It's Getting Serious Now - Bet

Howdy Ho Everybodies!  It's your Roving Border Collie Reporter, Bet, here!

Yep, it's starting to get serious now that the weather is getting cooler.  Much like peoples know it's fall when the leaves on the trees start turning colors, and it gets dark earlier, and lighter later, and waffles taste better in colder weather.


The Pretty Curly Tails don't put in too many miles during the warmer months because... it's warm.  Since they don't put in a lot of miles, they don't need to be watered on the trail.

But when they start putting on the miles, that's when they need water, and sometimes water just doesn't appear where it needs to be (and if you are in Colorado, it appears where you really don't want it, and our hearts go out to those affected by those nasty waters), so we have to bring the water to the Pretty Curly Tails.

Now some of you are saying to yourself: "um, so do you carry a LOT of water with you?"

Oh heck no!  That would be too much water to carry, and we're not Gunga Din.

The water gets there after the Musher makes her official proclamation: "Time to drag the water trough".  That's when the fun begins!

We get out the trusty John Deere.  Usually I have to back it out of the garage because frankly, the Musher is excellent with going forward, but backwards... let's just say everyone hides.

Hehehe, it's fun to watch Bait and Tic flee into the house

Once it's out of the garage, we drag the empty trough onto its sled (also known as the big heavy piece of plastic), then fill it with water.

Ok Musher, hook it up so I can do some wheelies

Then we sloooowly drag it to the place in the trails where the Pretty Curly Tails will stop for their water during training.

I am NOT sloshing all of it out, I can't help that the accelerator pedal is touchy

Then, when we get to the spot, we unhook it and our work here is done!  Water all ready for the thirsty Pretty Curly Tails.

Um... you did clean that out before you put the water in, right?

Then I let her drive on the way back.

Whew, I think we deserve some waffles, don't you?

I'm sure there are some of you asking: "Um... that's a pretty big trough... how do the Pretty Curly Tails drink from that?".

Good question.  They don't!  We spare no expense with the Pretty Curly Tails, and have purchased each of them these state of the art, very expensive... um... cut up milk jug water thingies.

Smartie and Bang having a drink

Of course, some dogs don't like to wait for their special water bowls

Billie claiming the trough as her own personal water jug

So, the trough is out there waiting for the Pretty Curly Tails, and for all of my hard work and expert driving without spilling one drop...

- Bet

Photographing Google - Round 2

Okay maybe round 202 - but the second one I've blogged about!!!

I thought maybe when she was in harness it might be easier to photograph the Wild Woman....

Okay, so not at hookup....maybe on the trail..

If it wasn't for the 2 foot tongue, we might have had it.
Maybe at the end of the run....

Ah....yeah....let's just move on....
Maybe once she is put back in her area, she'll be tired and easier to photograph...

That looks like a police line up......
Come on Googs...help me out here...

All judges are scoring this round in favour of the little parti eyed grey dog.

*sigh*

A 'Jon Van Zyle' - Sneak Peek 2

As I mentioned in my blog last week (A 'Jon Van Zyle'), Jon Van Zyle is doing a print for us as a fundraiser for our 2014 Iditarod!!!

We are all incredibly excited and eagerly awaiting the progress 'snapshots'.

So with no further 'ado', here is number two....

I'm really liking watching the raven take shape. Notice the change in head position and shape!

Stay tune for 'sneak peek 3'.....

Google

Okay Google I have no good pictures of you. How about sitting up, putting your ears up and smiling for me.

Ummm....not exactly what I was looking for. Can we try again??

Very funny!!! Try again!

Yeah, okay....how about if I just let you get back to your stalking of Ryka!

Maybe next time.....

A 'Jon Van Zyle'

Normally these kind of announcements come from Bet - but this announcement was so big, so special, so FABTABULOUS (to put it in 'Bet Speak') that I didn't want to leave it to her. 'Cause really, you all know that as cool, clever, and helpful as she is, she can be a little scatterbrained, distractable, and details are not her strong suit - so I'm taking over for this!

As many of you are aware from following Facebook and our blog, Jon and Jona Van Zyle are long time friends/supporters of the kennel. Those of you that don't know Jon Van Zyle.....well.....really if you are an Iditarod fan...you know Jon. Not only is he an Iditarod Finisher, he is the 'Official Artist of the Iditarod'. 

I was a big time fan of Jon's work long before I ran my first Iditarod - my house is decorated liberally with Van Zyle prints - and the more I have gotten to know them, the bigger and bigger fan I have become.
Jon and Jona are not only both fantastic artists, but they are truly wonderful and kind people. It was our privilege last spring to be able to place two of our NorthWapiti kids - Daddy and Sky - with them!!!

Jona, Daddy and Jon

The very busy and clever Sky.

