Ed and Tasha Stielstra
info@natureskennel.com
906-748-0513
PO Box 5 McMillan Mi 49853
Summer ADDRESS: 9630 Stikine Street
Juneau, AK
99801
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Ed and Tasha Stielstra
info@natureskennel.com
906-748-0513
PO Box 5 McMillan Mi 49853
Summer ADDRESS: 9630 Stikine Street
Juneau, AK
99801
|
|
Who We Are--Meet Ed and Tasha and our 2008 Summer Glacier Guides, Meghan and Cindy Idita-diary--what's going on with Nature's Kennel?? Mutt Club--New for 2007-2008!! CHECK OUT THE NEW SHIRT DESIGN!  NK
Gear--Cool
clothing with cool sled dogs!!
Glacier
Photos-Summer 2007
Links--Area lodging, sled dog equipment, and more! |
**Please click here for Journal 5, the most
recent updates!** The Journal of Endless UP Adventures  July 18th, 2004 The puppies continue to get a lot of visitors this summer. We had some friends who came on a tour group this winter bring their kids up to meet the puppies this week. This litter certainly is certainly a social little group! We will be getting rid of three of them though. We are trading Meg with the Rossi's for one of their male puppies who was born just about the same time as our group. And, we have decided to sell Sage and Poppy. There is nothing wrong with them, (except that Sage nibbles your ears when held!), Ed would just like to purchase few more male puppies. They are nice big females, and it was a hard decision to decide on who to sell. We are keeping all the boys, and the females Clove and Cayenne. They are all starting to get a little rambunctious as they drag ropes, banana peels, and orange rinds across the driveway. We don't like to leave many toys around as they seem to devour those and eat plastic, but they sure do love bananas! I have my  digital camera back
so I'll keep trying to take some cute puppy photos, but they don't sit
still very well for the camera! Most of the time their heads looks
distorted because they wiggle just at the last minute. We have a new dog-mobile to drive around. Our old car died, so we purchased a new/used Subaru Legacy wagon this past week. It will give Momo and Rock more space to lay down as we travel to the school programs. Rock will love having so many windows to look out! We'll have to take a few road trips this fall just to try it out. We are looking forward to fall training, as Ed hopes to start on August 1st. There is a large crew of yearlings who will need some serious guidance and all the time they can get in order to learn the basics of dog sledding! Wow, what a wild group they are. We'll also have a few new handlers to train as we have Andrew returning, and two new people arriving in September, Chip and Marenda. Hopefully they are all calmer than the yearlings! July 6th, 2004 Well, there were about 15 patriotic dogs who were glad that the fireworks got rained out around the area as they aren't too keen on loud booming noises! Mouse, Mickey, and Trapper can usually be found shivering in the back of their barrels around the 4th of July, or any severe thunderstorm. We have tried to bring dogs like that indoors during heavy storms, but that seems to stress them out even more. It makes you wonder if wild animals get scared as well. The dogs are also very pleased with the frigid summer temperatures! We have had highs in the mid-50's and lows in the mid-40's, The dogs are loving it, but I don't imagine the tourists are!   The
chilly weather has also prompted us to think about our fall
schedule. I have added several key dates to the journal index page so be sure to check
out what is happening around the kennel. We have had an endless
stream of visitors this summer, so the dog have received lots of
attention, and the puppies have been exhausted by the end of the
day. You can see that Cayenne and Clove don't mind being cuddled
too much! The puppies have been begging for a kid to just move
into their pen so they have someone to play with and chew on all day!
Actually, their wish partially came true, as we have had Nikki, our
Beargrease Handler Extradionairre from Duluth with us for this week to
give puppies attention and to spoil the big dogs. She raised the
litter of Raven's puppies last summer, so she has been able to see how
her little cuties grew into big crazies! Raven still remembers
her, and spent last night sleeping in her bed! This morning Raven
didn't want to go back out to be a sled dog anymore...I guess Nikki
will just have to surprise her parents and take her home (ha,
ha!). Ed made his Iditarod plans official and has signed up for the 2005 race. So he has had Iditarod on the brain already. I was hoping that we'd have a little longer break from planning, but he has sure been excited. I've been trying to keep him focused on house projects, but it doesn't always work out that way! I saw him looking over his notes from last year already this week...and it's only July! I am planning to at least get up for the start this year, and then probably stick around to help with dropped dogs, and even head over to Kodiak Island to do a few school programs. Ed's uncle is the principal over there, and has offered to get some presentations lined up for me. I guess I have Alaska on the brain as well! Actually, we have both had to get a little more realistic with critical things at hand, as we have been shopping for a new (used) car. Our mechanic said ours has reached the critical rusting stage, and should be replaced before we find it in pieces along the road. So, what a yucky job...car hunting. If anyone knows of a good used vehicle, let us know. No, I do NOT mean a 4-legged vehicle, it must have WHEELS!! (Although the 4-legged vehicles do get better gas mileage!) June 25th, 2004  I decided that I should keep updating, just in case something interesting happens...  Here's Ed's father's
day picture with Curry and Tarragon (who he re-named Rot and Wiler,
because he thinks they look like Rotwiler puppies, I told him it's bad
luck to re-name puppies and that Rot is no name for a puppy, but you
know how determined he can be...) The puppies are very interested
in everything they can get their teeth on, especially each other, and
our shoes! They are just getting brave enough to follow us down
the trail, but as soon as something scares them, they bolt back to the
house. Yesterday Nature sneezed really loud, and it freaked them
out. What little chickens! The Iditarod entry form went in the mail on Monday, so check for Ed's name some time next week. I talked to Andrew today, our handler from last winter, and he'll be returning again in the fall. He has been working for Mitch Seavey (the 2004 Iditarod winner), and said he has lots of information and stories to share. During the summer, the Seavey's give dry land dog rides from their kennel and Andrew said that between 150 and 300 people come every day for rides! It will be interesting to see what he has to share about the business because me may do something like that in the near future. He talked very highly of the Seavey's and their business. Here is the link to their business, I didn't see any pictures of Andrew, but you never know! http://www.ididaride.com/summer.htm June 10th, 2004 Wow...major happenings at the kennel this past week!! #1 We have a business partner for the 2005 Iditarod!! Ed will be heading north in March again, thanks to a business partnership with AMSS (Applied Management Support Services) of Grand Ledge, Michigan. AMSS president Duane Morelan came up this past winter for a sled dog adventure tour, and became hooked on the sport. He approached us a few months later regarding a business partnership, and we have developed a wonderful working relationship from there. Duane's engineering company will receive press and advertising, and Duane will join our kennel race team for several races as well as the Iditarod. Iditarod sign-up is June 26th, so look for Ed's name on the list!  Duane's
girlfriend, Brenda, is trying persuade us to add a puppy to the
business deal, but we haven't agreed to that yet! #2 Puppies have names!! The growing little beasties in the puppy pen have been officially named...thanks to help from my cousin LeRue and her suggestion of spices, we have...Sage, Clove, Cayenne, Nutmeg (Meg), Poppy, Basil, Dill, Tarragon (Tarr), and Curry. They are still eating like crazy and mama Butter is getting pretty tired of nursing since the puppies have developed some large teeth!! But, boy are they CUTE, and ready for love and attention. So, please be sure to come by this summer to visit with the spice girls (and boys!).      #3 Sneeze found the porcupine!
