www.northwapiti.com/blog: August 2008

Quick post

Not alot of time to post today, but I did post some pictures to the picasa site today -
http://picasaweb.google.com/northwapiti/August252008

Puppies, 'flying Siberians', snoozing Siberians, Cricket, flowers and more!

Hope you enjoy!!
Karen

YEAH!!!

I woke up this morning to a sound even better then geese honking as they headed south - the furnace!! Yup, for the first time in months, the beast in the basement groaned to life and puffed heat up into the house. When that happens, I don't even have to glance at the temperature display on the ceiling to know it is cold enough to run.

The dogs went crazy when I fired up the 4 wheeler and backed it up to the 'take off' post. With a lot of wrestling and bit of bodily injury (to me) I pulled 14 dogs out of the yard and onto the ready chain.

Last night I got it in my head that I needed to try young Rocket in lead. I've been growing fonder and fonder of that crazy little dancing dog over the summer and yesterday when I was picking up her bowl and having a chat with her, I just got it in my head that she needed to try out leading. So this morning there she was at the head of the pack along with the brilliant Spider.

The run was fast and fabulous! We all had a GREAT time!

And little Rocket - she had a blast. Not only did she do a great job in lead, she danced at the beginning of the run, in the middle of the run and at the end of the run. She seemed to find the whole experience stress free and just plain FUN!!

Obviously I was wise to listen to that little voice in my head last night.

There are a few more pictures at - http://picasaweb.google.com/northwapiti/August222008

ALL GOOD!

Karen

Music to my ears!!!

I just had to share.....

It was pretty much dark in the kennel tonight when I first heard the faint sound. I was just finishing picking up bowls and was playing with Smartie and Chiclet, who for the billionth time in the last few weeks have built a tunnel between their runs and are currently sharing a kennel, when I stopped. I asked the girls to settle down, but they were having none of it, so I stepped outside their kennel and cocked my head to the sky. It grew louder and louder until there was no mistaking the sound. Finally, erasing any last shred of doubt, over the tree tops about 2 dozen Canada Geese winged into view in V formation; honking and heading SOUTH!!! With a huge grin on my face I watched them until the tree tops swallowed them up again and the sound died on the evening breeze.

There is no doubt - it is coming.......................

YAHOO!!!!!

This, that and a bunch of other stuff!

Phew, I don't know what I was thinking, but I really booked up my schedule for the last part of July and beginning of August. Last Tuesday when I sat alone in the house drinking a cup of coffee in the morning, it was the first time in 31 days that I wasn't away or didn't have company. I'm fried!

But I did have alot of fun with everyone!! I believe I've already spoke of my trip to California (and if I didn't, I can easily sum it up - good food, GREAT wine and GREATER folks!) and Corrine's visit.

Corrine's Dad, Brian (Mark's younger brother); her two brothers, Cooper and Wilson; and Mark's Dad all showed up to pick her up. We had a nice family get together that evening, with Mark's older brother's family as well, and the next morning we got all the kids out for rides on the scooter.

That same day Colleen showed up for a week long visit and the next day Nicole, a young lady from Prince George that would like to run Jr. Iditarod this year, arrived.

We did alittle running of dogs, playing with puppies, a fair amount of grooming, some blueberry picking, and alot of chatting.

The house has been quiet now for the last week and I've got to admit it is nice. The blueberry crop this year is FREAKY. Not only are the berries plentiful, they are HUGE.

So, I've been out doing a bit of picking. Nothing nearly as serious as some of my neighbours, but enough to keep Mark and I happy. I don't think a day goes by that we don't eat something 'blueberry'. This morning I had a blueberry/banana smoothie for breakfast and made up a container of 'microwave blueberry jam' for Mark for his breakfasts. Yum!!

The really disappointing thing right now is the weather. Normally but this time of year we are down near freezing just about every evening. Not this year, I haven't been able to run dogs in almost a week. Over the weekend we broke a number of weather records with temps up in the 30s everyday. Normally we only have a few days over 30C all summer, 3-4 days over 30 in mid August is riduculous for us.

I'm optimistic things will change soon - afterall the fireweed is still predicting an early winter.

... today has been alot cooler and overcast, so fingers and dog toes are crossed that we will get a run in tomorrow.

Okay, this is an older picture of Kim - and she really doesn't care if the big dogs get to run or not - but I thought it was a cute shot of crossed dog toes.

Anyway, I have had the camera out a bit and there are some new albums up on the Picassa site that some of you may enjoy checking out.

There are some wildflower pictures at - http://picasaweb.google.com/northwapiti/WildflowersAugust20200803

Pictures of the Energy Drinks at -

http://picasaweb.google.com/northwapiti/PupsAugust10

Kim and Kelly at -

http://picasaweb.google.com/northwapiti/KimAndKellyAugust112008

and some of the 'big dogs' at -

http://picasaweb.google.com/northwapiti/DogsAugust14202008

Let's hope the next batch is all shots of running dogs!!!

Karen

Countdown to winter???

My friend, Donna Quante says that she has heard that when fireweed 'tops out' it means 6 weeks till winter. So imagine my delight - and my neighbours anguish - to find this along our driveway the other day -

Okay, so it is not right topped out, but it is pretty darn close. Close enough to get a dog musher all excited, for sure!

I took the quad up the driveway the other evening when Mark was on night shift and did some 'photo relaxation' - mostly focusing on the fireweed!

A little rain squall blew over while I was out and I amused myself taking a few pictures while waiting the rain out under a big tree.

On the way back to the fireweed, I stumbled across a raspberry patch.

Sadly (for the raspberries, not me), not all the raspberries survived the encounter.

Back to fireweed..

These guys have to be telling me no more then 8 weeks!

The berries are also speaking of an approaching fall...

Saskatoons - also known as 'Serviceberries' in some other places

And my favorites - Blueberries!!

There are other food groups represented in the woods, but I don't know mushrooms well enough to experiment with eating any fungus (and Mark plainly refuses to be my 'guinea pig'. Smart man!)