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November 30, 2005 (Wow)

Mick and Maple led the France team and flew!  They make it look so easy and natural.  I like this time of year because the dogs seem to have most of their extra summer energy burned off and are starting to really focus.

November 29, 2005 (slacker)

Wow have I been slacking on the website, my apologies. The entry for the Iditarod is on the way to Alaska and I am on my way to Alaska on Friday to speak at the rookie meeting.  Since I will be gone for four days, Brandon, Tasha, and I have been putting some good intense training runs on the 28 race dogs.  Our snow melted so we are still using ATV's.  It is somewhat disappointing because the dogs are ready to run farther but the frozen ground is too hard on them without having the snow cushion.  So we have been ramping up the distance a little slower than I would like for this time of year.  The dogs are all still running great.

Tasha spoiled me and took me out for a Pizza the other night.  We were actually able to sit over dinner with just the two of us.  Believe it or not, most of the conversation was not even dog related.

November 24, 2005 (Turkey Day)

Another holiday with my Canine family.  Tasha, Michele, and Brandon all went South to spend the holiday with their human families.  I should have.  I miss my family and could have used a break from the routines.

My best holiday ever with my dogs was New Year's Eve, 2004.  I went for a training run in the evening expecting to be back before midnight.  Well, I got slowed down by some heavy snowfall and ended up taking a trail that was longer than I thought.  I stopped the team at midnight and went up to my leaders Buz and Opal and gave them both a kiss on the nose in celebration of the New Year.  When I got home all of the Guides and Tasha were in bed sleeping sound.  Tasha was not even mad in the morning.  I have a great wife!  (pretty nice dogs too!)

November 23, 2005

I filled out the entry form for the Iditarod today and it will go in the mail with the $1,850 entry fee on Monday.  The deadline is to have it postmarked by December 1st.  We waited until the last minute because unless you fly up to Alaska and hand in your entry form on the first day of sign-ups, there is little-to-no advantage in sending in the entry any sooner.

November 22, 2005 (Glowing Luke)

What a beautiful day!  We took three teams out today for a run, met up at a camping spot, fed and bedded the dogs down, relaxed for a few hours, and then ran back home.  I had Zip and Luke in lead today while Brandon ran Quill and Sisu.  Zip was so-so.  I do not think he ran much lead before we owned him.  Little things throw him off but he seems to be getting better.  Luke was perfect while running (he chewed a harness during the rest).  I swear that Luke knows that I left him off of the original France group.  He seems to be giving 100% in an effort to take on the international challenge with the rest of the crew.  During the campout today, we had one of those rare moments where the snow was lightly coming down while the sun was shining.  The snowflakes kind of looked like little glowing fire flies coming out of the sky.  It only lasted a few minutes but was magic.

The most entertaining discussion during the campout came from Steve.  He asked, "How fast do you think we would get arrested downstate if we parked 38 dogs alongside a 'road' and built a fire?"  My answer, "Too Fast!"

November 21, 2005

We have 28 dogs still trying out for Iditarod.  Thunder was the last to get moved over to the yearling side to be used a training leader.  He has a catch in his gate and has been an inconsistent puller.  We ran a littler farther today and the 28 dogs today were very good.  Bert, Bonfire, Sebastion, Shad, and Vinnie #2 looked a little weak at times but all dogs looked strong the last few miles.  We have a minor flu bug going through the kennel that seems to disrupt the dogs digestion for a couple of days.  I am looking forward to tomorrow because we are going on another campout with the dogs.  Snow is forecasted with cooler temps.

November 20, 2005 (Mr. V)

For anyone who has not read any of Lance Armstrong's books, I highly recommend that you do.  Lance an amazing athlete, a dedicated professional and he understands the value of a team.  And when I say team, today I am referring to a Human team.  One that is almost as important as my Canine team in getting me across the finish line in Nome.  One priceless member of the Nature's Kennel team is Tim Vandermeulen.  Not only is Tim a good dogman but he can fix anything!  This weekend he "helped" rewire the dog trailer (see picture), run the permanent power line to the bunkhouse, run dogs, and play a game of poker.

November 19, 2005 (Hellboy again)

I just can't get enough of this guy.  He was in the house again today and is just a character.  His athleticism is improving but wearing an Iditarod hat is probably as close as he will get to the race.

November 16, 2005 (warm and toasty)

Today we waited until dark to run to avoid bothering any deer hunters.  In fact, as I write this, Tasha, Brandon, Michele, and Steve are all out with teams.  It is 31 degrees and snowing lightly with about 2 inches of snow on the ground from this morning.  Do I feel guilty sitting in a nice warm house while they are out shivering and getting splashed with snow and muck?  Yeah, kind of.

