Cold comes back

Brrr! It's been cold the last few days, between -20F and -40F, so we didn't get the dogs out. However, the dogs seem to be getting over the nasty bug that they had, which is great! The temps are coming back up again to right around zero. These things mean that Manny will get right back into training tomorrow. He's going to run the Two Rivers 200, aka Chatanika Challenge. As such, he's figured out his game plan for the race, so it's time to train the dogs to execute it. He'll be doing lots of 50-100 mile runs with the dogs over the next month, prepping them and getting them ready to go. We're waiting to hear back from Bill Cotter, as he offered us a nice dog after the Cantwell 200. Can't wait to see him and plug this new guy into the team. He's a 3 yr old male, right out of the same lines as Ahab. Luke ran the Cantwell with Bill and finished, so the dog already has quality race miles and is ready to go with us. Right on! Bill has some very nice dogs whose trot just eats up the miles....and they have fantastic coats. Definitely something we want for the Yukon Quest.

Hilti seems to be recovering very well. His paw is healing and we're optimistic that his large pad will stay intact. We've already decided that he will be a house dog (what's one more, right?!?), which he is adjusting to quite nicely. Last night, after changing his bandage, I laid down with him on the living room floor. Hilti was just hilarious, rolling around, flopping on his back like a fish. Then, he'd roll over into me, lift his muzzle up to my face and raise a front leg, asking me to give him belly rubs. Of course, I'd oblige and then he'd sit up, wagging his tail...just to do it all over again. He had me laughing and giggling at his goofy grin and shining eyes. Very cool. He still prefers his kennel, but I'm slowly making him spend more time in the living room to get used to his new housemates.

I'm off to check on the Tusty. Judy Currier, a neighbor was leading for quite a bit of the race, but it looks like she, Lance and Bill Steyer are duking it out for the top spots. It's an exciting race to the finish! :o) In other news, the Quest has sent out trail updates...while we did get some good snow cover, there are LOTS of sections of big overflow out to Chena Hotsprings, then from there to Central...where ever there's a creek or water, there's overflow and they aren't little puddles either. Maybe it's not such a bad thing to have to bow out this go around, eh? Oh, and there are bare rocks, with pretty much bare ground on Eagle Summit. Bleh! I hope something comes through before the race, or Eagle is going to be a real bad ride this year.

-Were you a Rogue today?