The Great Alaskan Pastime

    Sorry it's been a few days, folks. Things have been pretty busy - long days running dogs. Aaron is in Nome for his last trip (I'll believe it when I see it!) for the season so Scott has been on the trail 9+ hours per day running 70 mile runs. It's been really warm, in the mid-twenties, and windy so the swamps/flats trails we run in are blown in daily and since we do out-n-backs, Scott has to break trail on the way back as well.
    Today was my third time doing the 26 mile trail. Yesterday and today I was thrilled to have Banana's back on my team. I'll introduce him and the other dogs from Sebastian Schnuelle who are here at the end of this post. The great thing is that he's a competent leader! The sad thing is that he had a tricep shoulder injury and is an injury prone dog (his gait) so he's off the main team. There's talk about him going back to Sebastian to do tours...I hope he stays for a while!
    Yesterday, the second time I'd done the 26 mile trail, we had a bad time at the turn around. Guess who was in lead...yep: Tyler. I missed the trail, found it and thought the dogs would go cross-country (about fifty feet) to regain the trail. Tyler wasn't thrilled about going off the trail, but proceeded to cross the trail and continue into the field. Now, in the drifts the only place your snowhook (basically, an anchor) will hold is on the packed down trail. Believe it or not, if you walk in the snow and the trail is not visible, you can tell when you've reached the trail - it's noticably firmer.
    In the end we made it on the trail and turned around. I was soaked with sweat by then (multiple trips up to correct the leaders) and moved Tyler out of lead...which proceeded to leave me playing swap-the-leaders until Tyler ended up back in lead. Some snowmobilers passed me as I was putting Tyler back in lead and I'm sure they wondered what the crazy dog musher was doing to the dogs! (It was in a wide open field and in that section I switched dogs twice, not to mention trying to give one of the lead candidates several opportunities to STAY AHEAD OF THE TEAM)
    Today went better, Banana's amazed me at the blown in turn around and I was so impressed I stopped to praise him profusely. It is a joy to run such a dog! And he's so great for training the younger dogs because he's not pushy or mean. Tyler, meanwhile, ran in single-wheel where I could keep an eye on him. (Wheel - the position closest to the sled).
    And now, for the introduction of the Great Alaskan Pastime: Weather watching!
    This is no joke, every morning someone asks the temperature and there is a mini-conversation about it: comparing it with yesterday, if it will get cooler, has it warmed or cooled since chores, etc. I have to confess that I've begun to join in these talks...I'm afraid I'm getting acclimated! The colder the weather, the larger the crowd around the temperature gage. We've even gone over to the neighbors (Bill's) to see that it's a few degree's warmer...
    Actually, that was a joke...although it is a fact that they are about 3 degrees warmer than us.
    When I first got here, Scott told me he was going to get me a temperature gage for my window because one winter he and Aaron called each other every day during a cold spell to compare temps. I still don't have a thermometer, but I check the electric one on the way to the dog yard daily.
    There are probably half a dozen regular (non-electronic) gages around the house, kennel and barns, but I was informed that they are there for show and are not trustworthy. During an investigation I found that the one inside the garage reads a lower temperature than the one on the woodshed which doesn't match the one on the tree - which is stuck at -20F. One of these gages is from the Nenana general store and reads: Happiness in Alaska...-50F!
    Also, during the cold snap when it warmed up (to -20F), Aaron would call the neighbor 'up the hill' to check the temperature and make sure it wasn't colder there - where they were running.
    Apparently, you could make good money off the weather here. In Nenana there is a huge jackpot for the person who can most acurately guess when the spring river ice breakup occurs. The Nenana Ice Classic is the name of this 100 year old tradition.
    So now if you are playing a game of Alaska trivia and ask what sport is second to hockey up here, you can answer with confidence: weather watching. If you want to be more specific and really impress your friends, say: temperature calculating.

    And now, dog introductions:
    Bananas: A cute, blue eyed Siberian Husky looking boy. He led my first team here and was introduced in an previous post. I love his goofy personality - kind of shy, but so sweet! He'll often roll over on his back when he see's me coming to have be scratch his belly.
    Maggot: Yes, that's this poor dogs name! He is like a hound dog - short coat, long legs, floppy ears. He also led my first team but is on the main team for now, although he's laid up for a few days due to soreness. He actually doesn't lose tons of weight from the cold weather, which surprised me. He likes to sleep with his bowl, but will come out of his house if you promise to scratch his back!
    Skunk: A cute, gray/white girl. She's old, around 11yrs old, but still has lots of energy to run. Friendly and although she's not fast, a great leader.
    Saffron: looks like a reddish arctic fox. Small and bushy! She looks really fat with her coat (and she is, being an extremely easy keeper!) but she also leads well. Kind of "in her own little world". She likes Bananas.
    Grizman: looks identical to Togo, long coat and all. But he moves amazingly well and is a tough old leader. Scott knew him as a puppy. His best friend is his brother Vasser.
    Vasser: what Griz looks like underneath the coat! Smaller and more excitable, but another good leader. Both these dogs are around 8yrs old and getting rather bored of the long runs, yet they have been really happy all fall.
    Finn: is a beautiful red dog. He does a little 'happy hop' as you lead him to the gangline. I guess he only leads when he's happy, and he's been leading. He also has a thick, although not long, coat and is built more stocky like Saffron than some of the other dogs here.
    Inuk: looks like a malamute cross. He's big, bushy coated and stocky. Another good leader, though, and extremely happy! I believe I overheard that he was a dog Sebastian picked up from the pound. If so, Inuk is even more amazing.