March goes out like a Lion

Just as our trails were getting clear and we've started running with the quad, whoopee, it started snowing like mad at about 4PM, already accumulating two to three inches. More snow predicted for next few days. The dogs love snow but even they look a bit surprised after the main meltdowns/schedule changes we've had. The deer aren't too happy either. Good thing I left a snowmachine out for just this kind of happening. And the WIND is roaring. Not Spring yet, no matter what we thought.

Mt Redoubt and Mushers and Dogs

Heard from a friend that mushers had to scramble/ are scrambling to get their dogs out of Nome. Redingtons could take their dogs on the flight they took, haven't heard about Aliy's dogs... planes were rerouted through Fairbanks with dog trucks in Anchorage, so some were borrowing trucks or cars to transport dogs.

This photo was sent by a Fairbanks friend, Phillip Albert, who received it from a friend in the Kenai peninsula , I believe.

Iditarod Wrapup; Volcano delays flights out of Nome

While volcanic ash from Mt. Redoubt, AK, falls on Skwentna, all mushers are finishing the race ahead of that. But, flights are grounded out of Nome for now, so dogs and mushers get to spend a few more days there. Norma from Skwenta reports that it looks like a moon crater out there and she tastes ash even inside. That's something we don't have to worry about in Wisconsin!

Aliy Zirkle finished in 17th, Allen Moore in 33rd, Trent Herbst in 48th with the Most Inspirational Musher Award. Karin Hendrickson was the third rookie in and had a good race, too. Congratulations to all mushers and their great dogs.

Twenty minute trail in meltdown

Skinny's and my favorite 20 minute trail is all but disappearing in the warm weather today. We took our 7PM run just as the sun hit the 'lights out'.... the whole bottom trail was a river/pond, much more deterioration since yesterday. Hopefully, the solid ice base we've had will see some more snow before we say good bye to winter. The plus of this is that the ice is fast . These clips are from yesterday with Sierra and Buddy and Skinny. The deer were wading in the 'pond' at the bottom of one hill. The pens are starting to drain .

Sunrise

With the spring forward of time, comes breakfast before sunrise. We are starting to ease back on fats in their diets, but will have a cold spell this week. The dogs seek out the early morning sun in their pens.

Daily Kennel Life, The Howl

Herman takes his breakfast very seriously.

He is one of few dogs needing to be tethered for feeding, but he runs right to his chain , eats till finished, even though his kennel pals are already howling their 'let's start the day' howl. If not tethered, he runs , excitedly from dish to dish. His pen pals, Buffy, Medio and Rosie eat enthusiastically too.

Iditarod 2009

The main site is www.iditarod.com and Aliy's/Allen's blog is : www.spkenneldoglog.blogspot.com
(updated well! by Macgellan). The teams are off and running and at this time Aliy is at Mile 85, crossing Onestone Lake with 16 dogs at 7mph. The Iditarod Insider package for us includes GPS in each sled, very helpful when the standings at the main site are giving only checkpoint info. Macgellan has some great photos and commentaries as the events unfold. He'll be in Rainy Pass hoping to catch both Aliy and Allen and will have blog photos and updates.

Back at the Ranch

We have had mild temps the past few days and Skinny (retired gee haw Quest leader) has been bummed in the house. I took him for his morning sled run (which he ran fast and happy), then chained him in a pen with the other guys and gals, so he could feel a part of the daily action. Five minutes of that and he had broken his chain, ripped open the gate and, after stopping to 'holler' at a male at the fence, ran back to the house. So much for Skinny's unsupervised pen time.

Photo: Skinny's pen of two years ago. Since then he's not lived in a pen.

Iditarod Bib Numbers?

Aliy's/Allen's blog says that Aliy is Bib 24 and Allen is 6. Looking at the main Iditarod website I find different numbers, so for now we'll go with them as reported on Aliy's blog... theirs is a quick video clip, takes you right there. Thanks, Macgellan!

Anchorage Daily News, www.adn.com is a good source of race info but they don't have the bibs up yet. They do have bear info, one black and one brown wandering around.

Iditarod Trail: some waist deep snow

Around the Rainy Pass area there is some heavy, waist deep snow, as reported by Craig Medred in The Anchorage Daily News. This presents a huge task to the many volunteers who work at keeping the trail open. Mushers are required to carry snowshoes and may need to use them this year. Climbing a mountain pass with a sixteen dog team with the musher on snow shoes is a daunting task.

Photo: Rainy Pass terrain; red jacket on right is Gwen Rodman. Gwen's daughter, Karin

Hendrickson is running her rookie Iditarod this year.

