Horses

Just a quick post about the horses as I sit here waiting for my bike team to show up for our longest ride of the season so far.... the bike relay is coming up soon! And look at this weather we have ahead of us, what a great week!!!

So, the horses!

Finally got some pics of those elusive babies.

Hanging close to mama.

A little curious...

And then they ran the hell away when I got out of the truck to get a closer picture. They are freakin' wild that's for sure. Not the friendly little gang that showed up on my doorstep a couple months ago.  Too bad, I would have loved to have petted, hugged and stolen a pony or two...

I think they would fit in well with dogs right??! :)

Yet another reason winter is better...

WARNING: Like many of my posts, this one took a drastically different direction that I had planned... soooo... enter at your own risk!

The quills. I think it's pretty self-explanatory.

So here's some pretty blurry shots of Ripper after the latest porcupine incident, sorry for the quality, I really wanted to show off that face of quills, but didn't have a lot of time before I needed to get down to business.

The funniest thing was what he was doing right here. There was a piece of fish on the ground and in true, oblivious-to-everything Ripper - was trying to eat the fish with a face full of quills. I don't think he really clued into WHY he couldn't gulp the fish down, so he kept going at it.  So I just started yanking quills out right there and it didn't even faze him.

I thought "wow, this is going to be easy!" But then... Rippers inner baby came out and he screamed and screeched and yelped at EVERYTHING. I fought and wrestled with him for over TWO hours and finally tired him out. Kind of. Then he'd get a second, third and fourth wind and fight me some more.

Two days later I'm still so sore from our wrestling match I can barely walk.  He was very insistent on not continuing the de-quilling process and fought me every inch of the way. My deck was (still is) covered in blood, I was covered in his blood spatter and so was Ripper. Those things tend to bleed a bit, especially out of the nose! 

He was like a little prize fighter trying to escape my death-grip on him.  When he did this, he'd inadvertently stab me with his quills (mental note: do NOT de-quill dogs in shorts!).

So, in conclusion: this is a great workout for anyone looking for a new training regime!!! I highly recommend it.

It is amazing he didn't get poked in the eyes by those things.

You can see the fuzzy white outline around his face, yep all quills. 

Ripper had to go to the vet though, since there were quite a few I couldn't get and one in particular that broke of right under his eye and was poking out sideways like an alien coming out of his face. But you couldn't get at it. And I know I'm stating the obvious here, but those quills are really meant to do some damage!

So... while he was in at the vet clinic, I decided to REALLY teach him a lesson and get him neutered as well. Eh, why not?  It was something I'd been meaning to do for awhile anyways, so why not kill two birds (or, balls) with one stone??  The vet staff laughed and kind of went "ooh, that'll show him not to get into porcupines."  I wish!

I know some of you are thinking, "but Stacie - poor Ripper, at 10yrs old how will removing his beloved testicles affect his self-esteem and ego?  He will be depressed and not feel like a man-dog anymore. How horrible!  Also, you have two intact females there, it will be torture for the poor guy!" 

Oh, not to worry my curious readers. I have invested in something to alleviate that particular situation:

Neuticles!* - The revolutionary testicular implant procedure for pets! At only $165/pair, it's well worth it for my (and Ripper's) peace of mind.
 

Various sizes. Ripper told me he needed the XL version, and who am I to argue??

Don'tcha just want to SQUEEZE it?!?!?

And here are some testimonials who made the wonderful decision to purchase this product for their beloved canines:

• "He's a guy and I wanted him to remain looking like one."  - Joe, Wisconsin
  
• "The old way of neutering is 200 years old- Neuticles is about 199 years overdue!"  - Billy Bob, Arkansas
  
• "Just call me a caring pet owner."  - Trish, Anchorage
  
• "I've put off neutering "Crooked Joe" for months and when I found out about Neuticles and spoke to them it made me feel better about neutering. Joe not only looks the same now- but dosen't know he's missing anything."  - John, Ohio
  
• "I feel at ease knowing my faithful companion, Ripper, has come out of surgery feeling the same as he went in. Like a MAN. With a big ol' nutsack still intact."  - Stacie, Yukon.

And the best thing about all of this!?? I think I've just found next year's birthday presents for my mom and dad! (you seriously gotta LOVE the internet)

Neuticles earrings! What says "Happy Birthday, I love you" more than a set of fake silicone-injected dog balls to hang off your ears??

I can just picture my dad bbq'ing up his famous Beer Chicken on a sunny summer day wearing this!

Ok, I got sidetracked there a bit. SEE how I waste my weekends?!?!?!

Anyways...

