Life is too short to not do what you love!
My love, passion is still life here running dogs and enjoying the peace and serenity of the forest!
Yes even after 40+ years of Mushing, the enjoyment of the lifestyle here still intrigues me!
The daily interaction with my canine family is a reason for living.
Why after all these years, does the passion for Mushing still stures my soul?
For me Mushing is not static. It is constantly changing and with these changes comes the challenges to adapt.
I look on myself as a student.
Always learning new ways of doing things to the betterment of my canine family.
This type of lifestyle is not for everybody!
It is all consuming, it is 24/7, 365 days a year.
People ask: "Is it lonely living by yourself in the isolation of the forest without daily contact with humans?". My answer is that I am never alone, I have my dogs, the creatures of the forest and the inner peace of living with Nature. 
Every day is a new discovery.
Mushing has changed a lot over the last 40 years and so has my development in interrelating to the dogs and the sport.
The question is, is mushing an Art or a Science or a combination of both?
Over the next few weeks, I would like to deal with this question through my own experiences and perspective.
I invite you to join me on this journey.
​Until next week........

Although the official first day of Spring was March 20th, Winter type conditions here continue!
Yes. we had a few nice warmer days earlier in the week. However, Friday snow, sleet and freezing rain along with strong winds continued through the day into the evening. Saturday, nice and sunny with strong winds and cold temperatures.
The forecast is for cold temperatures through mid week and then warming up.
The accumulated snow from the Winter is slowly melting.
The dogs are enjoying their time off and basking in the Sun.
The daily schedule of feeding, cleaning and spending quality time with each dog is a welcomed pleasure.
For both the dogs and me!
This week, I took some time to look back at videos taken at the beginning of the season (each run here is videoed) and it is always interesting to see the progress of the dogs throughout the season.
Above is a video of the first run in October and below of one of the final runs of the season.
Great memories!
​Until next week.......
 

Although, I enjoy Winter & the snow, it is time for Spring to make its appearance! 
It has been a Winter of record amounts of snow, frigid temperatures and beautiful trails.
A great Winter for running the dogs, training new Leaders and fine tuning both the "A" & "B" Teams.
The video above is of the "B" Team on its latest run.
It, is also time for some R&R for both the dogs and me.
The dogs had a total to date, of over 350 miles on them (over 700 on me).
So, the dogs have gotten a break and I have enjoyed following the Iditarod Race across Alaska.
Last Tuesday Yoda left here with her new family from UpState Maine to enjoy new adventures.
Yoda is a very good young Leader, but will be better suited to be in a family situation and running with smaller teams.
This week, we had some nice Spring temperatures that significantly reduced the amount of accumulated snow.
However, today Winter returned with more snow and white out conditions caused by the high winds.
The weather here today seems to change every hour.
Below are some photos taken this morning.
​Until next week......... 

This week started off with another dump of snow (25-30 cm) and then nights with temperatures in -30's celsius. But, during the days the temperature is warming up to just a little below 0 and in the + range in the sun.
We got out this week for two days running both the"A" Team & the "B" Team.
I am so pleased with the performance and continued enthusiasm of all the dogs.
Even with the extreem temperatures and the running, we have been able to keep them with a good running weight.
This week Lance got to run again at Lead and you can see (in the above video) he is getting more comfortable at that position. He and Kira make a good pair at Lead and will only improve next season.
On Saturday, Manon had a her first ever run by herself with the dogs in a 4 dog team.
 She did very good and had a nice fast run on a beautiful trail.
This week, all the handlers left here to continue their adventures in Canada.
They did a great job here with the dogs and dealing with the abundance of snow this winter.
​Their help was gratefully appreciated!
Until next week......