Aliy Zirkle

Aliy Zirkle is a well known sled racing competitor. She won the Yukon Quest in 2000 and still remains the only woman to have won that race. This is her ninth Iditarod and she is heading out with a great team. Allen Moore, Aliy's husband, is heading out with a great B team. They have trained hard and we are eager to watch their progress.

We are fortunate to have some of Aliy's retirees, Martin, Skinny and Frita. Frita's daughter, Bullet, is a main leader for Aliy in the race again this year. We like Moonpie on Allen's team too, a young 'un. We like all of their dogs!

This photo (for which we owe a photo credit but not sure to whom) is of Aliy's champ team in Yukon Quest 2000. Martin is the hearty white dog in a team position. He is a bit less agile these days but going down hills you can still see his mountain experience, he digs in and keeps you safe.

This sport is, of course, so much more than about racing... the life with the dogs is so incredibly rewarding. We are not racing much here anymore, but we have the wonderful opportunity to live out the retirement days with these mighty dogs. I'm sure nothing is like their climbs over the Alaskan trails, but we try to make each day a good one for each of these grand dogs where they can run about free and sleep safely dreaming of their great running days.

Alaska Sports Hall of Fame

Remembering Susan Butcher as the Iditarod starts up, this is the clip from the Alaska Sports Hall of Fame.

SUSAN BUTCHER (Dec. 25, 1954 - Aug. 5, 2006)
Susan Butcher grew up in Cambridge, Massachusetts, began dog mushing in Colorado, and became a legend in Alaska with four victories in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race between 1986 and 1990. Tutored by race founder and good friend Joe Redington Sr., who announced to the world Butcher would become a champion, the hard-nosed competitor was renowned for her single-minded focus and checkpoint acumen.
Her record-setting three victories in a row between 1986 and 1988 have been equalled, but not surpassed. Twice Butcher set speed records in the 1,100-mile race between Anchorage and Nome and she won a variety of other middle-distance mushing races. Butcher made herIditarod debut in 1978 in 19th place. In addition to her Iditarod victories, Butcher placed second four times,third once, fourth once, and fifth twice before retiringafter the 1994 race.
In 1979, Butcher and Redington, accompanied by a photographer and aided by mountain guide Ray Genet, performed the seemingly impossible feat of driving dog teams to the summit of 20,320 - foot Mount McKinley, the tallest peak in North America.
In three of Butcher’s Iditarod triumphs, the key lead dog was Granite, perhaps the most famous canine leader in race history. One of her other special huskies was Tekla, whom she credited with once saving her life and for whom she named her first child.
Butcher’s record-setting mushing exploits earned her anational reputation. She was twice named the Women’s Sports Foundation Professional Athlete of the Year. In some quarters of the Lower 48, for a time the Iditarod was known as “The race that woman wins.”
– Lew Freedman
Highlights
Four-time Iditarod Champion, including three in a row
Two-time National Women’s Sports Foundation’s Professional Athlete of the Year
U.S. Victor Award for Female Athlete of the Year two years in a row
Named as one of the “100 Greatest Female Athletes” by Sports Illustrated
photo courtesy of The Anchorage Daily News
Alaska Sports Hall of Fame 14815 Echo Canyon Road Anchorage, AK 99516 alaska_shof@yahoo.com
Damion Design. Copyright 2007. All rights reserved.

Wildlife in Races

Yesterday the frontrunners in the Fur Rendezvous sprint races were challenged by the downtown wildlife, out near the Campbell strip as I understand it. Both Streeper and Erhart's teams were charged by a cow moose, injuring a number of dogs. Later in the day a trail helper searching for a lost camera met a grizzly bear standing tall in the trail.

Another reminder that Anchorage differs from being in a lower 48 city. Wishing safety next Saturday to all the Iditarod as they go out on those trails in the Iditarod Start.

It Takes a Team

Photo: Josie looking on from the pen, Jim, Dr. Pauline Schroeder, DVM, Michelle, IMAH technician and Buddy.

It takes a team to raise a village of dogs... not quite the saying, but the idea is there.

We did receive about 7 inches of new powder snow,light but deep. The morning was spent taming it and getting the usual work done. Dr. Pauline Schroeder and tech, Michelle, arrived about 2PM to do a round of vaccinations and wellness checks. All went smoothly and we are lucky to have a great team.

The storm left behind beautiful trails, which are all groomed and ready to go (not quite like magic, a few hours and manpower to do it, but they are great!)

