Nature's Kennel Sled Dog Racing & Adventures

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Thursday, May 23rd, 2013

Nature's Kennel

PO Box 5
McMillan, MI 49853
Tel: 1-906-748-0513
Email: info@natureskennel.com

Dog Blog

Adventure Journals

Welcome to the Nature's Kennel Dog Blog! Check out the latest kennel news, stories of your favorite sled dogs, Iditarod training adventures, and more!

Thursday, March 31st, 2011

Oops...forgot to list our super spring dog sale. We are keeping all the dogs here this summer instead of sending them to Alaska for summer tours so we'd like to downsize a bit. There are some great dogs listed, and there are a few here as well (like younger year old pups and older dogs who need a pet home) who are not listed. If you can pick up your new dog by April 6th, there's a 20% discount. Bryan Bush has been here all week from MT skijoring and sledding, so the trails are still great if you want to come up and check them out! Click on the "For Sale" section at the left.

Posted by Tasha

Wednesday, March 30th, 2011

Ok, guess I'd better get a little update up here! Needless to say, it's been a busy week. I made is safely home from Nome via airplane, came back up with Nate (and grandparents to help out) and Ed made it home in record time (3 days driving from Anchorage). Jess did a fantastic job of holding down the kennel, and thanks to the help from Jim Haibach, the Maine dogs are home as well. Now it's kennel maintainence, puppy running and a few tours here and there. The trails are still in amazing shape even though the kennel is a bit sloppy and muddy. It's great to be out in the snowy white and away from the dirt! Ed and I (and Nate and the girls Ayn and Alaska) are getting ready for about three weeks on the road doing Iditarod presentations. We will cover a few thousand miles, going from Moline, IL to Detroit and Grand Haven, MI to Logansport, IN, to Columbus, OH, Harrisonburg, VA and Pittsburgh, PA. Hope Nate likes driving in that car seat of his! There area few programs open to the public, so if you are in the area, we'd love to have you attend:
Saturday, April 16th 6:30 PM, Community Reformed Church, 10376 Felch St., Zeeland, MI (free will offering for Eaglecrest Alaska Mission).
Wednesday, April 27th 7:00 PM, Aliquippa Elks Lodge, 2655 Brodhead Rd, Aliquippa, PA.
Saturday, May 7th, 11 AM to 5 PM, Boyne Highlands Resort, Harbor Springs, MI. Meet all the members of the Iditarod team and listen to Ed's annual (or almost annual) Iditarod Odyssey Program.

Posted by Tasha

Sunday, March 20th, 2011

The 2011 Nature's Kennel Fantasy Mushing Results are in!! Thanks to everyone who played, and congratulations to JoAnne!

Player	Points
JoAnne McPherson	751
Jon Brown	707
Dan Soper	690.5
Craig Adams	671.5
Jean Rappold	664
Beth Giwojna	650
Zachary Taylor	570.5
Wendy Taylor	575
Carolyn Pappas	581
M Phillips	602
Joanne Jacobs	586
Ann Easter	540
Dave Rish	487
Connie Levline	493
George Capra	499
Marisa Hefflefinger	496
Tasha Stielstra	495
Jessica Wallstrom	466
Brett Fidler	466
Sue Kotlarek	424
Lisa Ri sh	397.5
Pat Berglund	424
Britt Pionk	375.5
Zachary Szepiela	367.5
Kristin Hammond	178
Katie Kunze	206
Rob Motter	154
Fred Austin	97

Posted by Tasha

Saturday, March 19th, 2011

It’s a busy day in Nome (and a warm one at 34 degrees!). Ed went to the volunteer breakfast this morning. They had asked if a few mushers could come, so he was more than happy to get a great breakfast in exchange for sharing his stories from the trail. I fed the dogs and let them wander around the dog yard a bit. They are all doing great, eating well, and enjoying the warmer weather. They will be here until Monday. We need to have one person on both the shipping end (Nome) and receiving end (Anchorage) to ship the dogs. I will leave at 1 pm on Monday to get back to Anchorage and Ed will stay here to make sure they get on a flight, then he’ll leave at 9 pm. Also today here in Nome is the finisher’s meeting and then the musher signing where all the mushers gather in the convention center and sign autographs. I’ll stand in line to get all our posters signed for the Mighty Mutt Club members, and a few items for sponsors and the Midwest Sled Dog Symposium silent auction. There are still mushers finishing today and in to tomorrow, so the race is certainly not over. It’s been great to be here and I promise more photos to come! We did set a date and location for our 2011 Iditarod Odyssey program. Please join us at Boyne Highlands Resort in Harbor Springs on Saturday, May 7th. We'll have the Iditarod team with us and Ed will do a presention with his videos and photos from the trail. He carried a digitial camera this year, so there is some GREAT footage!

