Lagniappe Kennel -- Alaskan Husky Sled Dogs in Chugiak, AK

Meet Tuuli

2009-04-03T14:38:00.004-08:00

This is Tuuli, who is to be the newest addition to Lagniappe Kennel. I am picking her up from Bree Little tomorrow while I swap leased dogs out with her. Jake Berkowitz and Jeff King both ran leased Little dogs in this year's Iditarod, and now it's time for them to go back to their home. I'll be facilitating that.....and will be acquiring at least one dog along the way! Also while I'm out and about I'll be looking at two dogs that Zack Steer has for sale -- Saturn and Pluto. More later on these two.

News about Zed

2009-02-04T10:53:00.002-09:00

Not long after I wrote the last post, the temperature came back up above zero. We had probably a week of "normal" weather, and then here we are below zero AGAIN! I ran the dogs last night and it was -15. Brr!

Well, so this post is supposed to be about Zed. Mr. Zed had been waking up on the mornings after his runs and he was visibly quite sore in the hind end, either lower back or hips. The other night when Matt got back from running the dogs, Zed screamed as Matt went to take him out of the dog box on the truck. That's when I decided that it was time for a veterinary visit to see what was going on.

On Monday I hauled him in to our vet, Dr. Joe Grohs, whom I really respect. After recounting the problem to him, Dr. Grohs decided to take several x-rays of Zed to see if any defects were visible. We gave him a combination pain killer and sedative and plunked him down on the x-ray table. A few shots later we had what we were looking for. I joined Dr. Grohs in the developing room to see how the x-rays turned out.

The vet clinic's x-rays are digital, so they can be saved on a computer or emailed. Dr. Grohs was nice enough to give me a copy of the x-rays so I could keep my own set. I'll be posting one as soon as I can. Anyway, to make a long story short, we determined that Zed has spondylopathy of his last lumbar vertebra. That is to say, he has some calcifications around his vertebra that are slowly encroaching on the next vertebra and may eventually fuse the two together. This is probably the origin of Zed's pain and it means that he will be laid off for the rest of the season, if not permanently. We will x-ray him again in three months and see if there has been any progression, and then again three months after that. Hopefully his vertebra will fuse and he will be pain-free because of that. Then he can get back to running.

I have to say, this makes me pretty sad and disappointed. Zed was really my main man, my go-to guy who really gave me a solid front end to my team. He was training Zak and Skiff to be leaders as well. Now I will have to make do with the younger guys running by themselves, which could be really interesting! Last night Zak and Skiff were in lead together and things went off without a hitch, but we'll have to see what happens when they're put into a hairy situation. Will they be able to be the strong leaders that I need them to be? I guess we'll have to wait and find out. Only time will tell.

Life below zero

2009-01-03T16:11:00.003-09:00

Bonnie and me at the Knik 200 Start

Just before leaving

Teams lined up for the start of the race

Mike asks me if I'd like to help him harness dogs

The dog yard these days

The past week or so has been brutally cold for us in the Anchorage area. Granted, folks in Fairbanks deal with temperatures much worse than this (as they are currently doing!) but for Pete's sake, we don't live in Fairbanks! Currently my thermometer here at the house is reading -17.5 F. The dogs are all snuggled into the straw in their houses and not too many folks are outside doing things today. Bonnie and I were exceptions.

This morning we went to the Knik 200 sled dog race in Knik, which is just across the Knik arm of the inlet from us. It takes about 45 minutes to get over there even though as the crow flies, surely it's only a few miles from where I live. The temperature at the Knik was a balmy -25 F. Folks were bundled to the hilt and I saw more fur on people than I've seen in a while. Fur is a wonderful, wonderful thing! Mike Suprenant was running the race and of course, like we always do, Bonnie and I got roped into helping him get ready and get to the starting chute :) We never can be just spectators, I swear! But anyway, we got Mike safely out of there and spent the rest of the time taking photos of random mushers. Jake Berkowitz, Allen Moore, and Karin Hendrickson were among those that we knew.

Well, here are a few pictures of life below zero. Enjoy!

Welcome Strider / Tweek!

2008-12-29T10:22:00.003-09:00

Tweek taking a nap

Yep, you guessed it, we have another addition to Lagniappe Kennel -- a wonderful dog that belonged to Eric Rogers of R Northbound Dogs . His name is Strider, and he's a two year old (will be three in March) who was having trouble keeping up with Eric's Iditarod team this year. We decided to give him a try in our team and see how he liked things. So far, so good! We ran him 20+ miles yesterday and he seemed to fit in very well. He was a cinch to harness, line out, and run -- he kept his tug tight and was a real cheerleader whenever we stopped.

Eric reported that Strider (we call him "Tweek" after the Southpark character who can't sit still) was very much "his own dog" (i.e., very independent). He's a very sweet guy but he seems to lack focus. We've decided to keep him in the house as much as possible in an attempt to get him to really bond with us and pay more attention to humans. I don't think he had ever been inside before, but he's adjusting pretty well, even settling down for a nap when nothing is going on.

Tweek is a Lance Mackey breeding (Thunder x Nasty) and is unrelated to the rest of the dogs in our kennel, although he looks very much like Zed.

A Fun Run in Kasilof

2008-12-23T15:54:00.003-09:00

Bree smiles for the camera as we get ready to go

Getting ready to pull the hook

Well, dear reader, Wolf has gone home to the Littles' house! Yes, that's right, he was totally healed as of his last vet visit and got a clean bill of health. We drove him down to Jon and Bree on Saturday and used the trip as an opportunity to get out on some new trails with our own dogs. Many thanks to Jon and his handler Josh for showing us the 20 mile loop from Jon's house. It was a bit rough but was loads of fun! I was only able to snap some pictures as the sun was dipping behind the horizon -- it seemed to be the only part of the trail smooth enough that I could fish the camera out and take some photos. Zed and Clover are in lead, followed by Zinger and three of Jon's yearlings that ran the Sheep Mountain 150 just a few weeks ago. 6 dogs total and we were cruisin' at a pretty nice speed!

Enjoy!

A Little Update

2008-12-09T10:13:00.002-09:00

It's been a while since I posted a blog update so I figured it was high time to let you know what we've been up to! The weather here has been really crummy, with highs just above freezing. This has turned our roads and trails into icy runways that can be quite dangerous to those who aren't wary. Nevertheless, our runs have been averaging about 17 miles, thanks to Matt, who has been putting in most of the hours training the pups.

Interestingly, Zed has been laid off for a week due to an apparent lower back soreness problem that has cropped up twice within the last few weeks. No problem, right? Well, no, if you consider that Zed is my only experienced leader (now that Balu is retired to being a yard Nazi) then it poses a potential problem. That means I have youngsters up in the front of the team! Zak and Skiff have really stepped up to the plate in this situation, running lead together and proving to us that they do know their gee-haw commands, and how to head-on pass. I've been really impressed, as we are running them without necklines, so when you call a command you really get to see both of them respond individually without interference from the other. Pretty neat!

The Sheep Mountain 150 is this weekend and I plan on going to watch. The entry field is full of top-knotch contenders so it should be a fun race. Matt has volunteered to help out in the race so he'll be working at the start and the Eureka checkpoint. I'll try to take photos this weekend and post them to the blog!

Until then, think snow!

Another Eventful Week and a Wolf Update

2008-11-14T10:54:00.005-09:00

Zed (foreground) and File' (back left). Think they're related??

All of the dogs tethered. Wow!

The last week has been pretty action-packed. I had a dog run away, we had our first run on sleds, my sister-in law came for a visit, and Wolf had his splint removed, just to name a few things that happened. I guess I shouldn't just lump that all into one sentence and should expand a little bit. :)

As for having a dog run away, the run last week should have started out well. It really should have -- I was prepared to the T even though I was running without the aid of Matt (who was out of town). Well we made it to the trails uneventfully, at least. But that's about where it ended.

Bonnie decided to join me and ride on the back of the ATV for the short, 5 mile run that I had planned. Because she's not too familiar with my dogs and where I usually put them in the team, I hooked up mostly by myself. There must have been a dog in heat in the staging area before us because I simply could not get Zed to focus. He wandered around sniffing here and there and managed to wrap the entire team around the pole at the staging area rather than keeping them lined out like he was supposed to. I, being my brilliant self, decided that the tangle was too complex and I needed to start undoing tug lines. Zed was first, and I turned him loose because he wouldn't go anywhere. I thought. I looked up to see that he was trotting away, down the trail away from me. DRAT! I threw the rest of the dogs back onto the drop chains and took off down the trail on foot trying to get Zed to come back, to no avail. About halfway to the point where I turned around, I was tackled from behind. What the ???? It was Clover, she had gotten loose from Bonnie and had come bounding down the trail after me. Oh great, another loose dog! Well, lucky for me that Clover used to be Ruth Iten's loose walking dog. She followed me right back to the ATV where I decided I'd go look for Zed. Just about the time I got all of the dogs unhooked from the ATV, I turned around to find Zed milling around in the midst of them. UGH. I was absolutely disgusted and I told him so!

We hooked up and took off for a nice run that included a same-direction pass of a Siberian team. I'm not sure who it was but it was no trouble at all and made me breathe a sigh of relief that at least something went right.

Later that night I decided to bring a dog in for some one-on-one time. I picked Skiff because the other dogs had been beating up on her, and I thought she deserved a confidence boost. Skiff is an interesting dog. She seems almost skittish, but she's really not, she's just confidently cautious. She's not scared in the least. New situations don't seem to bother her, and being inside was certainly no exception. I left her loose and didn't really pay too much attention to where she was or what she was doing. After about half an hour, I realized I hadn't seen her anywhere or heard her at the other end of the house. Where was she? I peeped in my bathroom and, lo and behold, Skiff was there, in the bathtub, making herself perfectly comfortable. What in the world?? I picked her up and took her out of the tub but it seemed that she wanted to be somewhere secure (high?) because she immediately climbed onto the bathroom counter top. Silly, silly dog! I relieved her by taking her back outside and she immediately went into her dog house. I just never know what they're thinking.

Skiff in the tub

Skiff on the counter top!

Several days later I learned that my sister-in-law, Rachel, would be coming up to Alaska for a whirlwind visit. Well, I thought to myself, this calls for breaking out the sled! There is still not enough snow in Chugiak to use the sled, so away we went to Nancy Lake, about an hour North of us. I put Rachel in the sled and we ran 9 miles on a closed, unplowed road. To say that it was snowing a little would be an understatement -- there was a veritable blizzard going on! It was so hard to see that I had to pull my hood down as far as it would go and stare at my wheel dogs rather than look where we were going. Never fear, Zed was in lead (with Clover) and I didn't think he'd lead us astray. He didn't disappoint.

Rachel and me before heading up to Nancy Lake

The sled post-run

Rachel post-run

Off the topic of my own dogs, it's time for an update on Wolf! He is doing so fantastically well that he doesn't even have a splint on anymore. His pressure sores from his bandage are healing very nicely and his fur is beginning to come back where they shaved him for his surgery. Every night Wolf gets to spend a few hours without his "hat" (his Elizabethan collar) on. I don't think he really needs it anymore, but until those wounds are totally healed, I'll keep it on him just to be on the safe side.

With so much time in his kennel, Wolf probably has a lot to think about -- like how he'd like to collect things off of the floor in the bedroom and stash them in his crate. Seriously. The other morning I found him with a hat and one of my slippers. He was babysitting them in his crate and looked pretty disappointed that I took them away from him. Silly dog. I'm so proud of him for being such a trooper through this whole ordeal. Here's hoping he makes someone a fantastic recreational sled/bed dog!

Wolf with his loot (my pink slipper and a hat)

Until next time...

Bad things come in threes?

2008-10-28T15:08:00.003-08:00

Well when it rains, it pours. It's been a pretty eventful week and maybe, just maybe the bad stuff is over with by now. Here's hoping, anyway.

Last Thursday Matt and I were excited to get out to the trails right after work. We were so efficient getting the dogs brothed, then loaded and out to Beach Lake Trails that we were there by about 6:40. After getting everyone unloaded and on their drop chains, I went back to the ATV to crank it up, only to find that something wasn't working quite right. The throttle seemed to be stuck and I couldn't get it to move for anything. Oh brother, it was frozen. Sigh. With a little help from Eric, who happened to also be at the trails, we all stood around and put our warm hands on the part that we thought was frozen -- the cable. As long as the choke was on, the ATV would idle but the throttle still wouldn't move. After a few minutes, the boys felt something "give" in the throttle and all of the sudden the ATV roared to life -- but this time the throttle was stuck OPEN! Thank goodness the ATV was in neutral because it was screaming wide-open and after a few minutes of letting it run this way, hoping that whatever was frozen would thaw, the exhaust began to glow a red-hot orange color. Uh-oh, time to shut it off!!

After some standing around scratching our heads, we decided to put our dogs on Eric's drop chains on his truck and to head to our friends' house and pick up their ATV to use instead. After all, we already had gone to the trouble to get all of the dogs out there and harnessed; we might as well run them. Eric didn't mind us leaving our dogs on his truck, so off we went to Bonnie and Jim's place where we picked up their giant trailer with their dog boxes and their ATV on it. We looked like a train coming down the road!! Our poor little Dodge Dakota had no problem pulling the trailer but it looked pretty overwhelmed by its size.

We had a false start on our way to the trail, as we forgot to take our lines off of our ATV and there were no lines on Bonnie's ATV, so we had to turn around and go back to get them. Finally we made it to the trails and got in an uneventful 8 mile run with a really, really nice ATV (so much that I felt spoiled by it.) Then it was back to Bonnie's to drop off their trailer and pick up ours. We rolled into our house at around 11 pm and were some really tired puppies.

I neglected to mention that when we got back from running the dogs, Eric wandered over and pointed at Zak and File' and said
"Was one of these dogs tied at the back of the truck?"
"Yep" I answered. "Why?"
"Because someone ate the wires to the trailer and the plug and the wires to the truck."

Uh-oh. That would be File', miss puppy who cannot keep her mouth out of trouble. Hmm. Well that gave me cause for concern, as I thought that what she ate would probably be passed in her stool but I wasn't sure. File that one away for another day......and homeward we went.

On Saturday we took the dogs out for a really fun 9 miler on the newly-repaired ATV. It was a glorious evening and we really had a good time just being with the dogs. That is, until we got home. When I wandered into the house, I noticed that there was a big, empty bottle sitting in the middle of the floor. Hmm. What's this? Advil?? ADVIL????!????! One of the dogs ate Advil! Who ate it????? There was orange vomit scattered throughout the living room, pointing to the fact that someone was already sick from it. But who? There were three dogs loose in the house and any one of them, or all of them, could have partaken. To the bathroom we went with a bottle of hydrogen peroxide and everyone got dosed to induce vomiting. Picture it: three dogs throwing up all at once. It's a winner, I tell ya.

Only Dollar showed any signs of having eaten the Advil, so to the emergency vet we went at 10:00 PM on a Saturday night. Yeah, you know that one's gonna set you back a pretty penny. We trucked into Anchorage in a huge hurry because Advil can be very, very toxic to dogs, especially having effects on kidney and liver function. Within an hour she was on IV fluids and was under observation for the next two days.

So I thought that we had gotten the bad stuff out of our system.......but remember when File' ate the trailer wires??? Yep. You guessed it. On Sunday night, I looked outside to find her moping in her circle, clearly looking unwell.

Indoors she came for some R&R in the heated house, but still she was listless and she showed no interest in food. She would drink water but would simply throw it up within minutes. I was very worried that she had an obstruction, so first thing on Monday morning, to our normal vet we went with File' in tow. GOOD LORD I am getting tired of going to the vet!!

After some barium, x-rays, blood work and a bout of diarrhea, the doc concluded that File' actually has coccidia. Apparently all dogs carry coccidia, but young, stressed dogs can have bouts with infection and can become pretty seriously sick from it. This is not to say that File' doesn't also have something funny like trailer wires in her stomach (she might still) but she definitely has coccidia that are upsetting her GI tract and have her stomach and intestines all inflamed. (Rolling eyes) WHAT ELSE????

That wasn't a dare, I swear. I'm perfectly content with this set of three bad things. Let's not start another set!!!

On a different note, Wolf is doing very well. Thanks all of you well-wishers out there. :) He has a checkup tomorrow and I'll update the blog when we get word on how his recovery is progressing!

Until then - tootles!

Back in the A-K!

2008-10-20T11:12:00.003-08:00

Matt and I recently returned from a little over a week-long trip to the lower 48. The time away was refreshing and rejuvenating but I was glad to get back and see my pooches. I think they were pretty happy to see us, too!

We got in pretty late on Saturday night (got home around 1 AM) but Sunday morning we were up and at 'em early. After busily unpacking for a few hours, we checked on all of the dog equipment which was now covered in a thick blanket of snow. The ATV, amazingly, started right up and Matt took it up the hill twice just to run it a little bit without any dogs in front. Later in the afternoon we went to pick up an intriguing visitor who is scheduled to stay with us for a while -- Wolf. Wolf is from Jon Little's kennel. He is one of the survivors of the unfortunate incident that Jon experienced a few weeks ago. If you don't know about it, check out Jon's blog at http://jonlittle.wordpress.com/

Wolf is supposed to stay off of his feet for the next 3 months and that's where we come in. Jon and Bree didn't have a suitable place to keep him sequestered easily at their house, so we've agreed to keep him as an indoor house "pet" for the duration of his recovery. He has several checkups scheduled for the next few weeks, so we'll keep you updated on hir progress as we find out more about how he is healing.

Welcome Bowie! And Indi looking for a Pet Home

2008-10-06T09:45:00.004-08:00

Please welcome our newest (and hopefully last, for a while) addition to Lagniappe Kennel -- Bowie! Bowie is from the kennel of Jon and Bree Little of Kasilof, Alaska. She is out of Jon's "Adidas" (see below) and Jeff King's "Tater". I don't know too much about Tater except that he was highly regarded by Jeff's handlers. Adidas was one of the dogs that Jeff leased from Jon for the 2008 Iditarod -- in fact, she ran the race 1 month pregnant (ladies, that would be like you being 5 months pregnant!)

