Spring is in the air (for a few days anyway)

 

Spring is springing and so I have been shorn!  According to Lane my  under pelt had turned to felt…..so we did the big chop.  I feel young, I feel lively, I feel marvellous, darling.  No one would guess I’m ten from looking at me now.  I bet I dropped two pounds. As I spring into the season my new mantra is look like  a pup,  feel like a pup.

My bell is out on the counter;  this can only mean one thing.  We are headed out on a hike.  Yahoo!  Cross country skiing was in our  plan for the day but now there is a race at Priest Lake and I doubt they really want dogs – they say dogs are fine out there but I could get killed by a mis”poked” ski pole.   Think I’ll just take my licks on the good old Judd Wiebe and try to get these legs in shape. Now that I’m shaved I need to make sure my lines, my form, my physique are well developed to show off my fine musculature.  A hike is good for that.  I’ve actually come through the winter in good shape; I’m quite pleased.  We did enough cross country and hundreds of miles of walking with Don – so I didn’t pack on any extra “poids”…French, you know for WEIGHT. The photo is back when I needed your opinion as to whether or not my ass was looking a tad rotund…..looking much much better now folks.

A hike in the fresh air will be good for all of us.  Today is the first day in months when I’ve been outside at 8 a.m. and the sun felt warm. It felt great. BUT, big caveat here…..warm sun at 8 means mud by 10 which means glass torture box by noon or so when we get home.  It ALMOST takes the pleasure out of my upcoming hike. It’s the indignity of the procedure that really sticks in my craw. She needs to chillax and get over worries about a little dirt on the carpet.

The Iditarod is still in  full swing and owner is on the computer every day.  She spends a lot of time figuring out who scratched…..for god’s sake we’re dogs we all scratch.  I thought it was a race to see who could get to Nome the fastest not who has an itch.  What do I know.  They don’t actually tell me things they simply talk as if I know what’s going on.  Dogs have to work twice as hard to be in the know, you know.  It is so damned exhausting.

One Iditaroder had her sled slide off an ice bridge and land upside down in a river with all her survival gear inside.  Luckily someone came by and swept the trail – see, another person who doesn’t like dirt on their rugs.  Another guy (we’ll call him guy number one) who has delayed his chemotherapy until after the race had a bad accident.  A second competitor came along with his dogs and found guy number one lying unconscious on the trail after having smashed his head into a tree.   He has no memory of what happened….no kidding.  A young woman got knocked out of the race when the runners on her sled snapped off – probably in that spot where there are  miles with no snow.  However, the others battle onwards and upwards to see who will make it first to Nome.  Owner is rooting for Aliy Zirkle and she could still finish in the top ten. (Outside magazine has an article about her dogs “It’s the Dog in You” March 2010 if you want to understand the physiology that makes sled dogs the ultimate marathoners)

Just because you really don’t want to actually accomplish anything today, I’m including a link to her blog which is great.   SPKenneldoglog@blogspot.com

http://spkenneldoglog.blogspot.com/

If for nothing else, click on  this link and filter through a few entries. There is a great video called That’s a Big Moose – the moose is having a munch on someone’s front lawn in Anchorage.  SPKennel is the kennel that owner and curly haired like because they met up with Aliy’s dad in the bar line at the musher’s banquet and then ran into him again at Aliy’s talk.  He was a nice guy, Aliy and Alan were really funny and highly informative and suddenly my owners were hooked on following their Iditarod races.  These are great bloggers because their videos are embedded so the only way I can get them to you is to lead you to their link.  Great photos, great information if any of you have become interested in what those crazy people are doing up near the Arctic!

  Some photos were lying around and I thought you’d find it fun to see what the locals got up to with their dog races after all the “real” competitors took off. Who has ever seen so many dog bridesmaids? The males just had to suffer the indignity of a neckerchief.  How do I get one of those dresses? The bride won second prize by the way for the fastest team in the Sprints.  However, she won Best Costume! Got to admire these folks.  It is cold but hell you can’t stay indoors all winter; haven’t you heard of Cabin Fever?

