We always say that 'hauling' is the most prevalent activity at the kennel.
Hauling food, hauling meals, hauling water, hauling waste, hauling gear.
Today we spent hauling straw (used straw). This winter we bought 53 bales of
straw. This is the first winter we've ever counted our bales, but I can tell by the
progress of the hauling, that it was a low straw winter. We're making great progress in getting the pens and houses cleaned out. We use some of it to cover
the winter waste in the pits, some to cover newly planted grass seed and then
we haul the rest to an out of the way spot. For some reason the wildlife love
the straw pit. I'll check back on other years to see some comparisons.
Our 21st year! We have enjoyed sharing the sport of dog sledding with so many people over the years, and thank you! all, so much! We are in a paring down and retirement phase. Our kennel is selling a lot of good, used equipment. If you are looking for something , let us know. Listing coming soon. We are not selling dogs, they are retiring with us.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Monday, April 19, 2010
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Moving to our Summer Blog
With this post, it will be the last one for Winter at Summer Place, 2010.
We are moving to our summer blog and will post the link when it is created.
Early spring weather has us very busy ,a month ahead of usual getting the pens cleaned and the dogs into new summer routines. Today the temperature will be
in the 70's. We did finally get just a bit of rain last night.
We hope to make this a wonderful and comfortable summer for our great dogs.
Monday, April 12, 2010
Skinny, Fina and Shanna on Sled Dog Central
Check out the main page of Sled Dog Central to see Skinny pulling Shanna and Fina on Fina's first sled ride recently.
http://sleddogcentral.com
http://sleddogcentral.com
Spring Update
Having put out 53 bales of straw this winter (down from last winter?), it's time now to clean it up. We are considering leaving a layer over the sandy pen floors this year, rather than scraping it all out. A very dry spring with breezy days is making it dustier than usual. Dogs are digging craters early this year... very good digging. We're considering hauling in more sand, but not yet... maybe if the pens harden up. Digging dens comes naturally to these huskies. They're also
back into the food hoarding mode of spring... dig and bury, dig and eat. I'm come to accept this behavior which seems to modify if I just feed dry kibble. We've started mixing in lower fat kibble, as well.
The houses still have straw bases, since we can still have cold and snowy nights.
Ticks are out and it's time to treat them preventively.
The feral farm cat visits regularly, teasing them wantonly. It makes for some fence ripping. The rabbits are running wild. We have a photo of a fat coyote on the field camera. Not much in the way of bear signs, a dropping or two, possibly. Turkeys are waddling around. And a lone male pheasant ! has been dropping by on a back trail.
Friday, April 2, 2010
When will it rain? dusty running.
The trails are completely ice free and the temps have hovered in the 70's the past few days. We need rain/moisture very badly and just a few minutes ago it started to sprinkle... bring it on!!
Zeus and Eos took a quick spin this a.m., loving every minute of it. The dogs are still in 'dig' mode.... many craters evolving in the warm temps. I'm starting to
tarp the pens for shade... the sun has been HOT!
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