Update from Paradise

We've been putting on lots of miles and having fun. The team is really coming together. They really are surprising me, they are still young though so we are taking it slow. It has been pure luxury lately because after over two weeks of running this whole show by myself and working 6 days a week during the Lodge's busy Holidays...Jim is back and I have a whole 10 days off from work! Its been nice to focus just on the dogs and catch up on all of the stuff that has been barely maintained while I've been so busy.

I hope to do some long 50 - 100 milers during this time to choose my race team. Yes my race team! Thanks to generous anonymous sponsor, we will most likely be running the Don Bowers 200. 15 dogs are trying out for the race. They are:

All of my 2 year old "Solstice Girls" aka "the princesses" : Eclipse (L)
Corona (L)
Umbra (L)
Zenith (L)
My 3 year old "momma's boy" Leo(L)
My yearling stud Titan(L)
A good 4 year old leader I bought from Mike Jayne Samson(L)
My 14 mo. old super stars Apollo
Meade(L)
Dark Star
Wild man (2 years) Stellar
And his fellow freak (1 year) Space
The Saluki Hounds (3 yrs?) Scotty
Captain Kirk aka Captain Crunch (L)
and the Big man (3yrs.) Kobuk aka Chewbaca

I've been running 10 dog teams, would run 12 doggers if it weren't for the 2 rutted up 90 degree turns 25 feet into our run and the 2 miles of standing pressing as hard as you can on the brake to slow down on the hard pack icy road to get the the trail so we don't hurt our dogs or get run over by cars.

Its been great though, nice weather, not too cold 0 to 20 below. Checking out all the Two Rivers Trails. They are actually in really nice shape. Little bumpy in spots, but I can get a hook in anywhere. Nice enough I might get the Prairie Bilt out (the BMW of sleds). So far I have just been riding around on the beater toboggan. Which really is not a bad ride itself.

If the local dog club ever deems it safe enough to drive dog teams on the trails most mushers have been running on for a month now they may have 70 mile race Jim will run in.

We just got home from driving "out the road" to check if the river crossings are frozen and cut some firewood, then a soak in the Hot Springs, and a burger at Angel Creek Lodge so we could visit Steve and Anette. Time to go feed the dogs and hit the hay. Life is good.

A Day in the Life

6:30 am : Wake up, stoke fire, run outside to "go", check to see if the wolves have eaten any dogs, and get a feel for the temp, which is very affective in just mukluks and long underwear.

6:45 am: Put french press on the stove (thanks mom, it works great), turn on NPR.

6:55 am: Coffee is ready, NPR has reminded me why I am hiding in Alaska and music is put on instead. Have a cup, relax, eat (oatmeal, bagel, or I hate to admit it, chocolate) Put together the dog team to run on paper and catch up on their records, read, or go online.

7:30 am: Water the dogs with baited water(water mixed with food and meat and fat).

8:00 am: Clean the yard, get the sled ready. Check out the dogs for missed injuries etc.

8:45: am: Stoke the fire, hook up the dogs.

9:00 am: Head out on the trail, by far the best part of the day!

2:00 pm: Get home. Put the dogs at their houses. Feed the dogs. Stoke the fire.

3:00 pm: Split and stack wood, or clean, or some other chore.

3:30 pm: Go get water, we haul 35 gallons a day.

4:00 pm: Try to turn myself from "tough musher girl" to "classy waitress girl". Stoke fire.

4:30 pm: Go to work at the lodge (6 days a week), either bartending or serving.

11:00 pm: Get off work, go home, start the fire which is probably out, feed the dogs. Sometimes I run a second team and then feed the dogs.

12:00 am: Read or go online, or "crash hard".

3:30 am: Stoke fire

Merry Christmas everyone!

Just wanted to show everyone my new parka. It was made by Dogwood Designs, I LOVE it. Its my Christmas gift from Jim and man, is it warm!

Brrrrrrrr!

