Winter Fun in Minnesota

Millie and I are practicing the sport of Skijoring, where a dog pulls a skier. This was our first attempt and as you can see we're doing okay. Our most recent attempts haven't been so successful. She seems to run circles around me, it's going to take practice. You can skijor with more than one dog, two dogs is very popular, but I think I'll try and get the hang of it first, before I try "more power".

We almost broke a record for January snowfall, some 40" fell on our ponds and field. What's there for dogs to do when the woods is full of snow? Well, of course they can always try a Northome delicacy . . . beaver feet! The local trapper passes them out to all his dog neighbors. Yuck! Millie and Solo sure seem to enjoy them though :)

Dean's sister LuAnn, and her family all came to visit us in January. It happened to be the coldest weekend of the year, but we managed to get some dog sledding in. Our night time temperatures were in the -40 below zero range, and the daytime highs were in the teens below zero. The kids were great sports though and were happy to bundle up, if it meant time sledding with the dogs!! From Left to Right - Laura driving Nicole, Derek driving on his own, and once again Laura and Nicole.

Here's LuAnn and Nicole creating their own special pizza.

Derek, Nicole and I couldn't resist making smores, the camping treat, it was much too cold for a fire outside, so we figured why not take advantage of the great fire in the fireplace, to grille those marshmallows just right!!

Smiles from across the miles . . .

Just had to share a few smiles with all of you. From left to right - Jesse Kangas, Danae Kangas and Solo Zimmermann. Now that I'm learning about web page construction, I hope we'll be able to share more smiles, more often. I've got boot hockey and more dog sled photos in the camera, so stay tuned for more additions to our winter adventures in Minnesota! Heavens knows winter is long enough up here, we've got to make the most it!