WAR EAGLE!!!!!

Postponed running dogs to watch the game. WAR EAGLE!!!

Treadmill Study Video

In the previous post, I mentioned the treadmill work our SP Kennel dogs have been practicing. To give everyone a better idea of what exactly the dogs are up to, we made this video:

A Recap

I don’t know if you’ve been following the weather up here in Alaska, but we are currently experiencing a record-setting amount of freezing rain. Yes, freezing rain. You may think “Freezing rain? Is that not also called ice?” Let me explain. Freezing rain is even better than ice, hail, sleet, slain, or any other combinations of rain and ice. Freezing rain is exactly as it’s name suggests: rain that falls from the sky as water and upon impact with the cold ground, freezes, resulting in a layer of ice covering any packed surface like dog circles, driveways, and roads. A small amount of freezing rain fell back in February 2003, but other than that, the last recorded occurrence of substantial amounts of freezing rain was in 1936. Over the past couple of days, we’ve received approximately one inch of freezing rain, which (I try not to think about) is the equivalent to about 10 inches of snow. But instead of walking out to a nice layer of snow, we walk out to ice filled puddles in dog circles and an ice skating rink on the roadways. Driving has become treacherous, so the entire Fairbanks is closed down, and the few foolhardy travelers crawl along the roads at 15 mph. Yesterday, Aliy and I took out two dog teams with four wheelers for a 40 mile run before the trails turned into ice chutes. As we paralleled the road, a SUV came puttering up behind us with one set of tires in the snow berm and the other on the glare ice. We were almost going as fast as the car! But enough complaining. Snow and cold weather is in the forecast, so with a little luck, we’ll be back on sleds and complaining of the subzero temperatures in no time.

Before all this freezing rain, we had nice, snow packed trails. Even though we couldn’t really set a snowhook, we were taking out sleds with teams as large as 12 dogs. On Friday, we decided to take the dogs to the White Mountains for a fifty-mile training run. It was my first time to the White Mountains, and I was looking forward to running dogs on new terrain. We loaded up the dogs in the morning and drove the hour and a half to the trailhead. Seeing two snowplows in the parking lot is always a good sign. We harnessed, bootied, and hooked up our teams, then started out on the fresh, unbroken trail. Along the way we passed forest service cabins, two moose, and a few larger birds. The sunset was a rush of vivid red and orange streaked across the sky. I posted a picture of the sunset, but even the photo just can’t capture the intensity of the colors. Combine that with the rolling hills, the scraggly black spruce, the winter stillness, and an enthusiastic dog team, and it was a wonderful experience. I look forward to our other training runs in the White Mountains.

The day after we trained in the White Mountains, Aliy and I drove 20 dogs down to Denali to practice running on a treadmill. The SP athletes are not practicing running on a treadmill for everyday exercise, but rather because they are subjects in various studies conducted by veterinarian, Mike Davis, from the University of Oklahoma. Dr. Davis has obtained different grants over the years to study the physiology of sled dogs. Prior studies have explored the circumstances of gastric ulcers. Currently, he is working on studying the effects of high altitude on the dogs and eventually VO2 max of these incredible athletes. I’ll post of video of the study in the near future. But for now, we’re keeping busy doing chores and waiting for the ice to disappear!













A fun video with Sam and Tig testing out the kids sled! Tig isn't quite a sled dog, but she pulls her weight and then some.

Fish Snacks and a Look Ahead

We've been up to all sorts of interesting things from cutting fish (see video), running 50 miles in the White Mountains, studying dogs on a treadmill in Denali, and today...freezing rain. I'll have updates soon, but to start off, here's a short "how to" video on cutting meat:

Skijoring

We’ve finally gotten a little more snow, and while it’s not enough to run a full team of twelve or even ten dogs, it’s enough to get the winter season rolling. Yesterday, we dusted off the sleds and took out a few 4-6 dog teams. In the evening, I went cross-country skiing for the first time this season. Today, I tried out skijoring with a couple of the older dogs, Blue and Pingo. Check it out:

SP Kennel Dog Log

Be sure to check out the SP Kennel Dog Log as well for updates. There's a couple of fun videos in two of the recent SP Kennel posts to check out:

http://spkenneldoglog.blogspot.com/2010/11/new-sp-kennel-team-member.html

http://spkenneldoglog.blogspot.com/2010/11/sp-kennel-junior-mushers.html

Just Another Day at the Office

I was recently filling out an application for a credit card, working my way through the lines and lines of personal information when I came to a question that stopped me in my tracks. Employment status. My options were employed, homemaker, permanently disabled, retired, self-employed, student, and unemployed. At first the question seemed rather self-explanatory until I realized I could technically fit into a number of those classifications. Employed? Well, yes I get paid under the table, and if you count experiences as payment then I’m making a seven-figure salary. Homemaker? Sure, I’ve been baking up a storm. I’d say cookies are my specialty and fun fact: sweet potato casserole should really be called yam casserole (although it doesn’t have quite the same ring to it). Self-employed? In a sense, I am my own business and others pay me directly for my services. Student? Technically, yes. I’m currently taking a leave of absence, and no, it is not just a euphemism for drop out. Unemployed? In the government’s eyes, oh yes. So really, the only two options I don’t fit are retired and permanently disabled, but some might argue I fit into the latter category. After assessing and reassessing my options, I decided on ‘employed’. I have a job, I get paid for my job, and plus I’m assuming credit card companies would like to see that I have some form of income. Which got me to thinking, this is a job.

