Excuse me - Mighty UPDATE!

8/31/2013 - 1:15pm ET

Thank you John and Nancy Hermle!!!!!!!  I now have loving sponsors!  I am so happy!

Original post.

Um... hi everyone... it's me... Mighty, and I don't mean to bother you or anything, but I just wanted to take a few minutes of your time... if you aren't busy or anything... I can wait if you are, just let me know.

Oh, ok, you're not busy, good!  I'd hate to bother you or anything, I know how important and busy all of you are and everything.

Ok, sorry, I'll get to the point... no I didn't realize I hadn't gotten to the point, I'm so sorry.

Anyway, well, you see... I haven't been sponsored yet.

I know this is just a minor oversight.  I'm also sure that there's a problem with my sponsor button that is keeping someone nice from sponsoring me... yeah, it's the button's fault!

I know if couldn't possibly be that nobody wanted to sponsor me. 

I mean... even that stupid GPS has sponsors.  The CATS have sponsors... but I don't have a sponsor... sigh.

I'm a really hard worker, the Musher says so!  I've been doing some Wheel dog work, and, and, I pull really hard!  My goal is to get on this Iditarod team because it's going to be the cream of the cream of the crop and I want to be creamy and go to the Iditarod... so if you sponsor me, you won't be sorry, I won't let you down, really I won't...

So... ok, I'm begging

PLEASE won't someone sponsor me?

I put the button right below to make it easier too...

thank you!

Please note: shortly after Mighty's plea, some kind souls sponsored her.

Dog Houses

Over the years Mark has built hundreds of dog houses for our dogs. We have tried a number of different designs and styles but for the last 11 years or so have been using one specific pattern that he developed.
I'm not saying it is the PERFECT dog house for everyone but for us and our dogs, it is pretty darn close!!!

They are perfect for getting belly rubs on...

.....and holding up your chin when you head gets too big for your britches....

The porch is perfect for a chin rest!!!

Also good for practicing 'voguing' on ...

...and playing hide and seek...

...and protecting yourself from epic amounts of snow!

They are even large enough to withstand fat cats sitting on them!!!

Every time I mention or post a picture, we get requests for plans. Mark finally offered to update the instructions so I could share them - so here goes!!!

-Take 1 sheet of 3/4 plywood and cut it into 4 equal pieces ( 2 feet by 4 feet).

    - Put aside 1 piece for the roof.

    - Take 2 pieces and cut them so the are now 2 feet by 3 feet.
    - Take these 2 pieces and make a cut along the top so it goes from 24" to 21". These are your two sides.
    - Take the last 2 foot by 4 foot piece and cut it in half (2 feet by 2 feet). Take one piece and set it aside for the front.
    - Take the other piece and cut 3" of the top for the back.
    - The entire house is reinforced with 2x2.
    - To make the pallet I take two 8 foot pressure treated 4x4 and cut them in half.
    - Then take one 8-2 foot pieces of pressure treated 2x6, & 1-2 foot pressure treated 2x4 & nail them to the 4x4.
    - I build the pallet first, then build the walls up from there, finishing with the roof.
    - I put the roof on with 7 inches overhang on the front.
    - The last thing I do is cut out the door using a bucket as a template.
    - I nail a 2x4 across the front of the dog house for a chin rest. The bottom of the door is the top of the 2x4.
    -This should give you a nice 2 foot by 3 foot doghouse with a 1 foot deck & a roof that slopes 3 inches from front to back.
    -This house is built heavy so that it is stable in the sand.

Note - We have never had a problem with the dogs and the pressure treated wood.

Happy building!

LOOK!!! Up In The Sky.....

 It's a bird....

 ...it's a plane...

 It's a .............

Actually, it's our neighbour Martin's decked out for photography 'quad copter'.

A bit of entertainment for the critters....

And the results are entertainment for us!!!

This is looking 'north-ish'. The driveway is at about 2 o'clock, Geriatric Park 5 o'clock, the trail at 7 o'clock is the main 'in' trail, and the main dogyard stretches from about 7 o'clock to 11 o'clock!!



