Full Harvest Moon

Every October I say I've never seen a bigger, more beautiful moon, and I'm saying the same again this year. It brought temps in the 70's with it, but cooler days are in the forecast. Finally we'll be running! As warm as it was, I almost decided to run a few today, but instead we went on free runs (males on leashes... don't know why it's the males who need the leashes but the females are usually good... however, Sulatna did run off down by the highway to where she once had a dead deer stash, which I had cleaned up (road kill)... she revisits when I have four or five dogs free running and she can run off more easily.)

There were bird hunters about and a few of my Posted signs had been torn down, so I put them back up. A nearly perfect day. A day for caramel apples and pumpkin pie.

Needs a large harness

Couldn't resist posting this photo that was sent to me by a friend. Apparently this was taken near Crystal Falls (ten miles from here) just recently.

It's been a year since I saw the large cat running near my driveway and the dogs were all pointing at it with their noses.

I hope it 's the same one and it has headed North, far far away. These are very beautiful animals but my preference would be to see them far far from here.

Colors and coyote

The colors have reached their peak and are spectacular. The reds are very deep and the yellows striking. This is a tree on Blue Jay Lane, the very! rural road into our river camp.

Can't remember if I posted this photo of the coyote walking up to the cabin. Many have seen a timber wolf around here , but I haven't this year. This 'guy' though, is very confident and roams around. On the day I took this photo I saw him walking up to the cabin, Skinny was tied right outside. I took the photo from the deck and then told him to 'shoo!'. He was unimpressed, but did wander back down onto the other trail and amble along.

On our daily walks we find many piles of berry filled scat, large and small. It's the chokecherries that they're devouring now and soon those will be gone, too. Unfortunately the dogs sometimes roll in the 'good' scents .

This is the first summer in 'forever' that I have not personally seen a bear. Last summer I saw ten (from a vehicle).

Road hunters are out at night, looking for partridge on our road. My land is posted but it doesn't keep them out so we keep watch around dusk as the dogs get very upset with nearby gun shots.
(as do I, so close to the dog pens).

Checking on our river camp

Yesterday I took a trip to the river cabin, our favorite distant destination for dog teams.

The river water was low, even following some good rain. It's been a very dry summer.

Chomping at the bit to get a team out there with the ATV, as we did last year at this time.
We always hope to use the cabin more, but if we're training for sprint, our distances are shorter.
We use that destination for training for the 30 mile race we typically run.

It is a neat little place to go, very peaceful. Enroute we do have to meander through a small village called Pentoga, but it is a fairly short trek through the village. The route is an old railroad grade.

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.

Denali Web Cam

Getting a bit homesick for Alaska here, so here is a link to the webcam at the Visitor Center with a view of Denali...http://www.nationalparksgallery.com/item/7323

This weekend is the memorial service for Susan in Fairbanks. If I didn't have a foot in need of surgery, I would be attending. We (dogs and I ) will be paying our respects on a walk-about together.

Time out for my Grandson, Taras!

We're having a wonderful visit with my son and his wife and almost two year old son. Taras loves "puppies" and this is a photo of him watching mine from afar, with a safe one to hug.

There is flooding in the Alaska MatSu valley, from heavy rains, closing the highway between Anchorage and Denali Park. http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/matsu/story/8096644p-7989104c.html

More brown bears near Anchorage

This is a link to another story on grizzlies coming into neighborhoods. Apparently stricter hunting rules and other factors are allowing them to come in closer.

http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/wildlife/bears/story/8090057p-7981767c.html

Happy 10th Birthday, dear Skinny!

Today Skinny is 10 years old! We were so lucky to bring him back with us from Aliy Zirkle's kennel in 2001. That is also the year Liller joined us from Susan Butcher's kennel.

One of these photos if of Skinny in lead with Sulatna and Liller making the three dog team, just running for fun, shortly after both had arrived.

The other photo doesn't show Skinny but he was leading with Glory for my team in the Nicolet Sprint. Sulatna and Balto were in wheel. Skinny was primed and flying... we came to hard gee curve with a fence to show the way. The man at the fence looked at me very skeptically as if he were sure! I would not stay on the sled. We let out a great 'yahoo!' when I was still on.

Skinny has run lead for us for two Jackpine 30's and he's also the father of our great A and B puppies.

Thank you, Skinny!

Posting format

I'm trying to recover the original posting format as it seems to get lost in the bottom of the post.

Fairbanks News tribute to Susan and Granite; memorial service date

Fairbanks News-Miner'Through blizzards of doubt and fear,' Butcher never gave upBy Dermot ColePublished August 12, 2006Posted in Local, Dermot Cole column

LEADING: After winning the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race three times in a row, Susan Butcher finished second in 1989.UA President Mark Hamilton recalls watching news coverage of that event and how she responded when reporters asked about finishing second. "She answered the question humbly, but as journalists are prone to do, the reference to second place was repeated in the next question,"

Hamilton said."Susan firmly instructed the reporter not to ask again, saying, 'This is Granite's last race and I told him we won.'"

