Fall, or early winter in Two Rivers is golden. I have left behind the deep greens, deeper grays of Juneau where everything is muted by rain. Soon our “Pleasant Valley” will be whitened with hoar frost and a few hours of a weak and milky sun. But now, everything glows. The sun is still bright enough to reflect off the crust of snow. The sedges and hay still sway gold and if you get out early enough they are still coated in frozen dew. Even though the leaves of the fireweed are bent and brittle they still have a brown “sun-baked” look to them. If I were to pick a soundtrack to the landscape the dogs steadily pull me and the 4-wheeler through it would be epic, operatic, or symphonic. But really I am listening to reggae, RHCP, and 311(oo0o amber is the color of your energy…) which is fine. It is a nice happy rhythm to cruise to, we aren’t building on speed right now just strength and endurance. I am running 2 ten dog teams, and 1 nine(old guys and pups) everyday so that leaves for plenty of socialization with all the mushers of Two Rivers, “Hi Judy, hi Rick, hi Allen, Aily, Jason, Susan, Judy‘s handler.” Some people don’t have names because I don’t know who they are. “I saw Carhartt Guy today.” We aren’t all spread out yet with big miles so we have lots of encounters.
The sun is also one of the best improvements of the new dog yard. Our old yard was kind of in a hole. Surrounded by tall black spruce, it didn’t let much light in. It made for a dark cold dog yard. For property value purposes our stubby black spruce that surround the new yard are less than desirable, but for us it’s a vast improvement. Its also a great spot for stargazing. Last night I saw the whole winter hexagon. A group of 6 constellations, each with a bright star making up the points of the hexagon. Taurus, Orion, Canis Major and Minor, Gemini, and Auriga. The waning gibbous moon was right dab in the middle of it when we got home last night from seeing my friend Brady’s band, Sweatin’ Honey. They rocked the Howling Dog. Good thing because there is no heat in the Howling Dog, so they had to churn up some dancers to make it warm in the joint. It was nice to get out and see live music, it will probably be the last time in a while. It will be a busy winter, so Jim and thought we might as well get out while we still can. Well it time to feed dogs and get on with the chores, so I can get to work on time. Even though it is totally irrelevant I will end with a line from Sweatin’ Honey just because I liked it,
“LIVIN’ WITHOUT LOVE IS LIKE BREATHIN’ WITHOUT AIR!”

Cosmic Canines are Quest bound!!!!

I don’t know how one could feel nervous and excited as well as somewhere deep down, calm and relieved all at the same time. But that would be how I would describe how I feel after turning in my completed Yukon Quest Race Application. After 9 years I am finally going to tackle the adventure again, its been too long. Somehow that makes me feel a kind of peace. A generous sponsor from my employers, Alaska Icefield Expedetions, unhooked the snap at the end of the chain I’ve been yanking on for years and after running full speed for a while down the trail, experience tells me I better slow down, it’s a LONG TRAIL AHEAD. But still…
THE COSMIC CANINES ARE QUEST BOUND!
Time to EAT SLEEP DRINK BREATHE DOGS. Sounds like heaven!
We had a quick trip, though greatly delayed trip from Juneau. The other exciting event this winter is living in our new house. We got the dog yard put in, that was a project. Pounded all 30 posts in by hand, by myself. Moved 3 trailer loads of dog houses. The dogs were staged at Kris’s place 5 miles away, I was going to do whatever it took to get the dogs home ASAP. Soon we will have a well house, imagine running water! Busted out our out trail. What a magic carpet ride compared to where we had to run last winter. No more traveling down icy roads, dodging cars. No more 90 degrees turns 100 feet into our runs. Just a nice gradually turning private trail off the property, then down a powerline right onto Baseline, the main vein that connects many of the trails here in Two Rivers.
The dogs look good, strong, mature. Snow is on the ground. The freezer is full of moose (thanks to Jim’s 69 inch moose), rock fish, and smoked salmon. Spent the last couple of days at the Mushing Symposium, catching up with every musher on earth, getting inspired, researching. Booties are on the way, ointments ordered. Stockpile, stockpile; Batteries, handwarmers, snaps, runner plastic.
I also signed up for our first race, the Gin Gin 200 on December 27th. Unique in that it is an all women’s race. Just about every woman musher I talked to is running the race too. So its sounds like it will be a nice turnout.

Back to the blog

Sorry its been so long. I really have no excuse. Its been a long and wet summer but all is well. I am super anxious to get back into the interior, back to the Alaska I know and love, mostly just back out of the rain! Actually, we have had a handful of wonderfully beautiful days. We've taken advantage of them by fishing and mountain biking. A taste here and there of Southeast Summer, a moment or two to see the tops of the mountains that surround us. The interior fall is calling me though. Our summer salmon is smoked, Jim is leaving to go moose hunting next weekend, and the dogs are riled up with the cooler temps, the daily tour routine isn't quite enough right now to expend all of their energy.

