A day at 20 Below...

Good evening! I know we're at least an hour behind Idaho, and even more behind for many of you down there. I just got in from feeding my team, who all had hearty appetites after their run today. As Scott says, "The sound of a dog eating (or drinking) is music to my ears" - it is so crucial for the dogs to eat in this cold weather and in any type of distance racing. Here, if a dog doesn't eat the food gets taken away until the next meal. Few dogs miss a meal and if they do, we know something might be wrong!

    First, an overview of the day:
    Watered and cleaned the yard this morning at about 8am - which is done by headlamp. Yesterday we had a fuel outage in the feed barn, so the meat chunks were only partially thawed. Fortunately, everything is working today, but meat thawing is still behind a bit. It's stayed right around -20 all day, and I hope Aaron and Scott are staying warm on their first camping run. They are running the race dogs to a cabin, about 52 miles, resting 2 hours and then home, which will be about 18 miles.
    I was a bit tired today, because Bananas (Yes, that is the dogs name!) has a shoulder injury and Scott said heat would help so...Bananas spent the night in my room. Being from Sebastian Schnuelle (who routinely brings in up to 20 dogs at a time), he was right at home indoors and took a comfortable spot on my bed, after deeming the easy chair beneath him. It's so hard to be miffed with Bananas, he's so goofy and willing to please. He has racing-style Siberian Husky gray colors/markings and blue eyes, with an overly large ear standing straight up...unfortunately the other ear is hopelessly flopped, giving a dog who is desperately trying to be serious a comical look. I would insert a picture, but have yet to figure out how to get them from my phone to computer, hence the drawn out description.

    After breakfast, before we got dressed up to go dress up the dogs for their run in the cold, I got the booties down from where they were drying and sorted out the ones with holes to throw away and put them in sets.
    Usually I harness and bring the dogs to the line, while Aaron and Scott play "dress up" with the dogs. First booties, then foxtails on most of the male dogs and finally, a coat over it all. Scott likes to put neck gaiters on too, since these keep the cold air from coming in the top of the coat. I think all the dogs look great all dressed up, and they are very patient as they wait!
    Aaron took off first, his team pulling a snowmobile, and then Scott on a sled. By the way, for those of you who get dog food from or know Kenny Hess: his sleds are highly regarded up here! Both Scott and Aaron have sleds from him.
    Once they were gone, I mixed up some water bait before hooking up my team. I'll introduce all the dogs in later posts (there's about 56 of them total) but I'm running a ten dog team right now. Tyler is a seasoned leader, about 6yrs old, and I'm working in the yearlings up front with him. We've had some small adventures, but again, I'll save those for later posts. :)
    I took off and proceeded to nearly dump the sled as we rounded the few sharp corners that are immediately out of the yard. It wouldn't be a problem getting aroudn them if I was on a flexible sled, but the sled I'm using is a lot more stiff and less maneuverable than anything I'm used to. I guess that's why they call it a "training sled" - if I can stay on it around those crazy corners (without bouncing off any trees) then I shouldn't have any trouble staying on a flexible one!
    We got out onto the runway (Aaron has a plane) and I breathed a sigh of relief. At the end of the runway is our last major turn and then everything's easy (flat and rather boring).
    I'd never gone on the 18 mile trail before today (which all the local's call the 20 mile trail. I have no idea why :) ) Aaron made me a map, but I was a bit concerned. There are lots of trapline trails here and I needed to make sure I didn't turn on one of those.
    I had to stop halfway through to put hand warmers in my mittens, I've been using gear from Aaron but not everything works so well...my hands got cold in the Northern Outfitters mitts, but the pair I used today was even worse. Then, shortly afterwards, I decided to switch leaders because the yearling up with Tyler kept messing around. She's just too crazy and excited to focus up there after the first several miles.
    Our run home was uneventful and by the time I'd watered and chained up the dogs again I was warmed up. It was about 2pm AK time then, so I ate lunch and then started sewing more foxtails. The neighbors handler (I'll introduce them all soon), Leila, came over and sewed dog coats at the same time. We both had to laugh because neither of us enjoys sewing...and look what we're doing for the dogs! LOL
    And so ends the day, me sitting here listening to music and writing away...I've got a lot of fun stories for you that I can't wait to share, and I still have to go back to the first week's adventures, so stay posted! It is soooo nice to be back on the internet.
Happy Trails!