We decided to go on an overnight camping trip up to the Porkies last weekend. One reason was to see the fall colors. The colors are always beautiful up there and we try to make it up every year. The other reason was because we had originally been going to a wedding in southern Wisconsin on Sat. and we were going to camp overnight down there and come home on Sun. Unfortunately, due mainly to financial issues (gas prices in a full size truck), we came to the conclusion that it just wasn't going to work out. Elliot really was disappointed because he wanted to go camping, which we don't find time to do much, so we decided to go on Fri. night to a campground that's about 40 minutes drive away, and just stay overnight. This way, we didn't need anyone to care for the outside dogs and other animals, and we just took the four house dogs with us.
We just hooked them on the truck with drop chains from the sled dogs.
Mine and Jeremy's too small tent. Luckily, we don't use it often, the last time was probably 8 yrs. ago!
Jeremy starting the campfire.
Elliot enjoying the fire. It was pretty chilly Fri. night. Was probably 40 degrees or so.
Us enjoying our favorite beverages by the fire.
The kids by their tents Sat. morning. Got down to 33 degrees on Fri. night. BRRRRR!
Melted bottle from the campfire. This is after several other failed attempts. Its not that easy to melt them rather than break them. We were happy with it.
On Sat., we went to see the colors. First we went to Summit Peak. This is the tower.
And these are the views from the tower:
Autumn in her hoodie on Summit Peak.
Under the Summit Peak sign.
And on the way back down from the tower:
Elliot and Boris.
Autumn and Spike.
Autumn and Spike again.
Elliot and Boris.
Elliot had to climb the tree.
Then we went to Lake of the Clouds. There was lots of people up there. You can see some in the upper left corner.
Thats about the time I ran outta room on the camera, but I guess we got plenty of pics anyhow.
Thought I'd share a few pics from the first official day of fall training this year. A bit outdated, but since we were suffering from computer issues and not able to get this stuff on in a timely fashion, I'm going to post them anyhow.
This is the whole setup that we drive out to our training site
most days.
The team from the front.
Hard to get a good action shot with a mediocre camera.
Sometimes stopping and correcting/adjusting is necessary.
Obviously, this was before our days and days of rain that we're currently suffering with. Everything is so clean and dry looking...sigh...
So, its been awhile since I updated. The computer I was using for blogging took a dump. The motherboard, I guess, and its too expensive to be worth repairing, so we're doing what we gotta and making do. Using a different computer that is not as nice, but it'll do until we can get a new one.
The big thing happening around here right now is fall training. Our season officially started on Labor Day this year and we have been training as much as the weather and our schedules will allow, which has been fairly often so far. Currently, we've been running 16 dog teams and they pull Jeremy and I (Rhonda) in a golf cart with no motor, so they work pretty hard. They pull a lot more weight in generally more difficult terrain and conditions than during the winter. Right now, it seems as though it will never quit raining! For the past week its been raining off and on every day. If its not full on raining, its misting and if there is no precipitation falling, the sun never comes out, so its always wet. I know the dogs still love their work, but it sure does put a damper on things for us!
This time of year has us suffering from "winter fever". While we are dealing with conditions like this every day:
We are dreaming of this:
Along with the general annoyance and discomfort that all that wet and mud provide while we are training, it also gives us more work once we are done at home. We have to take all the snaps off of the tuglines and necklines (what the dogs are hooked to on the gangline) and rinse them:
And take apart the sections of the gangline(the main line connecting the dogs to what they are pulling) and rinse them out and hang them to dry:
Plus the harnesses that the dogs wear are obviously completely soaked and filthy, along with the clothes that we wear for training, so we take it all to the laundromat, the heavy duty washers there do a much better job of it then our little top load machine at home. Five bucks well spent. The harnesses have to hang to dry, so our kitchen looks like this:
We say "BRING ON THE SNOW!!!"
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Monday, August 8, 2011
Hello, my name is Rain. I'm a six week old Alaskan Husky puppy. I have three siblings.
A brother:
Storm
And two sisters:
Cloud and Breeze
Someday, we're gonna be big, strong, capable, smart, and hardworking like mom and dad:
The puppies have turned six weeks old now, and that means a few new things for them. We are transitioning them to the kennel outside, they will still have mom around alot of the time, mostly at night, but we are working on seperating them so that by the time they are eight weeks, they should be pretty much on their own
They also start getting their immunizations.
The vaccines we get are five way vaccines. The big thing we're trying to protect them from at this age is Parvovirus, which is fairly common and extremely deadly for puppies. At our kennel, we administer the vaccines at six weeks, eight weeks, 10 weeks, 12 weeks, and 16 weeks, then once a year after that. The reason for so many shots is that when they are born, they recieve antibodies from mom, but it only protects them for so long, but we don't know how long. The period of time varies from dog to dog and litter to litter and its completely unpredictable, but as long as the pups carry those antibodies, the vaccine we administer does nothing, but once those antibodies are gone, they have no protection until the vaccine kicks in, which takes about two weeks from the time the shot is given. Basically, the idea is that there is a window there that we are trying to close, so by giving them every two weeks, there's a good chance of keeping them protected.
We order the vaccines from a mail order company online, and they come in trays of 25. There are 25 vials of liquid and 25 vials of powder.
First, you draw the liquid out of its vial.
Then you inject the liquid into the vial of powder.
You draw the mixture back into the needle...
And once you've done that four times (for four pups), you're ready to go.
Then comes the hard part:
Its actually not that hard, if you have help. Someone holds
the pup tightly, you pull up on the skin behind the neck, you
stick the needle in just under the skin, and inject.
But its not all bad stuff for them...
They do get to come out of the kennel and have playtime with their toys.
And they've learned how to go up and down the steps on the deck.
