Good Manners with Ice Cream

Medio, Frita, Yuki and Swix share the ice cream without a tussle.

HOT!

The sun is not shining on this thermometer. It's at about 103 / 104 outside. The dogs are being very quiet. Lillen, in the photo, has seen both extremes of temps in her lifetime.

Today we cleaned and filled pools several times, changed water more than several times, added more tarps, sprayed down the pens, sprayed down the dogs, washed the dog dishes, and we just had our special hot day treat, ice cream. And there is no relief in sight for tomorrow.

Most of the dogs are digging further into dens or standing in the pools. Some of the dogs willinglyly came into the air conditioning. It is a scorcher.

Summer Progresses

We're back in a heat cycle again... high 80's and, for now ,not so humid, but that is coming back too. We've had very little rain so the pens are very dusty. Much of my morning is spent watering... changing buckets, changing pools, watering the dusty pens and if there is time, watering the sunflowers. The dogs continue to take their free runs on their schedules (and they know their schedules). We haven't seen the bears again but the dogs are a bit edgy on our morning walks, sniffing with great interest. Trail camera only films deer so far. The apples are ripe and the ground is trampled under the trees.

The dogs with health problems are hanging in there, but Sulatna's tumor has regrown, inoperable this time; Liller's recovery from tumor removal is good so far. Chena continues to hang in there on her meds and this is a photo of her enjoying her favorite place and activity. We have four dogs in at night enjoying the air conditioning.

Pups doing well out East

Heard from John Rogers in New York yesterday that Liller's and Skinny's pups

(Isabella and Emmett, now known as Quest and Yukon) led him to two first place finishes last year.

This photo credit is to Sled Dog Central... looks like Bella and Emmett in the lead (siblings of Herman, Ruthie, Buffy, Matilda , Rosie, Kiddo, Quattro, Evalina, Josie, Medio of SPK).

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Everyone had fun

Even the good dog tried the tubing... he was enthusiastic at first, but the startup was too slow for him, so he ditched it and watched from shore. He is wonderful with all of the children and supervises their water activities very closely. For some reason he doesn't like them in the hot tub

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Family Summer Place

We had a whirlwind of activity for the past week as all of my children and grandchildren were here. It coincided with a visit to town /fundraiser for cancer with some former Green Bay Packers (Gilbert Brown and LeRoy Butler, in photo) so we added that into the busy schedule of lots of swimming, kayaking, water skiing, go go go, all ages/ all summer activities. And somehow we managed to keep all of the dogs happy too! A bit lonesome getting back to normal here.

The field ferns/ bushes are browning up a bit, growth slowing down, berries ripening, deer around the apple trees, haven't seen anymore of the bears but the berries will bring them back in. It has been hot but bearable (no pun intended). The dogs with cancer are holding their own, but the prognosis is not good. Liller's tumor was removed; Sulatna has a regrowth of her tumor and a new tumor but for now they are happy and going on runs.

Amaroq, In Memoriam, July 3, 2007

Amaroq was born on October 20, 1994. His mother, Scuba, had run the Iditarod with Susan Butcher. She arrived here, bred, on October 19th and the next day her pups were born, our first team: Amaroq, Geronimo, Nocturne, Stardust, Jasmine, Rosie, T. Merton and T. Rusty Bear. Amaroq is the lone survivor of that great team.

Amaroq was always a great dog. He ran lead and was highly competitive with his brother, Geronimo. One day we hooked up two teams and took off without Amaroq. He leaped two fences (8 feet, 10 feet), circled out ahead of us , surprising and intercepting us from the woods, far out on the trail.

He was also the great dog who broke four of my teeth one day as I was rehooking his harness having tried to get a red squirrel on our takeoff out the road. We called him Circus Dog because he could leap so high. He did lead a team down Highway 101 one night, dumping his driver, the most frightening of his episodes. A police man caught them. When I arrived he said he had never been happier to see someone . He didn't know what he would do with a dog team and a sled.

Sweet and tough and always dominant, he has succumbed to nerve deterioration in his spine. We've done extras to keep him comfortable in his aging but this is not reparable. I will miss him every day.

Godspeed, Amaroq! Thank you for many years of enjoying you.