 

As for me. I’m heading out on my walk with my bell.  Then I’m going to get in the glass torture box and then have a snooze on my  new bed. Now that Shannon has completely reorganised our condo and painted and matched walls to furniture to dog collars (red and gold walls, gold furniture, red dog collar…..I think it was my dog collar that got her started on this colour scheme in the first place.)  My new dog bed is perfect for my old bones…oh wait, look like a pup, feel like a pup, look like a pup…..   Finally I’m getting money spent on me to show the respect I deserve.

Word to the wise.  Huge karaoke party planned for this condo next week. Luckily only real singers are coming – the Telluride Choral Society is letting their hair down next Friday.  The microphones are being dusted off, equipment checks are being run, music lists are being created and food is being cooked.  Should be a great photo op! I saw some ear plugs from the recent airplane travels…..think I’ll test them out just in case a squawker got into the crowd by  mistake…oh wait, owner is in the crowd!  The renters upstairs are in for a huge surprise! See ya later.

Tom Cat needs a home.

 

 Yes, it is still me…I’m just bald because owner hates my fur during mud season.

 

 Tom desperately needs a home…..if you know anyone who might be interested….direct them to The Telluride Vet Clinic ….970-728-4461.

 

 

You know I was once on death row.  I had about ten days left and then I was going to be euthanised.  Luckily David brought me home to live with Boris the Bouvier and my current family. This makes me compassionate  about this cat’s plight.  What goes around comes around  so  I am hoping to help find him a home, foster or permanent….Tom is not picky at this point.

Tom Cat desperately needs someone to love. This cat has had a rough go of it and picked up a few battle scars. One of these is Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV).  This sounds bad but with love and care many cats live a long and happy life.  Tom needs the love and care part….. as much as they love him he can’t stay at the vet clinic forever if you get my drift! Even though the local humane society does everything they  can to help animals, they cannot take in this pet because of its FIV.  Good old Tom (and he’s not that old…maybe five?) will need to find a home where he can live indoors  and be the only cat vying for your attention.  He’s a male, orange and white, and tired of living in a cage. 

Good old Tom has had a rough life.  When he arrived he received the dubious nickname  Scabbs.   I’d hate to be known as Scabbs myself but hey….he’s a cat and they are a little weird in my dog opinion.   Anyway, Tom is looking much better these days and feeling much better too! There is nothing this cat likes better than to be brushed….and he’s very affectionate (as we all are when we suddenly receive some loving care, regular food, have a warm place to sleep).

He has received been vaccinated against Rabies and been dewormed.  The vet can’t keep him forever though so euthanasia is beginning to stare old Tom in the face.  If you feel that you could foster or take on the permanent care of Tom Cat please call the Telluride Vet  Clinic at 970-728-4461.  They will be more than happy to share all of their “Tom” info with you when you call. Perhaps Tom is who you’ve been waiting for to keep your feet warm at the end of your bed on these chilly winter nights.  I hope so. See ya later.

Gotta have passion!

 

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Just  received a few notes from owner about The 2010 Iditarod which is running now in  Anchorage, Alaska.   It was cold up there but they had a fabulous time.  Apparently Alaskans are warm. I rested down at Wash-n-Watch dogs and it was just the ticket.  I had been hoping for a taste of spring and a professional  haircut. I got it. 

 

OK…let’s blow this popstand boys and girls…I’m outta here!

 

 

Uh….hang on a sec…..got a little carried away.

 

There were Americans, Canadians, two Scotsmen, a Belgian, and a Jamaican all at the starting line for The 2010 Iditarod in Anchorage, Alaska.  A Jamaican you say….yes, and he got a huge cheer from the crowd.  He apparently came to Alaska to work as a guide, fell in love with the dogs he  met during his time in the State, and then was taken under the wing of Lance Mackey (whom owner has known about for all of three days now!) Lance is the much-loved several-time winner of The Iditarod, who even entered the competition in 2001 with a diagnosis of throat cancer.  He competed with a feeding tube connected until he had to withdraw to rest. He’s still here and still competing. You can see why he is much loved.

  So a guy from Jamaica, mon…..is now out in the wilds of Alaska with his dogs, his sled, his requisite snow shoes and axe and hopefully is enjoying Alaska’s wild winter paradise. Some are calling his attempt…Cooler Runnings.   Here’s a teensy video commemorating Newton Marshall (St. Anne, Jamaica) and his rookie start at The Last Great Race on Earth – marathon of marathons.

