Sockeye Fire - Help Willow Rebound - Bet

Everybodies,

It's not a very howdy ho day because of the horribly horrible events in Willow, Alaska this past week.

As you may (or may not) know, there was a horrible, very icky fire that struck the town of Willow this past week.

As of last count, 26 homes were lost, and one of those homes included our 2012 North Wapiti North HQ.  Thankfully Jamie, Harry, and the pups, cats, and horsies of 2014 North Wapiti North HQ were spared, but they did have to pack everyone up and evacuate just in case.

This nasty fire struck right in the middle of Iditarod Musher central.  Most of the homes lost were musher homes.  THANKFULLY there was time to evacuate almost all of the dogs.  The entire community reached out and got all manner of animals out of the fire before it was too late.  We are saddened to hear of a small few who did not survive, but it could have been much MUCH worse if not for the mushers, their families, the community, and other mushers not affected by the fires helping out when needed.

The mushing spirit is strong, but they will need some help rebuilding and getting their lives back together.   Some lost everything they owned and from the ashes comes reminders of better times.

Bob Chlupach's 1977 Iditarod finisher belt buckle

The Willow Dog Mushers Association (WDMA) has started a YouCaring site to help raise funds to help all of those affected by the fire.

Click on this link to donate online:  WDMA YouCaring Site

For those of you who want to donate using a check, make the check payable to WDMA
In the memo line write: Fire Relief Fund

Mail your check to:
WDMA
PO Box 858
Willow, Alaska 99688

WDMA will be distributing funds to those in need.

Here is the list (as of recently) of mushers who have lost their homes:

Scott Smith (Individual fundraiser here)
Bob Chlupach and Jan Steves (individual fundraiser here)
Justin and Jaimee High (Individual fundraiser here - this is their second loss to fire)
Sue Firmin
DeeDee and Mike Jonrowe
Mary Helwig (who bought NWN from Donna Quante recently)
Peter and Joyce Duncan
Joar Ulsom and Millie Porslid
Leo Lashrock (Individual fundraiser here)
TC Wait and Dave Wurts

You can also send a check directly to a specific musher if you wish.  All of them receive mail at the Willow Post Office, and according to Donna Quante, they will get it as Willow is a small, tight knit community.

Mail your donation to individual mushers by addressing the envelope:
Musher Name, General Delivery
Willow, Alaska 99688

The Musher and I have some VERY fond memories of Willow, Alaska.  It's like the Musher's second home there, and she's very sad that her friends and fellow mushers are going through this ordeal.

The Musher has been in touch with WDMA and we are finalizing some stuffs and things for a hugey huge item to be donated to WDMA that they can use to raise big monies... or something, so we'll let you know, when we know, and then everybodies will know.

If you can spare some money to donate, please do.  If you can't, then your prayers and good thoughts are equally appreciated.

Update from a kind anonymous commenter (thank you)

Additional mailing info for those who don't want to send General Delivery:
Deedee and Mike Jonrowe, PO Box 272, Willow, AK 99688

Jaimee and Justin High, PO Box 1096, Willow, AK 99688

Jan Steves and Bob Chulpatch, P.O. Box 931 Willow AK 99688

 or send to Musher Name C/O Happy Trails Kennel, PO Box 520997, Big Lake, AK.
Make donation checks to the specific musher name and Martin Buser will see that they get it.

The Ride Home and Cool Surprises - Bet

Well golly gee whiz everybodies, it's been a while since we've bloggity blogged now hasn't it!!???!!!

Whoosh, so sorry, it's been a bit hectic around here, what with getting the Musher's Iditarod stuffs and things back from the trail, and then having to drive lickity split down the highway to get home because a certain Pretty Curly Tail threatened to have pups on the side of the highway, and then...  oh wait, let me just slow down and tell you the whole story.

Anyhooooooo... there we were in Willow, Alaska at our splentastic guest home (thanks again to Jamie and Harry and Toby and Kip, and Ash, and the horsies, and the Pretty Curly Tails there and... oh wait, I think that's everybodies) and the Musher finally got her stuffs and things back from the trail.

The trail peoples were so nice that they made sure they took out all of the nice notes that the checkpoint goodie bag sponsors sent and gave them to the Musher... but they kept the goodies of course (that's the Iditarod law).

With all of the stuffs and things back, there really was no reason to stay any longer... especially because Molly Waddle Puppies On the Way was telling everyone that would listen that she really felt like giving birth at any moment.

Hey!  I'm pretty sure I'm about to squirt out some pups here!

