I spent a year in the mouth of a whale

Summer (the season, not the dog) has arrived!
Puppies are growing and growling, grass is greening, muck is drying, cranes are flying overhead, dogs are a little bored but soaking in the sun and well-deserved down-time, and the tourists are arriving in droves every day. Love it. Love Homer, love work...love everything!
Libby has gone to her summer home in Juneau so now Rich and I are here with her 40 dogs and our 20. We get up early to make (strong) coffee, play a quick hand or two of cards them get busy with dog chores: feeding, watering, scooping (always with the poop!), fixing broken things, running dogs loose, playing with pups, cooking up fish stew, etc. I also feed Libby's fish and water her plants. Then we clean up and head to work at Bear Creek Winery (more on that in a minute) where we work between seven and eight hours, then home for another round of feeding, watering, scooping and dog canoodling before we head into our cabin to cook dinner and collapse into bed. Sometimes we watch an episode of The Wire, which we're loving at the moment, but usually I end up falling asleep partway through. I love being busy and exhausted from hard work.
Rich and I both landed a job at the local Winery, which has been the most amazing gig I've had in a while. Besides getting to sample all their berry-licious creations, I do wine tasting for guests, give tours of the winery and help make wine. It's so totally different then anything I've done in the past and the people, especially owners Bill and Dorothy, are amazing. The hours are good, the pay is good, the perks are better and I'm learning about something I had no clue about before. Visit them at bearcreekwinery.com. They are open all year round and have a B&B too, with discounts for Alaskans. Rich builds things and does handy work around the winery and the compound and is loving being able to work outside and learn new skills (plumbing, carpentry, electrical, etc.) Once the outside stuff is done, he'll be Bill's apprentice wine-maker. Even though he said he doesn't like wine, I've been easing him into it, starting with the sweet stuff (strawberry rhubarb wine, blueberry wine and raspberry mead). He sure likes it now! It's hard not to, really.
Alice, Ruby and Cinch are growing like weeds. Here's a short video of them from today.
I'm heading North for a few days and will post photos of the winery upon my return home.
Peace.