Storm on horizon

Photo: Glory , age twelve, one of our original Scuba's pups... she's still running like a pup.
She raced at Nicolet when she was nine (in lead with Skinny).


Estimates of our snow to come vary, but minimum of six inches it seems. Add to that 28mph winds and today is a busy day (this week is a busy week).

We laid in more straw yesterday and will line all houses with a new fluff today. Temps in below zero area tonight although it has been mid thirties. The most wintery winter I can remember in recent years.

Friday, if she can get in our driveway, the vet comes for a house call (aged dogs checkup, cat's rabies shot, various items on agenda). And the food supplier had not received our shipment , so we're running for that , somewhere today. Just the usual busy of the kennel.

Iditarod starts on Saturday, March 7th. Stay tuned for info on a possible dog visitor. Meantime, I'll be shoveling my way into gates for a couple of days.

Two Teams, Iffy Trails

Two teams took off on a warmish day. The trails could have been worse, only one huge divot which the dogs skirted nicely and a few rocks kicked up, but it was a great run out there. Tim and Shanna were hardy and skillful drivers.

Returning home we took a six dog team on the internal trails which were fast and dicey (icey) and the drivers handled them well.

Dogs run: Buffy, Matilda , Sherpa (lead), Medio, Kiddo, Rosie, Zoom (team), Quattro, Copper, Herman (wheel). Ruthie ate her way out of her pen to be a leader, but it wasn't her day, sorry Ruthie.

Choosing dogs for teams

Tomorrow we have two adult drivers running dogs. Both have some experience. We think our first team out will be: Buffy, lead; either Ruthie or Matilda, lead;
Medio and Herman in team and who in wheel??

Copper (Iditarod, 06) is just chomping to be on any team out. He's great but his nipping would upset Herman so Copper might go on the 2nd team or Herman may be replaced, although he's earned a spot, for sure. ( a hard puller, no nonsense, let's go and go, dog).

Kiddo should go. She's an experienced racer, fit and ready. We've overlooked her a couple of times and her pen mates. If we run a 2nd team, they should all be on it.

Quattro is a wheel dog and runs well next to nipping Copper (she lives with him and rules the roost). Sherpa is a steady dog as well, a bit smaller, but no nonsense like Herman.

Lillen would love to run but it's to be a bit warm and eight miles might be too much for her shaky hips. She'll be mourning if we don't take her though, maybe on a 2nd team.

So my first guess right now is: Buffy, Matilda (she needs lead experience, would not put her here with a beginner); Medio, Kiddo, Herman (solo wheel), a five dog team. There's some strength for the 8 miles, some speed and good experience, on the whole. Sorry, Copper!!

Winter Sports Mecca

What is your favorite winter sport? You can probably find it here in NE Wisconsin/Upper Michigan. Because it is such a great winter spot, we sometimes have competing events, causing us to have to make choices between them.

Yesterday we chose to run dogs early and then to spend the day at Pine Mountain Ski Hill

watching the Continental Cup ski jumps. Some of our dog drivers are very involved in that competition. The Austrians had the longest jumps, one of which I saw at 431 feet. The hill record is 468 feet and I haven't heard if they broke it today or not. I've been watching these jumps for many years, but am always in awe of these jumpers, WOW!

Tomorrow we are planning to run teams on an eight mile run into Michigan, weather permitting.

The trails are hard packed and nice with just about two inches of new snow packed, but the railroad grade is icy from a Valentine's weekend of snowmobilers. We think we'll try it , though.

Skinny, Sierra, Buddy and I just came back from a dusk run... perfect and memorable!

Race Season

We are watching a lot of favorites, but not racing any teams from here this year.

Aliy Zirkle and Allen Moore, http://www.iditarod.com/ and http://www.aliyzirkle.com/. Wishing them a great race. Their blog is really informative.

We have others to watch in Iditarod as well, including Karin Hendrickson, rookie, and Trent Herbst, veteran and Karen Ramstead, veteran.

Karen and Mark Ramstead are running the Yukon Quest 300 starting this weekend, http://www.yukonquest.com/ . Martin Buser is running his first Yukon Quest.

Beth Castaldi won the four dog class at Land O Lakes sprints last weekend, running the 2nd day with three dogs... yea, Beth! yea, Beth's dogs! http://www.sleddogcentral.com/

Race Results, Midwest sprints.

Photo: Beth and partners at LOL, 2008.

Ice, Rain, Slop

Ice, slippery+ rain, meltdown = SLOP. Wear Yaktrax!