Brenda has commented that she is tired of that bird giving her the eagle eye everytime she comes on to read a blog or two so I thought I would do something about it.

Now St. Paddy may be just a little early but I don't think my ol' Irish grandmother will be to upset.

I haven't been inspired to write much here, as nothing much has changed on a day to day basis. It seems from all reports that the USA is going gangbusters getting folks vaccinated under this new administration, with the aid of folks in the past who have poured some cash into helping the pharmaceutical folks with pushing a new vaccine. The new mRNA vaccines, initially developed in response to the SARS virus, back in 2004, seem to have opened a world of possibilities when it comes to rapid vaccine development. So for those who think it took a year to develop, it is kind of like the band that is an overnight success, everyone forgets that they have been working the clubs and country fairs for 10-15 years before they made it into the big lights.

I spent a lot of time reading and reviewing things about these vaccines so have no issue with taking them. Afterall I have had great experience with both the polio and smallpox vaccines so will do my part to help the globe achieve herd immunity. I understand there are folks who for valid medical reasons can not take the jab, so it is up to those of us who can to give them the protection they need.

Enough of that though, over the last 7 months here at Dogpound North we have enjoyed our winter at home. It has actually been a pretty nice one, other than a week or ten days in February where we got to shake the moths out of our winter duds.

We are enjoying spring type weather here at the moment, but no fear, I am not putting the snow blower or my long johns away just yet. Here at DPN we still have another couple of months of good sledding weather to get through before the mud season begins in earnest.

I of course have done a little picturin' around the hood so I will throw a few of those photos up here to fill the space and hopefully will be inspired to be a little more regular with this tome.

Bald Eagle and a Raven 

Ringside seats for the Presidential Election

The smaller half of our Security Team here at DPN

Male Snowy Owl

Not every night is early to bed around here.

Mrs. Snowy

A wild stud in the West Country

Even the eagles are calm back home

Just an interesting play of light

Bull Moose hanging here at DPN

These guys will soon be gone back to their northern summer range

What's Up

A long time ago in a land far, far away we left you hanging after telling you our rig had been in an accident. As I said all living beings were fine but there was a lot of bent iron. Although we did make it home the last 600 or so kilometers, (370 or so miles) once we got there the truck was grounded and loaded on a flatbed for the last 30 miles to the repair shop and Woody's came down and hooked on our trailer and took it up to their facility to begin the process of estimating and finally repairing it all. There was close to $20,000 damage to the trailer and about $12,000 to the truck, mostly running gear, springs, etc, along with a new rear fender and box side. I won't bore you with pictures of bent tin though.

Brenda and the folks at Woody's got everything under way and our trailer was back in our hands by the first week of December rather than the estimated Spring 2020 we started with.

The truck was less of an issue it was back in a month or so.

So our potential winter north of the Medicine Line was averted and after a final doctors appointment for Brenda last Wednesday we hooked up and rolled south.

Southern Alberta sunrise

It was a coin toss whether we should scoot for the coast and enjoy the rain heading south or just go for it and head straight south. We opted for I-15 and the more direct southerly route. That meant we had about 1200 miles of high desert and potential snow to maneuver through but the gods were smiling and other than a little drifting snow coming over the Milk River Ridge and even less on the Monida in southern Montana it was bare and dry, cruise control weather the whole way.

We stopped the first night at the Clark Canyon Reservoir in southern Montana, where it was bitterly cold with a gale force wind blowing and ice fishing shacks set up right next to our spot. We ran the gennie all night with all the heaters roaring just to stave of hypothermia.

I promised you ice fishing, Max and I are gob smacked that folks actually do that for fun. Brenda not so much, she says it is a blast. I prefer my ice in my drink.

The next morning we were off and across those Idaho flat lands and then into Utah.

Idaho sunrise

Salt Lake City was its usual mess, but we just tucked in behind a semi and motored on through with him clearing the way. The day was uneventful but we did make about 700 miles before it was over in Logandale, Nevada. That meant we had moved over 1300 miles in the last two days but only left us 410 miles to get to our final destination east of Gold Canyon, Arizona.

Sunrise this morning, Picket Post Mountain in the background

Long time readers, and folks on my Facebook page will know that over the last few months at home we weren't just cooling our heels waiting for our southerly migration to begin. We did a little haying, baled some straw, swam most days, and did a whole lot of what my granddaughter calls picturing. I won't subject you to all those photos, there were a lot, of snowy owls, blue jays, moose, and other critters as well as innumerable sunset and landscape shots. But this lady was looking at me like she was saying isn't it time you moved on south and left these northern ranges to us hardier folk. I agreed, hopefully she will be gone back home before we have to. LOL

Snowy Owls end their southern migration about where we begin ours.