January 2010 Archives

Got lots done this weekend. On Saturday a number of friends showed up at Happy Trails to help us pack dry food and snacks for Iditarod. We got all the dry food packed and much of the fish and lamb snacks too. Also got a few booties powdered packed and ready. Martin spent the day at the meat saw, Kathy making sure we were all well fed and Tony, Delores, Magnus, Craig.Matt, Rich and I spent the day packing. Thanks so much to you all!! So much done in so little time with all that help.

Craig and Rich filled bags while Tony operated the vacuum sealer. Matt was a mad man packing fish and lamb. Magnus ran the show and trucked stuff to and from the connex. Delores helped Kathy fold t-shirts for the gift shop for open house, then helped Magnus and me powder and pack booties.

Kathy, as per tradition now, fed us all a delicious lunch of moose stew.

Today I spent packing some of my food drop stuff and getting ready for my run in the Don Bowers next weekend.

Did take an hour to take all the pet dogs for a hike. haven't hardly seen them the past few weeks with long dog runs. Besides, I wanted to check out the mess on the power line - aka my trail access. Great time with the pups and nice to get outside for a bit. Thanks so much to Magnus and Martin for taking care of my crew over at Happy Trails so I could spend the day working here.

Some work to do to get through this, but once we get a little snow....will be a beautiful trail. Most importantly, this will clear out most of the moose who have been parking on the trail the past few years. Should make things much safer.

Even fat Gabby joined us for the walk!

Tomorrow I'm getting my new sled bag; just in time to try it out on a couple runs before the Don Bowers. We're going to run the Don Bowers 200 this coming weekend, then the dogs will have 4 or 5 days off the next week while I concentrate on getting the rest of my food drop together. Then, the final training push to Iditarod. So glad we're getting more daylight. Makes things much easier to deal with, at least mentally!

I know....I've not done a very good job of blogging lately. Have to say, it's getting tough and I'm tired! Anyway, managed some good pics on our run today so thought, since it's Friday night, I'd blog.

Training has been going very well. Dogs are doing great; a few minor injuries that should heal before Iditarod, a few that won't heal in time to resume training. Radon has been having some back end issues that I just can't pinpoint. Xenon decided to play with the sharp edge of a can she ripped off her house. she's got stitches in her feet and won't heal in time to resume training this year. Both of those are big loses to our Iditarod this year, but bright futures.

Another snafu....our local power company decided now is a good time to hydro ax the power line and they are making a huge mess of it. My access to the trails is via 6 miles of this power line, so essentially we were cut off from the trails. So, we packed up all the dogs and gear and headed to Happy Trails. Have to say, I didn't really ask, just kind of imposed when I called Sean, Martin's handler and said....can you make room for my team? We're on our way. Martin and all the boys have been very receptive and a huge help. Now I head to Happy Trails after school to run. Takes a bit more time out of my day, but really enjoy being with the rest of the crew over there and having their support and encouragement.

We're doing 50 mile runs and the dogs are looking superb!! Here's some pics from our run today. Was cold, but absolutely gorgeous at every turn.

Enjoy!!!

That's Foraker, Hunter and Denali!!!

Sunset looking over my shoulder on Red Shirt Lake.

Sunset heading across Red Shirt Lake

Ran the Knik 200 this weekend. Had a good time and the dogs did great. Was a 12 dog limit so 4 dogs had to stay home. Rachel because she is in heat, Radon because he had a bit of a sore hind leg after a run the other day, Premier because he's older and so dang skinny and not a good eater and Drop Zone, the rescue dog.

Planned this to be more of a camping trip than a race with four 45 mile runs broken up with 4 hour camping trips on the river on the way up and back and the 6 hour mandatory layover in Skwentna.

Left Nikolai in Skwentna. He worked pretty hard on the way up and was having a bit of trouble keeping up the pace of the rest of the group. Didn't want to slow the rest of the team down, so he got to fly home from Skwnentna. The only other issue was Hasty with a sore wrist when we stopped to camp on the way home so she hitched a ride in the sled the last 45 miles. Was totally impressed with how well the rest of the team did with those big hills on the way home with her in the bag.

All in all....great trip, learned alot and will work on some things before Iditarod.

Big Su on Saturday!! Yep....a view to die for.

That light in the back ground is the light from Luce's Lodge on the Yentna River.