I just want to get on with our exciting winter season. I've ordered booties and new harnesses. I want to sign up for all of the races we have planned right now! But I am trying to be somewhat practical. Experience has told me you just may never know what might happen. Either that or I am listening a little too much to those that say "You Can't" Well while they are wasting their breath I am setting up Team Cosmic so that everything is a little easier for us come race season. Its all I can do to ease my itching to get on a 4 wheeler and start our actual training miles. Just 20 more days! Well off I go to enjoy one of the few dry days here in Juneau. A little moutain biking, a round at the archery course, and a little fishing. Triathalon Alaska Style!

Spring time in Alaska

Can you believe it is the Middle of April ?!? Even for Alaska this is impressive. We have received over a foot of snow this month alone! I have been taking advantage of the SUN and the SNOW and the WARM TEMPS. It is like mushing in paradise. I have been giving the race dogs a little rest before their busy tour season and been focusing on the PUPS and the OLD BOYS. It’s been a blast. Telesto(12), Comet (12) and King(10) feel like the studs of the yard again. And Polaris(13 mos.) and Pluto(13mos.) are gaining confidence. They trained with the race team all fall, but were dropped after the miles became to long and fast. Nova (9mos.) and Pulsar(9mos.) are learning the joy of mushing. And building a solid foundation so that they can do some tours this summer. They were part of the “lucky puppies” the pups born 7/7/07, that many of you held this past summer.

Ahhh they grow so fast. No puppies this year has left me jonesing for my puppy fix. Guess I can wait a couple weeks until I get to camp.

Speaking of which, I am wondering if we will still be going down on the 3^rd of May. An avalanche knocked out the hydropower plant in Juneau, they don’t expect it to be running again for a month. This poses two problems: Juneau is running on the diesel powered plant until then, that means electric costs 500% more and if there is an avalanche at Shettisham, that isn’t very far from Sheep Creek, we can’t move up there until Avalanche danger is gone. We’ll have to see.

Jim is off bear hunting in Galena. He snowmachined from Manley (300 miles + ) and I haven't heard from him yet. Hopefully he'll get us a nice bear rug for our new house that god willing we close on THIS WEEK! I am holding down the home fort, Rationing the firewood so don't have to cut it again, but winter won't go away so I'd better warm up the saw.

MY season begins

Well now that the dogs’ season is coming to an end, my season has begun. I ran my first 5K of the year. The Beat Beethoven. It is a fun race, it is a fundraiser for the Fairbanks Symphony Orchestra, they play Beethoven’s 5^th Symphony and you are to finish the race before it ends (it takes 31 minutes so it’s pretty easy). There is also a guy who dresses up as Beethoven and runs the race, he times it so that he finishes at the exact moment that the music ends. I smoked him! Not my best time, but pretty happy for the first race of the year. Placed 7^th out of 60 something in my age class. The first mile is uphill (but nothing like some of the Juneau races) and it was about 18 degrees so it was a little frigid on the lungs. Over 578 people were in the race. I finished around 60^th overall. Have 2 5K’s this weekend. Hopefully the Sheep Creek crew is in training already too, so we can rock the SERR race circuit again this summer. We should do well with our 2 new mushers, Lucas has run ultra marathons, and Ed has run a few marathons himself, then of course we have both Matts, Tasha, and Sarah returning

Our Last Hurrah!

Our last hurrah. Last week I was supposed to run the Taiga 300 but I had to spend the race budget on purchasing our new house, so to make myself feel better Jim and I loaded up 20 dogs and Cosmos into the truck and headed for the White Mountains.

We took 2 ten dog teams 30 miles out to Crowberry Cabin, a BLM cabin and set up a base camp. Everything had been melting fast so we thought this may be our last trip. It was snowing heavily when we left the parking lot, it was like running in a slow globe. That made the trails nice, but was kind of disappointing because without the vistas the whites are kind of blah. A forest fire 2 years ago wiped out much of the trees, and even the old Crowberry Cabin. But it was nice to be out with Jim and the dogs. Actually the burnt black spruce have a sort of charm to them.

We ate HUGE King Crab legs, Spring Asparagus and shared a bottle of Pinot Noir and watched the crescent moon rise behind the White Mountains as it chased the snow clouds away. The dogs were a little rowdy that night, 30 miles isn’t much even for the yearlings. Plus for some of the dogs, this was their first camping trip.

The next morning we woke to beautifully sunny skies and a wonderful view into the mountains we would be climbing. We headed out to the Windy Gap Divide. It was a wonderful trip, we made fresh tracks on the untouched trails, so it gave us the feeling of being “way out there” instead of just 4o miles outside of Fairbanks. It was hot so we stopped often, which provides for tons of doggy/musher bonding. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Back at “base camp” the sun was still out (thank god for Alaska’s Midnight Sun, or 10:30pm sun in April) and the dogs laid and basked in the sun. They were much relaxed after a big work out and the warm temps. Jim and I feasted on Burgandy-Pepper Steaks, and Asparagus, and shared a bottle of Merlot and watched the neon peach sunset dance with the wispy blue sky.