Here is a little info on Adidas:

(from Jon's website http://kasilofkennel.bravehost.com/dogs/dogs2008.html)

Adidas-- Leader

Iditarod finisher

Age: 4

Female

She's a big female, and the first pup I chose in a litter split with Dean Osmar, partly because of her intensity, partly for her size and partly because those sad-looking eyes remind me of her mother, Kazan. She's been described by another musher as having "a head full of rocks" but she isn't stupid, just head strong. If that toughness can be harnessed, she may prove valuable.

Hopefully Bowie will prove to be similar to her very valuable momma! She is already showing great promise. We put her in team for the first time at the tail end of a run (2 miles left) last night and she took to running like a fish to water. She looked like a little rabbit running down the trail alongside Balu. She's got a little something special about her -- you can tell. Look for great things from this little gal!

In other news, our own Indigo ("Indi") is looking for a new home -- someplace that will spoil him silly and treat him like the wonderful pet that he is. Indi has decided that he would rather lounge around than run (which is fine with me, I certainly won't make him run) so we're looking for a great family for him to spend time with. He's 4 years old, up to date on shots, loves to give kisses, knows how to sit and usually comes when called. He's a real lover. He might like to skijor at a back country pace. He definitely would love to be a walking buddy. If you are interested in Indi, please email me at Leslie@lagniappekennel.com and put "Indi" in the subject line. Indi has flown in an airplane before, so he should be fine to be shipped. An application, small adoption fee, and references will be required.

Sunny Days are Here Again

2008-09-29T09:38:00.002-08:00

At least for now, the weather has turned nice. Saturday and Sunday were both sunny and cool. The low on Sunday night got all the way down to 25! That means ice on the dog water buckets and signals to me that we are rapidly approaching the time when I'll have to be feeding twice a day rather than just once.

On Saturday the Chugiak Dog Mushers Association (CDMA), which is my local mushing org., held a fun day with a gear swap and a poker run. I am a board member so I showed up at 12 noon, when the gear swap was set to begin. There wasn't really anyone there at that time but by one, folks started trickling in. I got volunteered to be a "deck" out on the trail and give everyone who came by a card for their poker hand. So imagine me 1 mile out down a trail in the middle of the woods carrying a deck of cards. Can we say "useless" if a bear happened to appear??

Sunday Bonnie and I tried to go to Eklutna but after driving the half hour all the way to the parking lot, we pulled in and found that the lot was completely, totally full. Not even a place to park and there was no way in Hades that we were going to run dogs with all of that traffic. It was a shame because it was really a beautiful day to be out at the lake. So instead we headed back to Chugiak, where I took these photos. We run through a really pretty, dappled sunny section that I took photos in, I couldn't help it. It was so cheery! Zed was in single lead, followed by File' and Zak, then Balu and Clover, Calvin and Zinger, and Indi and Skiff.

I don't know if I've mentioned it, but it's pretty muddy out at the trails. See Zinger's face for proof. She was right in the middle of the team. You can imagine the puddles that we run through in order for her to look this way -- pretty monsterous!

Zinger poses with a muddy face

Clover was a little further up in the team - meaning she got less mud on her.

For now, we'll continue to bask in the sunny, clear days that nature has doled out, even if winter is coming soon! Enjoy what we've been given :)

Winter is Coming

2008-09-23T09:51:00.002-08:00

On my way to work this morning I took these photos. Looks like it's time to put those snow tires on soon!

Soul Dogs

2008-09-19T10:07:00.003-08:00

"When I was a young girl I believed in soul mates; now I believe in soul dogs." - Joyce Freedman

It's been obvious to me since Dixie's passing just how much my dogs really do play a special role in the life of dog people. Dogs touch us in ways that are simply indescribable to those people who don't share their lives with canines. Their devotion, their enthusiasm and their humor are all little gems that enrich our very existence. Dixie's death has caused me to reflect on these things and has given me renewed appreciation for each one of my four-legged fur-kids.

I honestly never expected to really miss Dixie; she could be a real pain. She had separation anxiety, awful teeth, a penchant for chasing fireworks, and the often-annoying habit of "WUFF"-ing at you whenever she decided she needed something. I often cursed at her under my breath (or even audibly) as she could be quite demanding and her insistence increased in volume dramatically within a very short period of time. But my expectations were folly -- how could I not miss that dog? How could I not miss the sweet pestering, the soulful brown beagle-eyes, the warm snuggle on a cold winter morning?

Perhaps as I began to slowly amass a bakers' dozen dogs, I took for granted just a little bit about each one. Each has his or her own special qualities that make him or her an individual, but in my eyes they began to become a group, a pack operating as one being. They were fed, watered, and picked up after at the same time. Free play time in the yard came as a group, and so did running. But since Dixie has departed, I've taken extra time to see every single one of my dogs as an individual. My appreciation for all of them has been heightened and I've noticed qualities, both good and bad, about all dozen of them. Skiff gets my heart with her fond nibbles and licks at my nose when I lean over her and her quiet wherewithal whenever she is being handled; File' makes me smile with her exuberance and joy simply to be alive, much less to have a nylabone; Zinger tells me that she is unequivocally happy with her woo-woo-woos that she throws my way when we're hooking up to run; Clover has more energy than should be legal in a sled dog and she's always ready to give a little more; Zak gives me quiet sidelong glances and begs to be petted and talked to when I walk past him; Zed literally smiles when it's time to hook up for a run or when we are trotting back into the staging area from finishing one up; Calvin trusts in his mother without question -- and I'm probably the only person who is privileged to have his true love; Balu enjoys his station in life as the Senior dog and the ruler of the dog yard; and finally, Indi is just plain happy to BE.

And so, I have to pass on what I've learned in the past weeks, which is to love and be loved. Appreciate, accept, and embrace differences in your dogs. And strive to be the person your dog thinks that you are!

New Blog to Follow

2008-09-17T14:30:00.002-08:00

Just wanted to share a new blog that I found today -- for all of you animal crazed people like me who would like to be vets in your next life. Written by a Wasilla vet, this blog is quite humorous and gives a pretty accurate view of the 49th state.

http://vetontheedge.blogspot.com/

Happy reading!

The things we do for dogs...

2008-09-15T11:53:00.004-08:00

Mud, mud, mud. That was the state of our dog lot as of a few short days ago. Matt and I decided finally to drop over $1K on gravel and supplies to gravel the yard! No problem, right? 3 dump truck loads (30 yards) of 3/4 minus sized gravel later, one backhoe, and countless trips with the wheel barrow, we finally had a gravelled yard. Yes, I drove a backhoe. For six hours yesterday, actually. When I closed my eyes last night, all I could see was the *#!% backhoe and my hands were twitching as I was trying to "drive" it. I think I had nightmares! Matt documented the occasion. I also took pictures of the "after" for you to see :)

Me operating the backhoe. Ack!

The new, neat yard. Ahhhh. Clean.

We were also hard at work getting the dog truck finished this weekend. Woohoo! It is ready to go. Not only did we make a 3-dog box insert for under the dog box (preventing us from having to put a difficult-to-manage second level of dog boxes) but I also received my personalized magnets for the dog truck. How cute is that?!

The Dog Truck. Matchy-matchy :)

The new dog boxes in the bed of the truck. Doors aren't on just yet (coming soon).

We took the dogs out for their third run of the season last night. I put Zak in lead with Zed and man, am I proud of that dog. I think we have a real leader in the making. He is happy to be up front and he is learning his commands. What's really funny is that he likes to lie down any time we stop, especially if there is water involved. Silly dog!

Stay tuned for more runs -- fall is definitely here. The leaves have changed, there's snow on the mountains, and the rain never seems to stop. Happy mushing!

Trip to Colorado and First Fall Run

2008-09-09T08:24:00.002-08:00

Last week we took a wild, hare-brained trip down to Colorado to pick up a 1996 Toyota Land Cruiser that Matt bought while down in Colorado Springs on business. It was a one-way flight followed by a few hours of sight-seeing and visiting with some friends of ours. And we took Indi with us! Yes, he flew down in a kennel and accompanied us on the way back. The day after we arrived, we set out on our way back to Alaska. On our one sight-seeing day, we visited the Garden of the Gods near Pike's Peak (it was too cloudy to go up on Pike's.) Indi and I paused for a photo opportunity in front of some of the neatest geology I've ever seen.

On Sunday (the second day of our drive) we drove from Calgary, Alberta to Grand Cache. We made a slight detour through Banff and Jasper parks. Imagine my surprise when we got a little outside of Calgary and found that there was SNOW on the ground -- in August! The snow stuck all the way until we got into the park, when it turned to rain. Seeing snow really lit a fire under Matt and me. We realized how much we needed to get done when we got back home in order to start training the dogs.

We stopped at Lake Louise and walked to the back of the lake, at the terminus of the glacier. Indi accompanied us, of course, and several times he decided to go for a swim in the glacial melt water. It had to be no more than 35 degrees, seriously. Ice water! But he loved it.

Fast forward to Sunday the 7th -- My Dad popped in for a visit at the tail end of a fishing trip. Of course I couldn't let the opportunity to take him for a run with the dogs pass us by. Matt and I put it in high gear and got the dog truck finished and everything ready to go just in the nick of time. On Monday afternoon we took Dad out for a 2 miler -- the first run of the season. I think he had a good time, but he did tell me that I was nuts and that it was too much work. :) I ran the dogs in half-harnesses for the first time. They were a little wild and crazy. I'm not sure if it was due to it being the first run of the season, or due to them not wearing neck lines, but it was a tad nuts. Oh well, they'll get better as the season goes on. Needless to say, they had a BLAST. It was the first time that File' had run with the team, and it was my first time to run Skiff, Zak and Zinger. Everyone was fantastic and pulled. Gotta love those dogs!

We finished up the run, watered everyone, and headed back home. Whew! I was pooped. "Dog wrangling", I call it. It can really wear a girl out!

We should be out for our second run tonight. More photos (and photos of the newly finished dog truck) to come!

A Smile for a Monday

2008-08-25T15:05:00.004-08:00

On the days like today, when it's tough to get out of the bed and get started with life, sometimes it's nice to think of the blessings that each and every one of us has. The things that I like to think of are the things that make me smile -- my silly ferrets doing their "dook dook dook" noise while they run and act silly in the living room, Guy carrying around a pink and green stuffed elephant the size of a mouse (literally) because it's his "baby doll", or even a just sunny afternoon drive home from work.

I've posted some things that make me smile -- I hope they make you smile, too!

Indi smiles for the camera, mid-walk at Beach Lake

A sunny day drive home from work

As for Lagniappe Kennel news, we're almost done with refinishing the 6 hole dog box. Photos to come (hopefully tonight!) AND -- File' was in harness for the first time last Thursday. I hooked her to my skijor belt and off we went for a 2 mile jog up the road and back. She was all business and put her head down and pulled like she had been doing it all of her life. What a good girl (as I told her repeatedly!) Footage below. Enjoy!

Rest in Peace, Dixie-Bear

2008-08-23T15:30:00.002-08:00

Today we are saddened to say that we lost our very first member of Lagniappe Kennel, Dixie. Dixie was adopted from the animal shelter in Nashville, TN in the fall of 2001. For the last eight years she has graced us with her (sometimes Prima Donna) presence. I have never had a dog who was a bigger pain, yet was so unconditionally cute. She will be missed. See you at the bridge, Dixie-Bear. We love you.

File' and the fishcicle and Lagniappe Kennel Sled....Ferrets??

2008-08-17T18:45:00.003-08:00

It's the dog days of summer and not a whole lot is going on in our dog lot. Most of the activity is outside the lot -- like getting the dog boxes stripped and repainted, lining up gravel for delivery, etc. So I decided to add a little action to the day on Friday by throwing a frozen King Salmon head to File'. Good gracious, that dog can eat. I felt like I was watching National Geographic video of lions eating. This girl was seriously going to town!

File' tears into the salmon head. Mmmmm...

Saturday was my birthday (happy birthday to me!) and I rewarded myself by acquiring something that will make me smile and giggle and will make me very happy this winter -- a ferret! I used to have a ferret but gave him to a friend who was in love with him. I miss the silly things. So I found a ferret, Syke, in Palmer. He needed to be rehomed and he's perfect for me. He's a white eyed black (so not albino in that he does not have pink eyes). He's very sweet!! Today I found him a roomie, a little female named Jinx. So we have Syke and Jinx. What is this, 80's phrases? Totally unintentional. I love them! Granted, they can't pull a sled, but they snuggle and do funny ferret things. They'll definitely be good winter entertainment. Right now they're curled up together in their nap sack, asleep.

Happy Ferret Day!

Jinx in her nap sack

Hey, what's all this picture business? And who is that dog? (Cass)

Syke sleeping on his back

After many days of reflection, it dawns on me that dogs will be dogs.

2008-08-12T09:51:00.003-08:00

I've had a quiet last few days. I've been shouldering kennel burdens by myself since Friday of last week; frankly, I expected it to be a little trying but I've grown accustomed to the routine again and am able to dispense with the chores pretty quickly. I think that the dogs are happy to see me in the dog lot again -- Matt usually does the evening feedings so they haven't visited with me very much lately. As soon as we go back to feeding twice a day, I'll be doing morning duty before work as well as running them with the ATV some.

My rejuvenating, peaceful weekend consisted of chores, some shopping, laundry and housecleaning, punctuated by lots of napping. In the evenings I was able to take some time out to have a glass of wine and gaze out the window at the dogs playing in the yard. Most of the time watching them makes me smile contentedly. On rare occasions, watching them gives me a heart attack. I've had two such instances within the last few days.

Firstly, last night I peeked out the window to spy on File'. She was having a blast playing with her bone. Or so I though. Upon closer inspection, I saw stuffing all over the ground. WHAT? How had she managed that? Someone had apparently gifted her with the closest dog bed, which she drug to the center of her circle and attempted to shred. Heart attack number one. I slipped on my boots and ran outside to chide her and put it back where it belonged. She didn't do too much damage.

Later on, I heard Zinger barking in the yard. She, her brother Zack, and her kissing cousin Clover have unique barks. They all sound similar but I can tell them apart without looking simply by the tone of their voices. I knew that Zinger was up to something before I even saw the reason for her barking. She only barks when she's playing or when it's feeding time. I had already fed, so I figured she must be playing with something. When I looked out the kitchen window I saw that she was batting a toy around on top of her house, nipping it, throwing it up in the air and swatting at it again. She was busy talking to it while playing with it. What kind of a toy was that? Small...brown...oh NO. It was a POOP! My dog was playing with a poop on top of her house!!!

"ZINGER!" (no response) "ZINGER!!" (still no response) "ZINGERRRRRR!!!!!!!!!" (she pauses) "Don't play with that." (blank stare. swats at the turd again.) I sigh and close the door, shaking my head.

What in the world gets into these critters? I love them with all of my heart and soul and they repay me by doing things like tearing up their dog beds and playing with pieces of poop!! They make me scratch my head day after day. And so, after much Zen meditation and many quiet hours spent contemplating my dear pets and how I much love them, and why they do the things that they do, I have come to a simple conclusion. It all boils down to one thing: Dogs will be dogs. :)

A Lazy Weekend

2008-08-04T12:05:00.006-08:00

This past weekend was a pretty relaxed one. Matt spent most of it putting vinyl siding on the garage (pics to come) and I spent most of it running errands and goofing off. I took quite a few walks with dogs and enjoyed our bonding time. I even walked Indi up to the unnamed lake near the top of our mountain and let him go swimming. I wish I had taken my camera so I could have gotten some quality photos. Instead, all I had was my camera phone. I'm posting the photos and video anyway, even though they were a little blurry. He's not doing anything spectacular -- unless you consider the fact that most sled dogs don't like going swimming! Indi loves water, although I think he takes dips mostly because he wants to cool off under that heavy coat of his.

Trip to the North Slope

2008-07-28T09:41:00.007-08:00

On Saturday the 26th I was one of 110 people fortunate enough to be able to take a trip to the North Slope to visit ConocoPhillips' Kuparuk River Unit. This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me, because the tickets for this trip are drawn lottery-style. Matt didn't actually win the tickets, but his friend Maria did. Both Matt and Maria were going to be on the Slope over the weekend, so Maria gave one of her tickets to her husband and the other one to me. I wasn't really sure what to expect out of this trip, but I'll say that I was definitely pleasantly surprised.

I had an early check-in at the Shared Services desk (the airline that services BP and ConocoPhillips). To be parked at the airport and checking in at 7:30 was brutal for me, but I managed to do it. I snagged a Starbucks before boarding the plane, but little did I know that unlike today's commercial flights, I'd be treated like royalty on this plane. Shortly after takeoff, the super-friendly stewardesses came by and gave us all cinnamon rolls that were the size of my HAND. I kid you not. Yes, I scarfed it down in record time. We also had coffee. Yum.

About 45 minutes into the flight, the captain came on and informed us that we were about to pass Denali. Sure enough, I looked out the plane and saw THE mountain to my left. The pilot did a fly-by for each side of the plane so we could all see it. It was an absolutely incredible sight. Only the top 2000 ft. or so were visible, but it was stunning nonetheless.

Denali from my seat in the plane

I was content to doze off after our mountain sighting. Another half-hour later, the pilot let us know that the pipeline and the Dalton Highway were visible below us, and we descended to about 3000 ft. to fly over them and sight-see. Incredible! We were near Galbraith at the time.

Pretty soon we were on the ground and were deplaning and loading a bus to ride to the camp. When we entered the camp, I saw Matt's friend Maria greeting passengers. I poked my head to the right of the line and saw Matt waiting for me. Score! I had a tour guide. After a short safety meeting, the rest of the passengers went with an official ConocoPhillips tour guide but Maria's husband (Matt) and I went with Maria and my Matt for our own personal tours.

The first order of business was to grab a hard hat, some goggles, ear protection, and to be fitted with a Nomex suit. Dead sexy, I tell you. Then we headed out to one of the drilling rig camps to grab some lunch. All free, of course. After we stuffed ourselves, we drove to the drilling rig and watched as some of the workers pulled pipe. The rig foreman gave us a tour of the drilling rig from top to bottom. I saw where the drilling mud is made, mixed, and distributed. We ventured onto the platform where work was going on. Scary!! Huge equipment and very heavy, loud, and quick-moving. A dangerous job, for sure, if you're not light on your feet.

