Zoey the Destroyer!

I wonder if dog toy companies ever hire dogs to test their new line of toys. If they do, Zoey would be one of the best toy testers ever, for she can destroy any toy in record time.  If she were born in the early time of Greece, she would be known as Zoey the Destroyer. If it has a squeaker and stuffing, it will not last a day in our household. Perhaps I should video her destroying a supposedly indestructible toy and send it to them. Then again, they probably do not want such destruction on record! 

Well, maybe not any toy. She cannot destroy those hard rubber ones. This is Zoey's toy box. These are the only toys that make it more than a day or two in our house. Her favorite is the little orange balls. Dakota's is the blue pretzel. Most days, the toys just lay in the basket untouched, other days, Zoey will take them out one by one, inspect them and grab the orange ball. Just like other kids, she never puts them away when she is done with them!

Since we are on the subject of dogs, how about a short dog video?!?! Several of you are cheering, Harry is groaning. But yes, here is a 50 second video of the girls playing. They do this once or twice a week....

Last Saturday was the last of the really hot days. Since then, we have been in the 80's and 70's, with lows in the 60's and 50's. In fact, when we woke up Thursday morning, the inside of the house was 62. Starting to feel like fall!

Several of you asked about why we hauled water to fill the hot tub and whether or not we had a well. The quick answer is, no, we do not have a well, but here is the long answer. When we first built, we had three options for water; try and drill a well, hook up to the rural water system or get a cistern. We researched each of those options. Talking to the well people, they say they have had limited success drilling a well in our area of the hills. Some are successful, some are not. And at the cost of $30,000+ for maybe hitting water, we just did not want to take that chance. 

The next option we researched to have the rural water brought into our house. Many, if not all roads in our area have rural water pipes running the length of the roads for residents to tap into. We could have too but there are some downsides. There is a cost of $3,000 or so just to tap into the system, then you have to pay by the foot to have it dug to your house. Since we are over a 1/4 mile off the road, that would have added up. Once it is to your house, it is $100/month for the service fee, then you are charged for every gallon you use. It all adds up, especially when we are only here 6 months of so out of the year. 

After reviewing the cost of these, we decided on a cistern. A 2,500-gallon tank buried in the ground which we have water delivered to once a month or so. The initial cost of the cistern was $2,500, this included installation and piping it to the house. We have two options for getting water; filling it ourselves or having it delivered. It is much cheaper to get it ourselves, we just need to drive to Custer with our 450-gallon tank and pay $0.02/gallon. And we do do that once in a while. The downside of that is having to keep moving the tank in and out of the truck and keep that tank very clean which is a pain. Mold is always trying to work its way into the tank. The other option is to have it delivered at $0.11/gallon. This is what we do. There is a monitor on the tank that texts the water guy whenever we hit 30%, he then puts us on his route. It is usually $200 or so to fill it, we typically go through 2,000 gallons a month when we are here. It works pretty seamlessly and was the cheapest option. It also forces us to keep an eye on our water consumption, something we were used to anyways from our years living in the RV.

So, when it comes to filling the hot tub or water tanks, we will load up the tank and head to town for the cheaper water, so we do not drain the cistern. Whew! That was a long answer for a short question!

Let's see, what happened this week? Oh, we had an overnight visitor! 3 actually. Chad, former owner of Pasha Lake Cabins, was in the area on a mission trip and stopped by for a night one after the work was complete.  With him was his 15-year-old son and 13-year-old daughter. They were replacing a roof on an orphanage on the Pine Ridge Reservation while during 100-degree weather had to be brutal!

The first words out of his mouth upon arriving were "What do you need help with?". "How about helping me set a ladder stand for deer season?", I replied. And we were off, Cavin in the front with me, and Chad in back.

After that, we just chilled in the gazebo and chatted for a few hours before bed. They were gone when we got up, as they had a 10-hour drive ahead of them. 

