It’s Sunday, April 12th and we find it’s still winter on Easter Day. Yesterday afternoon and today we saw the temperatures finally rise above freezing. There is currently only one puddle – conveniently right at the front door – which freezes into a sheet of ice every night. There’s a hint of Spring now.
Almost every morning we hook up a dog team. This morning was gorgeous and we decided on a 12-dog mix and match team.
We are not the only mushers taking advantage of the late mushing conditions. The trails seem almost as packed as they were back in December. It’s great to see folks on the trail because we are not seeing many other people these days.
Ziptie is the only dog at SP Kennel who has an April birthday. In our current crazy world, we thought a humorous celebration was called for today. And boy… did we have one!
Hope you enjoy!
The theme of Ziptie’s party was a “Lab Party”. She only invited Labrador Retrievers. The Huskys were a little pissed off and Amber bit her on the bum this morning. Ouch.
Tig accepted her invite early on. She insisted that we push back the time of the party to late afternoon because she wakes up from her fourth nap at 3:30PM. Sam and Kaz’s dog, Starbuck, the other Lab in the neighborhood, said that she would only come if the party biscuits we were serving are grain-free and pasture fed meat. She is picky. We explained that we received special treats from Ziptie’s sponsor, Metta, and we were sure they were 100% healthy. She agreed to come but only if Sam could join her. The only issue left was that Starbuck is a Yellow Lab and she wouldn’t look right in a red Birthday t-shirt. Ziptie decided that was okay since she is technically color-blind and Sam found Starbuck a blue shirt anyhow. Overall, the party was a great success. Maybe you will agree. We took a video of the three girls enjoying their Party Treats.
If you enjoyed that… probably even more humorous are the video outtakes.
This is my attempt at a “copy cat video” taken from a video with 13 dogs and a cat eating Thanksgiving Dinner. I’ll share it at the bottom of this page. I have watched it many, many times (at Thanksgiving and not) and always enjoyed it tremendously. The dogs are so wonderful. (So is the kitty!) Today I just learned that those dogs were from the Humane Society of Utah. The film makers borrowed them from the shelter in order to shoot the video. Many of them were available for adoption. That makes me SMILE even more than the actual video.
In this CRAZY world, when I find myself questioning the world and the motives and thoughts of some people, I think about the fact that those film people put so much time and effort into that video with a bunch shelter dogs that they didn’t even know. That makes me feel like there is always hope. Sometimes we just have to look in strange places to see it.
To mark the end of the racing season we have done a double dog fan club draw.
Congratulations to Heidi Phillips who is a fan of Spark and Ferne and Dennis Cornell who are fans of Decaf. You win a set of signed race guides from the 2020 Yukon Quest and Iditarod, a packet of the SP Kennel M&M’s, a glam shot of your dogs and some other kennel goodies.
Spark
Decaf
Sparkie-doo-dah and DD are two of the most silly and fun loving dogs at SP Kennel. They bring a smile to everyone whether they are playing at home, romping in the field or running down the trail. It’s really important to find someone in your life that brings you joy and Spark and Decaf do just that! Aliy took Spark, Decaf and Ziptie out for a walk to celebrate their Dog Fan Club win:
To find out more about our athletes look at the “Dogs” page. To join the Dog Fan Club you can hit the “Become a Dog Fan” tab at the top of the page or click here. We will have more Dog Fan Club draws and more goodies to give away through the summer.
In Two Rivers, Alaska the conditions are nearly perfect for dog mushing. While our daytime temperatures are a little warm, that is only in comparison to our average daytime temps in January which were in the -30ºF to -40ºF range. Remember those days?
The dogs still have tons of energy and absolutely love to get out and run down the trail. When we have such willing and excited companions it is fun to get out there. I would almost say that I experience I touch of ‘dog guilt’ when a dog team doesn’t leave the yard on a gorgeous, springtime, snowy day. (NOTE: you will either understand ‘dog guilt’ or not. I’ll leave it at that.)
So since returning from Nome and the Iditarod finish line we have diligently taken of out small dog teams. Karolyn was the most dedicated and ran a team nearly every day. But with Alaska’s ‘Shelter in Place’ mandate, she no longer comes to the kennel. While we all miss her – probably Gravy misses her the most. She’ll be back. (I told Gravy that we could FaceTime her this weekend if he got desperate!)
But now Sam has stepped up and goes out on a dog sled a couple times a week. Two Rivers Elementary is closed. His school started a Remote Learning Online program on March 30 but that gives Sam more opportunity to mush and help around the kennel. The pluses and minuses of all this…
We took two dog teams out on the trail yesterday. We harnessed: five dogs who raced Iditarod – two that left the team early (Kodiak and Chevie) and three that finished in Nome (Dutch, Junior and Jefe). We also had three dogs who raced the Yukon Quest (Commando, Chipper and Scooby) and one fellah who reluctantly sat out those both of those of races: Nomex.
Upon returning to the kennel with those two teams, Bruno looked at us like: “What the Heck?!”
“Why didn’t I get to go?”
