November 23, 1999

Well, I did end up canceling the school visit I was suppose to do last Thursday. I 'toughed' it out on Friday though and with the help of a few glasses of water, got through 2 presentations to a total of nearly 700 kids! I still haven't completely recovered from this nasty flu, but I seem to have it on the run now!

I did 2 school talks yesterday. Spud, Camilla,and KD came along. Spud used to be my 'regular' for school visits, but maybe because we had been doing so many, he was getting bored with them and not having fun. This was the first visit he has done in a long while and the KING is back! I looked over at one time during my slide show and Spud was stretched out across the laps of 4 teenage girls. One was rubbing his ears, one scratching his belly, and another stroking his tail - what a ham! He absolutely 'worked' that crowd! Little KD had a blast too! I turned her loose and she would run in circles around the room at high speeds, punctuating the run with a little bark every now and then, and then PLUNGE into the group of kids. It was like Moshing - Siberian style!!!! A fun time was had by all!
I thought that you might be interested in a little about what a typical day and a typical week in our lives is like, so here goes....

Normally the dogs get Monday and Thursday off. I've been using those days to get into the city, pick up dog food, grocery shop, do banking, school visits, vet visits, etc, etc. Tuesday and Wednesday I've been running 1 team each day. Mark doesn't work Friday, Saturday, Sunday (he works 4 - 10 hours day/week), so those days are are big running days. This is putting the dogs on a 3 days on - 1 (2) day(s) off, 1 day on - 2 (1) days off. For now that is working well, although the runs will need get more frequent relatively soon.

A 'typical' day is kind of rare around here, as things always seem to happen to disrupt the best of plans, but usually we are up at 5am. On work days, Mark is out of the house by 6am - and here's my BIG confession - between 6 - 7 I usually plunk myself in front of the TV with a cup of coffee and watch Northern Exposure on A&E. Absolutely, my favorite show of all time! After that, or at 6am on Mark's days off, it's out the door to water dogs. First I feed the 'A' team (24 dogs and 2 'alternates'). Their meal is thicker and meatier due to their increased caloric needs. Then the 11 'B' team dogs. We then go through and pick up bowls, taking the opportunity to play, snuggle, and mess around with the dogs. This is also a good time to check any problems with the 'A' team dogs, something like the foot that might have been tender after the last run or things like that. Then off to 'Geriatric Park' to feed and say 'Good Morning' to the 4 seniors. We save the pups for last! After feeding we get the meat thawing for the days teams and dinner. Then back into the house for 1 1/2 - 2 hours while the dogs digest their meal! This time is usually used for breakfast, catching up on email, paying bills, and stuff like that. Now comes running! As we are still on the quads, runs are slower then with a sled, including hooking up, running, and feeding/putting the dogs away afterwards, we are usually out for between 6 - 10 hours. Sometime during that time, Colin, the young man that helps out in the yard, will have showed up and shoveled the yard for us. If we get in the yard after about 4 pm, then we will feed the dogs their dinner in harness. Otherwise, they get another meal of soup after a run. At 8pm it is feeding time. Mark and I always feed the kennel together in the evening. Last year, I was feeding before Mark got home from work, but he missed the time with the dogs we changed the schedule. By 9pm we are calling it a day!

Well, the 2 hours since feeding are almost up this morning! I need to get out there and get ready to run!