Very Busy

Well, I never expected to be so busy after coming back from Canada. We have had a low snow year so far, but as soon as I went to the American Dog Derby in Ashton, Idaho, it started snowing and blowing like crazy, and it has kept it up ever since. At Ashton, which is only 35 miles from my home, I came in third in the 12-dog class. The 12-dog class ran a 50 mile trail for two days in a row. I thought the dogs did great, setting a new personal best for the distance. Only three mushers signed up for the 12-dog class, so in addition to winning money for third place, they also awarded me a red lantern.

While I was gone at the Ashton race, the kennel got drifted over with snow, and the dog houses were well on their way to being buried. No sooner did I get home than I heard that a dog I loaned to another musher for the winter had gotten loose and was missing up in Lincoln, Montana. I had to drive up there to try to find and catch him. While I was looking for him, I slipped on some ice and suffered a concussion. We had no luck finding him, and I had to return home to care for the rest of my dogs.

It was terribly snowy and windy while I was away, to the point that the highway was closed for part of the time. The dog houses are well and truly buried now, some of them at least a foot below the surface. While I know reasonably well where each house was, it is going to be a monumental task to locate, dig up, and lift up every house in the yard. It took me an hour just to dig up two houses, and my head still hurts from the concussion.

Meanwhile the snow and wind continues. Our front window got halfway buried in just one weekend.







Today Mike shoveled it out so we can at least see again.