There are puppies - Twig

Um... Ok, so Bet told me that I have to start doing the blog thing a lot more because apparently she's got yet ANOTHER job here at North Wapiti and that includes raising puppies.

Nobody told me about this when I came here.  Sure, they said I would be herding Pretty Curly Tails, and frankly I'm cool with that because they run fast and they're pretty and they're all pretty nice (from what I've been told, I haven't really gotten to the point where I need to herd them as I'm still in training) but NOBODY told me about this part!

Here we all were, frolicking and playing, and running, and playing and having a heck of a time having fun, then Molly gets moved into the house.  Ok, that's fine, the more the merrier, but she wasn't very happy at all and I thought she was sick!  She went into the cushy new back room with a big blue swimming pool, and I'm all like "um... what?"

Next thing I know Bet and the Musher are running around getting hot water and towels and there's all sorts of activities and excitement and then I got to witness the "miracle of birth".

WOW!  Just WOW!  Right after we ate too, that wasn't cool at all.

It took FOREVER too, those puppies just came out on their own sweet time, and then there was this loooooooong wait because one was absolutely huge and was blocking things up, and then that all worked its way out and before you know it, there are six squeeky little balls of fluff.

Puppies.  I'm the puppy!  I'm supposed to be the cute, adorable, everyone loves me because I'm cute little puppy.  Now there are THESE puppies!  Totally not fair, not fair I tell you!

OOOH look at the cute puppies... and they aren't talking about me.  sigh.

Then Bet disappears into the room with them, and I tried to go in there, because I'm her apprentice and all, and I have to learn these things, I guess... although I'm not really into babysitting or whatever, but then I get this:

Molly doesn't want me in there with her and the puppies.  DENIED!  I can't even go in there!

So, I'm stuck out here with the cats... WITH CATS!!!

Twig... stop touching me

From inside the room Bet is giving me material for this blog.  I can't really understand her.

There are six puppies.

There are some boys and some girls... I think she said 2 boys, 4 girls.

The dad is mumble mumble... or jumbo... it could have been Angela Merkel, I'm not sure.

One is on fire... or has flames on it or something

She wants me to name them.  She said the came back from the future, or there's some movie that is like 30 years old that I'm supposed to pick names from... thirty years?  My mother's mother's mother's mother's mother's mother's mother's mother wasn't even born way back then, how the heck am I supposed to come up with names from such an old movie???

This is ridiculous!

Ok, so it's the Back to the Future litter, and I'm calling them:

Emmett - Boy
McFly - Girl
Lorraine - Boy
Biff - Girl
Dee Lori Ann - Girl
Huey Lewis - Girl

I'll be on the couch sulking with the cats.

Great Scott!!!

Twig

Calendars and Patches Still Available - Twig

Hey fans!

Just wanted to let you know (ok, fine, Bet told me I needed to blog more, but hey, a puppy has things to eat and play with) that we still have wonderful calendars and patches available.

Check it out!

The month of June totally matches the color of my new collar!!!!

I really didn't plan that, but hey, that's pretty cool!

These aren't some flimsy papery, crinkly, rippy calendars, nope!  These babies are really nice and thick, and hang on the wall and people will go "where did you get such a wonderful calendar?" and you can say:  North Wapiti Kennels!

We've got lots of them, so get them while you can!  While you're at it, get your official North Wapiti patch to put on your jackets, or hats, or books, or wherever you put patches because patches are IN.  I don't think patches ever go OUT, so you'll be cool all the time wearing one of these.

So head on over to the blog shop and order yours now... better hurry because the end of the year is coming soon, so you won't know what day it is unless you have a calendar!

Click right here to go to the blog shop and get your's right now... I mean RIGHT NOW!!!


-Twig

New Collar for Twig - Bet and Twig

Howdy Ho Everybodies!!!

Twig got her FABulous new collar today, and she wanted to try it on and then surprise me.

Come on!  Can I turn around now?

She wanted me to wait until she was in the perfect position for the big reveal!  I think she's been watching too many of those fashion shows on the tv... I mean, of course I watch them, but it's only to see what the latest fashions are so I can prepare the Musher for her lectures and going out on the town, and perhaps seeing if scarves are going out of style (oh I hope they never go out of style, they are so wonderfulicious).

Are you ready to see my new collar????

Um... I was ready about 15 minutes ago, but sure, let's get a gander at it!

