if people have any favorite books or websites.

My Sammie's like to read anything by Dr. Suess.  A few of their favorites include - Cat in the hat, One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish, Green Eggs and Ham, and the Cat in the Hat Comes Back.

To generalize, I think as long as you purchase books that rhyme, contain some sort of enemy or edible animal, or food related items, Sammie's will enjoy them.

I also went ahead and laminated the books, since the doggy magazine rack is exposed to the elements.  I tried putting it by the door, but then everyone would forget his/her book and I'd have to let them back in and out.  Then they'd leave the book outside and I'd have to send them back out for it.  It was just too much of a hassle.

Really the hardest part of picking out Samoyed reading material wasn't the content, it was teaching them about the silent E at the end of a word.  I don't have any idea what that is so hard to grasp for a Sammy.

Dave Wiley

Who's Been Walking on MY Path?

I no longer jump for joy at the window when snow starts falling. That wonderful sense of elation ends about the time a person starts driving. However, I am still delighted with many aspects of snow.

As snow starts melting it really takes footprints well. When I started down the hill to feed, I had to run back for my camera. Only in snow is the hill highway so obvious. Big footprints -compare them to the big paw prints! The Peafowl have been on the move.

Peafowl, chickens, and raindrops have all left their marks here.

Aren't these great? Any ideas? These are from my Toulouse geese. They look like the dance step footprints embedded in the sidewalk on Broadway in Seattle.

Some of the responsible parties.

Snow and Snow Dogs

Another February Morning

As the morning got lighter, it was clear the valley was covered in fog. These clear mornings it's hard to get in the car and drive away.

Morning Dogs

Can we come in?

Welcome, morning. Sun is coming.

One World One Heart

A good friend of mine has recently changed her life by moving to the Oregon coast and making art works full time. It's been great fun reading her blog and watching the increasing number of her creations, and through her being introduced to any number of artists' work.

This includes a wonderful yearly event, One World One Heart. Any artist who wants to joins by offering one or more items on their blog as a give away. To win, all one has to do is comment on the artist's blog. There are nearly 500 artists participating, and the contest is open until the beginning of February. 

Visit Remnants of Olde to see Kerin's offerings. Click on the blue One World One Heart circle to read more about the contest, and get a (lengthy!) list of blogs to visit. I've only gotten to a few so far, and can't wait to see more. It's so much fun to see what these creative people are up to. 

If you like what you see, visit their etsy stores. Support Art!

Samoyeds At Work & Play

On a lazy Sunday morning, procrastination increased due to snow outside, I'm finally looking through my new Samoyed calendar I bought through NW Samoyed Rescue. Wolfpacks.com produced this calendar (and donated copies to Rescue), and they have done a wonderful job. 

First, there's a short history of Samoyeds, with lots of pictures, and a website for more information - making this more than just a pretty calendar. And then the first picture you see on the cover is of lead dogs joyfully pulling, looking like twins, or one dog in a mirror. The calendar is filled with great photography, and the subjects - Samoyeds are always lovely - are equally stunning. I love seeing dogs at work (which for Samoyeds is play), and the calendar is filled with them, and puppies, and dogs looking beautifully nobel. 

If you don't have enough calendars, check with NW Samoyed Rescue to see if they have any left, or see if Wolfpacks still has some. You'll enjoy the trips to both sites regardless of the outcome.

January Saturday

The morning started gently with a lack of alarms. It's so nice to lollygag around in the morning, cooking breakfast, exercising, feeding the critters, all without a schedule.

I spent some time grooming Millie, much to her delight - a task I'm much overdue on. She gets so excited when someone comes in to play. She tears up and down the hill as if she was still a yearling. The field we were in can't be seen from the road, but there are a couple spots where a car going up the drive is visible. Cars can certainly be heard, since the road is gravel. While we were grooming and snuggling, my neighbors truck turned in and drove up the road. Millie looked at it, wiggled a bit, and returned to enjoying the attention. Then another truck turned in. Millie gave me an apologetic glance, and took off to let that strange truck know this is private property. Of course she knows the difference between home trucks and strange trucks.

