Sunday, October 30, 2011

Three Teams Today







Give something to a busy kennel to do and it will get done. We ran three teams today, pretty smooth, and easy runs.... Dogs run were : Leader, Buffy, Ruthie, Eos; team and wheel, Kiddo,

Herman, Matilda, Rosie, Sherpa. Buffy is still trail leading, trying to go out the familiar gate and we've taken to going a different route, new trail, to get her to change that habit. Tanner Johnson was today's handler and sometimes driver, and he does a great job. Plus he cleaned the pens AND covered the pontoon, multitalented :)

Saturday, October 29, 2011

Friday, October 28, 2011

Just for fun : Nome webcam

This is the link to the Nome webcam...http://www.visitnomealaska.com/nome-web-cam.html

Always interesting to see either the Bering Sea or the main street, the hours of daylight and the temps... sometimes quite comparable (temps) to Wisconsin.

Thursday, October 27, 2011

A look back

Jenny with Scuba's pups, training for her first race. Scuba, T. Bear, Stardust and Geronimo.




This race started at minus forty degrees. We stood with our teams by the bank thermometer until it reached minus twenty before the race could start. That was a WI Trailblazers race in Land O'Lakes, WI. In 1994 we received Scuba and shortly thereafter her pups were born. We didn't know we would get into racing at that time, but Scuba patiently taught us as we stumbled along as novices.


She patiently pulled our large sled by herself as we took our first runs on Millie Hill. On our first run with her, we hit a boulder , dumping me. She was laughing, I'm certain, as she hightailed it back to the truck. There the well experienced dog just sat down and waited for me to hike back.Never was I more grateful to see a dog as she had miles she could have run in that vast land , but she had headed back to the truck.

Jenny Van Marter, skilled young horsewoman, was the first trainee at SPK . She arrived every day before going to her job , hooked up a four dog team, ran out toward Florence and returned. She was steadfast in her training as well which led to her first race being her first victory on sleds. Jenny now raises her children and horses, but she's welcome to come and run sleds again, any time.


The link to our first story on kennel history is the following: http://www.seniorcorrespondent.com/












Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Finally, weather to run

On Thursday we will run a nice team, eight or ten. Today was our veterinary visit with rabies vaccines and checks of a few dogs. All went smoothly. All running dogs have OK to run. Stay tuned for run photos.

Article published, thank you, Mallory!

Senior Correspondent has published an article about our life with retired racing sled dogs.
www.seniorcorrespondent.com
Our thanks to Mallory at Signal Hill for her shepherding of us through this process.
We hope the article might get others interested in giving lifetime homes to retirees... retirees with retirees .

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Sand at Summer Place, Filling the Digs











All summer we let the dogs dig dens . They use them to avoid the heat, the flies and to play hide and seek with each other. Ruthie's was probably the winning den for this summer, no surprise.


Yesterday we had 15 yards of great sand delivered and placed for hauling today. At 8AM three strong young men arrived to spend the day hauling it by shovel and wheel barrow into the numerous pens. It also involved replacing houses. Great day, great team work.


Bottom to top, photos:


The day for shoveling started early.


One "Before" pile of sand with Jimmy, Tanner and Anthony.


Ruthie's den. (She isn't happy about it being filled today).


Midday on the "Before" pile. At end of day it was flat.


Jim ( 81), Jimmy (his grandson), Tanner and Anthony decide which houses need to be replaced.



Thursday, October 20, 2011

Fred Baker

Fred Baker was a kind and generous man. His life ended all too soon on the 17th, leaving behind
his dear son, Tim, Shanna and precious granddaughter, Josefina, his dear love, Beanie and his special dog, Button and an extended family. We were very lucky to know him. He loved riding the kennel trails. He loved his dog. Godspeed, Fred.

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Eight dog team

This snow is last year's, but we expect some light stuff tomorrow. Eos and Zeus lead in this photo.


Our first eight dog team run with the quad will be:

Buffy, Ruthie, LEAD
Zeus, Eos SWING

Rosie, Matilda TEAM

Kiddo, Herman WHEEL

If we switch to a ten dog, we will fit in Yuki and Sherpa or Zoom.


















Essentials: Straw and Sand

All in the name of winter readiness, we are beginning our annual straw bale count and filling the summer dens the dogs have dug. Today our helper, Jimmy, was greeted happily by each dog as he gave them freshly fluffed straw in each of their houses.

Zeus visited the doctor yesterday and received a clean bill of health, ready to run go ahead.
He couldn't be more ready, mentally after having been sidelined by his rock eating episode/surgery.

The dump truck will dish out sand tomorrow and Jimmy, Tanner and Anthony will diligently
haul it to fill the holes. They have some pretty incredible digs this year, their hideouts from the hot dry summer. Ruthie, the engineer of the bunch, continues to dig her den, just as the bears and wolves in the woods, preferring it to a house right now.

STRAW BALE COUNT: 9

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Trekking into fall



The leaves are falling now, recent high winds and rains helped them to take an early departure.

We are working on fall chores, waiting for sand and workers to fill holes in pens, fixing dog houses, fixing humans :), etc.


This past week has been in the 70's, 80 for five days straight, too warm for these eager huskies to run.


The sow with cubs has not been seen for awhile and we expect she's dug her den, although she would have been out in this heat.

Monday, October 3, 2011

Fall in the Air



The deer are eating the cherries dropping, the bucks are congregating, the dogs are revving up.

Fall is in the air and we are about to start running teams. Zeus has recovered from his rock eating surgery and is ready to relinquish his house dog role.

We have a nice group of run ready dogs.