As many of you might remember, he was the first dog that left the Iditarod 2020 team in Rainy Pass. He has been out on a fun run as well, but for some reason he didn’t go yesterday. Sam thought it would be best if we showed everyone that Bruno looks great and no one needs to worry about how healthy or happy he is these days. Here he is:
I have been videoing my adventures on the Iditarod Trail for 10 years.
Macgellan and Scooter the puppy.
In 2010, our friend, Macgellan had me start recording “Aliy Cams” after telling me: “Of course people would be interested in seeing what is happening first hand while you are out on the race! Duh.” Competitive dog mushers – 10 years ago – didn’t think about those kind of things. Macgellan made it easy for me because he set me up with a fantastic camcorder, a powerful battery backup and a sled mount. As I raced down the trail I could just press ‘RECORD’. He would download, edit and upload all my content. He used his ‘Macgellan YouTube Channel’ to link these videos to the original SPK Dog Log. You will find some of my older SP Kennel videos, as well as the oldest Iditarod “Aliy Cams” on the Macgellan YouTube Channel – SPKennel Playlist. We got amazing responses to my videos. They made mushing across the Alaskan wilderness an interactive experience for people who would never get on a dog sled or adventure out into the Alaskan wilds. After Macgellan got my foot in the door, both my feet have since stayed stuck in that door frame and I have been recording Iditarod “Aliy Cams” ever since.
Moira records an ‘Aliy Cam’ Ceremonial start.
Moira came to SP Kennel and she continued in Macgellan’s footsteps. She knew the importance of reaching our fans and dog lovers with these videos. (I mean how can you NOT fall in love with Junior when you meet her as a puppy in: “Winter is Here” video, see her and her brother in lead in a mushing video: “Team Up Close” and then see her have puppies of her own: “Here is a Puppy Fix”.) So we have continued to record, edit and upload videos in and around SP Kennel as well as documenting my Iditarod races with ‘Aliy Cams’
During the 2020 race I captured some fun video footage. I looked through all those videos in the last 2 days. I will start to edit individual video segments then hopefully add a story or two to go along with that footage and post that on the website. For now, I put together a 2020 ‘Aliy Cam’: Iditarod Summary Episode. Hope you enjoy. Here it is:
Many of my 10 years of videos are catalogued for public viewing on the SPKDogLog YouTube Channel. You can use their Search Engine on our Channel in order to look up: “Aliy Cam” or “Iditarod” and view some of the older videos. There are some from 10 years ago and as of today, there will be the 2020 Aliy Cam Iditarod Summary Episode.
There are some lesser viewed Aliy Cams that I personally love to rewatch. One is the Iditarod 2014 “Aliy Cam”: No Snow because it’s just crazy that I mushed dogs in those conditions. Another is from last year and shows the Shelter Cabin between Elim and Golivin and you can see the amazing power of the coastal storms from this video AliyCamID2019Episode19. Another favorite is ID: AliyCam2016 “Camp Spot” because it was an very emotional time for us that race and Schmoe stayed awake in order to keep watch over all of us. He was a GREAT dog! I could go on and on…
Take note that some Aliy Cam years are harder to “Search for…” on YouTube.com because I didn’t use the words “Aliy” and “Cam” separately in the video titles. Some of the titles words are words squished together like the 2016IDAliyCamDalzell. Perhaps one of my next office jobs is to sort all my videos into Playlists on my YouTube Channel. Yikes… I can dream, right?
My hand is cramped. That’s my only complaint. Normally we send the “We Made it to Nome!” postcards from… well, Nome. But the situation being what it is, the Nome Postcards didn’t make it to Nome (we should have packed them in my dog sled. Ha!)
Ziptie trying to be supportive of my Postcard efforts but kept falling asleep.Doug addressing and stamping.
Anyhow, as I mentioned I was going to get them written and sent this week. Okay. I might have said “mailed by Thursday” and I do realize that it is now Saturday. Trailside Mail Post Office is open today until 2PM so my drop off is @ 1PM. (NOTE: the international postcards are delayed until I can get to a Post Office in Fairbanks. We are now under a State-Wide ‘Shelter in Place’ mandate so… well. I just don’t know when they will be posted.)
Anyhow… Done! ✅
(And don’t feel sorry for me… my hand was cramped already from ski poling 1,000 miles on Iditarod. It’s not a new complaint.)
Hi! I haven’t been in touch in ages and so much has changed since Iditarod start. What a whirlwind we have all been on, eh? Our world is a bit upside down. I feel like I just need to ‘Check In’ with you all.
Here’s our current SPK status:
All dogs and humans returned from Nome on either Saturday night or Sunday morning. We all watched the ‘Elim Eleven’ Iditarod trackers diligently as those teams crossed the finish line. So much effort by so many people – the 2020 Iditarod was an incredible adventure for all.
Our SPK Crew is hunkered down in Alaska. Aliy, Allen, Karolyn, Doug, Sam and Kaz are in Two Rivers. Moira made it back to New Zealand but has been in strict quarantine. Bridgett, Scotty and the boys were in Nome for a few days and now back in Fairbanks. Bridgett is an ER nurse so she is busier than all of us. Most of the rest of our support crew never traveled to Nome for the finish.
