Play-Date with Tule Loowit

Tule Loowit came for a visit today.  To say she and brother Trask were beside themselves with excitement would be a gross understatement.  Their movement, howls and shrieks were constant and lasted the entire visit.

"I missed you!" I missed you more!"

 Can you hear the excitement?

Mom Koyuk and Grandmom Cedar joined in but with the speed everyone was tearing around, I rarely got more than two dogs in the same frame.

Koyuk and Tule ganging up on Trask.

The recent storms have the ground supersaturated resulting in standing water ponds throughout the yard and wet dogs.

 Tule Loowit

 Koyuk

 Out of focus but that is what it took to get all four in one picture.

While the splash pools in the yard are great for getting wet, serious running requires a swim in the pond to cool off. A week ago this pond had 3" of solid ice on it. Today, while ice free, it must have still been cold. "Swims" were quick but frequent dips.

Even Cedar went for a swim which is something she rarely does.

 I think Tule would win the all time largest Chinook tongue contest.

No one appreciated howling, wet dogs wrestling indoors.  Each time they made it in, they were quickly escorted back outside. 

The dogs waiting at the door did give me a chance to try to get focused portraits.

"Say Cheese"

 Mr Charmer

 "Please can we go in again?!"

Did I mention that they were wet, excited, noisy...?
Poor Trask gave a several minute long, pitiful howl after Tule left. He was greatly missing his sister.

The Holidays with Muku and Bramble

BrownStone Iditarod Talotna (Muku) and BrownStone Cascade Mt. Mazama (Bramble) had a blast with their family over the holidays.  Chinooks are meant for snow and they made the most of it (and provided a lot of photo ops for their humans.)  The pictures are not in any order but since all are wonderful, I thought I would post all of them.

Muku

 Bramble

My vote for a Calendar photo...

or maybe this one

Team Nookies Celebrates the New Year

Team Nookies brought in 2016 with a celebratory run.  Celebratory because after almost 3 years we finally had paws on snow without bare patches. Celebratory because Ma Nature provided a beautiful sunny day in the mountains.
It was cold. The temp in the parking lot was 18 degrees when we started about 2 and was 11 degrees when we returned to the van. It had been -5 earlier so I opted to watch the Rose Parade before heading up to the mountains.

Getting started is always a challenge. The dogs are so excited and pulling before I have the van doors locked and my gloves on. Fortunately two women from a village in Alaska came to my aid and helped me negotiate the crowded parking lot and onto the run. Then we were off.

The trail and scenery were spectacular.  We did have several groups of snowmobiles pass us, but everyone was courteous (except the dogs who wanted to chase the snowmobiles. We do need to work on that.)

Invariably the passing ended up with tangled dogs. Trask has both Koyuk and Cedar's tug lines, the gangline and his neckline around his legs.  Cedar's leg is wrapped by Trask's tug and Koyuk, wanting to go, is pulling all tangles tight.

 But for the most part, the run was smooth and fast.

 I even stayed on the sled while holding my big camera as we careened around corners.

 Life is Good running silent.

After dinner, still hungry Trask made sure there wasn't any kibble left in the bottom of the bag. Koyuk was at ready for anything spilling out.

Happy New Year from BrownStone Chinooks and Team Nookies