Ok, this isn't big news, but the picture is sure cute. I let
Sneeze off to play and she took off for quite a while. When she
came home she had a few gifts in her nose from Mr. Porcupine. She
must be a fast learner because she only had 7 quills and historically
the dogs come home with mouth-fulls of quills. However, they
still hurt when pulling them out, so hopefully she won't be porky
hunting again any time soon. May 18th, 2004 I had to check my calendar to see what I have neglected to write about for the past two weeks! I was thinking that since training and racing season was pretty well over, that I would have nothing to write about, I guess I was mistaken! On May 8th we had our first annual Meet Your Mutt Party. Even though many of the Mutt Club members are scattered across the country, we were still lucky  
enough to have a few of them stop in to get to know their mutts.
Mike Varely's daughter, Christine, even got to have their mutt, Hiccup,
join us inside for lunch. And, as usual, Rock thought that any
attention he could get was great!! After
the Mutt Party, I headed to lower Michigan to do a week full of school
programs. I started out near Utica where students in Ms. Witte's
class had been following Ed in the Iditarod. The whole school got
to participate in the dog sled teamwork program, but we got a special
gift from Ms.Witte's class. In fact, Ed is lying on the couch
right now reading the book of poems that the students gave us.
After that I headed to Rockford Christian School and then onto Lakes
Elementary (also in Rockford). Momo was the start for the week,
but by the time the Super Science Saturday class in Lansing came
around, it was time to take the understudy into the classroom as
well. Momo does a great job, but it would be nice to have a
back-up school dog. I have tried several dogs, including Sneeze
and Hiccup, but they just get too nervous inside around a lot of kids.
Ed and I took inventory of the kennel, and thought that Rock may be cut
for the part. I think we guessed correctly! He couldn't get
enough attention during the "vet check" that the students performed on
him. Look how relaxed his feet are and how still he is
lying! Twenty five kids took his heart rate, checked his teeth,
and weighed him, and he didn't complain one bit! In fact, he came
home and told Ed that, "Nome was cool, but kids ROCK!!" I think
he's hired!! Not only did he love the kids, he loved hanging out
at my parents house too as we spent the week with them and used it as a
home base for all our travels. I have been looking for a
stand-by classroom dog as Momo does get tired at the end of the week,
and I think I found the perfect understudy for the part!    Rock loves it, and Momo naps! And the biggest news of the week..... Ed called me on Wednesday, and let me know that I'm a mom again, Butter had 9 puppies!! I guess Ed survived as a midwife as the 5 girls and 4 boys are all doing great and are all very healthy. He even made it to Marquette with them all so the dew claws removed within 3-4 days of birth. Butter is being a very good mother and is quite relaxed around us. Momo knows there are puppies in there and is very curious about it. She even tried to jump in the pen tonight and I just about freaked as I threw her out! That would have been a disaster. I don't think Butter wants any mothering advice right now!   May 2, 2004 The slacking journal author returns!! Eventhough we have not been running dogs too much, it has been pretty busy. Ed has done a couple of "Iditarod Odyssey" programs for friends, family, and Iditarod fans. We put together a great power point program of the trip, so people can see the scenery, villages, and lots of dogs running in snow! Since we've had such a great response from the program, I've put the show on CD for those of you who have not gotten a chance to see it in person. The cost is $5, which includes postage. We took all the dogs with us when we did the program near Higgins Lake, MI, and Rock and Shad thought it was just great to be celebrities and have people love you up! This past week we did the program in Duluth to raise support and awareness for the Twin Ports Skijor Club. Thanks to our friend Chris Hazelton, principal of Harbor City International School, we did the presentation in the Student Center at the school. We didn't take any dog celebrities, but we still had a great time! While in the Twin Ports, we also delivered 5 dogs to the Evavold's. They nearly doubled the size of their kennel and are now owners of some of our favorites: Hedgie, Willow, Ivy, Chris and Dave. I stayed a couple of extra days in Duluth as my own mini-vacation, and so I could stay with my dogs just a little longer!   Today was a pretty
exciting morning for the dogs, as we had 21 3rd graders from Big Bay de
Noc school near Manistique come out for a field trip. Momo went
running to the bus as the kids were getting off and was elated that the
kids came all the way just to see her!! She usually has to go to
schools to see them! Rock was also in a day of glory. He was
certainly the favorite of all the kids as he shook hands and kissed
faces. The class had previously adopted Stone through the Mutt
Club as their classroom dog but since we placed Stone in a
retirement home this spring, they had to settle for seeing Stone's son,
Rock. This is the class that had even made Stone his own blanket
this winter! After their kennel tour, we had a short sled dog lesson,
hooked the kids up to the sled in 6-dog teams, and had a sled
pulling contest. Then Ed hooked up a real dog team, and they came
flying by pulling the 4-wheeler. The best part of the visit, was
that the students wrote a wonderful sled dog story, "Stone Saves the
Day", about Ed, the Iditarod, and the lead dog Stone. And
to top it all off, Ed beats Al in the story!!   April 13th, 2004 Ahh, Florida Sunshine!! Yes, we actually DID take a vacation to warm, sunny, Fort Lauderdale! Sorry I have been behind in my journal entries, but hey, a girl has to have some fun! We decided to take advantage of Andrew a little more by talking him into baby-sitting so we could soak up the sun. Needless to say, we were the two whitest people on the entire Florida coast. You can see Ed worked really hard on his tan while were down there too, by sunbathing in the shade!    We spent a couple of days in Chicago with friends on our way home to extend our vacation just a little, but now it's back home to sled dogs and snow. We could still run a sled on the trails, but we just don't seem to be in the mood for that. Today, since there's still snow on the trails, we'll take the snowmobile out and break down the winter camp. We have been doing some kennel maintenance, yard clean-up, and making plans for next race season. I'd like to take the dogs out west and try some stage racing, and maybe even try to do a race overseas. Ed says that he'd do the Iditarod again if he got a major sponsor, it's just too hard to do it out of our own savings. Besides, he says it's too hard on the body to do it just for fun. But, if money were involved, then it would be a different story! Andrew has also talked about taking a team up, and if he can make enough money this summer, he'd like to take a yearling team up and do the last-great-race himself.  Spring
also brings plans for new puppies which forces us to sell some dogs in
order to make space for new ones. It's
pretty hard because some
of those we are selling are our old-time favorites. Mole went to
a home here in Newberry, and seems to be enjoying her new place on the
bed! It's so nice to have sled dogs that can double as couch dogs
so they can retire in luxury! Stone headed for Wausau, Wisconsin
yesterday to join Chad Esker, a guest who came on a trip this
winter. Chad liked Stone so much, that he even slept with him
outside instead of sleeping in the tent! We have also been lucky
to place several dogs with
families who have purchased dogs in the past. Chris and Ingirid
Evavlod are nearly doubling the size of their kennel by purchasing five
dogs (Ivy, Hedgie, Willow, Chris, and Dave), and
Allie got to join her sister Stegga and brother Tear at Rick and Geri's
house. As far as the new arrivals go, we are hoping that Momo is
