Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everybody!! Rob and I are ringing in our new year by relaxing after a hot sauna and having a bottle of wine. Pretty exciting, we know. Mark and Mary went up the trail to Gunflint Pines Resort to celebrate New Year's with some good friends of theirs, Mike and Sue.

It's been pretty crazy here this week. The countdown for the Beargrease is getting shorter and shorter. Tensions are running high as stress mounts about whether or not the dogs will be ready. Rob and I are working hard to keep up and do as much as we can to be helpful. Sometimes we're not quite sure if it's enough. But we'll give it our best shot :) Mark and Mary have also entered the White Oak Classic. It's a race held in Deer River. They are both going to be racing teams, and it takes place in less than 2 weeks! Rob and I will stay here to take care of and hopefully run the dogs that won't be going. Luckily Mark and Mary will have friends helping them handle at the White Oak. We'll also be joined by Hannah. Hannah is a new handler that will arrive on Saturday. We are excited she's going to be here. The more the merrier!!

I'll just give a run down of some of the excitement here in the dog yard. Yesterday Rob and Mark were out on a run when Julie stopped by with her daughter Jessica running four of their dogs. Jessica had her friend Tarin with her. All the girls were in the puppy pen when Jessica very casually let me know that one of the dogs were loose. Caribou had snapped part of his post clean off and was prancing between the B and C teams. I scramble to rig something up to reattach him. Afterwards all of us went inside to warm up and have a snack. Jess and Tarin had frosting and an over sized Hershey's Kiss. Tasty. Nothing better than frosting out of the tub. It was getting dark and time for them to get going. I was a little nervous because I knew Mark and Rob were due back into the dog yard any minute. I could just imagine the collision of all 22 of our dogs, and 4 of Julies dogs. Not pretty.

Just as Julie, Jess, and Tarin were pulling out of the drive way, Caribou came chasing after them. I caught him just outside of the drive way. I wasn't quite sure what to do with him when I saw Marks team coming down the return trail. I just hooked Caribou up to the nearest post. I figured I'd consult an expert (Mark) on what to do next. It was great timing on everyone's account. Had Mark and Rob been a few minutes sooner, and Julie a few minutes later....whew. We all pitched in and had both Mark and Rob's team put away in no time. Mark fixed Caribou's post and it was off to our cabins to warm up.

This afternoon Rob and Mark both headed off on snowmobiles to Mark's truck. They unloaded some of the remaining dog food and chicken for chicken soup into Rob's otter sled and parted ways. As Rob arrived in the dog yard he started waving his hands at me. Then I noticed Cleo prancing and running through the B and C teams. She too had gotten loose. Must be jail break time. We put her on a make shift leash until we could figure out what exactly was going on. She had popped a link in her chain. I gave her an impromptu walk while Rob fixed the chain. All was back to normal in about ten minutes. Nothing too exciting since then. Not yet anyhow.

We just let Tucson and Carstenz into the big cabin, and we're getting ready for bed. I'll be getting up at 3 a.m. to hand out little fat chunks to the dogs. It's a good trade for getting up and feeding the dogs dry in the morning. Rob will be up by 7 a.m. to do that.

So before I'm off to bed, I want to wish everyone a healthy and happy 2009!! (I'm sure I can trust my brother to leave an inspiring and witty quote in the comment section here)


p.s. i promise pictures are coming. i'm awaiting my picture transfer cord thingy in the mail. i forgot to pack it when i came back from Colorado :)