"Sunshine On My Shoulders Makes Me Happy"

Now This Is More Like It!!

The team was alittle unfocused, but the moments they shone, they really shone!!!

There was a nice mix of veterans and young, upcoming stars in the group!!

Like Smartie - aka The Crunchette

Adorable and speedy, Meg

Meg

and the rather obnoxious, but super hard driving Irving.


And at the end of it all, a nice little snack!!

Runner knows good sled dogs do their own dishes!

Many thanks to The Weather Gods!

A Busy Day For The Cloud

It's a been a busy day for the Cloud. Sprite had to go to the vet today to get a lump removed from her side. Nothing to worry about, it was just a bit of a complication from a puncture wound that she got a few weeks ago in a minor scuffle with Cricket (they are both BIG personalities and don't always 'fit' in the same square of the planet) - but when she got home from the vet she BEELINED for the Cloud.

Kara is, of course, disgusted. This is going to cost me Denta Stix. Big time Denta Stix.

Karen

Do You Think It's Genetic?

Kara's daughter, Wonder spending some quality time on the Cloud!!!

And for all those that are worried that between Bet and Wonder staking out Cloud Time Kara is being left out...

GO AWAY!!!

Summer is clinging on tight this month. In fact, I discovered this in my garden the other day...



...and again this morning it is too warm to run.


Go away summer. Your time is done. Retire with dignity. You are not welcome anymore (despite what the clerk at Extra Foods was saying yesterday!).

We want to see this...



So quit overstaying your welcome - GO AWAY WARM WEATHER!!!

The Hair Tells the Tale

I'm heading down to the Siberian Husky Club of America National Specialty in Tennessee in a few weeks. I originally wanted to show Q but he hasn't blown his coat yet this summer, so I was leery about entering him. What I decided to do was to enter him and Wonder as a backup, just in case.

Today 'just in case' happened.....



(Notice the clumps of shedding hair on Q's back leg!)


Guess what Wonder??? You are going on a road trip!!!



Our run this morning was very cool as the valley was shrouded in fog ...




Compare this to the photo of the valley in my blog from yesterday. They were taken in almost the same spot!!

There are a few more images up on my Picasa site - http://picasaweb.google.ca/northwapiti2/September162009

Hope you enjoy!
Karen

A Morning Stroll

Sadly it was too warm to run dogs this morning, so I decided a walk with my 'peeps' was in order.


Cricket...



Bet....



...Kara (she is hard to get a picture of, as she is always right next to me!)...

and



Bait and Tic!

It was beautiful morning for walking and we hiked all the way up the hill on our driveway.


Cricket encouraging me up the hill!


Bet and Bait caught sharing a private moment!


Bait found a grouse in the bush and flushed him out - Bet and Cricket are offering encouragement!

About this time I glanced over my shoulder to look at the view of the valley (one of my very favorite views in the whole world - I love my home!) and spied 2 coyotes sniffing out our trail!


You can just see the coyotes at the bottom of the hill on the left side.
They didn't pop out of the bush until we were mostly out of sight, so I was confident they had been watching us for quite a while.

Great, now I had to get 3 dogs and 2 cats safely home!! Have you ever tried herding cats along a trail?? Not fun - and definitely not effective, but I was doing pretty well.

About this time Cricket decided to take off - SUPER!



Cricket is a free spirit and when she gets in one of 'those moods' her ears seem to plug up with dog hair.

I was certainly more wary walking along without Cricket, but I shouldn't have been - turns out she had doubled through a meadow, probably put the run on our visitors, and was waiting for us just a little ways down the road!


I felt bad for doubting her - but I'm sure she forgave me!!

After the cats took alittle break ...

,,(apparently a mile of flat out walking is a bit much for 2 little cats) we all meandered our way safely back into the yard!

Not as much fun as a run with the sled dogs - but still a good time was had by all!

Yoga Guru Bait

Some may be thinking that I just got a lucky shot of Bait stetching on the roof of Mike's truck for my "It's Beginning to Look Alot Like...Fall" post last week. The truth is Bait lies like that all the time.

I asked him about it and apparently he has taken up Yoga but objected to the obvious discrimination of cats in the sport. This is his answer to 'Downward Facing Dog' - Upward Facing Cat

Incoherent Mumblings

I don't have any one topic to do a blog on today, just alot of 'this and that' type things so I was going to use 'rambling' in the blog title, but apparently I've used that word a number of times in blog titles.
I searched the thesaurus and honestly, this was the best substitute. 'Confused', 'long-winded', and 'tedious' (or Tedious Tales from a Confused and Long Winded Musher) just didn't seem like titles likely to make anyone put down their coffee cup to read!

Things are just motoring along here - preparations for winter are well underway, dogs are getting run, the dog truck is starting to come together, chores are getting done, etc, etc.

We had a nice 10 mile run with X and Utin in lead this morning. I had to swap Utin and Jr once we got into the highway ditch. Utin just isn't 'steerable' enough to work without a trail yet and the highway ditch with semis roaring by is no place to learn! I'm still very pleased with the young man though!
His sister, See, did a turn in lead a few days ago and was as much a superstar as the first time she was in lead.
Yesterday I had big, opinionated Irving in lead. He did a really nice job, although every now and again those big Irving ears would start flapping around indicating that he was thinking too much. Thankfully, it wouldn't take him more then a moment or two to stop thinking and get back to doing!

Mark and I were out scouting out a few new trails this afternoon. One of my neighbours has fenced off trail that I used to use almost everyday in training. Part of his fence is legal and part illegal, so even if I start a battle with him and get him to move the illegal fence, part of the previous trail is still cut off. So that leaves us scouting some new routes. The new route is going to take alot of work, that just won't get done this season (no time), but it is workable and we have other trails to use in the meantime.
We did discover one nice new trail in the grazing lease west of our place that I can start using right away! The dogs will like that!!

Bet and I spent a couple hours out picking the other afternoon. It was a beautiful warm and sunny fall afternoon and I'll confess to spending a bit of time with Bet just lying on our backs watching a big flock of geese circling and gathering up for their long trip south.


Bet has learned to catch a ride on the ATV when she gets tired!

Bet on 'Bear Patrol'. Her big ears help me find my way back to the ATV!

Blueberries!

A lovely few hours and we came home loaded down with blueberries, lowbush cranberries and Labrador Tea. (Blueberry Coffee Cake in the oven as I type!)


The Spoils!

Snap, Crackle and Pop are growing up - alittle too fast in fact. Snap and Crackle have decided that they can't stand each other anymore, so after a few attempts to smooth things over (including bringing their Mommy Sprite up to referee)they have been separated. Crackle is living with Pop and Snap is spending time with Meg during the day. I expect once they grow up a bit, all that juvenile sibling rivalry will be forgotten (right Jim??)

In closing I thought I'd mumble a few thousand more words - yup, some random photos from the last few weeks.

<Bet resting up after a 'hard' in the woods!

Smartie

Mike scootering with Jr and Runner

Anna making the Rice Krispies sit for their breakfast!

"Hold A True Friend With Both Of Your Hands"

..or if you don't have hands, try your teeth!!!











NorthWapiti's Excelsior (X) and NorthWapiti's Rockstar (Rocky)