Great Day

The rain didn't hurt too much other than the gates (chop chop) and the trails hardened up nicely.

Skinny got his run with the snowmo (line is looped to shorten it, he's wearing a Man Mat harness ), 20 of the dogs got runs and I even got a short xc ski run in. Calendar like field photos for sure.

It will get a bit chilly this week but love it for setting the trails. Come run with us!

Rain :(

Well, it is raining on our great trails. The plus side is it will harden them up. The gates I chopped yesterday will be just ready to be chopped all over again this morning.

Our weather can't even get into the ballpark in comparison to the weather on the Gin Gin, though. We have wind, but it sounds like they have typhoons and frigid temps. Hope the mushers and dogs are all OK.

Side note: AMY/KEN , send me your new email :)

Photo: Buffy watching Frita's kids finish breakfast...l to r, Buffy, Yepa, Frita, Yuki (back).

These dogs combine some great Alaskan heritage. Father of Yepa and Yuki (Martin) was on Aliy's YQ champ team. Father of Buffy is Skinny , YQ leader (Louden, Zirkle); Mother of Buffy is Iditarod leader, Liller (Butcher kennel).

Gin Gin Race, Aliy and Allen

Tomorrow is the Gin Gin race out of Paxson, AK. They have separate divisions for women and men. Allen just won the 50 mile Winter Solstice in Two Rivers and we'll be watching both Aliy and Allen in the Gin Gin. Whew, they are busy! Check out: www.aliyzirkle.com
or scroll to their blog for great updates by Macgellan.

What do you mean, we're retired?

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Photo:
Sherpa (left),
Skinny, Buddy, l to r

"Don't we get a vote?"

Skinny and Buddy look on as Sherpa takes her free run. Unfortunately Skinny can't free run because he goes for four hours, always ending up in the same place, waiting on the road for me to pick him up in the truck.

Yesterday was the first time I've run a dog with a snowmachine. It's too dangerous with the ATV now, so with short time before Christmas Eve dinner, I put a long lead off the Ski Doo.

Skinny is such a pro, stayed lined out and ran at a good clip. We hope he can run in the first team on Friday.

Merry Christmas !

Christmas comes and goes so quickly! We had Christmas Eve with my son's family... so much fun through the eyes of children.

Three dogs celebrated inside with us, Skinny, Buddy and Sierra.

The weather outside is....

Kind of crazy weather, one day wind and minus thirty windchills, next great snow, then back to the frigid stuff. It is all coming together here, although we are slow this year! The dogs are free running and still using ATV for some runs, although a bit more challenging now with deeper snow.

My son has been prepping trails and we now have a great wide hardened base. All in time for Merry Christmas!

Photos: Buffy and Rosie in their morning 'race'. And, the resident deer family.

Sheep Mountain 150

It was great to 'watch' the Sheep Mtn 150 this weekend in AK. Allen Moore placed 2nd with the SPK A team , behind Jessica Hendricks, also of Two Rivers, by six minutes. Aliy ran two year olds and placed 12th, cooling it with the two year olds. GREAT JOB!! (and after some truck trouble enroute).

Meanwhile, back at this 'ranch' it rained on the nice snow base yesterday, but this morning it's back to snow and WIND. We will start trail running soon!! Got both machines going yesterday and ran the icy trails. Dogs free ran as if they were let out of school!

This morning will be spent replacing icy straw in their houses.

On with it!

Trails are lightly snow covered/slippery for ATV, but finally the rifle season has ended. Black powder is still on, but we feel safe to fun our own trails. It feels like winter this a.m. at nine degrees. (nothing compared to Fairbanks!)

Opening Day: Two Degrees

In about one hour the rifle shots will start up. We have the dogs protected, fresh chicken soup to distract them, new straw, and we've given the deer their early a.m. feeding. Hopefully it will be a peaceful day on the 'ranch'. It is currently two degrees above zero... there's a light cover of snow.

Michigan's opener (one mile away) brought in six more small bucks, all spikehorns. They leap the river and come across. Today they'll hunker down in our swamp over the ridge.

I've been out of town for a week, very nice! to be back.

Countdown, Slowdown

Only five days until Michigan deer rifle season (Michigan is one mile from our kennel) and 12 days to the Wisconsin opener. We have a small herd still coming in each day . Today one of the smaller bucks came in, but we haven't seen the big guy since before the weekend .

