Looks Like An Early Spring Once Again

As it did last year it appears that spring has made a early arrival here in Lake Elmore. We ran our last dogsled tour at Stowe Mountain Resort on Tuesday, March 16th. There were bare spots on the trail that night which begin to grow rapidly once they start. When March temperatures reach 65 degrees the snow disappears very quickly; too quickly. This leaves me sitting here wondering where the winter went. After such a intense flurry of activity it is very anticlimactic when it comes to a screeching halt. We were able to meet up with some friends in New Hampshire for one last sled outing this past weekend. The conditions proved to be less than perfect for sledding but it was still great to get out on a sled with the dogs one last time.

Other than things ending too soon we had a fantastic sledding season with hundreds of wonderful guests from all walks of life and many parts of the world. Thank you one and all for your continued support. The dogs were also a joy to work with this winter. With all of the new dogs and fall training problems I had I was beginning to wonder if things would ever come together but they did. We ended up having two very strong eight dog teams plus a couple of extra dogs to help fill in the gaps. One of those extras was our one year old Pacem who is showing some amazing potential. She only ran one run a day this season but always wanted more. She ran in lead a dozen times and seems very comfortable with the roll. She has a lot of drive and adds a high level of energy to the front of the team. I'm looking forward to scooter training with her this spring and with a little bit of luck she may become one of my main leaders next season. In this photo Pacem is the second dog to the right following Buck who is in single lead. Buck is the best lead dog I currently have and the hope is that Pacem is learning from watching him. Bucks sister Etta is laying down next to Pacem.

On other fronts I have begun building a small green house. I am taking over the garden this year with the goal of increasing our food production and decreasing the amount of food we have to buy from outside sources. I just picked up our seed order from High Mowing Seeds yesterday and will be planting this afternoon. I'm a couple of weeks behind schedule but am hoping that the green house will help make up for that. The garden work is helping me keep busy as the sledding abruptly ends . Often spring can be a depressing time for a musher. Having something else to focus on can help one get through that period. Before I know it we'll be running with carts again and looking forward to another winter of sledding with the gang!

Good News - Bad News

I always like to get the bad news out of the way so I can enjoy the good news without worrying so that said. The bad news is that my main team of dogs had a run in with a porcupine a week ago Thursday while running a night tour at Stowe Mountain Resort. Coming around a slight downhill corner with a full sled at about fifteen miles an hour I noticed a dark object in the trail ahead. In the few seconds that I had time to think "what the heck is that?!" the entire team had moved directly toward the object. I threw in the snow hook and ran to the front of the team to find a huge porcupine and seven out of eight dogs covered with quills. As the porcupine slowly waddled across the trail I tried with all of the energy I could muster to hold the eight dog team from following him/her. The porcupine eventually climbed a tree and I was able to get the dogs moving forward again. The next challenge was to convince them that we needed to take a short cut down the mountain to the truck and not continue to run the return route that they do every other time. I prevailed after a half dozen attempts and we made it back to the dog truck in five minutes. We said good night to our guests, loaded the dogs in the truck and headed to our veterinarian's office as quickly as possible. Two hours later with four heavily sedated dogs we were headed home and hoping for the best.

                                                             Buck and Muddy

That's the bad news. The good news is that after just over a week the entire team seems to be pretty well recovered. Muddy and Buck who were in lead on on my team took the brunt of it. Both of them not only had a mouth full of quills but their legs, shoulders and chests were pretty well cover as well. They have both been limping for over a week but have shown much improvement in the past two days.With any luck most of the quills have been removed and we won't have any long term issues resulting from this encounter.

In other news; back in the fall Peace Pups met up with the crew and producer of an Italian television show called Donnavventura. It is a sort of Italian reality show which follows a group of women as they travel to various destinations around the world. We met with them at Stowe Mountain Resort and did a scooter outing and cart rides with them. I was told that we would be on national television in Italy some time in February and that we would be sent a copy of the program on DVD.  I probably won't be able to understand any of it since it will be in Italian but hope to see it at some point just the same. In the mean time they have added a photo album from their visit to Stowe which mostly features the women and our dogs. Obviously they found the women and the dogs to make for much better photos than me so you won't find any mug shots of me.Donnavventura Stowe Photo Album . It all made for a very interesting afternoon and a great experience for all.

Ready For Winter

Happy Thanksgiving Day to those who celebrate this holiday. It is my favorite holiday due to the lack of presents and shopping involved. Good food, friends and family; the important things in life.

As we near the end of November I am in that waiting for winter mode and once again done with my fall to do list. Now that is something to be thankful for!

This winters dog food is in.



The freezer is full of meat for the dogs.




The dog sleds are refinished and ready to run.




And the snow blower and snow plow are on the tractor and ready roll.




And that's just the list from the past two weeks! It seems like I've been preparing for winter for the past three months when we began fall training with the dogs. It amazes me how much time and energy this takes every year. For now it's done and we can sit back and enjoy our nice warm home and with a little bit of luck a nice snowy winter.

As we enter yet another holiday season I try to pause to be thankful for the good fortune I have had in my life. I may not have a lot of money but on this day I have my health, a roof over my head, food on my table and loving family and friends. If only there was a way for everyone to have the good fortune that I have had the world would surely be a better place.