He was immediately won over by what she said about her great lead dog. Years later, when Hamilton met Butcher he began to tell a story about the finish-line quote that had moved him so deeply. She hadn't forgotten. She finished the sentence for him.

Hamilton, the poet, offers this tribute:

Lead dog, breaking trail through blizzards of doubt and fear,Running to help the team, as if chasing Joe Garnie 40 miles from Nome.You said years ago, before this latest race, "There is only one sad thing-giving up."We didn't give up, we the fearful ones, wanting guides for the darknessof that good night.Wanting trails broken for us, promises kept, nature controlled.We only see the Northern Lights; can't feel them in our soul as you do.

We didn't give up, not on you.You were hard as granite, tough as the arctic, gentle as a sled dog,Unflinching in the darkness.Susan, I swear to you . you won.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------SERVICE: The memorial service for Susan Butcher, who died of leukemia a week ago, will be Sept. 2 at 4 p.m. in the Davis Concert Hall at UAF. If you care to send condolences to the family, write: The Monson Family, Box 60249, Fairbanks, AK 99706.

Dogs in Healing Ministry

This is a link to an article written by my son for The Oregonian (Portland, OR) recently.
http://www.oregonlive.com/metrosouthwest/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/metro_southwest_news/1154570123180860.xml&coll=7#continue

Brown bears in Anchorage

http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/wildlife/bears/story/8066937p-7958666c.html

Thanks, June Price, for the link on this story on brown bears in Anchorage, including Kincaid Park. The first time I went to Kincaid Park I had driven too far and was looking for a place to turn around, which happened to be Kincaid Park. I drove in the access road and right! next to my small rental car was a BIG moose. I couldn't resist taking photos of him through the window , too close for comfort.

Then, one time I went to Kincaid to walk. It was the year of the Fairbanks restart. The next day was when a person (runner or biker, not enough snow, I believe for skiing) was stomped by a moose on the trail I had just walked... his face was smashed in but he managed to crawl to his car and survived the attack. I heard about this enroute to Fairbanks.

VERY IMPORTANT THING I LEARNED: (and I reminded myself of this when I drove up to Chugach Park and was thinking about a solo hike... the sign read, Bear Area)...

When you are in Alaska, you should remind yourself frequently that is not Kansas (or Wisconsin) anymore... these wild critters are for real! and you might meet them as you walk around the corner of your motel (as I did one morning with a moose and my newly acquired dog). I can't tell you how many times I've stepped over moose droppings at the Millenium Hotel, the Iditarod HQ for the race.

Chicago Tribune article on Susan

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/chi-0608100238aug10,1,1214982.column?ctrack=1&cset=true

Very well told. Still too hard to believe.

One more beautiful story of Susan

This is from Cabela's website, Jon Little's beautiful story.

http://www.cabelasiditarod.com/

I'm attaching two photos of Sulatna, a dog from Susan Butcher. Sulatna is out of Susan's Poppers and Emmitt Peters' Yukon. She is 13. To me she epitomizes a Butcher dog... she's very fast, very very smart, responsive, sweet , independent, loves! to run and never quits.

She has great feet, coat, endurance and temperament. She's a leader and a puppy trainer, but mostly these days my house companion, too.

When I received Lillen from Susan last year she sent me a followup email. In it she cautioned me to not overly feed her as she would keep the pounds on, but also she said, "As long as you follow her rules (Lillen's) she'll be very happy." It is true of Sulatna, Lillen, Liller and Scuba, all lead females who came to us from Susan.

Each of them was a stellar performer, and three still are. Scuba died a few years ago and Susan shared my grief. She had had her on several Iditarod teams and loved her spirit. She was a motivator, she told me. When other musher's dogs were laying back towards the end of the race, Scuba was up and cheering to go. Rick Swenson recalled her when I visited with him in Takotna one year. We still have four of Scuba's pups. Lillen and Scuba are out of the same grandfather, Lacanin, and Glory, one of the pups is very similar to Lillen.

Well, Susan is out there cheering and motivating all of us. We keep sharing many stories about her and I do hope someone puts them into book form.

Coyote visit

This morning about 6:30 AM this coyote paid a very unhurried visit. Skinny was tied outside but did not see the visitor. I went out on the deck and said " Go away, shoo!" and s/he went into the woods, only to come back out and follow the trail to the dog pens. Some of them saw him/her, but there was no meeting, thankfully. I have seen quite a few coyotes in the past year... the rabbit population is the highest I've ever seen and I know that is an indicator of a good year for seeing coyotes.
I did always think foxes and coyotes weren't too happy being in each other's areas, but we have both roaming around, often.

Another link on Susan

http://www.gloucestertimes.com/lifestyle/local_story_219095511?+page=3