expecting, but her due date would be in about 15 days, and she sure
doesn't look very chubby! We are also planning a litter with
Butter (fathered by Maple). Banana is up here visiting Maple as
well. Tim and Shelly VanderMeulen from Traverse City own Nana
(and most recently Bronto) and
we've agreed to a joint litter; they will raise the puppies in exchange
for keeping one or two of the females and then will return the rest of
the litter to us. Their kids are very excited at the prospect of Nana
having puppies and have been told all their friends that Nana was going
to have puppies, long before she was even pregnant! I guess spring gets
everyone excited!Oh, and for any of you in the Michigan area, pick up a free copy of the April issue of Michigan Sports and Fitness magazine, available at most outdoor stores, to see a great article on your favorite sled dog team! It never hurts to email the editors of magazines like this to thank them for including dog sledding articles in their publications! March 31, 2004 The weary travelers have returned home! In a record 4 days, Andrew and Ed covered over 3, 500 miles from Anchorage to McMillan. I wasn't quite expecting them to make it here that fast, so I had to quick get the dog houses re-strawed and and clean house! Ed is still on his Iditarod sleep schedule, sleeping a few hours at a time, and then staying wide awake for a few hours, only to be ready to nap again. The dogs all look great and were very happy to see their houses and spend some time in the sunshine instead of in a dog box on the truck. Actually, we had Badger running around the other day and he only wanted to hop into the boxes on the truck! Ed's leg is getting better by the day. He doesn't walk with a limp anymore, and the swelling is nearly gone. I can tell it is still very sore, but at least he can drag himself around the dog yard to do the chores! We will be having an "Iditarod Odyssey" program on April 24th at the Ralph A. MacMullen Center in Higgins Lake so Ed can share all of his stories with all of you! We will have all the Iditarod dogs there, as well as have lunch and a program by Ed in the afternoon. The cost is $17/person and includes lunch, the program, and a great raffle for cool dog stuff. You are also welcome to stay overnight at the center, rooms are $37.25/person which includes breakfast on Sunday. You can give me the room and lunch reservation at the same time, and we'll get you on the fan list! More information on the center is at http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,1607,7-153-10365-71716--,00.html See you there!! March 25, 2004 Ok Ed, I believe it is time for you to get HOME! I think it's his turn to feed the dogs and scoop the poop now, I'm tired of it! I had a school program at Holy Family Elementary in Tawas yesterday, and realized after I got home, that I STILL had to do all the chores. Thanks to Gregg (Al's handler and our neighbor) for feeding the dogs so I could escape, if you call escaping to school a break! Thank goodness it was bright and sunny this morning so I could actually enjoy being outside and running the puppies. They are so full of energy and have no idea what they are doing, but they sure do love to RUN!! We go about 2.5 miles, and that's just about their maximum distance, especially since my thermometer read 62 degrees this morning at 11am. I could have run a dog sled with a t-shirt on! I run two puppies in each six dog team so that they can continue to learn from the adults, so I have to do 7 laps in order to get all the puppies in. Momo and Trapper were pretty tired of leading the teams by the last lap! This weekend is the last overnight trip of the season, so I spent today cooking all the lasagna, cookies, brownies and banana bread for the guests. We are supposed to get a little rain tonight, but we still have about 4 feet of snow to loose, so I'm sure we'll still have some pretty good trails for the guests. I have mixed feelings about the end of the season. It sure is nice to have the time to train puppies with the sleds instead of feeling pressured to do long training runs, but I do admit that after being in lower Michigan, I think I am ready to see some green grass! The Michigan Crew smile at the finish line (Ed is in the black coat in the center) March 23, 2004 Yes, I did finally get some Nome News. In fact, the dogs and Ed are all back in Anchorage now packing up to head home. The truck needed some minor work done today, so they will most likely be leaving on Wednesday morning. I expect them back in Michigan early next week. Ed hasn't talked too much about the end of the race. I think he was just so happy to be finished, that he's not trying to catch up on some news from home. He is more interested in talking about what I am up to here rather than share news from up there. All the dogs are looking good and ready to back in the kennel too I'm sure. I've been looking at planning an "Iditarod Tales" event for late April. This will most likely be in the upper lower peninsula at the RAM Center near Higgins Lake. Right now, we are tentatively looking at April 24th, with a lunch or dinner and then a talk about the race and experience. This event will be open to the public, friends, guests, family, etc. I will have a posting on the website, as well as send out several email invitations, so keep checking for more information. March 20th, 2004  ED IS IN NOME!!! I
was expecting a call from Ed in the middle of the night, but Nome must
have a shortage of telephones (or maybe a shortage of outgoing
lines!). Anyway, the webiste says he's in, so I'm assuming Andrew
is taking care of him now! If he calls today, I'll let everyone
know. I'll be on the trail with a group tonight, but I'll try to
get any news I hear posted. March 19th, 2004 He's heading to NOME!! Sorry about my neglect with the updates, but I had a tour group here the past couple of days and I was out on the trail. The news from Ed is that the dogs are feeling better, he's feeling better, and Nome is the next stop. He and Al hung out together in White Mountain last night, I think they were both happy to talk to each other. Ed said Al left White Mountain about 1/2 hour ago (1:30 EST) and he'll be leaving in an hour 3:00 EST. He said the run is taking between 8 and 9 hours, so I expect him to call around midnight. He won't make up enough time to catch Al along the trail, but he'll be close behind all the way. He still has nine dogs who he thought were all in good shape. I could tell from his voice that he is defiantly getting excited. I'll try to get another update soon, but I do have another group arriving this evening, so no promises. I only have this weekend's group and then one next weekend, and that's it for the season. The group that just left consisted of two fathers and two sons from France (but living temporarily near Detroit). It was one of the most unique groups we've had. Both fathers spoke English very well, but the boys struggled. So, now we have some French speaking dogs! March 16th, 2004 Talked to Ed just after he got in to Unalakleet. The dogs did well the first half of the 90 mile run, but he said the second half was pretty slow. Shad had a slight shoulder limp, but he though he was able to get him rested and massaged out of it. Ed thinks the first half of his upcoming trip to Shaktoolik is pretty hilly, but after that it will be flat. It sounds like the next couple hundred miles will be pretty tough for him, but I told him I have the plane reservations for Ft. Lauderdale, and it seemed to brighten him up some! He said the swelling from his knee seems to have moved down into his foot, so now that looks pretty funny. Sounds like he'll need to soak it in some warm ocean water! Thankfully the next series of checkpoing are pretty close together, so if he can just make it from point to point, I think he'll be in Nome sometime on Friday afternoon. Here's the link to the Nome webcam http://www.nomenuggetinn.com/webcam.php so you can catch a glimpse of the leaders coming in sometime tonight, and then we can all wait for Ed to get there too! I've also found some good articles on the Alaska Daily News website, http://www.adn.com/iditarod/news/. Here's a couple of pictures from the homefront of puppy training. They all went 1 mile today, and we are hoping for 2 tomorrow. They are becoming quite the little stud-muffins.  Stone teaches Harry the
