Birthday Girl McKenzie is 10

CH "PR" Frontier Raindancer McKenzie, CGC, HIT, NJP, NAP - the tongue with a Chinook dog attached - has given us so much since she was whelped 10 years ago.

4/29/2002 - first birthday partyToday I tried to replicate her "party pooch pose".

that's the right side

McKenzie actually "flunked" her CGC (Canine Good Citizen) exam not once but twice because she could not hold back from kissing the judges. McKenzie produced 14 Chinooks in two litters. I have lost track of all her grandpups. She was an extraordinary mother and refused to wean her pups. She even tried to nurse and take over the care of Cedar's pups. McKenzie has been my companion on mountain back pack trips and wilderness adventures. Poor girl got to be the one I learned to do clicker training, confirmation showing, tracking, competition obedience and agility with. In classes, she did suffer a bit because as I made (still make) mistakes, she is sure she has caused my error and always wants to comfort me even though it is me sending her over the wrong obstacle. At all times, she is keenly sensitive to my mood and frustration. Skijoring was a huge misadventure. On one of our first trips, she fell through the snow into a creek below. I couldn't stop so skied right over her. She endured Mushing Boot Camp and being hooked with a team that later ran the Iditarod. She has yet to allow me to put her in the dog sled bag, but has let it be known that she prefers running along side to pulling in harness. McKenzie is almost frighteningly intelligent. Opening doors and scaling the 8' kennel wall was no problem by 7 months old. She has earned titles in hearding and agility. She has all the skills and is more than ready for her CD title (competition obedience) but we just never seem to be around for the trials. She earned Best of Breed at her very first confirmation show - which also happened to be the National Chinook Specialty. She went on to earn her champion title and was only one win away from her grand-championship when I had her spayed.McKenzie has relinquished her spot in our bed but still sleeps on her pillow within reach of my nighttime ear scritches. She is my constant companion. Getting her agility titles was especially difficult because she did not want to leave my side and during many trials, though she ran clean, I could not run the course fast enough to qualify.

"enough mom! Where's my birthday bone?"psst!

Both of us are a little greyer and heavier than we were 10 years ago but she has kept me young. Happy Birthday McKenzie.

Snow?!

It got dark - very dark - while I was eating lunch and reading the paper. I looked up and saw that not only was the sky black - very black - but the sky lights were totally coated with hail. Then the snow started. This picture does not clearly show it, but it is snowing. My pus filled head is not taking these extreme barometric pressure changes lightly. Ferrari will have to wait another day before the dogs take her for a spin.

Big Day

First and most exciting to me is that I finally go on antibiotics today. The cold that made me such a wimp took over my sinuses and eustachian tubes a couple weeks ago. This has been over one month of misery and the foulest sinus discharge you could ever imagine. Poor Dave has had to live through me attempting to cook no-salt, low-glycemic meals when I can't taste and everything smells like rotten garbage mixed with dog poo. Add coughing all night, vertigo and headaches. It has been trying. But now I should start to mend.

This morning the bees came! The year before last we removed a hive of a few hundred thousand bees that had set up home in our chimney. We loved the work the bees did for us but the thought of wax and honey dripping through the flue when we lit fires for winter warmth was just not good. Last summer we had horrible harvests. There was almost no fruit at all - not one blueberry and only a few plums, apples and pears. Even the zucchini and cucumbers were practically barren. This year we are helping out a bee keeper. He gets lots of pesticide free pollen for his bees and we get pollination.

Ferrari, the dog cart is now red. I put it back together and hit it with a last coat of paint. I have been too sick to even think about running the dogs but soon I will be well.

"still has wet paint guys"Seven pounds of premium dog training treats came out of the food dryer. One batch is chicken gizzards that I have been saving up until I had enough and one batch is orange chicken with yams. I wasn't sure what the dogs would think of orange chicken but turns out to be a hit. Next batch is going to be different. Instead of flour or oatmeal with the meat, I plan to use beans and rice to make the dough.The big pond has a new tricolored wing blackbird nest and an approving female.

Oh Sh#*!

Yesterday all was beautiful down by the big pond. A tricolor wing blackbird serenaded me while I waged war on the horsetail. Actually he was trying to lure a mate to his newly built nest but as I weeded, I could imagine his Cong-a -lee' was also for me. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught an osprey silently circling the pond. He did not make the usual high pitched chirping cry. If the amorous blackbird saw him, he gave no indication of it. Now most people know of the human sympathetic nervous system "fight or flight" response to extreme terror. I did not know that birds have the same reaction. The osprey suddenly folded it's wings and dove toward the water. His path took him within inches of the blackbird. Mid-song, the blackbird whitewashed his new nest. The osprey did not get a fish on that dive. The much lighter blackbird did not stick around to see. He took the flight option. I guess the tricolor guy had second thoughts about nesting on our pond. He was not there today while Dave and I did honey-dos. The satellite dish hole was finally filled in; large landscaping boulders were moved into place (if you can't kill horsetail, maybe you can bury it) and my white dog cart was sanded and received it's first coat of Ferrari red paint. We may not be the fastest team but we will look it. note: Alexis wrote to let me know about a YouTube video of the Mush Without Slush weekend and that she and her pitbull, Sage, we not in the one mile race. They competed in the 6.5 mile race. I checked the results - they got second place.

Mush Photos

Other mushers sent me some photos of Team Nookies at the "Mush Without Slush" races.