Standing on the rig looking upward at the pipe

Coming down off the rig. Look at the tundra behind me - how pristine! They are SUPER careful and there are so many regulations......the area looks virtually untouched.

Under the rig. The thing is moveable!! HUGE tires. Supporting 11.75 MILLION pounds!

After we finished visiting the rig, we headed over to the Seawater Treatment Plant (known as STP.) As we pulled up, Maria warned us that polar bears were frequently seen in the vicinity. In fact, the STP has a CAGE in front of the door to the building. The cage stays shut and when you walk out of the building, you're supposed to check for bears before opening the cage. I kid you not. There was actually a polar bear at STP shortly after we left!!

We toured the annals of the STP and learned how the water is treated and is used in oil recovery. It's as cold as 28 degrees when it enters the plant in the winter time! Of course, there is always driftwood and debris present, so the water has to be filtered. Some funny little prehistoric-looking critters called amphipods also get screened out. I picked one up to snack on. Yes, it was alive. No, I didn't really eat it. It was just my own "Man vs. Wild" moment.

Mmm, tasty snack. Lots of valuable protein.

Matt and Me in front of the Arctic Ocean

After the STP tour, we headed back to camp for a snack and a tour of the camp. Working there would be a pretty sweet deal if you could stand the hours!!

We boarded the plane at 4:30 and headed back to Anchorage. I didn't take any photos on the way back. In fact, I slept most of the way. But ConocoPhillips was generous enough to provide an evening snack and free adult beverages on the flight. I did wake up enough to fix myself (and drink) a Crown and Coke. Yum.

All in all, it was a delightful day! I was so very impressed with Conoco. The wildlife is alive and well. Caribou are abundant. Geese are everywhere. Wildlife has the right-of-way and cannot be harrassed (or hazed, as they call it). Yes, we did have to sit in the truck to wait for a gaggle of geese to cross the road. Annoying but necessary.

I say THUMBS UP for the Gas line!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Depressing Weather and a blurb about Balu

2008-07-25T11:46:00.005-08:00

Ok folks, get ready for some depressing news. This is the coldest summer that Alaska has had in a good, long time. I'm talking, cloudy, overcast days with highs in the 50's. This morning it was 48 when I woke up. Hello? July, anyone??

I knew things were getting bad (and I wasn't imagining it) when the Anchorage Daily News posted this:

http://www.adn.com/life/story/473786.html

Yep, they confirmed what I suspected. 2008 may be the year that summer never arrived. The dogs love it, but I gotta say, it makes for an awfully nasty, messy dog yard. The amount of mud that we have out there is insane. We will be putting gravel down in the yard this fall, and the sooner the better!

Tomorrow I head north to Kuparuk for a tour of the North Slope drilling grounds. I won a ticket and I'm pretty excited! I will be sure to take photos while I am there (and on the way, if it's clear and I can see anything out of the plane. Supposedly we fly right past Denali.)

In the meanwhile, I'll entertain you with a little bit of history on Balu.

BALU

Curled up for a nap on anything he can find

Balu doesn't really have red eyes. He has blue eyes, but it's dang near impossible to get a good photograph of him because the flash always gives him red-eye. Oh well, use your imagination :)

Balu came to me from Eric Rogers of R Northbound Dogs. He is the most senior dog in our sled dog menagerie, at the ripe old age of nine. Balu ran the 2006 Iditarod with Eric but was dropped in Ruby due to a lack of drive. Thanks to the quick thinking and superb care of my friend Bonnie (who housed Balu as a dropped dog), Balu made a trip to the vet and was saved. He actually had an undiagnosed stomach ulcer that developed while he was on the trail. Without Bonnie's help, Balu surely would not be with us today. Balu also started the 2007 Iditarod with Eric, but Eric scratched due to several broken bones. After coming home from the race, Balu retired to live with us at Lagniappe Kennel.

Balu has bloodlines that trace back to Gareth Wright's Pluto, to whom he bears much resemblance. He obviously has some sprinty hound in his background, with a lighter build and flop ears, but make no mistake -- Balu is still quite a large dog weighing in at about 65 lb. He can run anywhere in our team but spends most of his time running in lead. He is a trained command leader but is not stubborn enough to impose his will on an unruly leader-in-training. Truthfully, Balu is easily distracted from going the way you tell him to, and if the other dog wants to go a different direction, all bets are off! I am encouraging Balu to think more on his own this year, as I plan to run him without a leader neckline, forcing him to listen and follow the other leader's example (usually Zed's) less.

Balu has one of the nicest personalities of all of our sled dogs. He was an excellent puppy-sitter for File' and had a ton of patience with her. He even allowed her to sleep with him in his dog house. He can be a bit of a tyrant, though, to younger males, as he is the only loose sled dog in our yard, and is not hesitant to give any other dogs a piece of his mind. Albeit, quietly. :) Just a lot of "barking" -- in quotes because Balu is debarked. It's more like a clacking of teeth.

So, farewell until I return from Kuparuk!

Getting Ready for Fall and a blurb on Skiff

2008-07-16T08:49:00.007-08:00

I can't believe that July is a little more than halfway over. Know what that means? It means that August is just around the corner -- and with that comes the advent of cart training with the ATV. Yikes! Didn't the snow just melt??

Obviously it's time to start thinking about chores that need to be wrapped up before ATV training starts. With our little kennel now having nine sled dogs, the option of transporting everyone in the Land Cruiser is obviously going to be nixed now. 5 dogs was manageable (if not a bit hairy at times, literally) but nine is just absolutely out of the question. Matt and I had been mulling over our options for months when, as is prone to happen, a solution seemingly presented itself. His friend happened to be selling a 1998 Dodge Dakota with 170K miles on it. At the same time, I noticed an ad for a killer deal on a 10-hole dog box and trailer with harnesses and two sleds on Craigslist. Needless to say, in short order we had a "new" dog truck and trailer and all of the extra goodies that came with them. The 10-hole dog box was actually not something that we needed to keep, because it was designed to be mounted either on a trailer (which is how it arrived) or on the bed of a full sized truck. The Dakota is a compact, so the measurements didn't work out. It just so happened that Bonnie and Jim were looking for a new dog box at the same time -- so, to make a long story short, they now are the proud owners of the 10-hole box and we kept the trailer, which is the perfect size for toting my ATV! Our other friends were selling a 6-hole dog box designed for a compact pickup. You can probably guess what happened -- we now own it. So, score one dog truck, one dog box, one trailer, a passel of harnesses, and a child's sprint sled that I gave to Eric for his grand kids. The 6-hole dog box needs to be stripped and repainted (help this weekend, anyone?) and needs to have a level of 3 boxes added on one side. I'm exhausted already and the work hasn't even begun! I will post photos of the "new" truck and trailer and box as soon as I can.

In other news, I've decided to put up some blurbs here and there regarding the dogs in our kennel. I selected Skiff (the newbie) for my first post. Let me know if you like the idea of finding out more about the fur-kids (feedback is always welcome!)

SKIFF:

Silly Skiff Barking at the Camera

Skiff is a 2 y.o. spayed female from Jon and Bree Little of Kasilof, AK. She was the result of a cross between Jon's "Kit" and Mitch Seavey's "Ice Man". She has some pretty old and well-known bloodlines. Check out her pedigree below:

Skiff's mom, Kit, still lives with Jon and Bree. Here's what they have to say about Kit:

A very fast, very durable team dog. She is large and leggy for a female. Her dad, Lobo, did well for Charlie Boulding. Her mom led Dave Scheer to a 12th place finish in 1996. A busybody, she's got a lot of energy. She was an awesome part of the team in the 2004 Kusko, but that was her last race. She's loose 24/7, patrolling the yard.

Read more about Jon Little's kennel at http://kasilofkennel.bravehost.com/ or on his blog http://jonlittle.wordpress.com/

I see a lot of these attributes in Skiff already, and I haven't even had her in harness yet. She is long and lean and is constantly in motion in the dog yard. She's not shy about vocalizing to me, but she's not annoyingly talkative. One of her favorite things to do is to nibble on my nose when I lean over to pet her. I gotta say, I don't mind. There are worse things she could be doing :)

I really look forward to seeing what this gal has to offer this year. I expect her to be a cheerleader and eager to get to work!

New Discovery Channel Show on Iditarod

2008-07-11T09:15:00.002-08:00

I saw this today in my iGoogle list for "Iditarod" --

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/groundbreaking-discovery-channel-series-chronicles/story.aspx?guid=%7B1001F30E-7595-490C-AF46-1B09410A6761%7D&dist=hppr

Iditarod Picnic and File's First Run

2008-07-09T16:40:00.004-08:00

On June 28th, Bonnie and I decided to head to Wasilla's Iditarod Headquarters to be present at the 2009 Iditarod signup. It was a nice day, if not a little bit on the cool side. There was to be an ITC Board of Directors meeting earlier in the day and a picnic beginning at 12. I think we showed up around 10:00. I didn't get to take any photos because my camera battery decided to die...but Bonnie snapped one of me holding a stuffed husky and the 2008 Iditarod book in front of the Iditarod sign.

We did get to visit with several familiar mushers while at the meeting -- Ed Stielstra was up from Michigan to sign up yet again. His new handler Tim Riley also accompanied him and will be running his puppy team. Keep an eye out for both of these guys. I became a huge Stielstra fan after meeting Ed last year at Bonnie's open house. You couldn't encounter a more down-to-earth, laid back guy with a great sense of humor!

I also had a while to chat with Becca Moore, Ramey Smyth's significant other. I had never met Becca before but I have been an admirer since she signed up for the Yukon Quest last year. Talk about nice -- Becca is also super-friendly! And a real knockout, too. We need more pretty girl mushers :)

Well enough about that. Last weekend (July 5th) we decided to finally take the puppies out for their first fun free-run of the season. This meant that we'd be on the ATV and the pups would be running with us loose. The first run consisted of "my" group -- Clover, Balu and File', doing the 2 mile loop. I was going to be riding ahead of my dogs on the ATV and Bonnie and Jim would be bringing up the rear to catch any stragglers. Needless to say, Miss Clover knew exactly what was going on and as soon as I cranked up the ATV and headed for the trail, she was off like a shot, running flat out. It was all I could do to keep up with her! She was running 20 mph for about a mile and a half...and so was Balu and so was File! This just blew me away. File' has never run in her life, and here she is running 20 mph for nearly 2 miles. She did slow down toward the end and take a few breaks, but she'd get mad that she was getting left behind and would shift back into a gallop after a few strides trotting. I could be wrong, but I think this gal has the makings of a leader...she seriously wanted to be in the front.

Bonnie and Jim ran their puppies, Tasso and Boudreaux, as well as their mother DeeDee and their gay uncle, Nero :) This was a bit funny. The puppies were all over the trail, harrassing each-other to no end. DeeDee wasn't interested in running that fast, and Nero got separated from them and ended up being the only dog running behind their ATV. I followed Nero, who jogged down the trail at his own speed. We coined a new name for him -- The Cuban Caboose -- because Nero has a huge butt and it was the funniest thing watching him sashay!

We should be heading out for another run soon. This time I might venture to try Zed and Calvin......and that may or may not be a recipe for disaster. Wish me luck!

Is Summer Here?

2008-07-01T13:47:00.002-08:00

Finally yesterday we had a really nice afternoon. It was sunny, if not a little on the cool side, and it was the perfect time to take a walk with a frisky dog. Naturally (ha!) I chose Indi to accompany me. No, really, I picked Indi because I thought it would be a good idea to work with him on recalls. He's not likely to be a serious sled dog for too much longer, so he needs to have at least some basic manners. Hiking with him off-lead would be a nice activity to work on, so I decided to start by schooling him on a flexi-leash.

We drove to the Beach Lake trails parking lot and parked. Matt took off for his evening run, but Indi and I started a jaunt down the road toward Beach Lake. It took us about a half an hour to get down there and Indi was a little on the warm side when we finally arrived. Without even batting an eyelash, he strutted down to the shore of the lake, waded out into the water and flopped down. You could almost hear him say "aaaaaaahhhhhhh......." What a silly dog! He's certainly not your typical sled dog who won't go anywhere near the water. He even dog-paddled out into the lake a little bit before returning to me. Honestly, this dog would be a perfect boat dog! Too bad we don't have a boat.

Half an hour later, we were back at the car. Indi had gained some much-needed recall work (he did quite well, might I add) and I got some exercise. On the way home, we dropped by Bonnie's house to give back some things that she left in my truck by accident on Saturday when we went to the Iditarod signup in Wasilla. Needless to say we ended up staying for a glass of wine and good conversation.

I love my life! :)

Holy Crap That's a Lot of Dogs!

2008-06-23T10:16:00.004-08:00

This weather has been absolutely disgusting. It's been rainy and overcast, cold (40's and 50's) and generally miserable. It's a good thing we finally got the yard finished for the sled dogs and we put loads of pine shavings into everyone's houses yesterday. They are quite grateful and even Zak, who I had never seen in his house before, has been snoozing in the lush padding of the wood chips.

At one point last evening, I looked outside from the living room and I was startled by the picture I glimpsed through the window -- "holy crap that's a lot of dogs!" Yes I know, maybe I was slow to come to this realization, but it just hit me. My yard is full. FULL! There are dog posts and houses in every available bit of space. Um. How did this happen? Never doubt the power of the mushing bug. Last year at this time, I had a green expanse of yard just outside the window. Now it's mud and...dogs!

In other news, Matt recently went fishing in Homer for salmon and halibut. The trip wasn't especially fruitful, but he didn't come home empty-handed. I drove him down to Turnagain Pass on Tuesday and met some friends there. We snapped a few photos. And, of course, I had to post the obligatory fishing photo. The fish were THIS big!!!

Say Cheese! Turnagain Pass

The Deadliest Catch. Just kidding.

File' Update

2008-06-17T09:13:00.003-08:00

Just had to post some new photos of our baby, File'. She also answers to the name "SQUIRT!" What a cutie. I'd bet she has to weigh at least 35 lb. now. She's a bit of a chunk for a 5 month old. Not an ounce of fat on her...she's just...sturdy! She's due to be spayed on the 27th.

The Long-Awaited Photos

2008-06-17T08:53:00.003-08:00

Yes, I finally got around to downloading the photos that I've been promising for so long.

Guy is caught red-handed sleeping on the couch in the living room. That's a no-no...he's not supposed to be up there!! This is his classic "I have no idea what you're talking about" look.

Zinger, who was spayed on Friday, contemplates the origin of the massive number of shoes by the front door. She's taken to being an inside dog like a fish to water. Uh-oh, we may have another house dog wannabe!

Zinger is always game for a good scratch. She loves to be petted! She's a quiet, sweet girl.

Me, mid-ride, on Sunday the 15th. We rode from the Talkeetna Spur Road turn on the Parks to Talkeetna, had dinner, then rode back (a total of 28 miles). It was a nice ride on a nice evening!

The new kid on the block, Skiff. She's from Jon and Bree Little. 2 years old and spayed, she's sorta the last of her bloodline, at least at Jon's. She hails from old Bill Cotter / Gareth Wright lines.

Ah, it's June

2008-06-11T11:00:00.002-08:00

My apologies for not posting much in May. To be perfectly honest, I've been totally consumed with summertime activities. Granted, the weather here hasn't exactly been cooperative, but I'm trying to get out and do things anyway. I've taken lots of long (i.e. long for me on a mountain bike with knobby tires - 15+ miles) bike rides, have walked some on the trails, and am generally happy that summer is sorta, kinda here. It's been unseasonably cool, actually, with highs only in the 50's lately, and with overcast skies. I wish we would have some nice, sunny weather so I could enjoy some warmth of the sort that I had in Tennessee. Oh well, Alaska weather is nothing if not unpredictable. :)

On the doggy end of things, we are expecting our final addition to the kennel on Thursday. Skiff, a (now spayed) female from Jon and Bree Little, will be making her home with us. She's two years old and has excellent, old bloodlines. I can't wait to see what this girl can do. By all of Jon's reports, she is a very sweet, personable dog, and it sounds like she'll fit right in with my fur-kids.

Zinger will be going to the SPCA on Friday to be spayed. Unfortunately I wasn't able to schedule her spay before she actually came into heat. She's been living in the heat pen (something I don't like) for the last three weeks, so she should be on the tail end of her heat cycle. Poor girl. I don't know if she's ever had a bath, or ever even been indoors, but she can expect to have her first bath tonight (Clover did well, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed!) and she can expect to live in the house for the next week or so. This could be a real challenge. File' will be spayed two weeks from Friday. That will take care of all of my females. I'll only have Zed and Zack still intact...both bloodlines available if need be, but without the worry of an intact female.

I'll try to snag some photos of the bath and of Skiff. Until then - toodles! And send some sun our way, will ya?

A Good Day

2008-05-29T09:28:00.002-08:00

The weather has finally begun to really change here and, truthfully, I'm delighted. It's been in the 60's and sunny during the day. There's been a light breeze and it's given us the kind of weather that makes me want to sit outside on the deck and close my eyes and be a sun sponge. Of course that can't possibly last very long, since my periodic dozing is punctuated by a wet nose poking me here and there. Oh well, them's the breaks when you're a doggy mommy.

The dogs are loving the weather. They're dozing on the tops of their houses and are indescribably lazy. I love it! They look so happy. And File' has gotten to be HUGE...I'll have to post pictures of her again soon. She's tethered now (a matter of necessity since Zinger is in heat and had to be put in the heat pen where File' was living at the time.) She's adjusted like a champ.

After vacation, I stubbornly pulled out my summer clothes as soon as I got back from Tennessee. It was just too difficult to go back to wearing long sleeved shirts and closed toe shoes after I'd been exposed to the luxury of short sleeves, capris and flip-flops. I got some strange looks and more than my fair share of comments from folks at work about looking "summery" and "do you think it's warm out or something?" but I persisted and finally I'm able to smile and enjoy my cute clothes in comfort.