tricks of the trade.  Mr. Lips says, "I'm cool!".March 15, late evening Just got off the phone with Ed. He's leaving Kaltag shortly and heading 90 miles to Unalakleet. He wanted to let me know that this upcoming run will be about 20 hours, as he's planning to stop at a cabin about 50 miles out to sleep at a cabin. So, we can all take a break from watching the computer now! Quill blew out his bicep, a very weird shoulder injury, and unfortunately had to be dropped. Ed was pretty disappointed at that since Quill had been healthy and pulling hard. He thinks Mouse, Maple, Raven and Opal are fighting the bug now, so he's still going to have to take it easy. There are other teams with the sickness as well, so he certainly is not fighting it alone. He is discouraged in that he thinks he could be about a day ahead of where he is now if he wasn't running with sick dogs. Oh well, at least he's moving forward. Meanwhile on the homefront, we put all the 6 month old puppies in harness today and ran small 6-dog teams with them. It was quite amusing! They all did fantastic, except for Rainy, who more or less looked like an otter instead of a sled dogs. We just pulled her out of the team after several attempts at getting her to stand up, and we'll try again next week! I'll try to get some puppy training pictures loaded soon! March 15th, continued... More news from Ed in Nulato. He just called and said that he'll drop Tops and Butter. They haven't been eating well and are still under the weather. He was somewhat discouraged that this would put him down to 10 dogs, but reassured him that most teams have less than 10 dogs, so it's not all that bad. Since I feel like a distance-racing expert now (with my recent Beargrease experience), I told him that I was relieved when I dropped my sick dogs because then I could focus back on the postivie aspects of the team, instead of worrying about one or two sad dogs. He said that the rest of the group is still doing great, so I think once he gets back on the trail (between 5 and 6 Alaska time), that he'll be surprised at how well he'll be moving along again. I know he's anxious because he said it's really hard to watch teams come and go out of the checkpoint!! March 15, 2004 Ed called about 1 am this morning, and wanted to let everyone know that he is still doing great, but has decided to give the team some extra rest today. He rested the team on the trail between Galena and Nulato, hoping to blow through Nulato and continue on his run/rest schedule. But, he said the team looked pretty tired and that a few of them were beginning to get the "bug" that Al's team has had. He thought some of the team had it earlier in the race when he was resting longer and so they were able to pull out of it, but since he's been pushing them a little harder the past couple of runs, it looks like those that are sick are having trouble getting better. He said Tops had it the worst, and that Butter was extremely exhausted. Maple and Mouse had good attitudes yet and were still eating, Quill, Shad, Goose, Rock, Badger, and Vinnie were all great. He didn't mention Raven and Opal, so I'm assuming they are doing fine as well. He thought he would stay in Nulato 8 hours and head out after a good rest. He said that he's feeling great and has had good rest, so he wasn't concerned about himself at all. He saw Al at the checkpoint when he got there, and said his spirits were getting better eventhough his team was sick as well. I expect he'll be leaving any time as the weather has been pretty warm and he's been trying to do most of his running at night. It's 3:45 am in Alaska, so if he can get on the trail soon, he can beat the heat! March 14, 2004  Charlie, Al's good
friend who is following along the trail via plane, emailed this short
message and photo today:Picture shows Ed going out of Galena this morning looking good and in high spirits. His team is doing well and getting better. He has controlled a few wrist injuries on the dogs. His leg is doing much better. He is hardly limping. It is too warm 35 and sunny so he planned to camp between here and Nulato. After watching Ed's run times on the computer, he sure looks like he is doing great. In fact, he is only 3 hours behind Al! Al will sure be surprised when he sees Ed come tootling down the trail behind him! March 13, 2004, continued As I was typing my sentence about Ed not calling again from the trail (read the end of the entry below), the phone rang and it was him! He was in great spirits and doing fantastic. He said the dogs are moving along great, and he's trying to make up some time and pick up several rookies ahead of him. I hadn't heard of this plan before, but he has set his sights on being the top rookie from the lower 48. Ah ha, I knew he had that competitive side inside him somewhere that little rascal! He mentioned that his front end dogs, Badger, Vinnie, Maple, Mouse, Shad and Quill were just doing awesome. Raven and Butter had a tough run last leg, and Rock had a hard run before that, but they all seem to be doing great now. He bagged Rock for about 5 hours, and after that he was doing fine. I guess he just needed his own personal checkpoint! He's nursing some sore writs on Opal, Butter, Shad, Rock, and Raven, but they are all doing well. He is going to stay in Cripple for his second mandatory rest, an 8 hour layover, and then head out to catch those rookies! He said that he hasn't been staying in the last few checkpoints as he's chosen to camp along the trail and stay on his run/rest schedule instead. His leg is much better. He can't run yet, but he can walk pretty well and is using his ski poles to give the dogs some help. I didn't tell him, but his picture is on the Sports Illustrated website, http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com as he starts the race in Anchorage. How great is that! March 13th, 2004 I wrote a lengthy journal entry yesterday, but just as went to the Iditarod site to check on my spelling for some of the checkpoints, my computer crashed. Bummer. Now I have to try to write it all over again!  Ok, for those of you who are interested in more than Ed, here's my run down of the Beargrease! Ironically, Ed started Iditarod last, and I started Beargrease first, bib #2 (#1 honors John Beargrease). Hopefully Ed's start went smoother than mine! About 500 yards from the start, my team was supposed to head across the golf course, past the clubhouse, and down the trail. Instead, we went up the correct driveway, but then the leaders turned across the field to follow a snowmobile trail that was headed back to the starting chute. I turned the team around (twice) and just as I was ready to get on the sled, bib #3 came by, so my team followed them, and I caught the sled as it went by. The crowd certainly got a show from my team! I proceeded to follow bib #3 up the trail and onto Glenwood Street, only to have my team choose the pavement instead of the the trail. I could see the sharp left turn coming ahead (that we were supposed to be taking), and my team was only going fastest and faster up the center of the road, so I tipped my sled on its side, held on the best I could, and nearly went over the crest of the hill. I yelled for someone to grab my leaders and point them down the road we were supposed to turn. Several policemen stepped back, but thankfully several spectators grabbed the team and pushed them over. I was still dragging on the side of the sled, but now at least I was on a snow covered (albeit plowed) road. I was able to gradually drag the sled to the side of the road, plant my snowhook on a piece of ice, prop my sled up and hop back on the runners. Standing is so much more comfortable than dragging down asphalt. I looked down to see my shredded pants, but at least I still had some on! I once again passed team #3, and things went pretty smoothly, until we reached checkpoint #1 (Billy's Supper Club, 10 miles up the trail). My team didn't think too much of the straw bales in