Don Bowers Memorial Race

putting booties on the dogs

We spent time on Friday at the Don Bowers Memorial Race.

This is a "rookie" race that is run by local mushers.  (It's a training race... hence the "rookie" title.  Mushers learn to follow race guidelines and the dogs get experience running with other teams.)  Our tenant Beth is one of the key organizers, and she asked us to help.   It started at the Willow Community center (same place the Iditarod starts).

a snack before we go

At the starting area we caught all the team preparations... 

harnessing the team

then we moved over to the other side of Willow Lake.  Officially, we served as crossing guards as the teams came off the lake and onto neighboring streets, but the real advantage was that we could get great shots of the teams as they came up the hill.

  

I put together all my photos for a "video" that will be shown at tonight's musher's banquet.  

Next up... the Iditarod!

Snow Play

Last week's sub zero temps are gone... 3 inches of new snow last night made for a fun playground for the doggies!  Xander just had to come find out what Orion was looking at next to the wood shed.  (She had already checked out the tunnel the squirrel dug between the woodshed and the wood pile... who knows what she's tracking here.)  He's just a snow magnet... today he gets dipped in warm water when it's time to come in.

Happy New Year

We got about 8 inches of snow on New Year's Eve... more is expected before the weekend is over.  We're hunkered down, watching football, working on projects, and reading.

Last week we broke out the snowshoes and hiked down to Linda and Harry's cabin on Montana Creek.  Here's a shot of their cabin.

check out the long shadow!

The dog is their neighbor's husky... he followed us down the trail.

And here's their front yard... looking from the cabin toward the creek.