Posted by Tasha

Thursday, March 17th, 2011

Ahh…the waiting is OVER! Rhu, Ayn, Gus, Flynt, Krister, Judge, Banjo, Fiddle, Erie, Clark, and Cupid (and ED!) made it in at 5 am Alaska Time. They dogs are looking great. Ed looks OK too, but definitely a little sunburned, windburned, and weathered. We got the dogs settled in and went to breakfast with Uncle Chuck (from Anchorage) who was able to be up for the finish this year. Alaska (the dog) is here as well, as she was dropped in White Mountain and flown here instead of to Anchorage. We’ll stay here through Monday, when we can get a flight out for ourselves and the dogs. The banquet is on Sunday night. The race was so fast this year, I feel like we have so much time now to mill around. It’s sunny and cold, but still a beautiful day. Jess is doing a great job at the kennel at home, and sounds like she has a few weather challenges! The snow and trails are still great in the woods, but the road and driveway are pretty muddy. She just called to ask if the dogs can run in lightening! Yes, they can, but I’m sure they’ll be happier tomorrow when the weather cools back down the storm passes. I’ll keep posting photos from the trail and a few stories from the trail as they start to emerge.

Posted by Tasha

Monday, March 14th, 2011

I’m off to Nome on Tuesday, so am headed to Charlevoix to drop Nate off with my parents (and to see his great-grandma and cousins). I leave from Traverse City on Tuesday morning and will be in Nome by Wednesday afternoon. Hopefully I’ll be there before Ed finishes! He is still doing great and his run times have been very good. We had a birthday celebration here with Nate on Sunday. He loved sticking his fingers into the cake and licking them off! Thanks to Jess, Ed can see the whole thing on video when I get to Nome. Jess is all set to hold down the fort while I’m gone. She has help from one of our past guides, Doug Sherry. Doug was working at a dog sledding operation in Pennsylvania this winter, but was done a little early due to snow conditions, so he came on out to help for a few weeks. Actually, he’s helping in order to adopt Superior, one of his favorite dogs that he worked with while he was here. Superior will love being a pet dog/snowboard dog and following Doug around! Tim VanderMeulen, Jon Brown and Lynne Witte are on call for anything else that may happen, and will be helping out when needed. I’ll keep the updates coming, but there may be a day or so of lag time as I travel. Alaska Bound!!

Posted by Tasha

Saturday, March 12th, 2011

Ed called at 7 am this morning from Shageluk to wish Nate a Happy Birthday! We recorded the phone call so he can listen to it a few times. What a difference a year makes, not only is Nate 1 year old, but it’s still winter here today instead of spring like it was last year at this time! It’s snowing, blowing, and about 25 degrees outside. Last year I was in the hospital in Marquette watching the snow melt before my eyes, the sun shine down on the grass and the water run off the building! We have a group of six here from Chicago for an overnight trip, so it’s a good thing it’s still winter!!
Sounds like it’s pretty mild along the Iditarod this year. Ed said he was told it got down to -30 two nights ago, but he said it sure didn’t feel that cold. It was 6 degrees when I talked to him this morning (which was at 3 am Alaska Time) so that is down right balmy for the interior. He did drop Mad Max, Gremlin and Swann. Swann got injured in some really rough section of trail, and he and the vets thought that since she is so young she had better be dropped. Max and Gremlin had been nursing some soreness for a little while, so they got left as well. No major injuries, just a few small things. Fiddle and Banjo are still doing great, as is the rest of the crew. Ed sounded tired (it was 3 am) but sounded like he was happy with the race.