orderly rows, so we just cut the corner short, went over all the bales, and took the haw to head up the road. I was just about to congratulate the team on staying on the correct road, when a spectator took a photo, yelled "good luck", and my team darted for the driveway he was standing in. We went dow the drive, over the snow bank, and nearly missed their propane tank. As my team was standing in the yard, I wanted to yell, "Go ahead, take whatever trail you want. See if I care. Since you seem to know where you are going, then just go on and go there!". But instead, I laughed, turned the team around AGAIN, asked the photo guy to shove them left when I got back out the driveway, so we could head down the road again. Just over the hill, we correctly took the right onto the State Trail, and thankfully stayed there for the next 390 miles. Ed's dad, Mike, stayed behind from all the Alaska excitement, to handle for the race, along with Duluth friend, and Harbor City International High School Sophomore, Nikki Silvestrini. They did a great job for me, but since neither was familiar with the dogs and some of the care required, I ended up doing the vast majority of the dog care, and they allowed me to get some restful sleep at checkpoints. I did learn a great deal during the race about dog care and as I watched the dogs heal from some minor shoulder and wrist injuries, and even get stronger, as the race progressed. I do admit I missed having Ed on my handling team to give some moral support and offer some dog advice. But I guess we did ok, since 9 of the 12 finished, 4 of those being yearlings! Mike figured out that we started the race (at the same time Ed did), completed 400 miles, went to the banquet, and drove home, all before Ed made it 350 miles of the Iditarod! At least I hold the family record for longest race completed, even if it is for a short while!  As far as the Ed
update goes. I was able to talk to him the night I finished the
Beargrease as he was in Nikoli nursing a very sore knee. He hit a
rock pretty hard coming down the gorge, and had a knee the size of a
baseball. He took his 24 hour mandatory rest early to get that
knee feeling better and was pretty sure he could leave the checkpoint
in the morning. I have not talked to him since, but I have
noticed he's progressing nicely down the trail as a pretty good rate,
so I assume the knee is better. Or, if nothing else, I guess he's able
to walk to and from the sled, and sit on the seat he made for the
sled. Although, he did say he would try to call again, and I
haven't heard anything, so maybe that means he can't walk inside to the
phone and he's just lying down with the dogs! Speaking of dogs,
the information I have on his dropped dogs is that Mickey was dropped
early, he was never feeling very well once the team got to Alaska last
week, so I think he was just sick. The other dogs dropped are
Pooh, Allie, and Willow. All of those were due to minor shoulder
or wrist injuries. There's a few great photos of the dropped
dogs, and Allie on June Price's Sunhusky page. Allie is listed
one of Jeff King's dogs, but she's the really colorful one with the
blue collar. There's three pictures of her in a row at http://sunhusky.com/Idita2004/dogs/
The dogs come in on the big dog truck, get checked by the vets, and
then our handler Andrew, picks them up and takes them back to uncle
Chuck's shop yard. Andrew is on the dropped dog shift for all 4
Michigan teams, and he'll switch shifts next week as he'll head to Nome
for the finish. Keep watching June's site for more pictures as she
knows Ed is on the trail and is keeping an eye on him (that's her
picture of Ed at the start). March 12, 2004 Ok, here's a very quick update and I'll get more on here soon. Unfortunately the Beargrease website was not updated for the entire race, and even now at the end it doesn't have the results...but just in case you were wondering, I DID finish the Beargrease (which was 400 miles and incrediby hilly!), in 13th place, with a team of rock-star puppies. I will get more details of the race, but everything went well. I finished with 9 dogs: Hiccup, Sneeze, Buz, Hedgie, Ivy, Boom, Yooper, Gumbi, and Stone. I'm pretty tired and getting everything organzed and re-organized from the race, but I promise to have a couple photos and detilas asap. March 4, 2004 Ok, I talked Ed into sending a journal entry and some photos. He sent the entry (below) but said he couldn't get any photos to download. Whatever! I guess he is pretty occupied with getting race plans underway and entertaining guests (his brother Chad and his girlfriend, Ed's mom, friends Alex Tave and Barb and Charlie Stark have all arrived this week in Anchorage). I see he even coerced Andrew into taking some of the journal labor, and writing some as well. So, here's the news from Alaska: Journal entry from Andrew: It took us 3 and a half days to reach our destination. On the trip we had outstanding weather and scenery. We saw everything: birds,goats,caribou,moose, and bison. The road going through the mountain in Canada was also spectacular. when we arrived we went (or rather to our EKG's. This checks the dog's heart , and they also did bloodwork to see if the dogs were on drugs. Luckily all of our dogs passed. Ed wanted to go on a training run to Denali National Park. Everybody thought he was stupid for driving 4 hours to go on a run when you could run a half hour away. It was worth the drive. Within the first mile we got escorted by a heard of caribou, about 25 or 30. On the run we saw 2 moose and a lot of caribou. Today we brought the dogs to the vet check. Every body passed and did well, but Rock didn't approve of all of it. To take a dogs temperature you have to stick the thermometer in the dogs rectum. Rock didn't like this and he almost bit the vet. Pretty funny to watch. Now were going to finish the night at home eating pizza and resting. Journal entry from Ed: Well, we have some great pictures of our adventure so far, but we are unable to download them and send them to you. Sorry. All I want to happen at this point is to start a race. I am going crazy with this long drawn out waiting. Thursday I have a musher meeting in the morning and a long banquet in the evening. Friday is a day of nothing. Saturday is a promotional day of excitement. Sunday is the real thing. The dogs are all looking great, except for Mickey. (Note from Tasha: Mickey hasn't been eating too well and seems a little skinny, but I think Ed will start with him anyway. All the vets couldn't find anything wrong. Ed even took him to uncle Chuck's vet for a private appointment. He did some tests and didn't find anything conclusive either). My thoughts are too scattered to want to continue. We are having a great time but let's let the dogs out! Journal from Tasha: I'm pretty well packed for the Beargrease. I'm not used to doing all the packing myself and I'm very tired of chopping all my meat! I told Ed to send Andrew home so he could get it done for me. All the race meat needs to be chopped and packaged into 6 lb. bags, and I had to do about 210 lbs.! UGH! I have one more block to finish this morning (30 lbs.) and then I can start breaking up some of the pork and lamb snacks left over from the Iditarod. My dogs have never eaten so well in a race! Ed's dad arrived early this morning to help with preparation. He's my "head handler" for the race. We'll be pulling the trailer with his mini-van, so hopefully we get there on time! I'm supposed to do a school program at Edsion (my old school) tomorrow afternoon, so that means a 6am start for us here! I'd better get to bed early tonight! March 1, 2004  The
dogs and musher have safely arrived in Alaska. They
made it the trip in a record four days! Ed said the weather and
roads were so good that they just kept on driving. I wish I could
say the same for here. It's been raining ALL day, and the roads are
VERY muddy, and the kennel swampy. I'm sure winter is not over
yet, but it sure is depressing after such a beautiful, sunny
weekend. Boy, the tour group that just left sure lucked out on
the
weather. We just about ran dogs in t-shirts as it was about 50
