What The Heck is Going On! - Bet

Howdy ho everybodies!

I apologize for just dropping out and not performing my dutiful Roving Border Collie Reporting this past week, but honestly it was such a whirlwind, confusing, what the heck is going on kinda thing that I'm just now getting my equilibrium back!

When we last left off, we were all doing the major happy dance of joy when the Musher and the Pretty Curly Tails finished second in the Canadian Challenge racey thing!

The next morning was the awards breakfasty breakfast thingie... I was not invited (harumpf) but the Musher and Richard snuck me out some waffles... they were cold... but there's never a bad waffle so nom.

This is where it gets really confusing and hectic and head swimmy, so try to hang on and try to keep up... you may want to take some Dramamine or have a bucket handy.

So, as some of you knew (and for those of you that didn't... I could have swore I told you, but it's all very confusing), the Musher isn't running the Pretty Curly Tails in the Iditarod this year, but she was chosen to be a judge!!  Yep, she gets to herdy the Iditarod peoples and dogs on the trail this year, which is very exciting, don't you think? 

Anyhoo, since the end of the Canadian Challenge was 23 February, and the Iditarod starts on 2 March, and since there's only 28 days in February because it's one of those non-leaping years where there's 29 days in February, which is a shame because most months get extra-extra days while February gets messed with all because those Gregorian peoples didn't plan well enough to give all months the same number of days... or something.

ANYHOO, that only left everybodies with five days to drive back home, get Richard and Simone to the airport, the SUV packed and the Musher drive to Alaska... gulp.

Meanwhile back at North Wapiti, Simone and Musher Mark were holding down the fort and Simone had to get Daddy and Sky use to riding in crates, which isn't like riding in the dog box in that they are inside and all cushy without straw.  Daddy liked the new travel mode.

Hey, this is pretty cushy if you ask me!

 The reason Daddy and Sky were going to the Iditarods is because they are going to live with a friend of the Musher's (I'll let the Musher tell you if she wants).

Simone was also making sure the rest of the Pretty Curly Tails where fed and exercised, but one morning while we were driving home like a bat out of ... fast, she woke up to find that the cabin (that eats handlers) had frozen in the middle of the night and she was trapped... oddly enough.

Her only recourse was to Facebooks Musher Mark and wait for help because she didn't know from Briffany and Richard that when that happened, you just climb out the window.

Since Simone was stuck in the cabin, Bait was forced to take over training duties.

pffft, don't know why people think this is so difficult

Musher Mark finally checked his Facebooks and beat the door free with a hammer... as usual.

Meanwhile back in the truck careening down the roads at break neck speeds (urp) we made it back to our neighborhood and dropped Richard off at the airport.

Zoomed back to North Wapiti, unloaded all of the Pretty Curly Tails and Briffany got them settled, the Musher packed her Iditarod judging stuffs and things, crammed Simone, Sky, and Daddy in the SUV and dropped Simone off at the airport

Then the Musher drove like a bat out of... quickly to Alaska... of course stopping at her favorite place to relax and unwind...

She apparently had the Lard Hot Springs all to herself this time... well, honestly that isn't surprising since who, in their right mind, wants to relax while immersed in hot lard?  Seriously?  Wouldn't that be all greasy and smelly?  Who wants to soak in hot lard like some potato chip thing?

Oh... wait, it's called the Liard Hot Springs... well, ok then, that would be relaxing!

After her marathon speed driving, the Musher did arrive in plenty of time to visit some friends, hit the Starbucks (a few zillion times) and get to the first part of the Iditarod experience in the nick of time.

The Musher admits that it is a bit strange being on THAT side of the table, and not on the other side with all of the participants.  She has to keep reminding herself that she's not there to run the race.

As for me...

I'm actually a bit relieved to be home after all of that hullabalooo!

- Bet

Canadian Challenge Day... I lost count - Bet

Howdy Ho everybodies!!!

I'm so sorry that I didn't get you an update last night, but we've been here, there, everywhere, rushing, rushing, driving, sliding, and doing the handler thing to help the Musher and Pretty Curly Tails!