So my special announcement is that Jon is donating a painting to the kennel as a fundraiser for this year's Iditarod - and not just any painting, but one that depicts a special memory of my time on the trail. We have been talking and collaborating over this since last March and now it is all coming together.

The other day Jon emailed me a glimpse of the work in progress and has graciously allowed me to share it with you!

Should be no shock to anyone that ravens feature prominently - as they do in MANY of my Iditarod memories!!

Over the next while I will be releasing more snapshots of the artwork in progress. I am so looking forward to watching it develop!!!

Once finished we will the announce the size, price of the prints, etc!

Remember, thanks to the graciousness of Jon and Jona, ALL the profits from the sale of these prints will go straight to us!!!

We are beyond humbled - a Jon Van Zyle print inspired by us and for us!!!

To learn more about the Van Zyles, visit http://www.jonvanzyle.com/  - but make sure to visit when you have some time, as their website is full of interesting and beautiful things - and be sure to check out Jona's very unique and special handicrafts! They are fantastic!


Thank you so much Van Zyles!!!

Official Pretty Curly Tail Ensembles - Bet

Howdy Ho everybodies!

I wanted to thank all of you who voted in the official poll to determine what the Pretty Curly Tails will be wearing to the 2014 Iditarod.  It was very exciting watching the poll numbers climbing and trying to figure out what their colors would be... ok, so it was pretty close and not so exciting, but we're happy to announce that...

are you ready....

are you sure you're ready?

Ok, fine!  Eesh, cranky much today??

Ganglines will be purple!!!  The Musher is very happy about that.  She really REALLY wanted purple ganglines, so when that won by 72% of the vote, she actually did a little happy dance.

Tug/neck lines... well, purple officially won out by 1% of the vote.  It was 68% purple, 67% red... but we can't have purple everything... that would just make it confusing on the trail when the Musher is tired, brain dead, and has to untangle the Pretty Curly Tails (yes, it happens), so we'll be going with red tug/neck lines this year.

The booty ensemble will be a fabulous neon green!  Our Donna F. Bootie Minion picked out this FABulous material for the booties

We also learned that Donna F. Bootie Minion ran a 5k race, finished, then fell down and broke things in her hand... congratulations on finishing the race... ooooh.... eeeeesh.... get well soon Donna F. Bootie Minion!!!!

ANYHOOO!!!

In case you want to know what the final ensemble will look like, I had the Cartoonist draft an example for you (and for once she wasn't swigging Nyquil).

Of course, when I showed the Musher, she insisted that you all wouldn't get the full effect without a full team of dogs shown from the front, side, and top.  ahem... I could barely get the scatterbrained Cartoonist to draw one dog, let alone a team, and various angles... so I had a go at it.

See!  The sled will be black with red trim, the harnesses will be red, and everyone will be all color coordinated and matched and stylish!

We want to send out a hugey HUGE thank you to Alpine Outfitters for the pretty purple ganglines!!

Alpine Outfitters, official wonderful sponsor of the Pretty Sled Dogs and North Wapiti!

Go there and tell them how wonderful we think they are

Well... except for the Musher, we still have some outfit selections to go through.  Frankly I'm not real thrilled with her first example.

We have a LOT of work to do here.

- Bet

It's September!!!!

So August turned out to be a pretty busy month around here!

First off - and most important - the dog teams started running again!!

Not quite as often as I'd like (due to weather) but still a good start!

With a bit of the 'edge' taken off them, the dogs are enjoying the warm afternoons - playing with their neighbours and napping!

We have had a few guests out to NorthWapiti. Jill, a friend from Alaska, came down with a lovely female dog for some 'dates' with Crunchie. Turns out he may be an old man, but he still has the moves and the charm!!!

"I'm just going to close my eyes for 5 minutes."

Jill making friends with Pop

 Then my friends the Buchs from BC came out for a few days. We ran dogs, feasted, played at the river, picked blueberries, did some yoga, and generally had a great time!!! They are welcome guests to the kennel anytime!

Overnight Blueberry French Toast
http://allrecipes.com/.../overnight-blueberry-french-toast/

Packing for a afternoon at the river!

Berry picking!

Noah with his 'dream team'  of Neo and Wifi.

Cassie taking the steaks off the fire pit!

Yoga with neighbour Gabi.

I also attempted to squeeze in a lot of my 'off season' loves that will take a back seat when the temps drop enough to run dogs each day

....and brush up on some skills that can come in handy around the kennel and on the trail...

The leaves are starting to change colours...

... geese are starting to move south....critters are stocking up for winter....

Handlers are lined up for the winter and the first of them will be arriving in about 10 days!! We will introduce everyone as they arrive - and/or when they do something memorable enough to inspire the Cartoonist!

All's good .... welcome September!