Projects this week? Well, I have to admit, I squirreled on a couple of them. Meaning I got distracted by other things that were not on my list. The easy answer was to put them on my list so I can say I was staying on track, but that was not the case. Barb, true to her form, she spent more money and crossed another item off her list when she bought a new to us lawn mower. Personally, I could have gone the rest of my life without buying another mower, but she wants a groomed area for the dogs to hang out in when we are out in the gazebo. She opted for a battery powered Ego which does surprisingly well for the little area she is mowing.

On the way back from getting the lawn mower, I needed a beer, so we stopped by Lost Cabin Brewing in Hill City.

I did get several small ones done however, the most noteworthy was the 1/2 wall I built for our grill area. Now that Barb has the smoker, we needed a little more wall space in that area. Probably a 4-hour project. We just need to sand and stain the cap and it is done. 

It is Sturgis week so there are bikes EVERYWHERE! Hill City closes down Main Street to all car/truck traffic. Motorcycles only. Custer closes the two middle lanes through town for bike parking. Not the week to do much if you do not like crowds. 

We did have a busy social week, however. Kevin came over Wednesday night for halibut, Thursday, we took Neighbor Jim and Carmen out for supper for watching the house (and killing prairie dogs and chasing cattle) while we were gone. We went to The State Game Lodge in Custer State Park. And Friday night we went to the VFW in Custer with Dan and Bonnie for Queen of Hearts which was up over $15,000. The Queen of Hearts game is one where you buy tickets and if your ticket gets drawn, you pick a card (face down) from a board of 52 cards. If you draw the queen of hearts, you win the pot. You can buy as many tickets as you want, but only one person drawn each week and if the QOH's is not drawn the pot is carried over each week until someone wins. Of all those events, we only took one picture of us our night out with Dan and Bonnie. 

The smoker has been busy with two batches going through. The first was some smoked salmon. Brining them overnight, we then put them in the smoker for a few hours. 

They are delicious. We devoured one in short order, the other three are vacuum sealed and in the freezer. 

Next up was venison sticks. With deer season around the corner, it is time to use up our remaining venison. I only took two pictures of the process. The grinding/stuffing and the final product.

The critter cams provided no bucks at all, but lots of other critters! The local bluebirds are enjoying the big tank. 

The deer, squirrels and turkeys drank so much out of the smaller tank that we had to refill it already. If you look closely below, you can see a red squirrel just above the deer's head.  

The camera even captured Neighbor Jim and I chatting as I refilled the tank. 

That's it for this week. Today is a big day as my niece and her husband are coming over for the day with their two dogs. You know what that means! A doggy play day! And hopefully, if you are lucky, I mean really lucky, next week we might just have another dog video to show you!

Checking Things Off the List

 Lists. Throughout our working and personal lives, we have relied on lists to keep us on track. With our failing memories, they are more important now than ever. You may recall me writing about Barb and I driving across Canada making a list of things we wanted to get done when we finally got home. Well, we hit the ground running and have crossed several things off already!

First up was cleaning the truck. Holy bug carcasses! 8,500 miles of bugs, butterflies and a couple of birds were caked and baked on the front of the truck and camper. 

Next up was mowing the front "yard". I use that word very loosely as it is not a yard at all, just 3-4 acres in front of the house that we like to keep low so we can at least see the girls and any potential snakes that might be lurking around out there. It was over knee high, now it is ankle high. 

Next up was the hot tub. A couple times a year I will drain and clean the hot tub filling it with fresh water. I loaded up water tank and headed to town for water. Our water tank holds 450 gallons. Custer charges $0.02/gallon so for $9 I had enough to fill the hot tub and a little left over to fill the pool for the girls!

With the temps well into the 90's they really appreciated it. We don't have air conditioning, in the main part of the house so things get a little toasty in the house during the day. The inside of the house gets into the 80's. We do have a portable unit in the bedroom, so in the afternoons we will often be in there taking a quick cool off break, watching TV or just reading. It is not supposed to get this hot here! Looks like it will be gone next week so life should be bearable again. 

Since I already had the tank in the truck, I headed to Pringle to get some water for the deer and other critters. Since I was out there, I put up my trail cameras as well. 

