Big Brown, Triple Crown??Big Brown, winner of the 08 Kentucky Derby and the Preakness

Claudia Nowak with our pups and Ana

Ana & Claudia

Sleeping Pups

There is big news in horse racing with another triple crown contender. The last one was Smarty Jones in 2004, he ended up falling short in the Belmont. Big Brown won the 2008 Kentucky Derby impressively from post 20, WAY on the outside. It was an awesome race. He did it again when he easily won the Preakness 2 weeks later this past weekend. In 3 weeks, he will be racing the Belmont against some awesome horses. Can he do it?? It has been 30 years since a horse has won the triple crown. The last one was 1978, when Affirmed beat his all time rival Alydar by a nose. Big Brown is an impressive horse, we are hoping THIS is the year where history will be made. Watch the Belmont, the 2nd week of June and you COULD witness history. We hope so, I'd like to see it happen in my lifetime, it has been a LONG time!

We had a very nice weekend. First Lee & Claudia Nowak came to visit and see our new pups. Ana very much enjoyed them as you can see by the above photo of her on Claudia's lap. The puppies loved all the snuggles. Then, Larry's sister Sue and our niece Karlie came over to stay with Ana so we could go to a wedding with our friends Becky & Brandon. Ana had a blast with Sue & Karlie. We also had a GREAT time getting to leave the house and hang out with our friends. We were a little tired as a result on Sunday, but by afternoon we rebounded enough to go and visit Tim & Michelle Riley's kennel in Grayling. They have a very nice setup and beautiful dogs. Tim picked us up some dog house barrels from downstate, so we picked those up for all our future new additions to the kennel. Ana loved running around their property, eating their chocolate and crackers. Sherry Sutherby and her little cattle dog "Zip" were there also. Ana loved Zip, I think she would have taken her home if Sherry would have let us! On our way home, we stopped at the park in Grayling so Ana could run around and burn off a bit more steam before we headed home to feed the dogs. It was a very good weekend, tiring, but I got all rested up yesterday. We look forward to more rest and relaxation this coming Memorial weekend.

Mother's DayAna holding Odessa's pups

They are now 1 week old

Star (left) teaching young "Jersey Girl" the ropes in lead.

Zoey (left), our SUPER girl and Fender, rookie of the year.

Dana (left), one of Zoey's female pups from her 07 litter and Jackson, one of our soon to be 2 year olds that raced all this past season with the main team.

Prophet, our new 3 year old from Frank Holmberg. He had a super season racing on Frank's 1st place Tahquamenon 12 dog team and Jerry Papke's 1st place Apostle Islands and 3rd place Midnight Run team. We are very glad to have this happy boy in our team.

I had the BEST Mother's Day! I got to sleep in, then Larry made me his famous "breakfast sandwhich". Then, we were off to my family BBQ. The food was delicious! I was thinking about my mom's macaroni salad ALL week long. It was soooooo good!!! After that Larry, Ana, my parents and I went mushroom picking. It was fun looking, but I only found 3. We have not had a good season for it around here in a few years because of the cold springs we've had. Oh, well, the cold made for a great day to run the dogs and tire them out so they won't be so noisy. We ran two 12 dog teams and Ana helped me give the commands. She also gives them their treats after the run. She is very helpful. She says "see, I'm big enough!" The first team, we put one of our promising yearlings, Jersey, in lead with Star. She did super in lead and never missed a beat. She is definetly a natural leader. We also ran 4 of the 10 month old pups in the team. All did super as well. In the 2nd team, one of our other super yearlings, Boston, ran lead with Windows. He made my Midnight Run team this year as a yearling and did awesome. He did a fabulous job in lead and stayed focused. Windows always does a great job keeping him on the trail. He is a big dog, so he has to run lead with a VERY strong leader, like Windows. We also ran 3 of the 10 month old pups in this team. All did great. All in all, it was a GREAT day. Too bad Mother's Day isn't more than one day a year!

