Well, I'm tired but I want to write before I don't want to write, so here it goes.
Ran twice last weekend. Had to run out of trail head, which I typically avoid at all costs. I bet it started a bunch of bad habits, but to hell with it; we'll be on totally new trails before long. There's a sharp turn right out of the gate, so instead of running my full 6dog, I split them up into two 3 dogs. It actually worked great. It kept the speed down and let them really lean in and work. Rachel and Bren led one team on Saturday and Heini and Fred led the second.
Rachel isn't a driving leader so that was a lot of ask of her. She kept her head down, but she really didn't want to be up there doing that much work. Like I said in an earlier post, I've used her up front already this season and she rocked, but that was in front of the full 6dog. This was slower and a little more stressful, so I made sure to move her back on Sunday.
Sunday I let Bren lead again, this time next to Fred and in front of both the boys. Speaking of driving leader, Brennan is pure gold. She literally drove them hard enough to pull a tree. Yes, we actually cleared the trail when the rig got hung up on a downed tree.
The second team that day was Tune in front of Heini and Rachel. Heini needs the occasional break and Rachel was also happy to be behind someone. We would have added some speed with Heini next to Tune, but it was good to let her relax a little in back and just pull.
May has been leading wonderfully so far. I really think she'll do wonders at Jill's kennel this winter.
Hmmmm other news? We've been feeding twice a day. That paired with having the whole week off should get some weight on everyone. Rachel is a little scrawny these past few weeks.
And I suppose that is all for now.
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
she said, “look me up when you get back to town.” “look you up,” i said. “hell, i’m gonna hunt you down.”
This is probably the most overdone topic in the history of the world, but I'm going to write about my dogs' names. Deal with it.
Monsters I've named: Connor, Brewer, Brennan, Brother, London, Roman, Rebel, May, Eve, Elsie, Oakley, Jockey. Oh, and years ago there was a certain houndy son of a gun I called Grover. I think they all kind of go together come to think of it. They're all rather dignified and strong, but not clunky or contrived.
Names in my kennel that I would never consider in a million years but that I've come to like: Rachel, Fox, Petunia, Heini. They're sharp with tons of personality. Fox is a super common name, but it doesn't bother me. The others are quirky and cute.
I think Keytone is an awesome name for a dog. Sharp and completely unique.
Boring names: Juneau, Aurora, Star, Klondike. All so overdone. I actually named all of them except for Star, but I was 11. Give me a break.
I guess Freddie should be added to the "I would never consider this name" group. For a male, lame. But for a female? It just about works.
Oh, and in total disclosure, I should add Sosa, Delta and Trotter to dogs I've named....and summarily sold.
Let's see...what about meaning? Connor was named because of the Irish connotations. Brewer and Delta were named after places in Maine. London I like because it's rugged...as in Jack London. Grover, Eve, Brennan and Roman just came to me. One of those weird things where you look at the beastie and just know. Kenny and Lori have (had?) a Brother. He was a leader and a pretty cool guy. I just thought it was a fun name....and plus, my Brother dog has three sisters, so he really is THE brother. All of the boring names were my being a little girl with dreams of Alaska and all the snow in the word on my body; they sounded so noble and adventurous back then. Oakley, May and London were names I'd liked for a while and just needed a dog for them. I thought of Reb specifically for him, same with Jockey (now Joppy) and Elsie. Trotter started out as Johnny Walker, to be called Johnny, because I wanted to play along with the "liquor cabinet" theme my friend has. BUT, then I decided to be all witty and call him Johnny Trotter, because he was a sled dog and all, you know. But THEN, he wouldn't run for a damn so I have him to my dad. He called him Clyde, but I hated it....I sold him as Trotter because Clyde is a dumb name and I couldn't possibly let my father win. And Sosa was, oh lordy, this a terrible note to end on...Sosa was named for Sammy Sosa because, ummm, he's an incredible black athlete. But when the buyer asked what his name meant, I just said he was a sports legend. Politically correct, for the win.
What's interesting to me is that Kenny and Lori give the weirdest names, but they usually fit well enough. I don't change the dog's name after he's had a season on him, because usually they know it by then, but I do change a yearling's name. Before I had that rule (more of a guideline, really...), I tried to change Rachel's, but I kept accidentally calling her Rachel anyway. I never bothered to change Heini's because I hadn't planned to keep her. By the time I decided I wanted her, she was Heini to me. I was also going to change Freddie's, but she knew it so well I didn't bother. Brennan (Tazzy), London (Elf) and Roman (Coty) all got new and better names, though!