Not on our list, but definitely an accomplishment was the day and a half we spent over at Kevin's helping them get the Bunkhouse in order for his mom's visit. At 84 years old, she is driving up from Arizona for a few days. The Bunkhouse is still a work in progress but is definitely getting there! 

Here are a few before and after pictures. 

There is nothing like the satisfaction of making a list and crossing said items off one at a time. In fact, sometimes we will add things to the list that we already accomplished just so we can cross it off! 

Barb has been doing her part to cross things off her list. 

Like, "Buy Breville" and "Buy Smoker"

Okay, maybe she did one or two other things as well. Like vacuum and dust, clean the inside of the camper/truck, restock the fridge....

Then it was my turn. Taking all the smoker components out of the box, I laid them on the top of the hot tub. So many parts wrapped like little presents. It was like Christmas! Although it is July and 95 degrees. But that was not the biggest difference between now and Christmas. Christmas is fun. This was the opposite of fun. 2 1/2 hours later, voila, it is done!

Of course we got together with our friends as well. Wednesday night, it was Dan and Bonnie for burgers at The Hitchrail. Thursday was Neighbor Jim (aka Prairie Dog Commander) and his lovely wife Carmen in the gazebo over at our place. Did I think to take any pictures? Of course not!

Later in the week, it was time to check the trail cameras. No big bucks, but some pretty fun pictures! It took me a minute to figure out what this first picture was. The feathers were obvious, then I saw the feet and the bill. This bird looks like it was getting ready to land right on the camera!

Then there was this little red squirrel who was happy that I filled the big water tank. I put a board in each of the tanks for birds and squirrels to climb up on should they accidently fall into the water. 

The only buck I got on camera was this little mule deer buck as he approached the water tank.

My favorite pictures were those of the does and fawns. This momma is alert to something in the background, while her baby seems oblivious. 

This momma had twins and was getting kisses from one of her babies.

Momma never gets a break nursing two little ones. 

What's the best thing about being home? So many things..... the hot tub, the gazebo, our bed, the couch, a TV...wait! It's the breakfasts. Yes, definitely the breakfasts. In the camper there just is not room or time to cook a good breakfast. Mmmm crepes!

Let's see, what is next on our list.... Oh yeah, we have an appointment with a therapist for what has been diagnosed as Obsessive-Compulsive List Disorder, can't wait to cross that appointment off our list!

We Are Home!

 

There is usually a bright side to even a negative if you look hard enough. Even though we cut our adventure short a couple of days, this did allow us to cross back into the U.S. before August 1^st, the date that the new CDC dog regulations took effect. And let me tell you, are we glad we did! There is so much confusion associated with these regulations. I still do not know all the details, just the horror stories we have heard, and this was even before they were enacted! 

Apparently, dogs have to have a microchip implanted in them before they can cross the border. Not a big deal as both of ours do. But wait, it has to be a 15-digit ISO compliant microchip. Dakota has a 15-digit microchip, Zoey does not, so she would have to have a new chip implanted. But wait, there is more. One person talked about having to get their dog a new chip, but also a new rabies shot tied to that chip. Total vet bill; over $600. The problem is that a dog cannot cross the border within 28 days of receiving a new rabies shot so they are stuck in Canada for a few more weeks. 

Another person talked about having to have a USDA approved veterinarian fill out the CDC form so she took her Canadian dog to the US to have the dog examined and form filled out just so they can cross again later in the year. 

Neither of these make any sense to me but these are the tales that are being told. I am sure there are more horror stories to follow. Suffice to say, we are glad we crossed before the 1^st! I wrote that a couple of days ago and understand since then they have relaxed/clarified a couple of these regulations since then, but those of you crossing the border, you best know the new rules before attempting to cross. 

The roads were a mess up there this week. The fires are continuing in the area making for very smoky conditions. So far, the fires are not impacting any travel on the Alcan itself, but it is closed again at KM 624 due to flooding on the Peace River which washed the road away. We were through this way just a few days earlier, so once again it is a blessing we were a few days early. The detour for this section is to turn around and take the Cassier, which would add at least another day to your travels. 

