*Alaska** Day 8, **March 2, 2007***
*There's not a word yet for old friends who've just
met.*
* (I'm Going to Go Back There Some Day, *from the
Muppet Movie*)
Friday is a 'down' day for the Mushers, the musher's
meeting and the banquet is over, the Ceremonial Start is
tomorrow. The fans and sponsors are in town. And no
big official events are planned. So, instead of last
minute preparations, many of the Mushers are so gracious
as to open their homes and kennels for open houses. Ya
know, if I was about to take off behind a bunch of dogs
on a sled to go 1100 miles through the Alaska
wilderness, the last thing I, think I would want to do
was play nicey-nicey with a bunch of strangers, who are
wandering through my home and wanting to pet my dogs.
I had invitations to several open houses and choosing
which ones to go to was difficult. I was hoping to make
3 of them. Two in the Mat-Su valley and one in
Anchorage, but because of transportation issues was only
able to
make 2 official and one un-official ones.
First I went to Karen Ramstead's (
http://northwapiti.com
) . Karen come up from Perryvale, Alberta, Canada to
stay with a friend, Jamie West and her husband in
Willow, about 2 hours from Anchorage and near where the
Restart
will be.
Karen has a Yahoo group which I have been a member of
for about 5 years and have gotten to know, in an
internet way, many of the members of the group. Plus,
Karen runs a team of CKC registered Siberian Huskies and
is the one Musher I follow closely each year. Karen is
never going to win the race,Sibes are just not fast
enough, but embodies the essence of the race to me.
One person and 16 dogs vs. the worst and best the Alaska
bush can throw at them, just to dream a dream and do the
near impossible - get to Nome.
The group at Karen's was like meeting old friends. Many
of the people there I had known for years, at least by
their Internet personas. I am happy to report every one
of them is as nice as they are on the net. The first
indication of this was in response to my transportation
problem. Roland wanted to go to the ITC Handler's class
in Anchorage about 2.5 hours after we arrived at North
Wapiti Kennels, North. I asked the group who were
there early, if anyone was going to be going back to
Anchorage and if so, could I have a ride back. Karen and
company looked around and told me that no one there now
was going back, but of course someone would get me back,
and to let Roland go. With the faith of a child, I sent
my ride back to Anchorage trusting that there really
would be someone going south, with room for one extra
person.
I then proceeded to thoroughly enjoy myself, getting to
know the people there. First I got to meet Donna Quante,
three time Emmy winner (Camera Operation), writer and
producer of the Video, "Pretty Sled Dogs" (
http://www.huskyproductions.net/ ), Donna had
obviously not 'gone Hollywood' since we met her while
she was out feeding dogs and scooping poop. The love of
dogs is such an equalizer, it really does not matter if
you are an Emmy winner, a PhD, or just average Joe or
Jane. If you love the dogs, nothing is too demeaning
even cleaning up a pile of dog poo.
When I went inside, I then met Karen in person....I was
(and am) in awe - nearly speechless. I could not have
been more impressed and star struck if I had been
meeting the Queen of England.
June Price, list owner of the Idita-Support Yahoo group
and intrepid photographer (http://www.sunhusky.com/)
and writer is as beautiful a person as her photos are.
Jamie, who laughed when I said "y'all" made me feel
totally at home. Jamie is originally from Tennessee and
said hearing 'y'all' again made her feel like she was at
home again. It was at the initial introductions, I get
tagged as "BilindaFromTexas".
I met many, many other wonderful people and ended up
exchanging emails with several people who do rescue,
including Malamute and Sled dog rescue in the San
Francisco and Pennsylvania, and a gal who dose Fila
rescue up here. The dog world is really small; most of
the people I met knew someone who I knew, either from
the rescue or the show world. It almost felt like the
game which is played figuring out how many degrees of
separation we were from one another. It seems that
Charlene LaBelle showed up in most of the connections
with the west coast.
Charlene, you have to get out more - there was at least
one person at Karen's who did not know you.