As I watched Tasha's team leave the kennel tonight, I was in awe.  I thought we had a good team last year but this years team has consistently been running training runs 2-4 mph faster than last years.  Last year I had about 10-12 dogs that I could count on and this year we have about 22 dogs.  We have worked to improve our nutrition and training methods as well.  It seems to have all worked so far but there are a lot of miles left before Nome.

November 15, 2005 (a pack of 16 deer)

Opening day of rifle season for deer has always baffled me.  Personally, I do not hunt and do not have anything against those that do hunt.  In fact, since all of the natural predators of deer have been eliminated for the most part, I would much rather see hunting instead of thinning the herd with my vehicle.  My bewilderment starts with the fact that one needs to wear orange to go into the woods or risk being shot.  How does a hunter mistake a human, or worse yet, a 16 dog team pulling a sled or ATV for a deer?  The topper for me is that our gun safety-nazi society is OK with this.  Our society puts a citizen through the ringer to get a permit to buy a handgun but will allow half drunk Johnny from Big City, USA to go out in the woods with a high powered rifle and no hunting experience.  Don't get me wrong, I AM NOT FOR MORE GUN RULES AND RESTRICTIONS.  My solution, hold hunters responsible for their bullets.  Get rid of ATV riding time restrictions, get rid of a hunting season dress code, and allow non-hunters to still use the woods. If a hunter knows that they will be subject to a public stoning if they are careless with their bullets, I guarantee that they will pay attention to where their bullet is going.  I think the careful hunters that follow the code of common sense would really appreciate the improved hunting ethic as well.  Words for the day, "Personal Responsibility".

Those that have gotten to know me soon realize that I have some opinions.  I will express a few from time to time with the goal of stimulating thought not offending.

November 14, 2005 (going round in circles)

On our campout today, the dogs were wonderful.  Brandon and I though left a lot to be desired.  We had charted out a route beforehand that would keep us away from the logging operations that are surrounding us this year.  On the first turn of the run, I was resetting the mileage on my GPS, was not paying attention and went the wrong way.  Brandon followed and instead of turning the teams around we rode it out.  It worked out at first because we were able to sneak through the main logging area by zigzagging around the equipment.  The first problem came about 10 miles out when Brandon's leaders, Arlo and Nat, took a right turn instead of going straight.  I was just out of site, Brandon did not know the route, and the intersection was somewhat leaf covered so it was difficult to see my tracks.  Meanwhile, I was waiting about a mile up the trail.  After a little bit, I ran the team around a one mile loop and started heading back to find him.  Meanwhile, Brandon figured out that he was headed in the wrong direction but saw on the GPS that he could make about a five mile loop and get headed back in the correct direction.  Meanwhile, I got to the intersection where Brandon turned, followed his tracks and got on his loop.  Meanwhile, Brandon got up to where I had turned and ran the one mile loop.  Finally, we met each other at the intersection of the right trail and the one mile loop.  I swear there was circus music playing.  The rest of the campout was, for the most part, uneventful.

November 13, 2005 (too fast with 2 two year olds)

The two two year olds, Clark and Gimli, led the Global team today and they added another 0.2 mph onto the kennel speed record.  We were not always sure where we were going but we got there fast.  I am so proud of our group of 2 year olds this year.  Even though only these two remain on the team going to France (I moved Nat over to Brandon's squad), they are all doing fantastic.  Our main human from last year, Andrew, did a fantastic job developing this group into fine sled dogs.  Thanks again Andrew!  Also a huge thanks to Nikki Silvestrini for raising these two boys in the early months of their lives.  You did a superb job of mentally building two confident and well socialized young men.

The picture above is Clark and he has a permagrin.  When he was an older pup I thought he was a little simple because he always had a dazed look on his face.  But then last year as a yearling he was the top performer in the Iditarod yearling team.  He remained 100% healthy for the entire race, which is better than I can say for Andrew and myself.  With his lack of aggression, great attitude, pedigree, and March showing he earned a spot in our breeding program this year to sire one litter.  He produced 8 wonderful pups with Tasha Canine, "The Veggie Patch".  In fact, little "Art"ichoke has the same silly little dazed look as his dad.  Another rising superstar.

November 12, 2005

A huge thank you to Lee and Claudia Nowak for visiting our kennel and for a wonderful dinner!  I hope you found Claudia Canine as sensitive, wonderful, and sweet as we find you to be!

November 11, 2005 (!)

Brandon and I moved the 29 adult males around the kennel today so they are now in their designated teams.  I have 17 dogs  in the team (I added Luke to the France team) I will be training and 12 dogs for Brandon to train.  To see who is in which team, scroll down to the November 5th entry.

On today's run I went with youth in the front end.  Bert and Yooper are both 3 year olds and last year as two year olds neither one were very reliable leaders.  Now, they are awesome!  Today was by far the best run of the season!  Their pace was almost a mile-an-hour faster than any of our training runs ever!  If you can't tell, I am kind of excited!  They were both soooooo proud of themselves after the run. With Yooper you can tell because he stands up tall and holds the line tight and smiles.  It is a big smile too.  Bert will constantly keep moving his front feet and get this look on his face that says, "I did good, I did good, I did good, I did good!"  What is your happy face?

November 10, 2005

A day with some frustration.  I hate when people forget that the world revolves around me and my dogs.  Overall it was another rest day for the dogs.  Brandon and I are prepping for some camp outs with the dogs this weekend.

November 9, 2005 (Bonfire)

Tops and Bonfire led the team on an easy run this morning.  Tops is usually a perfect command leader and is a dog that I can always count on.  Today though Bonfire seemed to run the show up front.  At this point in training, the only fault I can find with Bonfire is his metabolism.  I have been pouring the food to him and he is still too skinny for distance racing.  He has about another month to gain weight and at that point he may be neutered.  Neutering seems to really help dogs keep weight.

November 8, 2005 (Old Man Trapper)

Today was a day off of running for all of the dogs.  Tasha went to get #2500 pounds of beef and the rest of us worked together leveling the kennel.  Everyone did a wonderful job and I think the dogs really enjoyed the constant relocating and new neighbors.  Old Man Trapper, the very first lead dog I trained, got to run around and claim every house as his.  He is a really funny guy.  If he only had two legs, I think he would spend his days on a park bench harassing all the kids as they go by on their skateboards and bikes.  He would speak in an English accent and enjoy a game of cribbage or occasionally checkers with the right company.  He would speak of "the war" and how bloody easy the children have it today.  Trapper taught me a lot, not about "the war" or cribbage, but about how quick a dog can learn when they trust you.

November 7, 2005 (Shad)

(Shad is in the middle of the team and picture looking right at the camera.)

Tasha ran the team again today.  When she returned, she looked at her leader Shad and said, "He is really good!"  As usual, Tasha is right.

Shad came from a litter of seven girls and two boys.  When they were yearlings all seven girls were not able to pull for more than 35 miles.  We ended up keeping just one of the girls, Opal, and she ended up finishing both Iditarods for me.  (Maybe I should have kept all seven.)  Shad and his brother Quill were OK but they were yearlings at the same time as the FAB 5 (Mickey, Mouse, Maple, Vinnie #1, and Goose).  The FAB 5 all have incredible natural athleticism and Shad looked like a lineman next to running backs.  He always seemed to give everything he had and hung in there.  Up until he was about 4 years old, he never wanted to run lead.  I think part of the problem was that I did not have a clue how to train leaders at that time.  Now, he is one of the best leaders that I have.  Within the dog circle, I think Shad is one of the most highly respected dogs too.  He never seems to be challenged and just seems to carry an aura of superiority with him.  He has finished every race that he has ever run, including two Iditarods and I imagine that he can add La Grande Odyssée and another Iditarod to the list by the end of the season.  Viva la Shad!

November 6, 2005 (my kind of weather)

In high school, one of my football coaches helped teach me a valuable lesson.  No matter what the weather was like, Coach Jenson would walk out of the clubhouse in shorts and a light jacket, looking up into the clouds and exclaim, "This is our kind of weather!".

Winter sent us a teaser today.  The ground is still far from being frozen but mother nature sent us about 6" of cement.  Heavy, heavy wet snow mixed with rain.  The dogs were loving it!  The humans on the other hand were cold but happy.  I still do not think there are clothes made that can keep a human comfortable in weather like we had today.  If anybody out there disagrees with me, send me your product and I will be happy to test it in the absolute worst extremes.  The good thing about weather like today is that it thickens the skin.  After spending a day staring at a team of dog butts while sitting soaked to the bone in 33 degree weather, the rest of life feels pretty comfortable.

Quote of the day comes from Brandon after running the yearlings in our kind of weather, "You know Ed, it is kind of weird trying to fasten a snap when you can see your hand moving but you can't feel it."

November 5, 2005 (Judgment day)

The Boss called from the Snowmobile Expo in Detroit today and informed me that I need to select her France team.  So here goes:

The "Globe trotters"(their age); Vinnie #1(6), Maple(6), Mick(6), Mouse(6), Shad(6), Vinnie #2(5), Starman(3), Bert(3), Big Ben(3), Yooper(3), Razzle(3), Zip(3), Boom(3), Nat(2), Gimli(2), and Clark(2).  I picked these guys based on their athletic ability and the fact that they will not cause any problems for Tasha and Shelly during the race.  Over the next few months I may revise this list as we continue to train farther and start doing back to back to back runs.  Tasha is going to have a blast with this team!!!  It is by far the best team we have ever been able to put together for a race!!!

The remaining dogs(reason not chosen); Sebastion(too cranky), Sisu(too immature), Goose(does not like to lope), Tops(does not like to lope), Quill(does not like to lope), Skip(psychotic), Lips(unproven), Hairy(not fully developed), Max(can't trust him yet), Luke(straight front end), Arlo(does not have any dog friends), Thunder(slack tug at times), and Bonfire(only likes me), will remain in training for the Iditarod.  Some of these guys will be sold (I hate that part) because I would like to be down to 24 dogs in training soon.  So if one of these guys catches your eye you are welcome to call and make an offer.  I may say no.  Or you can keep checking the dogs for sale page on our website and when I am for sure ready to sell them, they will be on there.

I ran a little earlier this morning so I could make it to my Grandma's burial on time.  It was a wonderful run.  I really love the part when the sun is just starting to come up and you can kind of see without the aid of a light.  I think the dogs like that part of the day as well.  They seem to pick up the pace and smile a little bigger.  Maybe all 17 of us especially liked it this morning because it proved that we will be around this beautiful place for another day to enjoy each others company.  Make sure you enjoy today.  Remember life is supposed to be fun.

November 4, 2005 (I see Blue, he looks glorious)

Well today it was time to see how tough the dogs really are.  If I am going to run the Iditarod I need to make these dogs tough.  We have been training between 5-10 miles for the most part but too many dogs have been hanging in there.  So we went on our first camping trip today.  I had Parc and Llub in lead and they were great!  We went 50 miles, a four hour rest, and then another 50 miles.  If you let the dogs rest longer than 4 hours, you are being too easy on them.  We want them tough.  I was able to reroute the trail so we were able to run about 5 miles of asphalt.  This will help toughen their feet up.  If their feet can't handle asphalt they are not going to be able to make it through the Gorge.  Another thing we changed is we stopped petting the dogs.  Giving them attention and showing affection of any sort just makes them soft.  And whatever you do, never, ever, brush your dogs.  That belongs in the show ring.  The good news today, one of the 29 dogs was able to finish the entire 100 miles.  Now that's a sled dog.  I'm going to have a great team.

The above paragraph is a "waffle house" to mushers.  If a fellow musher is telling you how to train your dogs and it sounds like the paragraph above, remind them that the movie "Old School" is a comedy.

I had a fantastic run today.  The first few miles were stop and go because I was working with Mr. Lips in lead.  He looked unsure, so every so often I would stop and give him praise or work with him standing out.  At first it really wound the rest of the team up, but it did not take long for them to figure out that we would go on my command not theirs.  The reward for my effort of the first few miles?  Two confident happy leaders for the last 10 miles.  You should have seen the proud look Mr. Lips had when we got back to the kennel.  I felt like screaming, "Blue, you're my boy!".

November 3, 2005 (pull it out)

“The man who complains about the way the ball bounces is likely the one who dropped it.” (Lou Holtz)

The team ran horrible today.  There was no focus on pulling, speed, or, at times, even moving forward.  I am going to blame it on the coach because I know my mind was elsewhere.  I still held the dogs responsible for their own actions and the problems were corrected by the end of the run, but I better get my act together by tomorrow morning.

Bruce, thanks for the wisdom today.

November 2, 2005 (Grandma)

My Grandma passed away yesterday.  It has been expected for some time and due to her condition has come as a blessing.  Death is one thing that I have never handled well, not that anyone does, but it is exceptionally difficult for me.  My way of dealing with the loss involved with death is to be away from people.  Our society does the opposite and puts everyone together to grieve as a group.  I do not like that. 

Times like this are a reminder to me that I better be doing what I love to do every day!  Three years ago I walked away from the securities and limits of the "real world" to play with my dogs.  At times I have questioned the wisdom of that decision.  Today I know there was no other alternative for personal happiness.

November 1, 2005 (the women)

Our main women in the kennel; Butter, Raven, Pie, Tasha Canine, and Rainy are all good enough to be training for the Iditarod.  In fact, Butter has led Claudia Nowak (my Iditarider, aka "the smile on my sled") and myself through Anchorage during both of my Iditarods.  I have always struggled though with females in my team because of their hormonal cycles.  This year I have enough males to choose from so I placed all of our adult females on one team and leased them out.  I have done most of the training runs with them this fall and they are a dream to run!  Dogs are just like people, females tend to learn faster and are better disciplined.  While males are somewhat better athletes, can be stubborn and, some would stay, "stupid" at times.  Well, stupidity and the Iditarod go hand-in-hand, that is why my team will be all males this year.

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