Wolf Moon Dogsledding

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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!

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!

Location: Finland, MN
Time - 11:00am
Temperature: 61 degrees F
Conditions: Cloudy, wet
Forecast: Partly cloudy today, low in the 30s. Partly cloudy tomorrow, lows in the 40s, highs in the 50s

Here are a few Fall pics I have taken. More coming soon when I can get them uploaded.

Bluie, one of the MCK dogs

Tree in Ely, MN

From the porch of Blake and Jen’s cabin as a small storm approached.

Location: Finland, MN
Time - 8:06pm
Temperature: 50 degrees F
Conditions: Mostly clear
Forecast: Partly cloudy tonight, lows in the 40s. Cloudy tomorrow, highs in the 60s, lows in the 50s

Harnesses drying after being washed

You can now read this journal on my “Dog & Sled” website at http://www.dx4solutions.com/dogandsled/DandSblog.htm It looks great!

Well I’ve been busy as usual as Fall comes to MCK. The colors of the leaves are changing by the day, becoming more vivid and intense each morning. We are running teams most mornings now and they are doing well. They are going farther now on their ATV runs and seem to be in great shape.

I’ve done a little scootering with Calypso. Last week Blake and Jen went biking on a trail in Beaver Bay and Calypso and I followed along with the scooter. The trail was paved so I kept having to stop to apply and reapply paw protection. I’ve seen in the past how pavement can wear down pads really quickly and I did not want that to happen now. Fortunately Calypso’s feet look good. We took her out on the 4-dog team again this morning but she had an attitude. She wanted to chase a grouse and then dawdled along and wasn’t happy when we turned the team around (’I've already run this section’ she must have been thinking).

Other than that, not too much new to report. Some of the puppies have been put in harness for the first time and gone for short walks. It’s so interesting and fun to see their reactions!

More soon!

Location: Finland, MN
Time - 9:04pm
Temperature: 53 degrees F
Conditions: Mostly cloudy
Forecast: Partly cloudy tonight, low around 40. Mostly sunny tomorrow, highs in the lower 70s, lows in the 40s

Here are some pictures from last Sunday.

Me scootering with Calypso and Nemo

Part-time handler, Joe, scootering with his huskies Brr! and Aiya

Calypso and Nemo

Location: Finland, MN
Time - 6:59pm
Temperature: 56 degrees F
Conditions: Partly cloudy, damp, breezy
Forecast: Rain showers tonight, lows in the lower 30s. Partly cloudy tomorrow with a chance of rain showers in the afternoon. Highs in the lower 60s, low around 40.

In lead - Calypso (left) and Alex (right). In wheel - Jackie (left) and Joker (right)

I think rainbows in the Northland must be some of the most dramatic. In my four weeks here I have seen more rainbows than I’ve seen all year - and they are definitely more vivid than I’ve seen in a long time. Tonight while I was helping soup the dogs, it started raining but the sun was out and there was a fantastic double rainbow. I wish I’d had my camera because it would have made an amazing picture.

The other day, Jen and I tried running Calypso with three other dogs. Alex, the 12-year-old veteran and Joker and Jackie, the yearlings. Joker and Jackie were hooked in wheel and Calypso and Alex in lead. Jen made Calypso’s tug a little shorter than Alex’s. This frustrated Calypso because she couldn’t pass Alex. She kept trying to run faster than him. But everyone did really well. We hooked the little 4-dog team to a Sand Lynx training cart and it was a wild ride! It will be exciting to see how the Season progresses.

Location: Finland, MN
Time - 8:51pm
Temperature: 54 degrees F
Conditions: Cloudy, wet, rainy
Forecast: Rain showers tonight, partly cloudy tomorrow. Lows in the lower 40s, highs in the lower 60s

Me with a kitten whom I have dubbed Mistoffelees after Mr. Mistoffelees in Cats. Mistoffelees and his littermates are rescues and are being kept at the Ely Veterinary Clinic (Ely does not have an animal shelter other than the clinic). The kittens were terrified of humans at first but are coming around nicely now.

