Wolf Moon Dogsledding

Location: Finland, MN
Time - 10:40am
Temperature: 34 degrees F
Conditions: Partly cloudy, snow flurries
Forecast: Windy with snow showers today, partly cloudy tomorrow. Highs in the 30s, lows in the 20s

It has indeed snowed! Not a lot but enough to make the ground (mostly) white. It started yesterday on our long day-camp run. As usual, we had the two main teams out - this time Blake had the girls and Jen and I had the boys.

It was warm at the beginning of the run but as we approached our camp, the temperatures started to drop and it began raining. Cold rain that soaked everything and made us all miserable at the camp. While I was helping chop up the beaver meat for the dogs (frozen beaver in the cold rain, oh fun!), snow started mixing in with the rain. Big white fluffy flakes that melted as soon as they hit anything. So it wasn’t much nicer than the rain although it looked prettier.

Nothing stuck until yesterday evening when Jen took out the two-year-olds. While we were harnessing the dogs, it started pouring snow (and it was windy) and most of it was staying on the ground where it hit. It continued off and on all night I guess. It was still snowing a little when I got up this morning and there have been a few more flurries throughout the morning.

Obviously there is not enough snow to use sleds but that seems a lot closer now that we’ve had our first snow.

Note: For some reason, I can no longer upload pictures to this blog. I am working on the problem but in the meantime, you can see the posts AND pictures on http://www.dx4solutions.com/dogandsled/DandSblog.htm

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Location: Finland, MN
Time - 9:34pm
Temperature: 38 degrees F
Conditions: Clear
Forecast: Mostly cloudy tonight with a chance of showers tomorrow. Highs in the 40s, lows in the 30s.

There is a chance of snow showers on Sunday! And then freezing rain next weekend. Hopefully that won’t be too bad.

We just got back from a workout and I’m a bit tired. The dogs have been getting workouts too as they are now going on longer and longer runs. We’ve done a couple of day camping trips. We took two teams with a total of over 30 dogs. Blake had the male team hooked to one ATV with food and water on it and Jen and I took the female team. The first day we camped for about an hour but the dogs were NOT ready to stop. They drank their water and ate their food and them began barking and leaping to run. They continued this almost non-stop for the entire break.

The second time was much better. The dogs actually settled down. There was a pretty heavy frost that morning. We’ve been having more frost lately. I love the cool weather!

A few stubborn leaves are hanging around on the trees but most have fallen now. It’s funny how Fall has the same feeling wherever you go. I get flashbacks to Fall in the South even though the trees and leaves here are completely different.

Over and out for now.

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Location: Finland, MN
Time - 4:03pm
Temperature: 45 degrees F
Conditions: Cool, raining
Forecast: Rainy today, highs in the 40s. Cloudy tomorrow, lows in the 40s, highs in the 50s

Sorry again for no pictures. I have some I want to share but I’m having issues uploading photos. Am trying to figure it out.

Training is going well. This morning I was riding on the ATV with Jen behind the girl team. They obviously smelled a moose and really took off. It was a wild ride and a lot of fun - the dogs were VERY excited! We didn’t see that moose but a little while later we passed a clearing and I saw a large shadowy thing at the edge near the woods. I told Jen “I think I saw a moose back there” but I couldn’t be sure because it was still early morning and pretty dark (the days are getting shorter and shorter). We looped around a while later on the trail and came back the way we had come, as we always do. By the time we came back it was much lighter and we could easily see what was in the clearing. It was not one but TWO moose - a cow and a calf. We stopped and watched them for a minute. They looked at us and then disappeared into the woods. Very neat to see!

Last Sunday Jen and I took the little team out with the Sand Lynx. We had six dogs hooked up - Jackie, Joker, Noor, Calypso, Alex and Lira. Running out of the yard was intense and the rig didn’t want to pull straight. Less than a hundred yards after leaving the kennel, we hit a rock and flipped the rig! We were bruised but okay. The dogs were fine - they probably wondered why we’d stopped! Fortunately we finished the run without further issues but the team is too big for that little rig.

Before it started raining today, Jen and I started Kenzi’s five puppies in a team. We had our six-dog team, the five puppies and another dog named Pepper hooked up to an ATV - twelve all together. We went one mile with this team and they did great! Amazing how fast the pups figured out what to do. When we took breaks they were hammering to go!

Nemo is in his new home in Ireland now. Calypso’s new kennelmates are Biko and Chero, two retired dogs. They seem to be getting along well so that is good.

Well, it seems the rain has stopped. Unfortunately there is no longer any mention of snow this weekend but we checked out the extended forecast and there are two “s-words” in the forecast. A chance of rain mixing with snow on the 21st and on the 24th the forecast is (and I’m pretty sure this is a direct quote) “cold with snow.”

Now that is my kind of forecast!

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Location: Finland, MN
Time - 10:26pm
Temperature: 36 degrees F
Conditions: Partly cloudy
Forecast: Partly cloudy tonight and tomorrow. Lows in the 30s, highs in the 50s

The colder weather is arriving - we’ve had beautiful hard frosts the past two days and the dogs have been LOVING it! Yesterday I scootered with Calypso and Nemo on the 5-mile loop.

Will write more soon - with pics as I can get them uploaded - but I wanted to share the exciting news! A week from tomorrow the “s-word” has entered the forecast! The “s-word” is, of course, snow. At least, snow showers!

Just had to share that!

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