Posted by Tasha

Friday, March 11th, 2011

I see Ed dropped another dog last night, my guess would be Mad Max or Fiddle as mentinoed them as haiving some slight stiffness while in Takotna. The big news of the race is that Trent won the 1/2 way prize, $3000 in gold nuggets! Way to go Trent! Trent ran our yearlings the last two years and now is running a team of Jake Berkowitz' dogs. http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/10/us-alaska-iditarod-idUSTRE7297YO20110310?feedType=RSS&feedName=domesticNews Also in Iditarod news is how vegetarian Ed purchases 5000 pounds of beef every month! http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fcommunity.adn.com%2F%3Fq%3Dadn%252Fnode%252F156168&h=fc88e And, yes, he's carrying Nate's photo to Nome. I'll keep updates coming as soon as I get more news. Ed told me that he had special permission to use the satellite phone tomorrow to call Nate on his birthday! We are going to try to record the call, so hopefully we are home to get it!

Posted by Tasha

Thursday, March 10th, 2011

News from Takotna and Ed's 24 hr. rest: All is well! He did nail the same tree that we watched on the Iditarod Insider, hit it head on and flew over the handlebars. Dogs and musher are all ok. Swann is awesome, Ayn and Alaska have a slight stomach bug but seem to be doing ok, and besides a few minor stiff shoulders, all dogs are great. The trail is fast and in good shape. The gorge was good this year and the steps ok except for the famous tree.

Posted by Tasha

Thursday, March 10th, 2011

Ed called about 11:30 pm last night. By the time I got down the stairs, I missed the call, but he did leave a message. He said the dog he dropped was Vixen. The the team was just running a little to fast for her. Rhu and Gus (siblings) have been great lead dogs, and Banjo and Fiddle fabulous lead dogs. He said it's the easiest Iditarod he's ever done (so far!). Hopefully I'll hear more this morning.

Posted by Tasha

Wednesday, March 9th, 2011

I finally got to speak with Krister today about the Can Am…what a race! His all-star dog was Enzo, an 18 month old prodigy. She led over ½ of the race in lead through some of the toughest trail and weather imaginable. Kar was the other superstar leader, running 240 of the 250 miles in LEAD! What a guy! Chong, Bolt (Enzo’s brother), Einstein, Darc, Pat, and Lambert also finished. Bradshaw was the first dog dropped as he hurt his shoulder in deep snow, then Gimli was bagged for a short while and then dropped at the 3^rd checkpoint. Ham and Scott were also dropped, Ham for harness rub due to it being so wet, and Scott for a reoccurring shoulder injury from earlier in the winter. Otherwise, Krister did awesome, finishing in 6^th place, winning the red lantern and a pretty sizable purse. He ran an incredible race, plodding through rain, sleet, ice, and a TON of snow. He took a lot of rest early in the race which saved him when he had to do an unexpected longer run. He also toughed it out and stayed at the last checkpoint until the weather cleared and he felt the team could make it. He told me it was far harder than the marathon he ran this summer. There were many times he had to walk up a mountain, leading the dogs, and then call them up to follow him. It sounded truly grueling and amazing. I’m so proud of him for finishing, one of only 6 teams to finish of the 23 who started.

Posted by Tasha

Tuesday, March 8th, 2011

Well, it's all a guessing game now as we all sit at home and try to piece together what is going on along the trail. Looks like Ed's run times are still good. I don't know which dog he dropped, and it could be a while before the dog gets back to Anchorage and Mike Suprenant can let me know who it is. There are rumors on the ADN website of kennel cough affecting some dogs, but I have no confirmation of that. It seems like every year there is kennel cough picked up somewhere along the trail. There's really no way to vaccinate against all strains of it, so it's just par for the course that it could be picked up by some of the team. Here' a couple of photos of Ed from the Ceremonial Start, thanks June!