Puppies!!!! Odessa/Mike Lee pups 4 males, 3 females

Ana petting the new pups

Our new frames for our dog barrels

Yesterday Odessa had her pups, 7 total, 4 males, 3 females. Needless to say, Ana was VERY excited to see them. They came a couple of days early, but all seem healthy. We haven't decided on names yet.
We've been super busy as usual. The weather has been great! Larry has been making new frames for the dog's houses to raise them up off of the ground a bit. He also drilled holes in the bottom to keep them cleaner. I LOVE them and the dogs seem to also.
Our morel mushroom season has begun, so we will be searching the woods in the coming days. It is so much fun! Ana even finds them. I'll post how many we find in our "secret" locations in a couple of weeks.

2008 BreedingOdessa (picture from last summer)

Odessa & Windows (picture from fall training 06)

Mike Lee (father of this year's litter)

Well, spring is FINALLY starting to arrive. It was taking FOREVER!!!! We STILL have snow here, but it is quickly melting with all the warm temps. Usually I don't want spring to come, but this year's winter was a bit long, so I can' t wait till all the snow finally melts.

This year, we bred Odessa to Mike Lee. Odessa is one of our very best females that we bought from Doug Swingley. She always makes my main team, is a super female and all of her last litter turned out to be great sled dogs. We still had four of her yearlings training with our main team the entire season: Jackson, Fender, Tak, and Gibson. Gibson & Fender even ran the Midnight Run this year and did awesome. We chose Mike Lee from Jerry Papke's kennel for the stud. Mike Lee doesn't look like much, but he is a heck of a sled dog. He is also the full brother to our female Zoey that we also bought from the Swingley's. So, esentially we are crossing our most promising Swingley lines together. Mike Lee lead Frank Holmberg & Jerry Papke's teams to two 1st place finishes (Tahquamenon 12 dog & 8 dog Apostle Islands) and two 3rd place finishes (6 dog White Oak & The Midnight Run) this season. We think this cross will be a good one and can't wait till the pups get here. She is due May 8th and is already showing. Ana is super excited for Odessa to have her pups. We will keep you posted!

SPRING!!!Larry being Ana's leader and pulling her on her new sled

Me & Koyuk

Windows & Serra (one of the pups)

Windows & Liddell, another one of the pups

Windows & Georgie

Duelly & Dana

We have been pretty busy this spring harness breaking the 2nd batch of Zoey/Strider pups now that racing is done. They are now 9 months old and have 5 hookups on them. They are doing very well and were natural sled dogs right from the start. Serra, Dana, Franklin, Liddell & George have already been in lead and all did great! Looks like we will have lots of young leaders this fall. It is really fun seeing them do so well. Harness breaking is one of my favorite things to do since I get to see the future of my kennel develope.

We are also house breaking one of our retired Leaders "Koyuk". He is such a sweet boy and a VERY good leader, but is getting a bit slower infront of the team. I usually use Windows to train pups anyways, so we decided to see how he does in the house. He only had one accident so far and is LOVING being a house dog. He is very gentle and great with Ana.

For the past couple of weeks, I was absolutely glued to the internet, following the Iditarod. That is the highlight of the year for me. Lance Mackey made history again by winning the Yukon Quest (a very difficult 1,000 mile race) for the 4th time in a row and also winning the Iditarod (1,200) miles with virtually the same dogs only 10 days later for the 2nd time in a row. Nobody ever thought you could be competitive in the Quest and Iditarod in the same year, but Mackey broke through all those myths two years in a row and really put new meaning to what great sled dogs can actually do. It was a very exciting race to the end, with Jeff King (4 time Iditarod champ) right on his heels. Mackey made a swift move when he got to Elim, where he snuck out of the checkpoint when King was sleeping to finally gain an hour on him and go on to win the race. Before that, King was only 3 minutes behind. A HUGE congratulations to Lance! It was also exciting following Ed Steilstra on the trail this year. He is a Michigan musher, he and his wife Tasha own and operate Nature's Kennel in the U.P. Ed just came off a win at the UP200 in February and placed 29th out of 90+ teams in the Iditarod. It is a big feat to place in the top 30 with the BEST teams in the world. So, congrats to Ed & Tasha and their wonderful dogs!