I pulled out one of those outfits this morning -- a black ribbed knit cap-sleeve shirt and some funky flare leg khaki slacks along with some platform wedge black sandals. Delectably feminine and sophisticated. The pants are hanging off of me (hm, lost more weight?) and my hair looks picture perfect. It's sunny out, and my current favorite song (Trying to Stop your Leaving) by Dierks Bentley is on Sirius right now. I can't help but smile.

Yes, it's going to be a good day.

New Kids

2008-05-12T07:13:00.003-08:00

Zak

Zinger

Here at Lagniappe Kennel we have finally made the long-awaited addition of two lovely and well-bred dogs from Dan Huttunen of Knik. Zak (4 y.o. male) and Zinger (4 y.o. female) are littermates and are half-siblings of Clover. Kip is their father (as he is Clover's) and Megan is their mother. Megan is a littermate to Inga, Clover's mother, so I guess these dogs are more like "kissing cousins" than half-siblings. :)

We picked Zak and Zinger up yesterday after a very nice visit with Dan and his wife, Alice. It was a beautiful day and the new kids settled right in when they arrived home. Matt spent the rest of the day making new dog houses (I will take a picture when all of them are done! They are beautiful!) I spent the rest of the day cleaning up around the kennel and spoiling everyone by giving each and every dog a thorough brushing. Everyone is shedding and the loose hair is rampant. Out of the corner of your eye, you might think that the huge clumps of hair are critters...hair monsters?

As you can see in the photos, all of the snow is melted. We spent quite a bit of time on Saturday cleaning up the yard, raking up old straw and cleaning out dog houses and putting in new tether spots on the upper level near the garage. If you're observant you'll notice that Zak and Zinger have taken Zed and Calvin's spots and that Calvin and Clover have moved back in the yard. Zed and Indi have moved to the upper level where they are enjoying their brand new, freshly painted dog houses. The yard is expanding!!!

I'm so glad to be back home with my kids :) Now just one more dog to add (Skiff from Jon Little) and we will be set with a nice 8-dog team for the fall. Plus Indi, if he feels like running...to give 9 dogs.

Ciao!

Back from Vacation

2008-05-10T16:16:00.002-08:00

Well I made it to and from Tennessee relatively unscathed (if you don't count the mental anguish of long flights!) I had such a good time that I can't even begin to recount it. I'm savoring the memories, turning them over in my mind, and I'm not quite ready to share them yet. My thoughts are filled with the vivid greens of forest with dappled patches of sun, and I can still feel a cool Tennessee breeze on my bare skin. I am a little sad to be gone but am glad to be back home and reunited with my four-legged family. I think that they missed me.

I will fill you in as soon as I am able to upload some photos and am ready to turn loose of my vacation frame of mind :)

Short Summer?

2008-04-25T09:14:00.002-08:00

Well, I THOUGHT that spring was here. As I sit in my chair at work and gaze out the window at the parking lot, I see huge, heavy snowflakes falling. Unbelieveable -- it's April 25 and it is snowing. Looks almost like someone is using one of those foam bubble machines and is blowing the mess everywhere. I'm not kidding you, these flakes are ginormous.

Last night I took File' for a walk. We did almost 2 miles and she was still rearing to go when we finished. In fact, she was virtually dragging me down the road. I think it's time to get her a mini harness and let her pull to her hearts' content...

Bye-bye, ovaries

2008-04-22T17:41:00.002-08:00

Well, a few weeks ago I half-heartedly convinced myself to get off the fence about what I wanted to do with my kennel. Seems like there's been a lot going on in my life lately and I figured I needed to get at least one thing straightened out. Did I want to keep any of my dogs intact for breeding purposes, knowing that Matt has his mind on racing in the next year or two? Or did I not want to bother with the hassle of monitoring interactions between the sexes.

I decided on the latter.

Clover came into heat about a week ago, and luckily I had already made her spay appointment at the Anchorage SPCA. It was for today, for the low (really, truly low for AK) price of $80. Scheduling her spay was a tough phone call for me to make, since I bought Clover in November with the intent of breeding her in the next few years. She has already whelped two litters of pups that Ed (Iten) is using in his race team. She's been to Nome twice. She has a happy-go-lucky attitude, she's built like a tank, and she can go for miles. But, I decided after witnessing the DeeDee/Zed litter, I'm too busy to raise puppies. I don't have the space for them or the time. The old girl would be better off without those female reproductive organs anymore, so she can run loose in the yard and forget all about what heat pens are for. Next will be File' (in a few months) and Zinger (Clover's half-sister, who doesn't live here yet). And possibly Zak, her half-brother...but we'll see. Maybe we can leave those man-parts alone :)

Soooo, yesterday Clover had her first bath EVER in her life (see the photo in the post below) and she handled it like a champ. No worries, she wasn't nervous. She was confused but she trusts us. Bath, nail clipping, spray with gardenia scented body spray (that was mine)...she was ready for her 10-day recovery period in the house with us. Matt said that the lady at the SPCA this morning commented on her being the cleanest sled dog she'd ever seen. She said they are usually "scratch and sniff." EW!

She's recuperating in the dog room right now. Poor Clo. But she'll be happier in the end -- and so will I!

2008-04-22T07:33:00.004-08:00

Sunset from Skyline Drive in Eagle River

Cass, the happy dog, soaking up the sun

Clover doesn't mind her first bath ever

Zed smiles during an afternoon jog with me

File' naps in the sun

Spring is Here

2008-04-21T16:01:00.002-08:00

So, I'm sure you'll notice that I changed the blog background and layout. I hope it's a pleasant change (if anyone has any objections due to readability, etc. please let me know...) I changed things around because it looks like spring is FINALLY here in Chugiak and the blue and snow background needed to go!! No, all of the snow has not melted, there's still plenty of it everywhere I look, but the Mat-Su Valley is gloriously snow-free! In fact, today at lunch I took a nap in my warm, sunlit car. Gosh, talk about good sleepin'...

Happy Spring!!

Observation

2008-04-19T06:54:00.002-08:00

There's nothing quite like climbing all the way into a dogloo in your pajamas (in 22 degree weather) to retrieve a dog bowl to get your morning started out right...

Payback is hell

2008-04-18T21:14:00.002-08:00

All this time I have been a real stickler for having clean dogs (at least house dogs, anyway.) Most of my guys gave up resisting long ago and Guy even climbs right into the bathtub when I tell him to. With the addition of File', though, things have been a little bit more difficult. She spends a pretty extensive amount of time in the yard with the sled dogs, but she's been sleeping inside every night and accompanying me to work each day. Sometimes she smells downright raunchy from playing in the dirty melt-water outside so she occasionally gets a bath, much to her chagrin. I tell her to suck it up, that it doesn't hurt, and to deal with it, no matter how many protests she throws my way.

On what would seemingly be an unrelated note (but I think there's a karmic connection) one of my favorite indulgences is to take a long, steaming bath at night before heading to bed. This morning I woke up at the normal time, 6 AM, after very little sleep. I've been having trouble sleeping at night for some unknown reason, but I just haul myself out of bed anyway and go about my business. Today it was especially difficult because I had to work at the office until about 2:30 and then head over to the Mat-Su Home Builders' Home Show at the Wasilla Sports Complex, where we had a booth set up. I was scheduled to man the booth alone from 3 - 8 PM tonight and since I'm not really a "people person", by the time I got home this evening, I was more than exhausted. Dragging is really more in line with the way I felt (and still feel!)

I stumbled into the bathroom and turned on the faucets, adjusting them to give me the perfect almost-scalding-hot temperature that I crave for my evening baths. As I glanced up at the nearby shelf, I realized that I had an unused container of Burt's Bees bath salts just calling my name. "Put me in the water!! I smell good!!" it called, and what could I do but oblige? I popped open the lid and poured in a heaping helping of bath salts that smelled faintly medicinal but definitely all-natural. Mmm, I couldn't wait to settle into the tub, I thought as I gingerly tested the water with my big toe. It was the perfect temperature and I'd definitely be able to relax and read for quite a while. Or so I thought.

As I reclined into the delectable warmth that was my salted bath water, I noticed a slight tingling sensation at the backs of my legs. Ooh, invigorating! I thought. But then the tingling started to migrate to the front of my legs...and turn into a burning sensation. Hmmm...burning? I'm not too sure I'm into that. Then suddenly....OH. MY. GOD. I am on fire!!! What is going on?? It felt like swarms of bees were attacking me all over, but how could there possibly be bees in my bath water? No, there were no bees, I was definitely having an allergic reaction to my delicious bath salts. In a matter of seconds I had leapt from the water and was cursing like an (Irish!) sailor as I yanked the drain from the tub and turned the faucets on full blast yet again. Where was the soap???? I had to get this stuff off of me, and pronto! Thank goodness the body wash was in within easy reach and within seconds I had mostly scrubbed away the offending organic skin treatment.

So, after I emerged from the shower disappointed and decidedly out of hot water (no more bath for me tonight!) I got to wondering -- was karma paying me back for all of the bathing that I do to the dogs? Did File' have something to do with this? And more importantly, does anyone want a free container of Burts Bees Bath Salts?????

If I had 1,000,000 Dollars (the Musher's Version)

2008-04-16T09:36:00.002-08:00

Due to the recent acquisition of a particular CD (yes, I know, I'm long overdue for buying BNL) I've finally gotten to listen to one of my favorite cute and silly songs of all-time -- "If I had 1,000,000 Dollars". Because I'm a musher, and perhaps also because I don't have a whole lot going on at work right now, I rewrote the lyrics to become the "If I had 1,000,000 Dollars (the Musher's Version)". Strange, I know, but entertaining to me at least, even if nobody else likes it :)

So, here goes!

If I had $1000000 (if I had $1000000)
I’d buy you a house (I would buy you a house)
If I had $1000000 (if I had $1000000)
I'd buy you furniture for your house
(maybe a nice couch for the dogs)
If I had $1000000 (if I had $1000000)
I'd buy you a dog truck (a nice reliant automobile)
If I had $1000000 Id buy your love.

If I had $1000000 Id build a dog lot in our yard.
If I had $1000000 you could help, it wouldn’t be that hard.
If I had $1000000 maybe we could put a storage shed in there.
[wouldn’t that be fabulous]

If I had $1000000 (if I had $1000000)
I'd buy you a fur ruff (but not a real fur ruff that’s cruel)
If I had $1000000 (if I had $1000000)
I'd buy you an exotic pet (like a wolf or a wolverine)
If I had $1000000 (if I had $1000000)
Id buy you Sam McGee’s remains (all them crazy burnt-up bones)
If I had $1000000 Id buy your love

If I had $1000000 we wouldn’t have to walk to the store
If I had $1000000 we’d take the dog truck ‘cause it costs more
If I had $1000000 we wouldn’t have to eat moose for dinner.
(but we would!)(Of course we would, we'd just eat more of it.)

If I had $1000000 (if I had $1000000)
Id buy you a green parka (but not a real green parka, that’s cruel)
If I had $1000000 (if I had $1000000)
Id buy you some art (a van Zyle or a Garfunkel)
If I had $1000000 (if I had $1000000)
Id buy you a jackelope (haven’t you always wanted a jackelope? !)
If I had $1000000 Id buy your love

If I had $1000000, if I had $1000000
If I had $1000000, if I had $1000000
I still wouldn't be rich ('cause I'm a musher!)

So Stoked

2008-04-15T18:06:00.004-08:00

Well, the plans have been laid and we'll see what pans out. I am very, very excited to say that I will be going to Tennessee at the beginning of May!!! Not only do I get to visit my GORGEOUS sister-in-law at her newest locale, but I also get to spend some time with one of my best friends ever, Katrina. Matt is flying south for a training class in Orlando, but we'll be flying into Johnson City, TN first to spend a little time with Rachel. Matt will head out for his class and I'll stick around for a day or so, then head west to Nashvegas. Later in the week we'll meet up again near Kingsport and spend a little more time together. I'm sure we'll hike, bike, and do karaoke at the local hotspot (haha!)

Oh. My. Gosh. I am so excited!!!! This is my first time back to Nashville (my old stomping grounds) since the summer of 2006. Going to Katrina's is like going to summer camp, only better. It's like summer camp for adults!!! We can stay up late, watch movies, drink cocktails, sleep in, ride horses all day long, go to the river and wade and play with dogs, cook breakfast with freshly-laid eggs from her laying hens, make organic coffee with CHICORY (boy do I miss that), rough-house with her two boys, and get some manual labor in here and there, just for good measure and to be helpful. Do I even need to say that I love it in Eagleville??? There are so many new dogs that I have yet to meet, horses that I have to ride, and I need to get cozy in MY bed in MY room again.

I can't wait!

Who Let the Dog Drive???

2008-04-14T09:21:00.003-08:00

Yesterday the weather was still cool and snowy, so I thought to myself that I'd better get back out to the trails for what might likely be my last run of the season. It turns out that everyone else had the same idea -- when I pulled into the parking lot, there must have been a dozen dog trucks there. Granted, that's not as crowded as it is on race day, but it's definitely more people than I like to share the trails with. When I picked my parking spot, I noticed that Bonnie and Jim were out with their dogs as well, and I parked beside them.

Hooking up quickly, I put Zed in single lead, Calvin and Balu in team and Indi and Clover in wheel. Irritatingly, Clover is now in full-fledged heat again. I noticed that she was bleeding while we were running. I thought I'd be able to dodge the bullet this time, since I have her scheduled to be spayed on April 22, but it looks as if she beat me to the punch and is going to get one last cycle in.

We decided to do the four mile trail since I imagined there'd be a good amount of traffic on the main trail sections. Amazingly, I didn't see anyone while I was out on the trail. That's really saying something, because we were going pretty slowly! I laughingly say that at any given moment in my dog team of five dogs, I probably have three dogs or maybe three and one-half dogs pulling. It's a given that Indi doesn't pull (he just runs and keeps up most of the time) and Calvin is pretty hit-or-miss because I think he's not in good physical condition. That means that Clover, Balu and Zed are doing more than their fair-share of work and we creep along at a crawl. Add to the mix that yesterday, Zed was visibly distracted by the fact that Clover is in season. He never tries to come back to visit her in team, but he stops to sniff everywhere and lifts his leg on any available vertical surface, including trees and branches while we are trying to move down the trail! I was a little annoyed at this but ended up just hopping off of the sled and running up the hills behind my team. Suffice it to say that I really cannot wait until next season, when I'll have three more adult dogs and File' to add to the mix. That should give a more pleasing amount of dog power.

As we finished our run and headed back to the parking lot, I tried to direct Zed to the truck when we emerged into the clearing. "Haw. Zed, HAW!" He wasn't having any of it. He headed straight for Rex Jones' truck and trailer and could not be dissuaded from going that direction. Oh my gosh, how embarrassing to have this multi-Quest, multi-Iditarod leader suddenly go deaf on me in front of twenty people!! Damn, dogs are so much like kids. I had to yell at Jim to please call Zed to come over towards my truck, and even then, he still didn't want to go that direction.

Everyone got some Yummy Chummies for post-run snacks and I stuck around for a little while to wait for Jim, who had taken four dogs on the two-mile, to get back in. While Bonnie and I were waiting, I noticed that my dogs in the car seemed to be making themselves pretty darn comfortable. In fact, Zed had settled in the passenger seat (which is his new favorite spot) and Calvin had assumed the driver's position. In fact, at one point, one of them even honked the horn! Bonnie snapped some photos of them with her camera (thanks, Bonnie!). The dogs are a little difficult to make out, since they had fogged all of the truck windows up. But it's still a pretty funny sight. Calvin is definitely smiling for the camera. Silly dog!

Well, I still don't know if that was the last run of the season or not. We seem to have gotten a little snow overnight, so who can tell. If we get another run in, you'll be the first to know.

Happy spring! :)

One of the Perks of Living in Alaska

2008-04-13T09:52:00.003-08:00

Gorgeous sunsets....as seen from my deck

Friday Night at the Track

2008-04-11T19:51:00.005-08:00

I snuck a really pleasant, solitary run with the dogs in at the track tonight. There was absolutely nobody in the parking lot either when I arrived or when I finished up and left. I love these types of days when I have the trails all to myself! I don't have to worry about being passed (because I never am fast enough to actually pass anyone) or about dealing with anyone else's potentially ill-mannered dogs. I can take my time and stop when I please, take photos, and talk to the dogs. It's always a relaxing experience.

We started the run at a lope, since that's the pace we've been going at on our runs with Bryan, but after a mile or so, the dogs had clearly settled into a lower gear. They trotted the rest of the trail pretty slowly -- there was a lot of crust on the snow and it was pretty punchy. I can't say I blame them too much for dropping their speed back. I don't think I'd want to slog through that either!

I shot a video toward the beginning of our run. This one actually has sound :) It's nothing special, but if you've never been on (or in) a dog sled before, you'll be able to see what things look like from the tail end of things. Literally.

TGIF!!

The order of the dogs is: Zed (right) and Balu (left) in lead, Calvin in team, and Clover (right) and Indi (left) in wheel. Keep your eye on Clover -- she's my hard workin' girl!!

Fila, Drunk Uncle, and File'

2008-04-09T19:38:00.004-08:00

The insanity here continues. As I look outside at this particular minute, snow is falling like crazy and doesn't show and signs of letting up. I'm not sure how many inches we've accumulated so far, but it sure has made the dog trails nice to run! I weaseled my way into yet another run with Bryan and the Steer/Bundtzen dogs yesterday and had a blast! It's always fun to go out with company and with great dogs.

This afternoon I snapped a quick shot that I had been wanting to grab for a while -- my Fila and File'. Dixie (AKA The Drunk Uncle for the exact reason that she is in this shot -- she ends up in the background of every shot whether she's wanted or not) happened to be in this photo, too. Go figure.

The quality is not too good, but I think it's cute nonetheless!

