July 1, 2003

Kennel Addition

Last week we welcomed a new addition to the kennel - Kimlan's XZackeryit at NWapiti. Zack is an adorable 4 month old puppy from Don and Rosemary Hooker of Kimlan Kennels just outside of Montreal, Quebec. 

I had seen and fallen in love with Zack's older brother Ch. Kimlan's Millennium Moonbeam while I was out at the Canadian Siberian Husky Nationals in Montreal in 2001. I was delighted this spring when the Hookers emailed and offered to sell me the sole male puppy of a repeat breeding of Beamer's parents. 

We have high hopes for this handsome grey and white boy. Watch for pictures soon!!

Also, my sincere thanks to Hookers for making their summer holidays a trip out west to deliver Zack to us. It was very, very appreciated and we loved having you visit! :)

Karen

July 2003

Goodbye

Last night we said goodbye to a very special gal in our lives - NorthWapiti's Alpha CD, SDX, TT

'Allie' was the last born out of our very first litter of puppies. She snuck in her entrance long after we thought Libby was finished having puppies. She didn't escape our notice for long though.

From the beginning, she was Mark's girl - the only one he's ever put a suit on for! He always wanted to look good if he had her in the ring. The two made their appearance in the obedience ring and occasionally conformation.

When we began to get more serious about running dogs, I borrowed Allie to lead for me in races. I never came even close in her eyes to her Dad, but she humored me and was a hot damn lead dog - my first real leader, actually. I've always credited her with winning the 54 mile Gold Rush Trail race for us. It was her leader skills that got us quickly through some tricky parts of the course that messed up alot of the other teams.

Although she never had a litter of pups for us (we tried - it just wasn't meant to be, I guess) - Allie will never be forgotten around here. Her legacy lives on in all the leaders in our kennel now and always. And she will live on in both our hearts, although particularly Mark's, forever.

As our vet said last night "She running down happy trails now" - and she deserves that.

Karen

June 23, 2003

Puppy Update

Good Morning! I thought I'd give you all an update on the kids. All 4 are doing fine and growing like weeds. It has been really interesting to watch the different ways the pups are maturing, as the litters are only 2 days apart and the sires are littermate brothers. The difference is that Oreo is one of our more 'show lines' bitches and Kluane is all 'racing lines'.

The winner of the 'First to Walk' contest was Q - the male in Kluane's litter. He is also the winner of the 'First Eyes to Open', which happened yesterday. Actually, both of Klu's pups are quite 'on their feet' as compared to Oreo's litter. These guys are much 'longer' looking puppies too. Oreo's definitely are fuzzier and chubbier, but they are starting to take some wobbling steps too. 

Oreo has decided to accept the task of keeping her puppies clean. Actually, she could now give Klu some lessons on how to keep puppies spotless :) Oreo is not as possessive as most of our Mom's are though, so if I sneak one into the family room to watch TV with us, she rarely even comes out looking for it.

Anyway, that's the news for today. Both Kaylinn and Jumper are showing signs that they are pregnant - hopefully they are hiding more then 2 puppies in there! :)

Karen

May 27, 2003

I want to take the opportunity to congratulation (and brag about) one of our 'kids'.This past weekend 'Hugi' - NorthWapiti's TuColdTuRain Hugi and his owner, Jackie Wepruk obtained their CDX title.

As many of you know, Siberians can be a challenge to show in the obedience ring - but Hugi and Jackie are making it look easy. Hugi obtained both his CD and CDX each in three straight trials. Although he didn't achieve the HIT's and amazing scores (like a 198.5) that he did on the way to his CD, his scores were still ones that would make most Siberian owners drool!

We like to think that Hugi's breeding has something to do with these great results - but in reality, Mark and I know it is the tremendous amount of work and dedication that Jackie has put into Hugi that is making him such a great boy.

BTW - just to brag about how versatile his lines are - Hugi's Mom was a Best in Show winning Siberian and his Dad is an Iditarod finisher. Two of Hugi's littermates were on my Iditarod team this past winter and 3 of them will be out and about in the show ring this summer. :)

Congratulations Jackie and Hugi!!! I know Breezy is somewhere grinning down at you with a big Siberian grin - she always knew her babies were amazing.

Karen

April 10, 2003

Some of you were interested in my reply to the Strathcona-Tweedsmuir class - so here it is.

Dear 6B Class,

Thank you for your wonderful letter. Boy, you guys did a lot of work in analyzing the data from the race. I would like to see the calculations you did, as some may come in handy for my next year's race planning.

I'm going to answer some of your question here, but Chester and I would like to come down and answer most of them in person (and dog) for you. I will be working with Ms. Duncan-Moore to see when we can arrange that.

I did plan out my strategies for the Race, but with so many changes to the trail, it was very hard. I ended up having to change them a lot as we went along. For example, I planned my 24 break for something like 4 different spots and ended up taking it somewhere that I hadn't really planned on! But in the end I thought it worked very well to take it in Galena and was happy with my decision.