Well finally I have some time to write…my thermometer says 50 below others say 42 or 48 below, but whichever one is correct they all mean one thing, it’s COLD! So I have some time to hole up inside, because perhaps we will skip running a day or two and wait for it to warm up to at least 30 below. I knew it would come eventually, despite the lack of snow, we’ve had a pretty easy winter here in interior Alaska. It’s hardly even been below zero yet, and Murphy’s Law states clearly that as soon as I am left to run the farm myself, the bottom would drop out on the ole’ mercury.

It’s funny when I think back to when I first moved to the interior, I though it was cool when it got really cold. It made you somehow feel more “Alaskan”. But with years of experience the novelty of bitter cold has long been frostbitten. Those same years have taught me some of the tricks to living with Jack Frost when he’s in a particularly bad mood.

Soon as NOAA radio (my favorite station) predicts the cold coming its time to prepare. First you have to know how to translate the forecast for here in the Central Tanana Valley. It can be quite ambiguous. Usually they report something like “ Highs 25 to 45 below, light winds, periods of ice fog and flurries. Partly sunny.” That means that it will be about 45 below and in the morning it will be foggy but as the fog lifts it will look kind of like its snowing, but really it’s just what we call “diamond dust” that accumulates to nothing but covers everything in rime ice, which is actually quite beautiful, especially sparkling in the 2 hours of daylight that we will have this time of year. ( Actually, exaggerations aside: sunrise 10:58am, sunset 2:13pm, so about 3 ½ hours of daylight). Unless you are lucky enough to live in the hills, then it will actually be 10 or 15 degrees warmer than everywhere else. When it is cold I purposely go up in the hills to take advantage of this, you can really feel the difference between the temps in the hills and down here in the swamp.

So if you live down in the swamp, you need to start getting ready. Dogs can start losing weight fast so you need to feed them more, especially more fat. I give them lots of fresh straw to insulate their houses and some of the thinner coated dogs I put blankets over their doors so that the house retain even more heat. When it’s cold I soak their food so that it makes a kind of warm mush, it is actually not a good way to feed the dogs all the time, but I figure I like eating things like oatmeal, and soup when it’s cold, they probably enjoy it too. Actually oatmeal and ramen with frozen vegetables are my main staples all of the time, along with gourmet chocolate, coffee, and smoked salmon. I am lucky to work at a restaurant so I take advantage of eating more vegetables at this time. A coleman stove discourages any gourmet cooking, though it can be done.

Make sure there is enough wood cut. However, I actually don’t mind cutting wood when it’s cold. Who said “he who heats with wood is twice warmed?” Out of all of the chores it isn’t too bad in the cold, but the chainsaw needs to come inside to warm up before it will start. I have been cutting the wood bigger because it’s hard to keep the fire going when I go to work at night. It is a small stove so maximum fire burn time is about 6 or 7 hours. I bigger log burns longer. If you have to leave for awhile fill your stove plumb full, and then try to get 2 or 3 more pieces of wood in that fire, I guarantee they will fit. Jim says this is one of my better talents.

Then there are the vehicles. If you are lucky enough to have electricity then you plug in your truck, so that the block heater keeps the engine warm. If you don’t have electricity, like me, you need to wake up every couple hours and start up your truck because if you don’t, it won’t start the following morning. If it comes to that I have some creative ways to warm up vehicles that involve propane weed burners, cookie sheets, blankets, and sofa cushions. When you go to the store or over to your friend’s house leave your car running. When you go to the grocery store 90 percent of the cars are running in the parking lot. Sometimes I think that this is what really causes ice fog. Either that or we are giving global warming a good kick in the ass with our emission boot. Don’t forget to periodically start your 4 wheelers and snowmachines, but most likely the 4 wheeler won’t start until it warms up and you will have to pull start the snowmachine.

Lastly, prepare your story. Bitter cold is like fishing, if it is 40 below at someone else’s house make sure you tell them it is 45 below at yours. And if you have been in Alaska longer than 20 years you haved earned the right to tell everyone that, “You think this is cold, in 19whatever it was 70 below for 3 months” or a similar story. I have observed also that the ones that tell these amazing stories of how cold it always used to be, are usually the biggest naysayers against the existence of global warming, which I find odd.