On the road before hitting the 3 mile soft trail section.Team Nookies finally across the finish line after 3.5 milesTeam Nookies on way to the starting line on Sunday."Come on Mom! We just pulled you 3.5 miles. Where's our treat?"

Whimp to War

Today was a beautiful day. Too beautiful to stay inside no matter how lousy I felt. The well watered daffodils and tulips are blooming. The sun played hide'n seek in the fluffy white clouds.

daffodils on the agility coursetulips in the vegetable garden - away from hungry deerToday also started my annual war against a most worthy opponent - horsetail. This ancient menace is determined to dominate all my gardens. the battle begins

Cold Wimp

My nieces, because of pregnancy and nursing, have not been able to take cold medicine for years. They are amazing. I am a wimp. The past few days have felt like something from Valley of the Dolls. Pseudiphedrine in the morning in an attempt to unclog the painful congestion and quell the dripping. NiQuil at night so I can sleep and my coughing not keep Dave awake. Up then down and all the time headache, chest rattling cough and vertigo. Oregon has been slammed recently with a series of strong storms. The barometric pressure extremes have played havoc with my head - most inducing both the aura and pounding of migraine headaches not unlike the atmospheric lightening, thunder, hail, drenching rain and April snow. That coupled with sinus pressure and I am miserable. Fortunately, the Chinooks are content with brief ventures outside as I clean the kennel or tend to the greenhouse. The remainder of time has been spent in bed with Willy tightly spooning on one side, Cedar on the other, and McKenzie crowding my feet. These are the same dogs that if I got out the harnesses, would howl and spin in anticipation of the run or anxiously que for their turn running the agility course at the sight of the clicker and training treats. Unlike my young nieces, I am not strong when faced with illness thus I am so lucky to have comforting canine companions and a very understanding husband.

And the Rest of the Story...

The dry land mushing trip did have it's downsides - starting with Cedar rolling in a large quantity of poop (a first) on their last potty outing of the first night (luckily I always carry several dog towels and a stash of latex gloves. The dish soap I used probably wasn't the best for her skin but who cares? She was clean and went to bed with a lemony scent.) - to location. We were camped in a pumice quarry, aka the local gun range. There were guns going off at all hours and from many locations. (luckily the dogs aren't bothered by guns and weren't a target.)

The motor home shepherding many of the dog rigs.

- to having batteries die so I had to use the just fixed generator to make morning coffee. (did I mention that mushers get up way too early?) The generator spewed gas all over the undercarriage (luckily I smelled it when I went in to pour a cup of coffee and was able to get the dogs out and turn off everything associated with propane before the whole motorhome blew up.) - to getting within 2 miles of home and finding a two story house being moved (luckily the cop and Lane Transit supervisor could get the motorhome turned around or I would have had to sit there for a couple of hours and I was way too tired to tolerate that. Remember I got up way to early three mornings in a row, had driven over mountain passes (luckily ahead of the storm) and was surviving on only one quickly grabbed cup of coffee.

Cedar and Willy relaxing between runs.

Mush Without Slush

Last weekend our sled dog club hosted a (now first annual) "Mush Without Slush" race. This race was conceived of less than three weeks ago. We had 22 mushers and a couple hundred dogs racing through the sagebrush. For most of us, it was our first time dry land racing.

"Oh Yea"

All mushers, except one young girl with her pet pitbull, ran between 2 and 12 dogs.

yes, that is a pitbull and they were fast on the 1 mile

these guys flew by us on the 3.5 mile course

hooking up dogs for the 10.3 mile race

6.5 mile race starting line, line-up

Team Nookies patiently waiting for the start of their race

Friday we did a one mile practice run. The 3.5 mile race on Saturday turned out to be a bit much for Team Nookies pulling the combined weight and friction of me on a 3 wheel steel cart over damp, soft trails. We did finish the race but our pace overall averaged only about 5 mph. There is a reason the other cart teams had at least 4 dogs. Sunday we did a fun one mile run with a respectable 10.5 mile pace. I am hoping someone got a picture of us in action.

April Snow Showers

Ma Nature must have read my last post. It did not rain all day yesterday it sleeted, hailed and snowed - all day. Last night the ground was cold enough for some of the snow to stick. Cedar just got out of bed and is ruffled up at the freezing cold.

Lawn Litter

Willy and Cedar are both taking agility classes. (McKenzie has her titles and just does fun runs at home.) Today I added a teeter to our collection of agility equipment littering the backyard and getting in the way of the lawnmower. Now if it would stop raining...

Sunshine Makes Me Happy

I slept through the 0430 wake-up to go skiing but along with getting a descent night's sleep, not all was lost. Nirvana is a good cup of coffee, the Sunday paper, dogs at my feet, birds singing, apple trees and daffodils in bloom, and sunshine on my shoulder. Today was the first day of 2011 that I was able to sit outside for breakfast and the paper.

Cedar loving the warm concrete.

The rest of the day was spent weeding the garden, pruning blueberries and mowing. Lots of mowing. The grass in the garden was over a foot tall with 2" to 4" of standing water. I mowed what I could then started on the yard. Today marks the first of numerous forced marches with the mower.

After cleaning the mud off the cart brakes and wheels, the dogs and I did take a quick but in-control mile run. We also worked on agility and competition obedience. 'Twas a really nice day! (Who needs skiing?)