Loki only had about 15 quills total, but trying to pull quills and inflict pain on a FREAKY dog is not my idea of fun. He was shaking so bad before I even started pulling, he was so freaked out by the whole incident. I think if Loki were to see another porcupine, he'd be the dog that would have learned his lesson and would leave a trail of dust as he runs the other way. Ripper, not-so-much.

The Aftermath: Loki. He currently has maybe two quills in his mouth, but we're working on those!  Clearly quills will not stand in his way of some good ol' fashioned fun with balls. (I am purposely refraining from any testicle jokes here!!)

The Aftermath:  Ripper, a VERY happy new Neuticles customer.  

* Thanks to Dave for pointing out this life-altering product that will keep my dog feeling like a... well, a dog. Without real balls, but with silicone-injected goodness. I hope the girl-dogs can't tell fake dog balls from real dog balls. Ok, I'm stopping now.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Ok, so I'm kinda hit n' miss with these blog announcements - but here's wishing my good ol' dad a VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY tomorrow!!!  I'm on top of things (and even early), not because I forgot to send a card or present.... no, but because I care. That much. 

Ok, there *might* be a little something on the way, but I don't want to ruin the surprise. It might just be five 10,000 piece jigsaw puzzles, or not, it might be a staining brush so you can practice before you get up here later this summer, I can't say for sure.  Hey, you gotta keep the retirees busy and out of trouble!

Pooh Bear! also wishes you a happy birthday and says: "Just because I love you so much - when you visit, I'll let YOU run me over with the 4-wheeler too! Like Stacie did last week!!" 

Yes... those are unfortunate tire marks on her side.

And to be honest I didn't run her over, she RAN INTO the tire. THEN I almost ran her over. Luckily the brakes still kind of work on that thing. The 4-wheeler, not the Pooh Bear! 

Not even a 4-wheeler can take me down! I'm the invincible Pooh Bear!!!!!!

Chasing the horses!

Why is it that those damned horses are so elusive when I'm on my bike, but driving... I see them alll the time! I was ordered to get pics of the baby horse in the comments a few posts back -thanks Janice of Hodge Podge Kennels! :)  

So you can't say I didn't try really HARD yesterday! I went on a dual mission... biking and to catch a glimpse of that little gangly, wobbly baby!

If you click on this photo, it'll get real big! And you'll see an elk about to cross the highway. He walked verrrrrry slowly up to the road, eyed me up on my bike, and wondered what the heck this thing coming towards him was.  Not as fast as a car, so I think he was really confused! So I stopped. That didn't ease his nerves, in fact he got spooked even more after that and raced back into the bushes from where he came. 

And there he goes - that's his "get away from the crazy lady on the bike!" move.

31km out and still no horses!!! It was supposed to be a crappy rainy, cloudy long weekend but I picked a pretty decent time for the ride, mostly blue sky and not too terribly cold to ride in shorts. We only have a few months around here to work on our tans so I have to make the most of it!

Thank goodness I was going into a headwind the whole way out, because as tired as I was on the way back, it was pretty fun and easy with the tailwind.

I don't know where the hell I took this.  One highway shot really starts to look like another after a few miles.  I think this was on the way back at some point.


The Takhini river is pretty much ice free around here.

Da Bridge.

Those little dots in the middle of the photo are the elk that are penned up.  Click on this to see them closer up.  They're living life easy in the pens, being fed and having lots o' babies... all that fun stuff!  This is done so the nasty ticks they're hosting fall off in a secure area so they don't latch on to other animals, like moose. The ticks are much more dangerous to the moose.  After a year of penning the elk up (in the spring for a few months), the biologists seem to think it's working as the elk look much healthier - yay for successful tick eradication! 


And... at approximately 61.3km I had a flat tire... I figured I had more energy to walk the .7km home (you can see the last of my walk/ride above) than screw with the tire on the side of the road.  Even though the BEST part of the whole ride is at the end - flying down the driveway as it's all downhill just makes my day! :)

My new favourite website

I think we can all relate to having some goofy, embarassing family photos around. My new favourite site: Awkward Family Photos ROCKS! Check it out. But in case you need a teaser - here you go:

I wonder how many times throughout the years they tried to take this photo and weren't quite aligned propertly?  Little Timmy has a growth growth spurt, and the plan is foiled!   And WHY do people never smile in old photos?? I know times were tough, but c'mon, flash one grin!

Ok, if I ever start wearing a "World's Best Mom" sweater while holding a dog and wearing reindeer antlers, PLEASE KILL ME!

Oh god I miss the 80's.

And the most disturbing of all...

And you thought YOUR parents were bad!!!! There are so many things wrong with this photo, I don't even know where to start.

I love the internet. :-)

What a wonderful day!