degrees each day!I talked to Ed this morning and they are having a great time up there. They are staying with his uncle Chuck and cousin Nathan. The dogs are all staked out at Chuck's shopyard so they don't have to be boxed in the truck every day. They went to watch the Fur Rendezvous Sprit Race in Anchorage yesterday. Ed said it was pretty neat to see a totally different type of mushing. The 25 mile race is run through the downtown streets of Anchorage! This morning the dogs all had to have their EKG's done and then he was taking them out for a short training run. Tomorrow he thought they would head up for a run in Denali, more to see the scenery than to run dogs I think! On Wednesday all the dogs have their vet check, on Thursday Ed has the musher meeting and banquet, and then he can rest up on Friday for the start at 10 am on Saturday. There should be a live web cam available on the Iditarod site, www.iditarod.com. I just received a press release via email that due to the warm weather, the re-start on Sunday will take place in Willow instead of Wasilla. I guess this has happened once in the past as well, so I don't think it changes too much of the race. The ceremonial start will still take place in Anchorage on Saturday at 10am, and proceed 20 miles to Eagle River. For the first 11 miles, Claudia Nowak, of Traverse City, will be the Idita-rider riding in Ed's sled. In February, Claudia bid for a spot on Ed's team and won! The Iditarod uses the Idita-rider program as a fundraiser for the musher's purse. The Iditarod pays to 30th place, and also ensures that all finishers receive a check for $1049. This year's Idita-rider program raised over $136,000, all going toward the mushers. I asked Ed to take a few digital pictures of the pre race events, so hopefully I have a few to post here soon. Meanwhile, I've been glued to the computer trying to get the "secretarial" and domestic stuff done. I keep getting calls for last-minute winter tours, and have to tell people that all my "staff" is playing in Alaska! I've had to make a few calls to beg some friends come up and help so we can get guests on the sled before all the snow melts! My parents were here this weekend to help with the touring group. I think they had a pretty good time seeing the new line of "work" their daughter is in. I remember mom and dad visiting my Kindergarten class the first year I was teaching, and it felt kind of like that--having them here to check up on me! I also got a call from a friend who was reading the sleddogcentral chat line and saw that I was in the top 3 pick for Beargrease winner....until someone spilled the beans that Ed took my 4th place team to Alaska, and I have the hodgepodge rascals for my Beargrease team! Ok, maybe next year I'll have to put my bid in for the race team! February 25th 2004 Ok, I think Nature and I can finally breathe! The race is over, the dog truck has left for Alaska, and we are already lonely! Ed had hoped to get on the road Tuesday morning, but after a longer-than-expected UP 200 race, everyone need to catch up on some sleep rather than pack through the night. It was also nice to give the dogs a little longer to stretch out before having to ride for five days in the dog truck. Thanks to everyone who cheered us on during the UP 200. I read all the messages on the UP 200 message board, and didn't realize what a fan club we had!  We all had a great time at the race. We owe a special thanks to our handlers John and Marci Shuman (who have been here with us this winter), Dean and Laura Zimmermann (friends we made from our tour groups), and Tim and Shelly VanderMuelen of Traverse City. It was quite challenging to keep three teams and thirty five dogs organized and running smooth. The race this year consisted of two unassisted checkpoints which meant that mushers had drop bags (supplies) taken to the checkpoint, but no handlers could assist when the team was there. Our teams left Marquette, ran to Mining (60 miles) to the unassisted checkpoint, bedded down for five hours, and then headed to Grand Marais, 60 miles up the trail. Once in Grand Marais the teams rested 8 hours, and then turned around to head home. Tasha's team didn't stop at Munising on the way home. Instead, they went the full 85 miles to Chatham, while Ed and Andrew rested their teams in Munising for about 5 hours. Then all teams rested about 3 hours in Chatham before heading to the finish. The first 8 teams finished the race in Marquette (35 miles away), while all the teams after that finished in Deerton (15 miles away). The race was shortened due to an abundance of snowmobiles and an unexpected late finish (Ed finished at 10:10 pm and Andrew at 1:23 am). Tasha made it to the finish at 8:30 pm, so she was sound asleep by the time the guys made it back to the motel! Everyone had a great race, Andrew claims it was the most fun race he's ever run! He ran a lot with his dad, Matt Rossi, who finished about 45 minutes behind him. Andrew and Ed ran saw quite a bit of each other at the checkpoints and along the trail. I was pleasantly surprised at my finish. I really had no expectations going into the race, but when I was running along the trail to Grand Marais and only seeing one set of runner tracks ahead of me (belonging to Keith Ali) and then running with Frank Teasely (the race winner) for about 10 miles, I realized that I had better pay attention to what was going on! Keith was giving me a hard time about stopping so much along the trail, and Lyle Ross thought I was the nicest competitive musher he had met while running. I guess I didn't realize that I had entered the competitive circle! I really wanted to be careful about pushing the dogs, since Ed was taking 10 of the 12 to Alaska. I certainly didn't want him entering that race with any sore dogs. Needless to say, the dogs made it to the finish line very healthy, and very happy, and pulling a very elated yet somewhat surprised musher! I never expected to to do so well, but I'll be the first to admit, that I DO like running with the front of the pack! Ed had better watch out, I have truly caught the racing bug now! The final results and finishers for Nature's Kennel:  Tasha 4th place: Buz, Vinnie,
Maple, Shad, Mouse, Quill, Allie, Butter, Tops, Goose, Rock
Sneeze was dropped at Chatham simply because she was exhausted. Ed: 10th place: Badger, Willow, Raven, Hiccup, Tyran, Stone, Ivy, Hedgie, Pooh Dogs dropped at Grand Marais: Bronto (tired), and at Munising: Peeps (tired). Ed had hoped to run Prowler in his team as well, but he had a slightly sore wrist before the race, so he stayed home. Andrew 17th place: Boom, Opal, Yooper, Demi, Millie, Gumbi, Rat, Tasha Andrew dropped Sandy at Grand Marais, she had a sore foot, dropped Xena, Luke and Dave at Munising as they were tired. This entire team, with the exception of Opal, were all two year olds! Not too bad for they young kids! Twenty eight teams started, with nineteen finishing. Tasha's team also won the Humantarian/Best Kept Team Award for outstanding dog care. I think the fact that this is the first time in history that a single kennel has entered three teams, and had 26 dogs finish, is pretty amazing, and a true showing of dog care! But, enough celebrating for now... it's time to get excited for the final two races of the season. Ed's Iditarod Team will consist of: Goose, Maple, Mickey, Mouse, Pooh, Quill, Rock, Shad, Tops, Vinnie, Badger, Allie, Opal, Raven, Butter, and Willow. And Tasha's Beargrease Marathon team will be made of: Stone, Prowler, Tyran, Demi, Boom, Yooper, Buz, Hiccup, Sneeze, Ivy, Hedgie, and Rat Both teams will begin racing the weekend of March 6th, so watch for both of us. One could argue that we will have teams running simultaneously in both of the hardest races that the sport has to offer. Go puppy dogs! The race websites for those races are www.beargrease.com and www.iditarod.com I have also attached the link to Sunhusky's home page. This is a woman who lives in AK and follows the race and happenings. Look closely at her pictures of the drop bag distribution, and you'll see Ed's name on his! http://sunhusky.com/Idita2004/dropbags/ She'll be following the whole thing, so it may be a site worth re-visiting! Ed also had really great news coverage on the Green Bay CBS channel. You can see the video segment by logging onto: www.wfrv.com, scroll through the video clips until you see "Upper Peninsula Musher Preparing for Iditarod". February 15th, 2004 I have a brief reprieve from tour groups and race preparation, enough to at least write a journal note! We've been trying to squeeze in some last minute long training runs in between tour groups. We had planned a long overnight run for last Thursday, but got a call Wednesday that the Green Bay CBS station wanted to come out to do a feature story on us....so needless to say we quickly changed gears to be ready for a press day. Look for us on Green Bay CBS Station 5 at 6 pm on Tuesday February 17th. You can also spot a couple of famous Nature's Kennel Faces on the cover of the March issue of MUCC (Michigan United Conservation Clubs) magazine. Thanks to the hard work of UP Writer and Photographer Marty Kovarik, Ed and Badger appear on the front of one of Michigan's largest out-of-doors magazines! Badger will now have to go on an autograph tour!  (He's even smiling