When we last left you, we were nestled at La Ronge waiting for the team to arrive.  We were all making sure the beds were toasty warm, and testing all of the hot food to make sure everything was ready for the Musher's arrival.

We got an unexpected visitor in the form of one Rocket Dancing Dog.  Rocket had sore wrists and a sore back and wasn't having any fun, so she got a snow machine ride from the LT's checkpoint to us at the hotel.

Rocky was NOT happy about this and refuses to speak to Rocket.

Richard was out making sure the dogs would have comfy places to rest and relax and was warming up his magic massage fingers to work out any crampy Pretty Curly Tail toes or wrists.

For those of you that aren't aware, the Canadian Challenge International Dog Sled race is one of the races where mushers can qualify for the Iditarod!  If you are qualifying, then you HAVE to do everything yourself.  No handlers along the trail, no help for ANYBODIES, the musher has to do everything themselves and finish.

If you aren't qualifying, like my Musher, then you can pretty much have help by your Handler, and you can take advantage of the local stuffs and things, so when the team pulled in, the Musher took care of the Pretty Curly Tails and told Richard what was going on, then stayed at the hotel room where I warmed her feety feets, and Briffany got her some hot foods and stuffs... and things, and everybodies rested there.

Soon the team was off to the next checkpoint: Grandmother's Bay.

We packed up the dropped Curly Tails and started driving over the river and through the woods to the Grandmother's House Bay thing checkpoint.

I would just like to say at this time that both Briffany and I kept our eyes closed for most of the trip because HOLY MOLEY!!!  It was very icy, slickery, slidey, and mountainy, and I nearly soiled my very fashionable ensemble at some points.

Thankfully Richard is the besty bestest driver in the world... and he brought his handy rusty ninja can opener in case we fell off the mountain and had to hunt wild animals in order to survive, or repair the dog truck, or fight off ninjas.

THANKFULLY we made it in one piece and greeted the Musher and Pretty Curly Tails at Grandma's house, then drove to the Stanley Mission for the mandatory 5-hour layover.

This morning, the Musher and Pretty Curly Tails set off for the final check point: La Ronge! 

More later!

- Bet

Canadian Challenge Day 2 - Bet

Howdy ho everybodies!

We're at the La Ronge hotel right now, all toasty warm.

It's been a busy, busy, busy day following the team along the trail.

When we last left off, the Musher was taking a break at the Elk Ridge checkpoint with all 12 Pretty Curly Tails.  She said she had a good run and was happy with all of the Pretty Curly Tails and the effort they were putting in on the trail.

After a five hour rest, off they went to the next checkpoint, MacLennan River.

On the way there, Todd developed a sore wrist, so when the team arrived at MacLennan River, she decided to drop him.

Molly also had a sore wrist, and she is also in heat.  The Musher didn't want to stress her out on her first race and risk a more serious injury, and since Molly's heart wasn't really into that race... and because her condition meant that the boys on the team were more interested in Molly... and to avoid an "Iditarod Moment"...

... Molly also got dropped.

Which leads us to Rocky.... poor silly Rocky.  Rocky was half asleep and miscalculated the trail.  He totally thought that they were approaching the LTs checkpoint where he would be packed up and get a cool snowmachine ride back to the drop dog area at La Ronge.

He was so disappointed to see that he had misjudged the checkpoints and the dog truck, Briffany, Richard, and I were there to take him back to the hotel with us.

All three of them are resting and recovering quite well... except for Rocky, who is moping about not getting to ride the snowmachine, but he'll get over it soon enough.

We want to send a big shout out to Gerry Walker, last year's Canadian Challenge winner.  Gerry scratched in the best interest of his team, and we applaud his effort and for being just an all around good musher and stuffs and things!!!

So, here we are in the hotel at La Ronge.  Molly, Todd, and Rocky sleeping it off in the dog truck, and we sit and wait, and check the GPS dot, and hit refresh and wait and hit refresh, and wait... and where's that pizza??

I decided to do the googles for all that girl stuffs Molly was telling me about why she was feeling all funny.  Sounds icky. Who knew !?!?