So, rather than risk a birthing on the side of a highway, the Musher and her friend Keri threw everything and everyone into the dog truck and peeled out heading for home.

It was one continuous drive home... mile after mile, rest stop after rest stop, Starbucks after Starbucks, then Timmy's after Timmy's.  Oh the bladdermanity.

Every Pretty Curly Tail stop Molly threatened to ploop out the Molly Toddles.  We couldn't have that.  Pretty Curly Tails MUST be plooped out in the pool in the back room!!!!

Keri didn't seem that concerned... she actually FELL ASLEEP ON ME!!!

I told her that she had to worry while I took a nap, so we took turns alternating between worrying and napping, so that worked out well.

As we got closer, I got a bit more worried.

Did anyone hear that?  Is that moo'ing?  Are we there yet????

Ok, seriously, we have to be getting closer!!!!

Thankfully we got home in the nick of time, and when I say "nick of time" I mean we had like 2-3 more days before she went into labor... eeeesh, drama queen.

There were all sorts of cool surprises when we got home too!

Rocky looks great!  He was very happy to see us and was disappointed that he didn't get to go on the Iditarod where he could have dropped out and gotten a ride on a snowmachine.

Turtle spoke for the whole team when he said "so good to be home again".

The best gift of all was that Musher Mark bought me a new quad!!!  No SERIOUSLY!

My new quad

For some reason the card had the Musher's name on it and a very sweet poemy thing, but it's MINE... see!!!

It even has my very own slip proof platform shaped like a bone (apparently he couldn't get one shaped like a waffle) on the back for me to be chauffeured in style.

Very comfy!  We took it out for its maiden voyage.

FASTER!!!!!  HIT THE GAS MUSHER!!!

Musher Mark is the BESTEST!!!!

Then there was KD... sigh.

She's changed... A LOT!!!!  I suspect that those meddling cats Bait and Tic have been filling her delicate little cute head with all sorts of lies about me while I was gone.  It didn't help that I came home smelling like Toby, and stompy horses, strange Curly Tails, Kip and Ash, Starbucks, Timmy's and all sorts of exciting places and stuffs and things.  She also had been following our adventures on Facebooks and saw all of the cool stuffs and things we got to do and blamed me for ratting her out when she tried to hide in the sled bag and wouldn't let her go along.

She also grew a lot... she's HUGE.  Like a puma or something.

The Musher thought that maybe we could make amends and be friends again if we had breakfast together, so she made us waffles.

I don't know if our relationship will ever be the same, but at least she stopped threatening me every time we were alone.

Next bloggity blog I'll tell you all about the Molly Toddles!!

- Bet

Fifteen and Counting - Bet

Howdy Ho everybodies!!!

Yes, it's MEEEEEE your Roving Border Collie Reporter, Bet!

Stuffs and things are happening really quick around here, it's like a whirlywind!

First of all, HOLYGEEWILLIKERS it's very slippery here!  The weather has not been conducive to the whole sled doggy training sport at all.

NO.SNOW.AT.ALL.

What snow there was is a glare of ice.. sheety sheety ice.  It's VERY slippery here, so if things don't get better and there's no new snow, if you are coming to the Open House (and you better, I'm expecting you... don't you dare disappoint me!) be prepared to luge yourself around here. 

If you are going to wear those big cleaty shoes, please take care not to step on a Pretty Curly Tail with them.  That would be bad, and make me frown, and you wouldn't want me to frown... would you?  I didn't think so.

How sheety is it?

Next time I'll be representing Canada in the Olympics... that's how sheety it is here.

So, if you've been following us on the Facebooks (and you better... you don't even need an account to see our page there), you saw that the Musher was promising me a very special surprise gifty thing...

The surprise gifty thing arrived!

Yep, that's my personal crampy toe massager and Musher-guy Richard all the way from over the pond.  He arrived just in the nick of time to help the Musher get more miles and more training for the Pretty Curly Tails, so I was only a small bit peeved that they immediately took off for colder climates to get their training in and left me at Jamie's. 

Of course, being the master coordinator for Team North Wapiti, it did give me plenty of opportunities to plot and plan and scheme...

We should probably have some kind of cool matching headwear for everybodies... yeah... that would be nice, and waffles

Thankfully the Musher and Richard found some great training places for the Pretty Curly Tails, and even one that matched the 2014 North Wapiti Iditarod colors!

