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North Wapiti Siberian Husky Kennels
Iditarod 2004 - Tales from the Trail

February 1, 2004 - Diary entry from Mark

 
Evil has a New Name

My drive home from work this morning was fairly uneventful, the slippery roads kept me at a level of consciousness that was just enough to keep the sub between the ditches. The complete lack of traffic at 7:00 on a dark Sunday morning was also welcomed, this way I could use the whole road. I turned off the highway and headed down the hill. The freshly plowed road made it feel like I was driving through a tunnel. The few inches of snow that fell after the road was plowed was speckled with hundred of tracks from the deer that know it easier to walk down the road then in the deep snow. 

I turned off the county road and on to our drive way - it was like entering the Batcave. The snow heavy on the branches and the berms from the plow completely absorbed my headlights. Now with only a few feet left until I can park the truck and head off to bed, I'm greeted by a familiar sight, Fly. But what's this? Are my tired eyes playing tricks? Is the yard light causing weird shadows? No. Its Spidey. I stop the truck and walk into the garage to put down my lunch kit, she follows me in then we both walk up to her pen. I open the door and she hops in. This is becoming a regular thing.

I go back to the house hoping that she will stay in until I wake up in the afternoon. I don't think that I even got my boots off before I saw her at the back door. So I walked out to the garage were she followed me, I put her in a crate and said "see you in 6 hours, I've got a surprise for you".

BACK FLASH

It was slow night at the largest pulp mill in the northern hemisphere. The few calls that I got for electrical problems were handled quickly. All my emails were read, all the surfing was done. I wasn't even paying attention to half of the solitaire games that I was playing. I decided to go for a walk, maybe find a newspaper or something. As I was walking through the shop, something in the scrap metal bin caught my eye. I went to get a closer look, I stood there staring into this huge bin as the gears turned in my head, that's it, that's what I can do to make this night go by a little faster. I'll build a Spidey Trap.

Grabbing pieces of angle iron and expanded metal, I made up four triangular pieces that I could mount in the corners on Spidey's pen. She uses the corners to make her escapes.


(This is actually a picture of Sprite...but perhaps
this is where Spidey found her inspiration...)

FLASH FORWARD

1:00 PM

I wake up half an hour before my alarm goes off, I'm so exited about installing my new triangles that I can't sleep anymore. I throw on some clothes and head out into the garage to put on my insulated coveralls. I'm expecting to be greeted by a screaming little puppy, to my surprise Spidey was laying in her crate like a little angel. I suited up, told her I'd be back, and went out to put the pieces on. When I came back in the garage to grab Spidey, I soon realized why she was a little angel. It seems that the crate that she was in was right beside where the bags of kibble are stacked, she managed to rip several of them open, and the entire bottom of the crate was covered with kibble and her gut was as tight as a drum.

Anyway I let her out and we walked up to her pen and I let her in. She checked out the four corners and the new pieces and kept checking them out just like the Raptors in "Jurassic Park". She never did escape but I don't know if its because of the new pieces or because she was too fat to climb.

We'll see what happens tomorrow.

Later

Mark (Karen's husband)

Karen's Diary - 2004 Edition


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