It was an especially fast-paced week here at SP Kennel, and practically every minute was jam-packed with Iditarod preparation. In the process, I shot and downloaded so much media so fast that I created quite a mess on my Mac. So, the boss gave me the day off from Kennel work and I have spent most of it sorting through pictures and videos, trying to figure out how best to tell the stories. I’m finally just about ready to start editing, and plan to post some really good stuff over the next few days. Along the way today, I found a couple of photos that normally might not merit a post of their own, so I thought I’d share them with you here.
The first photo requires a little explanation. You see, there’s a lot more to taking the dogs out for a training run than just going out in the dog yard and hopping on a sled. Let’s say, for example, that the schedule calls for a run to go out at 1pm. The mushers have to “head outside” an hour before that — at noon — to set up the sleds then harness, bootie and hook-up as many as 40 dogs. They have to start about an hour before that — at 11am — to have something hot to eat, to organize their personal gear, to get dressed, etc. Even before that they have to plan out the run, including which dogs will run in what positions on each team, what trail routes they will take, etc. You can see how an “afternoon run” actually starts shortly after “morning coffee”!
Which brings us to this photo: Running 40 dogs requires 160 booties. At $1 apiece, it is economically impossible to use new booties every day. So, after the booties come off the dogs at the end of a run — soiled in ways that might shock you — they go through the washer and dryer then into a pile on the floor. As part of the “pre-run process” — usually while Aliy updates the “Kennel Brain” — Allen sorts the booties, discarding any that are too worn to be re-used and bunching the rest into sets of four. To put this in perspective, picture yourself having to wash, dry, sort and fold socks for 80 kids every day. It’s certainly not a glamorous job, but it is an important one… Another insight into the life of a dog musher!
This photo is really just for fun: We’ve recently gone through a bad run of extreme temperatures — everything from below -50 to above +50 — that had a pretty negative impact on both the Kennel schedule and on our moods. The past few days have been “perfect” with lows in the morning and evening of -10 to -20 and highs at mid-day around zero. I caught Aliy checking out the thermometer yesterday and said “How about that!”… A picture is worth a thousand words, and it’s nice to get a decent picture of Aliy for a change. Here’s hoping that the weather — and our moods — stay sunny for a while!
That’s it for my “Sunday Catch-Up”… Stay tuned for lots of coverage of our Iditarod preparations, coming your way over the next few days!
