I'm Baaaaaack

Location: Armuchee, GA
Time - 3:18pm Eastern Daylight Time
Temperature: 90 degrees F (32 C)
Conditions: Partly cloudy, hot
Forecast: Partly cloudy with chance of thunderstorms today, mostly sunny tomorrow. Highs in the 90s, lows in the 60s

Susan on a canicross run last week

Hey all,

Yeah, it's been WAY too long since my last blog post. Even longer than it should have been because my last post disappeared into a black hole even after it was up and posted on my other blog.

My other blog. Right - http://sleddoggin.com/blogs/wolfmoonsleddog/ Where I have been blogging since September 2007. The webmaster from sleddoggin.com is taking a break for a while and he warned me before he left that the site would be unsupported. However I decided to keep my blog/website where it was because I was used to it and I didn't want to go through the hassle of trying to move all the content to another site. But then, a couple of weeks back I got on my sleddoggin.com blog to write an update and discovered that the last post I had published was GONE and so was my blog header. Worried that some of my other hard work might inexplicably vanish, I transferred all of the text posts here to this blogspot site (which I already had up with a link to my other blog) and the rest of the website to http://wolfmoonsiberians.wordpress.com/ That site will function as my main information website for Wolf Moon Siberians. It's kind of messy right now but I'll get it fixed up in the next few weeks. And I'm in the process of transferring all the photos from the sleddoggin blog to THIS blog...

I am, however, excited to report that I can now post videos to my blog so you'll get to see some Wolf Moon videos in the near future.

But enough about that, how about an update on the kennel. Really not too much to report, we've had a couple of nice mornings - even hit 48 degrees F a couple of weeks back. I've been doing canicross runs when I can - taking Bonnie and Susie out individually. It's fun to work with them one on one like that. They have such a beautiful gait and quickly settle in to a nice trot. Susan is phenomenal; guess her leading experience payed off big time.

Bonnie is just as enthusiastic but a little more easily distracted. She gets excited at little birds flitting around on the side of the trail, or where other trails branch off. But she's a fast learner and quickly figures out what is wanted of her. She just launches into her harness and pulls.

Calypso is recovering very well. She now has fur back on her leg and she is using it a lot more now. Obviously I'm not taking her running right now but she's getting a little more exercise and is delighted that I'm letting her play more.

Wilson and April are fine. I think I've mentioned before that Willy has finally shed his excess pounds this Summer and looks quite good. He has gotten a little more food-obsessed though and screams bloody murder if anyone (ie. Bonnie) starts nosing around his food bowl. Fortunately I pick up the bowls after everyone eats so this isn't really an issue.

April is still getting around about the same. She's stiff but still happy and enjoying life.

And me? Well I took that GED and passed, so I can start working on my CVT degree when I get that little piece of paper...Yay squared!

Oh, one of my friends at the Chattanooga Nature Center sent me this article yesterday:

From: http://www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_184461.asp

Dryland Sled Dog Racing Demo At Bark In The Park Oct. 9posted September 20, 2010There will be an short demonstration of Dryland Sled Dog Racing at the third annual Bark in the Park 2010 event on Saturday, Oct. 9, at Heritage Park. Dryland dog sledding, long used to train and condition sled dogs in the off season for races such as the famous "Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race" in Alaska, is rapidly becoming a sport of its own. In Dryland Sled Dog Racing, competitors use a rig (three-four wheeled cart with a locking brake and handle/steering wheel) instead of a sled and race on dirt trails instead of snow. The primary dog used for these races is a Siberian Husky, an independent dog that loves the company of people and other dogs and has an instinctive love of running. Prior to the demo, participants will be able to see the racing rig up close (as well as the dogs) and will be able to ask questions about Dryland Sled Dog Racing and the foster care and adoption of Siberian Huskies.
Admission to Bark in the Park 2010 is free with a small charge for some activities. Heritage Park is located just off East Brainerd Road (behind the Pizza Hut) at 1428 Jenkins Road. The event will be held from 10 .m.-2 p.m. rain or shine and proceeds will support the funding of the new off-leash dog park at Heritage Park (grand opening at the event).Activities at the event include dog adoptions, free "Dogs at Work" demos (police/drug/Goodwill service dogs), free agility and obedience demos, Meet the Breed, a Pet "PAWlour" with nail painting, glitter and hair bows, photos with your dog by a professional photographer, dog fun races (by weight class), contests (best costume, best trick and owner look-alike (male/female)), free face painting for the kids, food and a fire engine. There will also be door prizes and a free spin-the-wheel for additional prizes.Since Oct. 9 is the same day as the Tennessee vs. Georgia football game, there will be a fundraising competition between Tennessee's "Smokey" and Georgia's "Uga" mascots. A bluetick coonhound and a bulldog will be dressed up as these mascots and will be collecting cash votes for the favorite. The mascot that raises the most amount of cash will be declared the winner.There will be a dog parade at the end of the event, led by "Hari", the Bark in the Park mascot.Visit www.chattbarkinthepark.org for more information about the event and join facebook at "Chattanooga Bark in the Park".Vendor spaces are $50 for a 10x10 booth space and are still available. Contact chattbitp@gmail.com to participate as a vendor.

[end of article]

Doesn't say which team this is, and I thought I knew much of what was going on in the SE dryland mushing world.

There's also a canicross event to be held in Rome (GA) next month. Well, they don't call it that but it's a run with your dog race so it's basically the same thing.

Looks like there are FINALLY some interesting events going on nearby. This has been a really frustrating Summer for me. But then, Summer is my least favorite Season. I'd rather be out on the runners with a team on a moonlit trail at 30 below. No, I am not normal.

It feels so weird not being at MCK this year. I keep thinking back like "a year ago this time I was..." (a year ago this time I was helping with kennel chores, Fall training and getting ready for my roadtrip to Yellowstone).

This year at MCK, the handling team is Lori and Kim. Not sure if Phil will be back or if anyone else will be joining the crew. I hope to get back to the kennel at least for a visit or two and to get my so-cold-that-boiling-water-freezes-in-the-air fix this mushing Season.

Also new this year, Manitou Crossing Kennels has a Facebook page - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Manitou-Crossing-Kennels/150103878344629?v=wall&ref=ts Be sure to check it out, and "like" it if you are on Facebook. They've been posting some AWESOME pictures and blog entries there. Great photos of Jen and Ellie training teams. I'm happy to see how things are going up there...but man I miss the Northwoods and crisp mornings on the ATV...

Fall IS approaching in Georgia but it's a lot harder to tell. It isn't *quite* as humid and the light is at a different angle. Leaves are turning, but it's still TOO FREAKING HOT! Supposed to cool down in a few days so I guess that's a good thing.

Hmmm, not sure what else there is to report. Went to see "Inception" and liked it and spent the rest of the day trying to interpret it...

I'll write more soon. Many apologies for not posting much this past month.

Cheers!

A

Calypso, Impy and Writing Projects

Calypso, Impy and Writing Projects
Aug 16th 2010
wolfmoonsleddog
Southeast
Location: Armuchee, GA
Time - 6:08pm Eastern Daylight Time
Temperature: 94 degrees F (34C)
Conditions: Mostly clear, hot, humid
Forecast: Scattered showers tonight, thunderstorms tomorrow. Lows in the 70s, highs in the 80s

Above is post-surgery Calypso. Left photo shows her leg. This was taken several days ago and it looks waaaaay better than that picture shows. It is fast improving. Right photo shows Calypso resting on her “bed” in the living room. She loves this bed and is constantly nesting in it. In fact, as I am writing this, she is stretched out on it with her head under the sofa. Funny dog.

Calypso is recovering nicely and I couldn’t be happier with how things are going. SO glad to have the surgery behind us now. Although Calypso is NOT liking the E-collar (Elizabethan collar. It looks like a lampshade and prevents her from licking the incision) that she has to wear at night. Fortunately I can keep an eye on her during the day and she doesn’t have to wear it then.

So I had a very interesting weekend. Early Saturday morning (after my patented Calypso Alarm Clock System DEMANDED I rise and shine at about 6:30. One of these mornings I’m going to get an audio recording of her morning wake-up call and make a million dollars selling it as haunted house sounds for Halloween) a chocolate lab/mix of about 5 or 6 months of age showed up at our house and proclaimed himself to be The Thing That Wouldn’t Leave! (SNL reference there). Of course this was the worst possible time for a stray to show up but I had to do something. We made calls, talked to neighbors, etc. Nobody knew where the little guy, whom I started calling Impy, had come from. And we weren’t in a position to keep him…

Fortunately one of the calls I had made was to our vet and they knew someone who was interested in adopting such a dog. So Impy is currently at the clinic, waiting for what will hopefully be his new family.

Bonnie, Susie, April and Willy are doing okay. The weather has been gross but it’s supposed to be cooler over the next few days, so that’s good. I can’t wait until we can start training again and I feel like going outside during the daytime.

In the meantime, I have been writing. But not North City. Translating a season of webisodes into a novel turned out to be more troublesome than I had anticipated. I worked on the first chapter but I was having less fun the further it went along. It just seemed flat.

So I put that project on the back burner and started on something different. Since I’ve been wanting to roadtrip out to Yellowstone again so badly right now (though I don’t think that’s going to happen this Fall, unfortunately) I decided to write something that took place in Yellowstone.

It’s actually a re-write of something I wrote when I was ten, then re-wrote when I was twelve, then totally revamped and tried to make overly complicated when I was sixteen, before finally giving up. I’ve scrapped most of the overblown third draft and gone back to writing an adaptation of the first and second drafts. Obviously there are many changes, and I’m writing it with a waaaaaaaay different perspective than I did when I was ten but the basic storyline is the same.

It’s a children’s book, but not a kiddie book. And I’m having SO MUCH FUN WRITING IT! I’m on chapter 3 right now and the characters are already taking over (something that just wasn’t happening with North City). No title yet for this one, so I’ll probably be referring to it as “The Yellowstone Story.” I’ll keep you informed.