Posted by Tasha

Monday, March 7th, 2011

Ok, before we get too far into the Iditarod “musher standing” page, I thought I would give my annual “How to read how Ed is REALLY doing” summary. I’ll use the checkpoints from where he is at the time of this posting (10:30 AM EST, 3/7/11). You can use the Current Standings page to find out all the information, and no, you do NOT need to be part of the Insider to view this. The best way to see how his travel time compares to other mushers is to look at the Previous Checkpoint (Yetna Station) and then look at the Checkpoint tab (Skwetna) and see that it took him 3 hrs 3 min. You can compare him to other mushers (Mitch Seavey 3h 2m, Sven Haltman 3h 10m) and see that he’s running that leg about the same time as them. If you look at Scott Janssen (9h 36m) you can infer that he camped along the trail between Yetna and Skwetna). Notice that Scott spent only 24 minutes at the Yetna checkpoint, so he would need to camp. Notice that Ed spent 6 h 34 m at the checkpoint so he would not need to camp. You can also tell how long Ed is choosing to rest compared to, say Mitch Seavey, how he rested only 3h 54 m compared to Ed at 6h 34 m. Ed is generally very conservative with rest early in the race, so I’m not alarmed that he chose to rest that long, as it seems like his team is moving along very nicely. That is where you will really see a difference between the front and back of the pack in this race, run time vs. rest length. People will run the legs at about the same pace, but their rests will be significantly different. So, moral of the story, don’t worry if it takes someone 7 hours to complete a run when it took someone else 3-4. That was most likely due to camping. My bigger concern would be it taking 5 hours instead of 3 as mushers rarely rest for less than 2 hours. The Iditarod seems to be really cracking down on mushers making home phone calls during the race this year. The mushers were told at the meeting that very few calls would be allowed, and if they were, a judge would be sitting next to them. I don’t know why they are so picky about that. It is great publicity for both the race and the fans if we at home can at least post some occasional trail updates, dog updates, etc. I think it’s good for everyone. Ed usually tries to call as much as he can, so I’m sure we’ll hear from him at least a couple of times. I’ll do my best to keep interpreting data and posting what I can surmise about the trail and dogs. So far Ed still has 16, so that’s a good thing! The report from the musher meeting that the trail was in overall good shape this year, so we’ll hope for the best!
Photo courtesy of Alaska Daily News (and Connie Levline who forwarded it on to me!) I believe that is Rhu and her brother Gus in lead. I see Banjo is at the back as hyper as usual trying to peek over all the other dogs!

Posted by Tasha

Sunday, March 6th, 2011

From Ed...This afternoon at about 4 p.m. (Alaskan time) we will be off on the
adventure across Alaska. The goal is to get to Nome as fast as
possible and also to enjoy the journey.

This trip would not have been possible without help from dozens of
friends, family, and business partners. I Thank You All! A special
Thank You to Tasha for supporting me with a tremendous amount of time
and love. You are so amazing! Also, Happy Birthday to Nate! I most
likely will not have phone access on the 12 th but I look forward to
the belated party once I am back in Michigan.

Once again, thank you! And I hope you have as much fun following the
race as I hope to running it.

Posted by Ed

Saturday, March 5th, 2011

While Ed is contemplating his Iditarod quest tonight, I'm shopping on line for an i-phone. I think it's time to join the world of upgrading cell phone. How cool would it be to send instant video and messages from Nome! Ed's ceremonial start was great. Jim Levline, the 2nd sled driver nearly totaled Ed sled as he skidded out and nearly had a 3 foot drop off a bridge. But, both Jim and the sled were spared. Louise and the dogbooties.com crew helped handle the dogs to the starting line. Amy Stielstra (Ed's cousin's wife) was head photographer, and Uncle Chuck, Cliff and Jim made sure all was under control. Tim V. and Lynne are here tonight from the Copper Dog Race in Calumet where Lynne placed 8th. Krister is off and running the Can-Am so be sure to tune in to all the race excitement http://can-am.sjv.net/WebRace/CACFRAME.HTM. I'll do my best to keep all the race updates coming!

Posted by Tasha

Friday, March 4th, 2011

What a wonderful banquet! I ended up drawing bib #56 which is
perfect. The highlight of the night though was getting a sit down
relax time to talk with Iditarod fans. I met people from all over the
world.

During the day, mushers gathered at the Millineum Hotel for meetings.
Once again, what wonderful meetings. The reports from the trail is
snowcovered and should be "excellent all the way to Kaltag". The
infamous Dalzell Gorge was mentioned to be "smooth and easy" with all
of the snow and ice on the trail. My highlights of the entire day
were having breakfast with my Uncle Chuck and good friend Jen Ambrose,
and lunch with fellow Michiganders Lee and Claudia Nowak. (Claudia is
my Iditarider again which is always the perfect start to the
race!!!!). Also, Gregg and Louise Russell made the journey to Alaska
and are joining our pit crew on both race days. They are the ones
responsible for keeping my dogs feet protected with booties. Thank
you DOGBOOTIES.COM!!!

