Snow!!!

We got a nice dump of snow on Black Friday, November 23!  On Thanksgiving Day, it hit almost 60 degrees, then cooled down in the evening and snowed eight inches or so overnight and got pretty cold so it has stayed around and we have even managed to get on the sleds!  In November!  YAY!!!

Puppies enjoying the snow.

Thunder and Brute like to lead the pups on a chase.

Brute.

 

Hooking up today.  Mucho's jumping for joy!

Cloud and Thunder led Jeremy's team (Mucho jumping in the background).

We took out two six dog teams today-the first on sleds.  We chose to be on the safe side with small teams because the hunters are still driving around in the woods and the snow is not as deep closer to the Lake where the trails we were using are, but it was sure nice to be back on the runners.  We might still have to do some truck training yet, until we get a little more snow.

The pups, who are almost five months old, had been squabbling too much amongst themselves, so we pulled the three males out and put them in the dogyard this week.  Its always a little difficult when pups hit this milestone because they cry and panic a little at first when they first learn about the tether, but they adjust pretty quick and enjoy visiting their neighbors, whom they are close enough to to be able to play and socialize with but not close enough to get tangled with.

Clay

Jax

Opie

The two girls don't seem to argue so much, so they are still together in the kennel for now, but they cried the most after we pulled their brothers out, they must have thought they were missing out on some special attention, or maybe they missed them at first, but everything has settled down now.

Gemma and Tara

We picked up a couple new dogs yesterday, from a kennel in Mason, Wisconsin.  They have good bloodlines and the male, Nakiski, is big by our standards.  We've been trying to get some bigger dogs into the yard, because Jeremy is a big guy (6'4") and could use more power that bigger dogs can provide.  We actually went to Mason just to get Nakiski but while we were there, we were shown a smaller white dog named Mucho, that they were looking to rehome, too, and she immediately reminded us both of my main little leader that died while in harness a couple years ago.  We really loved that dog and it was really devastating when she passed. We were told that when they got her, they were told she would lead, but they had never tried her as they'd only had her since this summer, so we are hopeful that she will lead for us.  We've decided to turn her into another house husky, because she is so mellow and quiet and so far is adjusting nicely.  We took both dogs out for a run with the team today, and they did well, she is a jumper at the start and they both seemed thrilled to be out, as they haven't run at all yet this fall.  Luckily, with the truck training we've been doing, we have the option of hooking them into our team with other dogs who've run 300ish miles so far and just load them up when we feel they need it.  They can condition at their own pace and it doesn't take away from the rest of the team.

Mucho is a jumper at hookup!  Salt thinks she's a little crazy...

Nakiski

Nakisk,-now we have two blue eyed dogs.

Mucho settling in to being a house dog.

Bough Cutting and Traces of Snow

  We have talked about cutting balsam boughs for the local wreath making business for a few years now and finally actually did it this year.  Of course, we got a late start, so only made a few loads (so far), but have discovered that it is a bit of work to get full loads, but it is good outdoors work that you can do at a pace you set yourself.  Once you know what you are looking for (telling balsam apart from other kinds of pine), and find a good spot with a good grouping of trees, its not too bad.  After a couple days of cutting, you do start to see balsam in your dreams and you look for balsam automatically when you are just out driving around or running dogs, but its some extra money that we can, of course, always use.  We've been bringing the two best behaved (stay close and always listen when called) little house dogs, Brute and Spike, along-good exercise and a fun time for them.  We tried taking Thunder, our main leader/house husky, with, but he likes porcupines too much, having found one on each of the two days we took him out, and naturally getting a noseful of quills both times!

Our second load.

Our next (last) load-a bit bigger.  You can see our "helpers"-Brute and Spike sitting on top. 

Sometimes there's neat stuff out in the woods-this is an old Chevy truck that had a homemade camper on it.  probably a hunting camp a long time ago...

A porcupine calls the camper home now-you can kinda see him here.  He scurried underneath before a good pic could be taken.

The line we had to wait in to sell the boughs on Halloween.

  In other news...we are finally starting to see traces of snow occasionally.

This pic was taken during our first 20 miler of the season on Thursday (Nov. 1st).

  So the countdown to sleds has begun!  Bring on the snow!  We're always hopeful for the 1st of December...


An interesting piece of machinery we've seen twice now on our runs that we've been doing in Hurley, Wisconsin, which has been a nice area to get longer runs in with the truck. Its some kind of trimmer that the utility company uses.  The photo sucks, because it was too close to get a full picture of, but you can see the cutting blade on the end of its telescoping arm.

If we ever have a Zombie Apocalypse, I want this machine!