The highlight of the open house at Karen's was the tour
of the dog lot. The 23 dogs are staked out beside their
houses and the chains are long enough that each dog can
interact with at least 3 other dogs. Walking through
the
lot means you are walking in the circle of a dog almost
every step. This is really cool as each dog looked at
me with the 'Here comes a ear rub' look. They all got
one!
These are amazing dogs. Tough sled dogs who are also
soft little love puppies. The weather was perfect about
3 below when I got there and it warmed up little during
the day. The nice part was, while Anchorage was
experiencing gale force winds, there were none in Willow
and the sun was shining. I am either getting acclimated
to the weather or I am just plain nuts, but I was out
most of the day with no hat and thin gloves. But then
dog fur is a great heat source.
We were able to spend as much time as we wanted with the
dogs and do what ever we wanted. This was NOT a guided
tour. Need I tell you what I was doing most of the
afternoon? I fell in love with one of her males,
Junior, and one of her bitches, Tess. Then there is
Kara. Kara is Karen's main leader who also is her
house dog for all but the racing season. Kara is not
going to be in the Start nor go to Nome due to some
minor injuries. To make up for it, Kara is in a kennel,
not on a chain and has the option when Karen is there of
having free run of the dog lot. Every time I would sit
down on a doghouse to get some Fur Therapy from the
resident dog, Kara would jump on the house with me and
usually put her head on my shoulder. Pictures of the
Open house are here including one of me and Jr:
http://www.northwapiti.com/Iditarod2K7/030307openhouse.html
One thing I noticed about the dogs is when I first
rubbed them is how thin they felt, and then I ran my
hands down the legs and sides - SOLID muscle. I realized
how accustomed to handling our couch potato dogs who,
yes I must admit, are FAT! It is like comparing a
Marathon Racer to a Sunday jogger!
Karen was so gracious and was answering questions and
letting us all get a feel for the prep necessary for
this race. This was like getting to go over to one of
the Spur's homes the day before the NBA Championship and
hang out. I was star struck and very humbled.
After the open house was over, I hitched a ride with
Donna Quante to her home on the way to a second open
house. Donna is caring for several of Perry Solmonson's
dogs who did not make his race team. I got to feed
them. Kibble and hot water. They scarfed up the food
like they were Mals. A couple of the puppies
(yearlings) were a little shy but again they all wanted
ear rubs and pats - AFTER they ate, that is. Donna was
thrilled that
another gal and I volunteered - gee, if she had thought
about it, I most likely would have paid her to feed and
scoop poop.
She has 2 Sibes and one Alaskan with a visiting Lab/Sharpi
X as house dogs. They were thrilled to have visitors and
I was thrilled to snuggle. Donna came into the dining
room, where we all were and commented she DID have
chairs. Almost all were sitting on the floor, where we
could have free access to the dogs. I had not even
thought about sitting in a chair - I needed a dog fix by
that time.
We then went over to River's house. You see, River's is
a blind, retired Iditarod team dog. He had run at least
two races while blind from glaucoma. Eventually, the
glaucoma had advanced to where he was in pain and needed
the surgery to remove his eyes. Mike and Mary
Dillingham adopted Rivers getting him the required
surgery. Rivers has since become a well known author and
has his own blog. His books, even though they are
written for kids are wonderful and I suggest you read
them.
http://home.gci.net/~sleddog
www.riversbooks.blogspot.com
Rivers is a real sweet dog who lives up to his literary
persona..but how could he not. His parents are such
nice folks.
We headed back to Anchorage, with me riding with new old
friends. Rescue people who work with Karen in PA.
The wind had lessened, and tonight is a two dog night,
but I have the memories of snuggling with dozens of sled
dogs and the job of trying to convey how very special
this day was to keep me warm tonight.
Bilinda
--
Bilinda Marshall, Texas, USA
CW Singin' Alaskan Malamutes
Texas Dust Mushers
Member:
Alaskan Malamute Club of America
www.alaskanmalamute.org Alaskan Malamute
Assistance League--
http://www.malamuterescue.org Texas volunteers for
AMAL
www.laguarddog.org/TvAMAL.html PetFinders Page
http://www.petfinder.com/shelters/TX991.html
Responsible Pet Owners Alliance
http://www.responsiblepetowners.org/
