Come Haw!

Day 2 started at Arctic Arrow Kennels passed Wasilla, on the way to Willow. Not only do the folks at Arctic Arrow kennels keep sled dogs, but they have a number of Icelandic horses. The horses get a pretty impressive winter coat. Kelly hit it off with the owners and secured herself an invited back over the summer to ride the horses. Before we were allowed to go mushing, we had to do some chores.

Changing out the straw in the dog's house

Our class got broken up into groups and given jobs. One group fed the dogs, another gave them water, the third group had to pick up the poop, while we were responsible for changing the straw in each dog house. I thought we were getting off easy, turns out I was wrong. All but one of dog houses had a removable roof. The one in the picture above, did not. Most of the straw we had to change was wet, frozen, and smelled a bit ripe.  Ah well, not a bad price to pay to ride a dogsled.

Talking shop

After taking care of the dogs we visited the sled shop. Bernie, pictured above, makes sleds for Iditarod racers. He's made winning sleds for mushing starts like Lance Mackey. Bernie has a pretty sweet set up in his shop. He molds and laminates each runner and assembles the sled in the shop. He was working on one for the winner of the Jr. Iditarod. Bernie's wife, Jeanette (our teacher) puts the sled bag and basket together. Sleds aren't cheap. The one for the Jr. Iditarod winner would retail for close to $2,000.

Practicing with the Iron Dog

Finally, after chores, and shop class, it was time to ride. Jeanette and Bernie though it would be a good idea to take a practice ride tethered to a snow machine. It turned out to be a good idea, more than a few people fell off. Had the dogs been attached, they would've run away, dragging an empty sled behind them. To be fair, Bernie wasn't the smoothest driver and jerked half the class right off their sleds.

Aftermath of falling off the dog sled

I lucked out with a smooth ride

I took my turn, and then it was time to ride. Bernie and Jeanette brought out some of their dogs. Jamiee Kinzer, an 2012 Iditarod musher, brought some of Deedee Jonrowe's retired dogs and a few puppies to help round out our team. There were 16 dogs, giving us 4 sleds with 4 dogs each. Getting the dogs on the sleds was an adventure. They were so excited that when we walked them to the sled, they were basically walking on their hind legs. 

Hello!

Got my best side

Mushing with 4 dogs pulls you along at a pretty good pace. They were much smoother than the snow machine, but tended to wander a bit. The trail we followed around the lake was fairly narrow and the snow on either side was really deep. A few times the dogs went into the deep snow and almost pulled the sled off the trail. The dogs recovered quickly and I didn't have to worry about breaking a new trial, or falling off.  Kelly got the last ride of the day. The dogs were a bit winded by then, but still got her around a good pace. By the end of the day, we were pretty beat. It was a long weekend, but filled with awesome experiences. Hopefully we get to mush again one day.

Kelly's turn

Riding off into the sunset

MUSH!

Even though I was waving, I had a death grip with my right hand

The weekend I'd be waiting for since we moved to Alaska finally arrived. Dog mushing turned out to be even more awesome than I thought it could be. We started with a 3hr classroom session last Tuesday. We got our itinerary for the weekend, met a former Jr. Iditarod champion and Iditarod finisher, Melissa Owens (please note, there will be A LOT of name dropping in this post). Melissa brought one of her lead dogs - the dogs in the front, and went over how the dogs are harnessed, what qualities make a good mushing dog, a good lead dog, and what it's like on the trail. Our teacher, a retired musher, gave us some background on the race, and everything else involved in mushing. We left class knowing we had a long weekend coming up, but pretty excited to see how things would go.

Just outside of Wasilla, Ak

Saturday morning started well before dawn. We dropped Ellsworth off with some friends and picked up a couple underclassmen in our class who needed a ride. We arrived at the start of the Jr. Iditarod around 830am on Knik Lake, just passed Wasilla. We were there to help out as needed, observe the teams getting ready, and talk to any of the racers or teams that had time for us. Jr. Iditarod racers are some pretty hardcore kids. The race is open to 14 to 17 years-old. The race is 150 total miles and goes overnight. Racers camp out at the halfway point and then finish the next day. Mushers run teams of 10 dogs and came from as far away as Massachusetts.

Checking the gear before the race

The race started on Knik Lake and finished in Willow

By all accounts the weather was perfect the morning of the race. It was clear, sunny, and 3 degrees. The dogs run best when it's below 0. Personally, I would've operated a bit better had it been above 10, but I'm no teenage musher. We followed race officials from team to team, checking to see that each musher had all the required gear. Every musher seemed to have all the optional equipment for the dogs, but had none of the optional stuff for themselves. Crazy kids.
 