Today brought our first real coverage of snow and some accidents on the roads, very slippery.
We're in transition, still using the ATV for hauling but trails too dicey for a team. It may melt , however.

Here's to a safe hunting season for all, especially the dogs!!

Photo: "Our" big guy, last seen on the weekend. Dogs are wearing orange tags now.

Links

We have several links on the sidebar, so check them out. Recently added was The Anchorage Daily News. We will add the Fairbanks Daily News Miner, as well.

Majestic Bucks

Seems like this 'guy' likes it here. Another four or six point was in with him yesterday.

Frita's Family

Frita and Lillen are leading. As leaders they rank right up there with the very best, for sure. Yepa , in wheel, is the carbon copy of her father, Martin, hardworking and focused. Yuki and Swix take it all in stride. Frita and Martin came from Aliy Zirkle's kennel as retirees. Lillen retired from Susan Butcher's kennel. We are VERY happy to have them.

First Families

The first 'family' we ran today was Frita's. Lillen gave Frita great support in lead, followed by Frita's kids, Yuki, Swix and Yepa.

Our second family run was: Ruthie, Buffy, Medio and Josie and 'uncle' Buddy . Buddy tried to chew the line (normal for him), but our biggest challenge was, as usual, Josie. She is so sweet and eager to run, but doesn't want a harness. Ultimately we hooked her with just her collar, but she pulled it and led the team most of the way. The team wasn't fazed by her free wheeling. We know we shouldn't allow it, but she will not be a regular team member.

Landen took the third good team alone. Buffy and Matilda led, and except for resisting a reroute at the front gate, the whole team ran well for him. Zoom and Medio were in swing and

Kiddo and Sherpa were in wheel.

Late day, I went to join my family, granddaughter, Fina, in her pink poodle Hallowe'en costume.

Photo: Oops, you're going the wrong way, Josie.

Snow and Two Coyotes

We had our first large snowflakes with a slight accumulation in the woods yesterday. Driving home with straw, we ran into a whiteout.



At 6PM two coyotes came into the deer feed area. The larger one was limping on a hind leg and the smaller one was agile.

Tamaracks Turn

When the tamaracks turn yellow we know winter is not far off. We have predictions for snow on Monday. Heard that it is 3 degrees in McGrath today (Alaska). Hoping for a good snow winter! (both in Alaska and here)
The tamaracks and pond are on the trail into Michigan. We also had a few inquisitive deer on the trail.

Ten Dogs and Eight Miles in the Rain

Today was a nice run but it was MESSY. We toweled off the dogs and washed the harnesses to get rid of the red residue from the wet ore embedded trails.

We met a truck along the trail , but they pulled off and waited while our ten little pro's ran right by them. Every dog looked good today. They enjoyed some salmon popsicles at the turnaround point.

Dogs in team: Buffy and Matilda, lead; Lillen and Ruthie, swing; Kiddo and Copper, team;
Medio and Sherpa, team; Herman and Quattro, wheel.

Frita's Rocks

This is a photo of one of the houses in Frita's pen. She guards it and adds and removes rocks regularly. Wolfy behavior? Territorial? Are they to retain heat? How can she sleep with them? I remove them and she drags them back. I have decided to leave them in there now (its an extra house) as it must hurt her teeth to manage these huge rocks. She just smiles when I look at it . Maybe they're her substitute "pups"?

Home Team , Kwik! Klip

Not realizing the camera was on video, this was a quick look at Frita's team running at home. We have dragged leaves off the trails since then, but still pretty leafy.

Traveling Team

Eight great dogs to Florence. The grade is a bit rough with many rocks/boulders surfaced after the dry summer, but the dogs enjoyed their six mile run and were still raring to go when we returned. We took another five dog team on a run on our trails.

Dogs run: 1. Buffy, Ruthie, Medio, Matilda, Kiddo, Sherpa, Quattro and Herman. 2. Frita, Buffy, Zoom, Rosie and Copper. A few snafus but for the most part they looked focused and happy, with little stress, if any, from the six mile run. It was about 50 degrees, a bit humid.

The wildlife is active... our pigeon is doing well, but heads due North after she eats (8 AM and 3PM)... we must be a part time home. The nine point buck and a four point were in just before we ran, with nine does and fawns. The field camera got a great photo of the coyote just away from the cabin at 6AM. The kitty who has been visiting did not appear today.