When they got back, the Musher had to attend to the mandatory drop bag drop off!  That means we're really getting close to the start.  As of this writing, we're only 15 days away!!!  Wowzers, time flies!!!

While she was dropping off her drop bags, the Musher found out that she got one of the really cool blankets made by students!

Thanks Kathy Clement Cappa for letting us use your photo!

Isn't that FABULOUS!  It's got the Maple Leaf on it and the fabric is simply divine!  I wanted to use it as the base for one of my ensembles... but Tramp nabbed it and won't give it back... and nobody wants to go ask her for it because... well, you know... blah blah yammer, yammer, yacky yack... who needs that? 

You should go check out this bloggity blog post all about the blankets the students made from all over the US and other regions!

The Musher and Richard are now back at HQ catching up on the little administrative things and stuffs they need to do to get ready for the race.  There's a big hoopla about the weather and on Monday a decision will be made as to whether the re-start will take place in Fairbanks.  If that happens, there will be a HUGEY HUGE flurry of freaking out minions making alternate plane reservations and plotting, planning, Nyquil swigging and running around with hands flailing.  That should be fun.

In the meantime, I am doing what all good Roving Border Collie Reporters, trainers, nannies, and all around support crews do when assisting in the running of a major race.

I simply don't know what they would do without me!

- Bet

Drop Bag-oramalamadingdong - Bet

Howdy Ho Everybodies!

While we waited for my biggie big surprise, the Musher thought I needed a job to do to keep my mind off of what it could be (waffles with shrimp?  New booties?  KD ran all the way here??), so she took me out to supervise the drop bag stuffing.

Really?  This is supposed to keep me occupied?

As you can clearly see, there is a LOT of stuffs and things that go into drop bags.  Drop bags are the lifeline of the Musher and Pretty Sled Dogs.  They hold all of the tasty, tasty goodies, foods, replacement gear like gloves, and booties, and snacks, and Heet, and foods.  They couldn't possibly carry all of the things they need in the sled during the race, so just about every checkpoint has a bag.

While this may seem like a random piling of stuffs, I assure you, it's very organized

The Musher has a hugey huge spreadsheet that is broken down into each checkpoint with a list of the things they will need at the checkpoint depending on whether they are staying long, or short, or sometimes not at all depending on the trail and conditions, and how everyone is feeling.

Musher, that's not a chair, and this ensemble is a bit large on me

Jamie was nice and insisted that I wear an ensemble, but all the Musher could come up with is one of the jackets that the Pretty Curly Tails wear... yes, I'm tiny, don't judge me.

Jamie taking us back to the house

I'm pretty sure the Musher has told you... the weather is horrible here.  The whole dog yard, Jamie's yard, everything is a sheet of ice.  It's like the Sochi ice rink here.  Going down hills is worse than ski jumping because the only thing stopping you is trees.

I look a little worried here because Jamie just said "Hey, hold my coffee and watch this"

The Pretty Curly Tails know that something is up because they saw the drop bags.  This is when they start doing impressive things to prove to the Musher that they are ready to run and should be picked to go... I saw Irving bench pressing his house.

On The Road Day Two and Three or So - Bet

Yes, yes, we are on day three... or is it four... I lost count.

Finding adequate interwebs connectivity on the road is problemmatic, plus typing while the Musher drives makes me do things liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiike... that... because of the bumps in the roads and stuffs and things.

Anyhoooooo!

The scenery is pretty spectacular and I keep forgetting to take any pictures because I'm all like "OOOOH look at that", and "OOOOOH look at that" and then "OOOOH I forgot to take a picture".  I'm a reporter, not a photographer!

So, it's been all about the driving, driving, dropping dogs for foods and stuffs and things, and driving, and stopping to pee, eating tasty things, driving, driving... and soaking in a big puddle.

Oh yeah, you didn't think that the Musher could pass up a side trip to the relaxing Liard Hot Springs.

Now, I have heard all about the Liard Hot Springs and how relaxing and soothing they were, but I didn't expect them to be all out in the open.  It's like huge pools of hot water... like a bath.  Hmm.  Oooookay.  Oddly enough, dogs weren't allowed in them.  Um... there's all manner of things flying, crawling, and stalking around these pools, what would a little dog fluff matter?  Whatever, I was totally fine with staying in the truck guarding the Pretty Curly Tails when I saw this sign:

Bears?  BEARS???  You want to soak in a hot springs with bears skulking around?  Come ON Musher, it's like you are human stew and the bears probably just wait until you are nice and tender!!!  Throw in some carrots and celery and it's like a crock pot buffet for bears!!!

