Hello, Hello
Once again I am sorry for the delay in getting all this up here. It has been very hectic around the kennel for the past month.
Iditarod as many of you heard did not go as well as planned for DeeDee this year. Though she did finish, and with 15 dogs! This is an amazing feat to complete 1,000 miles with 15 of the 16 dogs that began the race. Her fingers were badly frostbitten and she has spent hours in a hyperbolic chamber to save them and it has been a success!
The Anchorage start was warm, wet, and of course a great time! My dad was able to join us again this year for the start, and we all had a great time getting Dee to the line. When I say wet though, I mean all the snow melted and they ran through almost 3 feet of water on the 7 mile ceremonial run.
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| Snow brought in for the start, but it began melting very fast |
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| Jaimee showing off her awesome gear she made for DeeDee |
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| DeeDee and Peggy |
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| My dad and Ermine |
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| My dad and I |
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| Getting ready to walk to the start |
From Anchorage, we all packed up and left for Fairbanks, AK (restart) on Sunday for the start on Monday. We drove through 3 different snow storms through the mountain ranges, and were welcomed into Fairbanks at about -15F... huge change from 40+F in Anchorage the day before. We stay at our host family who were absolutely wonderful made us great meals and had a nice set up for the dogs to spend the night as well. It was such a huge relief to watch DeeDee leave the starting line. Knowing all it took to get her there this year and all the long days and hard work truly pays off as I watched her go down the shoot being cheered on by hundreds of people.
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| 4am getting ready to begin the journey to Fairbanks |
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| My dad at the start in Fairbanks |
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| Koyuk very excited to get going |
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| We slept in this heated garage very cozy and warm. Our host family took very good care of us and the pups |
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| Mr. Miagyi road home with me from Fairbanks. |
Through the 5 days of Iditarod start, banquet, ceremonial start, Fairbanks start, I believe I managed about 15 hours of sleep, 4/5 meals, and drove about 900 miles.... I do not know how I managed this, but I am glad I am able to do all that I can to help things run smoothly.
Lucky me though, I was able to see DeeDee a few days later at the Galena check point where I spent a week caring for all the drop dogs. Getting to Galena was a bit of a challenge. I drove back from Fairbanks extremely tired, gathered gear for Dee's sled to be shipped, packed myself for the week, and finished some last minute chores. I slept for about 2-3 hours before getting up early to drive into Anchorage, again, to catch my flight out. I know I was exhausted when I came home 9 days later to a dead car battery (I left a light one) and a gallon of spoiling milk I left on my counter...opps...
Galena, however, was completely worth the lack of sleep! I had an amazing time there!
The major of Galena is from Wisconsin! Plus I met another veterinarian from Wisconsin as well.I learned so much about how check points work, what the most common injuries and issues seen in dogs on the trail, and more. I worked with about 10 other women throughout the week and some how we all squeezed into one small room rotating shifts and sleeping times. They were amazing people to work with so much fun and each had something new to teach.
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| Mt. McKinley from a pretty awesome view! |
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| Airport in Galena |
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| Setting up the dog lot |
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| Our first few pups |
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| Straw in the pallet loads |
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| 100's of drop bags waiting for their musher |
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| A lady in town was a huge DeeDee fan and ask if any of us could help personalize her sign... I stepped up and said I'll give you all the dogs names :) |
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| Jeff King was the first one in so he won the big dinner |
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| DeeDee and I in Galena |
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| DeeDee's team getting ready |
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| Ophelia, and Osprey resting before they lead the team out of Galena |
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| So 10 of us ladies shared this room and rotated as our schedules did |
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| Galena sunset |
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| Friend, Alan Stevens team |
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| Dog boxes loaded and getting ready to fly back to Anchorage |
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| Sunset over the Yukon River and Galena airstrip |
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| Our transportation to and from the airport |
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| We got bored and did my hair I guess:) |
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| Giving Jackie so extra love and attention for my friend who had to drop her |
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| Sunset over dog lot |
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| Climbing in dumpsters... |
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| flying home |
I came home from Galena to quite a hectic mess. I was very sick for about a week or two after getting home, but had so much work to do here at the kennel to ensure DeeDee and the dogs came home to a clean health environment. Nothing had been cleaned or put away from the start of the race 9 days prior. So began my last month of intense clean up. I retrieved all the dogs from Anchorage when to flew in from Nome. All were in great health and I was very please to see them all again.
This is just part of the mess I came home to not including the rest of the kennel or my home.... I was very disappointed and stressed out over this.
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| But I began to clean up from both the start and finish at the same time |
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| took a month for everything to come in and man what a smelly trailer |
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| Jarvi relaxing inside |
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| Jolt very happy to be home |
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| Volt and Ophelia |
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| Osprey and Cheddar |
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| Picking up all the kids from Anchorage |
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| After a month of cleaning and organizing I was finally able to say Iditarod gear is officially put away! I did have some help from kennel friends and am so grateful for that! | | |
The other handler left April 1st so I have been caring for the kennel on my own this past month. I also recently got a job in Juneau for the summer. I will be giving dog sled tours on a glacier! This job will allow me to save up some well needed money for Vet school, however it has also caused me to cancel my trip back to WI since I need to be in Juneau by May 1st.... I have been pretty bummed about this, but know I am making the best choice for me and my future. I am excited for a new adventure and to see a whole new area of Alaska and work with new faces.
I will post again soon to wrap up the season, but I really just wanted to get this up since it has been a very busy month.
Also, a huge HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my Lucy girl who is 14 today! Love her and her amazing fun attitude she is something special here at the kennel. I have decided it is best for her to stay here at the kennel when I have to move fore school. She is just so happy here it would break my heart to have to move her away from her friends and her free roaming area to live inside a house all day long.
Puppies are growing fast here in the last month they went from living inside to our whelping pen outside to the big kids puppy pen! They are such sweet hearts, theme super heroes, names: Thor, Iron Man, Wolverine, and Xena
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| Night I got home from Galena |
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| Whelping pen outside |
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| They helped out in Anchorage and were held by many people, great socializing |
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| National Puppy Day! |
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| Thor Cough, Cheese Head, Cough |
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| Ironman |
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| Wolverine |
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| Big kid pen!! |
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| Thor and Ironman |
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| Xena playing with Misty |
Was able to get my friends out on a sled ride as well before the snow all dissipated.
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| Digging trenches for water to drain |
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| Raking up all the straw is a couple months worth of work |
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| Snow melted so we were finally able to start cleaning up after my friends fire |
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| Wisconsin Pride!! |
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| Skyped with a 5th grade class about Iditarod and was sent these awesome thank you cards! |
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| Had to redo a job of putting in s hooks on all the chains because it was done poorly the first time, not a fan of redoing jobs |
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| Went to a bird rehab class and learned how to splint legs |
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| $10 down cost from value village |
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| became the Alaska style zip off over skirts |
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| so much straw.... |
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| Merlot and python are great friends |
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| Annabelle |
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| Meet Dawson Annabelle's sister who just joined out family here! |
I have also designed a shirt that goes along with my blog to maybe help raise some extra funds for vet school. If you like it please consider buying one or sharing it. I love and appreciate all of you for following my journey and being such a huge part of it!
There is a front and back:
http://teespring.com/embrace-the-unexpected
