Who Let the Dog Drive???

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

Gorgeous sunsets....as seen from my deck

Friday Night at the Track

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'

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

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

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!

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!