about the whole idea!)Ed and I spent last Monday at Lincoln Elementary in Manistique, talking to the students about the Iditarod plans. The 3rd,4th, and 5th graders all follow and study the Last Great Race. Ed even received a small plaque to attach to one of the stantions on his sled to remember the students. It's amazing how many people have an Iditarod connection who don't even own or run dogs. It's definitely a very unique obsession that we find very exciting. The UP 200 plans are also taking over this week, and along with race preparation and organization, we have also decided on the dog teams. The final decision is this: Tasha: (racing her kennel favorites/the "A" Team/Ed feels sorry for taking all the good dogs to Iditarod and leaving her with the left-overs for the Beargrease) Maple, Buz, Goose, Mouse, Pooh, Quill, Rock, Shad, Butter, Tops, Vinnie, Allie Ed: (racing Iditarod team leftovers from Tasha's UP 200 pick/old dogs that are still hanging around/the "B" Team) Stone, Prowler, Tyran, Hiccup, Ivy, Badger, Raven, Opal, Willow, Hedgie, Peeper, Millie Andrew: (running, NOT RACING, the yearlings and lead dog Sneeze/has instructions to give them LOTS of rest and finish last) Boom, Chris, Dave, Yooper, Demi, Luke, Sandy, Xena, Tasha, Rat, Gumbi, Sneeze Injured: Mickey: slight back hip soreness that the vet could find nothing wrong with but we want him to go to Iditoard, so we will rest him for UP 200 Bronto: slight shoulder injury that we want to heal rather than stress, but he still may be ok by race time and then would take the place of Millie on Ed's team. Hawk: he's just getting too old and can't see bumps and turns in the trail--but still screams to run! It's getting very exciting...I'd better get upstairs and finish my dog jackets and Ed's insulated water bottle for the race. February 5th, 2004 Ed and I actually took a vacation this week. Well, ok, it was a working vacation, but at least we didn't feed dogs, travel with dogs, snow blow the driveway, shovel snow, answer the phone, and feed more dogs. We went to Superior, WI to pick up the repaired sled from Ed's snowmobile accident earlier this year. Chris Evavlod at Black River Sleds was able salvage the two foot boards and one stantion....the rest went to the sled graveyard. Wow! Then we took the new sled to Cory Severson at Wydwalkr near LaCrosse to have a new sled bag fitted and sewn. Ed needs a larger, more heavy duty bag that he can sleep in for the Iditarod. We left the sled there and then shopped and spent the night in a motel in LaCrosse. We felt like we should be visiting some local landmarks or enjoying hike along the Mississippi River, but instead we ordered Chinese and watched TV! Ahhh, a true vacation for us--television and Chinese take-out, how good can it get! I guess we spend far too much time in the outdoors to feel like hiking and skiing on vacation. People come to us to get away from it all, and we want to get back in! We left all our handlers (Andrew, John and Marci) in charge of the kennel, and it felt like we were leaving all the kids at home too! Who knows what kind of trouble they were getting into while we were gone. Speaking of getting away from it all, we have a group of women coming tomorrow for the overnight trip, so I guess it's back to work around here. It hasn't snowed for a few days, but it looks like we'll be shoveling again by the weekend. I think we'll be taking another vacation at the end of the season too. Ahh, more TV and Chinese take-out! February 1st, 2004
 January 30th, 2004 The Iditarod madness has hit home as well. We spent the past
two days bagging, boxing, packing, and organizing over 700 pounds of
sliced beef, 200 pounds of chicken fat, 600 pounds of dry dog food,
1200 dog booties, 80 hand warmers, 40 pair of gloves, 100 pounds of
lamb and pork, 16 pair of socks, fleece pants, dog jackets, Ed's food,
batteries, foot ointment, cameras, lighters, headlamps, chapstick,
..... to load into the dog truck for Ed to drive to Ludington, so he
can pack it into 36 drop bags, which will be loaded into 4ft.x4ft.x6ft.
insulated shipping containers, driven to Milwaukee, put on a semi,
trucked to Seattle, barged to Alaska, and hopefully end up at
checkpoints like Rohn, Takotna, Cripple, Kaltag, Koyuk, and finally
Nome.
January 23rd, 2004 And the winner is.......Claudia Nowak of Traverse City! Congratulations! She bid on Ed's sled for the Iditarod start in Anchorage and after 2 1/2 hours on the phone, she won!!! See proof at http://www.iditarod.com/2004final.html. We were surprised by her phone call today and it's wonderful that Ed will have a familiar face in his sled as he starts the big race...it was the best news of the day! Our weekend group just settled into the bunkhouse for the night, and
will be dreaming of sled dogs as they prepare for tomorrow's
adventures. We have 18 inches of fresh snow, so Andrew spent the
night snowmobiling to clear the trail for us. We had a great
group that left on Tuesday. We set our "oldest participant"
record with Evart coming in at age 84. He came with his daughter,
Penny and son-in-law Ron, and had a great time. He and Ron did
some snowmobiling, but we still got him into the dog sled for a short
ride. He then spent the evening with us at camp to have dinner by
the fire with buckets of snow falling! We haven't had significant snowfall today, so we are feeling pretty
spoiled! As you can see, Penny, Cheryl, and I had to trudge our
way back home on the last trip. They were really excited about
all the snow, and all I thought of were the trails closing in and the
snow blower running again.
We are still hitting celebrity status! I had an interview
today
with the "Travel Queen" this past week. You can listen to the
interview, by going to the Travel Queen
website. Click on the show link with my name (January 17th), and
don't forget to turn the sound on on your computer. It was
recorded live, so I was pretty nervous, but thought it turned out well.
Andrew is out with Ed's team tonight, hopefully he doesn't get
snowed in (or would that be snowed out??). Ed's making ganglines
tonight and getting more Iditarod gear together. The drop bags
will be packed and shipped the weekend of January 31st. Due to
the Mad Cow Disease scare in Canada, no beef is allowed to cross the
Canadian border. So, we (and all lower 48 mushers) are having
some trouble getting beef shipped through Canada for the drop bags to
be dropped for the race. Special arrangements are being made by
the Iditarod committee to get everything shipped out of Seattle by
barge rather than by the usual way via truck through Canada. It's
amazing how many people (and dogs) are affected by foreign policy
issues! Andrew, Ed and I are all signed up for the UP 200. Ed will be
using it as a training run to tire his team out before they drive
north. Andrew will be running a yearling team, with the instruction to
just complete the race with a happy, healthy bunch of kids. I'll
have the B team, with the hope of not going too slow that I fall asleep
on the runners! Well, time to get the cookies made for tomorrow's tour group.
