Snow in the forecast

Rain wants to know if she can come play, too! She's so silly...she somehow manages to wrap her chain around her pole, even though she does have a swivel. Silly girl! She sure is a happy girl though, and very pretty! Odin's there in the background, romping around. Our dogs here sure do have a good time...though that makes sense, as we like to play with them, love on them and just have fun. Rain and her siblings are still too young for any kind of running in team, but they do like to frolic around the yard and generally just cause a ruckus.

Snow is in the forecast!! There is a snow advisory through tomorrow night and it has already started coming down. About 3 inches are predicted for tonight, with another 6 inches tomorrow. Yeehaw!! Now THAT'S what we're talkin' bout! ;o) I sure do hope Mother Nature treats us kindly and gives us a good dumping. Only 1 more week of school and then we'll be off for 2 glorious weeks of running dogs, spending time with family and just plain having fun. I can't WAIT! Manny, Devlyn and I plan on taking out 2 sled teams the day after Christmas. Conor, who is still a bit small for training dogs with us, will be at his daycare, which means that the rest of us will have several hours to run dogs. Devlyn sometimes runs with me, standing on the runners in front of me while we run a 6 dog team. He enjoys doing this, and so do I; because the way his face lights up with that huge smile after we've completed a run is just awesome! He's looking forward to racing in the 2 dog classes in the Jr Mushers' races this season....he's been scheming and planning which 2 dogs he will race with this year. He's trying to talk us into letting him run Jericho and Sunshine...but he'll really have to convince his Dad on that one. Those 2 dogs are S-T-R-O-N-G and FAST! We'll see what happens.

The A team did a hard 30 mile run today up the Firebreak. Feather and Zen were in lead, followed by Chevy and China in swing. Rocket and Inu manned the wheel position again today. Those two just know what they are doing, for sure. Manny again had to drag the tie off rope behind the atv...it's definitely time to get a new quick release/tie off. The dogs threaded their way down through the trees, crossed the ponds easily. The overflow that was between the ponds has a nice layer of snow over it, making it easy going. The dogs ran a steady 10-12mph up the hills. At one point, he had to stop and clean everyone's feet, as the fresh snow created ice balls on the dogs' feet. He'd stopped the dogs at the base of a steep hill; but, the dogs got anxious and began pull the atv, in gear, up the hill! Sheesh! We definitely don't need to do any more muscle building, that's for sure. Manny said that he hit the 15 mile mark or so and didn't see a turn around. He went a little farther until they started up another steep incline. He decided to just turn the team around at that point, as they were really working hard and he didn't want to push them any more than he was already. That meant that he had to turn the whole 14 dog string around on the trail. Good thing the dogs are good about it! They came in, doing that hilly run in just about 3 hours. That is awesome for dogs who are running with over 800 pounds. The dogs came in a bit tired; but that's definitely to be expected. Manny said that no one had been up there where he took the team, so they were running through some fresh snow.

Well, that's about it for now. Let's keep our fingers crossed that we get all the snow (or more) that the weathermen are saying we're supposed to. Wouldn't that be a Great Christmas present?!? Happy Holidays to all of you! Give your loved-ones (both 2 legged and 4 legged) hugs and kisses! Enjoy!