Been spending sometime outside the past couple of days, enjoying working in the warmth of the sun in just my shirt sleeves. It is great to break out all the tools, especially love the sound of that chop saw as it bites through a board, sometimes it is even on the line that I have neatly scribed. Work has been suspended on a couple of occasions upon hearing the sound of the Sandhill Cranes making their approach. Just like a moose that you may see along the scenic byways of our great state, you have to slow down and take a look even if you have seen thousands over your lifetime. The flocks of geese and cranes have the same attraction, you always have to look up and admire the fact that they are nearing completion of a flight of several thousand miles without any type of navigational aide. A sure sign of spring. All to soon, you will look up again to watch and listen them as they reverse their course and turn south.


Starting to see some resemblance of the lawn, a few more days similar in nature to that of which we have experienced the past few days, we may see the entire lawn. But, the sure sign of spring is that we have thoroughly enjoyed the company of family once again on the homestead. We were pleasantly surprised when Dutch's sister stopped by for a visit. We had not seen "Kiana" since last spring or her partner Cheryl. "Kiana" is a full sister to "Dutch" and lives just fifty miles north of us. She and Dutch flew into Anchorage from Dutch Harbor together in same kennel six years ago on May 18th. Cheryl and I were there to greet them, taking them out of the kennel in the baggage claim area for their "first sight" bonding experience. Within minutes, we had a crowd surrounding us, everyone loves a puppy. We see "Kiana" about once a year, this year it was a different experience to see them interact and their maturity level. It was no longer a chase between the two of them or even the wrestling match that has taken place in the past. This year, they acknowledged each other and after a few minutes were content in doing their own thing, even when it came to retrieving their favorite objects. They were content in retrieving their own device and leaving the second one alone, there was no sibling rivalry or dominance posturing despite being opposite sexes. It was great seeing two "tollers" together.