I'm A Musher Not A...?

I’m A Musher Not A…?
Aug 14th 2009
wolfmoonsleddog
Southeast
Location: Armuchee, GA
Time - 6:39am Eastern Daylight Time
Temperature: 72 degrees F (22 C)
Conditions: Mostly cloudy, humid
Forecast: Sunny today and tomorrow. Highs in the 90s, lows in the 70s



This Summer has not turned out at all the way I expected. That said, I’m not exactly sure what I expected but it certainly wasn’t this! Not that this has been a bad Summer. Far from it, it has been an excellent Summer!

When I came down from Minnesota in May, I had several main things I planned to do during my time in the South.

Expand the dog pen. I did this, with help from my Dad. I’d come up with some elaborate plans and somehow saw myself working outside for a few hours every day fixing several areas. Yeah, I really did forget how hot it gets here. Still, the pen is now almost three times as big as it was…and took three times as long to build as I thought. However, I am NOT complaining. The expansion is GREAT!

Get a car. Did that too. Finding it took up a good bit of time but was worth it! I love my little red Shuttlecraft.

Type up the novel I wrote longhanded last Summer. Didn’t do that. Nor did I write the sequel I planned. I will at some point but I chose to do some other things.

Print some things offline. I’m still doing that.

Take a roadtrip. Didn’t happen the way I meant for it to but it is happening - we’re combining it with the trip back to Minnesota.

Prepare for college. I got accepted into VCC in Ely. I went to their college prep days before I left. It seemed right at the time. I would start classes at their Fall 2009 semester. Then I started thinking about it more. And then it all started to weigh down on me and didn’t feel like the right thing anymore. So I have pulled out. At the time of this writing I intend to go to vet tech school in Fall 2010. I will probably take a break from full-time sled dog handling at that point and just play with my own dogs. We’ll see what transpires.

Hang out with my friends. DEFINITELY did that! And here lies part of where the Summer turned out differently.

It was what I didn’t plan. And the thoughts came about after hanging out with my friends in situations entirely unlike the quiet of the Minnesota wilderness.

On this blog I write about my mushing life. I write about dogs and sleds and snow and puppies. I don’t usually write about the other side(s) of my life that don’t exactly involve sled dogs. And since sled dogs are so firmly entrenched in who I am, it’s sometimes easy to forget that that isn’t ALL of who I am. Sometimes even I forget.

But then I remember. A friend of mine will bring something up that is so seemingly apart from the mushing life that it’s not even funny. And yet, I will totally relate to it. I am comfortable in two different places, in two different roles. As if I were two completely different people.

And so I have been trying to bring those two facets of myself together. So far it has been a challenge. From reading this blog you might not know that I want to get involved in filmmaking or that I am a YouTube junkie or that I can happily wander around Wal-Mart wearing a metallic silver scarf or that I can quote Monty Python until the cows come home.

So one of the things I have figured out this Summer is that I am a musher and I am also a geek/nerd.

But think, for a moment, about my choice in music. If I were to set my playlist on random it would probably come up something like this:

Moody Blues, Rolling Stones, Enya, Big & Rich, Sixpence None The Richer, Dropkick Murpheys, Star Pilot On Channel K, Weird Al Yankovick, Deep Purple, The Beatles, Pierce Pettis, Dixie Chicks, Nickleback, The Killers, Allison Kraus, The Police, The Cars, Stevie Nicks, Taylor Swift, Cake…

Just to name a few. Completely different music, artists and styles yet I like them all equally. Obviously I don’t feel the same when I listen to Enya as I do when I listen to Dropkick Murpheys. But I am the same person and I love both.

And as my love of music is a broad spectrum, so is my personality. There are some artists I especially love and I tend to listen to their music more and have more of their music in my collection. So are there facets of my personality that I am especially interested in (mushing for instance) and that hold my focus. But that isn’t all of who I am.

I listen to Sixpence None The Richer. And I listen to Nickelback.

I run sled dogs under a starlit night. And I wear silver nail polish and watch sci-fi.