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One Response to “Calypso, Impy and Writing Projects”
Dave Lukosik on 17 Aug 2010 at 8:24 pm # edit this

Happy to read Calypso’s knee surgery went well and she is recovering and “resting” comfortably on her “bed”!

On Calypso's Surgery And "Due South"

On Calypso’s Surgery And “Due South”
Aug 7th 2010
wolfmoonsleddog
Southeast
Location: Armuchee, GA
Time - 12:58pm Eastern Daylight Time
Temperature: 85 degrees F (29 C)
Conditions: Partly cloudy, hot, humid
Forecast: Partly cloudy today and tomorrow. Highs in the 90s, lows in the 70s.

It’s a hot August day at home…

Calypso had knee surgery yesterday and is now back home and resting beside the chair where I am sitting. We’re looking forward (not really) to six to eight more weeks of restricted exercise for her. Maybe it’ll be cooler by the time this is “over.” The heat here is unreal. This is why I always leave GA in August (well, one reason). Because there is nothing I like about this kind of weather…However I understand that it’s not just the Southeast that is being hit with a horrendous heat-wave. I talked to Jen the other day and she told me it was 91 degrees on the North Shore. And that’s usually one of the coolest places in MN so I shudder to think what temperatures were like elsewhere in the state.

It feels weird going into August with no plans to escape go anywhere. The past two years it was back up to Minnesota. In 2007 my parents and I went to Alaska for the first time. But this year…I want to go somewhere where I can step outside without wanting to curl up and melt. I keep thinking about the Rockies and my trip out there last Fall. Seems like Yellowstone is one of the few places with decent weather right now. In the 30s there at night, I understand. Sweet!

But in the meantime, I’ve got things to do here. And I don’t even want to talk about the run-around about trying to find somewhere that offers the GED test in months other than May or June. Seriously…I just want to get that done and OVER WITH so I can actually move forward instead of standing in the mud like I feel I’m doing right now.

But I said I wasn’t going to talk about that right now.

Other things are going smoothly. And Calypso, yes. I was going to talk about Calypso.

She is a bit out of it right now and content to sleep and not do anything, which I guess is better than having her wanting to be bouncing off the walls when she should be resting. She looks kind of funny with most of the fur shaved off her left leg. Poor thing.

The other dogs are okay. We had Bonnie and Susan dashing around the house yesterday and then they both went and hopped on my bed. I swear, all they had to do was sit there and they got more and more hyper without doing ANYTHING. I said something to them and it was like the Great Explosion Of Wagging Tails And Doggy Laughs.

In the meantime, I’ve been re-watching episodes of Due South. I LOVE that show. If you’ve never heard it, do yourself a favor and at least find a copy of the pilot movie.

Due South aired for four seasons stretched between 1994 and 1999 but only the first two seasons aired in the US. The show was extremely popular in Canada and the UK (so popular that there were - and still are - Due South conventions) but for a long time it was near-impossible to find on DVD in America.

I found out about it because one of the main characters is a wolf hybrid played by a Siberian husky (except in the movie where he is played by a more wolfy-looking dog). Now of course I have a great internal struggle because, as I was saying loudly a few posts back, it drives me insane when people think my Siberians are wolves. And here is a show that is furthering that misidentification yet I absolutely LOVE THE SHOW!

The premise of Due South is as follows: Benton Fraser of the RCMP, along with his deaf, lip-reading wolf hybrid, Diefenbaker, are transfered to the Chicago consulate. There they meet up with detective Ray Vecchio and join forces to fight crime. It’s a culture clash comedy mixed with police/crime drama. Not slapstick funny but more subtly amusing.

I think the first two seasons are my favorites. After that, Ray goes undercover and Fraser teams up with a different cop, Stanley Kowalski. It’s still good but it seems to get a little sillier and far-fetched (okay, I know the whole thing is far-fetched). Seasons 3 and 4 are just kind of a different animal…Definitely worth seeing but I prefer 1 and 2.

And there’s a Car. All great TV shows of this type have to have a Car. This one is a 1971 Buick Riviera owned by Ray…and did I mention that Due South has awesome car chases (and dogsled chases in the movie)?

So yeah, I hadn’t watched the show since I first got hold of the VHS tapes and DVDs when I was about 14. So I’m really enjoying it second time around!

Also, as some of you probably already know, today is Beargrease sign-up. Of course I’m not going to be up there this year so I won’t be running the 2011 BG150 but stay tuned because I’m going to post the list of mushers who are as soon as it becomes available.

Over and out until next entry.

A

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2 Responses to “On Calypso’s Surgery And “Due South””
Dave Lukosik on 07 Aug 2010 at 8:27 pm # edit this

Beautiful log home in a beautiful setting! Wish I could change the weather thermostat! Read today that a huge chunk of ice broke free from one of Greenland’s main glaciers and is a floating island 4x the size of Manhatten. Best wishes for a speedy surgical recovery for Calypso! Yes, I remember watching “Due South”, enjoyed the program but wish there were more scenes with the siberian. You have to look up Sgt Preston of the Yukon. This TV series ran in the 1950’s when I was a kid for 3 years. Filmed at Big Bear in Calif in the Winter, but it looked like the Yukon! Remember Quaker Puffed Rice and Wheat were the sponsors, the stuff was “shot from guns” to puff it up! Got my “one square inch of the Yukon deed” by sending in the box tops. I think my Mom threw it out in one of her room cleaning spreys in my room as a kid. Most of my model airplanes I put together got distroyed this way to! “Sorry that got broken while I dusted your room.” I feel for the people up North, they aren’t used to this heat and humidity like us Southerns and displaced Northerners from Illinois! Keep cool and sane!

wolfmoonsleddog on 16 Aug 2010 at 4:45 pm # edit this

Thanks Dave. We like our house a lot.

Apparently in Oak Ridge, TN (where my grandmother used to live) they get an average of eleven days in the 90s. This year they have gotten SIXTY days in the 90s. It’s unreal.

Yes, I wish Dief was more prominent in some of the “Due South” episodes. Fortunately I like the rest of the cast, as well.

I have some “Sgt. Preston Of The Yukon” episodes on DVD! Much fun! I haven’t watched them recently though. Might have to do that.

Hope you are keeping cool!

A

Life In A Day, Dreams And An Update On Kippy

Life In A Day, Dreams And An Update On Kippy
Jul 29th 2010
wolfmoonsleddog
Southeast
Location: Armuchee, GA
Time - 9:35pm Eastern Daylight Time
Temperature: 79 degrees F (26 C)
Conditions: Cloudy with light rain
Forecast: Cloudy tonight, partly cloudy tomorrow. Highs in the 90s, lows in the 70s

Above is a screen capture from the footage I submitted to the Life In A Day project (http://www.youtube.com/lifeinaday). I don’t know whether or not they will choose to use any of my footage in the final film but when I read about the project I knew I had to record something to submit. Especially with my interest in filmmaking. Check it out, it’s pretty cool.

Things here are going well and I finally feel as if I am progressing on some of my other projects. It’s just a matter of deciding which things to say ‘no’ to when.

The weather has actually improved a little bit, although it’s still blazing hot (my friends Elisabeth and Abi and I met up at a pizza place a couple of days ago and laughed at the sign out front which read ‘It’s So Hot We Saw The Devil Chasing An Ice Cream Truck’) but we’ve gone back to having rain every afternoon, which makes a HUGE difference. Granted, some of it has come alongside pretty intense thunderstorms and a power outage (never had to worry about power lines going out at MCK) but I’m not complaining.

Although this Summer has had its frustrations and tough times, I am so much more emotionally stable than I was last Summer. Don’t take that wrong and think I was a danger to myself or anyone else at the time - I wasn’t. I was just in turmoil, trying to figure out if I was on the right path and trying to come to terms with the fact that I wasn’t a teenager or even a kid anymore, and neither were my childhood friends. This Summer I feel on solid ground, so to speak. Case in point: dreams. I had horrible dreams last Summer. I dreamed I had panic attacks, etc.

This afternoon I took a nap and had a very different dream. And it was a lucid dream, which hasn’t happened to me in quite a while. I’ve had lucid dreams before, where I know I am dreaming and I’ve been known to go around feeling things (walls, tables, wire, etc.) in my dreams to see if they actually feel “real” (they do). But one thing I’ve never before been able to do is to control my dreams. I also never have falling dreams (unlike most people).

Until this one. I dreamed I was going to fall from some great height…only I knew I was dreaming so I just focused on NOT falling and just stood on thin air and thought about something I was writing in real life. I’m not joking. The main reason I didn’t want to fall was that I knew it would be fast. Whenever I’ve dreamed about going fast, it’s always too fast and I pretty much can’t handle it and wake up. When I was little I was always annoyed because I LOVED merry-go-rounds but whenever I dreamed about riding a merry-go-round it always went too fast and the dream stopped. But this time I knew I was dreaming and I knew I was in control. It was cool just standing in the air but it was also kind of boring. So I thought, ‘hey, why not’ and fell. And this time, yes it was too fast…but I knew it wasn’t real and I was determined to enjoy it. It was seriously cool, because if felt real. I landed in a lake and somewhere along the line I lost the lucidity and my dream turned into something weird about pushing my friends’ car up a steep mountain road in Wal-Mart. Then the phone rang and woke me up.

In other news, Kippy-Calypso is going to have to have surgery on her knee. Despite my trying to keep her excercise very limited, she definitely has a torn cruciate. I talked to my vet down here and I talked to Jen on the phone and we have decided on a procedure. So Calypso will go in for that in about a week. It really sucks and the recovery is going to be *fun* (not!) but I’m looking forward to her not gimping around.

So I think that’s about it. I’ve started on the first chapter of North City and am still getting the hang of it. It will get easier to write as I go along and get to know the characters better.