People persist in ignoring the private property signs, thinking this is public land for them to play on. I kicked them off, then decided to clean out the upper kennel I use for the bantam chickens - one of the few structures left standing after the snows. I set up some new perches for them, cleared out an old nest of eggs, and got the place looking pretty spiffy.  The bantams gathered around to watch and dig through the cleanings looking for bugs. When I finished they thoroughly inspected the area and tried out the new perches. It's always good to have your work appreciated.

I came in for a late lunch, looked out the window and - it's SNOWING! It's too warm for it to stick around, but this is not a welcome sign. I shouldn't be so surprised, but it's hard to remember it's still January. While it's been quite cold, it hasn't been raining. Don't get me wrong, that's a good thing, especially with most of my shelters still not functioning. It's just a bit odd.

It's so much fun to be here for sunrise and sunset, even when the sun isn't obvious.

Lambs!

It must be spring...

The Fine Sport Of Dog Sledding

Jake is carrying on his family tradition of sledding; a very long family tradition. His ancestors used dogsleds to travel and hunt and generally survive. Jake is competing in a world competition. The modern use of a traditional activity. Jake and his family are Ojibwe, associated with the White Earth and Red Lake tribes, and live on the reservation. 

Below is a letter from Jake's father, asking all of us to take this opportunity to help a Native youth who is doing good, bringing back a traditional activity.  Those of us who have participated in dog activities and competitions know that it isn't cheap or easy, that it takes persistence, courage, time and money. If this letter stirs your heart as it did mine, please contribute to this you man's dream. 

I'm late in posting this - the race was run today, and...JAKE WON! He is now a world champion. The debt remains, however, and the dogs are expensive to maintain. Any help you can give will be greatly appreciated.

A unique opportunity has presented itself to our family and our sled dogs. Last March, my son Jaycob and one of our dogs, Diesel Smokes, qualified for the World Championship International Federation of Sled Sports one dog ski-jor event to be held in Daaquam, Quebec. While he qualified in a pro class race, because of the difference in age rules in international races, he will have to compete in the junior class at this event. More info on the race can be found here.

About 400 teams, 2,500 dogs, and drivers from 5 continents will be in attendance. I really didn't want to go to this race, much of it has to do with financial reasons, but there were others as well.  At the end of the day yesterday, none of those reasons were working. 

So now I am asking for your help to make this happen. I told my son that if he was going to go to this race, he would have to find the money. The bare bones budget for this trip to Daaquam and back is about $1,000. It is about fourteen hundred miles one way, numerous nights in motels, plus food. He found the money, but had to borrow part of it, and while he was committed to paying it back, I feel I should help him. He is still a senior in high school, works part time, and competes in high school athletics.

Here is why this is important. My son brought home his first four sled dogs almost six years ago. Our kennel now includes about thirty dogs. Since those first four dogs, we have competed in numerous races throughout the region. Sometimes we did OK, other times, not. This is our first opportunity to compete in a world championship race. I can't say if we will be able to compete at this level again. Next year Jaycob goes off to college. I would like to afford him this opportunity. Both of us have made many personal and financial sacrifices to get to this point.

Last night I realized that this is not about the competition, or the sacrifices. It is more about the sense of humility and the greatness of the dogs that keeps me and my family in this. Five years ago, at our very first race, Jaycob entered an eight dog pro-class event. This was a big race with many of the most competitive sled dog kennels in North America coming together to compete for cash and other prizes. Jaycob's rational for entering a pro-class for his first race was simple, if I am going to get beat, I am going to get beat by the best of them. Well, he was beaten by most of the teams that day, but that was the beginning of a long and sometimes difficult training and racing routine. 