Monsters I've named: Connor, Brewer, Brennan, Brother, London, Roman, Rebel, May, Eve, Elsie, Oakley, Jockey. Oh, and years ago there was a certain houndy son of a gun I called Grover. I think they all kind of go together come to think of it. They're all rather dignified and strong, but not clunky or contrived.
Names in my kennel that I would never consider in a million years but that I've come to like: Rachel, Fox, Petunia, Heini. They're sharp with tons of personality. Fox is a super common name, but it doesn't bother me. The others are quirky and cute.
I think Keytone is an awesome name for a dog. Sharp and completely unique.
Boring names: Juneau, Aurora, Star, Klondike. All so overdone. I actually named all of them except for Star, but I was 11. Give me a break.
I guess Freddie should be added to the "I would never consider this name" group. For a male, lame. But for a female? It just about works.
Oh, and in total disclosure, I should add Sosa, Delta and Trotter to dogs I've named....and summarily sold.
Let's see...what about meaning? Connor was named because of the Irish connotations. Brewer and Delta were named after places in Maine. London I like because it's rugged...as in Jack London. Grover, Eve, Brennan and Roman just came to me. One of those weird things where you look at the beastie and just know. Kenny and Lori have (had?) a Brother. He was a leader and a pretty cool guy. I just thought it was a fun name....and plus, my Brother dog has three sisters, so he really is THE brother. All of the boring names were my being a little girl with dreams of Alaska and all the snow in the word on my body; they sounded so noble and adventurous back then. Oakley, May and London were names I'd liked for a while and just needed a dog for them. I thought of Reb specifically for him, same with Jockey (now Joppy) and Elsie. Trotter started out as Johnny Walker, to be called Johnny, because I wanted to play along with the "liquor cabinet" theme my friend has. BUT, then I decided to be all witty and call him Johnny Trotter, because he was a sled dog and all, you know. But THEN, he wouldn't run for a damn so I have him to my dad. He called him Clyde, but I hated it....I sold him as Trotter because Clyde is a dumb name and I couldn't possibly let my father win. And Sosa was, oh lordy, this a terrible note to end on...Sosa was named for Sammy Sosa because, ummm, he's an incredible black athlete. But when the buyer asked what his name meant, I just said he was a sports legend. Politically correct, for the win.
What's interesting to me is that Kenny and Lori give the weirdest names, but they usually fit well enough. I don't change the dog's name after he's had a season on him, because usually they know it by then, but I do change a yearling's name. Before I had that rule (more of a guideline, really...), I tried to change Rachel's, but I kept accidentally calling her Rachel anyway. I never bothered to change Heini's because I hadn't planned to keep her. By the time I decided I wanted her, she was Heini to me. I was also going to change Freddie's, but she knew it so well I didn't bother. Brennan (Tazzy), London (Elf) and Roman (Coty) all got new and better names, though!
if you wanna impress me, baby, here's my plan, all you gotta do is put a drink in my hand
For anyone who saw a few weird posts that were in no way related to dogs, those were on purpose. I had to turn in some work for a class, but I have no word processor on my computer, so I typed everything into the blog and turned it in like that. Ahhhh modern technology.
We were up at Lost Lake this past weekend and it was a blast, per usual. I only got one run in, but it was a good one. I've got to slow them down a tad until we get a few more miles because the speed is a little much, especially throwing it at London all at once.
Eve has continued to be awesome in harness, and she behaved beautifully the whole weekend.
Mr. Mystery Monster came home last night! He hailed from Pennsylvania (but is out of Kenny and Lori's kennel) and he has already seemingly adjusted perfectly. He's so damn sweet. I'm already sold on him, and I have good reason to believe he's going to be an incredible asset. His puppy name is Coty, but I'm thinking he's a Roman.
Good news on the Siberian front. A great MUSH member and owner of Oak's brothers will be leasing May and Jop for the season. I'm happy about it because that way they get plenty of training AND racing. I'm still him-hawing about Tune and Bruce. I could lease them out together or keep them and run them with Beaver. Star could possibly go with them to make a 3 dog. We'd still have Brother and Oak. I haven't completely made up my mind on that second chunk of dogs....still chewing it over.