Yes, there is a hole in the blanket on the couch. That's what happens when you have dogs...you put blankets on things so they get destroyed and the things don't. :)

Late Season Snow

2008-04-06T12:43:00.004-08:00

Wouldn't you know it, even though we have had scanty snow most of the year, we just got a late season snow dump. Bryan kindly asked if I'd like to run my guys with some of the puppies. Of course I took him up on the offer -- I'm always game to watch other people and try to learn from them! I also got to drive (well I was FORCED to drive, actually!) the second 9-dog team with Curry in lead. Man, do I feel important!

Anyway, I didn't have the camera with me for our run, but I did take pictures of the dogs and the dog yard after I got back. Indi seemed to be tired even though he didn't go (???) Matt said he ran around the yard with Cass and File' and wore himself out.

OH MY GOD, THEY KILLED INDI! Those bastards!!!

Notice the difference in the yard since the last set of pictures.

Balu says "I was so good today, will you let me inside? Pretty please? With sugar on top?"

The Photos I Promised

2008-04-02T19:49:00.002-08:00

Kids soaking up sun in the yard...

(back to front -- Clover, Calvin, Zed)

File pauses, mid-play

(Dollar in background)

And then flops. See how much she's grown?

My gorgeous drive to work. Dirty window, though.

Head toward the Light!

2008-04-02T15:46:00.001-08:00

The days are finally getting noticeably longer. I nabbed the following information from our US Naval Observatory page.

Wednesday

2 April 2008          Alaska Daylight Time

SUN

Begin civil twilight       6:32 a.m.

Sunrise                    7:17 a.m.

Sun transit                2:03 p.m.

Sunset                     8:50 p.m.

End civil twilight         9:35 p.m.

Thank heavens we're finally getting some sunlight around here! I think that's got to be the most difficult part of living in Alaska – at least for me. Last year, the winter bummed me out and the summer kept me awake for all hours of the day and night. As you can probably guess, I've had to do some adjusting up here.

I can tell that the dogs are feeling the coming spring, as well, since they are spending more time on the tops of their houses. Zed, in particular, has been snoozing on the flat plywood top of his bachelor pad. (Pictures of that to come this evening, when I catch him at it once again). Actually, last night I woke up at 3:00 AM to take File' out to go potty and there Zed was, still snoozing on the top of his box. I suppose that with such an insulated coat, 30 degrees must feel pretty tropical!

On the puppy front, I'm sure you've noticed that I haven't posted anything especially derogatory about our poor puppy lately. File' has finally settled in at our place, becoming more of a puppy and less of a flat-out hellion. Don't get me wrong – she still gets into things and she drives some of out adult dogs batty, but she's acting more like a dog and less like a demon. She absolutely loves to play with Clover, and I think that the feeling is probably mutual. Last night I saw Clover actually shift gears into protective mommy-mode, even though she's not File's biological mom. Calvin, it seems, got a little too close to File' and attempted to take a nibble of her. Clover quickly lay down the law and after some gnashing of teeth (Clover's!), Calvin exited stage left and left File' and her new friend alone. In as many ways as Clover drives me crazy sometimes (she's happy about everything from feeding to playtime and is usually quite vocal in expressing her pleasure), she also really impresses me. I really scored a nice dog when I bought her (thanks, Ed and Ruth!!) I'm especially excited that I have more dogs from essentially the same breeding headed my way in the coming weeks. It's going to be a great 2008/2009 sledding season!

Score one for the good guys!

2008-03-27T08:24:00.004-08:00

My brain is rebelling right now. I am so frustrated by how my day at work has gone that I can't put a coherent thought together.

Anyway, I just wanted to post that, amazingly, Bark Magazine published my recent letter to the editor regarding an article about sled dog rescue. I am very happy that they decided to give "the other side" a chance to have their voice heard. I really wanted to be clear that, despite the tone of the article, most mushers do not abuse and misuse, then abandon dogs. We really are good people for the most part.

Posted is a scan of the letter.

Until later, when I might be able to function a little better...

Frohe Ostern!

2008-03-24T15:17:00.001-08:00

Happy Easter, late. We had a really nice weekend!

Matt and I took the dogs out on Friday right after work and they had a blast. I ran the two mile loop and Matt ran the two mile loop when I finished. I'm trying to (patiently) let him get the feel for the sled. I don't have a lot to offer him in the way of advice, since I don't know what the heck I'm doing either. At least I do know that he won't tie them to a tree and leave them somewhere! :-D Yeah, that was low. ANYWAY, as I said, the dogs had a good time. Clover (Little Miss Vocal) was still whining to go out again even on the way home in the car. That dog is a running machine!!

Saturday, I weaseled my way into a trip to Soldotna to meet Jon Little and his wife, Bree. Bryan was returning some leased dogs and didn't mind having company in the truck, so I ducked out of renovation duty and made the trip down. The drive was nice, but the weather could have been sunnier. It was my first time to the Kenai and I do wish it would have been a little more clear. Oh well, can't complain, it was still pretty out! Once we got there, Jon and Bree were so gracious and visited with us for about three hours. I got a good look at their dog lot and their dogs (not that I have a good eye for that sort of thing). Their children, Salem and Sylvie, were also incredibly adorable. Salem had an etch-a-sketch type toy with a magnetic pen and I think I must have drawn at least a dozen moose on it. He kept grinning and thrusting it at me while saying "MOOSE!" and he was too cute to resist. Jon, Bryan and Bree talked a lot about mushers and dogs, and I mostly tried to keep my mouth shut and listen. :)

Sunday was a pretty slow day. The Iditarod TV show came on at 3, then we went to Eric and Marti's for Easter dinner. It was a pretty delicious spread but thankfully I didn't indulge too much. I am trying to shed my winter insulation and so far my will-power has been pretty good!

Today I dropped Calvin off at the vet so he could have a CBC, Chem 8 panel and a Thyroid panel done. I have been worried about his general health for several months now. We've had problems with intermittent diarrhea with him and even though he was dewormed (ivermectin and pyrantel pamoate, both) we have still had troubles. He seemed a bit exercise intolerant this season, so I'm also worried about his thyroid. My guess is that everything will come back normal, and we'll have a diagnosis of "Irritable Bowel Syndrome" and we'll have to manage this for the rest of his days. Nothing is ever easy with my animals...

File' will also be going in at 4:00 for her second puppy shot. I'm curious to know how much she will weigh. Calvin weighed in at a whopping 70.1 lb this morning. I almost fell out! I had no idea that he was that heavy! He does not have an ounce of fat on him, though, he's just a big dog.

Will update again when I find out what's going on with Calvin...

Anyone want a puppy???

2008-03-20T08:32:00.001-08:00

She's almost 9 weeks old, very cute, crate trained...

PLEASE?!?!

The face of a Murderer

2008-03-19T23:17:00.004-08:00

This is the face of a murderer. She has killed many things -- squeaky toys, kongs, and socks to name a few, but most importantly, File' has killed my sleep schedule.

R.I.P., Rip Van Winkle!

Ups and downs (but not mushing-related)

2008-03-19T09:42:00.001-08:00

As the promise of spring begins to peek out from underneath our blanket of snow, I can't help but be a little inspired to be more active and ambitious. I think it must be a natural reaction to the increase in the amount of light that we experience at this time of the year, when we gain almost six minutes of light with each passing day. My drive to work now gives me a front row seat to the gorgeous salmon pinks and melon oranges of an Alaskan sunrise; my drive home bathes me in an amber glow as I head West into the sun. Sometimes I can't help but close my eyes and smile as I soak up the sun on my face. (Don't worry, I don't do this while I'm driving!)

There's a glimmer of hope that accompanies this time of year and it makes me a little antsy both in mind and body. I am itching to get outside and walk and jog with my dogs, but the streets and trails aren't always cooperative, as there is still much slippery ice out there. My mind rambles with intentions for the coming spring and summer and I am a little inspired to begin making plans. Yes, perhaps there are some visions of grandeur there as I think about the hikes I'd like to take, the bike ride in Denali National Park that I'm planning, and the fishing trips that I hope we'll be able to take with friends.

Beyond the athletic activities, there's a thirst for mental stimulation after the long and dark winter. I frequently make visits to the Chugiak / Eagle River Library and it's almost as good as taking a trip to Alaska Wild Berry :) I have trouble deciding which few books to check out, so I usually end up checking out a large stack of them. Could I polish up my Spanish this summer, so Sandra and I can continue our chats when we visit? Could I manage to learn some German? What about brushing up on my American History and my yoga? Check. Those are all in the works, but we'll see how many of them really play out. I always begin with the best of intentions.

Juxtaposing the excitement I feel about the changing of the seasons, there's a little bit of a feeling of let-down now that the Iditarod is over. For a week and a half, I was constantly glued to the computer, checking standings, progress, blogs, insider information and photos of the action on the trail. Now that Deborah Bicknell finished as the red lantern, there's no more Iditarod news. The burled arch has been removed, the snow has been scraped from the streets in Nome, and the world has moved on. (Well, maybe everyone except for Lance Mackey. If I were him, I'd still be celebrating my win!!) I feel like there's a bit of a hole where the Iditarod was...it's a bit sad, frankly. But I suppose it gives me something to look forward to next year.

And so life goes on for all...

DANGER, WILL ROBINSON!

2008-03-14T11:15:00.001-08:00

You are about to read something shocking. Something horrifying. Something you'll want to deny from the very depths of your soul. But you must read on anyway, because you should be concerned for yourself, for your family, and for kind strangers on the street. This fact that I'm about to share with you may shake you to your very core, but you owe it to yourself to be educated on the subject matter. So, here goes:

Puppies are innately evil creatures.

As is the case with so much of the general public, I am sure that you were unaware of this fact. You may shake your head and deny that such an idea could ever even be conceived, but after you've examined the evidence, you'll know that what I am telling you is indeed true. The danger cannot be denied.

I should begin by saying that puppies were, indeed, originally designed by an intelligent and benevolent being. They possess many qualities that lead some to believe that they are cute, cuddly, loving little critters who want to shadow your every move because they simply adore you; however, at some point in the refining process, something went terribly, horribly wrong. The final product was an evil genius’ technical masterpiece: a finely tuned demolition machine encased in a guise of sweetness and light.

Let’s examine the evidence, shall we?

Firstly, puppies are born as very small, helpless creatures who can do nothing for themselves. They are often covered with a fine coating of soft fur that may be any number of a variety of colors, all of which are appealing to susceptible humans. Newborn puppies’ eyes are closed for approximately ten days, giving them ample opportunity to play on human sympathies. It is our nature, you see, to pity the meek and mild and to develop affection for those who cannot help themselves. Puppies seek to make the initial emotional connection with humans during this early stage of life.

Sometime during the third week of existence, puppies’ eyes open and puppies take on an expression of sleepy disinterest. Their somnolence is endearing and often, humans will begin to pick puppies up, hold them, and talk to them during this stage. Most puppies’ response is to be very still and possibly even to fall asleep while a human is cradling them. This is a perfectly-designed ploy to deepen the emotional connection. Wise humans will be very wary, because this connection will later be used in the puppy’s mission to seek and destroy.

As the maturation process moves along, puppies initiate a number of activities that lead humans to believe that they are weak, clumsy, well-meaning animals that could never be capable of evil. They tussle, they tumble, and they learn to clumsily climb. They punctuate playtime with well-orchestrated “wipeouts” that cause humans to chuckle and muse about their lack of coordination. No educated human should fall prey to these tactics, but many have and many will continue to do so.

Sometime around the seventh week of life, puppies make their ultimate play – the play that puts them in perfect alignment to score an easy kill after it’s all said and done. They eagerly gallop to greet visitors, enthusiastically licking their hands and faces in what many would incorrectly interpret to be a loving manner. In truth, the puppies’ taste buds and sense of smell are beginning to reach their finely-tuned peak at this age, and wise puppies are merely sampling the buffet of humans, deciding which human looks and tastes the best. Once this decision is made, the puppy will go out of his or her way to endear him or herself to the chosen human in hopes that the human will “pick” him or her out of the litter.

Once the decision is made, the lucky puppy is in a prime position to begin to plan the veritable destruction of his or her new human or humans and their home. Typically this begins at a pace so slow that the human is unaware of the impending danger. Smart puppies initially transition to their new homes with every appearance of excitement and wonder. It is during the first night that the first assault on the humans will begin.

After the lights are off and the house is quiet, the puppy who had been silently and safely tucked away in his or her crate will begin to wail and whine mournfully at a level of 80 decibels or more. No manner of soft words will comfort it, and the terrible cacophony will continue until one of two things occurs: either the puppy will be placed in the bed with the humans (a wonderful location from which to disturb sleep while planning further assault) or the puppy will continue to wail until morning arrives (depriving the humans of vital sleep). This activity will continue nightly for up to several weeks, or until the puppy has adequately planned his or her next plan of attack.

Without fail, a puppy will begin to show “improvement” in the wailing-in-the-crate area, but this should be an omen of more terrible things to come. Often a puppy will lull a human into falsely hoping that the puppy situation is improving; instead, the puppy will move his or her focus to another area, such as biting.

It never fails that one day, a human will be lovingly be playing with a puppy when suddenly, a terrible attack is launched and the poor human is defenseless and unsure of how to respond. The puppy will viciously bite, rip and tear clothing or flesh from the human while wagging his or her tail in what appears to be a friendly manner. (In reality, it is an outward expression of the puppies’ joy at a successful attack.) The target of the puppy mouthing will rapidly expand until nothing, neither human nor household item, is safe. Shoes may be destroyed, furniture may be “remodeled”, electronic items may be “rewired” and fingers may turn into bruised, swollen stumps due to constant perforation by the cleverly-designed puppy teeth. Simultaneously, most puppies will begin their mission to destroy the house by soaking the entire dwelling with urine. No floor surface is spared as the puppy unpredictably squats and soils. Ten thousand dollar Oriental rugs have been ruined in this very manner.

And so, you see, between sleep deprivation, indiscriminate chewing, vicious biting, and home soiling, the puppies’ sole mission is to destroy humans and all that they own. I urge you NEVER to let your guard down. Do not fall prey to the great puppy ploy! Should you be so unfortunate as to do so, you will find that you are merely a shell of your former self, and that your home resembles a post-nuclear-blast site.

Unfortunately, once you have been taken by the puppy scheme, there is little to be done in the way of disaster mitigation. The only known cure is to ask for help from a responsible party who can guide you in the recovery process. The journey is long and the way is hard. So please, I urge you to save yourself the trouble.

JUST SAY NO TO PUPPIES! :-D

File' and Tasso Visit

2008-03-06T07:44:00.004-09:00

Bonnie and Jim are still stuck in Rainy Pass, where they have been since Monday morning. The weather has not been good enough for pilots to fly out, so there they sit. This means that I can do whatever I want with the puppies!! MUHAHAHAHA.

Last night Matt and I brought File' and Tasso over to our house for some socialization and exposure to a new environment. They very carefully met all of the house dogs (everyone but Cass was more or less indifferent to them) and they got to walk on the linoleum and the bamboo floors. Good stuff for puppies at this age. File' was pretty bold and exploratory. Tasso was content to sleep in Matt's lap for most of the night, but she did try to play with Dollar (the cattle dog) later on. Cute cute! Tonight we will probably bring Boudreaux and Gumbo over, if the Fosters aren't back yet.

What are you?

Dixie snuffles the pups

Guy says "are those like dogs, only smaller?"

Tasso snoozes in the kitchen. Look, she matches the floor!

File' is her usual acrobatic self

2008-03-03T19:58:00.006-09:00

Ah, it seems like it's been about two weeks since the Musher's Banquet, but it's only been five days. How time flies when you're having fun! Let me see if I can recap a little bit of the madness from the past week.

Our friends Eric Rogers and his wife Marti graciously purchased our Musher's Banquet tickets for us and we were given tickets to sit at their table. Boy, am I moving up in the world! I felt bad taking a spot at their table, since I didn't really do anything to help Eric out this year. I didn't go on one single training run with him, and I only staged him out of two races. Not much work to earn two banquet tickets, I think. Oh well. The banquet was just as I remembered it to be last year -- fun, but long! Eric drew bib number 25, which meant that we would be able to have him out on the trail fairly early (at least in the top quarter of the race, almost) and that was a bit of a relief. Poor Dr. Robert Bundtzen drew the very last bib, meaning he'd be the 97th sled to go out. Interesting, since his kennel partner, Zack Steer, drew bib number 26, just one spot behind Eric. Zack and Bob's handlers would be waiting around a long, long time between staging Zack and staging Bob. Poor guys!

We actually had to leave the banquet around 9 PM, since both Matt and I had to go to work bright and early the next morning. Word has it that the banquet stretched on past 11 PM, so I'm glad that we left early. As it was, we got home after 10. If you're thinking that the banquet can get a little out of hand, I think you're probably right. :)

Friday, I went to work for just enough time to get paid for the full day (oh, did I actually type that?) and then hurried home to make my tiramisu cream cheese spread and run over to Bonnie's to help her set up for her open house. The hours were supposed to be from 1 PM - 6 PM but come 1 o'clock, nobody but Eric had shown up. I began to worry that maybe we had overestimated the number of people who would be stopping by (we had gotten word that two tour buses were planning a visit) but my fears were unjustified -- by 2 PM there was quite a crowd. There was a spread of food showcasing everything from various cheese and cracker combinations to roast turkey (courtesy of Marti), ham, pea salad, delicious spicy meatballs, artichoke hearts, veggies with dip, and spicy italian ham. Mmmm...it was enough to make any musher drool!

Trish says she's ready for the party!!

By mid-afternoon, our expected mushers had made their debuts. At one point, Sebastian Schnuelle (whom Bonnie hosts each year), Eric Rogers, Ed Stielstra, Jake Berkowitz, and Bryan Bearss were in one tiny room tucked away from the main action, animatedly chatting about the trail. Sorry, I tried to get a photo but nobody would look at me, and I'm always hesitant to interrupt these guys. Oh, to have been a fly on the wall in that room -- I'm sure that I could have learned a TON. It's always awe-inspiring to me to be in the presence of genius :)

I had quite a nice time doing my usual thing, blending into the background and listening to people chat. Occasionally I chimed in with an answer to questions like "Who is that dog?" or "Who is that musher?" I also had a lovely visit with Kim Bertrand from DRIVEN Sled Dog Photos. She was up from WA to cover a local musher, Laura Daugerau. We had many chuckles over being from the South and being new to sled dogs. I got to see pictures of her rescued Siberians and her dryland rig. Pretty cool stuff!