Hope everyone is staying cool.

Cheers!

A

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One Response to “Life In A Day, Dreams And An Update On Kippy”
Dave Lukosik on 07 Aug 2010 at 8:07 pm # edit this

Hope your video clip makes the cut! Read in the news today they got lots of entries and the entries will be available online soon. Let us know when yours is available.

The Completed Shed And A New Direction For ‘North City’

The Completed Shed And A New Direction For ‘North City’
Jul 23rd 2010
wolfmoonsleddog
Southeast
Location: Armuchee, GA
Time - 9:34pm Eastern Daylight Time
Temperature: 86 degrees F (30 C)
Conditions: Cloudy, hot, humid
Forecast: Clear tonight and tomorrow. Lows in the 70s, high around 100

Witness the pretty much completed dog shed of Wolf Moon. Sweet! Our work has finally paid off and we have something to show for it!

In other news, Bluebonnet “Bonnie” would like for me to make a public service announcement stating that she is in no way, shape or form, affiliated with Tropical Storm Bonnie - http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100722/ap_on_re_us/tropical_weather

In the meantime, I have been thinking. My writing projects have not been going so well lately. I had several ideas floating around in my head for sci-fi, fantasy and kids’ stories. One in particular appealed to me a lot - it was expanding on a time-travel story that’s been in my head for years. Unfortunately I could not seem to make it work on paper. It just wouldn’t write. Urgh. I hate writer’s block.

In the meantime, the North City pilot was coming along but I was having doubts. Okay, it looked like I could do this but it was going to take a LOT of time and energy and seriously, getting a cast together would be a nightmare. And this is just for ONE PILOT. Never mind that I have enough material for TWO SEASONS. And even if we were somehow able to do it…To be honest, with the cast and crew I might be able to round up and my amature editing skills, it’d probably suck. No offense to anybody.

I just want this to be good.

So…what to do? Abandon the project. It was sounding kind of appealing. Wipe the slate clean and try to find a novel or SOMETHING that I could write.

Then I remembered. In Spring of 2008 I came up with what I thought was a great idea for a movie. I thought I’ve got to make that into a movie somehow. But what I wanted to do was waaaaaaaaaaay beyond my abilities, and I so badly didn’t want to tone it down. So I changed my plan and turned it into an approximately 600-page novel. It took me about four months to write it. No, I haven’t tried to get it published because there’s some things I want to fix first…

But that got me thinking. Duh. Instead of attempting doing a North City series that wouldn’t be able to live up to my expectations, turn it into a novel!

So that’s what I’m going to do.

Cheers!

A

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2 Responses to “The Completed Shed And A New Direction For ‘North City’”
Dave Lukosik on 26 Jul 2010 at 9:46 pm # edit this

Nice looking shed you got there! Nothing like building your own. Good luck on your “North City” novel. Just read your 2009 issue of Dog and Sled and enjoyed it!

wolfmoonsleddog on 29 Jul 2010 at 8:00 pm # edit this

Thanks! It was definitely cheaper than buying something pre-fab.

I’m going to try to get the 2010 “D&S” put together but it’s kind of on the back burner for now.

A

Hello Stress...

Hello Stress…
Jul 21st 2010
wolfmoonsleddog
Southeast
Location: Armuchee, GA
Time - 9:27pm Eastern Daylight Time
Temperature: 81 degrees F (27C)
Conditions: Partly cloudy, warm
Forecast: Partly cloudy tonight, chance of thunderstorms tomorrow. Highs in the 90s, lows in the 70s

Hanging out with Bonnie

“You, Susan, buckets of water from the wells!
You, Miss Unity, you follow her with the grease pails!”
“And what are you going to do?” said Susan, grabbing two buckets.
“I’m going to worry like hell and that’s not an easy job, believe me!”
-Terry Pratchett, ‘Thief Of Time’



So WE HAVE PRETTY MUCH FINISHED THE DOG SHED!!! Pictures of that coming soon. Just a couple of tweaks and the big Summer 2010 project will be complete! Next on the roster are the new doghouses and posts.

But my more immediate concern is whether Calypso is improving. I thought she was but then this morning she seemed to be favoring her leg as bad as ever. I really don’t want to have to deal with this - ugh! I want Calypso to be in perfect health. Just one stupid little thing like this and then…I’ll give it until at least Monday and see if there is improvement…I know it can take a while.

I’ve been able to hang out with a couple of my friends some and hope to be able to see them more next week, depending on what’s going on here…

I don’t know. I’m just feeling kind of low tonight and not sure why. I think I’m tired for one thing. I keep thinking of lots of little, medium-sized and big things I need to do and it seems the more things I actually GET done the more I feel like I’m NOT getting anything done. How weird is that?

Been going around about where to take the GED and worrying about how I will do…It’s a hassle trying to find somewhere to take it during Summer for some weird reason. And then, if you have to retake any of the sections, you have to wait months. Not that I plan to have to retake any. Quite the opposite, I plan NOT to, so if I DID have to retake any it would throw a huge wrench in my plans. Agh!

Got a chapter and a half left in my algebra book. So far so good on that.

I have several writing projects in my head but getting them out and onto some sort of media is a different story. Got to just sit down and ignore the five million distractions and just write them out.

And it’s too hot outside, even at night.

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3 Responses to “Hello Stress…”
Dave Lukosik on 26 Jul 2010 at 9:49 pm # edit this

Glad to see you two chilling out in the shade! Remember only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the noon day Sun!

wolfmoonsleddog on 29 Jul 2010 at 8:01 pm # edit this

Shade is good. Shade is very good. Shade is the best invention since sliced bread.

Actually, the sliced bread part is arguable.

A

Dave Lukosik on 29 Jul 2010 at 8:45 pm # edit this

I totally agree! My backyard that is 80% shaded with hardwoods, pines, and red cedars is 10 degrees cooler than my neighbor who had all his trees cut down and replaced with grass! My siberians appreciate the shade!

Cheers!

Cheers!
Jul 17th 2010
wolfmoonsleddog
Southeast
Location: Armuchee, GA
Time - 2:26pm Eastern Daylight Time
Temperature: 88 degrees F (31C)
Conditions: Cloudy with a slight breeze
Forecast: Scattered thunderstorms today and tomorrow. Highs in the 80s, lows in the 70s

Today I just want to take a moment to say happy birthday to my Mom who, along with my Dad, is my strongest supporter, as well as an incredibly strong individual!

I have here the one and only picture of the one and only time we’ve gotten her out on a dogsled. That was in upstate New York, March 2002 - this was taken just after she drove that three-dog team for several miles through the snowy woods.

Tonight I believe my Mom and Dad and I will be going out to eat although I don’t know that we have decided exactly where. We’ll see where Mom decides to go - it’s her birthday after all!

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2 Responses to “Cheers!”
Dave Lukosik on 17 Jul 2010 at 12:56 pm # edit this

It’s hard to tell from the photo, but I think your Mom has a big smile on her face when she returned from the 3 dog sled run! Wishing you all a great Happy Birthday celebration this evening for your Mom!

wolfmoonsleddog on 23 Jul 2010 at 7:18 pm # edit this

I think she did. I know she enjoyed the second part of the run, once the dogs had calmed down and no longer were running like bats out of hell. LOL None of us had quite been prepared for that.

A

Pet Peeves And [maybe not-so-]Brilliant Ideas That Last A Day

Pet Peeves And [maybe not-so-]Brilliant Ideas That Last A Day
Jul 15th 2010
wolfmoonsleddog
Southeast

Location: Armuchee, GA
Time - 9:34pm Eastern Daylight Time
Temperature: 87 degrees F (31C)
Conditions: Mostly clear, hot
Forecast: Clear tonight, chance of thunderstorms tomorrow. Highs in the 90s, lows in the 70s.


Image from http://www.cafepress.com/+before_you_ask_jr_baby_doll_double_sided,26160664

Hi everyone,

This is Alice White and I just want to clear a few things up. One of my big, big, big pet peeves (besides those monogram decals that people have on the back of their car windows) is when people make big assumptions.

First off, there is the usual question that every Siberian husky owner knows: “Is that a wolf?” We’re used to it and I really try not to let it get to me. July 4th this year I had three seperate people ask me if Bonnie was a wolf. I guess it must be the double coat, bushy tail and pointed ears. It just gets old after a while.

But that’s not what really got me wound up. The “dog has pointed ears=therefore dog is a wolf” assumption is more a case of mistaken identity. I’m talking about big assumptions.

Case in point, someone was talking to my Dad the other day - about fishing. My Dad enjoys fishing and so do I - I always skunk him. But I haven’t been fishing in a long time. My Dad and I mentioned this and the other person’s response was something along the lines of “Oh, she’s discovered boys.”

Um, no. I’ve just spent the better part of two years in Northern Minnesota which means there really wasn’t much opportunity to go fishing with my Dad who was back in GA. Plus I’ve been working part-time, writing, working with dogs, getting ready to take a test so I can work on getting my vet tech degree, and I hate the heat and we’ve had illness in the family, and I know what boys are thank you very much - some of my best friends have been boys, so saying I’ve “discovered” them is like saying I’ve “discovered” houses. Okay, so I know that’s not what you meant…

“No,” I said. “I discovered sled dogs.”

It wasn’t a big thing, really, but I found it insulting - the assumption that because I’m a 20-something year old girl (though this person may have assumed me to be a teenager) that I am obsessed with boys. No, that is SO not me.

Now my MN friends are laughing at me and I know why. And yes, I will readily admit that I have a crush on a certain rockstar. I think he’s really good-looking. So sue me. But (in my mind at least) that’s a far cry from what the fisherman was implying. So not that I am not interested in guys - but I have a life and identity that decidely does not revolve around them.

