#huskies — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #huskies, aggregated by home.social.
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This morning was cool enough for a light jog down around the local lake. Water's getting low this summer, but so far no algae bloom, and Tonttu was able to get out far enough to soak up some of its cooling wetness!
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This is traditional American Tall-Grass Prairie! Big bluestem grass growing here is taller than everyone hiking through it, 6 to 7 feet tall (>2m).
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A light covering of clouds kept things cool for a hike around the southern prairie at Frontenac State Park over the weekend. Despite the hot, dry summer, the prairie was doing quite well!
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The return leg brought us up and around a slope that reminds us of the Parting of the Fellowship scene at the end of the first LoTR movie -- you half expect to see orcs tearing down the slope at you! (See especially the first photo.)
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Particularly like this shot, where Zeena has taken the high road, while tiny Jeff and Tonttu can be seen to the right of her ears!
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Yesterday we took advantage of cooler, drier air for the long(ish) drive down to Whitewater State Park, which sits about half way between Rochester and the Mississippi River.
This is a very crinkly bit of landscape, with steep valleys cut through karst limestone (and related geology) on its way to the Mississippi River. It's fun to zoom in on in your computer mapping software of choice with the terrain shading layer turned on. It's a lot more arduous to actually climb up and down those crenelations on footpaths that traverse the side of the slope!
We started down at valley level, then took a quick climb up to the blufftop, before winding around the west side of the park.
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Zeena thinks this is MUCH better! Thank you very much!
With the rains departed we headed to UMore Park, a.k.a. Vermillion Highlands for a hike around the central loop of the Lone Rock trail. This is a property with an interesting history now owned by the U. of Minnesota, and is a mix of agricultural research and wild landscapes. Zeena and Tonttu had plenty of opportunities to pounce for mouses and ground squirrels and moles along the way!
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Zeena may be sad that it's raining and she's stuck inside, but her humans are delighting in the change in weather!
July has been a hot, humid slog with little rain and many nights with the house closed and the AC running. But today it ends with a steady rain, cool air and light breezes coming through open windows. It's glorious!
Peaceful too: no road construction or lawn mowers or leaf blowers -- just the steady patter of rain and the trickle of water down the drainpipes.
Perhaps closer to suppertime it will clear up and we can go exploring the puddles (and mud!) left behind.
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On Wednesday we took advantage of the cool temperatures and clean air for a nice long hike at Willow River State Park, across the border in Wisconsin. It was great to stretch our legs after a long stretch of hot, smoky weather!
Being the middle of the week, the falls were not overrun with other tourists, so we got to explore the side pools and trickles in the cool shade.
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And one final video, this time of Zeena exploring the deeper waters below the falls.
There was a faint rainbow in the water spray, but neither the camera nor Zeena seemed to notice.
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We got moving early to avoid mid-day heat and also managed to miss much of the chaos that tends to congregate at the falls. We had it all to ourselves for a nice stretch.
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After two days stuck in the house because of wildfire smoke, things cleared enough for us to escape back to the woods!
It's still hot and humid, so we chose a shady hike at Nerstrand Big Woods, and routed our hike to pass Hidden Falls on the way out AND back. Not much water going over the falls, but it was enough to keep the pond at the bottom fresh enough for wading.
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Tonttu would probably compete well in Dock Dog if we were allowed to put Canada Geese at the far end of the pool!
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Saturday was the last nice day before we got hit by the Eastern US Heat Dome, so we headed out to William O'Brien State Park for a hike! Sunny and a bit warm, but breezes helped out a lot, and there were several strategic places for the pups to cool off.
We're now hunkered down, AC on (solar powered!) and thinking about fall...
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On another walk, this time along the Minnesota River, Zeena risks arrest and prosecution for following the private Excel Energy access road (on the left) that parallels the multi-use path (on the right).
Despite the scary warning signs to NOT TRESPASS on the road, Zeena escaped consequences of breaking the law.
