new cabin dwellers

So Ray is out running on the snowless trails with his big 5 dog team and he's cut a trail of about 14km on the river. And he's annoying me by telling me how windy and fun it is, that meanie! :)I'm not out on the sled or skis yet, 'cause my better judgement says I'm asking for trouble combining the no-snow factor and my recovering knee - which is rapidly improving, yay!

This weekend will see us playing lots of fetch and practicing our new hobby - freight pull! Turns out Ripper is a pro (no surprise for the maniac who never stops moving) and Harris surprised me with his gusto for freight pulling. He's a bit embarasing with his 70lbs screeching and whining when he's hooked up, but he's hilarious. See, we really just want to win some dog food so I'm making them work for it! The first freight pull is this weekend and I'll see if I can get it together to come to town at the crack of 11:30am.

Sage says "what? You can't take a picture of me this close?!?!

Nice slimey nostrils buddy

It's...

Pooh Bear! Hey! What are you doing in MY cabin?!?! ;)


Esther, Ray's knee and Pooh Bear! Apparently I can't write "Pooh Bear!" without putting the exclamation point behind it.

Nevermind Ripper's butt in this photo, but don't they look kinda comfy already after being inside for only a half hour or so? Pooh Bear isn't screeching! Amazing.


Pooh Bear looks like she's falling asleep while Esther tries to run through the window. She can hear the other dogs howling outside and isn't sure what to make of it.


ADORABLE! All 12lbs of her.


Trying to get a picture of the one of these wiggly girls was hard enough, nevermind BOTH of them.

Half-head shot since she can't stand still!

Esther really wants to come for a pet but isn't sure about that thing flashing in her eyeballs.

Oh did I forget to mention that these are the two new additions to the kennel? :)

Boy, I have to say, things are a bit rowdier now. I'm going to try to get some video on the weekend of these two when they are let loose. Have you ever seen a dog run, jump, pounce and SCREEEEECH at the same time?!?! While repeatedly launching themselves into you? If it wasn't so damned funny I'd be annoyed. Good thing I can flick Pooh Bear away like flea! :)

Baby Update!

Sorry for the kinda crappy photo, but I didn't want the flash going off in their wee eyeballs!
That is Sarah on the left and Adelaide on the right - Adelaide seems to always be interested in what's going on. Sarah just seems to be mellow and sleep all the time. We'll see if that keeps up!


Happy Mum


Happy dad cradling her like a football :)


Not sure who this is...


Heather emerging from the bathroom looking delirious, but happy. Or both. I'm kind of lost with all the mood swings! (just kidding Heather... kind of)


Sean's comfy "bed"


OMG how cute is that face!!!!!


Ha! I was caught kissing babies heads, hey, I should be a politician! Geez, look at that huge bruise on my hand, that's thanks to the IV I had in last week. Looks like a bit target around the needle hole. I'd like to thank the nurse who interupted MY nurse while she was poking me. She got distracted and had to do it again. That's ok, I gave nurse 1 a hard time about it later... :)


The cutest two little peas in a pod!


Not sure which this is...


Or this? Dang twins.

So they were all just released from the hospital and are on their way home. Pretty exciting and quick! Holy crap do people move sloooooow with 2 babies and a whole lotta crap!! I told Sean next time I will plan for the whole day when they ask me to help them with the babies. Aw, but they are so cute it's worth it...

Few shots from the weekend

The first Copper Haul Twister was this weekend and we had a great turnout - 16 teams for the 12-mile race! Not so much for the other two races, where there were no kids and one pet dog racer.

Jon opted to head out on the bike. Yes, in winter. That's Asha the rottie facing the wrong way!


Lovely team of huge dogs - and they all were identical!


Elidih Lucas takes on the "big" race. Came in second, not too bad!


The Start Line! I love Gene's sunglasses and the hugeness of them. Holding the sled on the right is Judith from Australia. This was her first dogsled race, and we roped her into volunteering! From the look on her face, she had a swell time.


This is almost sad to look at, but I will be on it soon! My little sled from last year now has a lovely bag on it, thanks to Bombproof Dave.


And this is my knee! The day after the arthroscopy. Now that I think about it, I REALLY should have done this in summer. Everything is so much easier in shorts with a bandaged knee. Not too mention all the extra crap we have to do in the winter, firewood, etc. Including all the dog sports! And now that I'm careful with the knee, I've never realized just how MANY times the dogs smash into my legs!! They all seem to have perfected this little spin-around thing where they'll run up to me and spin around while slamming their rear end into me. How the heck did I not notice this before?


After I got home - I had to look at the carnage! Not that there was much, just three little holes. Apparently I "scuffed" my meniscus and the dr. cleaned it up. At least that's what I think he said while I was in my post-surgery drug-induced euphoria! Ah, it was glorious!!! I'm not sure I should have liked that anasthetic so much! All I remember is going, "wooohoooo... what did you just give me?" and the dr. said "just starting the anasthetic" to which I replied once again, "woohoooo" with a "hahaha" in there as the room started spinning. The last thing I heard before I went into la-la land was the dr. saying "you're too young to be a child of the 60's!" Thwump. Then I was out of it. Oh, I like how the dr. actually signed it! Haha. After a few showers I still have his initials on me.

So after 3 days of cursing the soreness, I am amazed at how rapidly things are getting better. All I have now is a small bit of pain in the knee and stiffness. I should be on skis soon!


Meanwhile, I watch Ray run dogs! Note how little snow there is, yet he is on a sled. Oy!

Quick update

Hey all, I'm still kickin'! Ok, not really kicking, but I'm up and kind of about. The knee is swollen and cranky and it's going to rub off on me soon! It's very annoying and frustrating when I'm at home but can't do a thing! So I came into town today to get some drugs to help a bit. It's a wee bit painful I have to say. However, I'm off to the first CHT race tomorrow, should be fun to sit on the sidelines and cheer everyone on! :)

Grass skiing

Well, I had planned on going skijoring no matter what this past weekend, but really it was a stretch. There is hardly any snow and as you can see, there is more grass than snow! Skis don't do too well on grass I've found.

So we were on the 4-wheeler. I tried to show this little ravine but you can't really see how narrow it is. The 4-wheeler barely fit in it and I had to sidehill it with these guys raring to go down it. This is us going up on the way back so they're a bit calmer. Can't wait to get out on the river. Ray is working on the river trail as I type! Yippeee!


Loki is up to his old tricks! Caught him about to eat the gangline here!! *CHOMP*
Baaaaad Loki.... but what can you do? He just loses his mind when he's in the team.


Coming back to the homestead.


Ivy is having a bit more fun now, she was a little bit freaked out at the beginning of the season, not sure why. Maybe she's hoping for more snow too? :)


Octane is still motoring along, despite his 11yrs. He just keeps to himself, does what he's told and is ALWAYS happy to come in the cabin! Ahem, you can also see Loki in behind gnawing on the line AGAIN! I'm going to have to review these photos with that little brat.


Rupert and Ripper had a stellar run. This is the first time we went down here and sometimes it just amazes me how they can follow trails that barely look like trails! Thank god they're the ones doing the thinking... ;)

On another note: this is what happens when you cook lasagna with 6 dogs in the cabin! (and yes, that is a lawn chair in my cabin - I had guests!)

I tried to get a shot where all SIX were looking right at me, er, the stove. But they were too wiggly.


Dave and Heather were kind enough to share the couch with Jack. Or Jack's butt. Or Jack was kind enough to share the couch with them. Really, does that look comfortable to you??


The three amigos - Kuna, Jack and Harris can't think of anything else but FOOOOOOD! I'm just happy the stove is actually taller than them. Makes stealing food a lot more problematic.


BABY UPDATE!

No doubt my mom is going to melt when she sees this....

And then grill me as to when I'm having some!!! I'll have to run it past the dogs first mom... :)

I like how the one on the left is waving to us all. I have no idea which is which btw. But these little cuties are on their way home to the Yukon! Apparently they are coming on the next available flight! I'm hoping they come in tomorrow as I will be in the hospital watching some Dr. poke at my knee. And hopefully fix it so I can skijor next week when we get 3ft of snow and have 5 snow days in a row. Oooh, snow days, I remember those...

We are having our first CHT race this weekend though, so there is *just* enough snow for that up on Fish Lake Road. So c'mon out if you're in the area. I will be hobbling around and dulling the pain with some Bailey's and coffee I think. And taking lots of pictures.

Think snow. :)

Dog name of the Year: Pooh Bear!

Anyone who wants to see up to the minute photos of the twins, head to Sean's blog - and be prepared - some are fairly graphic, but very cool at the same time. Twins and mom n' dad are doing great!

Jen posted this on Facebook and it made me laugh! That is my favourite shot of me! Haha. Gotta love art...


Back to reality:

The ol' water hole is in good shape in the winter. There is a little bridge to the open water and dumping buckets in it takes no time at all. This was gathering water for the neighbour's dogs last week.

Blurry river ice/ripped pants shot. I need patches, they're a wee bit chilly in the winter.

The creek from the truck. This is a busy place I tell ya, I can't believe the amount of people that get water out of here.


Frozen creek. I want to skijor on that! That said, it is SNOWING right now!!! Ok, it is light but it's something and really all I'm asking for is a couple inches, I swear! I'd be happy with that. I won't complain after, no not at all.


This KILLED me!! Darrell's dog - "Pooh Bear!" How could you NOT love a dog with a name like that? Ok, maybe you would have a hard time if you actually HEARD her piercing screeches travel across the yard and stun your brain. She is LOUD, all 25lbs of her. Every night I fed her I called her from across the yard (which, granted, didn't help with the screaming factor) and then after I fed her I'd just pick her up like a baby. She loved it!

It's dangerous feeding someone else's dogs - I fell in love with this one too! Esther... she is shy, like Loki and pierced my soul with those dark eyes. She is adorable.



"Ack! I want to go visit for a pet, but can that stranger be trusted...?"


Ok, she looks friendly enough...

Once she came for one pet, Esther couldn't stop herself! I found that actually laying in her little circle with her made her feel quite comfortable. I spent one Saturday doing just that, lying with the dogs on the frozen ground. Try it, you'd be amazed at the responses of the dogs!

That said, if I tried this with mine, most of my dogs would just step all over me! :)

New additions!!

The babies are here! The babies are here!! (mom and baby below)

Thanks to Sean for finding a computer to rapidly send us photos of the new ones who suprised everyone with their early arrival!


Wee hand, but Sean! You cut off her head!!! Geez, dad....


The happy parents-to-be. Sean already looks asleep. Heather has quite the smile for someone about to give birth! Maybe it's the drugs?


Much needed sleep with Darwin the cutest, most animated stuffie ever.

So here's how the birth happened from my perspective: Friday night we were all at a dinner for Ray's birthday. Sean and Heather were in town for a doctor's appt, and they stayed a bit later to join the rest of us for dinner. I remember joking to Heather during dinner about how prawns induce labour, to which she responded with voraciously stuffing them in her mouth, laughing. Well, before we know it Heather and Sean had to leave since Heather wasn't feeling so comfortable. Not an uncommon thing lately - with 11lbs of babies in her! So they head home and later that night they realized she was going into labour and that it was even happening during dinner (damn prawns!). So with Heather being 1 measley week shy of having the girls in Whitehorse, she was flown down to Kamloops. I guess she was in denial and not believing the dr's when they told her the babies were coming out... soon! Well, within 24hrs after that dinner, the lovely little new Fitzgeralds were born a healthy 5lbs 3 ounces and 5lbs 8 ounces - sizes that pleasantly surprised dr's. They were almost 6 weeks early. And I believe Heather's dad wins the prize for picking the closest date for delivery? I was 3 days off!

Anyways, can't WAIT till they get to town. It is pure torture not being able to see them, but I know we'll see them tons when they come back home.

Onto my stuffies!

Kuna is laid out after a hard day of, well, barking and eating and bossing around the others.


George is pleading for a belly rub. Or ordering me to give her one. Yeah, that's more likely.

We did a bit of hiking around the property and made it down to the river - here's where we're putting some new trails on the way to the river. More meadows!


The Mendenhall River

It's quite nice and small. Hopefully it freezes well! There are also a few spots with awesome ponds - great for pond hockey! Oh wait, I am having knee surgery next week. No pond hockey for AT LEAST a month. :)


Hey - here's MY new additions!! A functioning fridge and stove, woohoo! The first thing in the fridge - beer! It's really all I had...

But I can't wait to get cooking - a feeling I've never really had before. I used to be "ah, take it or leave it..." now, without these appliance for 4 months, all I want to do is USE them!! Any good recipes - send my way please!! And if you're in the neighbourhood, stop by! :)

Off I go to buy real groceries to put in my functioning fridge!