All of this being said, don’t forget to admire the beauty the cold brings. Hoar frost and whispy winter skies. The stillness of the cold and the way every sound echoes crisp and clear as if they are armored in ice. White tipped whiskers on the dogs faces and on the fur on their backs. The way their breath dances around their muzzles when they howl. The way the smoke from the chimney floats in flat swirls hovering inches above the stovepipe. Northern lights, and shining stars. Ice frosted eyelashes behind wolverine ruffs and beaver trapper hats. And finally how nice and warm it feels to stand close to the stove or get in the hot springs after spending any time outside.

I promise to be more faithful to my blog

Sorry its been a while. Busy busy.....excuses, excuses.

Anyways we've been busy training all of the dogs. We were training them all at the same level for a while, now we have switched them into the "A" and "B" teams. I have been focusing on the pups. We have broke them as follows:

A TEAM
(its a pretty sweet team too!)
Samson
Eclipse
Umbra
Corona
Luke
Kobuk
Space
(yes, Space, can you believe it, he's coming around)
Leo
Gemini
Dark Star
Apollo
Titan
Stellar
Bear

B TEAM
(for a bunch of 14mos. and 8 mos. puppies and crazy hounds they are doing pretty good!)
Zenith
(my main leader now that I had to train one for this team, kicking butt at it too)
Meade
(still a hard charger in lead)
Captain Kirk
(leading quite a bit, just needs to work on his focus, goofy hound that he is) King
(hard job of training all of the above leaders)
Ursa
Scotty
Spock
Mir
Nasa
Satellite
Polaris 2
Pluto
Senor
Solstice
Horse

We have been plugging away at the miles, we are a little behind, coming home a little late and having to take time off to go stake my land down by Lake Louise, but its all coming around nicely even with our lack of snow. Its turning out to be another snow drought winter here in Two Rivers. We are still mostly on four-wheelers. But on a positive note its been downright BALMY this winter. Temps have been between 0 and 35 ABOVE!! Its only been below 0 a couple of times.

Off I go, have to drive the four-wheeler home so I can get ready for work. Been working 6 nights a week at the lodge. But, I will write more this weekend, no really, promise.

Heading North Soon

Hello from the Cosmic Canines! Sorry it’s been a while, we’ve had a great summer and now we are getting ready to head home. This is our last week in the beautiful Sheep Creek Valley. There are only 3 days of tours left, and a few days of tear down. We did twice the amount of tours that we did last year, not bad for our second year! We have to organize and inventory everything. All the fences need to be torn down, stacked and bound, as well as our tents and our little “Gold Rush” town. Winds blow 80 to 90 mph up here and last winter there was 16 feet of snow. All the dogs houses will anchored to the dog posts so that they don’t blow away.

I cannot wait to head back up to interior Alaska. I am ready to just focus on training the dogs for races. I am looking forward to waking up to frosty fall mornings. And I am anxious to get out of the rain! I have to say this summer down here in Southeast has been pretty nice. Of course it is going to rain, we live in a rainforest, but it was nothing like it was last year.

We do have some new additions to the team. Polaris and Pluto have completed their professional puppy duty and have been promoted to the team. Both are doing excellent in harness. Polaris is quite the driver. And of course they are both hams for our guests.

Spock has been reunited with his brother. Spock is my ¼ Saluki hound that I got a year and a half ago. He did so well that when I was offered his two brothers I quickly took them in too. Scotty and Captain Kirk worked with Johnny and Sebastian up on the Herbert Glacier for the summer with Coastal Helicopters. They been part of Tema Cosmic now for a couple weeks, and wow! We can feel the power boost! I hope they work out for the Quest, they are pretty houndy, if not they will be an awesome asset for mid-distance races. Captain Kirk is a leader too. Spock seemed to handle a cold winter in Two Rivers pretty well. All 3 were born and raised in Bettles and it’s certainly not the Banana Belt there!

Satellite also had three boys from Telesto on 7-07-07. So they are lucky puppies. Nova, Pulsar, and Orion look like they are going to be big, feisty boys. They are already free running 2 miles with me on the bike.

Our last addition to the kennel is Samson. I bought him form the Jaynes who worked here this summer. He was in Mike Jayne’s Quest team last year and is a nice leader. I wanted to bring a little more experience into the front end of Team Cosmic, being that Telesto and King are both retiring.

So 38 dogs total will be heading on the ferry back up to Haines and the 13 hour drive to Two Rivers. We bought a new trailer to haul the dogs in but our welder friend didn’t have time to build the frame for the box so our old box has to make one more trip. (Cross your fingers) Then the new one will be started as soon as we get to Fairbanks. It’s a beautiful trip even though it’s hard work traveling with 38 dogs. I love the Yukon, especially Kluane Country. I though I love everyone here at camp I am looking forward to waking up in the morning and enjoying my coffee with just Jim and the dogs.

Waiting impatiently for things to come in from the sea

The Fishing Hole

Well, I still am waiting for the salmon to come in, and for Jim to get back from fishing. I spent my day off fishing, hiking through the wildflowers, and sitting on the beach. No one caught a fish yesterday at the Fish Creek fishing hole, so at least its not just me.

the Trail to the Beach

Lupines

The New Cart

Perserverance Trail Run

We all ran the Perseverance Trail Run yesterday. It was fun but I was a little disappointed in my performance. I had planned to do the 7 mile. You can decide during the run if you wold like to do the 2, 4, or 7 mile. When I got to the 4 mile turn around I noticed that I was in 1st for the women because I saw no women coming back down the hill. So I decided to do the 4 mile, that way I would get more points for the Empire Cup. When I started down the hill I was way ahead of all the women. Then in the last 1/4 mile this girl comes out of no where. We were both sprinting neck and neck, pushing each other. I have mentioned before how I am nervous running down hill and this run is not only downhill, but steep and rocky too. It was fun actually racing someone, but she ended up beating me by 3 seconds. I still won my age group, she was only 24, but I only got 2nd overall women. Oh well. Now I am all pumped up to train harder, so it is probably a good thing.

Fishing and pups

Things are still going great here at camp. Were are fairly busy and the weather has been pretty nice for Southeast. Jim has left for his first fishing trip and will be gone about a week. On my day off we went out and bought me a fishing pole, and Jim showed me a couple of fishing holes, I have been going out after work and trying to catch some King Salmon. They haven't started running quite yet but I have been checking every night . It would be nice to catch so

All of the dogs are really bulking up nicely. Almost every dog has had to move up a size for their harnesses to fit. This job is just so good for the dogs. It really gives them an advantage for when they start fall training.me to bring back to camp and hopefully enough to store for winter too.

APOLLO

I think the "pups" (the 10 mos.) are almost ready to try a stab at lead. So far I think that Meade and Apollo are doing the best. But really all of them are doing well.

MIR

Mir doesn't like running towards the front of the team, so I will wait awhile before trying her. Who would have guessed? When she was younger, she definitely was the one displaying the most leader qualities. Because of the repetition of the tour it is a nice place to start training leaders. They gain confidence running in front of all of the dogs. They have the routine down so they are set up for success.

Sheep Creek Dominates the Race Scene!!!!!!!

Running down a dream

One of the questions I often get asked on my tours is "What do mushers do to get in shape for racing?" Many mushers do not do anything at all. I however, run. My main objective is not to get in shape for my races, though it certainly helps, but rather because I enjoy it. I always have played sports and I think it is very important to stay active. Running is great because it is full of personal goals that you can tackle, though I enjoy being a integral part of a team in group sports. It is nice to participate in something where the outcome is solely dependent on you. It helps give me perspective on the dogs when the are running. Perhaps they think similarly as we do when giving it all and pushing it. I have been running in races for a few years now, every year I improve just a little bit. Last year I took second in the Empire Cup in my age class, a cumulative points competition here in Juneau, where you receive points at every race dependent on how you place. I want to win this year.

Yesterday was my first race, and it was awesome because everyone here at camp participated. It was a 5K (3.2 miles). The first mile was uphill, then we ran down a boardwalk call "the flume" leftover from one of the gold mines. Then by some of the nice house in town. It was a great run. I was in first place for the women for the first half, but then I was passed by a woman when we started running downhill. I have to admit I get a little nervous running downhill, I keep repeating in my head, "If I twist my ankle, I can't run dogs." So I am a little conservative on the down hills. So I took second overall for women, and first in my age class. Actually every single one of us here at camp placed either 1st, 2nd, or 3rd in our age group. Awesome! We were pretty pumped. Now we are all psyched for the next run which is the Perseverance Trail Run. You can run a 2, 4 or 7 mile. It is up and back down a mountain. Last year I did the 4 miler, but this year I am going for the 7. I actually already ran the trail last week. It was nice, but there was some much snow up top I wasn't able to go on the last 1/8 mile. Hopefully it will melt in time for the race.

Check Southeast Road Runners website some time. The link is over on the sidebar.

Leo saves the day

On our tours, we stop halfway to tell our guests about mushing positions and commands. This gives the other team time to catch up to the turn around so that we don't have any head on passes. Yesterday while we were stopped my both of my leaders got loose and ran off ahead down the trail.

I was explaining, ".....the dogs behind the lead dogs are called swing dogs...."

Mid-sentence one of my guests spoke up, "Your swing dogs just got promoted."

I turned around to see Ursa and King running off in the distance.

Nicole, my handler and I went up to rearrange the dogs. I had Leo and Satellite in swing. Leo is one of my main leaders at home, but for some reason during tours he doesn't like to lead. I guess because it not the "real deal." Last year King did the same thing but this year King doesn't mind at all. Go figure dogs. I have plenty of leaders so its not a big deal.

Satellite is one of my 10 month old puppies in training this year. And though I had her up there to get used to being up front it was only her second time in swing. I didn't feel like she was ready for lead.

I looked at Leo, "Okay buddy, you gotta pull through for me."

I moved him up to single lead, and explained to Nicole, "I don't know if this is going to work."

Of course I knew we would make back into the yard, its not like we are doing that last 100 miles of the Quest, but I wasn't sure of the mess that would go down in front of these guest that were there to witness our fine skills in the training and running of dogs. Leo looses his focus here during the tours. He turns around to pick up on the ladies and pick fights with boys.

I walked back to the cart and gave a "disclaimer" for Leo to my guests.

Instantly the cart started cheering, "YEAH LEO!!!!! Way to pull through for us!!!!"

As we headed down the trail everybody keep cheering and yelling for Leo, " GO LEO GO!!!! TWO FOUR SIX EIGHT!!!!!! Who do we appreciate LEO!!"

As we pulled into the yard everybody was watching us because we were making such a ruckus, wondering what was going on. Nicole and I were on the back of the cart laughing hysterically.

As we pulled to a stop everyone ran up and hugged and petted Leo. He looked so proud. I'm not sure if he knew what he did or not. Thanks to my guests for giving so much encouragement. I can't wait to try him in lead to see if my guest helped train him to lead on tours again.

Thanks also to all our guest who have contributed the Cosmic Canines through tips and donations. We already have over $500 saved up in our 2007-2008 race fund. It is much appreciated!!!!

PS: Ursa and King made it home fine without us. I made them lead the next tour, the whole tour this time.

Back in Juneau

Hello everyone sorry it has been so long since an update.

We are happily back in Juneau at our summer camp. It’s nice to be back in our little paradise tucked in the Sheep Creek Valley. Tours are in full swing and we are a lot busier this year than last. Half of our crew returned this year, which is nice. Matt my handler hasn’t arrived yet but we expect him in about a week.

The massive amounts of snow Juneau received last winter (over 200 inches…they hogged all the snow this year, Fairbanks only received 28!) has slowed the greening our canyon, but slowly the Hellebore is growing tall and the wild geraniums and monkey flowers are blooming along the sides of the Sheep Creek Trail. The mountain goats are moving higher up the mountain, though they still can be spotted in the narrows. And our resident black bear, a young lanky thing, perhaps one of the cubs with his mother we spotted last year, has been hanging out on the hill above camp. He is easy to spot silhouetted against the snow chutes that still come down the mountain. They are melting fast though. The waterfall we like to stop and point out to our guest is slowly shedding its white cloak it falls behind. I remember hiking up to where it drops behind the snow last year. I was amazed at how far it went down. I stood where the water flowed out at the bottom of the massive snow cave. A cold wind blows from inside, like it’s kept there saved from the winter winds that are notorious up here. I will have to hike up there soon, but I am going to let it melt just a little more first.

I am also impatiently waiting to hike up to the top of Sheep Mountain, I have been eyeing the line of trail on the ridge, it seems the snow is getting closer to being safe. So my hikes have been limited so far to our valley. Yesterday morning I took the puppies, Pluto and Polaris, down to creek. I lay in the sun amongst the buttercups and starflowers, while they chased each other around, up and down the trail and through the salmonberry and currant bushes. They even went for a swim in the creek.

I ran up the Perseverance Trail last weekend, training for a race next week, there was still enough snow at the top ½ mile that I finally turned around. Part of the trail was even wiped out up there from a slide. So wonder if we are even going to be able to run the 7 mile race. They may have to shorten it.

Our trip down to Juneau was an adventure again, as it always goes when you travel with 33 dogs. Though it was a little more challenging this year because most of my females were in heat, it was a lot easier because I wasn’t traveling alone this year. Jim came down with us so he could start working on the boat. When we first arrived in Juneau we stayed over on Douglas Island to wait for the snow to melt up at Sheep Creek. We set up the Arctic Oven, a winter camping tent, about half way up the Eagle Crest Road. There was a real nice spot across a meadow, where the dogs could have some privacy. One of us Jim would let the dogs out of the truck and I would call them across to the other side of the meadow. It was fun watching them try to pick their way across the swamp, dodging water holes, and sometimes missing. I fell in one myself, I was up to my waist in snow melt!

We are busy saving up for this year’s race season. Both Jim and I will be racing so it should be a great year. Plus I am getting close to buying a large parcel of land 40 miles north of Fairbanks. It is located in a favorite training area in the White Mountains. Miles and miles of BLM maintained trails, with public use cabins scattered every 20 miles or so. It is southern facing hillside with a view of the Alaska Range. It should be perfect. Mushers all over the state go to the White Mountains to train their dogs. We are still working with the realtor at this time but we are getting pretty close to having our Cosmic Canine “Home base.”

Succumbing to peer pressure

Last night I went down to the local hangout, Two Rivers Lodge. The neighborhood was celebrating that the ownership of the lodge has again switched over, for the better this time. So everyone was there, drinking beer and eating good food.

Jack asked me, " So Abbie, whats going on?"

"Oh just running dogs, I've done 100 miles in 24 hours between the 2 teams, not to mention I cut some wood today, cleaned my stove pipe."

" No I mean, what's going on?"

Ilooked at him puzzled. Though I knew in the back of my mind, what he was getting after. Jack used to race and he always is asking me what races I am running, am I training the dogs hard, etc. etc. So I could feel the corner of my mouth turning up into a smile.

Jack slaps me on the back, "I mean, what race are you running, did you sign up for the Basin yet?"

Before I could answer Brent asks, "You're running the Copper Basin 300?"

"Well..." I start to explain.

Jason chimes in, " You signed up?"

I was bombarded from all sides. I felt cornered.

"You see, I don't know if I have the money, I don't know which race I want to do yet. I haven't put any double runs on my dogs yet...."

"Sign up for the damn race Abbie," Jack insists, " You know you want to run the Basin."

Jason says, " Its stupid to train the dogs as hard as you have been and not race."

"I know, but....."

Jack slams his fist on the table, " I'll put in $150 towards the entry fee!"

Susan cries ou, "I'll match that!"

Ralph joins in, "I put in $50!"

Then the whole bar starts chanting, "ABBIE!ABBIE! ABBIE! ABBIE!"