The dogs and I are doing fine. I was sick for quite awhile after getting home, but am feeling pretty much back to normal now. The dogs got back running yesterday and, boy, are they happy about that!

The dogs did wonderful on the trail. I was very, very pleased with them. And, no, they were so strong this year that I couldn't have kept up running with them this year. Although I did 'pedal' some to help out.

Other then the burns on my hand (which are all healed now) and the illness, I didn't have much trouble on the trail at all. It was a fun Race!

The dogs that I dropped this year were due to injuries. Kaylinn was dropped in Tanana because of a sore shoulder; Nik was dropped in Ruby because of a sore shoulder; Olena was dropped in Nulato because she hurt her bicep muscle; Loki was dropped in Grayling because of sore feet; and Squeaky in Anvik because of sore shoulder muscles after he slipped on some ice.
All are fine now and back running!

Thanks again for taking the time to follow our Race and for writing. Chester and I look forward to visiting with you all some day soon!

Your friend,
Karen Ramstead

April 10, 2003

One of the coolest part of post-Iditarod time is all the wonderful letters I get from students that followed the Race. Some of them make me laugh...some are really touching... One from the 6B Class of Strathcona-Tweedsmuir School really touched me and, with permission, I am sharing it with you. 

And, yes, Chester and I have accepted their invitation and will be visiting the school in the next while - how could we say no?

Karen

Class 6B

Dear Karen,

Whew, we did it! We are off for two weeks--Spring Break. It was my goal to have our class letter written and sent to you prior to break. Like you, we set ourselves goals and try, awfully hard, to achieve them.

Please find attached a class letter from 6B to you. Thank you, again, for helping to stimulate some marvelous conversations in the classroom and for instilling a sense of excitement in my students. Several of them have new aspirations. Some see themselves as being mushers; some see themselves as being vets, volunteering to work along the Iditarod trail. All have a renewed respect for the environment and for the decision-making process!

Please consider their invitation, Karen. They would love to speak to you, ask questions and see Chester. Of course, Joan Sveen and I would love to see you again!

Take care, Karen.

Sincerely,
Carrie Duncan-Moore

April 9, 2003

I’ve been working on the Trail Diaries and really enjoying reliving the Race, but thought that an update of what is going on now at home might be in order!

Getting better took a fair amount longer then I thought it would, but last week and I started to feel more like myself and have been tackling the unpacking, catching up on correspondence, and other chores that need my attention.

Thanks to a few inches of snow last week, this past weekend Mark and I hooked up some teams (on sleds!! Wahoo!!). All the ‘yearlings’ (these are dogs that will be 2 this year and will be in contention for the Iditarod team next winter) got to run. I was overwhelmed by the quality of these young dogs – every one of them was keen and hard driving. I’m so excited! I’ll fully introduce these guys to everyone though the diaries over the summer and fall – but just to quickly mention their names – the new dogs coming into the ‘pool’ are:

Snickers (f), Crunchie (m), and Skor (m) – (the Grover x Snickers kids) – Snickers is looking to be the ‘star’ out of this bunch.

Barq (m), Sprite (f), and Pepsi (f) – (Butchie x Jumper kids) – these three are amazing – but Barq gives me goose bumps, he shows so much promise.

Hilda (f), Hector (m), and Herman (m) – the ‘H’s’ as we refer to them as a group. These guys are the ones that came to us from Bob Chlupach and Rick Outwin last summer.

Dasher (f) – (Butchie x Kara) Dasher is scary, she works so hard. Another very exciting Butch kid!

Batdog (m) and Holly (f) – (Odie x Kaylinn) – these two are the youngest of the group and may not stay in the training pool long, but they are working strong – especially little Holly (aka ‘CryGirl’ – gosh she is a noisy one!)

Also entering the main group is Moses, the 3-year-old boy that I got from Bob and Rick while I was in Alaska this winter.

Add in the returning dogs from last year – Grover, Draco, Surge, Nik, Pirate, Squeaky, Orion, Chester, Loki, Smiley, Gus, Kobuk, Olena, Denali, Odie, Mannie, Kluane, Camilla, Freya, Kara, Nahanni, and Kaylinn – and I will have the strongest, best ‘pool’ of dogs to work with that I’ve ever had.
I am tremendously keen and excited about the promise of this whole group of dogs!

You may have noticed a couple names missing from the above list. Dancer, sister to Dasher is going to move to Red Deer to live with our friends, Jackie and Rick – as Rosie did this winter. Visa, Jumper, Joey, Cassie, and Oreo have all retired from the main string. Oreo will, hopefully, be busy being a Mom this summer, as she was bred yesterday to Smiley (puppies due June 10th).

Well, after our fun times on the sled, I made the mistake of bragging to a friend in Minnesota that we were still ‘on sleds’. Quicker then you can say ‘SPRING’, warm winds blew in and as of yesterday, we have too much snow for a quad and not enough for a sled. I know better! Hopefully, the warm weather will stick with us and I can be back training on the quad shortly!

Well, that’s the news for today … now back to Iditarod Journals!