Those icicles formed in about an hour

Kelly, in case you can't tell

By far, the two calmest dogs

Once the pre-race checks were done teams started securing their dogs to the sled. It's truly amazing how excited the dogs were to get out and start running. The vast majority of the dogs were barking, howling, or whining in excitement. At the start line a lot of dogs were straining their harnesses, pulling to start. I found out from a race official that you can tell a well-trained dog by whether or not they pull before the start. The better trained dogs conserve their energy for the race and don't strain against the harness. Only 1 team out of 12 had dogs that weren't pulling before the start, but they weren't the winners.

Ready to go!

It's amazing how excited the dogs get

 After all of the racers set out we left for a quick tour of Iditarod headquarters before heading for Eagle River and the home, kennel, and studio of official Iditarod artists Jon and Jona van Zyle. Jon and a  Jona have kennel of Siberian Huskies, the traditional mushing dog. More and more the Alaska Husky (mixed breed) has hound bred into it for speed. The van Zyle's are old school.

The huskies were gorgeous dogs. They also love people

We were able to play with the dogs for a bit before we got a tour of the van Zyle's studio. We got some small prints signed by Jon to finish off the day. Jon and Jona were fantastic hosts and really epitomize the kind of friendliness we've found almost everywhere we've been in Alaska.

The dogs are trained to wait on their houses to be petted

A slightly larger hamster wheel

The second time I've seen a creepy baby doll randomly placed in Alaska

Stay tuned for our actual mushing adventure.

New Addition

Meet Chuck

Two weeks ago, after nearly 4 years about talking about adopting a dog, we finally adopted a dog. Although we hadn't really planned to adopt at this point in the year, we could resist once we met Chuck. The original plan was to wait for spring and avoid walks in -20 degree weather or during blinding snow. It would've been nice...Unlike Kelly and me, Chuck loves the snow and cold. He's a mix of German Shepard and Alaskan Husky. The Husky in him loves jumping into snow drifts and sticking his head into snow piles.

He loves to smash the ball into the snow and then try to find it

Like most adopted dogs, Chuck has his set of issues. When he came home two weeks ago, he wouldn't let us touch his paws. He's terrified of the vacuum cleaner - he can't even look at it. He's also confused and intimidated by the air vents. We've seen some separation anxiety build over the last week, he gets really worked up when we leave for work. Thankfully he isn't a chewer, doesn't bark much, and has excellent bladder control. He's torn up a bit of the molding near the front door, but that's an easy fix.

Chuck has one blue eye and one brown eye

Chuck is about 1.5 years old and still has a lot of puppy in him. He has the standard giant sized paws for a German Shepard and clomps around on them. When coming downstairs in our house he often goes too fast and ends up running to the front door. When he gets excited and runs around on the hardwood floors he usually ends up sliding all over. He's generally just a goofy dog, he fits in perfectly.

The stress of having a new dog and rearranging our schedules aside, it's been a great first two weeks with Chuck. We're working on training him. He responds well to treats when training, but we need to start moving him away from treats every time. We can touch his paws now, but he's still not comfortable enough with us to let us apply moisturizer to keep his pads from drying out and cracking. Hopefully we can get him used to us coming and going soon. Obedience classes on on the horizon, along with learning how to skijor. Next time we talk about Chuck, we'll be calling him Ellsworth, in honor of one of our favorite Deadwood characters.

Someday

So Much Snow

UAA on a snowy Thursday morning.

The day after we got back from Christmas and New Years on the East Coast, we got another foot of snow. Just as we finished digging out, we got another 8". Nothing like a nice welcome home. That was almost two weeks ago and we haven't had any snow since. It's been a nice little break. Anchorage is already over 90" for the season. The city usually only averages around 80". Supposedly, the snow sometimes melts away.

That pile is now taller than Kelly.

 We haven't seen bare ground since the first snow way back in October. The snow piles surrounding our driveway are now pushing 6' tall. Good thing Kelly and I really love the snow. It's also a good thing we don't live in Cordova or Valdez. Any place that is up to 25' already is just not for me.

The aftermath of our latest snow.

It's been nice having some time off from the snow. Unfortunately, the lack of snow has been accompanied by a deep freeze. Over the last week and a half there have only been one or two times when the temperature has been above 0. We've found the quickest way to tell if the temperature is 0 or below is to see if your nose hairs freeze. If they are frozen after a couple breaths, it's below 0.

