Hook ‘Em Up

18 September 2014 3.00 PM 53 F Raining (again)

Hard to believe that more than a month has gone by since my last post.

Some of what was targeted has been achieved. We did indeed snaffle some of the potato harvest,  the new part of the dog yard has been successfully fenced and is getting the final security precautions put on place – to prevent unwanted exits more than undesirable entrances.  Although after a bear took a wander through our property last week, I was very happy all our dogs were on the other side of the fence and very pleased that Mr Bear had read our new gate sign and respected our wishes.

The website update took rather a lot longer than anticipated. But, it is more or less done, and will (hopefully) be kept a little more current than it previously was. At least now, all our dogs are featured and you can see them in all their wonderful loveliness.

The mechanical gremlins are well on their way to being banished. The Rhino finally got to the Yamaha dealer, thanks to Big Lake House of Yamaha for coming to pick it up and the trailer is still in pieces but repairs are in hand (according to my man, Lev).

With the arrival of September, thoughts turn to the coming winter and the goals for us and our dogs. I’ve tried a couple of methods of attacking the winter plans – and no one approach has had a greater or lesser influence on the outcome. So, with that in mind, I decided I wanted to have clear targets this year.  Of course, these are all flexible and we’ll adapt and deal with whatever happens, but the rough plan is :

1.  Do some camping/checkpoint training with the dogs.
2.  Enter the Willow Relay Sled Race (with TJ of Cold Canyon Sled Dogs as the other team) run in late Dec
3. Enter the Knik 100  – run in early Jan
4. Enter the Earl Norris Memorial Race – run in late Jan
5. Enter the Two Rivers 200 – run in mid March
6. Have fun.

It has to be said, we’re already off to a flying start. Our first training run this year was done on 1st September. A couple of cool days saw us get organised and actually get a team out a full 3 weeks earlier than we managed last year, and 4 weeks earlier than the year before that. With Queen’s 6 pups (although at 18 months old, they’re hardly pups) to incorporate, plus the newest adult dogs from Seppala Kennels that arrived in June, we’re taking it nice and slow to give those guys a positive experience and to ensure that it’s fun and safe for us all. So far, it’s been a bitty schedule and we haven’t quite got into a regular routine. However, the dogs have all done well, we’ve even managed our first couple of head on passes without incident, and I was very pleased at how focused the young dogs were.

young Tanera after her first run.

Now, we’d like some cooler temperatures and a lot less rain.