February 2005

Whew! What a month it's been! We've been very busy enjoying winter activities, friends and a side trip here and there! We started this month off heading over to Bayfield, WI where we watched several friends compete in the Apostle Island Dog Sled race. It was a two day race, and very entertaining to watch. It was fun to get together with friends.

Speaking of friends . . . we've had lots of fun dog sledding and playing boot hockey on "Minnow Arena"

Here we are taking a break between periods of a rousing boot hockey game with the Kangas family. Notice Shadow, the Kangas' dog in the foreground.

Since we're all weekend warriors with this boot hockey, we take a lot of breaks! I am happy to report, we haven't had any injuries despite some enthusiastic checking amoung spouses and kids!

Most any guest that visits this winter, has to take advantage of our small, but capable sled dog team . . . Millie and Solo. Here are a few more new mushers!!

In the left photo is Jesse, giving his sister Danae a ride. I think Jesse has been our youngest musher yet - he is 6!!!

In the right hand photo is Sammy Jo - she's not much older than Jesse, so we definately have had the Jr crowd out.

In the middle of February we made our now annualtrip up to Marquette, Michigan to watch and help out at the U.P. 200 Dog Sled race. If you are the least bit interested in the dog sledding, and enjoy winter activity this is a must see! The town goes all out to welcome the dog teams and mushers. We were lucky enough to get to help the Nature Kennel teams again this year as handlers. This year we handled for Andrew Letzring, he is the kennel manager at Nature's Kennel. Andrew was supposed to participate in the UP 200 race, but injured his hand earlier that week, so decided to compete in the Midnight Run, which is a 91 mile race. Andrew finished in 22nd place, but won the Sportsmanship Award for helping a fellow musher sort out his dog team out on the trail. The Midnight Run was a fun race to work, they leave the starting gate at 6 p.m. in the evening and cross the finish line around 10 a.m. the following morning, with one five hour rest along the way. As handlers we assist the musher when he arrives at the checkpoint for the long rest. We will take the booties off the dogs, feed them and get them settled down to rest. The musher eats and sleeps as well at this stop and we "watch" the sleeping dogs while the musher sleeps. At larger more public checkpoints you have to keep curious fans away from the sleeping dogs. Then when the musher is ready to head out again, we help put on booties and lead the team to the re-start area. Dean likes to describe our job as the "pit crew" for the musher and dogs. Ed and Tasha Stielstra raced in the U.P. 200, Tasha placing SECOND and Ed placing SEVENTH. Each of their trips to the finish line were exciting, close finishes. Both were seconds out of the place ahead of them. Here's a photo of the handling team, with Ed and Tasha. We are all in our Bumblebee suits. As funny as they look they are beneficial for the musher, they can see us from MILES away.

Despite all our winter activities we are beginning to wish for Spring. Hence my background color choice - a sunny yellow. I'm hoping it'll help melt the snow . . . we still have in the neighborhood of 18+ inches of snow in the woods. In Wisconsin we didn't have near the snowfall that we've seen here, so I think Spring is still a ways off. We've had a steady stream of Golden finches throughout the winter, here's one that visited us not so long ago!

Now as March comes in like a lamb . . . my attention has turned to yet a snowier spot in the U.S. -- ALASKA!

On Saturday the Iditarod Dog Sled race began in Anchorage, with the official start happening west of Willow on Sunday. We have three good friends running in the Iditarod this year, so checking race updates, looking at photos and reading articles about the "Last Great Race" will be my main focus for the next ten to twelve days. I have to share this incredible photo with you all, Ed Stielstra took this photo while on a training run in Denali Park with Andrew Letzring. They took the dogs out for a "fun run" just to keep them in the mood and in shape while waiting for the race to begin. Can you believe the mountains, the dogs . . . how great this run must have been! It was, however, cut short by a moody female moose who was on the trail. Ed and Andrew thought it best to turn around and let her enjoy her solitude. If you're interested at all, check out www.Iditarod.com for some great photos of dogs and mushers. We will be watching Andrew's team with great interest for several reasons, these are the dogs that we worked with during the Midnight Run, so we're anxious to see how they fare. Also, two of Millie's sisters are on Andrew's team, Gumbi and Sandy. It's hard to believe that our Millie could have been out there on that trail, if we hadn't brought her to live in Minnesota. Hmmm, I wonder if she would prefer the danger and excitement of Alaska to running free in the woods and chewing on Kongs in Minnesota. It's probably a toss up :)