I'd like to get 3 days in this coming weekend. Next weekend (22 and 23) is the training run at Kalkaska. I'm looking forward to the good ole All Seasons and a nice dip in the hot tub!
We were up at Lost Lake this past weekend and it was a blast, per usual. I only got one run in, but it was a good one. I've got to slow them down a tad until we get a few more miles because the speed is a little much, especially throwing it at London all at once.
Eve has continued to be awesome in harness, and she behaved beautifully the whole weekend.
Mr. Mystery Monster came home last night! He hailed from Pennsylvania (but is out of Kenny and Lori's kennel) and he has already seemingly adjusted perfectly. He's so damn sweet. I'm already sold on him, and I have good reason to believe he's going to be an incredible asset. His puppy name is Coty, but I'm thinking he's a Roman.
Good news on the Siberian front. A great MUSH member and owner of Oak's brothers will be leasing May and Jop for the season. I'm happy about it because that way they get plenty of training AND racing. I'm still him-hawing about Tune and Bruce. I could lease them out together or keep them and run them with Beaver. Star could possibly go with them to make a 3 dog. We'd still have Brother and Oak. I haven't completely made up my mind on that second chunk of dogs....still chewing it over.
I'd like to get 3 days in this coming weekend. Next weekend (22 and 23) is the training run at Kalkaska. I'm looking forward to the good ole All Seasons and a nice dip in the hot tub!
Sunday, October 2, 2011
it's a white flag, it's a stop sign, it's the last long drag on a marlboro light...
Six runs in and I already feel like this season is off to an awesome start!
Beyond the run at the Vineyards, our official start was September 24. That morning I ran on the road with the rig and used Tune and Heini in front of Rachel and London. It was my first time driving London and I was immediately blown away. We did 2 miles on the nose.
I loaded up that afternoon and headed up to Gary's, mostly to get London some truck experience. I ran teams that night and again in the morning on just a quick quarter/half mile loop.
We did a lot of sitting last week....it literally rained all day, every day, but we have certainly made up for it this weekend! I've had the main team out three times and everyone else got out at least once. Friday night (in the rain!) I ran the main team, minus London (just in case something happened between the almost darkness and not being able to stop; didn't want to put him in a bad situation), led by Heini and Bren, and then a full Sibe team with May, Star, Jop and Oak.
Got my butt outta bed Saturday morning and ran the full hound team (London included), led by Bren and Fred, then another full Sibe team led by May and Jop with Brother and Star in back.
THEN, this morning (Sunday) I...you guessed it, ran the full hound team, led by Fred and Rachel (both were GREAT), and used Tune and Fox in front of Brew and Eve to ease Evie into rig training. She drove like mad! I was really impressed.
Busy, busy! I might be able to get out Wednesday night, and other than that, I plan to run Friday, Saturday and Sunday at Lost Lake. We started with a shaky two miles, went back down to one mile for a few runs, and they really got their wind. This morning we did two absolutely no problem, so I'll probably stick to all two-milers at Lost Lake.
Beyond the run at the Vineyards, our official start was September 24. That morning I ran on the road with the rig and used Tune and Heini in front of Rachel and London. It was my first time driving London and I was immediately blown away. We did 2 miles on the nose.
I loaded up that afternoon and headed up to Gary's, mostly to get London some truck experience. I ran teams that night and again in the morning on just a quick quarter/half mile loop.
We did a lot of sitting last week....it literally rained all day, every day, but we have certainly made up for it this weekend! I've had the main team out three times and everyone else got out at least once. Friday night (in the rain!) I ran the main team, minus London (just in case something happened between the almost darkness and not being able to stop; didn't want to put him in a bad situation), led by Heini and Bren, and then a full Sibe team with May, Star, Jop and Oak.
Got my butt outta bed Saturday morning and ran the full hound team (London included), led by Bren and Fred, then another full Sibe team led by May and Jop with Brother and Star in back.
THEN, this morning (Sunday) I...you guessed it, ran the full hound team, led by Fred and Rachel (both were GREAT), and used Tune and Fox in front of Brew and Eve to ease Evie into rig training. She drove like mad! I was really impressed.
Busy, busy! I might be able to get out Wednesday night, and other than that, I plan to run Friday, Saturday and Sunday at Lost Lake. We started with a shaky two miles, went back down to one mile for a few runs, and they really got their wind. This morning we did two absolutely no problem, so I'll probably stick to all two-milers at Lost Lake.
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