This is one reason why I haven’t been able to get into the Twilight craze. I’ll admit the books are interesting but I find myself constantly annoyed because the main character has no life/identity outside of boys (of course, they are romance novels so I guess that’s kind of the point). A lot of my friends LOVE this series though…and you’ll never find me telling anybody NOT to read a book. But I might reccomend some that I like a whole lot better…In fact, I’m compiling a list of much stronger female protagonists of science fiction and fantasy.

So anyway, this all boils down to getting stirred up by the fisherman’s random but very presumptive comment. And that long ramble is just my explanation of why it got to me so much.

And now, onto other things.

Calypso is doing okay. She may be doing a little better - it’s very hard to say. It’s hard to keep her from running around like a lunatic but it’s been easier than expected. Still, she’s a little sneak. I’ve kept the door to my bedroom shut so she won’t go leap onto the bed but this morning she discovered how to open said closed door. So now we have to especially watch it. Kippy is enjoying all the attention though - she’s such a ham! A very happy dog.

Aaaand, I have ideas running around my head faster than Calypso wants to be running around the house. It’s hard to focus on the projects I’m working on (ie. “North City”) when I get exciting *new* ideas.

For instance…a few weeks ago I was listening to a song and thinking about how its music video (more of a short film than a typical video) was unrelated to the actual topic of the song. I thought hey, I should get one of my friends together to do a spoof. Years ago, riding back from Chattanooga, we had come up with this elaborate (and very bizarre) story based on a dream I’d had. I thought why not base the music video around that song. My friend and I would film this short video, interspersed with lip-synching the song.

Or that was my glorious idea at least.

Then, last night, I was listening to a band I’d just discovered - the Arrogant Worms (that sounds like an Alice band, doesn’t it?). I’d already wanted to insert a scene into the non-existant music video that used part of a Weird Al song and now I was thinking that I had to have some Arrogant Worms stuff…

By the time I went to bed the idea was a full-fledged musical about two people on a roadtrip who keep running into fictional characters from different books and movies.

And it’s not something I even think I will seriously persue but I spent a LOT of time working it out in my head.

And that’s just one example.

Anyway, this evening I went out to eat at a nearby Chinese restaurant with one of my best friends. Elisabeth and I have known each other since we were about three and still have a great time whenever we meet up. So we had a very enjoyable dinner and caught up on relevent and irrelevent stuffs.

So that’s my long yadda-yadda for today. Catch you all later!

A




Image from http://www.cafepress.com/+before_you_ask_jr_baby_doll_double_sided,26160664

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5 Responses to “Pet Peeves And [maybe not-so-]Brilliant Ideas That Last A Day”
Dave Lukosik on 15 Jul 2010 at 9:01 pm # edit this

Cute Tee shirt! Saw Twilight 2 & 3, liked the wolves not the vampires, Bella is lame but Jacob is good. Edward is boring! I wonder if Disney will build a Twilight theme park? Don’t sweat the small stuff and keep your eye on the prize! Keep cool and hug a husky!

Toni Reitter on 15 Jul 2010 at 11:09 pm # edit this

OMG, the misconceptions about sled dogs in general are so frustrating, and this year it’s like all of these know it alls are coming through the line. They will sit there and argue with the dog’s OWNER and tell them they don’t know what breed they’re using. Oy.

and I am RIGHT there with you about the boy crazy comments. I have so many people that just want to hook me up with someone anyone because of my age and that’s what all girls my age are looking for. Well, yeah, it’d be nice, but I’m not going to throw myself at every guy who breathes. lol

I feel for ya, girl!

wolfmoonsleddog on 17 Jul 2010 at 12:53 pm # edit this

A “Twilight” theme park? Okay, that is just scary…Always preferred werewolves to vampires but not a huge fan of Jacob either.

Toni, I know where you are coming from. LOL! Oh the frustrations…

A

Peter Duncan on 18 Jul 2010 at 6:39 pm # edit this

Top notch rant !

The more I read your blog, the more I wish I hadn’t missed you during my visit to MCK. Funny, funny girl - that’s funny in a good way ;^)

wolfmoonsleddog on 23 Jul 2010 at 7:16 pm # edit this

Thanks, Peter!

I know, it’s a shame that I missed you - both at MCK and at Deer Creek (I think I was visiting the Berges while you were visiting the Frekings). I think we would have hit it off. Oh well, I need another excuse to get back up to Alaska sometime.

Hugs to your dogs, especially Oscar, Lightfoot and little wee Avery.

A

Poor Calypso

Poor Calypso
Jul 13th 2010
wolfmoonsleddog
Southeast
Location: Armuchee, GA
Time - 9:48am Eastern Daylight Time
Temperature: 76 degrees F (24C)
Conditions: Cloudy
Forecast: Mostly cloudy with thunderstorms today, lows in the 70s, partly cloudy tomorrow. Highs in the 90s

Calypso, looking much more sad than she actually is!

Although Calypso does have cause to be sad. Last week I saw that she was limping and it didn’t improve. I took her to the vet last Friday and she said she suspected a partially torn ACL in her left rear knee. This sucks, although we are hoping in will get better on its own. We kind of have Calypso under house arrest right now, which she is dealing with better than expected. She does seem miffed that we’re not letting her run and jump and she’s having limited contact with Bonnie and Susan because the three of them always like to romp around.

Kippy (Calypso) and Susie shared the same crate last night and I think they enjoyed that. Bonnie got to be the spoiled hog and slept on my bed.

Things are good, other than that. We just got great news this morning that means our off-topic issues are going as well as possible. Yay! Celebration here today, that’s for sure.

My Mom and I watched two movies recently. (500) Days Of Summer and Nell. Both were very, very good and I highly reccomend them.

In the meantime the dog shed looks great. We have a couple more strips to nail up and then all that’s left is the doors (and windows, if I decide to do that). It’s going to be great!

Next project: New doghouses and stakeout posts.

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3 Responses to “Poor Calypso”
Tiffany on 13 Jul 2010 at 8:26 am # edit this

So sad for Calypso! My dog, Jasmine, had to have her ACL replaced 3 months ago. She lives to run but hasn’t been able to yet. She’s building her strength back up and she has finally rejoined the rest of the dogs on our evening walks. I’m hoping she’ll be back to normal by the fall so she can resume bikejoring and going on biking trips with me in the winter. I hope Calypso is able to heal well and quickly!

wolfmoonsleddog on 14 Jul 2010 at 7:50 am # edit this

Sorry to hear about Jasmine. I hope she recovers well by the time colder weather rolls around. We are hoping that Calypso will heal up on her own and not have to go into surgery. Fortunately, like I mentioned, it looks like it is only a partial tear.

A

Dave Lukosik on 15 Jul 2010 at 8:52 pm # edit this

Hey Calypso, best wishes for a speedy recovery and take it easy!

4th Of July At Little River Canyon

4th Of July At Little River Canyon
Jul 5th 2010
wolfmoonsleddog
Southeast
Location: Armuchee, GA
Time - 7:22pm Eastern Daylight Time
Temperature: 88 degrees F (32C)
Conditions: Partly cloudy, warm
Forecast: Clear today and tomorrow. Highs in the 90s, lows in the 60s

Another long post is in the works but in the meantime, here are a couple of pictures from Little River Canyon National Preserve in Alabama. I hadn’t been there in a LONG TIME - definitely not since it was designated a National Preserve. And yes, there are canyons in the Southeast!!

My family and I spent the 4th visiting the canyon, which was really crowded. Still, it was great to get out and about like we used to do! Good times. We saw another husky and about ten chihuahuas.


Bonnie observes a scenic overlook

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3 Responses to “4th Of July At Little River Canyon”
Dave Lukosik on 05 Jul 2010 at 8:26 pm # edit this

Looks like the southern most part of the Eastern Continental Divide. Have you visited Desoto Caverns in Alabama? Cool place this time of the year! Wish I could find some lighted caves to walk the Siberians this time of year!

Jessee & Team SSpirit on 11 Jul 2010 at 10:01 am # edit this

Gorgeous. never been there but always wanted to, that and the kentucky canyons. I went to Kure Beach (NC) for the fourth, but did not bring any dogs and was glad because I found they are really strict about dogs on the beach, thank goodness here I can just drive out the road to Wilsons creek and it’s beautiful river gorges!

wolfmoonsleddog on 13 Jul 2010 at 7:00 am # edit this

Dave - no I don’t think I have! There are so many neat caves and such in that area. There’s one very near here - Cave Spring cave - but I don’t think they allow pets. I love caves and karst systems.

Jessee - You should come over this way for a visit and we’ll go exploring. Besides Little River, there’s also Cloudland Canyon, Buck’s Pocket, Walls Of Jericho (utterly undeveloped but WELL worth the steep hike), etc. All dog friendly.

Most beaches are very strict about dogs. There’s a pretty nice one down near Savannah where my cousins take their pup. But that’s probably a pretty long drive for you!

Cheers!

A

Marble Mine/Taylor's Ridge Hike

Marble Mine/Taylor’s Ridge Hike
Jul 2nd 2010
wolfmoonsleddog
Southeast
Location: Armuchee, GA
Time - 7:50pm Eastern Daylight Time
Temperature: 83 degrees F (28C)
Conditions: Partly cloudy, less humid
Forecast: Clearing tonight, sunny tomorrow. Highs in the 80s, lows in the 60s


Agh! I think she needs brushing again (and I just brushed her!). This is Susan on the trail up Taylor’s Ridge heading towards the Pinhoti Trail.

This morning I didn’t have to work and it actually felt COOL outside. The humidity was down and there was even a cool breeze. When you get that kind of weather, at this time of year, in this part of the country, you’d be crazy not to take advantage of it.

So early this morning I took Susan over to James Floyd State Park (known locally as Sloppy Floyd Park) and we went for a hike. Sloppy Floyd is somewhere I have been going since I was very, very small - mainly the playground/picnic area. My best friends and I always went there.