 

A Scotsman’s dogs need tartan coats, lassie!

 

Ceremonial starts call for a kilt and a flag!

 

It will help to  think of The Iditarod this way…..1,049 miles (1,688 km.)  standing on the back of a light sled (basically Houston, TX to Telluride, CO STANDING UP) and mushing along with one leg often pumping as you go, perhaps ski poling along as well, or doing both together   to help the 12  or more dogs pull their heavy load.  The weather can be a blinding whiteout from blowing snow or heavily falling snow, or a ground blizzard obliterating your trail, a –40F (-40C) or worse temperature, OR you can have (as competitors will this year) a long stretch of about ten miles where there is NO SNOW…but you still have to get those dogs and sleds and your  gear over this terrain?  How fun is that to consider?!  Want to sign up next year? AND don’t forget, you pay to do this. You pay a lot because not only do you have an entry fee you also have gear to buy, vet bills to pay,  and the list goes on.  This is a love affair between man and dog and what they can accomplish together with strong hearts, strong wills, and a love of nature at its most wild. 

Tourists attend this event from all over the world.  Owner and curly haired met some Australians who were bundled up against the cold and having the time of their life. I’d love to go and see my fellow canines at the top of their game…but dogs aren’t allowed close to the starting area. I guess those huskies might eat us or something.  Of course, as always, people blithely ignored that rule even when told by cops to get their dogs the heck out of the area. Rules are for other people, what can I say?

 

Can you spot the Canadians in the crowd?

(Hey,  that isn’t curly haired….who is that guy?)

Dog poop has definitely been discussed in this blog before, the necessity of cleaning it up, how hilarious it is that humans are the ones picking it up and so on.  I have to wade into the dog poop issue again. Wade is a bad choice of word.  Can you imagine upwards of 1,200 dogs in one location, all mushing down the same stretch of road over the course of several hours?  Owner and curly haired didn’t see one tiny bit of dog poop anywhere. They couldn’t believe it and had to ask owner’s cousin, Sue (musher)….hey, do these dogs take a pill or something to prevent nature from taking place.  No, she replied…they are professional racers and they know the rules. OK….the rules….but everybody breaks a rule sometime, right?  Not these guys.  No one was even on duty to shovel up “you know what”.  The only shovellers were continually shoveling snow on to the course downtown to make sure each  team had enough snow to mush the distance!  Incroyable!  Increyible!  Un-fricking-believable…..amazing dogs and their retention skills!!!

Here’s a little video of the teams gearing up before their start time.  They are calmly leashing up the dogs and the dogs are “uncalmly” telling everyone to hurry the heck up….they want to run.  These dogs know what’s coming and they are wildly excited to get going.  Once they take off – they shut right up. 

 

Let’s freak them out with our synchronised move! How do you like us now?

 

Knock yourselves out. Think I’m worried?

 After attending a great chat given by  Aliy Zirkle and her husband, Alan Moore, who both compete in The Iditarod, owner and curly-haired are  ardently following their respective races.  Nothing like knowing how these folks melt their water (high tech)  and then drink it through some toilet tubing out of a small  bucket…..makes you want to be an  Iditaroder right? These people thrive on being out on their own in the wild where they are dependent upon themselves and the relationship they earned with their dogs. Owner will never know what it is like to lie watching the Northern Lights while in a sleeping bag at –20F (-28C)  or colder in the clothes she has worn for eight or ten or twelve days.  Curly-haired will never curl up on some straw and have only the warmth of his dogs around him…..I would do it but I’m only one dog and he’s a regular-sized human.  He might not make it through the night; however, he will never ask me to make that ultimate sacrifice.

Now this is a HAT to beat all HATS!

The runner-up but he didn’t know owner was holding a contest!

And so off I go to dream about snow, and blizzards, and –40, and pulling my owners to victory.  Adulation….dreams of adulation.  My sleep should be pleasant. WhenI awake owner and curly haired will be home.

 

The Crowd

Running Dogs

 

If you’ve got it….flaunt it (tail that is)

 

If I look crazed and bark, can we go?

 

Oh come on….a little head humping gets me in the mood.

 

Up close and personal with a couple of sleds

And they’re off!

