What are we up to?
/Like many folks around the world, we’re pretty baffled by all that’s happening. In some ways, life hasn’t changed. We start every day by feeding the dogs, scooping the yard, feeding the reindeer. We end every day in the same way. We exercise the dogs, play with the puppies, and train the reindeer. We haul firewood to heat our cabins and enjoy the longer and longer days (13 hours and 28 mintues)! We mush the dogs to the post office to pick up the mail and chip away at projects around the kennel. People tell us we need to socially distance ourselves, and we change very little in our daily lives.
Then we open up social media and BAM! The world is in chaos. Our tourism season has ended. We must stay at home due to a statewide mandate to shelter in place. We feel the same pressures as everyone else. Will we have jobs? Will dog food still be accessible? Is it safe to go into town? Realistically, we’re very fortunate about our situation. We’re healthy. Derek has a job in firefighting. We have plenty of dog food. We have regular Zoom and Facetime dates with friends and family. Whenever I begin to pity myself, I remember all the healthcare workers putting in overtime to curb this pandemic, potentially exposing themselves to the virus. So in an effort to say thank you (and distract everyone else from their anxieties) I’m going to try to post more blog updates with fun things: reindeer tricks, puppy videos, dog runs, training videos. If there’s anything in particular you’d like to see, send us an email or respond in the comments. (Also, I recently mailed all Yukon Quest tags to the dog sponsors whose dogs raced. Keep an eye on the mail!)
Here’s a video taken yesterday of Fox, Fly, and Spitfire. They are getting sassy! Fly is definitely the sassiest at the moment. She barks at the big dogs and likes to terrorize her brothers. Spitfire is adventurous. He enjoys exploring behind the couches and searching out every nook and cranny. Fox is adorable and rather lazy. If Kalyn or I want a dog to cuddle with, he’s the one we grab. He loves to sleep.
The reindeer have been a real pleasure to work with. They’re goofy and fun, and make it very clear they only like to do tricks for food. Pilot enjoys rearing up. He just starts jumping around, even when not prompted. Sailor is lazy and prefers to keep all four feet firmly on the ground. He’s best at “giving kisses.” After my second slobbery reindeer kiss, I wonder if this is actually a good trick to teach them or not.
We’ve been using the clicker training method, much the same way people train dogs and horses. We’ve been focusing on targeting, meaning the touch a particular target with their nose. We started with our hands as targets and now use a purple tennis ball on a stick.
Sailor has recently dropped his antlers. Both female and male caribou and reindeer have antlers. Typically mature bulls drop their antlers in the winter. Females drop them after they give birth in the spring, and calves drop them sometime in the spring. That being said, these are just guidelines, and it’s not uncommon to find a reindeer not following the rules of antler shedding.
We heat all the cabins (our home, Stormy Cabin where Kalyn and Saeward live, and Lakefront Cabin where Tom lived) with wood. Wood puts off an intense, dry heat. One of the biggest chores in winter is firewood collection. We scour the surrounding land for standing dead trees. Dead trees are exceptionally dry and burn the cleanest. Typically, we haul the firewood back by snowmachine. Sasha LOVES getting firewood and sprints ahead of the snowmachine. This is one of her favorite chores.
Derek and I flew out for a weekend camping trip and some social distancing! We harvested a caribou during the trip as well.
We flew out to the campsite and crossed over Rosebud Summit (one of the summits on the Yukon Quest) along the way. The day we flew it was clear and beautiful, but can you imagine mushing along the summit during a windstorm? Talk about exposed!
And the final video, a little bit of trail breaking down the Chena River.