Weirdly enough, for all the time I spent in the picnic area/playground, I never had really explored the park’s hiking trails (except for brief forays around the edge of the lake). So that was my goal today. Susan and I hiked up to an old marble mine cut into the side of the ridge. A boardwalk leads to the back and water drips off the ledge above and seeps out of the rocks within the mine itself. There must be some sort of spring there too because the pool is quite large and the water is very clear.

There are two holes into the rock behind the boardwalk. One of them I could see the back of but the other I could not. Wish I’d brought a flashlight…

After poking around there for a bit, Susan and I hiked up Taylor’s Ridge to the top where the paths from the park join up with the Pinhoti trail. It was a gloriously clear day with very little humidity and haze - meaning the view was spectacular. We followed the Pinhoti for a while and then cut back down on another trail that said something like “Floyd State Park This Way”.

Then there was a sign that warned “Steep Grade, Foot Travel Only.”

Next time I’m hiking UP that way, not down. Fortunately Susan walks really well on a leash and knows not to pull my arm out of its socket so we were fine.

Susan loved going hiking and I enjoyed the time with her. It’s always fun to be one-on-one with my dogs. And we both got good exercise. By the time we left the temperature had warmed up ten degrees but it was only in the 70s (geez, I hate saying “only in the 70s” as if that’s actually cold).

My aunt is visiting this weekend and she and my Mom and Dad and I just went out to eat at one of our favorite restaurants. Woo-hoo. Now we are going to watch a movie - Girl Most Likely To. I’ve never seen it so we’ll see how it is.

Over and out for now. I’ll close with a picture of the marble mine.




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4 Responses to “Marble Mine/Taylor’s Ridge Hike”
Dave Lukosik on 03 Jul 2010 at 10:03 pm # edit this

Sounds and looks like a nice hike! I have been using a Musher’s belt with a bungee cord and carbiner to attach the 6 ft lead, saves wear and tear on your arm, shoulder, wrist!

wolfmoonsleddog on 05 Jul 2010 at 4:45 pm # edit this

It was. That’s a good idea about the belt and something I might try as I have one in one of my boxes of equipment (that will be going in the storage shed when it’s finished!).

Dave Lukosik on 06 Jul 2010 at 7:22 pm # edit this

Just be careful where you wear that belt! For months I was wearing it too low until I figured out that the Sciatic nerve pain in my leg was coming from a pinched nerve from the placement of the belt while hiking with 2 Siberians at a time! News Flash! Zoya DeNure won back her $4,000 2011 Iditarod entry fee at the First day to register picnic and drawing! Checkout her website at Crazy Dog Kennels!

wolfmoonsleddog on 13 Jul 2010 at 6:54 am # edit this

Thanks - I’ll keep that in mind.

Zoya and John are awesome! I met them in Fall ‘07 and they have a fantastic kennel and I love their attitude towards their dogs. I was going to work for them this Summer but, as you know, that fell through.

Will definitely be cheering Zoya on in Iditarod 2011!!

A

Mushers Sign Up For 2011 Iditarod

Mushers Sign Up For 2011 Iditarod
Jun 29th 2010
wolfmoonsleddog
Southeast
Location: Armuchee, GA
Time - 8:20pm Eastern Daylight Time
Temperature: 82 degrees F (28C)
Conditions: Mostly clear
Forecast: Chance of thunderstorms tonight and tomorrow. Highs in the 80s, lows in the 60s.


Above: Ana, who will NOT be running the Iditrod.

So the sign-up for the 2011 Iditarod opened last weekend and, although there will be more entrants added to this list later, here are the 45 teams who signed up last Saturday:

Mitch Seavey, Sterling;
Hugh Neff, Tok;
Sebastian Schnuelle, Paxson;
Mike Williams Jr, Akiak;
Paul Gebhardt, Kasilof;
Aliy Zirkle, Two Rivers;
Jim Lanier, Chugiak;
Jodi Bailey, Chatanika;
Melissa Owens, Nome;
G.B. Jones, Knik;
Ken Anderson, Two Rivers;
Dallas Seavey, Willow;
Brennan Norden, Kasilof;
Kelley Griffin, Wasilla;
DeeDee Jonrowe, Willow;
Kristy Berington, Kasilof;
Wattie McDonald, Scotland;
Michael Suprenant, Chugiak;
Bruce Linton, Kasilof;
Scott Janssen, Anchorage;
Hans Gatt, Whitehorse;
Ellen Halvorson, Wasilla;
Judy Currier, Fairbanks;
Bob Storey, Willow;
Newton Marshall, Jamaica;
Billy Snodgrass, Dubois, Wyo.;
Lance Mackey, Fairbanks;
Martin Buser, Big Lake;
Jessica Hendricks, Two Rivers;
Michelle Philips, Tagish, Yukon;
Gerry Willomitzer, Whitehorse;
Allen Moore, Two Rivers;
Karin Hendrickson, Willow;
Zoya DeNure, Paxson;
Ramey Smyth, Willow;
Magnus Kaltenborn, Big Lake;
Trent Herbst, Ketchum, Idaho;
Angie Taggart, Ketchikan;
Ray Redington Jr., Knik;
Linwood Fiedler, Willow,
Lachlan Clarke, Buena Vista, Colo.;
Kris Hoffman, Steamboat Springs, Colo.;
Tom Thurston, Oak Creek, Colo.;
Mike Santos, Cantwell;
Robert Bundtzen, Anchorage;
Kelly Maixner, Big Lake.
Obviously missing from this list is Jeff King, who retired after the 2010 Iditarod. Well, retired as much as someone like Jeff King can…
However, even without King in the mix, the 2011 field looks to be very competitive (hey, we’ve got Lance Mackey going up against a record that -so far- nobody has been able to beat) and there are plenty of familiar faces showing up. On the other hand there are depressingly few rookies. It is getting harder and harder for rookies to qualify for the race. Whether this is a good or bad thing remains to be seen.
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6 Responses to “Mushers Sign Up For 2011 Iditarod”
Toni Reitter on 29 Jun 2010 at 7:44 pm # edit this

I think the restraints they’ve put on rookies is needed. After so many (including a Seavey!) got caught in the blizzard in 2009 and some were NOT at ALL prepared to deal with it (we came dangerously close to our first musher death). I can’t help but think the latest rules have really helped with dog safety and health. No dog deaths for the first time EVER, which is in and of itself something to celebrate

all of this I know you know… but I have to think it’s a good thing!

Carly on 01 Jul 2010 at 4:02 am # edit this

Agreed! I am glad they tightened up the requirements. After 2009, something had to be done to protect the dogs AND the mushers so everyone is as prepared for the trail as possible.

I see Schnuelle couldn’t give it up, although he mused on it this year.

Thank you for posting this!

wolfmoonsleddog on 03 Jul 2010 at 7:54 am # edit this

You’re welcome! Always interested to see who signs up for the Iditarod.

It’s hard to know how the rule changes will play out. Obviously this year’s Iditarod was GREAT and a MAJOR improvement over 2009.

The changes do, however, make it harder for even legitamate rookies to qualify. It’s going to be interesting to see how this plays out, either way…

A

Dave Lukosik on 03 Jul 2010 at 9:59 pm # edit this

Having been an Iditarod fan since 1977,when I lived in Anchorage(1976-81) and saw several of the race starts. In my opinion, if most major things go right for a rookie he/she can survive the race and maybe even finish it! But given a major weather event, dog team problem, outdoor camping problem, etc a rookie can have a disaster and be a liability to the race, the dogs, and the musher. There have been several near deaths in the rookie ranks and some of the experienced mushers survived because of their extensive experience in cold weather and on the trail. Let’s get rid of the ego-tripping rookies that just want bragging rights and an Iditarod Finishers belt buckle if they are lucky. Someone that really works to get the long distance mushing experience and has the where with all to finance and run the race should be given the opportunity to participate! Note DB Jones is running again! Hope Jeff King changes his mind and runs the race!

wolfmoonsleddog on 05 Jul 2010 at 4:49 pm # edit this

Huh, I just wrote a long reply and it disappeared. Okay not writing it over again so:

1) David, I agree but I think some qualified rookies are being turned off by the whole hassle and increasing costs of running the race (ie. entry fee is approx. 4 times what it was)

2) Good to see GB back. I don’t think Jeff will be back, he’s down to 30-something dogs now and selling 11 more.

3) Sorry this is short. I’m not trying to come across as snippy - I’m just miffed that my nice long post ran away and I really don’t feel like typing all of that over again.

Cheers and have a good day!

A

Dave Lukosik on 05 Jul 2010 at 8:17 pm # edit this

I know the feeling! One wrong key stroke and zap! All your thoughts and key strokes are gone! Yes, the entry fee is getting out of sight! One thing for sure, the Iditarod Race gives alot of people inside and outside Alaska something to do and look forward to during the long Alaskan Winter! I remember that well from living thru 5 long Winters up there!

A Slightly Sled Dog-Devoid Update

A Slightly Sled Dog-Devoid Update
Jun 26th 2010
wolfmoonsleddog
Southeast
Location: Armuchee, GA
Time - 8:38pm Eastern Daylight Time
Temperature: 87 degrees F (31C)
Conditions: Partly cloudy
Forecast: Possible thunderstorms tonight and tomorrow. Highs in the 90s, lows in the 70s

Photo from http://cheezburger.com/View/2145933056
(take-off on The Wrath Of Khan, not to be confused with the Khan who ran on my 2009 Beargrease 150 team.)

Oh where to begin. I haven’t updated in a while because there really hasn’t been that much new and/or exciting to report. Personal/family things have stabilized a bit for now, work is very enjoyable, algebra study is progressing, the dogs are doing very well and…IT’S TOO FREAKING HOT!

