February 20, 2010
Well, I guess it has been more than a month since our last entry; opps apologies to those who have been reading our entries regularly. A thumbnail sketch of or past month is this: we raced at the wilderness 100 on Feb 6th. The trail for the 30-mi race was fantastic. I (Shannon) had a view of Mt. Katahdin nearly the entire race it was beautiful. The day was perfect and our team of dogs finished happily wagging with Dragon in single lead (much to my surprise as Dragon has never been a lead dog before: but she is now - what a dog!)
Next update: Yellow is due to have puppies on 28 February. She has grown considerably and we can now feel the puppies in her belly moving and kicking. She is very happy and content at the moment.
Check out the photo of her, in the house! enjoying some belly rubs from Chelsea.
The warm weather is softening our trails, and to date they are still usable. We hope to be able to continue mushing with sleds until the end of March. Jeff has been doing trail maintenance almost daily to ensure a good trail surface. Our next race is the Can Am 30 on 6 March. We are hoping for cooler weather for good hard trails.
January 16, 2010
Eagle Lake 100 Sled Dog Race; Eagle Lake, ME USA
The NWS race team completed their first race on Saturday Jan 16. Shannon drove six of our great huskies in the 30 mile race. We were really proud of the dogs and pleased with the outcome of the race.
It is interesting how small the community of dog mushers is; we met many other mushers who knew our dogs from their previous kennels. We met Yellow's breeder; who is a long distance racer from Quebec, who had Yellow's parents on his 100 mile race team. It was really neat for us to learn more about Yellow's genetic history and meet her parents and one of her litter mates.
We made some new friends and look forward to seeing them again at future races. Everyone was friendly, helpful and welcoming to the "new" mushers from New Brunswick.
For more race photos checkout our Northwoods Survival Facebook page.
January 10, 2010
We have a new neighbour at NWS, living in our woodpile and sometimes in the headlight of one of our trucks; an ermine who we have affectionately named "Yeti". Jeff first discovered him sitting and looking in the porch; maybe munching some dog kibble. We later saw him in the woodpile and then he gave Jeff a surprise when he came out of the headlight bracket in our truck.
January 8, 2010
We always share with you our updates about our dogs and the guide service side of NWS; but we are multi-functional here on the Ridge and we have a great flock of chickens who have not been producing many eggs for the past couple of months. We have 9 hens who are all young; 7 barred plymouth rocks, 1 banty and 1 mixed-green-egg-laying hen. So, we should have a daily average of 5 eggs. What we have been receiving is one egg every second day; not a very good return. They live in a draft free coop, with windows, fresh straw, water, quality grain and a few hours of artificial light each evening. (one really cold days & nights we turn a heatlamp on) All of the right elements for happy "productive" chickens.......but still no eggs!! Yesterday I went into the coop as I do everyday to re-fill grain, give fresh warm water and vegetable scraps from the kitchen and collect the single egg. I greeted all of the chickens and counted them, just to make sure no one slipped out during the night; all were accounted for and one barred rock was hanging out in a nesting box. I paid little attention to the "nesting" hen. Today, when I entered the chicken coop there were 14 eggs in one nesting box!! HOLY MOLY! I had to rub my eyes and look again; I thought for sure I was seeing things. So, I thanked the chickens for their hard work, collected the eggs in a small bucket and hope that this is the re-beginning of our supply of fresh eggs.
"NWS chickens during the summer when they were still small"
January 7, 2010
The annual visit to the vet's office for vaccinations and check-ups was this afternoon. All dogs received a good health report.
January 5, 2010
We enjoyed our first night run of the season. Just Jeff and I am two dogs teams; and of course headlamps! It was not a clear night but headlamps and snow make for bright enough seeing conditions. It was -2'c with slight flurries. The dogs had a great time cruising around each turn and sailing along the trails. What a great way to cap off the evening.
January 4, 2010
Have you ever wondered what the inside of an adventure guide's home looks like? We've posted a couple of pictures of Jeff and I doing sled maintenance in our living room; yes it is a bit inconvenient but it is warm!
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