The pups are almost five months old now and have a lot of energy. Fortunately they still stay quite close to us when we take them for walks.


Heini, our first girl dog. We got two beautiful daughters-in-law during the past year, so figured it was time to integrate the dog yard as well.

The snow is going early this year and our mountain biking trails will be open soon. Marja is sitting on one of hucks that our son Samuel built last summer. A huck is like a dock, except that you ride a bike off of it and there is no water below you. Now that you understand, it makes perfect sense, doesn't it?

Savu had earlier found a dead squirrel under the snow and relished every bit of it. In true husky fashion, he didn't share any of it with his sister. Of course, if Heini had found it first, she wouldn't have shared it with him either. Only humans feel guilty for taking the last piece of pie.

Marja tempting the pups with acorns. They tasted a few but weren't overly impressed.

Over the years the hundreds of tiny spruces that were growing in the field have become large trees. I decided to remove some that were shading the greenhouse, and so while I was on a roll, I took down the clump that was close to the south end of our house.

This opens the view and will also increase passive solar gain during the winter. It also just created a lot more work for me. These need to be sawed into shorter pieces and hauled off with the tractor. Some of the wood we will use for firewood, and we may square some of the logs for a future primitive savusauna (smoke sauna). The branches will be piled into large piles to be burned after the first snow next fall.