Seriously, except for early in the morning, doing things outside SUCKS. Every single year I forget how miserable Georgia is in Summer. 90+ degree temperatures would be bad enough except that, yep - you guessed it: we have what seems to me to be the worst humidity on the planet. (Oh yeah, THIS is why I wanted to be in AK…)

I guess you could say: “Well, at least it isn’t -30F (not counting windchill) anymore.”

You could. And I’d respond: “Trust me, I will take -30F and colder over this ANY DAY!”

For a while it rained and stormed every evening. Now it’s every now and again and, rather than cooling anything off it just makes it feel like the Amazon rainforest.

But I can’t do anything about the heat right now. My complaining won’t change anything - it just makes me feel better if I whine about it.

We have two new additions at our house, named Punk and Wimp. No, not dogs! They are goldfish that I gave my Mom. I set up a small aquarium in the living room and we are enjoying watching them…swim around and do fishy things. Punk is large and solid-colored while Wimp is smaller and is orange and white.

Calypso is FINALLY blowing her coat all over the place, which makes me happy. I am trying to find other dog people to go hiking with, except that it’s really too warm to do much of that right now unless we went to the mountains. Bonnie and Susan were playing and playing this morning - they were so funny. Susie is very vocal and will often run up to me and say “uh-rooooooor.”

Susie also has a thing about being picked up and hugged. I may have mentioned that in an earlier post. She loves for me to pick her up and she sets her head on my shoulder and indicates that she would be perfectly happy to be carried around like that all day long. I’ll have to get some pictures.

The dog shed is progressing. It now has a roof and a bit of siding. Maybe we’ll get a chance to work on it tomorrow.

I am having a hard time adjusting to being back in Georgia - and it’s not just the weather. Last weekend I was struck by the realization that I really don’t know anybody in the community. All my friends are scattered (hey, I should talk - I ran off to Minnesota for two years. LOL) and it’s hard to get them together in one place. And I’m having a delayed-reaction culture shock. A good many of the people I see around here are so different from my Minnesota network…I feel really, really out of place.

The North City script is coming along well-enough. I have the entire thing in my head, it’s just a matter of typing it up. And THEN trying to get a cast together, which I know is going to be the hard part.

In the meantime, I guess that’s your update. Sorry it isn’t more interesting. I’ll write more later.

A

This Is My Office

This Is My Office
Jun 19th 2010
wolfmoonsleddog
Southeast
Location: Armuchee, GA
Time - 1:58pm Eastern Daylight Time
Temperature: 85 degrees F
Conditions: Thunderstorm with lightning and pouring rain
Forecast: Scattered storms today, lows in the 60s. Sunny tomorrow, highs in the 90s


Yeah, not a bad view!

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2 Responses to “This Is My Office”
Dave Lukosik on 21 Jun 2010 at 7:26 pm # edit this

Beautiful Office! Don’t forget to wear long sleves, long pants, wide brim straw hat to protect your skin from all the UVA/UVB light rays in your office!

wolfmoonsleddog on 29 Jun 2010 at 5:35 pm # edit this

Thanks. Don’t worry, I have suncream (really great stuff that my dermatologist reccomended a few years ago!) - though it’s waaay to hot to even think about long sleeves right now!

A

From Then To Here

From Then To Here
Jun 11th 2010
wolfmoonsleddog
Southeast
Location: Armuchee, GA
Time - 8:24am Eastern Daylight Time
Temperature: 71 degrees F (22C)
Conditions: Overcast, humid
Forecast: Thunderstorms today and tomorrow. Lows in the 70s, highs in the 90s


The pack, minus Wilson (who escaped the photo session) in the upper yard.

As you can see, we haven’t gotten much done in the dogyard over the past week or so. Of course I’ve been taking care of the dogs and making sure they are happy and getting attention. And brushing them since they are ALL blowing their coats (yes, Calypso is finally starting to shed out).

But as far as projects go, they’ve come to a halt while we deal with other more pressing issues. Last week sucked. This week has been smoother and calmer but still tough.

I had a letter to the editor published in today’s Charlotte Observer (NC). This goes back to an article from last weekend about Martha Dobson of Mount Pleasant Middle School, who was selected as the 2011 Target Teacher On The Iditarod Trail. You can read the article here - http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/06/06/1478686/teacher-inspired-by-dogsledding.html I am excited about having a fellow Southeasterner as the Teacher On The Trail next year! Of course, the article resulted in the usual letter to the editor from the Sled Dog Action Coalition - http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/06/09/1486994/the-observer-forum.html (the SDAC’s letter is the 5th one down). I’ve been pretty active lately in trying to help counter the anti-sled dog racing movement, so I sent a letter to the Charlotte Observer as well. It was published in today’s edition, and I have included it below:

From: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/06/11/1491804/the-observer-forum.html

In response to “Iditarod is brutal on dogs, tell school children about that too” (June 9 Forum):

Take it from an animal lover, Iditarod dogs are treated well

It’s too bad Martha Dobson has come under fire for using the Iditarod as a teaching tool. Having been personally involved with sled dogs for years now, I can say without hesitation that the sport is not cruel. I’m an animal lover first and foremost. I’ve seen firsthand how naturally eager sled dogs are to run. It’s not something they’re forced to do. I spent two winters working for an Iditarod kennel, and I’ve seen others. Not only is the dog care top-notch, but the mushers really do love their dogs.

Alice White

Armuchee, Ga.

They edited the letter a bit (they took out a line where I pointed out that no dogs died in the 2010 Iditarod) but all in all I am pleased and certainly not going to complain!

As an aside, I got quite a cackle out of the last sentence of the totally unrelated letter that appeared directly above mine (see the link). Because of an unintended reference to something that has nothing to do with the point of that letter, unless the point happens to be dolphins. LOL! But I digress. I doubt any of you are going to “get” why that is so funny to me but I had to say something because otherwise I would explode.

But getting back to the point [sniggers], there is a great new webpage dedicated to providing good, solid information on treatment of sled dogs. Healthy Sled Dogs - http://healthysleddogs.wordpress.com/ It’s a work in progress but looks great so far! Big thanks to Diane for pointing me to it!

In the meantime, I am working on my ‘History’ page and have been thinking about how this crazy sled dog hobby/obsession of mine got started. I’ve come across some really old doodles I did when I was 8 or 9 of my “future 3-dog team” (consisting of April the spaniel, an un-named husky and an un-named Golden retriever). Things didn’t turn out exactly that way…but I do have a three-dog team now (four if I hook Wilson up and I’ve been thinking about doing that since he’s now at a reasonable weight). *Sigh*. I remember one November when I was quite small and my parents and I went to a Thanksgiving family reunion in Charleston, SC. I thought it was a loooooong trip at the time (nothing like driving cross-country for a week to change one’s mind on this. Hah) and remember staring out the window at the side of the road. Only in my mind the grass was covered in snow and I was watching myself driving that three-dog team alongside the car. Who knew at that point where I would be some fourteen years or so later. I’ve still got a ways to go to get where I want to be but I can see that I’ve come a long way.

When I first became interested in sled dogs it wasn’t because of the Iditarod or the Yukon Quest or Beargrease or any race at all. I just wanted to run sled dogs, work with sled dogs. Because I loved animals. That was one constant from when I was really little - wanting to work with animals. I also wanted to make movies (I wanted to be a writer/director). I never watched a huge amount of movies when I was small (at least, not compared to some other kids I knew) but those that I did watch made a huge impression. I used to fold a piece of paper in half and design a movie case - complete with a design on the front cover and a synopsis and screen-shots on the back cover. They were always movies of my own design, although they might be inspired by films that I’d seen.

When I was six or seven (I’m really bad remembering dates that far back in my not-so-terribly-long life so this might not be entirely accurate) I was obsessed with Once Upon A Forest and then (much to the annoyance of my parents) the Land Before Time series. I decided that I was going to become the leader of Universal Studios (I am not making this up, I really thought that!) and do all of these great films for them, especially Land Before Time sequels. Because I knew what happened next, at least in my head (I now know this is called fanfic - or fan fiction - but I didn’t know that term at the time). I had whole movies in my head. I’d listen to a random song on the radio, decide it had to be in a particular movie I was making up in my head at the time and then design a scene around it.

Seriously, I didn’t know a thing about filmmaking at the time but I had every frame mapped out and every camera angle even though I didn’t even know what a camera angle was. In a way I was choreographing music videos in my head, even though I’d never been exposed to MTV.

But moving right along, I had several original film ideas that had nothing to do with screaming cartoon dinosaurs. One of these original ideas I titled The Trio. It was about a trio of canines - Loper the wolf hybrid, Joet the timber wolf and Michael the Siberian husky. The story centered around the trio’s travels in Northern Canada and was set to music by Three Dog Night (my parents had made the “mistake” of taking me to one of their concerts and I wouldn’t stop listening to their music for months). In my head, The Trio was live-action but I ended up taking my toy models of wolves and filming a stop-motion production on top of our sterio system, using houseplants [HAH!] for trees.

I’ve never ever admitted this before but I’ve always secretly thought that The Trio influenced my interest in sled dogs a great deal.

But anyway, all this IS going somewhere. I do have a point. And the point is: dolphins. [Aghk! Couldn't resist].

Seriously, when I was a kid I remember someone asking me what I was going to do when I grew up. And I clearly remember saying: “I like animals and I want to make movies. So I’m going to make movies about animals.”

When I first was interested in sled dogs, I was going to run them purely for enjoyment and transportation. And I had several films in mind as well. My friends and I even started filming a couple of them (when I first had Aspen, we started a film called Back To The Wild which was successful in that what we filmed now has us rolling around on the floor laughing). I was going to have Siberian huskies and they were going to be movie stars.

And then I saw a PBS program on the Iditarod and a lightbulb exploded in my head. My life took a dramatic turn. Here was something I wanted to do more than anything else I’d ever wanted to do before. And then I really dove into the world of dogsledding.

