Merry Christmas 2010!

Location: Armuchee, GA
Time - 5:36pm Eastern Standard Time
Temperature: 34 degrees F (1 C)
Conditions: Cloudy, snowing
Forecast: Cloudy with more snow tonight and tomorrow. Highs in the 30s, lows in the 20s

So a few days ago, everyone got excited because the weather forecast said there might be a *possibility* of snow *flurries* today.

Um, yeah. About that...

It started snowing at about nine this morning and it hasn't stopped yet And yes, I am that much of a sled dog geek. I HAD to get out and go sledding in our little bit of snow. I say little bit. Meaning little bit by Minnesota standards. For our area of Georgia, this is pretty much unheard of. I cannot remember the last time it's snowed like this here. 1996 maybe?

Above picture is of course me (with my head not in the picture) and team. Susan and Bonnie running fabulously in lead, and Calypso and Holly (the foster dog) in wheel. As far as I know, Holly has never been in harness before but she's been really focused when I've jogged with her. It took about fifty yards for her to figure out that this wasn't the Let's Chew On Calypso's Ear game and then she pulled the tug tight and kept it tight for the rest of our short run. She enjoyed it tremendously and was not at all stressed by the experience. So thumbs up for Holly-dog!

And speaking of Holly, in light of popular demand (*cough*Bonz*cough*), here are the full lyrics to my Mom's sled-dog revision of Deck The Halls (that I mentioned in the my post http://wolfmoonsleddog.blogspot.com/2010/12/deck-halls-with-bow-wows-of-holly.html).

Deck The Halls Revised
By Harriet White

Deck the halls with bow-wows of Holly
Woo-woo, woo-woo-woo, woo-woo, woo, woo
We are huskies and we're jolly
Woo-woo, woo-woo-woo, woo-woo, woo, woo
Don we now our race apparel
Woo-woo-woo, woo-woo-woo, woo, woo, woo
Trill an ancient canine carol
Woo-woo-woo-woo-woo, woo, woo, woo, woo

See the snowy trail before us
Woo-woo, woo-woo-woo, woo-woo, woo, woo
So we leap, and howl our chorus
Woo-woo, woo-woo-woo, woo-woo, woo, woo
Follow us in merry measure
Woo-woo-woo, woo-woo-woo, woo, woo, woo
Pulling sleds, our greatest pleasure
Woo-woo-woo-woo-woo, woo, woo, woo, woo

We're so fast, no one gets past us
Woo-woo, woo-woo-woo, woo-woo, woo, woo
Win this race, next time Alaska's!
Woo-woo, woo-woo-woo, woo-woo, woo, woo
Sing we joyous, all together
Woo-woo-woo, woo-woo-woo, woo, woo, woo
Heedless of the wind and weather
Woo-woo-woo-woo-woo, woo, woo, woo, woo

Many thanks to my Dad for taking these pictures. :)

Hope everyone's having a great Christmas!

A

Deck The Halls With Bow-Wows Of Holly

Location: Armuchee, GA
Time - 10:00pm Eastern Standard Time
Temperature: 47 degrees F (8 C)
Conditions: Mostly cloudy
Forecast: Rain showers tonight, lows in the 40s, clearing tomorrow, lows in the 20s

So if you're wondering about the title of this blog, this morning my Mom woke me up saying she had re-written 'Deck The Halls.' The whole thing.

The reason? Well, if you're wondering who in the world that dog is in the above picture...

Meet Holly.

Last Wednesday I was doing a little Christmas shopping and I stopped by the vet clinic to pick up meds for April. While I was there, I learned a husky had been pulled from the local animal control and was being held at the clinic (in fact, she was being spayed at that moment).

Long story short, I ended up fostering her. I named her Holly because, well duh, it's Christmas time. But it also goes well with my theme of dogs named after floral things (Aspen, Calypso [from the latin name of the fairy slipper plant], Bluebonnet, Black-Eyed-Susan). And also, I just all-around like the name Holly. There are some great fictional characters with the name - Holly Winter from the Susan Conant novels; Holly Short from the Artemis Fowl series.

Yes, I'm a total dork.

So Holly the dog was picked up near some dumpsters somewhere, which would suggest that someone put her out (and, like any husky, she is high-strung and bursting with energy). However she knows "sit" and "down" and has obviously been loved, so it's possible that she escaped from somewhere or wasn't contained and wandered off.

Whatever the case, she is recovering from mange (the non-contagious kind), which gives her a weird splotchy look and her fur is pretty thin in places (apparently she had very little fur on her face when she was pulled into rescue). But it's growing in and we're doing what we can to make her happy and hope to find her a more permanent home.

And above is a picture of Holly (far left), playing with Calypso, Susan and Bonnie (who is peeking up from the bottom of the pic).

All the best to everyone and happy Winter! (it's finally here).

A

Land Between The Lakes Sled Dog Dash 2010

Location: Armuchee, GA
Time - 9:30pm Eastern Standard Time
Temperature: 30 degrees F (-1C)
Conditions: Cloudy with light freezing rain
Forecast: Cloudy with freezing rain tonight, rain tomorrow. Highs in the 40s, lows in the 20s

UGH! It has been TOO LONG since I updated this blog. I am SO SORRY guys - I've been totally geeked out lately. I'll try to be a better person and update my blog like a grown-up.

The above picture was taken in Kentucky, in the motel room where we stayed during our second event of the 2010-2011 Season, the Between The Lakes Sled Dog Dash.

Bonnie and Susan and I ran in the 2-dog scooter class and placed 5th. It was a two day race, with us running two miles the first day, and two miles the second.

It was a fun course run along a winding bike trail through the forest. The weather the first day was cool, rainy and all-around icky. But we had fun despite this.

Then, the second day it started snowing. And kept on snowing. Soon there was about a half-inch of snow on the ground and it was still coming down. So our dryland sled dog race turned out to be more of a challenge! Rig tires like to slip and slide on even the tiny bit of snow that we had.

Also, since we had been running in the rain before the temperatures dropped, we had water in our brake systems and they froze up, as we discovered. The only way to fix this was to warm up the brakes.

Fortunately I don't think any of us managed to set our tires on fire. Still, I don't think my brakes were working properly.

But don't let this lead you to believe we didn't have a fun time. WE HAD A FANTASTIC TIME! It was great fun to race and it was good to see my Southeast sled dog friends whom I have not seen in ages. You know who you are! I'd name everyone but then I'd probably leave someone out and then I'd feel bad about it! I met some new faces too and that was great.

And then there were the dogs. So many husky-friends! And Bonnie and Susan ran great.

Thanks to Jeff Blewett and Due South Kennels for putting on this event. It's been a long time coming and the event was a success IMHO.


And a MAJOR thank-you to my parents for coming along to the race with me. And standing around in the rain and snow and cold (for SE) weather. It's been a long time since they've been to one of my races. :)