Free-running with the 4-wheeler! Man I love this place!!!! So do the dogs apparently... I mean, can you beat this life?

One of our many spring trail ponds, Lucy is almost totally submerged.  I love it. And she doesn't shake the water off when she gets out like normal dogs do. So she walks around saturating everyone around her for hours. It's rather quite annoying. But so Lucy. 

Cloudy, crappy day! But oh so pretty.


Pooh Bear! chases Esther!

Not exactly sure what PB! is doing here... she looks a bit twisted. I think she's practicing her gazelle impersonation.

This was Esther's "DON'T-freakin'-run-into-me!" look. PB runs into everyone and everything ALL the time.


I was looking for an excuse to take a break near the end of my 52km ride and this was it! Crocus sighting! (normally I could care less about them, but I stopped looking at a LOT of plants and flowers and bugs and dirt at this point)

The long road ahead. And into the wind. Oh joy. I had just turned around and had 26km to go.  I really should have gone into the wind first, by going the other way. But the wind always seems to always sneak up and bite me in the arse!


The big pond! Nothing too exciting going on here. I was hoping to run into the renegade horse herd (of which there is a new baby!!!), but missed them dammit.

Back at the homestead...

How many dogs can you see lounging with me today?? Lucy is dripping there, sitting on the porch, and Kuna is right up against me. He never lets me get too far away from him. Because I'm the food source. If he figured out it was actually the freezer, he'd never leave IT'S side.

Ah, a growler of Yukon Brewing goodness, a book, my porch, brush burning... who could ask for anything more?? Hey Dad - I even burned some dog food bags in your honour!! (the paper kind, not plastic!)

Jack agrees, Sundays rock. 

And before I run out of time... I still have 15 minutes local time!!! HAPPY MOTHERS DAY to my mom.

She's the one on the left(ha!).  Hope you had a great day... see you soon! The dogs can't wait to jump on you and share their fur with your clothing! I am saving up all my dishes for you as well.  :)

The TUFF BALL test

Playing with balls is a bit of a balancing act.  Ok, with these dogs it's practically useless - you KNOW the balls are going to get destroyed. Eventually. The only question is how long will they last??

I should look for sponsorship from ball companies to test the "toughness" of their balls. 
I decided to do a little experiment the other night (I REALLY need a hobby or something).

Let's take "Tuff Balls" - how "tuff" are they you ask??

The TUFF BALLS - not just tuff, but minty! Yeah, that'll keep the dogs from eating them...


The cowdogs are freakishly obsessed with fetching balls.  I think they're more border collies than husky/sled dogs, as the level of excitement when the balls come out is not paralleled at ALL to the excitement when the sled comes out. Ivy is especially astute and agile and she just plain rules this game. No one else has a chance.


Pooh Bear! is a little pissed that she is penned up during our game of Fetch!! (she got her game on later... don't feel sorry for the yappy freak)

So, the verdict! After ONE throw...

Yep, cracked it open like an eggshell, unreal! Screw you Tuff Balls!

(ok, I have to admit the second Tuff Ball withstood at least a dozen throws, so more experimenting is required)


The carnage. The ball on the left was a huge squeaky ball - those last long IF I remember to get them from the dogs right away.   The squeaky balls are always a huge hit. Nothing like toying with the inner predator in the dogs psyche!

Ivy, looking to destroy more. TOTALLY oblivious when I demand her to drop the ball. She conveniently goes deaf at those times.


Loki looks mildly interested in the ball. Probably drawn to the mint-i-ness of it all.

Ripper does NOT look upset.  So it's cracked in half, so what!!!?? Throwwwww it so I can eat the WHOLE THING!!!!!

What warms my heart....

A freezer full of frozen fish!!!!!!!!! (say that really fast 10x!). And I have one extra block that won't fit so I have to feed the dogs nothing but fish for a couple days, they'll be *so* distraught... :)

Birdseed for the crazy birds around here.  I think I forgot to mention the little swallow that smashed into one of the front windows and landed in my wood box a few weeks ago. He/she was a bit stunned for a couple hours, but seemed to be coming around.  Then Amil and Heather showed up for a bike ride. I took them over to show them the bird, thinking they'd be interested, especially since Amil is an big ol' animal freak. Turns out she is NOT a big fan of birds! She is freaked out by them and was explaining to us how she "hates it when they fly all around you and they're totally unpredictable..." and as those words were still coming out of her mouth, my little bird friend flew straight up in the air, totally erratically and dive-bombed Amils' head on the way to freedom! HOLY COW, I just about peed myself as she yelled "See!! That's why I hate birds!!!!" hahaha

And then we rode our bikes. :)