Then there was the South Klondike, which was impacted by a landslide totally closing the road and trapping people in Skagway. The only way to get out of that area was the ferry to Haines. We were nowhere near this area so it did not impact us. I understand it is now open to one lane of traffic.

And I am sure many of you have heard of the Jasper fire which has multiple roads closed and has devastated the Jasper/Golden area with many significant structures destroyed. 

 Our fish made it home safe and sound. The route they took was a little weird. 2 Day FedEx Shipping took it from Homer Alaska to Tennessee, where it sat for 17 hours, then to Sioux Falls, SD, then to Rapid City and eventually to their respective delivery addresses. One box to Kevin's house, one box to Neighbor Jim's house who took it and put it in our freezer upon delivery.  Both of them said that they filets arrived ice cold with several of them still frozen. We would have preferred that none of them thawed along the way, but we just were not willing to pay $800 to have them shipped! Jim has been so helpful on this trip, between checking on the house, fixing fence and putting the fish in the freezer. He is now insisting that I have business cards printed for him with the titles of Property Manager, Caretaker and On-Site Security/Defense Expert. I know, I have said it before, but we have such great neighbors!

Our last night in Canada found us in Leduc, and you know what that meant? We got to see Dave and Leslie again! A lot has changed for them since we last saw them on our way up in May. They have sold their house, closed on it and are now living in their RV at a campground in Leduc while they look for a new house. Leslie was nice enough to book a site right across from them.

 After arriving and setting up we headed to Rig Hand Distillery where we had lunch and bought a bottle of Brum. It is a rum made from sugar beets rather than molasses and has quite a distinct flavor. Then it was back to the camper where we cooked up a couple of our salmon filets for supper. 

We spent the rest of the evening in the coolness of their 5th wheel. Dave and Leslie insisted that the girls joined us. Dakota just laid on the floor while Zoey terrorized one of Dave good socks. Here is Dave trying to gently extract said sock from the jaws of death. It was not until Dave distracted her with a ball that she finally released the sock.  

The next morning all 4 of us headed to Cora's restaurant for breakfast before heading south. After a 452-mile drive, we landed in Havre, Montana for the night. The border crossing in Wild Horse was a breeze and funny. I will have to say, the officer was kind of an odd duck, but very nice. As he was going over our passports, he looked at Zoey and said, "Those dogs sure are popular right now, I just don't get it, with their pointy ears, pug nose and bulging eyes, I think they are hideous". Barb covered Zoey's ears so she would not hear him. He just laughed, gave us back out passports and welcomed us home. 

Our last day on the road was a long one, just over 600 miles, but we were not going to stop with the finish line in sight. And before we knew it, we were welcomed with this sight.

How's Barb feeling you ask? Better, but still not great. Hopefully now that she is home she can relax and get better. Knowing her though, there will not be much relaxing.

 Several of you have asked who won the 2024 Great Summer Adventure Fishing Wars. Drum roll please…… I did! Well, at least that is my story. I won the Rainbow trout category, the Grayling category and the Salmon category. Barb won the Dolly Varden category and the Lake Trout category with that monster laker. She is claiming that she should be the winner as she caught the only fish that would be considered a trophy and the largest Cod which really wasn’t even a target category. I told her, I write the blog, so I am the winner!

 In total we traveled 8,510 miles, averaged 10.8 mpg so about 788 gallons of fuel, and were gone 66 days. We spent $623 on campgrounds, $239 of which were the last 5 nights $239 where we needed hook up for the AC. Another $90 was our 2 nights in Seward where we visited the McCormick's. In all those miles, we only visited 4 states (SD, WY, MT and AK) and 3 provinces (AB, BC and YK). I cannot say this is entirely accurate, but by last count, we visited at least 16 breweries, 6 distilleries and one winery. We try to collect coasters from each one, Barb is going to make a plaque or incorporate them into a table at some point.

So, that is it, we are home! I think Zoey is happiest to be home as she has so much more room to zoom around. Upstairs, downstairs, bouncing off the couches. Sorry Harry, it was so fast I could not get a video! The next few days will be a mix of relaxing and unpacking as it is really HOT! Then it will be time to tackle that list we put together on our way home.