Children Should Not Die

As a passenger, I am usually asleep almost as soon as the motor starts in a car. I am always asleep when we pull away at 0530 on our way to go skiing. Last week, I was jolted awake as two, high speed cop cars overtook us. Around the corner was an overturned car against a tree. It was still dark. The only light came from the patrol car lights and the intensely hot blaze of the burning car. We had two SPYteam Jr. Patrollers with us. Because there were fatalities, I stayed with them as Dave rushed with his patrol pack to help. The first on the scene was another ski patroller, a professional paramedic. He was able to assist the injured driver but not able to free the two other young men before fire overtook the car. His/our solace was that he was confident that the other two had died from the impact. (Autopsy showed they died on impact). They were 20 year old college students on a skiing adventure.

Yesterday was a day of intensities. The car ride was uneventful and I awoke to rain on the ski slopes. I was more than happy to spend the morning inside, playing with exposure settings on my camera and helping the SPYteam learn and practice advanced aid skills.

SPYteam members and patrollers in Ski Patrol Aid Room

learning airway management

spinal injury training

securing the spinal cord injured patient to the backboard

I had signed up for a special, afternoon, ski lesson for patrollers to take skiing to the next level. My fear of speed and obstacles was modified by rain fogged goggles. I had to ski by feel, not by sight. I was taken way beyond my physical and mental comfort level and have very sore muscles to show for it.

By 3:30 the patrol radio chatter was unimaginable. Two ambulances, and one on the way. Two patients to transport off the hill on backboards and then a third at 4:00. The aid room was already flooded with the usual sprains, breaks and cuts. The Jr. Patrollers were marshaled to use their crowd control and aid skills for real. Just after the third back injury arrived, Karmen, one of the SPYteam, came into the patrol lunchroom in tears. I thought she was just overwhelmed by the medical chaos and went to comfort her. Her first words were "Raleigh (her brother also a Jr. Patroller) is not dead but two others are."

Every school has them: the most popular, talented, athletic, good looking boys with top grades to boot. Future leaders of the world. Each year, 10, senior, South Eugene High School, "Mr. Axemen" raise thousands of dollars for the Children's Miracle Network. This weekend they were on a group retreat at the Oregon Coast. Raleigh is one of the Mr. Axemen. While out on the rocks, two of the boys were swept away by a wave and drowned.

How do you reconcile the sudden deaths of four young men? How do you comfort youth who have lost the naive, invincible optimism of life? Dave went to the mountain today to be there for any SPYteam members who showed up. I write.

Children should not die. Children should not know death.

Agility Dog Walk

Carpenters must have a lot of tricks that I don't have a clue about. If not, based on my speed of building the dog walk supports, our houses would take months just to frame. The dog walk surface must be 48" from the ground. I made my previous supports on a sawbuck design. They were always a bit unstable and were falling apart.
There are no patterns for wooden supports. I had to make up my own. The supports can't stick out so far the handler trips on them. Out came the protractor and pencil. My guess was that I wanted 22 1/2 degree angles. I knew the height on the triangle. My problems were to figure out how long to make the legs (the slope) and what angle the bottom of the legs needed to be cut. My geometry lessons were in the middle of the last century.
I can proudly say that my supports make the top of the dog walk exactly 48 inches off the ground. They are screwed together, thus very solid. I probably should have made the top of the supports wider but I only had so much, scrap, treated lumber (and I wanted to be able to lift 'um).

Cedar approves

Yard Litter

The yard is once again littered with agility equipment. I was inspired by returning to class and the 62 degree weather we are having.

The dog walk is temporarily set up on saw horses. I need to re-train the difference between the dog walk and teeter. Both look the same to the dog as they approach them. The angle and board size are the same. On the teeter, the dog must pause until the board pivots. In class, Willy did not have any problems with the teeter but got onto the dog walk, paused 1/2 way up and nothing happened. Watching him, it was obvious that to him the dog walk was a broken teeter - it did not pivot. He jumped off rather than go on up. I am gradually re-introducing him to the dog walk by increasing the height thus angle of the board. When we get to full height, I will reintroduce the teeter and make sure he has name recognition for both. He did not have any problems with either obstacle when last in class months ago. I anticipate the process will go quickly.