In the picture at the top, you'll see Larry pulling Ana on "her" sled. That sled was my very first sled I got from Halls Dog Sleds when I was in 7th grade. I haven't used it in years and it was always just hanging in the barn. Larry got to work one day and shortened the handlebar and put a platform on the footboards so Ana could stand on the sled better. She LOVES having her very own sled just her size. She also loves having her daddy be her leader. We keep asking if she wants one of the dogs to pull her around the yard, but she declines and wants Larry to pull her. It is very funny hearing her say "Straight Ahead, Straight Ahead", "Gee, Gee, Gee", "Haw, Haw, Haw". She knows all the commands!

2008 Midnight Run 13th Place!!! Us ready to start the race. Boston & Gibson are in wheel. The person in the orange vest is a race handler. We have to have 4-5 help get the team to the start line because the dogs are so strong, they'd drag us across the parking lot.

Me crossing the finish line!!!

Well, I am pleased to announce that I FINALLY had a great Midnight Run!! I've run this race a few times and I always usually have a bad experience due to the challenging and often dangerous trail conditions. Last year we went down a steep hill with a 90 degree turn and I went over a cliff and lost my team. So, before the start this year my stomach was in a knot. My team was Zoey & Star in lead and Odessa, Cowgirl, Lilly, Fender, Boston and Gibson in the team. I ran a smart race this time and kept to my race plan for once, not changing anything to keep up with the competition. I ran a very conservative first leg and held the team back for probably 3/4 of the 46 mile leg, that way I'd still have a team with energy left for the 2nd leg of 43 miles. I was pleasently surprised with how well the first leg went. There were twists and turns and steep hills, but having a lot of snow and a new Prairie Bilt sled that actually turns really made a difference. I didn't drag or hit one tree!! Instead of running the cliff section, the trail crew re-routed around that and had us cross a lake. It was a moon lit night and crossing that lake was so beautiful with all the stars out. We start the race at 6:00 pm so most of it is ran at night. The dogs were doing awesome and keeping an excellent pace. I was so proud of them. After we climbed Marquette Mountain there was only one very icy steep down hill where I said "oh $#&%"!! I stood on the brake for all I was worth, luckily we stayed upright and it was over quick. The last 19 miles of the first leg we run over a flat snowmachine trail next to the highway. It is really cool, it is late at night and there are bonfires and hundreds people partying all along the trail. At first all the shouting and clapping when you go by scares the crap out of the dogs, but then every time they'd hear a crowd up ahead they'd actually speed up. We loped along at a great pace that whole section of trail. The team was on fire. I was just hoping that they wouldn't burn out because a ways behind me I could see a headlamp and did not want to get passed. I hadn't gotten passed the whole first leg yet. The last 15 miles, Boston, one of the yearling males, was getting horrible diarhea, which disrupts the flow of the team every time he had to go. But then he'd get right back into it. He is a powerful dog and really helped us on that leg. I never gave a pick up command till we hit the plowed road, the last 3 miles till the Deerton Checkpoint. The dogs were cruisin, and finally the headlamp behind me was getting closer and I realized it was Bruce Magnussun, who is driving an awesome team of dogs. Bruce passed, then his leaders weren't cooperating and got balled up, so I went on by him again and on to the checkpoint. His first leg time was still faster than mine, which put him infront of me after the checkpoint, but just the fact that it took so long for him to catch up was awesome. His team finished 9th overall. We had such a great first leg that Larry wasn't even expecting me in yet. The dogs looked awesome and were ready for more. Then, Larry came running around the corner and grabbed the team so we could do our 5 hour layover and bed the team down. We were very efficient getting our dog care activities done. All I said to Larry was I had a great first leg and we went to work taking care of the dogs so we could get them resting as soon as possible. We gave them a chicken snack in line, then hooked them around the trailer, fed them a warm meal, the vets looked them over, then we massaged Accede into their shoulders and wrists, put their dog coats and wrist wraps on to keep them warm, spread the straw and let them get some rest. Then, I got to eat/drink, go to the bathroom and I got about 3 hours of sleep. An hour before my re-start (4:19 am) we gave the dogs some baited water to keep them hydrated, then walked the dogs around to check for any lamness. I am very pleased to say that everyone was healthy and ready to go. I decided to leave Boston behind because of the diarrhea. He is young so I didn't want to take a chance with him having a bad run. Plus he is about 65 pounds, which would ruin our great race if he had to ride in the sled bag. He was so upset about being left behind, he was going nuts and shaking the whole trailer!! by the 2nd leg, it was pretty cold, below zero, the lowest -12. I had no idea and wondered why I was getting cold at times. I would just kick to help the dogs and run up hills to stay warm. I had Zoey and Star in lead also on the 2nd leg also. They were so awesome!! We had a great 2nd leg and never had a problem! I only stopped once to snack and once to flip a dog to the correct side of the gangline and once to turn the right way. I never even saw another team out there infront or behind, so I knew my dogs were maintaining a good pace. I still kicked constantly so nobody would catch me. I finished the race at about 8:36 am with happy, healthy dogs. We actually ran the 2nd leg at 11.5 mph, which was 1 mile per hour faster than the first!! Lilly and Zoey were barking to go more at the finish line!!! I am so glad the trail was awesome and the dogs did so well. Zoey & Star really got the job done leading all 89 miles. I had a great race and it was an excellent way to end our race season. I finished 13th place out of 29 teams. I moved up 13 places from last season!! I've always wanted to finish in the top 15, so for next year our goal will be the top 10!!