Posted by Ed

Thursday, March 3rd, 2011

Get ready for race weekend!! The ceremonial start of the Iditarod is on Saturday. We'll know Ed's starting position later tonight after the bib draw/banquet in Anchorage. The first group to draw starting positions are those who signed up in person or by postmark date on for the June picnic. Ed did not sign up then, so he will be in the second drawing, all those who signed up in the "second round". So, he won't have a very high position. The dogs all had their vet checks on Wednesday and all have the ok to race. Ed’s team will consist of: Vixen, Alaska, Gremlin, Rhu, Ayn, Swann, Banjo, Fiddle, Krister, Mad Max, Clark, Cupid, Gus, Erie, Judge, and Flynt.
Krister will be starting the Can-Am 250-mile race on Saturday as well. He has been giving tours at Sunday River Resort in Maine, and will be at the race with: Chong, Gimli, Einstein, Ham, Darc, Bradshaw, Lambert, Pat, Scott, Bolt, Enzo and Kar. I think that Big Ben and Chuck will be sitting out of the race with handler Chase in the truck. Krister was hoping to be able to get one race in with Ben, but the forecast is to be pretty warm, and Big Ben does NOT like warm weather. You can follow the race at http://can-am.sjv.net/
Meanwhile back at the ranch…Jess and I (with help from Nate’s head-babysitters Grandma Phyllis and Grandpa Mike) just completed a 15-day series of tours. Tomorrow is our first day without guests in over two weeks! We were looking forward to a quiet day, but I think we’ll be plowing snow and grooming trails as we just got about 6 inches of snow in the last 4 hours. So much for a day “off”!

Posted by Tasha

Wednesday, March 2nd, 2011

News from Ed...So far, so great!

The drive up was near perfect. I gambled and ran out of fuel near
Tok, AK on Saturday night (thanks for the help Scott, Faila, and
Jeremy). Other than that story, it was uneventful. We made it from
Newberry, MI to Palmer, AK in 3 days 5 hours!! By far our fastest
trip ever.

Since we were early we went and watched the third day of the Fur Rondy
sprint race in Anchorage. Two of our friends were racing in it for
their first time, Ryan Redington and Jake Berkowitz, so it was pretty
cool to see.

The dogs then got their EKG's and bloodwork done on Sunday afternoon.
The staff helping came from New Mexico, Arizona, Pennsylvania, and
Oregon! Thank you again ladies for volunteering your time and airfare
to help take care of my dogs.

Sunday night we ventured up to our host "family", Jake Berkowitz in
Big Lake. Jake used to work for us and through that connection has
become a very good friend. Not to mention he is an amazing dog racer
too.

Monday I ran my very enthusiastic and well rested Iditarod team out of
Jake's kennel and ended up on an old section of the original iditarod
trail. It was Awesome!!!! I met a couple of teams on the trail, one
being Pete Kaiser. He is only 23 years old but has done well racing
and has a nice looking team. My team looked healthy and very happy on
the run and they were more than ready to get out of the truck. Rhu's
shoulder that I have been worrying about seems to have recovered and
she looks ready to go.

Another highlight for me this year is the fact that Trent Herbst is
staying at Jake's place too. Trent is one of the most adventerous
people I know and his stories always amaze me. Jim and Cliff got
introduced to a musher story telling session when Jake, Trent, and
Pete started swapping stories after the dog run. I was still out on
the trail so I am not sure what was said but they seemed amused.

Today(Tuesday) we did a training run in Denali National Park. It was
a perfect zero degree and sunny day. The dogs did not run very well
but life is still great!

Posted by Ed

Tuesday, March 1st, 2011

I spoke with Ed this morning about Iditarod preparations in Alaska. The dogs all passed their ECG's on Sunday, so all are good to go with that. He, Cliff, and Jim were headed to Denali National Park today for a training run. He said it was sunny, warm-ish, and beautfiul so they were looking forward to taking a lot of photos with the great scenery and mountains in the background. Jess and I are doing great with tours here, and have had two groups of repeat guest the past two days, Heidi and Dan Harmon returned from a tour previously this winter, and tonight Jim is out at winter camp for his second time this winter, along with Wayne who has been here for 5 previous winters! It's so great having familiar faces! The trails are in perfect condition and the dogs are all running great. Wayne, the link to Sebastian Schnuelle's Yukon Quest re-cap is http://www.dogsleddingtheyukonquest.com/e/journal/2011/90_yukon-quest-recap.php I'm sure a few others would enjoy reading it as well. Hopefully Ed's Iditarod re-cap is NOT that exciting! Also, don't forget to sign up for the Nature's Kennel fantasy mushing game, http://www.natureskennel.com/fantasy/index.php your teams need to be picked by the time the Iditarod starts on Saturday!

Posted by Tasha

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