There were still folks arriving at 7 PM but by 8, everyone was pretty much gone. After an extensive amount of dish washing, Matt and I headed home to feed and take care of our own crew and to prepare for the Ceremonial Start in downtown Anchorage on the following morning.

By 8 AM on Saturday, we were parked and on a mission to find Eric's dog truck downtown. He ended up being assigned to what I'd swear was the WORST parking spot on earth -- 4th and H, nearest to the inlet. It probably wouldn't have been so bad if I hadn't looked at the forecast prior to leaving the house. 14 degrees and sunny, it said, with a high near 30. Wow, that sounded great! I put on what I thought was too many layers anyway (boy I am glad that I did) When we found his truck, it felt like we were in a wind tunnel. It had to be about 10 degrees with a 40 mph wind!! Things were blowing all over the place. Poor Trish couldn't even keep her free food hot. The water in the chafing dishes froze even though there was a lit can of sterno beneath them.

We had some good help getting Eric's team to the start line. Lexi was to ride the tag sled behind Eric and his Iditarider, so when we got to the start line, she ran back to the tag sled and I ran up front to stand with the leaders. Platinum and Dash were in lead, and I'm proud to say that they were not affected at all by the ruckus of the Ceremonial Start! It seemed like old hat to them -- after all, they had been through this before and it was a piece of cake. Before I knew it, the count down ended, Eric and Lexi were off, and the ITC Security was yelling at us to clear the chute so that Zack Steer and his team could pull up unobstructed. I was disappointed because this meant that I couldn't stand and watch Zack from any sort of a decent vantage point. I did manage to snap a picture of Bonnie Steer as they went by, but security was constantly yapping at me to move, so that's about all I had time to get. This morning I finally got to watch Zack's start on the Indsider and it ALMOST made up for not being able to see it in person.

Bonnie Steer at the Ceremonial Start

Matt and I hurried out to Campbell Airstrip to pick up Lexi and the tag sled. Just as we were getting to Eric's parked dog truck, he came in off of the trail and Matt ran out to guide him and the team in. Yikes, we hadn't gotten there a minute too soon, because there was nobody else to help get him to the truck! After feeding and brothing the dogs there, we loaded everything and everyone up and headed back to Chugiak to rest up for Sunday. Well, I guess resting up is not exactly correct, since Matt and I did end up going cross country skiing that afternoon and took the dogs out to the trail that night.

Nonetheless, Sunday morning started bright and early and we were out on Willow Lake by 9:15. Word had it that the mushers were supposed to be on the lake by 11 AM, but most mushers were clearly running behind. Eric didn't arrive until nearly 11:30. It made no difference, as Matt and I milled around, looking at other mushers and their rigs, noting what one did different than another. We got a chance to "shop" in the community center, admiring Dave Totten's beautiful artwork and some lovely skin sewing displayed by a native lady. It was nice to have a little bit of "down time" before the madness began.

The wandering masses on Willow Lake at about 11:30 AM

Blaze (center) waits for her turn to be bootied

I suppose that I should mention that Lexi, the ever-capable and knowledgeable "General" was conspicuously absent from the Willow restart. It seems that she was extended an offer to work the Tour of Anchorage, which she no doubt gratefully accepted, leaving the rest of us to be in charge of Eric and getting him ready to go. I was pretty worried until I heard that she had actually devised a timeline for us to follow. That was a load off. I quickly took over as "Generalissima Leslie" and made sure that we harnessed, bootied, brothed, hooked up, and staged the team on time. Thank GOODNESS that everything went off without a hitch. I'd have to say that it was ten times smoother than last year's restart. The ITC volunteer handlers were nice and very willing to follow directions on how we did things. We had an efficient, controlled walk to the start chute with Matt leading the team. Once again, before I knew it, the count down was underway. I tried to yell "goodbye!" to Eric but he didn't hear me. I guess I didn't even give him a sendoff. Then he was off like a shot across the lake. Once again, I was shooed out of the chute so Zack could come through, so, can you guess? I got no pictures of Zack.

Matt and I decided to walk across the lake to watch some of the other mushers come through. I got some photos of Mike Suprenant and various other mushers whose names are captioned below their photos. I didn't get a snapshot of Sebastian but I did yell at him as he drove by, and he saw me and waved. Nothing like being recognized by someone famous!!

Kirk Barnum heads for the start chute

Warren Palfrey from Yellowknife comes off of Willow Lake

Ryan Redington comes off of Willow Lake

We left at around 5:30 and headed back to Wasilla to indulge in what is becoming a tradition for us after Iditarod Restart -- eating at Cadillac Cafe. A yummy hamburger and some fries....the day before my new "POST-IDITAROD" diet was to begin. Well, it's always nice to go out with a bang.

So, that leaves me here on this day, Tuesday, wondering where Eric and all of my "step furkids" are...last I saw, he was in at Rainy Pass. He dropped two dogs, Lycos and Jewels, at Finger Lake, so he's down to 13 dogs now. He should be in good hands, if he's still at Rainy Pass, since Bonnie and Jim are weathered in there right now. They were supposed to fly out to and back from Rainy Pass yesterday afternoon but I got word via radio phone last night that they were weathered in. More recently, I got a message this morning that they didn't expect to be able to get out of Rainy until tomorrow. This means that I am now a dog drop contact for Eric, since Bonnie is not here...I hope for his sake and mine that there are no more dropped dogs for a good, long time. Fingers crossed!

Updates to come as I find out more information...

2008-03-02T20:04:00.007-09:00

Well, it's been a whirlwind weekend and so much has gone on -- I am absolutely exhausted! So, no narrative tonight, just pictures from the last few days. I will post some details about this wonderful weekend tomorrow. It's been a blast. Enjoy!

Sebastian's Tang lounges on a pillow at Bonnie's open house

Pat spoils Boudreaux with snuggles

Me with Callie (left) and Skunk (right), both Sebastian's dogs

Sebastian packs his sled while Bonnie helps (at the restart)

Andreas Moser smiles for the camera

Bryan gives Cub, one of Zack's dogs (Zed's pup) some love

Frodo (left), Jewels (center) and Basil (right) wait to be bootied

Mocha (left) and Rosemary (right) give big grins

Rookie Mike Suprenant from Chugiak leaves Willow Lake

Iditarod Countdown Begins!!

2008-02-28T10:25:00.000-09:00

I can't believe that the Iditarod is already here. It's HERE! Today is the day of the Start Banquet and the mushers will draw their bib numbers to find out their starting order. Things will get underway this evening at 5:30 when the no-host bar will open. Dinner will start at 6:30. Matt and I have tickets and will be sitting at our friend, Eric Rogers' table, I hope. We are at table 66 anyway. I had such a good time at the banquet last year, and I expect that this year's will only be better. I just hope that the speeches are on the short side...some of these guys can get pretty long-winded.

Tomorrow is the day of Bonnie's Open House, which will be hosting quite a few mushers. We'll have our local celebrities, Eric Rogers (veteran) and Mike Suprenant (rookie), Yukoners Sebastian Schnuelle (veteran) and Hans Gatt (veteran), Michiganers Ed Stielstra (veteran) and Jake Berkowitz (rookie), German Rudi Niggemeier (rookie), and the famous Libby Riddles, who is not entered in the race. Bryan Bearss (veteran not running this year) is also supposed to be stopping by for a visit, and Tim Osmar (veteran) may also be stopping by. I have heard through the grapevine that at least two tour buses are scheduled to stop by...Hmm...do I really want to go to this thing? Well, I have to, I was threatened and I fear for my life if I don't. I am planning on showing up really, really early and helping Bonnie get set up for the party. I imagine I'll probably be staying really, really late also. The party runs from 1 - 6.

Saturday will be very busy with the ceremonial start downtown. We'll have to get there early and set up Eric's area and get to work getting the dog, the musher, and the Iditarider ready. Lexi will be driving Eric's tag sled and Jim will be driving Mike's tag sled. It should prove to be a fun time for all (that's probably an understatement!) Of course, Sunday is the restart in Willow. Don't worry, I'll post updates between now and then, detailing our hectic few days! I can't even begin to imagine what it would be like to actually be a musher in this three-ring circus. Crikey.

Shifting gears here, I took my own dogs out for a quick 2-mile run last night. They did GREAT. Balu and Clover were in lead. My goodness, Clover is one incredible dog! I am always amazed at her drive. She runs like someone set her tail on fire!! The girl really loves to go, but she's easy to handle. I suspect that she is beginning to learn her "gee" and "haw" and "on by" commands, too. She's going to be a quick study, I hope. She is a truly lovely girl, and I plan to get two more just like her!! Dan Huttunen actually has two dogs that are almost a repeat breeding of the one that produced Clover (actually, same sire but the bitch was Clover's mom's litter mate. Doesn't that make them double first cousins or something?) I went to meet them last Sunday and fell in love with them. They are also four years old and seem to have Clover's delightful personality. Right now their names are Zinger and Zack, but since we already have a Zed, I think that will be too many Z's to keep straight...so we'll probably rename them. I'm up for any ideas that you all may have. Right now I'm thinking we'll use Clover to be like "4 leaf clover" and we'll go with an Irish theme. Maybe we'll rename Zack Guinness and Zinger Baileys or Limerick or Shamrock or something. St. Pat's day is coming, you know!!

Oh, one last bit of excitement to share from last night. When I pulled up in the staging area, a nice lady came over to tell me that there was a musher who had lost a dog during a run and was out on the trail looking for her. She described the man as having a huge beard and he had said that he was an Iditarod musher. Hmm, I thought to myself, could that be Trent Herbst? I'd never met Trent, but he has some of Zed's kids and grand kids. The musher's truck was still there when I finished my run, so I figured he hadn't found his dog. I went back home and dropped my dogs off, fed them quickly, and loaded an airline crate to take to Bonnie's so she could take the puppies to their photo shoot this morning. The more I thought about it, the more I felt bad that the poor unknown musher was out there by himself looking for one of his lost Iditarod dogs. I decided to take a chance and drive back out to the trail to see if he was still there. Sure enough, I saw a headlamp in the parking lot when I pulled in, and I rolled down my window to ask if he had found his dog yet. He uttered a sad "no, I'm still looking for her." "What's your name?" I asked. "Trent" was the reply. Well my goodness, what terrible circumstances to meet Trent in person! I had emailed him a few times to say hi and wish him luck and to find out more about Zed's pups, but now we were meeting in person. After making a few phone calls for ideas of what we should do, I decided to drive down to Beach Lake and take one last look for Star (the dog) before I started making more calls to organize a search party. As I pulled into the parking lot at the lake, I saw the reflection of a set of eyes looking at me -- and something else reflective -- a harness? At first I thought I was seeing a fox, but the eyes didn't run off, they just slowly moved to the right, toward the dumpster that stays in the lot there. I stopped my truck and hopped out to get a better look. Well by Jove, it was a dog! She was hiding behind the dumpster and I wasn't sure that she would come to me. Trent had said that she was shy. But I used my friendliest voice and I grabbed a bag of Yummy Chummies and rustled the bag, hoping she'd realize that I had something good to eat. Slowly, she plodded over to me and got just out of arms' reach. I held my breath and slowly reached for her harness. Just...a few more...inches....AHA! And I had her. She got lots of pats and I told her that her dad was VERY worried about her. Into the crate in my truck she went and we sped back to the staging area to make our special delivery. Trent was so excited that he gave me a big hug. I was very relieved for him.

Man, that was a lucky find, and I am glad that we had a happy ending. Sometimes that's enough to make your day. It did mine.

Until next time!

2008-02-25T22:23:00.005-09:00

Tonight was the puppies' first baths. It was quite a funny sight to behold! Everyone was good, but the general consensus was that baths are highly overrated. These puppies are very expressive -- I'll say that. I'll let you decide who had the most fun...

Snuggle me, please. I'm wet.

Why me?

HELP ME!!

Well, word has it that I'm the best lookin' guy in the whole litter!

Breaking News

2008-02-25T13:24:00.001-09:00

***This just in***

The Cajun Litter may be featured in a publicity shoot on Thursday! More details to come...

There's Nothing Better Than Good Friends and Good Times

2008-02-23T13:14:00.002-09:00

Last night I had a last-minute, impromptu get-together at my house. I wasn't sure of how many people would actually show up -- everyone seemed to have scheduling conflicts initially, but by the end of the evening, there were nine of us parked in my living room. Bonnie, Jim, Eric, Marti, Steve, Bryan, Lexi, and her husband Jim, as well as me, all sharing good conversation, good wine, and marginal food (hey, beggars can't be choosers!) Suffice it to say that I had a blast. I don't know why I haven't done this more often! I guess I am always worried about our driveway (which can be a beast if it's icy or if we've gotten a huge dump of snow recently) and our road and everyone's ability to access my place, but last night the conditions were perfect. Thank you, all, for making me realize how much I enjoy you being my friends. You're the best!

2008-02-20T22:43:00.005-09:00

File', Gumbo and Boudreaux

Gumbo snoozes. Hard.

I visited the puppies tonight and shot some video of them drinking water, which was a cute thing. But I also got this footage of Boudreaux acting like and absolute goober. He just sits there munching on the blanket until, suddenly, he springs upwards and sideways in some kind of flippity flop. After he recovers, he decides that he needs to investigate and eat my cell phone (which I was using to video.) Check it out!

Quick Update

2008-02-19T22:13:00.004-09:00

Rosemary and Thyme waiting their turn at Vet Check

Boudreaux being cuddled by Matt

I don't have much time, so this will be a quick update. Besides, Blogger is being RETARDED and is not wanting to upload photos. Grrrrr.....

Eric had his first pre-Iditarod vet check last Thursday and I was able to work through lunch and take off early to help. It was pretty neat getting to see a little bit of "insider action" for the vet check -- I had never been to one before. I held almost every dog while they had a jugular stick, then Eric usually held them on the table for their EKG. I think that everyone came away with a clean bill of health. You can see that Rosemary (left) and Thyme (right) were anxious for their turn!!

I took my own dogs out early on Saturday morning. I was actually planning on taking them out on Friday night, but I accidentally fell asleep at 7:30 PM and then woke up at 2:45, a very confused chica. I couldn't figure out whether it was day or night! After I got my bearings, I set the alarm for three hours later, then got up and loaded the dogs to take them to the trail. I am still struggling with having them slow down and putter out in difficult conditions, like deep snow or small hills. I am doing my best to try to work with them through this, but I will admit that I am scratching my head a little on this one. Everyone's advice has been the same -- stop them before they begin to slow to a stop, and rest them until they are READY to go again. I have been doing that, but it just doesn't seem to be working. Hmm. Oh well, we'll figure it out together.

I got the chance to check on the puppies again on Sunday night. They are now 4.5 weeks old and are still growing like weeds. You can see that Boudreaux had his picture snapped while he was being held by Matt. He has such a cute, expressive face, and absolutely does NOT mind being held. I really like that...granted, it may mean that he turns out to be lazy :)

Tonight, I sit here wondering what the heck is up with this weather. It has been almost 40 degrees ABOVE zero for the last few days, and as you can imagine, we've had considerable snow melt. Sad. Things are messy and the dogs are wet. I feel sorry for them. I brought Balu in tonight to have some personal time. During this indoors time, I found out that he likes scotch. He wanted some, as a matter of fact, and I had to tell him unequivocally NO, that he was not old enough. 9 years old is hardly the age to be drinking scotch :)

Until next time!

What a Difference a Harness Makes!

2008-02-13T09:52:00.001-09:00

Last night I took the dogs out for a short (but not quick, due to the
trail conditions) run on the alternate side. I had recently bought a
new Manmat half-harness for Clover so I can give Lexi's harness that
I've been using back, but I realized that the harness also will adjust
to fit Balu as well. It took a little extra bit of iron rope to tie
onto the tug of the new harness to make it the right length for my
lines, but I got it fixed up pretty quickly and we headed out to the
trail. Soon, Balu was sporting the new red Manmat harness and my, he
looked handsome!

I decided to put him up into lead with Calvin for the first part of
our run. Shortly after pulling out of the staging area, we made a
right turn onto the trail that heads down to Beach Lake. I was
absolutely astounded by what I saw before me -- my funny-looking,
blue-eyed, orange dog, a habitual trotter and a relatively slow
leader, was LOPING down the trail. LOPING!! In the year and a half
that I have known this dog, I have never seen him use any gait but a
trot while tooling down the trail. No matter how fast you were going,
Balu would trot or pace along, sometimes switching from one gait to
the other and then back later, but never loping. Here was a dog
before me that was ambling along at a slow lope and looked comfortable
doing it. I was absolutely flabbergasted.

All I can figure is that all of these years, he has been running in an
X-back harness and perhaps there has been something about that harness
that has made him uncomfortable at a lope, so he has simply stayed at
a trot or a pace. Well, he's like a new dog now. I will be
interested to see whether he gives up the pacing bit or keeps that up
-- I'll have to pay more attention the next time that we run, maybe
put him closer to me so I can see him better.

I hope to go out again on Thursday night, but the forecast is calling
for high temperatures and some rain. If that happens, the snow will
be hard, crusty, and icy, and conditions may not be safe for such a
novice as I. I hate to say it, but I think that this may be "the year
that I didn't get to run much." <frown> Ah well, hope for the best!

Puppy Update (Yukon Quest info to come later)

2008-02-12T15:03:00.000-09:00

Boudreaux (slightly fuzzy)

Gumbo is getting big!

Tasso and Boudreaux

Right now I am at work and don't have access to all of my Yukon Quest photos. We had a really fun trip and it was full of adventure -- but I will have to leave that for another time! Right now I'll just update you on the puppies.

I saw them last night and they are up and are pretty mobile. They are definitely cute by this point and look like small dogs (no more sled rats, eh?) I heard some little growls and grunts and they are beginning to wag their tails. It's really amazing to watch them grow and mature.