You all know the story from there. Because I discovered that I LOVED the racing side of dogsledding and that I wanted to focus my life around having a sled dog kennel. And, after spending the better part of two years AT a kennel, that’s STILL what I want to do. The fire that was lit when I saw the Iditarod TV program has not gone out and I don’t believe it ever will.

But there’s another thing that hasn’t really changed. I still come up with stories in my head. I started writing some of them down as stories a long time ago and discovered that writing came as naturally to me as hugging a dog. But I still love doing stuff with film, and I still find myself mentally choreographing a music video whenever I hear a song (it can be kind of distracting, actually).

And one day, last November, the day it snowed (and the day after Blake thought it would be funny to push boulders behind my car to block it in but forgot that my car is a Shuttlecraft and can therfore fly. Don’t ask.), I was out in the dogyard with a wheelbarrow full of straw, distributing straw into all the doghouses (aw, I miss doing that) and I had an idea. An idea for a TV series based on mushers and handlers at a sled dog kennel.

Now of course I realize that getting something on TV is a long shot…but there’s no shortage of opportunities to do a webseries. And so I turned ideas over in my head, mulling it over all Season. And now I find myself working on a script for the pilot episode of a webseries which I have titled North City.

It centers around a ficticious sled dog kennel (all thought the events are *based* off things that really happened) and all the people (and dogs) involved. Although I know that trying to get my friends together to do a project like this is like trying to herd wet cats, I am confident that with the proper planning (and actually having a script!) we will be able to make North City: The Pilot happen.

And that is my ramble for the day and so it is too. Now I am off to read about algebra…(yep, using this time to review stuff).

All the best!

A

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6 Responses to “From Then To Here”
Martha on 12 Jun 2010 at 10:59 am # edit this

Hey Alice! thanks for your comments in the Charlotte Observer. the editor of one of the more local sections of that paper is a friend, so he was giving me heads up on all the comments–they liked yours!

wolfmoonsleddog on 12 Jun 2010 at 12:31 pm # edit this

Hi Martha! You are most welcome. What you are doing is great and you do have a lot of support from the dog community! I, for one, will be following your travels and adventures.

Cheers!

Alice

Dave Lukosik on 15 Jun 2010 at 8:30 pm # edit this

Congrats to Martha! She is a dedicated Iditarod fan and sounds like a fantastic teacher! Nice letter to the Editor, Alice. Read Dr Nelson’s reply. The Florida person should make the trip to Alaska to get enlighten! I think she would rather continue to make money with her ranting scheme! The fur is flying in earnest with the 90+ degree weather now in Eastern NC! Keep cool and take it a day at a time. Best wishes to you all. Dave in NC

Toni Reitter on 17 Jun 2010 at 2:35 pm # edit this

I find it highly interesting that they deleted out the one sentence that would point to the fact that the race is more dog friendly than ever. Leave it to the editors to run their papers with their view point.

At least they published the letter! that’s something, congrats!

wolfmoonsleddog on 19 Jun 2010 at 11:15 am # edit this

Dave - Thanks! Martha has a blog up (http://marthadobson.wordpress.com/) and is currently blogging about her trip to Alaska for the the Iditarod Summer Teachers Conference, which is going on now. Check it out!

Glickman actually has been to Alaska. Long story (there used to be a webpage with information about that but it seems to have disappeared. Fortunately I have a hard copy). I’ve been to the same kennel she visited. Was it anything like she describes? Well, that was the first kennel I talked to about working with this Summer so that should tell you something!

We’ve been having awful heat here as well. Fortunately we have shade! However it’s a different story where I work…

Toni - I thought the same thing. It may have been my wording (”All of the dogs who started this year’s Iditarod were alive and well when the race ended.”) which I thought was good but maybe it didn’t make the point as clear as I would have liked. Other than that though, the paper has been pretty supportive of mushing. Oh well…

Alice

happening on 21 Jun 2010 at 1:58 am # edit this

good job. i like this article.

Some Words About Random Topics

Some Words About Random Topics
Jun 5th 2010
wolfmoonsleddog
Southeast
Location: Armuchee, GA
Time - 4:04pm Eastern Daylight Time
Temperature: 87 degrees F (31 C)
Conditions: Sunny, warm, humid
Forecast: Chance of isolated thunderstorms today and tomorrow. Highs in the 80s, lows in the 60s

»

Aaaagggghhhh! There are tribbles on my bookshelf!

Actually those are my ruffs and I wanted to store them where they wouldn’t get squashed. And the other things on the shelf are a few of my books, not organized in any particular order. Some of them are books that I’ve had since I was quite small. Yeah, I’m still trying to get the book thing sorted out.

Sorry about dropping off the face of the planet these past few days. Things here have not been fun lately. It’s probably a good thing that my Alaska job did not work out. The past week has been one blurred day after another, just trying to get through each one. We knew things would be rough but didn’t know they’d be this rough.

The dogs are doing fine and are perfectly happy but I wish I were doing more things with them. My attention is just split right now, although I’m very grateful to have the dogs to distract me. I’m looking forward to being able to have them back in the house.

My work at Kristin and David’s has been going very well and has been emotionally therapuetic. I get to be outside working in the gardens, doing things that are natural and simple. It gives me time to think and, as I said, I love being outside with the birds singing, rabbits at the edge of the trees and two puppies who think they are very funny (and okay, they are).

I recently read the novel Good Omens and, although I am hesitant to reccomend it because I know that many of my friends and readers would be highly offended by the nature of the content, I will say that it’s been a long, long time since I have enjoyed a book that much. I love the Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy-esque style it’s written in, as well as the fact that it has underlying substance. It stays with you.

Changing the subject yet again, as you can see I have been re-vamping this site. It’s still in the messy stages - I’ll try to get it cleaned up in the next couple of days and have it where I would like it (and where it actually makes sense). I am changing the site to be more in line with what I am currently doing with my team and where I plan to go from here. I now have brand-new pages for Calypso, Bonnie and Susan (and let me tell you I got pretty frustrated trying to get the pedigrees to look right. I’d get them right in the editing section of WordPress and then *poof* they would be all scrambled and all over the place when I viewed what the page would look like on an actual web browser. Thank goodness I know a bit of HTML!

Not much new to report. We’ve recently had an invasion of mice in the basement and I’ve been live-trapping them with mice cubes and releasing them farther and farther away from the house. I think we finally found out where they were coming in and have blocked it up.

And yes, I will be getting the “Where Are They Now” post up soon. I have some great stories and photos to share!

In the meantime, I think I need to go water the houseplants.

[exits laughing diabolically]

Dangerous Dog? Siberian Husky On Death Row For Killing Poodle.

Dangerous Dog? Siberian Husky On Death Row For Killing Poodle.
May 31st 2010
wolfmoonsleddog
Southeast
Location: Armuchee, GA
Time - 11:00pm Eastern Daylight Time
Temperature: 68 degrees F
Conditions: Cloudy, wet
Forecast: Thunderstorms tonight and tomorrow. Highs in the 80s, lows in the 60s
{Photo courtesy of Beth Lipsky} Take a look at the above picture of Siberian husky, Brandie. She’s behaving like any Sibe would in that situation! Heck, I have similar pictures of my dogs. So if someone told you that Brandie was labled as a “Dangerous Dog” and scheduled to be put to death you would probably laugh. A Siberian? A dangerous dog?

But that’s exactly what happened. Brandie killed a toy poodle named Jack earlier in May and, according to an ordinance in Broward County, FL where the incident took place, this is grounds to put Brandie to death.

I wrote commentary on this on OpposingViews.com (my first ever article for the site. Agh!), which can be viewed here - http://www.opposingviews.com/i/a-husky-a-poodle-and-a-dangerous-dog-law I tried to keep it a little more neutral than I have on this blog. I don’t know, hope it’s not too messy (I’m always a bit self-concious about some of what I write). And as an aside, I have no idea where OpposingViews got the photo that accompanies the article - it was added by their editor, not me.

[EDIT: One of the things I failed to mention in the article is that there is a leash law and that Brandie was on a leash, when the incident happened, while Jack was not].

My friends who do dryland mushing with dogs such as Pit Bulls have to deal with crazy “dangerous dog” laws all the time (ie. “Your dog is a Pit Bull, therefore dangerous”), which is bad enough! But the incident with Brandie takes the cake as far as I’m concerned! Broward County’s “dangerous dog” ordinance is one of the worst I have ever seen and needs to be changed.

Not that I don’t feel for the owners of Jack as well. I would be livid if any of my dogs were attacked or killed by someone else’s dog. Seriously, you would want to take cover. On the other side of the galaxy. Actually, in early 2008, April the spaniel was attacked on our property and pretty seriously injured by a couple of stray dogs. And I was mad then. But I also know how dogs react to things and I find I cannot find it in my heart wish ill on a dog for doing something instinctive. When the strays attacked April it wasn’t their fault. They were just being dogs. And I never felt threatened by those dogs (in fact they ran when I yelled at them).

Likewise, I cannot imagine what Brandie’s owners are going through. If it was one of my dogs…well, see above statement.

These kind of “Dangerous Dog” laws are dangerous in themselves. And placing a husky who has killed a small dog in the same category as a dog who has killed a human is a bit of a stretch.

Brandie’s family has a petition up on http://www.thepetitionsite.com/5/help-save-dog-from-unjust-ordinance I have to say, I am not a huge fan of petitions as I don’t consider them terribly effective but the outpouring of support on this one is pretty overwhelming.

There is also a Facebook dedicated to saving Brandie, http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=124107390946052&v=photos&so=30#!/group.php?gid=124107390946052 and a Twitter page, http://twitter.com/SaveBrandie

Dog-owners need to be aware that laws such as these exist. And we need to do everything in our power to unite against these dangerous ordinances!