Speaking of Iditarod:
the ‘Nome Postcards’ will be mailed today from Two Rivers (while the dog team made it to Nome… the postcards didn’t. They were slated to travel as baggage with an SPK crew member who didn’t make the trip. The City of Nome asked that we limited Iditarod spectators as much as possible.) Let’s see how long this postcard takes to get to you in our current situation.
Aliy Cam videos are in fact on my camera. I looked at a couple videos yesterday and will start posting them soon. They will be fun for me to sort through and perhaps you will enjoy a few moments of Iditarod magic.
I have much more to sort through as I make my way through my pile of mail, students letters and well-wishes from everyone. I promise to get back to you all.
Finally, I have a lot of pondering to do about my race: 10 and a half days on Iditarod is a lot to think about. I have already started my Trail Notes because the self reflection helps me. Overall, I am happy with the dogs and their complete dedication to me. And I am happy with my ability to mush the team across 1,000 miles of incredibly challenging conditions with out fail. I am not happy with my final placement in the race and the fact that we never even had a chance to win this year. I may determine “what happened” out there after some reflection or I may never understand. Either way, I take immense pride in my ability to mush my dog team 1,000 miles – reaching the Nome finish line – now 20 years in a row.
The Dogs.
They are still a fun, happy bunch. My Iditarod Team was delighted to leave Nome. As you can imagine we were trying to get them out of the Nome Dog Yard ASAP. Communications were challenging this year and many of the teams that had not reached Nome yet made flight reservations before we did. There was a constant backlog – especially when the blizzard winds from Mother Nature cancelled airline flights. Everyone in Nome did the best they could to get dogs and mushers back to Anchorage and beyond.
In the end, we snuck our dog team onto a full flight that included several of the BlackHawk helicopter rescued teams. For that reason, we reduced the number of dog crates for our teammates’ travel. We had eleven dogs who traveled in 8 crates: Violet & Amber, Cloud & Decaf and Spark & Junior traveled tandem. The three extra crates were crammed onto my sled. It all worked out well in the end and more dogs were able to leave the Nome Dog Yard. This freed up spaces for the ‘Elim Eleven’ teams.
The logistics didn’t stop there.
The flight with the dogs arrived prior to any of us. So Linda, Wayne, Claire and JoAnne greeted them at Anchorage Airport. They had to load and tie down the sled, gear and dog crates for the 350 mile drive north. (Thanks Wayne… the sleds did not blow off the truck in route!) Karolyn and Doug landed soon after. They had a quick layover in Anchorage in order for Karolyn to give the dogs a big meal. Then Karolyn and Doug went back to the Anchorage Airport and flew to Fairbanks. Allen and I flew in from Nome that evening and Linda (apparently she is our Anchorage Uber) picked us up and brought us to Hollywood (which was parked at her house in Anchorage.) We greeted the dogs – including Kodiak and Chevie who had left my team earlier – had a quick “Howdy” with Linda and Midnight and then started the drive to Two Rivers at 10:30PM. Mother Nature tried to sidetrack us again with sleet and icy roads but we drove slowly and made it back to the kennel at 7AM Sunday morning. It was probably the best time to drive as we saw only sleeping Truckers on the road and just a couple moose.
I thought Monday would be a great day to sort gear, take a nap and catch up with my life at the kennel. Nope. Mother Nature had her way again. Monday afternoon thru Wednesday (yesterday) we had a gigantic snow storm. I honestly don’t remember having this much snow at one time in the last 20 years! The priority for the last 48 hours was digging out dog houses, pens, our house and our driveway. We shoveled all the flat roofs off at SPK so the snow load didn’t flatten those buildings. Our snow plow is our ATV 4 Wheeler that clears a 2 to 3 foot swath – so Allen and I took turns plowing as the snow continued to fall. The main road was not plowed until last night so Karolyn couldn’t even make it to SPK either. Doug and Kaz dug out generators and fuel containers so we could keep our power running. Sam built a Rock Star snowman (someone has to maintain a sense of what’s important, right?)
Olivia feels a bit confined in the Plaza. This is AFTER we shovel it out.
Anyhow – here I sit Thursday morning drinking coffee. Mother Nature has given us a weather reprieve.
So I have one goal today: MAIL THE NOME POSTCARDS! I’ll let you know how that goes.
The team is back in Two Rivers after their adventure!
They flew NAC from Nome to Anchorage and were well taken care of by the staff and crew of the airline. The airline is experienced in moving dog teams around Alaska so they were in great hands.
Thanks to Linda, Wayne, Claire and JoAnne for greeting the team off the plane, packing all the kennels and sleds back into the truck and keeping them company until the human contingent made it back from Nome. It’s quite a major undertaking to get the team home from Nome and we thank everyone who made it not just possible, but safe and drama-free.
Almost every morning we hook up a dog team. This morning was gorgeous and we decided on a 12-dog mix and match team.