I managed to snap a few pictures and two videos. I hope these work! For right now you'll have to click on the URL to see the videos. They are nothing remarkable but you can see how mobile the puppies are now. :)

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8192729629461196485&hl=en

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=586987060454836627&hl=en

Computer Issues

2008-02-04T13:07:00.001-09:00

Ah, what a lovely weekend I just had! It seems a shame to be back at work slaving away when I could be at home enjoying the company of my four-legged companions. I suppose I have to earn a living somehow, right?

On Friday I received my long-anticipated Olympus Camera (Stylus 790SW which claims to be freeze-proof, drop-proof and water-proof to a depth of 10 ft.) I promptly made excuses to use the camera to take pictures of everything from dogs to...well, dogs. :) It wasn't hard to find a subject, as I'm sure you can imagine. I took pictures of Calvin, pictures of Indi, pictures of anyone who would stand still long enough for me to get a snapshot. I used the opportunity to fiddle with the various settings on the camera and try to experiment with what yields the best results in various conditions.

Some of those pictures will be posted just as soon as I can get the computer to cooperate!!

Also, on the puppy front, the pups are...hmm, how shall I say this...pooping? Yes, pooping is a good word. They seem to be pooping on their own now. Not something you'd necessarily consider a landmark event, but something that can be quite startling when you aren't expecting it and when it ends up on your sweater. Don't laugh...Bonnie gets mad at you when you do that. Believe me, I know :)

Until later - when I get the computer fixed so I can upload the pictures!

It's COLD

2008-02-01T18:14:00.000-09:00

Brrrrr.....it's cold here! I don't think it has gotten above zero at my house for a few days. We are in the shadow of the Chugach mountain range and we don't get any direct sun, unlike most of the Mat-Su Valley and the parts of Chugiak that are near the Cook Inlet. It was almost -10 this morning when I fed on my way to work, and it's just about there again. It's currently 6:24 pm and the sun has been totally down for about an hour.

It was -4 last night when I ran the dogs at the trail, but I was dressed appropriately. I stopped to talk to Bryan Bearss while I was out, and he probably thought that I looked like some sort of freak show (Matt always says that I look "Chinese" when I go out to the trails because everything is brightly-colored and nothing matches. Hey, you can't be choosey when it's freezing-a** cold outside.) Last night, I was wearing fleece leggings, insulated ski pants, and arctic quilt lined Carhartt overalls, along with two long underwear shirts, a shetland wool sweater, a down jacket, and a fox fur hat. I was just fine except for my mittened hands, which got chilly on the short 2-mile run. (The dogs did great, by the way. I only stopped them one time, and that was so they would be rested and ready to charge up a little hill that has been slowing us down lately.)

Being dressed appropriately to feed is a whole different matter. I will readily admit that I am the type of person who likes to do things the EASY way (as long as that's an appropriate thing to do. I still like to do things CORRECTLY.) I tend to feed the sled dogs on my way to the car to leave for work in the morning. Since I am the office manager, I'm usually dressed casually but I try to look at least somewhat professional. This usually means a pressed shirt of some sort. So, picture me feeding the sled dogs in dressy jeans, street shoes, and a pressed shirt. Usually I have on a jacket or a coat, too. Yes, I do this even in -10 weather. I know, it's insane...but I just can't be bothered to get all suited up in the Carhartts and trudge around outside in snow boots. Being underdressed (most of the time) to feed means that I scurry around and get my business done promptly. It's not my time to socialize with the dogs -- that is later in the day. I just feed and get on with it (if Clover is barking, I do stop and stare at her until she stops. We are working on cutting that junk out. So far, she's doing REALLY well.) Sometimes, I feed the evening meal right when I get home from work, so this means I'm still in my work clothes and if it's -10 like it was tonight when I fed, that means I really get a move on!! This evening I wasn't wearing gloves, so my hands got a bit chilly. Feeding in work clothes also means that it's very important that my dogs know that jumping up on me is totally inappropriate and unacceptable. Nobody jumps on Mom anymore except for Clover, who arrived with that tendency. She is also improving in this area, but she still has a ways to go.

Yes, in any dress, -10 is brisk. It's the kind of weather that makes your fingers turn into what feels like fat, frozen sausages. It makes the breath freeze on the hair framing your face. It makes metal painful to touch with your bare hands -- and you'll realize this in less than one second after you do it! No, -10 is not my favorite weather...but it's part of life in Alaska. And I DO like that. :)

Welcome to the First Day of the Rest of Your Life!

2008-01-31T15:20:00.001-09:00

Boudreaux's eyes are open!!

Last night I went over to Bonnie's for a quick visit of the puppies and to see Luke, an adult dog who has been feeling under the weather. Before I left, I picked each puppy up for a snuggle and lo and behold, I saw that Boudreaux's eyes were open!! He was blinking very sleepily at me and it was terribly cute. As of today (Thursday) Bonnie says that nobody else has opened their eyes. Jim has taken to calling Boudreaux "Jumbo", which, I suppose is a very appropriate name.

In other news, Bonnie and I have made plans to attend the Yukon Quest start next week in Fairbanks. I am SO excited! We have a room booked and we have tickets to the Start Banquet. I expect that we'll have a blast. In the meantime I should receive my new camera that I ordered this morning, so the blog will probably have lots of pictures from the weekend next weekend. Our hotel has wi-fi, so I'll try to update nightly. What fun!!

Plans are to take the dogs out tonight for a quick and fun 2 mile run. They were very nonplussed the last time I ran them, so I'm going to make sure that they have a really good time tonight. I'll let you know how it goes. Until then, enjoy the rest of the pictures below.

Boudreaux has a post-weigh-in nap.

Mom and giganti-puppies

Playing Hooky and Puppy Portraits

2008-01-28T10:53:00.000-09:00

Friday was an absolutely gorgeous day. There was almost a foot of new snow on the ground and the sun was out. I absolutely couldn't stand it anymore and had to leave work early so I could try to take the dogs out for a little run!

In typical Leslie-fashion, things couldn't go off without a hitch. I had the brilliant idea of, since there was so much snow on the ungroomed trails, using the Tim White toboggan sled for the nice new powder. About 100 yards into my run, I realized my grave error in judgement when I noticed the snow piling up, and up, and up on the snowmachine drag that serves as my drag pad between the runners. (For those who are not familiar with sled design, the drag pad drags on the ground between your runners and it helps you to steer and to slow the sled gently without having to use your actual brake, which is prong-shaped and tends to stop you suddenly as well as rut the trail.) Well, that's not such a bad thing, I thought, as I kicked the snow away. What will a little snow hurt? Just about that time, we ground to a halt in the middle of the trail. What the...??? I looked down to find that the drag pad was wedged between my runners underneath the footpads (where you stand) and it was being held up tightly by a huge pile of snow.

I suppose that now would be a great time to tell you that my drag was a last-minute accessory last year! Lexi and I kinda rigged something up and threw it on there and it's not really "designed" to fit my sled. In fact, the drag is just barely narrow enough to fit between the runners. It is, apparently, NOT narrow enough to fit both between the runners and between the foot pads on top of the runners, which overhang the runners on each side. As we were sledding, the increasing amount of loose powder was steadily piling up underneath the drag mat and was pushing the mat up against the bottom of the footpad until the amount of drag increased so much that we just STOPPED. Hmm. The fact that the drag was tightly wedged underneath the footpads did not make it very easy to remove the snow from underneath it...I ended up kicking the brake up with my foot and kicking the drag mat and...still no luck in dislodging the snow. My dogs were ready to go but we sure weren't going anywhere. Finally I could kick enough snow free that we could get started again and then we would slow to a stop after a few hundred feet. This happened over and over again until finally I got sick of it and I kicked the drag mat to the right and stood on it on top of my right runner, so that it was totally out of the way and I was riding without a drag.

Now, I am not a great sled driver so this was really taking a leap of faith for me but I did manage to finish the six mile run just fine, even with a few passes. Nobody crashed into my sled (which they did the last time I was out -- oh joy!) but I did manage to break it all by myself. As we pulled into the staging area, Zed decided to hang a right and go over to another musher's truck. I kept telling him "haw" but as someone once pointed out to me, sometimes it is difficult to convince Zed that you know better when he thinks that HE knows better. We kept going back and forth with each-other, with me hopping off of the sled and going up and pulling him over to the left and with him going back to the right by the time I would get back to the sled. This happened at least a dozen times but I was very patient with him -- I do not want my leader to lose trust in me because I got frustrated with him. Dogs do not understand losing your temper -- they just think you've gone certifiably nuts and they think they'd better avoid you from now on because you're unpredictable.

Finally Zed decided that what I meant was that we were heading back out onto the trail so he did a complete 180 and turned the sled all the way around!! I almost flipped. When he did this, the UMHW plastic bed of my toboggan cracked beacuse my snowhook line was putting a lot of pressure on it (I think it is getting brittle from age). I heard the noise and saw a piece of the front of the bed snap off. All I could think was "I hope the snowhooks hold!!" because if Zed had popped them loose, off and away down the trail the team would have gone without me. On about the fifteenth try, I did get him headed in the right direction and we finished driving over to the truck. Believe it or not, the dog got a frozen hamburger patty for being such a little pipsqueak. The sled is still useable but it don't look purty. :)

Sunday we went over to Bonnie's to get some puppy pictures. Boy, those critters are growing by the day!! Boudreaux weighed in at 960 grams yesterday! They are looking more and more like dogs and less like sled rats, thankfully. The occasional brown spot from Zed is making its appearance and it's nice to see a little bit of their daddy in them. Below we have the latest pics --

Boudreaux. Look how dark his nose is now!

Gumbo with nose spots!

File' has such a pretty face

Puppy butts

I didn't get a good picture of Tasso so we will have to put an extra one up next time!! Poor Tasso. She is such a cutie. She loves to nurse upside down (I have no idea why??)

Happy Monday!

Do the Dew

2008-01-23T09:39:00.000-09:00

Yesterday (Tuesday) was the day to "Do the Dew" -- that is, to remove the dewclaws from the 3-day-old puppies. Removing dewclaws, while uncomfortable for the puppies, is a necessary evil in the event that they are ever run with booties on. Dogs with dewclaws can have major problems when wearing booties -- often the bootie wraps around the ankle just above the dewclaw and can cause the dewclaw to be compressed against the leg and rub the leg raw. This isn't a pleasant situation for the dog and it can even be dangerous if it becomes infected.

Bonnie and Jim's friend, Jenny, came by last night to take the dew claws off. This consisted of using a hemostat to crush and then remove the dewclaw from the leg. It's not a big deal for the puppies but is uncomfortable and they do object at first. They do make some noise, but soon after, they settle back down to sleep and nurse and forget the whole ordeal. Of course, Mom has to be removed from the situation because she might be upset at the puppies' noises!

Here above, DeeDee relaxes with her little charges just before the dewclaw work began.

Matt and Jim put pressure on the dewclaw areas to staunch bleeding. Matt has Boudreaux and Jim has Tasso.

A great picture of me, I know. I am doing the same thing to Gumbo.

These little guys are gaining weight at an amazing rate! They are changing a little every single day. Now their coat colors are becoming more apparent and their noses are beginning to darken up to black rather than pink. Below is the current weight of each puppy along with the birth weight:

Boudreaux - 620 grams (birth weight 500 grams)
File' - 580 grams (birth weight 380 grams)
Gumbo - 480 grams (birth weight 300 grams)
Tasso - 440 grams (birth weight 300 grams)

On the topic of dogsledding, we recently experienced a wonderful phenomenon (read that wich much sarcasm) called a Chinook. Yesterday it was up to 45 degrees and all of the snow began to melt. The roads and sidewalks were so slick that it was difficult to stand up sometimes! Reports of trail conditions at Beach Lake were that the snow was crusted and soft, almost a slurry. I was really beginning to worry about how the trails would hold up for sledding in the immediate future, but this morning I woke up to a 28 degree morning and around 10" of new snow in the yard! New snow on top of the crusty ice will be better than the crusty ice by itself, so I am much happier than I was this time yesterday. Plans for this evening are to go Cross Country Skiing with the husband and hopefully to take the dogs out again tomorrow.

Puppy Pictures!

2008-01-20T19:58:00.000-09:00

Here we have our first photos of the little ones! The puppy to the left is Tasso, a female. She is mostly white and has some black on her face and nowhere else on her body.

This is File', also a female. She is mostly black with white on the tip of her tail and on several other parts of her body. Such a nice, shiny black!!

This is Gumbo, a male. He is mostly white with black and a wee smidgen of brown near his face. He makes the cutest noises!

This is Boudreaux, the big boy! He is a black-brown color with white interspersed.

I will post more pictures as soon as they are available!

Four Healthy Puppies

2008-01-19T21:48:00.001-09:00

After a long and exhausting day, I am happy to report that DeeDee was carrying four healthy puppies. I do not say that she "delivered" them because she actually had a C-section. After several hours of nonproductive labor this morning we took DeeDee to the vet to be checked out. Dr. Brown determined that Dee had a vaginal tumor that was blocking the birth canal and would not allow the puppies to pass although Dee was trying her best to deliver them vaginally. After a short bit of thought, Jim and Bonnie elected to do a C-section / Spay on DeeDee.

Jim and I had the puppies still in their amniotic sacs placed into our hands at which point we tore the sack open and removed the puppy from the sack, vigorously rubbing the puppy to stimulate respiration and awareness. All of the puppies got "slung" to clear their airways and two of them actually had "mouth to nose" respiration until they began breathing steadily on their own.

Many hours later now, Dee is back home and our four little ones are nursing happily. We have two males and two females. This litter does, indeed, have a Cajun theme. The largest (whopper!) male is named Boudreaux. He is black with a brown undercoat. The other male is named Gumbo, and he is white with black spots. The black female is named File and the white female with a few black spots is named Tasso. Not a single one of them looks like Zed!! Unbelievable but true! DeeDee is going to be a wonderful mother and although she had surgery today, she is already taking great care of her little ones.

No pictures today in order to keep from disturbing her much. Tomorrow we will get pictures of each little pup and I will post them! For now, I am off to take care of my own "kids."

Ahh....Quiet and Crashless

2008-01-18T10:33:00.001-09:00

I finally recovered my courage and wherewithal last night enough to take the dogs out for a run with the sled (by myself.) When I got there I was pleasantly surprised to find, for once, that there were others at the trail at 9 pm on a Thursday night. In fact, one of them was Eric. He had just done 14 miles with an 8 dog string on his Hans Gatt sled. After some pleasant chit-chat I began to hook my dogs up and it struck me -- What nice dogs I have! I don't mean to brag here...I just mean that they're exactly what I had in mind when I began putting my team together. What I mean is:

Zed is a calm, composed, and totally collected leader. He takes commands well and has impressed me with his smarts and his willingness to run single lead and hold the line out when I'm hooking up.
Balu is my happy guy who can also run lead and not much ruffles him.
Calvin wants to be up front but he doesn't have all of the knowledge yet -- but he will learn. He is eager to please and is bonded to me.
Clover is a true work-horse and is sweetness all over. She likes to ride in the car standing in the cargo area with her back feet and with her front feet resting on my shoulder (most of her weight is on my seat).
Indi is still reluctant to do a whole lot but he does what I ask, and he is so danged cute and such a great house dog that I just can't complain about him.
ALL of my dogs stand nicely when we stop on the trail. So far there is no harness banging and I haven't even really needed a snowhook. (Of course I have set one.) They stop when I say "whoa" and they wait for me to tell them it's ok to get going again.
They are all learning to be quiet at feeding time.

I can't complain! This is my "dream team". That's not to say that they won't run my sled into trees, or leave me behind on the trail if I dump the sled even if I'm screaming "whoa!" ...I'm sure they will. After all, they're dogs. I just mean that I love these guys and they are everything I had wanted and more.

Our run last night went great. I think my dogs think they're part of a sprint team -- they loped for all four miles that we ran. <grin> Somehow I think that they'll slow down when we get back to doing 10+ mile runs.

In other news, Bonnie has told me that DeeDee's temperature is down to 98.5 F. I see her whelping in the imminent future! I'm gonna be a grandma!! I will post pics as soon as they are available.

Happy Friday!

Update on Zed x DeeDee Puppies

2008-01-16T12:22:00.001-09:00

Bonnie had DeeDee radiographed yesterday at her prenatal visit. She does, indeed have four puppies! I think it's the perfect number to have in a litter -- just enough and yet not too many to be easily managed. Supposedly the theme for the litter will be "Cajun" which goes wonderfully with Lagniappe Kennel's name. :) Expect to have some little ones named "Gumbo", "Tasso", "Boudain" and "Pirogue" or the like. Of course, I will post updates to the blog the minute that DeeDee begins labor. She is expected to whelp next Tuesday but Bonnie is supposed to begin taking her temperature on Friday in case she decides to deliver early. Her temp should drop to around 99 by delivery time.

I can't wait!

When in doubt, go to the gym...

2008-01-15T09:00:00.000-09:00

It's been a while since my last post, and obviously a lot has happened, so I'll start with last week and work forward.

Friday night, it began to snow and I was itching to get out with the dogs. Matt was home from the slope so I conned him into helping me tie the sled onto the top of the Land Cruiser and promising to be a willing passenger in the sled if I'd let him drive some, too. Away we went to the dog trails. Amazingly, I didn't forget anything and we left the staging area without a hitch with me driving and Matt in the basket. After once around the two mile trail, I asked him if he wanted to drive. He jumped at the chance, complaining about the twig that had "stabbed him in the eye" while he was a passenger. Hmm, them's the breaks of being a passenger, I thought to myself. You have no control over where you're going or what's ahead! So I climbed into the basket myself and he drove me another time around the two mile. Annoyingly, he is quite a good sled driver even though he's only driven two or three times in his life. I suppose it has something to do with him be athletic (a marathoner) and a lot stronger than I am...and weighing more. Grr. I booted him out of the basket and did one more pass around the two mile trail by myself, with my headlamp off and the basket empty, just to try and get more of a feel for sled driving. I wouldn't say I'm a natural at this -- my balance is ok but I'm not the fastest-moving person in the world, so I'm taking things slow and easy if I can. At that point, Zed was annoyed that we had been around the loop THREE times so he flew past the U-turn (I wasn't going to go around again anyhow) and we headed back into the staging area.