Become a fan of Telluride Dog Blog on Facebook.  More photos and more updates….as the mood moves me! Casey here saying See ya later.

Feel like going dog sledding now….call Chantal Wood at Wintermoon Dog Sledding 970-729-0058 –before the snow is all gone! Tell her you heard about her through Telluride Dog Blog. She knows me!

Oh! the places you’ll go!

 

 

As all you readers know, owner and curly haired left me again to go roam the wild wild world.  This time they flew off to Anchorage, Alaska.  Why, you ask?  Well it is The Iditarod, the last great race  on earth. Of course, you are aware that my “big guys”  know little  more than that  a bunch of dogs are tied to a sled and they run through the Alaskan wilderness for over one thousand miles….yes one thousand, all the way to Nome.

They didn’t buy tickets to the big banquet.  They weren’t sure they’d arrive in time.  The Musher’s Banquet is a huge affair with about two thousand people in attendance.  The previous winner, Lance Mackey was there and everyone was in awe.  Owner and curly haired showed up at the banquet to ask if there were any spare tickets left and the woman at the door must have liked what she saw (curly haired that is) because she said, “here take these and have fun.”  Suddenly we were inside.   Suddenly we were sitting at the Exxon Table honouring Lance Mackey…how the hell did that happen.  NO, Lance wasn’t sitting with them but hey…..the table was honouring a really famous guy.  Cool. The real point of the dinner besides being a venue for old mushers to get together with other old mushers, is to draw the number of your “starting postion” in The Last Big Race on Earth.

My people are weenies so they didn’t make it to the end of the banquet.  Apparently they were tired after being up nearly 20 hours and having had three plane rides and a time change all in one day.  Really……they are with people who are going to drive sleds for ten, eleven, fifteen days in a row on little food and even less sleep  through snow, and wind, and blizzards, and even a ten mile stretch with no SNOW ….and they complain about being tired.  Pathetic when you think about it, isn’t it? 

Today is actually the big day and then tomorrow is the other big day. How can this be?  Well the big ceremonial start is apparently an hour from now.  There will be a lot of hoopla in downtown Anchorage, which reminds owner of North Bay, Ontario. The sleds will take off at two minute intervals.  If necessary they will cart in some snow to cover the streets to make it all work out well. Luckily it snowed a bit last night, not much, but every centimetre helps right.  I mean, hey….seventy-one teams, over a thousand dogs…this is not a minute amount of essential  snow we are talking about.  Tomorrow thousands of people will  head to Willow, about seventy miles from here, to see the second official start of the race.    After that the mushers will zoom along on their own, looking after their dogs, feeding them, putting them in their little coats to help keep them warm when necessary, and  slipping booties on their paws. Keep in mind this will be the  paws of up to  sixteen dogs (times four of course) to protect them from roots, rocks, and anything that could give them little nicks and scrapes on their most valuable asset. This is not a race of the weary or the weak.

It isn’t so much the event that is the point of travelling, it is the learning more about the event and the people you meet while there.  Yesterday was spent with owner and curly haired attending two different talks about The Iditarod.  Of course they weren’t particularly publicised events so it was only by good fortune that they found out about them.

 

Dr. Stu Nelson, head vet, for the Iditarod and vet volunteer for nine years prior to receiving an actual paid position (as well as running his own practice), gave a great overview of the race.  He spent a lot of time explaining how the race is all about the dogs (as well it should be…finally we get some respect) and the tremendous amount of care and concern that every dog is in healthy shape and enjoying him/herself on the run.  I know we are only dogs but I try to be politically correct since that is the society we live in now.  You can call me, Casey, an IT and it doesn’t bother me a bit but hey…..him/herself is a small concession to make for the rest of you out there.