The main dog yard. If you look close you can find Bet on the trail!!!



Main yard. At about 12 o'clock there is a bunch of white things - those are shade panels for the puppy pens. to the right of that is the main 'out' trail.



Nice shot of the bottom of the main yard (on the left) and Geriatric Park (on the right). Mark's beloved tractor is next to G-Park - and Bet and Cricket are both visible!

VERY cool views of the kennel Martin!!! Thank you so much!!!!

2014 Pretty Sled Dog Sponsorship is Open - Bet

Howdy Ho everybodies!

It's that time again!  The sponsorship is now open to the public for the 2014 Iditarod (the last one for the Pretty Curly Tails and Musher)!

We have sponsorships available in the following categories:

2014 Active Training Pool:  the Pretty Curly Tails that will be training really, really hard to be a part of the 2014 Iditarod team!

2014 Future Stars: These are the Boo Who's and Cramplings who are just too young to run in the biggie big race, but who knows what the future holds for them!

2014 Past Stars: They may be retired, but they still have stories to tell and miles to run (when they feel like it).  They've been there, done that, got the t-shirt and the bragging rights.

This year we also have some special sponsorships available.

Since they both are just too popular for one person, we are offering group sponsorships for:

CRUNCHIE!!!!

and

VADER!!!!

But wait... there's more!!

There are also group sponsorships available for ME, Cricket, Bait and Tic, and that worthless piece of metal Wayward D GPS.

The bloggity blog is the ONLY place to sponsor an Active, Future, or Past star, but you can also go to the GoFundMe site to sponsor Crunchie, Vader, or the rest of us.

So, go here to see who is available for sponsoring
 


Or go here to the GoFundMe for the group sponsorship stuffs and things.

(Please note that the GoFundMe site will only allow one specific dollar denomination for each reward, so the prices fluctuate a buck or two from the Blog sponsor page)

As usual, if you have any problems, contact the Heather Minion using our brand new, ultra cool, just look at all those flashy informative tabs at the top of the bloggity blog!

Now go sponsor!!!!


Thanks for your support of the Musher and Pretty Curly Tails!  We couldn't do what we do without all of you!

- Bet

NorthWapiti's Odin

NorthWapiti's Odin
July 27, 1999 - August 24, 2013

I mentioned earlier this week that 14 year old Odie was 'struggling' a bit. He was still bright, alert and would even still run around his pen at feeding time but then he'd have 'bad bouts' where he would have trouble keeping his balance and staying on his feet. On Tuesday he actually got 'stuck' in his dog house, unable to get his feet under him to get out - but once we 'rescued' him he recovered quickly.

This morning when I woke up, the first noise I heard was a soft, but persistent distress bark. As I quickly threw clothes on over my pajamas I pretty much already knew what was going on.
I helped Odie out of his house, but he had trouble getting up once outside.
I picked him up to carry him to a private pen where he was 'safer' while he got reorientated. As I held him in my arms I could feel his heart beating crazily - not with excitement or from a hard run on the trail - but from pain and fear. His eyes normally bright, brown eyes were clouded with fear and confusion. For me, that is not an acceptable state for my dogs.

As we drove to the vet he slipped into the deep sleep of an aged body. In that relaxed state I could see glimpses of the young pup with so much promise, the young adult with so much drive it scared me, and the proud, capable adult that traveled very many miles with me. They were dashed away when his eyes opened and clouded.

Life is short. Time is cruel. Thank goodness for memories - they make it all somewhat bearable.

Goodbye Odie Coyote.

Blue is the Colour....

Blueberries are out in force now...

The house has the remnants of blueberry coffee cake and a few leftover blueberry muffins. For dinner the other night I had wilted spinach salad with bacon and blueberries - and most breakfasts are including some blueberries and greek yogurt!!

Jill and I decided to head out before it got too hot today and resupply.

I tried the 'berry rake' I bought in Nome in March but either I don't know how to use it well - or it isn't suited to my picking style and/or our type of blueberry plants!!!