Another rainy night. Blake and Jen’s friend, Karl, is here for the weekend. Temperatures are cooler again and we are back to running dogs. We’ve taken several teams out over the past couple of days. This morning it was 29 degrees and there was a pretty nice frost. The days are becoming shorter, which we’ve really noticed in the mornings - it takes longer for the sun to come up!

Wednesday night, I was heading from the cabin to the bunkhouse when I realized that the sky was bright along the horizon. This didn’t strike me as odd at first because I am used to seeing lights of nearby cities and towns. But then I remembered that we weren’t near any cities or towns and the sky should be dark. I called Blake out from the cabin to make sure I wasn’t looking at the last of the sunset. I wasn’t - my suspicions were correct, it was indeed the Northern Lights. They didn’t look quite like I’ve seen in Alaska but were still pretty bright. It seemed as if there was a mass of green and red light radiating from the North.

You can tell that Fall is coming. The leaves are just starting to change and I am beginning to see a burnt look that I associate with Thanksgiving in the Southeast. It’s not quite there yet but it’s obviously coming. Fall is on its way. Much earlier than I am used to. Nice.

Location: Finland, MN
Time - 9:10pm
Temperature: 59 degrees F
Conditions: Cloudy, windy
Forecast: Few rain showers this evening, lows in the 40s. Sunny tomorrow, highs in the 60s, lows in the 30s

There was a red sky this morning. No, not just a red sky, a red glow - everything was glowing red. Then the thicker clouds rolled in and it rained. It seems that I am always blogging on rainy evenings.

We had a good Labor Day weekend at MCK. The weather this time of year goes from one end of the spectrum to the other. You might be freezing in the morning and then ready to go swimming by noon.

Joker

On Saturday we took almost every dog in the kennel for a run, with three ATV teams. Two teams of adults and one puppy team. The puppy team consisted of some older, experienced dogs, the two-year old pups and the yearling pups. Everyone did well but Jen thinks it might be a bit too much to keep asking the two yearlings, Jackie and Joker, to run with the more intense two-year-olds. Likewise, asking the two-year-olds to slow down for the yearlings wouldn’t be fair either. Jen suggested we put together a four-dog team consisting of Jackie, Joker, Calypso and Alex, a 12-year-old husky who refuses to retire. Should be fun!

Jackie (right) with her mother, Noor

The rest of the weekend was too warm to run. Blake has been clearing out an area for a new free-run enclosure that will be over an acre in size! It looks good.

We went kayaking and swimming in a nearby lake, which was a lot of fun. There are few days warm enough to do that. The water was cold but felt good. Yesterday, Jen and I took three puppies to another lake and played with them there. They had a great time and we did too!

Alex getting a bath (with a little help from Calypso)

The funniest thing yesterday was dog bathing. Jen and I washed several dogs in the kennel. We filled up a tub with water and stood the dogs in there, soaping them up and washing them. While we were doing this, Calypso watched interestedly from her kennel pen. We brushed some of the dogs and there were wads of fluff rolling around like tumbleweeds. I joked that we could have one dog at each end of the pen and it would be wild West, sled dog style. We washed one two-year-old pup named Attila (he and his littermates are known as the bad boys and have names like Hagar, Mothra, Ghengis and Kahn) and Calypso went nuts when he was running around.

I let Calypso out of her kennel pen and she and Attila started playing wildly, like only huskies can. Attila is shy around me but not around my little husky (whom Jen calls Puffball). I’d run Calypso with the scooter yesterday morning but she seemed to be getting almost as much exercise this way! Keeping with our Wild West theme, we decided Attila was the outlaw and Calypso was the flirty dancehall girl (”the wild redhead” Jen says) with a thing for bad boys.

It was fun. We finally let Attila back into the male yard and brought another dog back. In the meantime, Calypso noticed the tub full of soapy water. In she hopped, grinning and laughing. “Hah hah, look at me!” Then she dug in the water and stuck her face in it, coming up with soap on her face. We had to stop her from drinking it. When we bathed Alex, Calypso hopped back in the tub with him.

More pics of Calypso:

Location: Finland, MN
Time - 10:23am
Temperature: 73 degrees F
Conditions: Sunny, warm
Forecast: Sunny and windy today and tomorrow. Highs in the 80s, lows in the 50s and 60s

Here is the full series of pictures of me drowning in happy puppies!