Urp... maybe I'll wait on that pizza for a bit.

I am making sure that Richard doesn't go anywhere without my knowing it

Until later everybodies!

- Bet

Canadian Challenge - The Start

Howdy Ho Everybodies!!!!

It's your on the scene Roving Border Collie Reporter, Bet, here!

I must say, the leftovers from the banquet were VERY tasty!

I think they were dinner roll things, or something... no clue actually.

Anyhoo, most of you probably know that the last time the Musher came to the Canadian Challenge, things didn't go so well.  They went BRILLIANT for Richard and his team, but the Musher's team caught an oogie stomach thing (and no, we have ruled out that Richard's team did NOT poison the Musher's team), and she was forced to scratch at Sucker River because the Pretty Curly Tails did not feel well at all.

She had to pull into a town and find a phone to call Musher Mark to bring the dog truck and all.

They all recovered quickly, but it wasn't a good experience for the Musher.

One of the demons in her list of things to do was to come back to the Canadian Challenge and finish it.  So here she is, and after selecting Bib #2, there she went with her team of Pretty Curly Tails.

The weather is nice and cold, just how the Pretty Curly Tails and Musher like it. 

After the first checkpoint, the Musher is in the lead.

If you don't know it already, all of the mushers have a GPS and you can follow the race along with everyone by going to the Canadian Challenge site and clicking on the live tracking button thingie in the near middle of the page.

In case you wanted a picture of the start, here is the only one we have

 

 

 Yeah, um... well... Richard and Briffany were busy with getting the Musher and the Pretty Curly Tails into the chute and off without a hitch, and ... well... I don't have thumbs, so this is the best I could do!

Sorry for the lack of details, but Richard has the iphone and the interwebs aren't very sturdy around here.  More later!!!!

- Bet

Canadian Challenge Trip and Vet Checks - Bet

Howdy Ho everybodies, it's your Roving Border Collie Reporter, Bet, here, reporting from the site of the Canadian Challenge 2013, Canada's Premiere Mushing Event!!!!

I'm very excited to be here everybodies, because HOOO that drive over here was a bit scary!  We were awfully glad the Richard took the wheel, he's very good at the driving thing, so we didn't end up stuck in the big snow drifts or in a ditch like a lot of the other peoples did.

As you can see, I was very tense during the ride

zzzzzzzzzz

Um... what are you doing?  I'm trying to sleep here

Briffany, are you drinking my latte?

I'm giving you the evil eye!

Are we there yet?

Yes, you can clearly see that it was a nail biting scary scary drive!

Of course we made a few stops, and since I had packed most of my cold weather fashionable ensembles, the Musher made sure I kept warm by tying me into a blankie

I'd like a sip of MY latte now Briffany

Of course, after all of my work helping to navigate, give advice, direct, and snuggle, by the time we got to the hotel, I was EXHAUSTED!!!

mmm, fleeeeeecy pillow top bed with down honk honk goosey downy down fluff

Has anyone called room service yet?  I'd like a pizza

Of course, there was work to be done, so off we went to get the Pretty Curly Tails to their vet check.  Molly was not really impressed with this part of the race.  Since this was her first ever EVER race... EVER, she wasn't quite expecting the famous Dr. Ruth Sims to pull her arms out of her sockets.  Here's an article about the health checks she did for the race.

IEEEEEEEEEEE

Oh, geez, thanks for putting that back in where it belongs

Here is Rocky getting to know Dr. Sims VERY well..

Ok Rocky, turn your head and cough!

Richard is there for emotional bonding and guidance and to keep repeating Rocky's new mantra: "Snowmachine rides are bad, chicks love finishers"

Rocky apparently needs more mentoring as he attempted to drop out of the race on the table

Once again, all of the Pretty Curly Tails passed the vet exam with flying colors and are ready to race... this also means that they were officially marked as ready to race... with green paint... oh the humanity!!!!  Thankfully having had my annual physical a few months ago, nobody dared paint me... it would have clashed with my fabulous ensemble... harumpf!

They painted my white head stripe green... I kinda like it

What's that spray bottle doing in your hand... why are you smiling?