For more info on the case:

http://www.justnews.com/furryfriends/23547074/detail.html?taf=mia

http://cbs4.com/local/Brandie.Brandy.Husky.2.1705572.html

http://www.justnews.com/download/2010/0526/23684537.pdf

http://cbs4.com/local/Brandie.Brandy.Husky.2.1716553.html

Wolf Moon Kennel?

Wolf Moon Kennel?
May 30th 2010
wolfmoonsleddog
Southeast
Location: Armuchee, GA
Time - 8:57pm Eastern Daylight Time
Temperature: 73 degrees F (23C)
Conditions: Mostly cloudy, humid
Forecast: Scattered thunderstorms tonight and tomorrow. Lows in the 60s, highs in the 70s


Construction on The Structure has begun! My poor Dad - every time I come home I have some grand new project that I drag him into helping me with…This time it is a shed for all my dog stuff that is currently scattered all over the house, etc.

Initially it was just a little thing with a dirt floor to hang my dogyard cleaning equipment but then I started thinking of everything else that could go in it. And it got bigger and bigger. Seriously though, when we put up the boards on the side today I was a bit shocked at how tall it was. Holy cow! This is going to be great!

It’s good to have this to keep my mind busy. I did my GED diagnostic. The 80-minute science section took me 34 minutes! I’ve been going on and on about that to my friends who are probably sick of hearing me brag about it. But in all seriousness, I did pretty good on the diagnostic although I think I need to review algebra. My studybook has two or three more full-length practice tests so that’s good.

In the dogpen there is a sheltered area that had chicken wire around it. There’s a good reason for this - it used to be a chicken coop! But it dawned on me that, although I like the shelter area, there’s no reason for it to have a chicken wire fence around it! So I took the wire off and it looks much, much better!

The dogs are doing fine. They’ve been spending most of the time outside over the past few days due to some family things that are going on but once we get through this portion of that we should all be ready to have them (and their goofy antics) back inside the house.

But…here’s something else. I call my micro-kennel Wolf Moon. This goes back to Aspen who was born on a full moon in January 2000. The full moon in January is known as the Wolf Moon, hence the name I gave Aspen (Wolf Moon Aspen). When I continued with dogs after Aspen died, I kept her name as the “kennel” name. Wolf Moon Kennels. I loved the sound of it and thought it was original and a good name for a sled dog kennel.

Good name? Definitely! Original? Not so much.

Turn out there are at least three other kennels called Wolf Moon. The first, http://www.shadowbrookrats.com/apbt/index.htm breeds American Pit Bull Terriers. Not a huge problem as this is very unrelated to mushing. But the other two Wolf Moon Kennels are both sled dog kennels! There is this one - http://www.wolfmoonkennel.com/ and this one - http://www.houndsandhorses.com/home/dogs.html

So this raises the question, as I am looking into doing more stuff with my own dogs, with my own micro-kennel name; do I keep the name Wolf Moon or find something else? I am not offended that others have used the same name. Not by a long shot. More power to them! Still, I’m not sure what it means for my Wolf Moon. So the thought goes around and around my head. Keep the Kennel name and run the risk of…I don’t know? Change the kennel name but keep the name Wolf Moon as the line name for when/if I raise a litter of puppies? Change the kennel name and potential line name? Call it Wolf Moon Siberians rather than Wolf Moon Kennels? It’s just that I’ve had the name Wolf Moon for so long. It’s always been Wolf Moon.

I don’t know. I haven’t decided what to do. What do YOU think? I’d love to hear anyone’s input.

I mean, there’s not really any originality anywhere. I kid you not there’s even another Alice White who runs sled dogs. Seriously. I am not making this up. She’s even close to my age. I read about this Alice White about a year ago and tried to contact her but no results. Maybe she was as weirded out as I was.

But putting aside the ‘Mirror, Mirror’ episode of Star Trek (thanks to Bonz for pointing out that connection last year!), I am hopeful for a good dryland mushing season.

But I miss MCK and can’t quite get used to the fact that I’m back in Georgia semi-permanently now. I’m not back for a couple of weeks or a couple of months before I head back to Minnesota. Now THAT really does weird me out. I keep coming across pictures of the kennel or the cabin or The Vortex…The Vortex was my room for two years and suddenly it’s not. It’s not waiting for me all ready with all of my stuff for when I get back. I won’t be holing up there in the evenings to read or watch an occasional movie or TV show episode on DVD. Won’t be sitting there with the radio on. Won’t be thinking darn I really should tidy up in here…tomorrow. Geez, I’m really missing my room up there!

To say nothing of my friends, both human and canine. I miss you guys.

Not that I won’t be getting back there. In fact, I fully intend to. You won’t be able to keep me away. It’s just the fact that I no longer live at MCK that I can’t quite wrap my mind around.

In the meantime, I have had the very strange experience of sitting beside someone I care about tremendously who feels really, really sick. Feels like crap. And I sat there and was very concious of how good I felt physically. I felt no pain, my mind was clear and yet right there was someone who was in pain. You have no idea how strange that seems. It seems so wrong. I feel if only I could siphon a little bit of that hurt off and deal with it myself and lesson their pain…I don’t know.

But I don’t want to end this blog post on a dark and disturbing note. I am a happy person and although I encounter dark things, I try not to let them get me down (sometimes this makes me wonder if others see me as a cold person. I’m not, I feel things just as much as the next person). I use the time to write and research and let my mind wander.

One of the things I am doing is revamping this website. Nothing new is up yet but I am working on completely re-doing some pages and parts (no worries though, the blog portion will remain the same). This again brings us back to the whole “kennel name” question.

In doing some research for the revamped site, I discovered http://pawvillage.com/ which has been WAY too much of a distraction. I found Calypso’s sister, Mary (Kristari’s Bloody Mary no less!). Unfortunately there were no pictures of her. I also spent an absurd amount of time tracing my dogs back to Togo. Not all of the Jedeye dogs are in the database but Inga is and all of the Anadyr dogs are. And all of Calypso’s side of the family is on there. If I am correct in my interpretation, although Calypso comes from a whole different side of the Siberian husky lineage than Bonnie and Susan, they can all be traced back to a single dog: Tanta Of Alyeska (http://pawvillage.com/pedigree/dynprofile.asp?ID=AWSH187), Togo’s granddaughter. Tanta had many offspring. In one litter there were two siblings named Cheeak and Togo (NOT to be confused with the original Togo). This other Togo was bred to a dog named Kira and their descendents eventually led to Calypso. Bonnie and Susan, on the other hand, can be traced back to Cheeak.

But I digress…

I have started working for Kristin and David at the farm I mentioned in my last post. I spent last Friday morning clearing weeds from around blueberry bushes and then mulching them. Ana and Albert were very helpful! More on this soon!

Oh, and if you really want to know - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWbSXjZlZ7U Just be warned that’s it’s LONG if you have a slow/limited internet connection.

Until next time!

A

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8 Responses to “Wolf Moon Kennel?”
Dave Lukosik on 30 May 2010 at 8:52 pm # edit this

You all are moving right along on the “Structure”! Wolf Moon Siberians sounds pretty good! Did you read the bio of Christine Wolf of Wolf Moon Kennels? DeJaVu, pretty Twilight Zone stuff! Just kidding! Yes, I have traced a boy I adopted last year back 23 generations to Togo also with that website! It is OK to feel the loss of the MCK experience but you are a better person for having done it! Your girls are an everyday reminder of that reality! I must be weird, but I never liked Star Trek! I could not bring myself to watch the Mirror, Mirror episode. What was the point of the episode? Best wishes to you all!

wolfmoonsleddog on 31 May 2010 at 8:43 am # edit this

I know! Things go so much faster with two people working! And thanks for the kennel name input!

Gotta’ love that PawVillage website.

Yes, I wouldn’t trade my MCK experience for anything and I know I will always remember it fondly. And I expect I will be back there with my dogs from time to time. I am SO glad I have my girls here. I’d be going crazy if I didn’t.

You’re not weird for not being into “Star Trek.” Hah, I’m weird for liking it as much as I do. The Mirror Mirror episode deals with the Enterprise crew entering a parallel universe and meeting dark alternate versions of themselves (while breaking pretty much all known laws of physics which HAPPENS IN EVERY ‘TREK’ EPISODE! LOL).

A

Peter Duncan on 31 May 2010 at 12:10 pm # edit this

I think you just need to look at the kennels that share your name and decide whether you think anyone is likely to get you all muddled up…………
looks to me like you’re far enough apart and doing different enough aspects fof the sport for it not to be an issue.

Our kennel name means Full Moon - but we use the Gaelic language so despite it not being that original a name, at least we’re highly unlikely to share it with anyone.

Life is change, store those good experiences and memories in your lifebook and go on to make many more, different ones.

P

colddonkey on 31 May 2010 at 1:39 pm # edit this

Wolf Moon Siberians, would be a excellent choice. It implies a specific breed not some puppy mill, like Dan’s Kennels would.

wolfmoonsleddog on 31 May 2010 at 8:16 pm # edit this

Thanks everyone for your input! I really appreciate it and it’s good to hear what other people think.

Peter, I really like what you’ve done with your kennel name! By the way, I didn’t realize you had a blog (hmmm, what rock have I been hiding under this time)! I’ll definitely be following it.

Colddonkey, I see your point (though most sled dog kennels call themselves ‘Kennel’ or ‘Kennels’. But then most sled dog kennels aren’t running purebreds).

Cheers and thanks again!

A

Dave Lukosik on 31 May 2010 at 11:20 pm # edit this

Thanks for the explanation of the Star Trek episode! You can beam me up, Scotty! It’s great to see “Capt Kirk” still on TV in those cute commercials!

wolfmoonsleddog on 05 Jun 2010 at 4:49 pm # edit this

You’re welcome!

I am so out-of-the-loop when it comes to much of what is on TV…what commercials are these?

A

Latest dog kennel news – Can a Human Medicine Work as Dog Kennel Cough Medicine? on 28 Jun 2010 at 11:27 am # edit this

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