Wind

Where to start, where to start? It has been a while since I have had enough time to sit down and write, sorry for the lapse in news. I have the morning off from training dogs,( I’ll tell you why in a minute). It’s 5:00 AM and I’m feeling a little lost at what I am supposed to be doing with this early morning free time! I thought I would fill you guys in on the events of yesterday that has led me to be huddled on the couch wrapped in blankets, fumbling with my laptop instead of training. When I woke up to train yesterday morning the wind was definitely howling, but not that much more than normal. With the thought of, "Good attitude now Laura, this is good training for when you run on the Coast."( A part of Iditarod runs on the coast of Alaska, the wind can wreak havoc on you and the dogs’ minds if you have never experienced it before.) I repeated this again to myself when I put the harnesses down in front of each dog, turned around, then went back and pulled them off the north side of the dog lot fence after the wind had stolen them, preceding to stuff them in each dog house instead. The thought was repeated again when on the run I tried to take a sip of tea (real British breakfast tea sent from a good friend in England!) from my travel mug and it just blew sideways! After a good run, dogs cared for, I went in for a little breakfast. (11:00am) I was hoping Sandy had left a message from the vet about Sarge. We got Sarge this spring and he has very bad teeth. He hasn’t been working as well as he normally does, so I knew something was up. A quick physical and the problem was clear, all his gums looked like the shade of a cola can. (He had 12 teeth pulled and I will have to brush his teeth daily from now on)


Inside chores done, it was back into the worsening wind. My job for the day was to tackle something I have been putting off for two seasons, The Dog Food Barn! Along with its name, it also holds all tools, sledding gear, years of junk from the former owner and anything else that doesn’t have a place gets put in for good measure. Like one big junk drawer. With six tons of dog food coming in, it was now or never! While in the barn the wind was working itself into a frenzy. I was presently pleased to find 18 school books (one of the old houses on the ranch was the local school) with the kids’ names and dates (1884-1909) written in them, a class photo from 1901, and an old wooden Ford battery coil! The barn was now starting to shake and I could see things flying by outside. I decided it was a good time to start batting down the hatches and making sure nothing was loose outside that could fly into the dog lot. I found out later the wind was whipping from 70-85 mph! It was dark and Rick should have been home by now. I went in to give my throbbing eyes a break from the wind. Sandy was making dinner and said Rick was out on one of 5 fires and one roof that just blew off a home (Rick has been a volunteer fireman for 18 years.) He said to keep a sharp eye on the skyline and the power lines. The house was now starting to shake, Sandy and I would just look at each other. She said, "This is getting down right Auntie Em!" I went out to feed the dogs, which is a major feat in this kind of wind. It looked like this; five pans under my left arm at a time, with the feed bucket in my right. Put one pan down, try to hold it with your foot till you can get the food in, wait till the dog gets his head in, then slowly take your foot away and see if it holds, the pan blows away and you start over. Right in the middle of this the wind kicked into overdrive. I just had to crouch down, telling Thor it was going to be OK. He could really care less, but was looking a little peeved that his pan had just blown away. Then it happened, the old power lines that run right over the side of the dog lot were sending sparks everywhere! I commanded the dogs to, “Get in your houses," they had already obeyed! I ran out the back of the lot to the house to tell Sandy, and then went out to shut off the power. It hit me like a 2X4, I had no clue how to turn off that power line and even if there was a way. I ran to hook up the dog trailer and get the axe to open the dog yard up on the opposite side of the power lines, a couple well placed blows with an axe will take down a nice section of fence. Sandy yelled out that the Fire Department was on the way and the neighboring ranches were all told, (if there is a chance of fire you call the "fire list" so everyone has a chance to get things in order. When fire comes out here in this kind of wind it comes fast!) I jumped in the truck to get all the gates open for the fire department and for us to get out fast. I could see trucks coming down the hill and thought that was quick for the fire department. It was our neighbors coming with water trucks and horse trailers if we needed help getting the dogs out. I raced back home praying nothing had happened in the 10 minutes I was gone. We found how to turn the power off to the whole place, Praise God! The fire crew got here along with Rick. With no fire they headed back out to help with some that were already blazing strong. Many thanks went around the dark kitchen full of ranchers and ranch hands. Offers to use kitchens, bathrooms and fill up on water were given as the boots shuffled out. I collected pans from the fence line again; watering the dogs was a copy of trying to feed. But it was good to know they were all safe and cozy in their houses. Got out the generator, Sandy finished dinner and we even watched a bit of TV. Today we are not training, still too much wind. Hopefully, the power company will get out here, fix the lines and get the power back on. But they’re just a little busy today! Well it’s light enough to feed now and haul in water . I can see from the window things strewn down the whole coulee, so I’d better get on it. Looks like the wind is slowing down....