It works, but I'm faster without it!

And, of course, to keep us safe we had the fearsome, ever alert 'bear' dog along...

I feel so safe when she is around...

Ummmm....Bet......

.....are you....

...napping?????

OMG - you are!!! SERIOUSLY???

Don't pretend you weren't ....I saw you!!!!

*sigh*

Ensembles - Bet

Howdy Ho Everybodies!

It's a nice, chilly 56 degrees here at North Wapiti, and with the cool weather, that only means one thing!

ENSEMBLES!

That's right!  Oh sure, the Musher and the Pretty Curly Tails will be out training now that the temperatures are getting colder, but more importantly it means that I need to start my 2014 shopping extravaganza to find the perfect ensembles.

Since 2014 will be the final Iditarod for North Wapiti, and since I have the best fashion sense out of the whole kennel, the Musher has asked me to pick out the FABulous colors for the team's race in March.  I'm very excited.

Now, don't get me wrong... the Musher does have some good fashion sense when it comes to her ensembles, but when it comes to Musher ensembles... well...

Red/Black.... Black/Red.... I mean it's as if she grew up and only had the box of 8 basic crayons and has no clue there are other colors out there.

I told her that I would take care of the matching of the ensembles this year so she could concentrate on the whole sleddy sled training part, and she seemed happy enough to let me have that responsibility.

I went out and looked at all of the fantabulous colors that are available on the Alpine Outfitters site.  Alpine Outfitters are the wonderously fantabulous peoples that are making our lines for the 2014 Iditarod.

Go and buy stuffs and things from them, they're really cool

If I haven't mentioned before, they are great peoples and their stuffs and things are great.  Even the Cartoonist bought a harness from them for her slightly overweight, mainly lots of fluff and now on a diet thanks to the Musher Siberian Husky, and they both love it.

So, I've picked out some basic matchy match colors and want all of you peoples to help with the final decision making, so I've put a poll out on this bloggity blog.  Please note, the final decision is mine, especially if all of you pick some dreadful concoction, but I have faith that all of you have very good ensemble sense and won't go wacky on us.  Just look at the top right hand side of the bloggity blog and there are two polls... if you are looking at this on a mobile device you won't see the polls... so get thee to a normal computer thingie and vote.

Here are the colors so that you can see them in their actual glory:

So, what color do you like for the gang lines, and what color do you like for the tug lines and neck lines?

What?  Are some of you saying "Bet, what the heck are gang lines, tug lines, and neck lines, have you gone crazy?"

Oh, I forget that some of you aren't as in the know about the whole mushing thing, so I drew this very helpful diagram to show you stuffs and things.

So, the gang line things and stuffs are the main line that connects to the sled.  From that are the tug lines (because the Pretty Curly Tails tug the sled along), and then they are attached by neck lines so they don't get all tangly and go sniffing around for lovely dead caribou things and stuffs along the trails.

I've even shown you who the wheel dogs, team dogs, swing dogs and lead dogs are!  Aren't I clever?

Anyhoo, the gang lines need to be a different color than the tugs and neck lines because when there's a tangle, the Musher wouldn't be able to figure out what goes where, who belongs to what, what was a gang line, neck line, tug line, etc.   Like this:

So, get out there and vote on the new fashionable Pretty Curly Tail ensembles!!!!

Farmer's Market

I have company visiting from Alaska, so it seemed like a good time to pay a visit to the St. Albert Farmer's Market. I love, love, love this Farmer's Market but never seem to find the time to get out to it as much as I'd like. Company is always a GREAT excuse!!

It features amazing produce...

 ....great local homemade products...

 .....flowers...

....cool crafts...

...and the just plain weird.

It was a lovely day and we were followed home by a lot of great things - like 'banana' potatoes, mini cukes, spiced olives, buffalo pepperoni, sheep cheese, garlic clinatro balsamic vinegar, black truffle sea salt, corn on the cob, and a good number of blackberries.

LOVE blackberries!!!

Going to have to make a point to make, at the least, one more trip out this summer!