Life Slides Downhill Fast

Another great day skijoring with the dogs. The cold hasn't slowed us down. In fact, looks like Nicki is trying to slow down but can't. Too much dog power :)

Day Off

It was a great day to have off from work. Cold at single digits below zero Fahrenheit but no wind, and cloudless skies, even if there is only 5 1/2 hours of daylight. We made good use of the day :)

Nicki skijoring Jago.




A rare photo of me, pulled by Rocket and Valley.

There is a small trick to wearing enough clothes to stay warm and not sweat when you exercise. Sweat freezes when you stop exercising so we try to avoid that problem. Its a lesson I need to relearn every year. (as always click on the picture to enlarge)

Bad Day at Work

After a bad day of work I find 4 inches of powder on my deck. What's a funhog to do? Clean it off, grab the fundogs and go skijoring. No more bad day effects after that.


Rocket in the front, Mrs. funhog on the tow and My Fair City Lights backing them up. (as always click on the picture to enlarge)

Winter Solstice

Shortest day of the year. 5 hours of daylight. Still a great day to get out and enjoy it, even if it was cold.

Devil Dogs

Sometimes you think you are being followed by evil. You turn around and look and nothing is there and you think, "hmmm am I stoopid or what?". Then there is the time you turn around and look and there is the devil, running right towards you. What are you going to do?

Clear and Cold

Clear skies and Cold temperatures makes for some great patterns of hoar frost. the pictures are from our recent ski trip out Rabbit Creek Valley. Mother Nature always dishes out pleasant surprises for us. (click on the picture for a larger view of the crystals).

Good Insulation

Insulation is a very good thing to have in Alaskan winters. A good Alaskan dog will have good insulation capabilities so it can hang outdoors regardless of the weather. Check out Jago, it doesn't look like the snow falling in 15degF temperatures is melting off her anytime soon.


Nor is it melting off anytime soon for Valley.


these malamutes are such good winter dogs, in 12 inches of snow it didn't slow Valley down from pulling me on an unbroken trail

The Newest Fundog

Rocket was returned to us after being adopted out 5 years ago. Sadly we are his 5th home in his life. He's older now, 8 or 9 years old, but he's still the good malamute we remember.

Rocket was originally from a 66 dog rescue down on the Kenai. It was a desperate situation where 4 or 5 dogs were found frozen in a school bus, and a few more were could not be saved.

Rocket was originally adopted out from that rescue then returned when his owner due to some medical conditions could not keep him, losing everything she had. I had been volunteering at AK SPCA when he was first returned. He had severe hip displasia, he could walk on flat surfaces like a road, but if he took off cross country he couldn't even get 2 blocks before he started limping. So I hunted around and found a veterinarian who eventually replaced his hip. His three month recovery was one of the hardest things we've done. Here was a malamute cross who loved to run, containing him was so difficult when the right adopter was took him home we were happy to see him go.

Regardless, the great care we gave in Rocket resulted in a late night winter call from Catherine White who at the time was the President of the Alaskan Malamute Assistance League(AMAL). Catherine wanted to know if we'd be an affiliate of AMAL and rescue malamutes within the state of Alaska. We naturally said yes. Rocket was the start of Malamute Rescue of Alaska.

While were at the AMCA national specialty in Olympia Washington we heard he had been returned to the Alaska SPCA. We called and said we were happy to take him and that we would be keeping him. he's that great of a dog. Now Rocket and I can grow old together.

Clear and Cold

It was a clear and cold day on Sunday which made for great skijoring. Archangel Road in Hatcher Pass is the perfect place to be on such a day. (As Always click on the picture to enlarge).

Pigs Can't Fly

But malamutes can!



A sunny day, with the fog rolling in and out, made for a great day to be on the snow.

n=1

Mother Nature gave Old Man Winter the cold shoulder and in turn he gave us six inches of snow. Mighty generous of him to help the funhog and a fundog out. Tonight was our season opener for the skijoring season.

here's Valley out on the trail taking a break:



My mom was right, Think positive thoughts and positive things happen to you. That big smile on my face must have done the trick, on our way back to the trailhead it started snowing heavily:



Like a famous leader once said, "Bring it on!" LOL

Laying In Waiting

Bad news, the first bull in the picture from my previous blog entry "More Bullcrap". First he's running by me charging another bull, then leading the charge towards me and he's the one peering from behind the tree. I read in the paper today where a bull had been gored in the gut then put down. I am sure its that bull, I haven't seen him since then. And judging by his behavior, charging a bigger bull, I bet that was him that was put down. There aren't that many bulls out there now, and he's missing. Survival of the fittest, call of the wild....


First moose of the day today,



Bull laying in waiting, I wonder if he'll get lucky?



A little bull looking for some action, but just hoping at this point.



Size nine bear.


this guy was laying smack dab in the middle of the trail, and got up when we went out of our way.



I love this time of year...Valley looks like she's enjoyed the day too!
.

Another Day, Another Dollar

A couple of photos on my way home from work
(click on the 2nd photo for a better view)

More Bullcrap

This is the time of Moose Rut. A time when we can see lots of moose concentrated into a small area. Great wildlife viewing. It should be in the swing of thing with lots of bulls and cows, but for some odd reason, its starting late and not many are around. So I had to hunt them up.

I stopped and sat down to take a break, when I spotted this bull in the bushes. Lucky me, I would have hated to walk by and surprised him.


This bull charged by surprising us and stopping our hearts for a second or two.



Big Bull, in the willow, chasing little bull off. Right before little bull charged us. We had to skidaddle pronto.


We ran behind a tree for "protection" LOL.


And the Big Bull still going after the little bull.

Berry Nice

We headed up to Manitoba Mountain for some hiking and berry picking. Valley sure appreciated running off leash.




Before long it started snowing.



And Snowing...


the blueberry picking was great once we dropped down out of elevation. 1 quart in about 15 or 20 minutes :)

Its Enough to Make You See Red

This weekend, our first weekend of fall, we headed out for hike and collection of blueberries. Despite the wind, off and on again rain, and a bit of sunshine, we collected a bucket's worth and climbed up to Ptarmigan Pass to warm up and gain a view.