OOOH, wait, I have to turn the wonderful name tag around so you can see it, hang on again!

zzzzzzzz

Ok, don't look until I'm all ready and all that!!

She's just a bit over dramatic at times... I have NO idea where she gets that from!

TAH DAH!!!!!

OOH, that's very orangy!  I was thinking perhaps a Burnt Sienna or a Marigold, but that's pretty bright!!!  Very nice and it matches your furs wonderfully!

I KNOW!!!  It's very fierce, just wearing it makes me feel fiercer!!!

Ok, yes, that's pretty fierce and all, but it's a little hard for me to see it when you're gnawing on my neck

I can't help it!  This collar gives me super powers!  I'll be able to herd anything in this collar, even those cats!

Seriously?  The cats?

Um, ok, yeah, that's a bit ambitious.  I think I would need a fiercer collar for the cats, and perhaps a shark cage.

You do know that's just a growing collar, right?

How can you tell?

Um... the really long part at the end of it that will poke out my eye if you aren't careful.

I can try to chew it off!

I wouldn't if I were you... the Musher might put you into one of the stinky old Pretty Curly Tail collars until you grow into your permanent Herdy Herder Baa Baa Sheepie thing collar.

I want to go out and show the world my new collar!

Ok, let's go show the Pretty Curly Tails and Homeland Security crew.

Um... little Twig... don't get in the water...

I can do what I want because I'm fierce and have my new collar!  I need to get it a bit muddy because it looks too new!

Ok, but you know what happens when you get muddy, right?

I'm not afraid of anything!

Ok, so maybe I should have listened to her... this is horrible.  Maybe I can be fierce and clean at the same time.  It's hard to look fierce during a bath.

This "fierce" business is tiring sometimes, especially after a bath.

Grand Rapids Wilderness Adventure - Part 2

Key in the history of the Athabasca River is the Grand Rapids, a Class VI (unnavigable) rapids a bit over 150 miles down river from the town of Athabasca.

The crafty Hudson Bay Co (who at one time in history owned 6% of the world's land surface) built a mile long railroad on the island that is located in the rapids. By doing this they controlled all (except for the brave and foolish) freight traveling up and down the river.

The river from the Grand Rapids to Fort McMurray is littered with rapids, but a couple features make the Grand Rapids the most noteworthy. First the river drops 60ft over the length of the rapids and second, and most interestingly, the rapids are FILLED with concretions.

Despite these cool features, the Rapids are not easy to access (87 miles from Fort McMurray, 150 + miles from Athabasca) and, so were seen by far more eyes at the turn of the century than today! It takes a skilled boater to get close enough to the Rapids to walk into on the west side (which is the best view and access to the amazing concretions).

Lucky for us, Darcy, our guide, is a skilled boater. Due to the river being very low this year, the walk was a little longer then normal, but tbh I completely enjoyed the scramble along the edge of the river  - well except for the recent mud slide that sucked my rubber boat right off as I scrambled through it.

Gotta say, the rapids are mostly hidden as you approach them from the south (due to that big drop) and I was a bit skeptical as we walked in that they were going to be worth the work to get to them. Once we forded the last little river my skepticism was completely put to bed!

Darcy guided us along the edge of the rocks to the far north end of the rapids and told us to take our time working our way back through the rocks. We had a BLAST scrambling over the giant round rocks, sitting watching the rapids, and dangling our feet in quiet little pools.

Lunchtime!

What a great day!!!!

Because this was Zelman's last trip to the cabins for the season we scored an extra day hanging out while they got everything ready for winter, so the next 2 days were spent paddling, fishing, gold panning, kicking Mark's ass in an archery shootout and just relaxing!!! I was actually able to finish a book I've been reading FOREVER and 2 more (one was a cookbook, so not intense reading!)

No, not Mark's fish. A nice Walleye caught by Cole and eaten by us all!!! So tasty!

hehehehehehe

Ummmm.....no.....Mark did not find our fortune!

 Tuesday morning we loaded the boat and headed back to civilization!

 It wasn't ideal weather, but still a beautiful trip!

Wolf track at our lunch stop!

Can't say 'THANKS' enough to Darcy and Shirley Zelman of Grand Rapids Wilderness for a LOVELY get away in our own backyard. I'm just annoyed that it took us so long to get around to doing it!!

Hope to see you this winter Zelmans!!!! ;)

Karen

Bear track by the boat!

Beaver tracks!