Does this green stripe make my butt look big?

don't look at me!  I'm hideous!!

Ok, so we're all ready to go and will spend tonight double checking and checking and double checking the gear again and again and again and order pizza or something nummy, then when we wake up tomorrow... we'll be busy busy busy getting the Musher ready.  I hope to have more news for you later tomorrow... but in the MEANTIME....

All of the Mushers will get a GPS put onto their sleds!!!  You can follow the race with everybodies!  I certainly hope that all 4,147 of you don't all click the button at the same time, but you can watch the whole race live and as it happens on the GPS things... you too can follow the little dots around the course and watch the fun as it unfolds... and freak out when the dots stop... and ask why the dots aren't moving, and ask why the dot hasn't moved for a long time...

Go to the Canadian Challenge website and there's a 2013 Canadian Challenge Live Tracking button in the middle... ish part of the screen.  If you don't see it, then you may be using a Firefox, which was having issues, or Chrome, which was having issues, or... just try to empty your browser cache (don't ask me, I have no idea, someone told me to say that) or try another browser.  I know it works using  IE, some people can get it using Firefox, and Safari works... just keep trying... steal someone's computer if you must.

Rules of the race, let's just get it over with now:
1.) We'll tell you when we know.  If we don't tell you, we don't know
2.) I don't know who the GPS is.  I had heard that Wayward got demoted from Iditarod because he fell off, and had been working as a GPS on a meat delivery truck in Tupolo, Mississippi...
3.) You can ask questions, we'll try to answer them, but we won't answer "why aren't they moving, why is the sky blue, or if you could be any tree"

Until later folks!

-Bet

The Canadian Challenge Line Up - Bet

Howdy ho everybodies, are you ready for some mushing?????

Things are moving very quickly and we've been busy, busy, busy!!!

First off we had to pick Richard up from the airport and we were just a bit concerned that the pesky asteroid was going to swoop in and do bad things, but it didn't, thanks to the state of the art anti-asteroid defense system that the Canadian Army utilizes!

We have nothing to fear with our defense forces always at the ready!!

Since he had such a long flight, he was cold and exhausted, so I made sure to keep him warm and in the truck by curling up on his lap for the entire ride home... didn't want him to escape or anything.  I have Cricket guarding him until we leave for the Canadian Challenge.

He packed light for the trip

Then we had to get him back on the sled to see if he remembered how to mush

 Yep, he's still got it!  It's like he's never left... especially since he's wearing the same outfit.

 Anyhooo!!! Since I named this post the Canadian Challenge Line Up, you're probably wondering which Pretty Curly Tails will be on the team, right???

RIGHT????

That's better... ok, here's the team!!!

SEE

Sponsored by: Marlene and Doug Daniels who are thrilled that See has turned into an outstanding leader! Go See!!

 

BOO

Sponsored by:  Tammy Taylor

 WIFI

Barbara and Jerry Lake, Hampton, TN proudly sponsor Wifi again in 2013.

TODD

Sponsored by: Joli Jurcak: GTG - Love following this rising star!

IRVING

Irving is sponsored by Kim and Dave Lavsa

 TESS

Sponsored by: Marlene Daniels who is proud of how well "her girl" Tess did in Iditarod 2012, often running single lead.

ROCKY

Sponsored by: Mary, Greg, and the Halvorson Huskies

 (His mantra for the trip is "Chicks dig race finishers")












ASTRO

Astro is sponsored by Dana Joyner

KELLY

Sponsored by:  Deb Bok

 TURTLE

Turtle is sponsored by
Kathryn & Pete Trussell, Frank & Paula Langenstein

 ROCKET

Sponsored by: Deb Custer

MOLLY

Molly is supported by the Friends of SOS-SRF: Kris Biagiotti, Barbara Branham, Cheryl Dawson, Ursula Rempel, Sandy Stealey, Mary Ann Strock and Rita Young-Jones. Wishing Molly good luck in this year's racing season.

 This is Molly's first race!!!

 That's it for now peoples, I'll be reporting on the road!

- Bet