Happy Birthday Babies!!

                                                             My babies turned 1 today

                                                           Boy was that ever a fast year

Eleanor, or Elly as we call her, is a sweet little girl.  A naughty sweet little girl. 
Elly is tiny, her head is tiny, her feet are tiny... she seems so small and delicate, yet she isn't much smaller than Penny.  I call her my small dog in a big dogs body... even her growl when playing are a small dog sound. 
Sadly the puppies first season of training with a sled was a very short one but what we did do showed incredible leader potential in our little one here.   She was born a natural leader so it seems.
A tough little dog with a great future ahead of her.... I cannot wait to get on the skis with this one.

Rigby, my boy... and is he ever a boy.  You would not even think to ask, is it a girl or a boy?  He is a boy in every sense of the word....
Rough and tumble and never stops, is so full of energy... and into everything.
This kid however eats everything that can fit in his mouth which has almost killed the silly boy.  He pooped out an entire wool sock about a month ago.  I honestly didn't think he would make it to his first birthday.
Rigby loves to run.... LOVES to run... he would pull a sled all day if he was allowed.  When we stop for breaks for the other dogs he continues to jump and pull on the line and makes such a fuss until we can get going again... I also cannot wait to get him with the skis, he is my power house.

Penny, Rocky and Hubba Bubba have had incredible patience with the puppies... in fact they would be lost without them now.  Penny is the mother, she watches over them, disciplines when necessary and loves to have a good run around the yard with them.

Rocky loves to boss them around, it makes him feel special.... and Hubba, well Hubba is Elly's boyfriend.



Me?  I too would be lost without my furry kids... I cannot even begin to imagine what it would be like without them anymore.

Missing You

Someone once told me that I should never look back.

The past is done, forget it and move on .............. move on, yes.............. forget it, no.

Today there is so much that I miss.
Could it be because it is my first Friday off this year with no plans?
Perhaps it is that Spring smell that fills me when I step outside with my fur kids.
Most likely it is having just spent an incredible week with my baby girl out east and missed seeing my baby boy who was so close, yet so far from me.

I miss my kids.

For over 21 years they were my life.
Everything I did was with them in mind.
They consumed me.
I loved every minute of it.

I knew that they were going to leave... it was my job to prepare them and theirs to spread their wings.

However there was no warning for the empty feeling that would be left after they had moved on.  Although that emptiness is filling with pride for all that I see them accomplishing on their own.

I still miss them.

I also miss my other baby lately... my business that I sold (almost 2 years ago now!!)
I miss my work family.
Staff and regulars, they made up a huge part of my life, and I miss them all.

 I have a new 'work' family where I am still finding my footing and place... I love this job.  I am comfortable there and couldn't think of a better place to be.

Yet I still miss my Mugs family.

I shake this melancholic feeling and look ahead.
The next couple of years are filled with adventure and excitement that I find it hard to believe it is MY life I am looking at. 
How lucky am I?

I still miss you all.

And it's okay to look behind... at the memories.... and it's okay to miss you.

For I do... every day.

I Found Winter

There is a bond between myself and my dogs.  They know that I will keep them safe, feed them, love them and in return they give themselves to me and will go anywhere for me.

Standing on the runners behind their incredible power in one of the most beautiful places in the world I felt like the luckiest girl in the world. 

The only sounds being the soft clink of the clips against the collars and the padding of 20 dog paws in the soft snow.  

Making our way across the lake the sun crept above the mountain tops stirring to life millions of ice crystals that lay around us on the vast expanse of snow that stretched out before me.

The trust between myself and dog was apparent as we approached a fork on the trail we had never been on causing Hubba Bubba to look back at me making sure he was going in the right direction before pulling the team where he had been told, which made my chest swell like a proud parent.

The dogs were in turn rewarded with trails in the forest which were full of twists and turns as we clambered over a series of drifts that at times seemed 8 feet high.  Thrilling and exhilarating are words to describe our adventure and I think the dogs would agree as even they need something different than flat perfectly groomed trails to run.  Keeps us all wanting to come back for more.

Beautiful trails, fresh air, hanging with my five fur covered kids who love me unconditionally, having the company of my hubby and a friend who shares the same passion made for a day that I can only hope heaven will be like.

It only took 2.5 hours to get there

and I wish that we had gone every weekend.

Next year it will be one of my training spots... one of many. 

My only wish.... that it wasn't spring with the end of the season quickly approaching.

Full Speed Ahead

My horoscope today reads;

 

Today's New Moon falls in your sign, marking a turning point in your year. You are already preparing to make important changes, but have probably experienced a few false starts or setbacks in recent months. Although it might require another month or so to see significant progress, the intentions you set now confirm that the ball is rolling in the right direction. Be ready to start the next part of your journey because there's no going back.

 

I do not read my 'scopes regularly, nor do I take any advice from them.  It is more of a glance over and most of the time chuckle at what is foretold of my upcoming day. 

 

However I had to share today's astrological forecast.

 

My life is full of roads and pathways. 

Some are straight and paved with clear direction.

Most are cracked pavement, gravel or dirt ruts that seem to twist and turn with many sharp bends and forks with no signs telling me which way I should go.

 

I've recently taken a road that was void of travel. A path that not many have crossed, one that I will have to walk along with few who understand what obstacles I will encounter.

 

Scared?

A little.

 

I've started running and it isn't as easy as I thought it would be without dogs tied to my waist.

My diet has changed for the better and although I still cheat, it isn't big cheats and I don't feel bad when I've eaten that little piece of chocolate.

I have lost 15 pounds now.  So it is all worth it.

 

'Be ready to start the next part of your journey because there's no going back.'

 

This sounds ominous... yet excites me too.

 

I'm turning that corner ahead, and will do so with my head held high.... look out here I come!

 

Write it Out

Advice given to me as I cannot sleep.

Write it out.

You know... I honestly have not done any serious writing in what feels like forever now.
Lack of sleep has a tremendous influence over my brain.

Words trapped in my mind.

Filling my head, wanting – no - needing to come out and onto paper.   Trouble is every time I try to write anything down nothing flows.
It comes out as gibberish, making no sense.
I just cannot get it out of m head, which is filling up by the second.

Soon, one day soon, it is going to explode into a jumble of nonsense making me look as though I have joined the ranks of the lunatics.

Iwannasaysomethingbutjustcannotfindthewaytodoitanythingreallyatallwilldorightaboutnow!!!

And what are words anyway?

Letters that are strewn out in a random order that at times make no sense at all.  Seriously how does one know why the knight known as the Colonel  of the Gnomes would want to reign this colony?   Especially when it rains at night in the city of Nome while the corn kernels get covered in fungi.

Where’d that come from???

See what I mean about needing to get words out on paper?

Or in print?
Or just out of my head.

There is some serious shit floating around in there.

Moonlight Run

As per usual I had fallen asleep on the couch while watching tv.
However once the show ended I was wide awake (why do I do that?) and decided to check the computer one last time before bed.

On facebook it was being reported that the northern lights were out dancing in the sky against the full moon.

It was 13 degrees here during the day and the snow we received only days earlier was melting into a big mushy mess.  Although it was still hovering around the 5 degree mark at 10:00pm it felt cooler with the breeze.
Without another thought we grabbed the dogs and headed to the race site which luckily for us is only a 5 minute drive down the road.

In the past when I've done moonlight runs the silence is what envelopes me in a feeling of warm happiness.
On this night it was different.
Spring is pushing it's way into our world and this was pretty evident with sight, sound and even smell.

Bare ground was exposed in more than one spot with tufts of dry brown grasses poking its way out of the hard snow.  The sound of the runners on the hardened and mushy snow was loud enough to cause my Hubba Bubba to look around questioning me.  Even Rocky turned his head a few times when the drag mat ran over ice or dirt. 
We were not the only creatures stirring by midnight when we finished our run.  For the new spring smell of skunk was very strong in the air.  More than a few times Penny's ears perked up as she caught sight of something ahead, and I'm sure she was aware of the smaller night creatures stretching their legs from a winters nap.

 We had a scare with Penny as it turned out to be a little too warm for her and she became a little unstable on her feet.  Hooking down and rubbing her tummy with snow and letting them all have a good long rest seemed to help along with a few more long rests on our way back to the truck.
Not only did this keep the dogs cool but it stretched out our last run of the season.
At about the 3/4 mark I thought I should let Hubby finish up on the runners... I suppose it was only fair....however this allowed me to take a few pictures.

I think the lights are headlights from the cars along the hiway that runs parallel to this part of the track.  This was one of our stops for poor Penny when I was still on the runners.

We did run through a cold pocket of air creating a mist with the dogs breathing.

Hubby's turn on the runners.

Winter, uh Spring.. no Winter! Whatever...fun!

It has been an unusual year,with a lack of winter and quite a few spring like days. (And I really hate spring!!) 

As the months passed us that should have been filled with cold brisk days and snow covered trails, but which were not, I began to feel a sense of acceptance.

It was as though I had given in, or given up.  I felt like a little kid pouting in my room with an it is not fair attitude.... it just was not!

Mother Nature just was not on my side so it seemed.  However I believe she felt a little sorry for me as she decided to grace me with just a teeny tiny bit of my favorite season.

Winter finally arrived... the week of March 4

LOTS of snow fell

The most we've had all year

Which meant...

Playing in the snow with my fur kids!!

So far we have had 3 late evening runs.

But sadly

it is leaving just about as quickly as it came

I will not complain though...... because it has been whispered to me that next year is going to be one with tons of snow and plenty of opportunities to play!!!

It will,,,, you will see.