HE and SHE have been busy this summer making me a new, special little cabin. It smells wonderfully of cedar and they even put my very own little stove in the corner. I can't wait to settle in and relax after they drag me on one of those strange, freezing cold jaunts in the snow that they seem to enjoy!




Here's the little cabin in the glow of the smokey forest fire light. The garden grew nicely too, though I don't seem to be getting many shared carrots from it!

Mushing Adventures

Trips at -20 require a bit more heavy duty dress, both for the dogs and the mushers. We ran out along Standard Creek and came to the Dunbar Trail from our side.

The Tolovana trip was much warmer, at least +20 if not higher at times. No need for coats for dogs, or even for mushers at times!

What absolutely amazing land we get to travel. I'm still not so sure it's my favorite thing in the world, but if all trips could be like Tolovana I could probably grow to like it much much more as I didn't freeze my paws off! We traveled 11 miles into the cabin where HE and SHE got to enjoy the hotsprings, wish they would have let me jump in. Silly rules, no dogs allowed. They would share some pictures of the springs, but they're a little more self-conscious about flashing skin online. People and their silly hangups.
On the second day they hooked us up and headed out to find the Dunbar trail. A trail that if we followed it 75 miles would bring us back home...an adventure for another day!

Argghhh, numbers already outdated...and then there were eight!

So Trapper joined the crew sometime this winter too. He's a pretty harmless, happy boy. Still eats more than I'm happy with, swear I'm getting less! But he does help lighten the load on any mushing trips, so must be a good thing!

Number 7 is pictured as well, Chunk is the blond dude. Possibly not the brightest tool in the shed, but boy does he have the brawn!

And then there were seven...

There would have been a picture, but something isn't working...maybe someday soon there will be a photo of the full team. Don't hold your breath though, as you can tell from the time between blog entries, this hasn't been a high priority. SHE is on vacation this week, but her teaching program will be gearing up again for a loooonnnnngggg semester soon.

Happy Holidays to all and enjoy your New Year celebrations be they large or small!

Rest of the pictures

Callie's "fun"
She ran off on an adventure one day and came home sporting a brand new bump by her tail. Turns out she managed to impale herself on the stick you see. It extended from her inner thigh through her abdomen and bumped up by her tail. It managed to miss all important innards and she recovered from emergency surgery just fine.


My 5 buddies.

You'll remember Grizzly, and the newest girl Maisie is to the right. Callie is standing up behind them (you can't see her bare spots, but they are there.) Addie is flat out enjoying the sun. Her work ethic had slowed with the summer sun and she's
packing on the pounds, enjoying her time off. HE and SHE took Callie, Maisie and Addie bikejoring the other day and realized a bit more training might be needed to keep Addie in shape. Callie, Maisie and Pence like to play and tend to keep active on their own.
I'm as always my svelte, perfect self. Training to pull a sled is overrated anyway!


HE's becoming quite the handyman - notice the work in progress with the first big window. And she's planning ahead for those dark winter days with a sunny color scheme.

Brrr...

Brrr...that last post looks cold! Guess its been a while and the next pictures might give a clue as to why.
SHE's been busy - took a couple classes this spring then decided to go back to school full time. Yeah if that means more vacation days at home with us. SHE's got lots of books and spends quite a bit of time readin' and 'ritin' but guess that's what you have to do if you want to be a certified teacher...or in her case certified-certified. This one will open doors in AK though.
HE's been getting his own certifications - passed his firefighter 1 so can officially enter burning buildings. (Why you ask...well so do we!) HE says its fun.
Spring arrived gradually, then as with all things in Alaska, boom, full summer is here! We just past the longest day. SHE was out til 1am walking a 10K race, yes, that's considered fun in AK too.
You'll see I've been working hard supervising garden planting. SHE expanded to twice the size this year, hope there's lots of carrots, I love those. And I've been keeping my eye on the strawberry plants too. Small and limited but oh so sweet, and I should know as I got the only ones last year...first come first serve;-)
You'll see what "fun" Callie was up to - there goes the rainy day fund for the time being.
They were a bit preoccupied when Addie had her fun night - no pictures of her with the porcupine quills poking out of her mouth.
I, of couse, have been behaving myself. Trying to keep the others in line, but as you'll see, they're a troublesome bunch.
Notice the work in progress behind Grizz and Maisie, he's building his first log structure and its for us!
Work's been going on in the house too. New windows to keep us warm this winter - and colors too. She's been busy with the paint brush.
Summer plans include Uncle HE, back to stay in a few weeks. And Grand HE and SHE and Uncle #2 will follow soon too. They'll be 'thrilled' to meet the new guys - but I'm sure I'll forever be the favorite!
Hope all of you are enjoying your summer naps in the sun too:-)

Yukon Quest 2008

The Quest started in Fairbanks this year, which was a great experience. The temperature hovered around -35, but notice the crowds that came out to support these tough mushers and their teams. For those of you who don't know, the Quest is a 1000-mile (yes that's three zeros) sled-dog race across some amazingly difficult terrain, with some of the most challenging weather conditions you can imagine. Some year's there have been white-out blizzards and temperatures in sections reaching close to -60F. HE volunteered helping to handle some of these teams at the start. SHE heroically watched and even filmed footage for a class project - all fingers and toes are still accounted for! The Quest lasts close to two weeks. Teams have reached Dawson city this weekend where they will rest for 36 hours before pressing on to the end destination - Whitehorse, Yukon Territory. Dog teams start with about 14 and at least 6 dogs need to finish (sick/injured dogs are carried by mushers to a next checkpoint and are flown home). An amazing race of endurance!

New Mushing Trail!

He's been working hard, hooking us into the trail system. It's still a bit rough, they'll have fun trimming stumps, digging out sides of cliffs to clean-up, flatten and widen our new trail this summer. It connects into our neighbors trail at mile 1, then continues on to a larger trail system. One way to make mushing from our back door possible. The madness continues:-)

Salmon Dip-Netting

Blueberry Picking

The Team

Sun came up...sun went down

So no excuses...it has been awhile. You'll note the last post was as the sun was on the way up....so sitting inside or in front of a computer (other than the forced situations SHE faces at work) was unthinkable. We were on the down side of daylight for a long time and still no post, but there was the garden, the salmon, the in-laws, the house....and the fall flew by. The household became busy...takes time and energy to keep all us mutts occupied. The last post mentioned some fun with the new girls...well, they are settled it and no longer count as the new girls...because the New new girl has that designation - yep we're up to 5. And as you can tell...having fun. I let them hitch me in, but in all honesty its not my cup of tea. Manhattan to Alaska...fine. Trolling the parks to pulling at sled at -10...not so much. I'll tag along...running loose, and pulling a skijorer's not so bad. Just keep it a couple miles or under and we'll all be happy.
SHE'll throw a couple pictures of the summer in...but don't be fooled. The picture with the snow is where we're at. We're already gaining minutes a day of light - at 5 glorious hours and increasing. Hit -40 today, first time this winter but suppossedly its warming up tomorrow. This weekend snowshoeing at -20 was fine and dandy...but we're still not so fond of temps lower than that:-)
Hope you all had a great holiday season - we had some extra salmon heads and eggs, yum! Happy New year!
From She, He, Suess, Grizzly, Addie, Pence and Callie