Spring Time on Oake Lake

Wild Baby Iris'

Wild Strawberries

I was awakened this morning by the awkward honk of the graceful Trumpeter Swan. Two of them had come into our bay this morning to fish for their breakfast. They joined the quintet of Pelicans that arrived last evening.

Near the house are at least a half dozen Robin's nests with nervous mothers patrolling each perimeter. Sitting on the back deck has become a hazard as the Barn Swallows have taken to building another nest atop my sun room window out of mud and grass. If accidentally venturing into their flying pattern, their attempts at diving bombing their subject prove successful and I am forced to evacuate the north side of the deck.

The baby Iris' are beginning to bloom. Tulips have popped up and some still remain after attempts from the sled dogs at decapitating most. The wild Strawberries are in bloom with some tiny green berries already being displayed.

It's a bright sunny day on Oake Lake today. The sled dogs have recuperated nicely from their winter of adventures and are content to play and lounge their days away in the warm spring sun. The musher is slowly beginning to get into the new dog routine of obedience classes, canicross hikes, sled dog visitors and dog yard play time with the pack.

Ahh.....Spring time on Oake Lake.

Canicross Hikes 2008 ; Minnewashta Regional Park

Zala, one of the 7 month old Tuloon/Bazil pups, was my chosen subject for the hike. When the dogs are not working, it is best to remove the tug line from their harness and attach it to their collar so they differentiate between work and play time.

All of the dogs did a great job and pulled well. Then it was time for fun at the beach.

We began our 2008 Canicross Hike season at Minnewashta Regional Park yesterday. Temps were in the upper 50s and low 60s and it was overcast but still a glorious spring day for a hike. It didn't begin to rain until we were almost back to our vehicles.

We plan to do one hike per month at a Minnesota State Park with another hike per month at either Minnewashta Regional Park or Carver Park. The idea behind this schedule was that by becoming more familiar with two parks, we then can focus on individual training issues more intensely at those parks rather then do that in addition to exploring a new area.

We had all northern breed dogs in attendance for our hike yesterday except for our "German Sled Dog" Conan, the German Shepherd. We've had all different breeds attend our Pull Training classes and Canicross Hikes and everyone is welcome. No previous experience required!

Litter mate Update

Q's ears are not quite up yet

Q is a solidly built boy with a dense coat. He weights around 65lbs.

Q follows Zala around

Cookqiz(formerly Zorra) is a long legged girl with a dense coat

Cookqiz weighs between 55 and 60lbs.

The Tuloon/Bazil pups are now 7 months old. All six have proved over the winter to have great potential for being hard working sled dogs and leaders.

Wahya lives in Colorado in Alpine Kennel and is having no problem fitting into her pack and team. No photo updates are available at this time.

Q lives locally and came for a visit last evening to play with his litter mates. After my boys made sure he was alright and Q submitted, they played as if they were old friends. I've been told that he ran with his team a little this winter to get his feet wet and did a great job. His build is a little different than the other pups right now. He is lower to the ground with thick legs and a big head. Our Oken was built this way until recently when he got a growing spurt and grew legs.

Cookqiz lives in New Hamshire in Uktousa Kennel and is still the queen. She's a strong and relentless puller when tested in the team late this winter and tends to look around the dogs in front of her as if to say "hey, put me up in front!".

2008 Season Dog Yard Clean-Up

What season is it, anyway?

Dog yard cleaned up

Barrels on top of axles

Flooded dog sled trail

A chance encounter on the Gunflint Trail

Well, the lawn chairs are out on the patio at Gunflint Lodge beckoning summer, however winter isn't cooperating. There is still a good 12-18 inches of ice in the middle of Gunflint Lake. The shore ice is slowly melting and the trees that were sunk in the lake ice to tie down our sled dog teams prior to our lake adventures with clients, are now beginning to tip.

After trees were planted for the Gunflint Green Up weekend, I took the opportunity to do some final dog yard clean-up. The chains needed to be removed from the axles so as not to rust, the straw needed to be cleaned out of the dog houses and the houses were then tipped over on top of the axles to keep moisture from sitting in them over the next few seasons.