What choice did I have? Plus Jack is right, I do want to run the Basin, it is by far my favorite race. I may be crazy, and I have just signed up not only for the Basin but also for being close to broke for the next month. But hey, you only live once. I was so excited I went home and wrote out my very strict training schedule for the next two weeks. Along with the pages of things I need to purchase or get ready. Hmmm.....maybe this is really doable.

The race is on January 13th. It is known as the toughest 300 miles in Alaska. I have run it twice, once in 1999, and again in 2001. Jason has volunteered to be my handler. And Susan will feed the dogs left behind. When I told my Dad, he said he might fly up for it. That would be cool!

They haven't updated my entry on the website yet, they have 18 mushers signed up so far. You can follow the race at their webite. COPPER BASIN 300

Titan: What a Stud! Not even a year old.

A Christmas Story.......corny but true.....kinda

Last night, Christmas Eve, the dogs and I were out on a training run. They looked good, moving along at a nice pace. We climbed high up into the hills, snow was lightly falling, and it wasn’t too cold (-10 below). It was the second team I had run for the day so we didn’t leave until quite late. I don’t know if it was the beautiful night, or the festive feeling in the air, or both, but everything was running smoothly and the dogs were really eating up the trail. Part of being a good musher is recognizing this and going with it. It works the other way too; if everything isn’t clicking together sometimes it is better to shorten your run. (Not always however, everything isn’t going to go perfectly on a race (unless, of course, you are Jeff King) and you need to learn how to work it out.) But last night was an awesome night so instead of running the 30 mile run we had planned we went 15 miles farther.

If I run over 30 miles (and sometimes on shorter runs too) I usually stop and snack my dogs at some point. It is just a nice attitude enhancer for the dogs. Joe May gave me some good advice once, that he never runs his dogs 60 minutes out of the hour. He always stops, even for just for 5 minutes, and gives the dogs a break. Every other hour he usually snacks too. This is a philosophy I follow, and I think you make up for it double in the speed of your dogs, for the rest time you “wasted.” Not to mention, it’s an excellent excuse to stop and pet the dogs. If I didn’t want to be out there with my dogs, I would go and buy a snowmachine, what would be the point? So I stopped at one of my favorite spots, where during the day there is a nice view, and a small spruce tree that I can securely set my hook on, gave the dogs a little fat snack, and pet them, telling each one how great they are. Leo was rolling around in the soft snow just off the side of the trail (just like his Dad, Chebah, used to do). Spock was inspecting the ground around him, making sure he didn’t miss a crumb. Telesto was busy barking, “What are we stopping for?!? Let’s go!!” Gosh, he still acts like a yearling and he is the oldest dog in the team.

All of a sudden, Leo jumps up, Telesto quiets, and Spock looks up. The whole team is turned looking back down the trial, ears perked.

Now I like to “rock out” on my runs, so I have my MP3 player head phones in, listening to something or another (my mushing soundtrack I will touch upon in another blog) plus I have my thick beaver hat on, the one my handler used to hate me to wear because she would try to talk to me but I can’t hear a thing, so I didn’t hear anything. I have some of the best ears in the animal kingdom to listen for me, and they were all alerting me to something coming up behind us. I pressed pause on my player and lifted one of my ear flaps so I could hear what it was.

I could hear a jingle in the distance. As it grew closer the jingling grew very loud. Dogs are given metal ID tags each time they compete in the Iditarod and the Yukon Quest which hang from their collars. But this jingling was so loud, I thought, “Geez, this team must have run both races for the last 10 years!”

As I attempted to work out which musher would have such an impressive race career, I could see the silhouette of a team against the white snow. I tried to make them out through the falling flakes and dark, “Holy cow! Those dogs are huge!” I said out loud to Telesto. Then I saw shadows of antlers coming out of the dark heads. Was it a herd of moose tagged so many times by biologists that they rang like bells? Then I saw a giant sled driven by a fat musher.

“HO! HO! HO!” He cried. I actually say “Ho!” to make my dogs stop, instead of “whoa!” So I thought the musher was just telling his team of “freak dogs” to stop. He got off his sled and walked up to the front of his team, “Good boys and girls,” he said in a jolly voice. All of my dogs started wagging their tails madly. I could see he was wearing a red parka with a white ruff.