The next day the skies were clear again. We slept in and left at noon to head back to the truck. It was slow going, but we arrived tanned faced and happy. A perfect end-of -the-season trip.

Me and Meade

Solstice 100

The Cosmic Canines participated in their first race Saturday. We entered the Solstice 100. There were 12 teams and we finished 5^th. So I was pretty happy with the crew. The trail was a little slow because we just got 8 inches of snow and it was warm, so it was a little bit of a slog on the way out, which truthfully the dogs need. We’ve been training on a “bullet proof ice skating rink” for most of the season, so it was nice to give them a taste of some different conditions. But for us mushers, it doesn’t get much nicer, warm (25 degrees) and absolutely gorgeous. Sunny skies and warm weather don’t normally go together in Fairbanks in the winter. So it really was a blessing of a day.

My dog box isn’t built yet so I had to run the dogs to the start. It’s only 2 miles to Pleasant Valley Store, the starting line. I felt kind of “bad ass” pulling up to the parking lot like that. “Yeah, the Cosmic Canines don’t need no truck.” The start went relatively smooth and we started passing teams within 7 miles of the start. I was a little worried about passing our home trail, 4 times, but the dogs passed without hesitation. It was a wonderful, but slow trip out, but definitely fun.

Dark Star was running a little funny, though I couldn’t find any injuries, but she is young so I decided to drop her at Angel Creek. I must not have given Kobuk enough time to recover from his wrist injury because it was sore when I checked it, he’s a big dog, and didn’t want to carry him if it got real bad so I dropped him too.

I had a burger and a couple of beers while I enjoyed the company of my fellow mushers. There was a mandatory 4 hour layover, so I relaxed while the dogs rested. It was dark when it was time to go. I bootied up the dogs. I just wanted to hold my 5^th place position. Jody Bailey left 17 minutes in front of me, and Molly Yazawinski about 11. Carol Blevins was due to leave 9 minutes behind me. So I was worried more with Carol catching up from behind. The cooler temps firmed up the trail so it was a lot faster. The dogs were going at a good clip; I held them back a little to pace them for the whole run back. About 5 miles down the trail I saw a headlamp….ahead of me! I turned mine off, so I could “stealth” the musher that wasn’t aware of me catching up yet. We caught them quickly and passed. I turned my head lamp back on. It was Molly. Now I wasn’t planning to move up any positions, but just that little taste of competition drove me. Hey maybe I could catch Jodi too. We pulled away quickly; I began to call the dogs up. We went around a bend where I knew I was out of sight and I turned my headlamp back off. That way it would be harder for her or her dogs to see me and “give chase”. The moon was almost full and really I didn’t need the headlamp. I kept on the dogs to keep a good pace. Samson and Leo were responding well in lead. I could tell they were having a blast. About 15 miles later on a long straight stretch I could see a headlamp behind in the distance. “Oh crap, I don’t know if that’s Molly, or Carol, but I was getting used to the idea of placing 4^th.” I started pushing and running, calling the dogs faster. I knew in the open swamps it would be easier to see our silhouette against the glow of the moon reflecting off the snow, so I would really push them so we could hide in the trees again, then I would let them catch their breath again. We held the team off for about 10 miles. I had put my parka on because it was about 0 when I left Angel Creek. But I hadn’t planned to be getting so much of a workout. I was sweating. I didn’t even have time to pull my parka off. Then I remembered the strip of reflective fabric that I had sewn around the skirt of my parka for safety. I sure that it stood out in the light of a headlamp, even from a distance. So I pulled up my skirt in the back so it would cover it.

I knew the road crossing was coming. We train on this trail regularly, so my dogs don’t really need help crossing the road. On the way out the dogs kind of freaked seeing all of the people at the crossing. So I left my headlamp off hoping that the volunteers wouldn’t see me coming and I could skate past the crossing. But a truck was heading down the road, so I had to stop and the volunteers saw us so they came running out and the dogs balked. The got tangled and wouldn’t move off the road. Finally we got across and I had a hard time getting them untangled. Here came the team from behind. Shoot! All of that hard work ruined for something as stupid as a road crossing. They caught us quickly and I had to give them trail because we were still 5 miles from the finish. We tailed them but didn’t have quite enough to pass. Oh well, I was happy with 5^th when I left Angel Creek, I should be happy with it at the end.

So we finished 5^th, just seconds behind Molly. Not bad for a bunch of young dogs. It was pretty cool after pulling over the finish line to just mush the dogs on home, ”Race done, we’re not, later!”

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!!!!!!!