He was great and owner enjoyed his chat but what she enjoyed most was meeting a special volunteer called Robin. She is from Brisbane, Australia. Of course my owners are partial to Australians as evidenced by the Aussie’s working with curly-haired in Texas.  Anyway, back to Robin. She sold her house and worldly possessions to live a life of adventure.  Why The Iditarod you ask?  Well, a) her beloved dog died and she felt at loose ends and needed to soothe her soul so she thought….well, I need dogs. (she didn’t say this but we think we get the gist….well, she did say about the losing her dog and feeling sad.)  b) She had attended a dog race in Canmore, Alberta fourteen years ago and told  herself that some day she would go to The Iditarod.  Well not only did she manage to get here this year she has already been volunteering for two months. She participated in the straw drop which was an amazing feat of planning.  She has done a bit of everything and loved every second of it – as evidenced by her incredible smile.  We don’t have people hopping on ships to discover new worlds any more but I have the feeling that if we did Robin would have hopped on one, no questions asked, just to see what was out there.  Owner likes these women a lot! (SHE IS NOT ONE but she likes them a lot!)

Sorry guys, no more news.  Owner has cut off the computer chat with me.  She says she has to run to the big start of the race.  She’ll fill me in more with later on.  See ya later.

 

    

Backyard adventure!

 

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I cannot tell a lie.  I’m not wildly adventurous.  Lying on my  mat with a bone, as I told you, can be a huge highlight of my day.  Hiking….sure, love it….but don’t want to meet a bear or a mountain lion or whatever the heck lives out there in the wilderness.  Want to hike up, hike down, have a few sips of water,  maybe a snack, come home and sleep. You don’t see  me out carousing at parties acting all wild and crazy; I don’t have the Planet dropping by to see how I enjoyed paragliding off Ajax Peak.  Nope, I’m a patio girl now that I’m aged.

This is my way of telling you that I knew owner was up to no good when she begged me to accompany her to our back yard.  You need yaktrax just to step through the doorway.  Apollo Ohno could train on our back cement slab…well, it’s tiny but it is sure as heck icy! Actually, it is also melting on top so you can skate and drink at the same time.  Really a phenomenal concept when you think about it.

 

Owner dragged me outside to see a bush that hovers by our door year in and year out.  Why the thing hasn’t died I have no idea.  We don’t do anything to help it grow; I pee on it to try and kill it whenever I can, Don the foster dog ate some of it…but it continues to hang in there.   Now it has coated itself in armour.  Surely to God it should have frozen itself to death this winter. Here’s hoping it  won’t be out there annoying me when summer rolls around.

 

 

Does this look like any bush you have ever seen before?  Every year it goes through this metamorphosis.  This is the cocoon stage but it never turns into a butterfly.

It looks as though a dog got frozen under there. I can see his ears. This photograph is bound to give me nightmares.

Anyway, we went out, took some photos and then realised we were locked outside.  Do you know how deep the snow is in untrampled areas around this town.  DEEP is how deep.  Now we were locked out with owner in her long underwear and Uggs and I in my trusty fur coat. Luckily for us some nice guys had been by recently to remove all the snow from our roof, all the deadly killer eight-foot icicles, so we didn’t have to worry about being annihilated by a roof avalanche. It could happen.  Now, however,  we had to figure out how to get through that snow.  First I did my beaver imitation, flattening my tail  to give extra purchase to scramble on top of the hard-crusted areas.  Let me tell you I was not impressed at all with owner’s smarts.

 

 

Next I sank several few times.  Slithered along the top, used the foot prints of the ice remover boys…but their legs are way longer than mine so that didn’t help much. Got my skunk on with my tail.

Struggled to breathe and then finally made it to the equivalent of a bejewelled desert island, oasis, Taj Mahal  of the back yard, whatever you want to call it….I made it there.  Peed just to let owner know I was pissed off.  Rested.  Ignored her calls to “come” and “let’s go inside.”  No owner, you got us into this mess so we are going at my damn pace.

 

Now we had to traverse the long corridor between the neighbour’s and our building.  Let me just say it was difficult for a dog with eight inch legs!

Plus, have you had a good look at  my coat.  Good Lord I need a grooming.  All this wet snow, spring like weather, cold weather, deep fluffy  snow, mud, puddles,   more snow, hiking through over- my-head drifts is wreaking havoc with my  pelt.  Luckily I’m headed to Wash-n-Watch Dogs during The Iditarod holiday.  I look like hell. My feet look like Dr. Seuss creations!

Finally, we got back to civilisation. I refuse to head out back with her again until it is really spring time.  I’ll pay her back for this jaunt and have my way with some mud, perhaps roll on  a dead mouse……gee that sounds heavenly.  See ya later.