Sunday, July 24, 2011

Babies Not Babies Anymore...

Four Stardancer dogs are celebrating their 3rd birthday today.  Capella, Cassiopiea, Midnight's Son and Orion were born of Kyle Belleque's Lucky and Stardancer Torus.  Two of the litter remain with Kyle in Dillingham. 

Of my four, Capella, Cassie and Orion have all shown promise as leaders.  Since Midnight has only recently returned to the kennel I don't know where he may be interested in running, but within a few months I'll have a good chance to check him out on the trail.  All four are very healthy, strong dogs in excellent condition and weight, bounding into the prime of their lives and their careers as sled dogs.

On the topic of birthday's, our handler Ted recently celebrated a birthday of his own.  I haven't heard how he chose to celebrate the event, but I suspect whatever his choice it was likely done in true sourdough fashion, just because he's that kind of guy. 

As I'm at work, there has been little to blog about.  Today there appears to be a shift in the weather than may signal the maturing summer season.  Often late July and the month of August is a rainy, cool season in the Interior.  Yesterday I noted signs of high winds aloft in the form of long, whispy clouds racing across the sky.  Today dawned overcast, and since about 5 o'clock this morning it has been raining steadily.  The long range weather forecast is calling for cloudy or mostly cloudy skies and showers or thunderstorms for at least the next week. 

While "wet and cool" equates to a sloppy kennel, even with plenty of wood shavings laid in, it also means cooler weather in which it is safe to run dogs.  Perhaps when I return home from work I'll be able to start some early season work with the fuzz-butts.

Mush with P.R.I.D.E. is preparing for a long overdue election of directors and I've decided to run for reelection.  During my term the focus was on updating the Mush with PRIDE Sled Dog Care Guidelines to reflect the best available current information.  Should I be reelected, I'd like to focus now on improving communications with the organization, including reestablishment of a regularly published newsletter. 

Meanwhile, I still have a bit more than a full week to go before this tour of duty becomes history.  Unless somtehing remarkable happens I doubt you'll hear from me until I'm home again.  No worries, sometimes no news is good news, and in this case no news means I'm just plugging away at the job, earning money to pay for the kibble.

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