Each day, my first task is to feed the dogs and clean the kennel. It’s still dark at eight in the morning, so for some dogs, I’m their wake-up alarm. Just like people some dogs are morning dogs while others would prefer to hit the snooze button a few times. For example, Happy reminds me a bit of my dad in the morning as she comes enthusiastically bounding out of her house the second I walk close. If she could talk, I swear she’d be yelling “Goooood mornin’!” in the same cheerful voice only my dad can have at 5:00 am. Others, like 3-year-old Honda, are more like teenagers and prefer to stay sleeping in their houses until I have breakfast ready and in their bowl. The great part about dogs, however, is that regardless if they’re morning dogs or not, they all wake up in a good mood.
After I finish feeding and cleaning (i.e. scooping poop), I’ll typically meet with Aliy and Allen to go over the day’s game plan. Normally, the bulk of the day is spent running dogs. I wouldn’t say we’re ‘mushing’ just yet since we’re still on four-wheelers, and really no one says, “We went mushing today.” Instead one would say, “We ran dogs today.” So what exactly is running dogs. Well, the little video I made provides a little insight, but I’ll try to elaborate. Instead of using poetic and flowery words to describe the amazingness of running dogs, I’ll appeal to the car lovers out there:
Running dogs is like trying to drive a 16-dogpower, muscled out Porsche 4x4. And the car is as excited to go as you are. Imagine- you’re the test driver from Porsche’s newest line, and you’re cruising along endless backroads with the windows rolled down and the top off, basking in the balmy 20 degrees (this is uncharacteristically warm for Two Rivers). There are no speed limits, although you prefer to cruise around 9 mph. And, to top it all off, you’ve got 16 of the happiest dogs around to keep you company. Occasionally, you might experience a loss of breaking power when the dogs decide that they’ve rested long enough, or you’ll have to manually steer if the leaders believe they know best. But overall, this is one drive you hope never ends. Well, at least until your fingers and toes start to freeze and then you hope for sleds.
When not running dogs, we’re preparing for the season and doing chores around the kennel. Recently, Allen signed up for the 1,000-mile Yukon Quest, and Aliy and I signed up for the Quest 300. Aliy and Allen are also racing in the Sheep Mountain 150, Copper Basin, Hamburger Run, Tustumena (Aliy), and Iditarod. In addition to the Quest 300, I’m hoping to race the Taiga 300. This means that along with running the dogs daily, this winter I’ll get to travel all over Alaska and the Yukon Territories handling and racing.
So while I might not have health benefits or a retirement plan at my job, at the end of the day I still smile and think, Ah yes, just another day in the office.

When Words Just Don't Say Enough

Alright, well, I keep sitting down to write a blog post about an average day in fall training and the recent snowfall and the enthusiasm of the dogs and the splendor of the landscape, but each time I fail miserably. And frankly, words just can’t do the experience justice, so I’ve resorted to another form of expression:

Hopefully the video helps.




To Ms. Yeilding’s class, I’m thrilled that you all are reading Jack London and learning a bit about the north. Perhaps you can give me some pointers! I’ll do my best to answer your questions. Lucky for me, life is not as tough as it used to be during the Klondike gold rush. I don’t have to carry sourdough starter in a pouch around my neck or rely solely on the land. Most of my food comes from either Fairbanks or a small grocery store a few miles down the road. I just have to be prepared to spend a bit more money for the food. The exception to this is the meat. Fish, moose, eggs, and chicken caught or hunted by Aliy and Allen fill the freezers, so instead of spaghetti with beef, we’ll eat spaghetti with moose. I, myself, have not yet been hunting. For the dogs, they eat a very high protein, high fat kibble mixed with warm water. Later on, we’ll throw salmon, horse, or chicken fat into the slop too. The dogs love it. When the dogs are running so many miles, they’re burning anywhere from 10,000-14,000 calories per day. That’s equivalent to over 20 Big Macs.
The majority of the time, the dogs know where they are going. Their sense of direction is far better than mine, so typically I’ll listen to them. Of course, if I’ve got a dog like Newt in lead, it probably wouldn’t be a good idea to let him choose since he’d probably always choose the right fork (Newt can only run on the right side).
I’m still working on adapting to Alaska. Ask me again in the spring after I’ve experienced an Alaskan winter, and I can probably give you a better answer. For now, I’d say I’m on the right track. This morning it was -1 degrees, and I was feeling fairly frisky. One of my main concerns is keeping my fingers warm, so I recently purchased a pair of beaver mitts.
For me, the main draw and benefit of living here in Two Rivers is that I’m surrounded by mushers and dog lovers. Often times I’ll see more dog teams go down the road than cars. I’ve only been dog sledding for a little over a year, but I would say that it is my passion. I’ve always been a dog person, and helping a dog work and do what it loves to do is very rewarding.