Liller, back to running free

Liller is the mother of our A pups and B pups. (Skinny is the father). Liller recently had surgery to remove some tumors and has been recovering. Today she was out and about again, running free. She's a star as a leader as well as a mother. She has not only given birth to the pups, but has been their main trainer as well. If there is such a thing as a 'push button' sled dog leader, Liller fits that description . She is extremely responsive and has a very strong work ethic. She is at her happiest in bitter cold and she does not like heat. Look at her dense coat.

She is a bit shy and does take a dislike to some people, but for the most part she is an A++ leader. Two of her pups are good leaders, as well... Ruthie and Buffy. We are hoping that Matilda will also be a leader this year.

I had Liller on a trail today that is no longer well marked... she bounded ahead of me and found it and had me laughing at how accurate she is. In many of the photos of teams running in this 'blog', she is leading.
She will be eleven years old in October and ran the Iditarod in 2001.

Winter Prep

Still too warm to run! Well, there have been a few instances of cool air, but still, the humidity was up there. We don't want to start them with hope until we can keep it up.

The list of winter prep is long. We're building dog houses, repairing some, adding doors to all.
I've picked up 8 bales of straw and have added it to the houses of older dogs or retirees with special needs. The photo shows Martin's new house in the background. He and Ruby live together and while the older houses fit her, they're a bit too small for him (although snug and warm). The back pen (concrete base) needs new roofs and we're trying a different type of plywood. Innovation is the name of the game around here. Banjo's pen has a septic tank (new)
cover for a roof.

The hornets abound as the chokecherries have now mostly fallen off the trees. Walking under the trees is a bit like a minefield as the hornets feed. The deer come right up to the house to eat the cherries .

Today it will be 68 degrees and then we're due for a period of showers.

The winds were very strong yesterday and tore some of the tarps down (shade covers), so that's now on the list ... take down all tarps and stow for next year. The dogs and I walk a lot on the trails and yesterday the trails were littered with branches from the winds.

Itching to run

Boss Cat is in harness... can the dogs be far behind? It was a drizzly day today and an 'almost' for a first Fall training run.

The birds are flocking, the grouse are springing from the trees as we free run... it must be time to run. Maybe tomorrow? But, the forecast calls for the 70's so I'm trying to hold back, lest they get too excited too soon. Bah humbug.

And today I took photos of animal scat... it must be time to do something better than that!

The apples are mostly down from the trees but the cherry trees are drawing in every type of critter. I've been meaning to go out with my headlamp and look around in the dark to see how many eyes I can see.

Well, I did that, too, and just low to the ground eyes looked back at me. Not wanting to meet a skunk , I thought better of it and came back in.

Cool Diggety Dog

Ready to run! Every night at sundown, as it cools, the dogs are starting to dig at the fences, ready to run!

Last night I went over to see what their chorus of howls was about. The A pup pen (Liller's family) rushed the fence toward me, distracting me, it seemed and I could see a few holes, but not near the fence line. I went back inside. Again the chorus began. Again I went out , but silently. They were at a far fence line, just about out of the pen. Ruthie, the engineer in the group, was directing the excavation, while Josie and Matilda dug like backhoes.

Just a reminder that they are truly always smarter and tougher than we even know. They are ready for fall training. I am just about ready too but it's still a bit warm in daylight hours and I have a foot injury that is slowing me down. Soon , though, we'll get some training running in. The weekend looks a bit warm.

Photo of retirees , Liller and Lillen, excitedly in lead, (Why are we stopping?)on a Spring run.