What I got out of that race, and every one since was this, a tremendous amount of pride that we are even able to do this. But there is also a great sense of humility each time we pull the pin and the barking and howling mass of dog energy that is straining in their harnesses to get going suddenly goes quiet and all I can hear is Jaycob whistling and talking to his dog team and the sound of the sled runners in the snow. There is nothing like watching my son, and the dogs, some of whom we have raised from puppies, head down the train, sometimes in some of the most brutal of weather conditions North America has to offer. At one race, the race officials shut down the race for the day after Jaycob's class got across the finish line out of concern for the safety of the dogs and drivers. Visibility was almost zero by the time my son and his dog tam crossed the finish line that day.

Sometimes there is also an extreme sense of gratitude, now that it is the lead dogs that seem to have some kind of sixth or seventh sense that assures me that my son and the rest of the dog team will make it back safely. There are lead dogs and there are dogs who will run in front. We have been blessed with the opportunity to have at least one great leader in our kennel. He is gone now, but it is one of his offspring that will pull Jaycob at this race in Quebec.

I am asking for your support in order to pull this off. We are leaving tomorrow, January 15 and will hopefully return on Tuesday, the 20th. Any size donation will be welcome and much appreciated. Please send your donation to:

Robert Shimek

33740 Mary Yellowhead Road

Ogema, MN 56569

Above the Fog

The past few days have been cold and foggy in the mornings. Up on my ridge the fog clears early and bright sun shines through. In the valleys it clings to the ground and makes driving difficult.

The low white cloud is hovering right above the main highway to the mountains. I love being above it.

Morning Feeding

The thing about winter is the days are so short. The sun is just rising as I'm going out to feed the critters. On clear mornings it does make for beautiful surroundings.

There are sheep in the foreground. Really.

The same morning, from the house, a few minutes earlier.

Powerless

No winter storms are complete without a power outage. I was watering plants when I thought it was getting dark fast, and heard a beeping. Took a few minutes to realize it was my computer's backup power supply. Fortunately it was a short outage, but I had time to fire up my new kerosene heater, purchased last year, to see if it really works. 

It really does. Squeak likes this heater best. Much nicer than forced air.

Winter's Fury

The wind and rain are beating against my windows. I just found out that the highway between the freeway and here closed 15 minutes after I drove home. No wonder it felt scary. 

All roads across the mountains are closed. The north-south freeway is closed for 20 miles, starting just south of my entrance. They think it will also close in Fife, which is much closer to the large population centers. There is water across the same freeway near the Canadian border. Sixty-two roads in the state closed in a few hours. The western part of the state is effectively closed off from the rest of the world, and communities are closed off from each other. 

I sit here, high on my hill, looking at pictures of people being rescued by boat. One entire small town is underwater. I would offer my high property for people's animals, but they probably couldn't get here. It really looks like much of the state is under water. 

And the poor people in Spokane! They had something like 6 feet of snow, and then got 2-4" of rain on top of it. Roofs are going to give way under that kind of weight. 

It has been a weird and wild winter so far, and there are months to go before spring.

Silver Linings

Isn't there always a silver lining?

Since I was home early, I went out to feed the animals by daylight. I emptied my Ursa cart of it's 3/4 load of water (my word it's rained a lot!), filled it with alfalfa, and headed out to the sheep. In spite of being near the top of a pretty steep ridge, my sheep paddock is 4" deep in water. The shelter stands just above the wet. And one of the ewes - one of my best moms - was lying down with a half-born (and very dead) lamb. I got the lamb out, her standing, and food and water beside her. She's shaky and not looking well, but I think she may be OK. I don't think she would be if she'd laid there another several hours. 

Everything is wet. Everything. I'm so grateful for my high property, far above the rising waters. 

Good News Bad News

The good news is that a low pressure storm raged into the Northwest bringing warmth and rain. That warmth and rain have melted most of the snow at lower elevations, freeing us from winter's white grip. 

The bad news is that a low pressure storm raged into the Northwest bringing warmth and rain that have melted most of the snow at lower elevations, and much of the snow at higher elevations. That combined with the very high amount of rain that has softened the already water-logged soils, is causing mudslides and flooding. 