It was Santa!

“Well it’s nice to see another driver out here tonight,” he said as he approached. He smelled of candy canes and ginger spice, “Nice night for a sled ride!”

Santa and I exchanged training tips, and talked about gear like harnesses. He actually uses QCR plastic and aluminum runners on his sleigh; they ride nicer on roof tops. He was also contemplating swimming the reindeer during the summer like some of the top mushers do now. He liked my homemade “Seavey Style” spreader bars that hold the tuglines the dogs pull from straight, so that they pull more efficiently and is thinking about having the elves make him some to try out. He said Donner has been fighting a chronic shoulder injury and he has been massaging it with Algyval. I asked him what kind of headlamp he used and he said he didn’t need one on account of Rudolf. I asked if he had an Iditarod win wrapped up in his sled for Lance Mackey, and told me that no matter how good we mushers are, victories are only given out by good dogs, good luck, and hard work.

“Speaking of work, I must get back to delivering all these presents.” He turned around go back to his sled, but then stopped and turned back around, “ I noticed you didn’t hang up any stockings, and I am afraid to put any gifts under the tree you decorated outside, you know how the ravens get into everything. I was wondering how I was to give you….”

“But Santa,” I looked at my dogs, down the trail, and at the softly falling snow. ” I already have the best gift ever, I’m living my dream.”

“HO! HO! HO!” He smiled at me with a sparkle in his eye. Then, without a word he climbed back onto his sleigh. The snow danced and whirled around us as they flew by into the sky.

I went back to my own sled, but before I could pull the snow hook all of my dogs began to howl.

“OOOoOOoOooooOOooooOOooooo!!!!” I couldn’t help it, I joined them.

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!!! I hope you all got your dreams for Christmas too!

Happy Solstice!

Happy Solstice everyone! It not only is the first day of winter but is a big deal up here because tomorrow we start gaining daylight. Officially the sun rose at 10:58am today and set at 2:37pm. and even when it is up it is just above the horizon glowly weakly. It isn't very motivating, and though life goes on here even though it is in the dark, I think every Alaskan does "hibernate" in a way. I try to remind myself that we are the Cosmic Canines, think of all that time under the stars. And at least we aren't above the Arctic Circle, they haven't seen the sun at all since some time in November, and won't see it again until sometime in January. I went to a bonfire last night to celebrate and will go on a night run tonite (gee what are the chances) with the dogs. I thought I would share a poem I wrote a long time ago about the Winter Hexagon, which is a group of constellations that are very prominent in the Winter Sky. If you would like to check out a star chart mapping the WInter Hexagon. CLICK HERE

WINTER HEXAGON

It twas the 21st of December
I kneeld to poke the burning embers
To strengthen the only lamp
Of this remote forest camp
Where my dogs and I stopped for the night
The fire cast its weary light
Chased by my tired eye
On things around me lie
It was a startling observation
My surroundings resembled the constellations
There across the river's way
Which on top milky ice lay
Awaits my sled, my arctic chariot
Where the star Capella aught fit
Next to which seemingly from the same cone
For so akin they had grown
Stood two spruce trees dignified
Where should the twins Gemini
There's my small lanky husky
Which silent drinks the river's tea
That through rocks and pebbles steeped
Now through a hole in the ice it seeps
The other dog gazes at me with eyes of blue
The larger more serious of the two
In a monent 4 ears perk
For into camp something lurked
I turn my gaze past my snowshoes where
Earlier I had seen a hare
I kept turning full 180 around
Till a bull moose my eyes found
There for a moment silent he stood
And then turned a disappearred into the wood
I thought long to wonder why
This animal had not been shy
I figured he came to represent Aldebaran
Solely to complete my Winter Hexagon
So to complete this stellar riddle
Leaves me like Betelguese in the middle
To this thought the night became colder
Because I don't have Orion's shoulder
On which to rest my tired head
For miles away is the homestead

AIE Camp on the Denver Glacier

  

On the way to Denver Glacier by Helicopter