Sunset turned the snow on the hillside a bright pink.

Between 0 and -10 is somewhat tolerable, at least for walks to and from the car. Anything below -10 numbs your skin as soon as you step outside. My winter beard has done a decent job of keeping my face warm, but at -15, even the beard fails me. I spent 30 minutes outside at -15 and ended up with ice crystals in my beard from exhaling. Any moisture at these temps freezes. It's amazing to see ice crystals on everything, even things you didn't think could freeze. According to the locals, the amount of snow and this prolonged cold is extremely unusual. Lucky us.

Frozen gate and hinges.

Crystals on the pile along our driveway.

Winter Recess

It's been a good long while since my last post. The run up to the end of the year got pretty crazy. Kelly and I celebrated Christmas in Anchorage a week before the real thing. We spent Christmas, New Years, and the first week of January back on the East Coast. It was a marathon trip, but we caught up on the sorely needed family and friend time.

Kelly's mom's coolest decoration.

I've never felt so popular as this trip home. I guess it's true that absence makes the heart grow founder. Everyone wanted to hang out (I suspect with Kelly, but I'll take what I can get). Operating from a base at my sister's house we made almost daily trips to see family and friends. Our visits took us to 8 different states (if you count layovers in Chicago, Illinois and buying beer in Maryland). We caught up with mentors, former coworkers and friends we haven't seen since our wedding - a lifetime ago in May, 2011.

My sister got a sweet Flyers hat for Christmas

 There's nothing quite like Christmas at home. Although there was no snow, and certainly no mountains, it was great to be Levittown. When we got back up to Anchorage, we quickly caught up on the snow we've missed. Stay tuned for an update on our snowy winter.

Gobbla Gobble Tor-Key!

Bork Bork Bork!

Still working on my shucking

This has been a pretty big year for Kelly and I. She got a tenure track job, we got married, we renovated our living room, and then for good measure, we moved to Alaska. None of that really compares though to our first Thanksgiving together. Thanksgivings in Pennsylvania meant bouncing around between families and general craziness. This year though, we had the chance to make our own dinner and start some new traditions. Our first new tradition is watching the Muppets. Wednesday night we saw the new Muppet movie. It was absolutely phenomenal. There was an excellent balance of nostalgia and Muppet style humor. As excited as I was about the Muppets, I was that much more psyched to prepare our first Thanksgiving dinner. We planned a menu starting at lunch that included dilled creme fresh and smoked Alaskan salmon on crackers, steamed clams in white wine sauce, Alaskan Oysters, and fried herbed almonds. Served with Alaska barleywine.

Brining the turkey the night before

Roasted deliciousness

 

Halfway carved/halfway butchered

I should've eaten more.

After lunch, the afternoon flew by doing the rest of the prep. The turkey was joined by beet and sweet potato stacks, stuffing, cranberry-persimmon sauce, mashed potatoes and mushroom gravy. We both ate entirely too much. Fantastic! It was a big strange having such a quiet dinner and we both missed being around family, but for Thanksgiving on our own, I think we did an awesome job.

Bubbling Away

Every once in a while Anchorage gets serious about snow removal. That was the pile in the middle of our cul-de-sac

Sorry for the gaps in posts that seem to keep popping up. It's cold and dark almost all the time now (the sun is out for 6hrs everyday, but it's a half-hearted effort). Consequently, we haven't been doing much outside of working and watching tv. Last week, however, we had some of our new friends over for a home brewing session. Kelly and I were the only ones who had brewed before, leaving us to be the experts on the process. A scary proposition if you're familiar with my homebrew "success."

A Dunkel kit ready to go.

Sanitizing - the most boring, but most important step.

We got started once everyone arrived. There's not much that's exciting about the brewing process - it's just standing around watching the water boil. Most of the process involved drinking beer and sharing recommendations for places to eat and drink around Anchorage. We came up with quite a list, I should've written them down.

"I know I know the name of that place..."

Just finished steeping the grain

Once we finished steeping the grains, we added the malts and boiled for an hour. After the boil cooled the wort, pitched the yeast, and racked it to the fermenter. Two days after racking, our yeast really took off. Thanks in part to prior experience, I knew we could have foamy beer shoot out of the air lock on top of the fermenter. I took the precaution of covering it with a trash bag - good thing too. It foamed for almost two days. As long as I add the right amount of sugar when we bottle, we should have a pretty good brew. Stay tuned.

Grains after steeping. One of our friends made a nice loaf of spent grain bread

Swaddled the beer in the remnants of my Beaker costume to keep it warm.