As I went in to work this morning there was water over the county road that runs along the top of my ridge. Top. How can a road that is just about the highest thing around flood? The river that runs alongside the state route between my area and the freeway was within inches of the road, well over its banks. Fields were now ponds and rivers. I continued on nervously - not turning back because the Illinois company I work for thinks the Washington folks are all a bunch of wimps who aren't dedicated to work since we stayed home during the recent snow storms. I love my job and want to keep it.

By 1:00 the Dept. of Transportation was threatening to close down I-5, so I left work on a mad dash back home. I beat the freeway closure, and the 5 or 6 places where the state route was flooded were still shallow enough to drive through. If I had been 1/2 hour later I would not have made it home. 

I'm very glad to be back up on my hill, looking over the valley, watching the rain. I've just driven through a county underwater. Rumor has it this is the worst flood event since the 1930s in the county my sister lives in. It looks worse here than last year, except we had warning and the floods are coming in relatively slowly.

Looking for that door into summer. 

Another Dawn

Morning Surprise

This morning the world again turned pristine white. Snow is such a beautiful thing.

It was truly a gorgeous morning. The fog lifted, the sun came out, the snow sparkled.

And once again my road, still patchy with ice and snow yesterday, turned into a long white slide. Summer, anyone?

Got food?

This afternoon the local feed store managed to get their flatbed pickup up my lane. I now have hay, grain, dog food, cat food, bird food, wild bird food, and even milk and cream. I can't believe I've been stuck here for two weeks. It's raining right now, so the road may be clear tomorrow.

Rumor has it there are two more storm fronts coming in. It looks like they'll be rain and wind storms, which suits me fine. I'm ready for clear roads. 

Meanwhile, my animals are happy.

The Saga Continues

This morning Ursa, Jesse and I walked down my lane to the county road. I had hoped to get out today, to get supplies and make my way back to work. What I found was that I'd previously underestimated the amount of snow on the road.

Up at the top there were still areas with 6-8" of snow - where there'd been drifts. Some small areas were bare or nearly bare. I was happily thinking I could drive through this. As I got down the the lower half of the road, the accumulation was 4-6", and it iced as I walked over it. At the end of the lane was a pile of snow from the plow that had gone down the county road. I watched the neighbors struggle to get their pickup out of their (very short) drive. They managed, but not easily. 

Later in the day my neighbor's brother drove over in his heavy 4-wheel drive station wagon. He made it half way up the drive. As soon as it got steep he got stuck. His comment was we could probably get out, but wouldn't get back in. He had to back out.

This was not good news to people who are out of supplies. My neighbor lent me some dog food, so I can feed my 14 year old Ursa. The other dogs are getting rice, as are the chickens. The chickens are happy with it, which I can't say is true for the dogs. 

Then, as the visitor was leaving, it started snowing again. Heavily.

It snowed long enough to make a light covering on all cleared areas.

Then it cleared, but the clouds to the south are a mass of light grey. I can only hope they will bring rain and not snow. I really want to get out! My dogs second the sentiment.

Thai Yellow Curry

This is the Thai yellow curry I made for a late lunch. Not bad for stockpiled food after 10 days stuck on property. Sweet potatoes, pumpkin, frozen spinach (I knew I'd find a use for it), cashews and almonds, cabbage (the remainder of a huge head my neighbor's brother gave us), apple, garlic, yellow curry paste and canned coconut milk. Yum. Served over rice.

What prompted me to make this was I ran out of dog food.

I put a huge pot of rice on to use as a base for a dog-concoction. It smelled so good cooking, I thought maybe I should eat some of it myself. What do you do with rice? That led to digging through all my supplies, and this is what I came up with. 

The dog's mix isn't nearly as exciting, I'm not sure they'll like it. The best thing in it (from a dog's point of view) is chicken broth. And egg, of course. We'll see. I'm letting them get good and hungry before I spring it on them. The chickens enjoyed the leftover rice.