All in all, the dogs seemed very happy that they had gotten out to stretch their legs, even if it was a bit repetitive. I remembered that I had the camera in the car and managed to snap a few pictures at the posts. Zed's "happy look" just cracks me up...that look is THE look that he gets when he runs. Happy to be alive!

Clover has a funny look on her face, too, for sure. It almost looks like I startled her! I wish that blue eyes photographed better -- her eyes always look red and it's not becoming of her.

On Sunday, Matt and I had to run into Anchorage to make a pass through Costco. It was a gorgeous day filled with sun and glimmering snow, so we decided to drive up Arctic Valley Rd. and take a look around. I snapped a few photos of the view from the road. What a gorgeous view! You can see Mt. Susitna in the distance in one of these photos. I tell you what, some days, living in Alaska gets old, but other days I can't say enough good about the beauty that there is all around us here.

Yesterday (Monday) I felt pretty spunky when I got home from work, and I debated for a while whether to go to the gym (which I needed to do) or to take the dogs out for a run (which the dogs needed to do). After hemming and hawing for a half hour while I ate my dinner, I settled upon taking the dogs out. After all, they needed the exercise. Since Matt is now back in Kaparuk, I decided that the safest thing to do (with me being a newbie sled driver) would be for me to take the dogs out with the ATV. Enter problem #1 -- the ATV had been sitting for over a week and hadn't been started. I sauntered out to the trailer expecting problems, and sure enough, there they were to greet me. The battery sounded weak (it was, after all, 0 degrees F at the time). I managed to string up three extension cords and drag them down the driveway enough to hook up my battery charger to the ATV to recharge the battery. Well, that would present a slight delay, so I ran into Eagle River in the meanwhile to gas up my truck. When I got back, I checked the battery charger and it said "FUL" -- indicating that the battery was fully charged. I tried to start it and it immediately cranked for me, which was a good sign. Maybe the night would go off without a hitch, I thought. Little did I know.

The coupler on the trailer was cranky and didn't want to close due to the snow and ice that had accumulated on it. A bit of work got it and the trailer ball to agree with each-other once again, so I loaded all five dogs and took off for the trails.

When I arrived, there wasn't a soul out there. I honestly like nights when I'm the only person using the trails, but they do have their drawbacks. For instance, if one were to have trouble on the trail, there is a 0% chance of encountering anyone who might be able to help you. That's something key to remember, you see :)

Within a few minutes, I had the ATV out of the trailer, the dogs hooked up and we were ready to go. I stayed around five minutes extra or so, trying to let them settle. Clover was having a fit to get going and all of that screaming drives me nuts. I thought she might give up after a few minutes but it turned out that I would be the one to give up. I shrugged my shoulders, silently cursing her insane physical conditioning with Ed Iten (she was up to 70 mile runs when I got her) and I hopped on the ATV. It cranked right up for me, again (which was odd! I should have been suspicious!) and away we went.

We were making pretty good time up the trail, getting at least 1/2 mile out of the staging area to the point where the trail begins to rise up a hill, when suddenly, the ATV gave a couple of coughs and promptly sputtered and died. Curses!! The dogs set to screaming in impatience and I tried to get the danged thing to crank again to no avail. After about ten attempts, I sat scratching my head, wondering just exactly how I was going to get myself out of this pickle.

I know, I thought, I'll just drag the ATV around and maybe the dogs can pull me back to the staging area in neutral. Off I hopped and I grabbed the front rack on the ATV and began hauling away at it with all of my might.

Tug, tug, tug. Pant. Tug, tug. Pant some more. Whew, a couple of inches progress! Now to the back of the ATV to move the rear end. Tug, tug, tug. Pant. Tug, tug. Pant some more. Repeat each sequence a dozen times. Slowly I realized that I was making little to no progress anymore.

Drat.

I had gotten the ATV turned cross-ways in the trail but couldn't get it any further. I think that the dang thing weighs 850 lb, or at least that's what it says on the ATV/Snowmachine title that I have. (Could it really weigh that much?)

Drat, drat, drat. I tried to start the ATV again but to no avail. By this time, the battery started to sound lazy and I gave up. Who do I call?? Matt is gone, Jim is taking care of Bonnie, who had suffered an unfortunate accident last week...Lexi doesn't have an ATV anymore...ack! Enter my dear friend, Eric. I very apologetically made the phonecall at 9 pm (Eric is an early-to-bed type) and I explained my situation. He very calmly said he'd see me in a few minutes and that he was bringing his ATV to tow me back to the staging area. I closed my phone and then began the task of walking the dogs back to the truck.

First I had to tie the snub line to a tree so nobody would tangle while I was gone. I fished out the leash that I keep in my ATV bag and figured I could put a dog on one end and loop through a collar on the other, so that's what I did and I took off with Zed (great on a leash) and Calvin (decent on a leash.) When I made it to the car I realized that my keys were in my heavy parka on the ATV. DAMN. I pulled out my airline cables from the trailer and strung them out and put Zed and Calvin on them and then headed back for Balu and Clover. Balu is marginal on a leash (but is great with a halti, which I did not have) and Clover is HORRIBLE. I finally just turned Balu loose alltogether and hoped that he'd run back to the truck and visit with my other dogs, which he did. Clover and I had words many times on the way back to the staging area and I think she thinks I'm a crazy woman and I've lost my mind. If you ask her, I'm sure that's what she'll say, 'cause I kept yelling at her and trying not to be drug down the trail face-first in the meanwhile. By the time I made it back on this second trip, I was very hot and clammy in all of my heavy clothes in that zero degree weather. Trudge, trudge, trudge. Some more walking finally and I was back to Indi, who had been left by himself. Just as I was hooking the leash to his collar, I saw the headlights of an approaching ATV which, thankfully, was Eric's. I put Indi into a crate on the back of the ATV and hooked my gang line to Eric's trailer hitch and we tooled back to the trailer, and after much effort, got the danged ATV back up the ramp into the trailer.

So, all was good, or so I thought. After many thanks, I set out for home and made it about a mile before I realized that something just didn't seem right. Hmm. Head count. One short! Indi!! He was still in the crate on the back of Eric's ATV! OH MY GOSH, I am such a bad mother to forget my dog!!! So I just pulled over and waited for Eric to come by. In the meanwhile, he had realized the same thing and pulled over when he saw me stopped. We did a quick-change and I was back on the road again.

I finally made it home around 10 and had to feed the dogs, at which time Zed managed to clothesline me with his chain and I went flying across the dog lot to land on my back. Ouch. After sharing a bit of my mind with him (he didn't understand a thing I said) I hobbled to bed, already very sore from trying to move the ATV and now the flat-on-my-back fall. I curled up with Calvin and my iPod and drifted off to sleep but was awakened by an EARTHQUAKE. Can't a girl get any peace???

Today, I still haven't decided what to do this evening, but the more I think about it the more I think....when in doubt, go to the gym!!!

The Winter Blues

2008-01-11T12:13:00.001-09:00

It's odd to me that I spent all year looking forward to winter and now I almost dread the thought of taking the dogs out for a run. It's not the running the dogs part that's the drag, it's the thought of going out in the cold and hooking up the trailer to my truck, getting water and snacks ready to go, backing out of my tricky driveway with the trailer, going up the steep and icy hill to turn around, and then driving all the way to the track where my ATV may or may not start. <sigh> Yes, I know, I'm whining. I am extremely fortunate to have the opportunity to even have this hobby and a husband who supports it, I shouldn't gripe.

I really do think the darkness is beginning to get to me. I hope to take the dogs out during the day at least once this weekend. Fingers crossed!

Knik Results

2008-01-08T17:50:00.000-09:00

Well, I never have gotten those photos from Bonnie so I have nothing new to upload. :( I do have a bit more detailed description of the start and the race finish day, for those who are interested.

Lexi, Bonnie and I arrived at Knik Bar at about 9:30 on Saturday morning. Most of the mushers' trucks were already parked on the lake, so we simply had to locate where Eric's truck was parked. He had drawn bib #4 so we knew he'd be 4th to the start line. Once we parked and got situated, it was time to get down to business. We brothed all of the dogs with baited water and then gave out meat snacks (lamb) to everyone. After waiting a few minutes for things to digest and the dogs to settle down and get comfortable, I started harnessing dogs while Eric continued to get his sled packed and ready to go.

During the waiting/settling period, I had the chance to meet one of Zed's old owners, Dr. Robert Buntzen. Robert was running two of Zed's grandkids in his team, Acci and Dent. They had much of Zed's "look" to them -- black and tan, mostly, with lots of his facial expressions. Interesting to watch, for sure. They made me smile. Zack (Steer) was also racing, and he drew bib #1 so I had very little time to talk to him. I didn't want to bother him while he was getting ready but I did get to say "hi".

When the time got near, Lexi and Bonnie bootied the dogs and we began hooking up the team. Eric's dogs all know me, so they are relatively easy to handle. We steered Eric to the chute and he was off across the lake, waving to the crowd before I knew it.

We did also help Mike Suprenant's team to the starting chute, which didn't go so smoothly. His dogs don't know me, they don't wear necklines, and they don't seem especially easy to handle in general, but that's a story for another day.

After we finished with those duties, Bonnie and I made the rounds to watch other racers depart. Gerri Willomitzer, Ryan Redington, Ken Anderson, a Seavey (don't know which one?), Ed Stielstra, Sabastian Schnuelle and Justin Savidis were all racers whom I recognized. It was interesting watching each one of them with their dogs and their approach to doing things. Everything from types of sleds to types of quick releases, dogs, and lines were different. Well, I suppose it's what makes the world go 'round!

That's all for now...the finish of the race was early on Sunday morning (about 10 AM) and I didn't make it out there for that. Sunday evening we did help get Eric's dogs put up and Eric packed up and I made it home around 9. Whew, sheer exhaustion.

As for me, I haven't made it out with my own dogs since last week. I am getting a case of the winter blahs, I think, much as i did last year. No motivation, constantly sleepy, and gaining poundage by the day, it seems. :) I'm looking forward to getting a little more sun sometime soon.

How about today? :)

Handling for the Knik 200

2008-01-05T22:14:00.000-09:00

Don't have much time, but wanted to post a video and some pictures of the Knik 200 race held in Knik today but the video won't load. The race started at 11 AM and Eric started shortly thereafter. Bonnie, Lexi and I handled both for Eric and for Mike Suprenant, another local racer.

It was about 5 degrees out when we first arrived at 9:30 and I think it warmed up to a grand total of 10 degrees F. Before we left, it had started to snow and the wind had kicked up a bit. There was low cloud cover so I'm sure it made for a fun and interesting run to Skwentna!

Eric should finish between 2 and 4 PM tomorrow so we'll be back out to pick him up . Tomorrow morning, Lexi and I are planning on visiting a sledmaker in the area to have Bonnie's sled repaired and also to visit and look at their Icelandic ponies. Ahh, I drool over the Icelandic ponies. What perfect horses for this area! Wish I could have one, but alas,a I think that my riding days are probably over.

We will be nabbing some more pictures tomorrow. In the meanwhile, Bonnie snapped this photo (top of post) of me and Mocha. She's a funny girl - a real cheerleader!

Happy New Year from Lagniappe Kennel!

2008-01-01T21:16:00.000-09:00

Ah, God, this blogger is so much easier to use for posting. I love it!! :)

Today we celebrated New Year's Day by taking all FIVE puppies for a jaunt. Yes, I did actually take Clover even though she is in heat. She has been so hyper that she's driving me nuts. I put her in wheel with Indi and I put Balu and Zed in lead, so Calvin was in single in-between them. I did see Zed raise a doggy eyebrow when I hooked her into the team. "Wow, you brought the chick!" he said. From back in the wheel position I scowled at him and said "ZED, DON'T YOU DARE. LINE OUT!" He looked chastened and resumed his duties of holding the line out.

I decided to try to add a little mileage today, so we ran 12 miles. Honestly, I think the team would have done better with 10 but 12 certainly didn't hurt them. I saw Calvin and Indi stop pulling somewhere in the last mile, though, so I know they were tired. No worries though, everyone was happy when we came in and they all got a hamburger patty. The dog lot is nice and quiet tonight, though. :)

I got the chance to snap three pictures before I thought I might be in someone's way if I sat any longer. I thought I was the only person out that far, although there were tons of trucks in the parking lot. All of those people seemed to be using sleds and going on the 2 mile trail, though, so I was pretty relaxed until I got to the spot where I took these pictures and saw one team with an ATV coming off of Dee Lake and another one behind me going onto the lake. Yikes! Surrounded by dog teams! I put the camera away and hurried onward.

The first photo shows the typical dog pose when resting: either dipping snow or, like Clover, doing the "stop and flop", as I call it. The second photo is of the beautiful scenery that I could see from our rest point.

This evening, we had a lovely visit at Eric and Marti's house, complete with a delicious dinner and lots of dog talk. How can it get any better? If this is what the year is going to be like, bring on 2008!!

Happy New Year from Lagniappe Kennel!

Alaska, the land of make-your-own-lanes

2007-12-31T14:42:00.001-09:00

There are some places where rules just don't apply. I think that it's safe to say that Alaska is one of them. It's that whole renegade, 49th State, outlaw mentality, I think. This completely applies to the commonly-undertaken activity called driving your car.

It's not uncommon on snowy days to have the lines on the road totally obscured by snow. At other times, there is no excuse for not being able to see the lines -- it just doesn't seem that they are there at all. Most of the time, the weather is wet and the road is dark when this happens, and it seems that the snowplows have scraped the paint off of the road surface. In these cases, Alaskans feel free to participate in an old Alaskan driving past-time, that of making your own lanes.

You see, it doesn't matter that the highway is supposed to be four lanes. On a terribly snowy day, it may only be two lanes. You mustn't dare to try to make a new lane unless you have a great 4wd system. Driving through the undisturbed, massive quantities of snow may land you in the ditch scratching your head and wondering how you got there, while other motorists honk and drive past you with reckless abandon.

On the really dark days when you can't see the lines because they aren't there to begin with, there may be as many as six lanes on the highway. Drive wherever you feel like it. It's a bit like Greece in the way that you can drive as many cars across as can actually physically fit on the road. Scary sometimes, I'll admit. But that's Alaska for you...

Big Posts in Small Spaces - AND - WE MOVED!

2007-12-31T13:29:00.000-09:00

This post is a duplicate of the last post on our old blogging site. Please continue to read our blog here on blogspot.com. If you want to check out our old blog posts, you can find them at www.lagniappekennel.com/blog

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Wow, so much has happened since the last time I posted. Let me see if I can entice my mind to function on this lazy Sunday afternoon…

As the end of my time off loomed, I found myself dreading going back to work. I had good reason, as on the Tuesday that I returned, my coworker went home at lunch sick and did not return for the rest of the week. Welcome back, Leslie! You’d better get to work!

These long and tiresome days left me little time or inclination to take the dogs out. They rested until the weekend, when I took them on a 8 mile run on the 8 mile trail. Clover was (and still is) in bleeding heat, so she didn’t accompany the 4 boys on their runs. I feel very sorry for her, as Ed had her trained up to 70 mile runs and now she has scaled back to…well, nothing.

The following Monday brought Christmas eve and Matt was to come in from the slope at around 6:00 pm. As I scurried around, wrapping presents and making ready for our Christmas get-together at a friend in Anchorage’s place, I fell into a bit of a “bah-humbug” mood. I think that Calvin echoed my sentiments. At least, it sure looks like it in this snapshot of him below. Silly dog.

(There is SUPPOSED to be a picture of Calvin here but the stupid blog thing won’t let me upload it at full size. I may be moving to a different blog host soon, be forewarned. This one (Wordpress) is NOT user-friendly.)

We wound up having a very enjoyable time at our friend John’s, and spent the following evening (Christmas) at our other friend’s place, near our house in Chugiak. There was a TON of good food, much ethnic (Swedish) food and drink to be had, and we had a nice time visiting. There was a pretty big crowd so it was cozy but pleasant. I was surprised to find that a better variation of our (Bonnie’s and mine) last year’s holiday drink had been made — cranberry liqueur. No cloves were used this time and it turned out much nicer, I think.

At the close of the holiday weekend, I decided to pop by Eric’s house and pick up the Bernie Willis sled that he so generously offered me at Thanksgiving dinner. After a few minor repairs were made, I decided to take it out on that (Tuesday) evening. Matt decided to lash it to the top of the Land Cruiser and head out, thinking that it would be an easy task. Think again! We couldn’t ever get the darn thing just right. The ropes weren’t tight enough and this or that happened and I never felt that the sled might not slide off the top of the danged SUV. After wasting an HOUR doing this, I was very frustrated and pitched a minor fit, insisting that we hook up the trailer which contained the ATV, moved the ATV, and put the sled into the trailer. Five minutes later, we were ready to go and were on our way!

The sled driving at the trail was relatively uneventful. I had Matt as a passenger for the first go-round on the 2 mile trail, so there was a lot of weight in the basket and the dogs were inclined to go very slowly, which was just fine with me. After one loop, Matt hopped out and I drove the next 2 miles alone. This reminded me very promptly that I am a TERRIBLE sled driver and have a lot to work on this year.

The dogs did not run again until yesterday (Saturday) when Bonnie and her brother and I took them out for a FAST 5 mile run. I don’t have an odometer/speedometer on my ATV but Bonnie said we were doing 12-15 mph for the duration. That isn’t fast for the serious racers but it’s pretty speedy for my big guys. They needed some speed work and seemed happy and satisfied when we came in. The club was having a social gathering after we finished so I left them dropped at my vehicle, which was parked on the Alternate Trail side and I rode the ATV over to the clubhouse. With all of the wolf attacks on dogs lately, it crossed my mind that my puppies might be bait, but we had no incidents and they were happy as can be when I returned.

No plans to run today…maybe tomorrow — New Years Eve day. I am having a gas stove installed tomorrow so I might not move from in front of it for a few days.