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9 Comments »

9 Responses to “I’m A Musher Not A…?”
Dave Lukosik on 15 Aug 2009 at 2:58 pm # edit this

As our mutual friend Mick would say “You can’t always get want you want, but you get what you need”. Sounds like you accomplished alot this Summer and are ready to face the challenges of the “Great White North” again this coming Fall, Winter, and Spring! Go girl and follow your dream!

wolfmoonsleddog on 25 Aug 2009 at 6:46 am # edit this

And that’s the truth!

This is looking to be a great year and I will try to keep you updated on all that is happening.

A

Lucy Watson on 12 Sep 2009 at 7:07 pm # edit this

I’d say yur looking around and seeing yurself bloom……It’s exciting to watch…
Lucynthe four-leggers

wolfmoonsleddog on 14 Sep 2009 at 9:28 am # edit this

Yes, a lot of thinking and a lot of self-discovery.

Wolf Moon Dogsledding » The Geek Musher on 09 Dec 2009 at 7:31 pm # edit this

[...] sort of ties in with my post “I’m A Musher, Not A…?” from back in August ( http://sleddoggin.com/blogs/wolfmoonsleddog/2009/08/14/im-a-musher-not-a/ ). I feel I have really been more true to both sides of myself since that post and become more [...]

Tiffany on 18 Dec 2009 at 11:01 am # edit this

I am in the Atlanta, GA area. I am trying to get into dryland mushing. I am looking for someone experienced in dryland or snow, doesn’t matter to me, that would be willing to give me some pointers, or even let my dog(s) run with theirs. I’m having trouble teaching them that pulling is ok. Do you of anyone I can get in touch with or any groups I can contact?

Tiff :o)

wolfmoonsleddog on 26 Dec 2009 at 7:56 am # edit this

Hi Tiffany! Sorry it took a little while to respond…That’s great that you are wanting to get into dryland. It’s great fun!

What kind of dogs do you have? There are dozens of ways to train dogs and teach them that pulling is fun. However (I don’t know if this is how it is in your case but I find it quite common) if a dog has been obedience trained NOT to pull, s/he can find it quite confusing if suddenly asked to pull. S/he must learn that she is allowed to pull when put into a harness.

There is a really good YahooGroup called Southeast Dryland Mushers (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SEMushers/) that could probably answer a lot of your questions. I used to be very active on that list when I was living in the Southeast. I don’t know how it is now or who is on the list but I believe there are some other Georgians.

If you really want to try out mushing and are willing to make the drive, Siberian Husky Assist near Bristol, VA offers dryland clinics (and you do NOT have to have Siberians to attend - any breed of dog is welcome). http://www.siberianhuskyassist.com/

Hope this helps. Good luck and please keep in touch!

Alice

Tiffany on 11 Jan 2010 at 8:27 am # edit this

Thanks so much for your response. I checked out SEMushers and got in touch with someone from ATL that is willing to come out and run with me and my dogs.

I have 3 dogs that I run. Bear is an 8 year old wheaten terrier. Until recently, he was my fastest, best puller but his age is starting to catch up to him so I’ve been making him go slower and take more breaks. He runs seperate from the other two since he is much to fast for their more leisurely pace. I tried running him with the other two and Bear was pulling them along so their harnesses were bucnhed up in their armpits and they were basically getting dragged along that way. Jasmine is a 6 year old lab/chow mix. Tucker just turned 1 and since I never taught him to heel, he is doing much better at pulling than Jasmine. I finally got them out together (Jasmine & Tucker) and the first few runs were pretty interesting as they were trying to figure out how to run together… well, Tucker hasn’t done much running with the bike so it was all new to him anyway. But with a few runs under their belts, they’ve started to get it together and we all really enjoy it! Jasmine is teaching Tucker to focus more and Tucker is teaching Jas to pull a bit so I think they are a really good pair.

That is so neat about the clinic in VA but I don’t think I can manage that one just yet. But I will definitely keep it in mind for the future.

wolfmoonsleddog on 16 Jan 2010 at 6:29 pm # edit this

Glad to have helped! It’s always good to have someone to run with, especially when you are doing Southeastern dryland mushing.

Hugs to Bear, Tucker and Jasmine!

Best of luck and keep in touch.

A