I made some phone calls and found the perfect anti-bear solution in the form of a bear dog!

 Gussie came with his person Louise Cooke, but that's Sophia bravely holding him.

Gussie is a Karelian Bear Dog and he has his own Facebook page.  I wanted to hire Gussie to guard the Musher and Sophia while they soaked in the stew... I mean hot springs thing.

Apparently Gussie was a bit confused about his job

Gus, I'm not a bear, no Gus, down Gus... MUSHER HELP!

 Yeah, so that didn't work out quite like I planned, so I told Musher and Sophia to just soak a bit and be careful and if a bear approached them... try to pretend you were the bay leaves.... nobody eats the bay leaves in stew.

So they soaked.

Sophia and her best bay leaf impression

Musher bay leaf

Musher!  Stop taunting the bears with toes!  Bears can't resist toes!

It was very pretty there.

And we didn't see any bears or ... people... hmmm

Anywhoooo

After the big soaking and such, we got back on the road and trundled closer to Alaska.

We passed the famous Watson Lake sign forest

Then as we drove toward Tok... this happened

heaving sigh.

Out.in.the.middle.of.nowhere... of course.

Thankfully a kind passerby took a look and since it's a double wheel (there's another wheel next to it) we nursed it slowly (bonk, clunk, bonk, clunk, bonk, clunk) sloooooowly to Tok... who doesn't have a replacement.

So, here we are in glamorous and beautiful Tok trying to find a tire... anybodies near Tok have a spare tire?

The good news is, there's tasty Fast Eddy's for some foodables here in Tok.

- Bet

A Few More Odds and Ends and Some Really Odd - Bet

Howdy Ho everybodies!

It's getting closer, can you feel it?????  I can, mostly because I'm busy, busy, busy packing my ensembles!

I'm a bit sad that I will have to leave my pet KD at home for this trip... sigh.  She's just too young, inexperienced, won't fit in my suitcase, and the Musher found my secret hidey hole space for her and now checks all the time.

Yep, that is THE actual sled bag!  Isn't it pretty!?  It's from the FABULOUS Dog Booties.com peoples.

Dog Booties.com fantabulous sponsor of the Pretty Curly Tails!

Anyhooooooo, we've created an FAQ page for peoples to review.  We'll be updating it as soon as more peoples ask us questions or we know answers about.

So far, the biggest two questions we've gotten are:

1.) When is the Open House and what can we do at the Open House... that's answered

2.) Can we handle the Pretty Curly Tails at the starts?  That's answered.

I'm proud to announce that we've added KD to the list of North Wapiti Support Crew.  You can go to the sponsor page here, or the GoFundMe page and sponsor her if you want... she's cheap.

We are very happy happy really cool happy to announce that all of the checkpoints have either been sponsored, or peoples are making up snack bags!  Thank you everybodies!!!

As far as the supplies go, we still have the following available:

50 Handwarmers
36 Juice boxes
31 Bottles of water

Go here if you want to donate to those and then the Musher will have warm hands and stay hydrated.

Time is getting short on order an exclusive Van Zyle, so get your order in jiffy quick please!!!!

Don't forget the Winter Celebration Art show thingie where you can meet both Mr. Van Zyle and the Musher and get your print if you'll be in Anchorage on January 24th.

Last but not least (and this is where the really odd thing comes in)... peoples have been asking which Minions will be there, and if a specific, annoying, Nyquil-swigging Minion will be there.

Here is the official Iditarod Minion list:

Today is my Birthday Everybodies! - Bet

WOOT!

Today is my birthday!!!!  I'm SEVEN!!!!

The Musher said that we were going to go out and do some girlie bonding time for my birthday, and I was all like WOOT again because I was thinking we'd go get a lava rock sauna spa thing

Then we'd get a mani pedi thing and do some gossip and drink fancy drinks

So I was all ready when the Musher told me to get my coat... but I wasn't expecting THIS

Camping?  Seriously?  Our girlie time is out in the freezy freezy cold, the snow up the wazzoo, all of the Pretty Curly Tails snuggled in their straw while we "bond" in a tent out in the middle of nowhere?

Seriously???

No fancy hot drinks, no lava rock sauna??? No pretty pretty nail colors????

THIS????  Not to mention no bouncy castle, no pony rides?  No designer cake???

But then the Musher called me into the tent and gave me my birthday gift

BEST.BIRTHDAY.GIFT.EVER Peoples!!!!

See you all in Anchorage!

Bet