We ended up not running on Saturday, which was fine, there was lots of other stuff to do around the yard. We trimmed nails and treated feet on the ‘A’ team, filled all the dog houses with straw, picked the dog truck up from the repair shop, ran to the bottle depot…exciting stuff! 

Saturday night we went to Mark’s brother’s place for dinner. That was nice. Although we only live 6 miles from Kelly, Karen (yes, my sister in law is also named Karen Ramstead), and the kids – I haven’t seen them since the summer. We ended up eating too much and I even drank alittle too much (as I don’t drink much at all anyway – 3 drinks is pretty much ‘too much’ for me. Who would have thought that liqueur made from maple syrup and rye would be so tasty?? And how Canadian, eh??) – but isn’t that what the holidays are all about?? 

Karen also invited us over for Christmas dinner – which is cool, because Mark and I are going to spend Christmas day cutting up meat for my food drops and we weren’t planning anything special for dinner. 

Yesterday we had a pretty BLECK run. I still have some girls in season and a few of the boys (namely Kobuk, Odie and Loki) spent more time gazing lovingly at them then running. Kobuk’s neck is probably sore today after having it twisted around trying to look at Mark’s team all day. Both teams just really lacked focus and drive. Oh well, that is just part of the ups and downs of training season. We still managed to do 40 miles, which puts the dog’s mileage at over 1300 right now. That’s alittle behind where I wanted to be at this time, but Mark has a number of days off over Christmas and we are hoping to pick up some more mileage then.

Today I’m running the ‘A’ team into the vet. They are all getting blood work done, getting weighed, kennel cough vaccinations, and a general checkup. With the blood work, I’m mainly interested in the Hemoglobin levels, as that can give a good indication of how a dog will recover and run over the long run. Of course, the vets will also be looking for any problems that we are unaware of. 

I’m also very keen to get Draco looked at. Last Tuesday morning, after breakfast, he all of a sudden stopped bearing weigh on one of his rear legs. I’m pretty sure he did it on the ice in his run, although I can’t seem to find an actual injury. We’ve had him laid off since then – figuring rest was what he needed. However, that hasn’t solved the problem, so it is time for the vet to step in. I am just sick at the thought that it may be something like a crucite ligament – which might put him out of harness indefinitely. He has been such a star in training this year and is certainly one of my favorites – to not have him at Iditarod with me would be a real blow. 

All for today!
Karen