10.30.2011

training pics

The team: Bike, Barkey, Tina, Mygga, Princess, Svidd, Ajax, Cama, Faktor, Sol

Bike and Barkey. Bike's first time in lead; he did great, worked hard, kept his line tight, focused on the trail and took his gee-haw cues from Barkey.

Svidd and Princess. Ajax behind, always ready to GO!

Frosted grass, the dogs making fog.

Another loop in the sunshine, back to the river turnaround.

Crisp air, bluebird skies.

The sun in our faces, and ice lining the river !

Søndagstur / A Sunday Trip

Who's fastest?

Downriver, looking down from the ridge visible behind the puppies in the picture above. We train dogs along the lower left bank.

Looking upriver. We walked a few kilometers past the farm before turning around.

Nine puppies + Cilla.

Denali.

Break time.

Everest.

Snack time!

Getting dark.

Denali, ready to head home.

I took all nine of the puppies out today for the first time since I tied out the oldest litter, Denali, Everest, Kagua, and Elbrus, last week.*. We walked upriver for two hours, then turned around and came home when it started getting dark (around 4pm now).

It is so freeing to watch the puppies pound down the trail ahead of you at a million miles per hour. When they disappear out of my line of sight I call them back and laugh when they bicker and tumble over each other in their hurry to get back. Sometimes they get kibbles for coming. Other times, pats and hugs. It's not so funny though when they dig up rotting lemmings to crunch on and then come over to breath on you...! I love watching them lounge around in the moss and watching them race around in a big herd after whoever has found the newest treat on the forest floor. 3km+ walks every day is a task that is beneficial for us all, but especially the puppies, who have a head start on the conditioning needed to perform as top quality canine athletes. Race dogs in the making! I enjoy my time with them.

*These guys were quick learners...managing their chains like pros now. Kagua and Everest share a double house. Everest's company helps keeps Kagua quiet. She takes after her mother, Barkey..... They each have their own doghouse, but prefer to snuggle up together in one. Or together in a hole. Elbrus is a bully, so he gets to have a house to himself. Denali is a sweetheart but he gets his own house too. Maybe I'll try him with one of the two pups we got from Trine (Fiona + Couscous)...

10.27.2011

Everest, always photogenic.

Everest in the cranberry plants.

The sun is low and the air is crisp. We finally had a good hard frost last night. A clear night sky with just a hint of northern lights. Still no snow here, so it's very dark at night. In less than a month, the sun will dip below the horizon until mid January. The puppies and I are enjoying the sunshine while we have it and looking forward to Mørketida (The Dark Time). Many people say it is the most beautiful time of year, that an ethereal blue light covers the land during daytime hours.

A few images from my walk along the river with the puppies yesterday:

Playing on the river bank.

Denali in the dirt.

Ellie, the newest addition at Canyon Huskies.

Lots of light here.

Cilla pup #2 (needs name) and Elbrus.

Everest, always photogenic.

Always something interesting to find down by the river !

Krokvatnet

13-14 of October, Cilla and I headed up into the mountains to overnight at the old cabin by Krokvatnet. Krokvatnet can be read as Crow Lake. Fitting, as crows and the occasional lemming were the only wildlife I saw.

It was a hike of only a few hours to the cabin. However, Cilla and I wandered way up into the mountains before I realized that we had gone too far and needed to break out the map. I spotted Krokvatnet way in the distance and then Cilla and I took off, walking as fast as possible down from the hills to make the distance before sundown. We did.

The cabin has been there for years, from at least before WWII. An Austrian soldier who jumped off the German battleship Tirpirtz, was wandering through the mountains when he discovered the cabin and hid out there for some days during the war. He was discovered by a few men and a boy who went up in the mountains to fish. They gave him their fishing hooks and left after one night. They didn't tell anyone about the soldier until years later. They didn't know if the man survived. There is a framed newspaper article that interviews the boy as an old man hung up in the cabin.

See more pictures HERE.

Road Trip 2011 >> Vågå to Alta

August 2011. One girl, her white turbo diesel Citröen, and over 2000 km of beautiful Norwegian farmland, mountains, coasts, forests and tundra. I drove from my Mom's hometown, Vågå, to my new home and job for the winter season in Stengelsen, just outside of Alta. I used about a week to drive up, spending the first night with family in Trondheim, camping the second night outside of Mosjøen, camping again the third and fourth nights on the Lofoten Islands (stretched my time there; Lofoten is like a fantasy world), and the fifth and last night before I got to Alta with a friend in Tromsø, where I studied in 2008. It was a fantastic mini adventure. I felt free, excited and happy to be moving and on the road.

In order to post pictures directly, I'd need to resize all 100+ pics, so instead I'm going to ask you to look at the Picasa web album. Most pictures have captions.

10.19.2011

Gargia Conference

Walked puppies, ran dogs, knitted, and talked myself into this workshop this week:

http://www.hifm.no/neted/front/img/PDF-filer/Gargia%20conference%20lowres.pdf

It is hosted at Gargia Fjellstua, just up the road, and starts tomorrow at 9am. I am intimidated/excited.

10.09.2011

Puppy Portraits

Barkey's litter, 5 months old. Clockwise from top left: Everest, Kagua, Denali, and Elbrus.