Fourth of July came and went without much fan fair this year. It was probably the quietest fourth of July in town I have ever seen since moving to Seward — except we did see that Alaska State Troopers, the TV show was filming in our area. If you watch the show regularly, our gold and white dodge 2500 dog truck may be seen in the background in an upcoming episode as a suspect was apprehended. (We are going to be so famous now!)
This year was the first 4th of July in a long time that Travis and I actually got to do something together. We took the afternoon off and instead of running Mt. Marathon as he has every year for the past 13 years, Travis decided to stay off the mountain and wander the street fair with me. It was a relief in many ways — we haven’t spent much time together and the wet weather that notoriously comes around 4th of July always makes me nervous when he runs. It’s an easy way to get hurt. Instead, we wandered the street fair. There was not a whole lot of to be found besides food but we did find one man with beautiful stained glass pieces. Since moving into our home in December 2011 we have hung hardly a thing on the walls. At one point, our gift shop had more artwork then the rest of our house — that was until the flood when we had to take everything down.
Slowly, we’ve been trying to turn the walls that surround us and our dogs into a home. We came back from the fair with a beautiful stained glass raven to hang on our wall, in between two windows with bird feeders. For now, it still sits in its box untouched since we bought it. Our walls, which I started painting during Iditarod, are also still half-finished. I still don’t know what inspired me to start such a huge project…I still can’t believe we haven’t had time to finish! The inside of our house is strange with half-painted walls. I am hoping that these rainy days may give us a few moments to touch up the edges.
The dogs are doing well. There was a stretch in June where we concerned with the warm weather and limited our tours to early morning and evening departures only. 80 degrees plus is too warm for our cold-hardy dogs to do in the direct heat. Fortunately, our trails are shaded and limiting to a single departure made it very easy on them. Of course, the dogs wanted to run more than we let them but part of being a musher is knowing your dogs limits even when they don’t.
Hope and Copper had their puppies at the beginning of May and they are growing up into some very adorable puppies. They are now fully weaned and living up on Godwin Glacier. Hope had four girls and a boy. Their names are: Hank, Gracie, Trout, Dolly, and Varden… This photo of them was taken by one of our glacier guides, Chris. He said the puppies all scrambled up onto their dog house and then sat on it waiting to see who was brave enough to jump down on their own. Dolly, the black and white puppy in the photo, has come a long way. When she was first born she always hid under the house whenever I tried to give her to guests to hold. We made a special effort to share her and I am happy to say she is now a friendly, outgoing little dog!
I take a lot of joy in watching the dogs develop and working closely with the shy dogs. I think one of the greatest developments to happen for our kennel is to see some of our older dogs who were not raised in tours or around tourists learn to get genuinely excited about meeting new people and to get pet on the head from strangers. It may not sound like much, but if you have watched a dog shy away and shy away and shy away from people when you finally see that dog CHOOSE to go up to someone, it’s rather magical. The timid tail wag, the slight shake of the body, and then, ever so carefully, sticking their head out for the pat. Watching a dog go from this to wagging their tail, standing up, and letting their body language say “pet me” is a big step. I have to say I am particularly proud of Bud & Weiser, our two “Clydesdales” and wheel dogs for their remarkable improvement. It’s little steps like this, sometimes, that make it all worth while.
The fireweed outside our house is getting ready to bloom. It’s a blessing and a curse. The brilliant purple and pink stalks are wondrous to look at but when they “cotton out” I find myself itching and sneezing more than my fair share. Still, the flowers especially when there are lots of them, depict a setting sun. Still we’ve had a hard time keeping the dogs out of the “garden” — especially the puppies when we let them wander around. Below is Madori with one of her young pups.
The last few days have been drizzly. The weather has been so varied this year it is impossible to predict. One day its sunny and 85, the next rainy and 45. I guess this is Alaska for you. The cooler weather is certainly welcomed by the dogs though the sun, while it was here, was certainly welcomed by every Seward local! I don’t think we’ve had a stretch of sun like that in the summer time for quite awhile. We are hoping it comes back!
We are already in the planning stages for Iditarod 2014. The one thing about owning sled dogs, running the Iditarod, and giving tours? The work never stops.
And we wouldn’t have it any other way.
– S & T
