I ran for two hours this morning. I sling another worn out pair of training shoes on the pile. I wish someone would come up with a pair that would last.

I like looking at my dogs as they sit watching wildlife. Thule had me smile as she spied an ermine (stoat) hunting mice around the feed shack. The little chap darted around erratically. Beef likes blue jays. He has an expression asking, “How can I fly like that?”

Blitz likes to chase ravens. He gets close which bothers me. Ravens have carrot long thick beaks, just right for gouging out dog eyes. Saxon has said plenty to the red squirrel like, “Why don’t you come a little closer little fellow.”

A beluga whale carcass currently rots at the mouth of the Hornaday River all but halting the spawning run of Arctic char there. Washed up dead whales are nothing new nor is handling them as toxic waste. Studies on rotting whales have shows them to be full of chemical contaminants. Around here bears and humans eat whales. I crossed the Hornaday River last year and remember taking a wide birth avoiding Paulatuk locals and their fish camp dogs.

I woke to noisy tap tapping ravens and pitter-patter rain on my roof.  Tree leaves colours have turned amber and saffron. Foxtail grass heads begin to change colour too. Dogs can die from swallowing these barbed barley like heads. Lodged in ears they create infections too. I spent time clearing patches of this grass before heads fall.

It’s reaching the time of year I manage to identify obvious birds on the wing like tundra swans and geese. Soon the only birds up here will be ravens and snowy owls.

A dog-eating eight-foot grizzly has Paulatuk residents watchful. The bear killed three dogs one night last week. Remains of one dog were left mangled. Flesh chunks were missing from bites through it’s middle. Around Arctic communities, wildlife like this bear does not survive long.

Walking dogs out this morning was pleasant. Sunny day temperatures hover around 8ºC. I watched Blitz bashing through willows and glancing birches. Poised to fall leaves dropped thick and fast like knocked ripe orchard apples.

All week thousands of geese flew south overhead, massive formations all at different layers in the sky. Tundra swans flew lowest and in smaller numbers, sometimes with only groups of six. With the energy to get south they’ll be just in time to be blasted out of the sky by wildlife hunters. No lakes freezing over yet.

I walked dogs out early and made it to a clump of scraggly trees. I call them Thule’s Trees because she just loves to run and run around them making us all dizzy watching her. Piston usually chases her and falls to the side. Ice begins to seal over Grassy Lake.

Overnight ice formed in the dogs’ water buckets, thick enough to hold a mouse on skis. I slammed in two hours of running and weight training.

We had snow after a minus 6ºC night. I woke startled from a dreadful dream. I was in the front room of a house. The sun was bright. The house had a busy road running past, though traffic was slow. A car stopped, a door opened, Piston was snatched and driven off. There was a feeling I was never to see him again. Last dream like this was on New Year’s Day. I dreamt I’d parked a car in a multi-story car park and left it with three of my dogs inside. When I returned the windscreen had been removed and one of my dogs was missing.

Thule heat takes hold and has Marshall’s brains go to his balls. He stands pumping fresh air while looking at Thule.