The trail out of the dog yard now completely flooded from the thaw, is only affecting two dog circles which is a nice thing to know in case we find ourselves up north during the thaw at some point. The musher shack, on the other hand, would not be functional during the spring thaw as it has a moat surrounding it that is filled with water.

The weekend was a productive one. It felt good to feel the sun on my face all day long again. Since arriving back to Oake Lake, many days are spent working on the computer inside. Although confining and undesirable, this is a necessary "evil" to support the sled dogs and the passion. The trade off is worth it.

Gunflint White Out?

Seagull Lake landing; tree planting station #4

May 3rd, 8AM

May 3rd, 3PM

Group #4 gathering for information

At our planting destination

Off to plant

Our instructions were to plant 60% red pine and 40% white pine

This past weekend was the much anticipated Gunflint Green Up. Over 450 people came to show their love of the north woods and to support this community by planting a total of 50,000 trees in one day!

The weekend began with a 6 1/2 hour drive up, in the rain for me. It was cold and wet that evening for the dinner in the big top tent but propane heaters helped keep everyone warm. It continued to rain throughout the night until roughly 4AM when it turned into snow, on May 3rd! I awoke to 3 inches of the white stuff on the hood of my car. I must say it was beautiful and if it had to be precipitation then I much prefer snow to rain.

The wet ground didn't seem to dampen the moods of the volunteers. We all arrived at our planting stations at 9:30AM to get our instructions, tools and trees then off we went. The day quickly from dark, wet and white to bright, dry and sunny.

Meeting new people was one of the highlights of this trip back up north. In my planting group were numerous people who live seasonally on a lake northwest of Gunflint Lake called Seagull Lake. One couple lost their home in the Ham Lake fire last summer and were all smiles when announcing that their new home would be completed in 2 weeks. One women retired from teaching and moved to the north woods. Amazingly, she handmade her very own timber frame home!

I was so happy to have been a part of this event and to have met so many wonderful people that have the same love for this place. Only 7 1/2 mos before the sled dogs and I head back up Gunflint Trail!

Lone Pelican

Lone Pelican

The flock of Pelicans that chose Oake Lake as a lay over stop has made the bigger portion of the lake their congregation area. This morning, this lone Pelican found himself in our small bay.

A few years ago, I watched as a small group of pelicans formed a perfect circle and swam around the shore of our tiny bay. Every few feet, in synchronicity and while maintaining this perfect circle, they would duck into the water with only their tails sticking up. Tails would wiggle and wiggle then up would pop all of the Pelican heads, turned in the same direction of travel and off they would go until they plunged under the surface again.

I am not the only one fascinated with all of the activity on the lake. I've watched the sled dogs spend hours intently scanning the lake for action while lounging on the top of their dogs houses in the warm sun.

Back to Winter?

April 24th, 2008; Spring has arrived!

April 26th, 2008; What?! Winter again?

I awoke this morning to snow! Now in November I would consider this a welcome sight; a blanket of fresh snow to brighten up the landscape and clean away the many shades of brown that can be seen from my picture window. I would be anxiously preparing the dog sleds for their first winter travels and the dogs would be restless in anticipation. But it's April 26th. The forsythia are in bloom. The mini iris' are poking the tips of their tiny leaves out of the ground to greet the warmer spring sun. Many waterfowl have arrived to make Oake Lake their summer home. And most of all, MUD season was over!

Although beautiful, the snow can melt and I won't feel cheated. This past winter was indeed a true winter. I could have done with a little more snow but it was as close to perfect as it could have been.

My records from last year indicate that winter announced itself again, after the arrival of spring, on April 9th. Now here we are, 17 days later than last year, wiping snow off our windshields. The brass clips on each kennel gate that keep the dogs from deciding to flip the latch to explore were even frozen this morning, making feeding a frustrating task. Does all of this mean we could be getting closer to having "normal" winters again? Let's see what next year holds. Until then, back to mud season!