life | Turning Heads Kennel

Today is a rest day not just for the dogs but for me as well. I went to the library and continued to work on our 2016 Kennel Guide which will, I hope, be available for download in the next week or two. The guide is a behind the scenes look at our kennel and includes interviews with both Travis and myself. We also do a recap of 2015 and share some of our kennel highlights. We are hoping to be able to sell this download to help us raise money for dog booties so we can keep our dogs in tip-top shape.

It’s been a fun project for me and it’s hard to believe but it’s almost a full 30 pages of information and interviews. When I complete this, I will work on another that is a guide book about our dogs. I hope people like them and think of them as a fun way to invest and help our kennel.

Max came to the library with me but he sat in me truck. When you stay there for the afternoon it’s funny all thre characters you see. You have your normal library patrons but then you have those who look like old time gold miners. One girl came in wearing jeans and a ripped t-shirt and left in a green ball gown. Oh the questions I would have liked to ask her!

I was impressively able to score some last minute tickets to Star Wars. I wasn’t sure if the boys would want to go but Travis mentioned it today and I was able to snag 4 tickets to the 7:00 showing in 3d tomorrow. I’m beyond excited. When I was back home, we had a marathon watching the original trilogy. Personally, I like to forget about the saga with Jar Jar Binks.

Tonight we are sitting on the couch. I’m drinking tea and Travis has a beer that he neighbor gave him. Our house dogs are sprawled over the floor laying on dog beds and blankets and heaps of dog booties.

It always seems as though there is so much work to be done. It never ends but we have learned, finally, to pause and take time to just be.

There is all this rushing about in the world for this and for that. At the end of it all, most of it doesn’t matter. What matters are the pauses. The in-betweens. Sitting on the couch talking together. Playing another round of cards. Typing a story to share.

Distance mushing is a slow, languid, and meditative. You learn that it is the little things that matter. It is the small stuff that makes the biggest difference.

We are homebodies. Our family is big and often we find that simply taking time to enjoy one another is enough. With so much going on sometimes it’s easy to get lost in what to do and when.

But our dogs root us and remind us of what’s important. Time together. Slow time. So we take the evenings and we play with the puppies, teaching them how to come when their called and to overcome obstacles. At this age, even simple things are hard: walking through tall grass that obscures their vision and downed trees seem like impossible hurdles. Inevitably, the puppies overcome and we sing them praises. We have fun together and they learn how much we love them and how much we enjoy seeing them have fun.

Sometimes we stick to the trails. Sometimes we bush whack. The puppies enjoy the maze of ferns, alders and Devils club and how it temporarily hides them.

Oh the joy in our voices when they come to our feet after wandering through the under brush. They learn quickly that all we want is for them to wander with us and be our pack mates. They’re more than happy to oblige.

Travis Beals under a sled dog puppy pile

We find the quietness of our life calming. We free run several sets of dogs and walk them around the trail. Some are anxious to show off their speed and others are all too eager to show us their love and affection, not wanting to wander far.

We just got extra batteries for Travis’ new obsession: flying drone helicopters. We’ve had several at this point. None expensive but are slowly looking at buying something nice. We think it would be fun for mushing. Don’t you?

We’ve started getting fish from the weir at Bear Lake again. Having Cook Inlet Aqua Culture as a sponsor is huge and the fish they donate is a huge asset to our feeding program. Evenings have been spent putting fish in garbage bags to freeze. Mornings are spent putting fish into cook pots to make a meal for the dog. We recently had to purchase a new fish pot because we burned a hole through our last — Travis used it as an opportunity to “taste test” the stew. It got his vote of approval and, more importantly, the dogs!

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We will try to post more regularly about our day to day adventures.

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– Sarah

The Little Things

Fun with Goblin’s Puppies