We are all hoping the snow melts down some more by tomorrow. I had hoped to get out today, but the road consists of a very slippery, dense, slightly thicker than slush icy layer about 4 inches thick. Very slick. I'm sure I could get out, but I don't think I'd make it up again. Tomorrow.

Queen Ursa

Not bad for a 14 year old. The pink lump on her jaw is a non-cancerous tumor she's had for several years now. She doesn't seem to feel it at all. The treatment would have been to take the end of her jaw off - a procedure I couldn't see putting an old dog through (neither could the vet). She sleeps a lot these days, but is bright and cheery when she's awake. As you can see from past posts, she still gets around well. My thanks to Audrey for placing her with me all those years ago.

Trey has been feeling left out lately, so I thought I'd include him here. My pretty little herder boy, Trey is a very sweet and gentle Border Collie cross.

The Once Useful Shelter

This time it's my hay storage area. Ironically, I'd moved my Ursa cart in here for safe keeping after the other structure collapsed. I've left it outside now - a bit too superstitious to put it into my bird building. The cart came through fine. The two remaining hay bales went one to the sheep and one into the van. This is the first time since the snow started that I've been glad I was low on hay. Now I have to figure out where I'm going to store hay.

The Beauty of Wet Snow

Wet snow may be a pain to deal with, but it is undeniably beautiful.

It sticks to everything, making wonderful contrasts of light and dark.

Small bushes become soft sculptures as every twig holds its portion of snow.

The evergreens dressed in white. Each Christmas we used to make Ivory soap flakes snow for the Christmas tree. It looked a lot like this. By 1:00 the trees were bare, looking newly washed.

The Long White Road

This morning I walked down to the neighbors to wish them Merry Christmas and borrow some bird seed. I had to climb the fence to get out. It was the first time I'd been on my road since the snows.

Snow is deceiving. That white expanse in front of the trees is part of my road. It turns out to be under at least a foot of snow. Heavy, wet snow. It was an arduous trek. Worse was walking back with a 20 lb bag of sunflower seeds.

This is looking up the hill towards my house. We got another 4" of snow last night. It's supposed to snow again tonight. Makes me wonder if we'll ever get out.

The snow last night and this morning made me realize why snow is such a problem here in the coastal west. Not only aren't we used to or prepared for it, but our normal snow is so very wet and heavy. The past week, with temps in the teens and twenties, the snow has been light, packing well, pretty easy to walk through. Today's snow makes each step a trial.

Return of the Snow Beast

Last night around 9:00 I headed down the hill for my evening check on the animals and turning out of lights. What I found was a collapsed shelter.

This is the carport that sheltered the chicken kennel and the straw. Several of the chickens liked to roost on top of the kennel, under the fiberglass panels that help keep the kennel dry. The carport collapsed on top of them.

As I shone my flashlight up to determine the damage, I could see these poor squished chickens. I assumed they were dead, until one blinked at me. I then started what turned into a 2 hour project of digging them out. There was about 8 inches of snow on the tarp roof, now partly melted and partly frozen. Very heavy, very hard to move. 

I got the chickens all out. One had a broken neck from a pole that fell on her, but the others were all OK. I opened the garage door, and a stream of chickens headed in. 

Several decided to stay out in the kennel. A couple were on top, but I finally managed to catch them and put then inside where they wouldn't freeze and wouldn't be owl bait.

You can see how the tarp has been smushed down on the roof of the kennel. Poor chickens!

Once I had all the chickens safe, I noticed that what was holding up the bottom of the fallen structure was my beloved Ursa cart. I took a deep breath, and dug off enough snow to allow me to move the structure off the cart. Fortunately it wasn't hurt. Good cart. All the snow you see above the cart fell last night.

This morning I opened the garage door, expecting to be met by a stream of chickens heading back outside. These are, after all, the birds that have always refused to come inside.

Not a one tried to leave. I guess the building seems a lot safer now than the outside world.

Someone Shook My Snow Globe!

Tea, Anyone?

Note Jesse in the background, again becoming one with the snow. He may be the only critter here who is still thrilled with our winter.

Some Days it's Tough to be a Chicken