Waiting........
Our first race of the season, The Taqhamenon Country Sled Dog Race, was canceled due to lack of snow. Then, it was rescheduled for the following week, but again canceled for lack of snow. This race is North of Newberry, and they ALWAYS have snow! So, you can imagine our disapointment of not getting to go to our first race! It seems like we have been training FOREVER! Me, Larry & the dogs are getting sick of our home trails, we cannot wait to FINALLY get to race next weekend!
In December, our snowfall amounts were pretty pathetic! We got about 18" early in the month & then nothing! Our trails were very fast, but atleast they had set up & we could set a hook almost anywhere. We couldn't run big teams, but atleast we were on sleds.
Then, New Year's Eve, it warmed up and RAINED!!! That did it, almost all our snow was gone & everything was a sheet of ice! For the first time in YEARS, we had to find a trail with no ice, truck the dogs away from home, and train with the four wheeler, IN JANUARY!!! That is wrong on so many levels! We trained with the four wheeler for 2 runs, then finally got enough snow so we could leave the driveway on sleds again with small teams. Since then, we have gotten a TON of new snow & our trails are great again!! Thank god!!
This is Liddell, our young sled dog that severely injured his achilles tendon in late November on a difficult training run. He has been such a good boy through all his rehabilitation over the last 2 months. For one month, he was in a cast. That was a pain! Every time he went outside, we had to put a plastic bag over his cast so it wouldn't get wet. At the end of December, his custom brace came in the mail, so we took the cast off & put it on. It took some getting used to for him, but he is doing very well now. 
As you can see, he is not being spoiled in the house at all! To the right, you can see our jealous Border Collie protesting that Liddell gets to be on the bed. Liddell has been doing fantastic. At night, when we take off his brace, he stands on his injured leg just as well as the other one. He is making a miraculous recovery! We are still using extreme caution though, we do NOT want to go through all this again! Although he will never be a sled dog again, he will remain our special buddy in the house. Ana LOVES having him inside & is doing a great job giving him lots of love.
Next Friday, the 28th of January, we FINALLY get to go to our first race of the year, the Beargrease 150! Larry has been on the runners the last 2 years since the first year I had severe Bronchitis and the 2nd year I injured my Knee on a training run so bad I could barely walk for 3 weeks! So.........I don't want to jinx myself...... but it looks like I might finally get to be on the runners for this race this season. So far, I am healthy! I am keeping my fingers crossed I finally get to race it since I am not really looking forward to the handling duties this year. Larry will get to see just how fun it is to dig a snow trench at the first checkpoint, I hope! The dogs & us are definetly ready to be on a new trail & compete against some of the best 8 dog teams around! The race starts Sunday, Jan. 30th at 1:00 pm. You can follow the race updates from our website:
