The dogs are loving the cool weather and the snow and are eager to run. As in the summer, we are training the dogs on trails that cross creeks. This time of year the runs early in the day may cross over the water on the ice, while the teams later in the day may go through the water once the ice has broken apart.
Mike has been very impressed by some of the younger dogs. Our yearlings (the one year olds) are Whiplash, Woodshed, Wingman, Yonkers, Yesman, Yard Sale, Armani, Austin, Apache, Archer, Abner, Arson, Anvil, Zipper, Zirkle, ZigZag, Zipcode, and Zombie. Woodshed has stood out to him since he was harness broken. He is athletically gifted, confident without losing focus, and mature beyond his one year of age.
Over the next few weeks I will be updating our website, including adding new pictures of the dogs and setting up the dog sponsorship section so you can see who the Iditarod hopefuls are and who will be racing in some of the shorter races with Thomas.
This last week Mike traveled to Juneau to the Alaska Travel Industry Convention. While there he was honored by John Hall’s Alaska Tours who gave him their award of Highest Rated Attraction, receiving from their guests not only their highest rating of all attractions this year, but their highest rating of any attraction ever. Thomas kept the dogs training while Mike was gone and we are excited to welcome Fabio and Piero to help us train the dogs for the remainder of the winter.
We finished processing the moose that Mike brought home for us. We hung the meat to age it for a couple of days. This time of year is the right conditions for hanging meat. Cool enough that is stays “refrigerated” in the meat shed. Then Mike cuts the parts: front shoulder, hind quarter, neck, and ribs, into steaks, some roasts, some ribs, and ground quite a bit as burger. We seasoned some of the burger using Hot Italian and bratwurst seasoning. Then we wrap it in plastic wrap and cover it in butcher paper.
There was a tremendous showing of the Northern Lights this week. While we are seeing more and more darkness, (it is currently getting light about 7:45 am and dark about 7:30 pm) the beauty of the Alaskan winter is starting to appear.
Max and I drove to Delta yesterday to get straw for the winter. Straw is the second cutting of a grain plant, in our case barley, so it is basically the stem of the plant. Unlike the top half which contains the seeds which are ground into flour, the bottom part of the plant, or the shaft, is a hollow stem, which makes it good for insulation. We put straw in the dogs houses and we take it with us for camping expeditions. We brought home 85 bales. Max and I saw several other trucks hauling straw home during the 500 mile trip.
Until next time I hope you are having as much fun with your dogs as we are with ours.
Mike, Caitlin, and Max