Krikey! Dead camera batteries...

So, no shots of today's bikejoring. I bet many of you are disappointed. :)

Ripper and Loki took me on an 8km ride today. It's nice and cool, so we could go bascially anytime today. Loki got a bit tired near the end, but all he needed was a short rest to re-charge. He is really shining lately with Ripper. I did throw them a new one today by giving them a tough highway crossing - one we have used, but not often. Turned out I had to haul the two of them up the fairly steep ditch. However, situation goes bad when Ripper takes it as an opportunity to do some highway running! I put an end to that rather quickly...

Otherwise, they did great and seemed happy to be on a different trail. In spots, the trees were almost overhanging the trail and it was like we were going through a bushy tunnel. Very cool. Bummer about the camera, but we'll be back there soon enough.

Then Gracie and Lucy took me on a pretty speedy little 4km run. They are perfectly suited to run together, being the exact same size and having a similar gait. So they were actually clocking a pretty decent speed of 26km/hr for almost the whole run. Ahem... until little ms-short-attention-span Gracie got bored in the ditch on the way home and slacked off. Ah well, she did well up until then.

However, never fear about the lack of photos today. There are always extra dog shots! Here we are yesterday on a hike with Steph and her dogs. This was an attempt at a posed shot with her and her dogs (three of them), however, my 3 couldn't stay out of the photo. Attention hogs. Jack is trying to give her a kiss.


And back at the homestead. New straw was brought in earlier that day. Talk about exciting!! Hmmm... guess who's the first to lay claim to it?


George, never one to miss out on anything, joins everyone in the crammed truck:


Jack and his alien-head:

Trail Reconnaissance

Did about 20km of trail riding today in order to check distances, and scope out the trails for fall training.

It was Jack & Harris' turn to get out for a run. The temps were a bit warm, so I only had them pulling for a bit of the journey. Here they are starting off and flying down the road:

(turns out it's not so easy taking a picture one-handed while bikejoring going 24 km/hr!!)

Time for a cool-off!


A good reason to go check out trails before you take a powerful 8 or 10-dog team on them. Something I often forget to do. I do have a saw attached to the 4-wheeler for emergencies though!

Time to get the chainsaw! It doesn't stop the dogs, but the 4-wheeler may not go over it so well.

Yet another obstacle. Note the dogs are wondering what the holdup is.


Next: George and Kuna's turn to get out and check out a different trail.

I started off running them attached to the bike. George does well, but Kuna is the biggest slacker in the world. Also, he hadn't been out lately, so is likely a bit out of shape. However, once released from me, he had NO problem zooming up ahead and into the trees to chase squirrels! He was pretty pooped when we got home though.

George, way up ahead as usual:


Kuna, keeping up with me:


Cooling off, mud-dog:


Cliff climbing!!


What the dogs also love doing during the warmth of a fall afternoon:

New trailer - soon to be dog trailer. The dogs gave it their seal of approval!

Why spend money on dog toys...

...when your dogs can be easily entertained by an empty bbq sauce container??!!

Yes, that is what all this excitement is about. The regular dog toys just won't do. These guys destroy them pretty quickly, and often eat them. So I was looking for alternate toys, when Ripper stole this container out of the recycling (he steals everything). I put a rock in it and started chucking it all over the yard (my Friday night entertainment... woohoo!!). Let me tell you, excitement ENSUED after that!!!

L-R: Ivy (looking pretty serious), Octane (what's all the excitement about?) and Ripper (maniac) not-so-patiently await the throw:


Rupert, never the fetching type, shows only mild curiosity. And then stood and watched the other dogs speed away after it when I threw it. "Yeah, big deal" he seemed to think. "I got stuff to smell, things to pee on..."


Sage steals the highly sought after prize! He was pretty proud of himself.


Ripper, happy to have HIS toy once again. After all, he did all the groundwork for this game. He's actually become a very good fetcher. We can spend HOURS playing "throw the bbq sauce container" with him running 100 miles/hr around the yard, barking his head off in anticipation! Well, this guy can. This is the only fetch item he has ever brought back to me. He gets the bbq sauce container game.

She's just *slightly* possessive...

Here's Gracie and "her" food:

Note there is other dogs nearby. She was laying here for a loooong time protecting those unopened bags of dog food.

Sweet, yet insane.

That's my girl!

The things tourists share...

Hey, this may be a first - a totally non-dog-related post!

Dealing with loads of tourists day in and day out can be pretty monotonous. But thankfully, there ALWAYS seems to be some who come through and keep me entertained.

Case in point: today I was chatting with a pilot (of a small aircraft) and his wife. They're from Kodiak, Alaska - a super nice, chatty couple. Anyways, they flew up here and he was telling me all about the scenery and what routes they take when they head down south to Oregon and Washington. His wife sort of wandered away while we were still talking and he tells me about airshows they go to, RACES (Plane races. Who knew?) they compete in and much more than I even remember (or really paid attention to...).

Then he starts to go on about the good old days and "in my previous marriage, I did a LOT more flying" he says as he subtely points to the to the ol' wife who is now immersed in the exciting world of museums, and totally ignoring her husbands flying talk. I'm sure she's had her fill of that. He then goes on about how much they used to fly and how much he enjoyed it. Him and the ex. There is some mention of how present non-flying wife won't or can't fly.

So out of mere curiosity (or boredom), I ask "oh, is she not much of a flier?"

He says "Well, no. Actually, she has this INTESTINAL problem."

I nod. (Ok, that's quite enough information, thank you)

But no. He goes on to explain!

"Yes, she has troubles with her intestines, so when she has to GO, she has to GO NOW!!! So, it kind of cuts into the length of trips we can take, and this one time..."

Oh please stop. I get it!!

Thank goodness that this poor woman was totally oblivious to her husbands sharing of her bladder control problems with a total stranger.

38 more days...

Can't resist:

Is it winter yet?!?!

More on biking, or... biking morons?

George and Gracie post-run fluid replenishment:


Post-run backrub:


Ahhhh.... that felt GREAT!


Meanwhile, later that night Ivy discovered...

...THE COUCH!!!

I can't drag her scrawny butt off of it. She IS in there... with her head buried in her new favourite quilt!