ATV

September has come and gone, almost. We’ve spent most of the month tying up loose ends around the kennel, trying to finish all the projects we started but hadn’t quite finished yet. I’m excited that our new website is finally done. So many hours were poured into it– I hope it shows.

Travis and I have felt overwhelmed recently. Our dog sled runs haven’t quite hit a solid rhythm yet of wake, run, rest, run, sleep but we are slowly moving towards that goal. The little things that have left us feeling disorganized are starting to fall in place: the piles of stuff in our basement left over from last mushing season have finally been sorted through and are sitting on new shelves that we installed. Our summer glacier gear for our glacier dogsledding camp has finally found a home and been mostly put away. And, it seems, we are finally remembering the little things: cooking real dinners like Chicken Parm and spaghetti and meatballs, rather than simply getting by on ramen noodles and pizza which is what we ate for most of the summer. I wish I was lying but when you are busy it seems the first thing to go is a nice home cooked meal!

Travis has been excited because our second ATV we use on dog sled runs had a few upgrades made to it. Although the machine doesn’t actually run, it’s perfect for running dogs with. He recently found some new fenders for it on a trip to the dump – what a score. He then pulled the fuel tank out and made a thermos holder. Also new — the padded backrest. May not look it, but it’s a pretty sweet ride!

 

We are back to the quiet life of fall — no more tours or help around — and it feels good to finally sit down and settle in, the warmth of the wood stove radiating throughout the house after a dog sled run. Our Friday nights have consisted of netflix and puppies romping around through our living room.

During our quiet moments at home we’ve allowed the young dogs to run wild through the yard, their squirming endless energy exciting the kennel and keeping everyone’s tails wagging. They are so much fun right now. It’s a great age.

The dog sled runs we have gone on have shown lots of promise.  We’ve been working with new lead dogs and some of our younger sled dogs who were born last summer.  Today, we ran Marlowe who just turned a year old in lead. To say he was amazing would be an understatement. He is a confident young dog who simply loves to go. From the first moment we put him up front he was an absolute natural. I’m so excited to be working with him and a couple of our other young sled dogs this year. I had so much fun free running them and bringing them inside last year while Travis was training. Watching them develop athletically into talented sled dogs has been exciting.

 

It’s still warm out but we’ve started doing 10 mile runs with the team. Hopefully, we’ll be able to head north to longer trails soon. The loops we run at home aren’t long but they at least provide some training and there is plenty of  water in creeks along the side of the road.

Well, Travis has finished his coffee so we are going to head out on the trail again. We’ve been having fun running together.