Holy Straw Bails Batman!

It's snowing!! And beautiful! And wouldn't you know, I have more catching up to do. I'm not very good at this daily blog action. I'll start with Wednesday. Rob ran the B team with Mark running the Varsity team, while I stayed behind and did dishes. We were awaiting a straw delivery, over due from last week. When Mark and Rob got back, we got a call that the straw truck was waiting on us. So we hustled into Mark's beast of a truck, the "redneck truck" as he calls it, and headed to meet the straw truck. It was a delivery of 60 bails (I think, maybe 70?), and enough to last through the winter and into spring. We use the straw as bedding and insulation in the dog houses. I think we've gone over that before though, just recapping. We loaded it all onto a trailer, and headed home. When we got back, we unloaded all the straw into the "straw shed". It went pretty smoothly and quickly with the three of us. But damn, it seemed like a lot of straw. :)

Thursday was an unexpected day off. Rob and I gathered our always growing pile of laundry, and headed into town. It was a fun trip. We had a giant burger at the Blue Water Cafe, did our usual stop at Joyne's, and yes, left with things we couldn't live without. We did some grocery shopping and laundry, made a few phone calls, and headed up to visit Lyndsay at the farm. It was a super low key day, and we had a great time. It was definitely one of those days that reminds me of why I love Grand Marais. The harbor is just starting to freeze. The weather is really starting to feel cold. People are strangely friendly, despite the freezing wind blowing off the lake. It's an amazing place to live, no matter the time of year. But winter has an especially beautiful look to it. When the harbor is full of ice, the waves of the lake continually push ice up onto the beach. Soon enough, the beach looks like it's covered in diamonds. Big round ones, and big chunky ones. It's amazing. It's no wonder why people come here and never leave. And it's the reason I'm scrapping my brain for ways to stay here too. Just after sunset, Rob and I headed back to camp. Mark was a bad ass and did all the night dog chores, so when we arrived home, we had plenty of time to unload and put away groceries, and get settled in. THANKS MARK!!

So that brings to today. For the first time EVER, Rob and I had our own teams, and had no chaperon. It was just Me and the B team, and Rob and the C team. It didn't go perfectly. We had a tangle when I wasn't clear who the boss was, and Hercules took liberty in directing himself. In the wrong direction. Rob's team was slightly influenced by mine. A nasty chain reaction. And this was all in the first 15 minutes of the run. The teams were more than pumped up and ready to go. It's a bit of an understatement to say they were pissed about the tangle. They were pissed at me, and each other. It wasn't our brightest moment. Through a little team work, and LOTS of swearing, we managed to get them all back on the right track. The rest of the run went well. Thank god! Both teams, Rob, and I all made it back to camp happy and healthy. Mark took the Varsity team out shortly after Rob and I left. So he was quite a ways behind us in his arrival back to camp. By then it had started to snow pretty good, and gotten dark. While Mark worked on putting his team away, Rob and I got water and fed the B and C team their first course of the evening. Then we hustled to get dishes done and the house some what presentable for Mary's homecoming. She arrived as I was washing the last dish:) We unloaded groceries and dog food, and then it was time to get ready for trivia!! Trivia was hit and miss tonight. I think our strongest category was on "National Lampoons Christmas Vacation". We pretty much dominated that! Thanks dad for all those times we sat and watched that crazy movie! After trivia, it was time for night dog chores, and chicken soup. A quick dinner for the humans, and we were off to the bunk house for bed. We are beat! The tangle and general attitudes of the dogs wore us out today :)
It is now snowing big flakes, and at a pretty consistent pace too. I have big hopes for what things look like when we wake up!!