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Clouds created extra dramatic lighting for our huskies as they were entranced by the fluffy cows (bison) at Spring Lake Park on a recent walk.
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Yesterday's run at Lebanon Hills was a little hotter and had a LOT more deerflies. Ugh! Dry weather means fewer places to cool off en route, and those that exist have muddy shorelines. But thankfully there's a nice clean lake at the end of our route handy for cleaning off the mud before jumping in the car and making it smell like wet dog!
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It's about time for me to post another "I went running!" posts again!
Still trying to get out of an inactivity slump, but Mother Nature has been gently encouraging, keeping cool, dry air over the Midwest. If I get moving early enough, it's even cool enough to bring the huskies with me without fear of them overheating.
Sunday's run aligned with NW winds that helped push the algae away from our little beach on Rogers Lake, far enough for the pups to have a mid-way cool-down.
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Two nights at Leech Lake with Jayson and both huskies — for once the whole crew made it. 58° and cloudy the entire weekend, which is basically a spa day for two Siberian Huskies. Echo and Dee were in heaven.
Spotless COE campground, an empty forest trail up toward Lake Winnie, and s'mores that delivered. Lone gripe: the JetBoil Genesis would NOT stay lit. Workbench date this week.
Full write-up: https://rogernoden.com/2026/06/camping-leech-lake/
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Yesterday we returned to Frontenac State Park for a morning hike. It was gorgeous weather! While the sun was bright, we're cooler than normal for June, and there was a nice breeze to boot.
The last time we visited here we'd intended to hike to Waconia Bluff, but they'd just burned the prairie, so it was flat and black and would have made our huskies look like the soot-covered dalmatians in the Disney movie! We did a different hike that day, but yesterday the prairie had sprouted happily back, with lots of grasses and flowers just starting to fill in, including butterfly weed, which is the orange patch in this photo just beyond Zeena.
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It's Zeena's 11th birthday today! Please join Tonttu and us in wishing her a happy, bouncy birthday. 🎂
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Yesterday water was out in our neighborhood (for utility work), so we escaped north to Duluth and cooler weather. It was gorgeous! Like spring was down in the Metro a month ago. Lots of warblers singing, including many Mourning Warblers that are rare back home.
We did a 4 mile loop at Jay Cooke State Park, on the other side of the St. Louis River via a suspension bridge that Tonttu was not terribly happy to cross...
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Zeena always loves a good hike, but she got ESPECIALLY bouncy after cooling off in the river!
If only we trusted them off leash long enough to let them romp and splash freely.
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Yesterday we made a loop around the SE corner of Afton State Park, checking for the latest warblers and other avian migrants to have arrived. The trip back paralleled the St. Croix river, with a staircase down the steep bank at the end, allowing access to the water. Of course the huskies loved that!
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We took the day off Thursday to head north to Banning State Park (half way between the Twin Cities and Duluth) for hiking and birding as migration picks up. The huskies would have loved a faster pace, but they permitted their humans to stop and look/listen for birds along the way.
The park borders the Kettle River, known for the big holes drilled in the bedrock by boulders swirling in the water eons ago.
We were there a bit earlier in migration than usual, which meant no Canada or Magnolia warblers for us, but we did identify several Louisiana Waterthrushes, which is new for us at this park!
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Kitchen wants to play, dogs want to sleep. Hilarity ensues.
https://cutetropolis.com/2026/05/14/dogs-kitten-husky-golden-retriever/ #Cats #Dogs #GoldenRetrievers #Huskies #Kittens #Pups -
Back on the trail. Running!
It has been delightfully cool this spring, perfect for the huskies to keep running as things green up around us. I'm still a bit cautious about trail running after previous injuries, but I do hope to keep at it, especially now that my work schedule has lightened up a bit.
Zeena and Tonttu were happy to pick up the pace somewhere other than our neightborhood paths, and to pounce and sniff and get muddy whenever possible.