Magical Run/Race PreparationsMe and Zoey before the 2007 Midnight Run

Last night was our final training run before the big race this Friday (the Midnight Run). I ran 10 dogs: Zoey & Cowgirl in lead, then Odessa, Star, Lilly, Fender, Tefa, Jackson, Gibson and Boston on a 19.5 mile run to be sure who I am taking as my final 8 this weekend. It was a magical run!! It was cold, the dogs were just awesome! I rode the brake almost the whole run to protect the team and try to keep them at a slower pace, but they were on fire. We came back just as fast as we went out. Usually the team slows down on our way back down Manistee River Rd., this straight, boring county road we travel before the final 3 miles home. I actually had to be on the brake for the entire time to keep them slowed down. It was so much fun seeing the team run how I've known they can perform, I actually got butterflies in my stomach out there watching them!! We had 4 short stops and still averaged 13.44 mph. I was so proud of the team. Maybe this is a sign of good things to come this weekend. Or, maybe I'll be hanging on for dear life on those trecherous Marquette Mountain trails. I am already getting nervous about the race and it is still 3 days away! My team that I chose is: Zoey, Cowgirl, Star, Odessa, Fender, Lilly, Boston & Gibson. I will have 3 yearlings in my team (Fender, Boston & Gibson) that have been doing super all year, so it will be interesting to see how they handle the second leg after the checkpoint. The race starts at 6:00 pm and the first leg is about 49 miles, then we take a 5 hour layover where the dogs get bedded on straw and I get to sleep in the truck. Then, the 2nd leg, where I am usually very sleepy for the first few miles, is about 42 miles. For any that want to know, dog care is key to success in a race where there is a layover. So, here is what we do: When I pull into the checkpoint, Larry is waiting there to help the team. We water and snack the dogs in line right away. Larry has already spread the straw around the dog trailer. Dogs are not allowed to be boxed at all during this time, making it easier for the vets to check them out. Then, we rub Accede (a liniment made by Ten Squared Racing that helps keep their muscles warm and soothes any soreness) into their shoulders and wrists (the parts of the dog that you really have to protect), then we put dog coats and wrist wraps on every dog to keep muscles warm. We then hook them each to their spot around the trailer where we feed them a warm meal. We then leave them alone to sleep curled up on the straw for as long as possible during the layover. I then get to eat something, which is usually hard because I always get a queezy stomach during this race for not drinking enough water during the first leg from running up all those darn hills. Then, I get as much sleep as I can. About an hour before we depart on the 2nd leg, we give the dogs more baited water (we bait it to get them to drink it so they stay hydrated), walk them around to see if anyone has any stiffness, algyval a few shoulders again to warm them up, then harness, bootie feet if necessary, hook them back into the line and off I go into the darkness again. By the time I finish the race it will be around 10:00 am Saturday morning. I will update everyone on the race after this weekend. Hopefully we have a safe run this year!!