Wolf Up Close

Today has sure been exciting!! At about noon all of a  sudden  the dogs started barking like crazy in the back yard by the small generator shack. I went after them thinking maybe they found a porcupine but when they got up  pretty far up the trail (it leads to a bench overlooking the whole back bay) they went down next to a small cliff by the water. The dogs were super super exited and kept barking so I got closer to see what it was and then, what I was definitely not expecting, a huge, skinny but muscular, orange and brown wolf came right up the edge of the cliff. I only saw its head and a little below its shoulders. Before it could get up the cliff it fell back down again and started running towards the big generator shack with the dogs right on it. It shocked and scared me soo soo bad. I ran back to the lodge as fast as I could, thinking that I heard something behind me but it was just my mind playing tricks on me. It was really hard to run because I had all my snow stuff on. Breathless I  got Dewey and he brought his gun and we went back up after Niko who was now the only one barking at the wolf. (Cinder and Coby went back to the lodge), we didn't find the wolf and Niko was fine so we went back to the lodge and ever since I have ben having a really bad cough because I was soo out of breath from all the running up and down the trail.

Trail of ice the AJ made.

Male Merganser

CRAZY COBY

Foot cold

Excited about her new head lamp!

Little "Boo" (her name)

This morning it got down to 0 degrees. Now if I stay outside too long my fingers and toes get numb. Today we all went out in the AJ ( the tug boat) and went out to break up all the ice. We had a great time but it was soo cold that it hurt to look into the wind. We got stuck out there though because the cooling system for the engine froze up and we had to get it working again so that took some time. All the while we were out in the middle of the bay, but everything turned out fine. I got some great pictures but since its getting late I won't post them now. My next post will have a bunch of pictures.

Low Tempters

Two days ago we just got dumped on with snow!!! There is about 10 inches on the ground. We had to shovel the board walks but afterwards I brought the inner tub out and went sliding down the lodge's front stairs. Then I found out that it has a bunch of holes in it. :( It was hard for the dogs to walk in the snow because it came up all the way to their stomachs.
Last night I woke up because of a dream that I now can't remember, but a minuet later then generator went off. It was 4:00 am and I heard my mom and dad come downstairs and my dad called Dewey to go and check the generator. The day before we had seen on the forecast that it was supposed to get down really low, like in the single digits low. Last night it was 6 digress! The generator went off because the fuel line to it had froze. Dewey has been up ever since then melting all the pipes. Today the highest the tempter it got up to was 13 digress. All the dogs had icicles on their whiskers. I hope it warms up soon so we don't have to worry about the pipes and also so we can be outside longer without freezing!

Christmas

I had a splendid Christmas!!! We all got a bunch of presents and we had a great dinner. I got a lot of things but the biggest present was a Canon camera. My old one was acting funny. I have been taking tons of pictures and learning about all the different settings! I would have put a bunch more pictures on here but the internet is acting really slow.

Here is my new camera. My pride and joy!!!

We put a bow on Coby but she hated it. I think she was embarrassed!!

Here is Saylor's biggest present!

A Hectic Day

Today has been hectic!! Last night Niko got some quills again. So this morning Dewy and me went looking for the porcupine but we didn't see a thing. Then at about noon Cinder came home with tons of quills all over her face and feet. After we got them all out I counted them and there was 65 quills!! There was one tip of a quill under her tong which we couldn't get because there isn't enough of it to grab on to. So we are hoping it won't get infected. Dewy went to look for the porcupine after Cinder got into it. A couple hours later Dewy came over and he had the tail of the porcupine!! He said he found it by a hole that was probably the porcupines home. He also found a bunch of meat chunks. After I took the picutes below I came back and Coby had 3 quills in the roof of her mouth and one in her tong. I have no idea how she got them because since Cinder got all those quills I hooked Copy up so she wouldn't get it.

This is the tail and also a flap of skin. It looks like Cinder just bit it off and that would explain the 65 quills she got!

This is a close up of the hole. If you look hard enough you can so some quills around the edges.

This is the hole that Dewy found the tail and a pile of quills and hair.

This is a picture of a quill we took out of Niko.

Porcupine Disaster

The last couple of weeks there has been a lot of excitement... of all kinds. For some reason about this time of year the porcupines always come out and start trouble. Just about a week ago (the 10th) we were kinda wondering where the dogs were and just then Coby came to the door with a bunch of porcupine quills in her nose and mouth. We brought her in and let her calm down and then dad came over on his crutches and took out a bunch out except the ones in her mouth, (after only a couple quills she was getting pretty mad with him and tried to bite him). He let her calm down a bit again and then called Kevin Johnson over to help us get the quills out. After a bit of difficulty we got all of them, but right when we got the last one out of Coby, Niko came to the door and his whole mouth and nose were covered with quills. We brought him in and he started scratching wildly at his mouth and jumping up and down and trying to lick us and it looked as if he was asking for help. We tied him up in a towel and Kevin J. sat on him so he would stay still we got 2 but Niko was too strong and wriggled out from under Kevin's legs. Then Dad and Kevin had to tie up Nikos legs with duct tape so he couldn’t stand but he ripped the duct tape off his front feet. In the end we only got out 11 quills and there were still a lot in his mouth and down his throat. It was obvious that we couldn’t get any more out of him. Dad and Kevin J. finally gave up on Niko because he was too riled up. Dad called Art in town and told him that Kevin, Niko and I were going into the vet the next day to get Niko fixed up. Early the next morning we went to town and when we got to Knudson cove we tied up at the dock but when we got out Niko started to freak out! He has never ever been to town except for the 2 days he was there when he was just a puppy (8 weeks old). He was super scared when Art drove up in my dad’s car, which is a big black truck. Niko jumped back and started growling and barking at it. I felt soo bad for Niko because I know that being in town was such a shock to him. We finally got to the vet and there were 3 very nice ladies there and they were very gentle with him. They gave him a shot that made him go to sleep and they took out all the quills; there was even one in his tonsil. They took out 14 quills,so including the 11 we took out he had 25 quills in his mouth and on his nose. They gave him another shot to wake him up. He was pretty sleepy the rest of the day but he was good as ever the next day. After the vet Kevin J., Niko and me got on the boat and went back home.

Okay, the paragraph above I actually typed a week ago. Now Kevin J. is gone but Dewy Smith (also a employee who has been working here for a long time) got here yesterday. Since the vet episode he has gotten into the porcupine 3 more times. The 3rd time was tonight.... Dewy  saw him by his house and brought him to our house. He had 7 in his mouth and 3 on his lips. We had to put him on the leash then hold him up tight then Dewy put a hammer handle in his mouth to prop it open while mom pulled the quills out with pliers. Most of them were in his mouth. Me and Dewy are going to look for the porcupine tomorrow so we can shoot it and get rid of it so it won't keep hurting the dogs. In the mean time though Niko is going to have to be on the chain outside till we find the porcupine.

I can't wait till Christmas!!!!! Theres only 5 more days!!!

Dads Accident

Thanksgiving was great for me and my family! We had an amazing dinner and my personal favorites were turkey of course and cranberry relish, sweet potato casserole with marsh mellows on top! We watched football and played card games.
I know I'm keeping you in suspense because of the title so I'll just tell you what happened.

A couple days ago when Art and his friend Donny came out with the groceries my dad was walking down the board walk (it had snowed then rained then froze all the day before so it was extremely slippery) and he was walking down a steep part covered in ice that leads down under the lodge. His left foot slipped and his right foot caught him but his weight shifted and his ankle buckled underneath and while falling he heard a pop in his right ankle. All we know is either he broke his ankle or he just got a super bad sprain. I hope its just a sprain. His ankle is very swelled up and he can't put any weight on it at all. Its so swelled up that when he got a brace for his ankle it didn't fit. He has to go around the house on crutches and  even then just moving around hurts him. He's doing a lot better though each day.

Since he got hurt my and mom have learned so much about the lodge! We know how to turn on and off the generator and and the drain the water pipes when it gets to cold. Also how to pump fuel into the generator tank (which we did today). We've been taking care of the lodge all day, everyday since dad got hurt and I haven't been able to do very much school. So I'm a little behind but mom says that if I work hard then maybe I'll catch up later. My dad called up Kevin Johnson (a guy who has worked here before). He came out here today and is going to cut some wood for us because we are getting low. And anything that needs to be done while he's here, he has to leave on Monday or Tuesday so he can get back on the barge he is working on.