The jumps are a pattern to get him to comfortably work away from me. He is so fast, I will need him to work on both verbal and signal directionals when he is running. McKenzie would not work at a distance but I could keep up with her.

Finally Back In Class

Today was the first day I have been back in agility class since the middle of August. I also admit I have not worked with the dogs at all since then. This is the course that we set up. It may look easy but there are a lot of traps and tight turns. Willy was amazing and loved his runs. I came home inspired and set up a course for us to practice on. It was so good to see all my dog friends and be problem solving a complex course again.

Road Rash

After my flight over the handlebars while scooterjoring with my little yellow scooter, I started my search for a "real" rig. Real rigs are heavy and expensive so I settled for this white rig. It came with a seriously bent wheel hub. But, a mechanic from Chemult, upon seeing me try to move my rig without the use of one wheel, took pity on me. While I assisted the chute boss at the dog sled race, he took my wheel to his shop and straightened it almost good as new.

little gladiator and bigger white rig

"Team Nookies" rigjoring power

All went well on our maiden trip for about 50'. I had been concerned that the dogs would not be able to pull the bigger rig. No problem. In fact when I went to apply the break to slow them on a corner, we were going so fast, my weight change caused the rig to topple.

not the knee of your average old lady

My thigh and hand did not fair too well either. Again my helmet was tested. The dogs were still very excited to run and I knew I needed to get back on the rig before my conscientious mind said "enough!". We continued out the road to the mail box. During the remainder of the trip I found that the breaks could not keep the wheels from turning. This was especially noticeable going downhill at full speed. My conscientious mind was screaming full volume at that point. I was able to stay upright and keep from running over the dogs but not hold them back at all. No more trips until the breaks are fixed.

Rose City Classic

My picture programs have been giving me fits all week. I can finally download pictures. However, I still can't edit them.

Thursday I loaded up the motorhome and headed for Portland. My home for a couple of days was a very crowded parking lot, full of other motorhomes, each containing lots of dogs. We were located between the PDX runways and I-5 freeway. Even though pouring rain drowned out some of the noise, sleep was not on the agenda. The occasion was the AKC Rose City Classic. Over 5000 dogs were entered in the four day event. Add owners, handlers, judges, vendors and spectators and you have an amazing spectacle. And lots of treats as Willy found out. No one was immune to his Silly Willy, helicopter ears, doe-eyed pose.

Willy and I were there on behalf of the Chinook breed. (McKenzie, Cedar and Rocsha went with me last year). The breed is about to be AKC recognised. Chinooks participated in confirmation; our own Meet the Breed booth; the Foundation Stock Meet the Breed booth; the AKC Meet the Breed booth and put on a judge's education about the Chinook breed to about 50 judges from all over the U.S.

BrownStone Iditarod Trail Song - Koyuk -

took Best of Breed

handsome boy, Koyuk at 10 monthsCarie negotiates the breed ring area with a tangle of Chinooks Carie, Lonna and me with our Chinooks in the

"Meet the Breed" boothFriday, 13 Chinooks negotiated the grooming buildingSusan (McKenzie's breeder), with three of her dogs, listened to the Judge's Ed presentationAfter the presentation, the judges got hands-on time with each of our Chinooks

I did not stay for the entire event. The ski slopes and mushing trails awaited me.

Chemult Race Weekend

It always rains on my birthday. This year was not an exception - actually we had record rains and major flooding including in the mountains where I was camping. The occasion, besides being my birthday of course, was the Chemult Dog Sled Races.

This year we had 53 teams from as far away as northern Alaska.

Dual starts made the starting line very exciting. It takes several people to hold back the eager, strong dogs.

A very close finish. Bib 61 beat bib 62 by a nose after passing back and forth countless times over the 6.6 mile course.Jeff King, four time Iditarod winner, at the finish line for the 4.4 mile race.

This team is still going strong after racing 16.8 miles on wet, punchy snow. Sunday, I awoke to a distinctive list in the motorhome. All of the snow under it had been washed away overnight. The weather remained continual, pouring rain throughout the day. I only took out the camera for a couple staging area shots.

Yuck!