We have a family coming for a ride, and then an overnight group comes
on Tuesday. Who says the UP isn't the social hub of Michigan!!?? January
12, 2004 January
7th, 2004 January
1st, 2004 December
12, 2003 December
3, 2003
November 25th, 2003 Winter keeps teasing us with little bits of snow, but nothing has stayed too long. The dogs are all having great, injury-free runs. But we are anxiously awaiting our sled training so we can build some speed instead of just muscle. Andrew and I are on our way to Duluth tomorrow so we can pick up all the puppies. We told Raven and Momo that they were all coming home, and they didn't look too excited. We told them not to worry, they don't have to live with them again! I'll be sure to post some pictures of them soon! I'll have to get in shape again to chase the little rascals all around the yard. (A little puppy background for those of you who are wondering....we had parvo come into our yard this summer and the two litters that were due to arrive early in the fall were graciously taken in by two families in the Duluth area. Now the puppies are old enough to come back home, so it will be interesting to see their reactions once they get here!). Ed's entry made it into Iditarod Headquarters today, he's Musher #99! I guess this means that it's all for-real! He goes up next weekend for the Rookie Meeting to take place in Anchorage. I think that he will soon be "Iditarod Obsessed". I'll try to keep everything updated as we know more information regarding the race, preparation, and training. It looks like we will also have a pretty busy touring season, as we are already getting pretty full with trips. There was an outstanding article and photographs in the travel section of the Grand Rapids Press that went throughout the state a few weeks ago, and we are still getting calls from readers. I also had a radio interview on WJR Detroit this past week regarding our touring, so the word is getting out there! All we need is some snow and a few wild puppies for the guests to play with! November 13th, 2003 Winter has come with vengeance, and I'm now wondering if it is here to stay!! We got a few more inches of snow last night, in addition to some howling winds, fallen trees, and icy roads. The entire town was nearly shut down today. The snow didn't so much accumulate, as it make for some very icy roads. I can see how the Edmund Fitzgerald sunk on a November day such as this. The good news is that since we generate our own power, we were not left out in the cold like the rest of the town! There are some benefits to off-grid life! What would I do inside such a blustery day if the satellite internet wasn't functioning! Ed would have me building the stairs or hanging drywall, or something foolish like that! I finally get to stay at home for a couple of weeks. The school programs are just about wrapped up for the fall, and now we are focusing on getting the tours set up to begin in December. It looks like mother nature is going to do her part with the snow, now we just have to get the dogs ready. We had a great article published in the Grand Rapids press and surrounding newspapers about out tours, so we have been receiving quite a few calls this week for reservations. The article had quite a few color photos of the dogs which looked really great. It'd better get off the computer chair and get out to run the dogs with Ed and Andrew. There's not enough snow yet for the sleds, and we'll be running with chain saws on the back of the wheelers today so we can cut all the down trees from last night's storm. The quads don't jump large logs very well. Besides, it's kind of hard on the wheel dogs if we do wheelies! November 9, 2003 Just hear those sleigh bells ringing....yes folks, there is snow here in the UP, and it seems to be here to stay...at least for a few days. I drove home in a blizzard on Friday night coming back from Grand Rapids. I had planned a "Girl's Only" mushing weekend for some friends of mine, so I was a bit worried that they would all be sitting along the highway somewhere. But they all made it through, just in time to experience a true UP wintery welcome! It turned out to be a beautiful weekend, sunny, cold, and very snowy! We have about six inches of snow still on the ground. There's probably enough to drive a sled on (if we still lived in Minnesota we would have them out since this would be a record snow fall), but we still used the quads. We know it probably won't last--at least a little part of me hopes it doesn't, as that would make for a very LONG winter!! But, it does get us excited for what is to come very soon!! It's also very nice to have a cozy, warm house to come into this winter! I don't know how we did it last winter with no house built, moving back and forth into town, and getting water from Al's cabin. Ed and Andrew worked like crazy to get some finishing touches done last week so the house was ready for us girls. We nearly have all the drywall up, all the miscellaneous construction materials out of the living room, a cozy wood stove, and a very functional kitchen and bathroom. What more could a girl ask for? After a long year of building, we can finally have a place to call home! Ok, the outside blends in well with the snow, but who really needs siding when house wrap will do??!! 
I am on the road again next week to Kingsford for more school programs. After these are finished, I'll be done for a while. The schools I was at last week were very impressed with the programs. I've already received a few emails from kids who had some more questions than I had time to answer during the programs. I'm always impressed at how much kids know about dog sledding. We may all think that Disney's "Snow Dogs" was pretty far fetched, but it really has sparked kids' interest in the sport. I think my next project will be do make a real snowdogs movie, filmed right here at Nature's Kennel so the kids can see the difference between real life and the movies. No, the dogs don't all have puffy white fur, and yes, they DO talk to each other!! November
2, 2003 November
2, 2003 October 31,
2003
Happy Halloween!! There is really nothing scary to report
around here. All the dogs do a good job of scaring the witches
and goblins away! The scariest part of the day was that I ran the
puppy team and not one dog chewed anything. That's a
record. Two days ago, Peso alone ate 4 necklines and tired to
swallow the cable gangline. He got hooked up last today so he
didn't have a chance to chew a thing. Oh, and Hawk looks pretty
scary because he had to have stitches yesterday near his eye.
Andrew was hooking him up to Pujo and they got into an old man
scuffle. I guess they were just both a little too excited for the
first camping trip of the year. I also don't think Hawk can see
very well, so Pujo's craziness was just a little too much for him to
handle. So, instead of enjoying a camping trip in the rain, Hawk
and I spent the day in Manistique getting his eye stitched up.
Andrew and Ed said the rest of the teams did great. We are
getting the dogs back into practicing how to lay down and sleep
regardless of the time of day, or how tired they are, so that they can
be prepared to sleep whenever they get the chance during a race.
The adults always do pretty well, it's just getting the younger dogs to
do the same thing. My puppy team definitely won't be camping any time soon
though. If I stop for over 5 minutes, they have dug holes in the
trail pawing at it and trying to get the 4-wheeler to move. Just
a little too much energy for their own good.
Joke
Answer: Hallowieners!! October 17, 2003
The most exciting news on the homefront, is that our house is nearing the "comfortable living" stage! For those of you who may not know, we have been building our own home since last July. Last fall and winter we had to stay in town because the house was not "weather proof" and suitable for staying warm! However, we can now accepts guest for dinner and an overnight stay! We are fully plumbed and plugged in! The hot water, bathroom, woodstove, satellite internet, and even the kitchen sink is up and working! The final motivating factor was that the dogs needed hot water for their meals since it was getting colder, so the hot water got hooked up for them! Oh Ed, how patient I am with your priorities. So, come on out to visit, see the fall colors, and even spend a night off the power-grid with all the luxuries of city life!
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Please support these fabulous Nature's Kennel Partners! If you are interested in joining the Nature's Kennel Corporate team, please email Ed or Tasha.
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We
have been very
busy with tours and rides, and clearing snow. We have received 10
inches today, with another 10-18 predicted for tomorrow....NO
JOKE!! We had a group out at winter camp last night. They
survived the snow storm just fine....and ran the dogs on a slow trail
today. Everyone was very excited about the abundance of
snow!! I guess it's quite the novelty for those coming from below
the bridge! 
Thunder kisses Isabella good-bye! 
The puppies pose with the Isaac, Amelia, and Isabella Evavold before
they get packed in the truck to head home. Momo was very happy to see
her kids come back. She has been very excited to walk them every
day and tackle them in the driveway. 
Welcome home to
snowy McMillan! Nikki and her mom Dawn came from Duluth just to
make sure the puppies got all settled in and were well cared for.
They had to stay an extra day because they got snowed in! We have
about 6-8 inches of snow now, so we could run a sled. We are just
a little too lazy to get all the equipment switched over, so we'll
stick to quads just a couple of more days to make sure the snow is
going to last. The forecast is looking pretty warm for the
weekend, so we'll see if we can keep the white stuff. Ed leaves
for the Iditarod Rookie meeting tomorrow, so Andrew and I will be left
alone to run dogs and chase puppies. It will be easier for us to
train the big teams by 4-wheeler when Ed is gone, and then we can break
the teams into smaller groups once he gets back. It's beautiful
and sunny here today, but VERY cold, it reminds us of Minnesota
weather. Momo and Nature are both curled up in the sunshine on
the house floor this afternoon. 
